I Spy Quilt

This quilt is proof positive that ignorance is bliss!  

I wanted to make a meaningful gift for Elle's second birthday... something that she would have for a long time to come, something handmade by her Mommy, and something we could enjoy together. An I Spy quilt fit the bill perfectly! I didn't even consider that it may be too much to tackle for my very first quilt and one of my very first sewing projects ever.

I started by collecting fun fabrics.  I asked for scraps from my friends who sewed, I bought strips of fabric as narrow as Jo-Anns would sell them to me, I even begged Etsy shop owners, who had fabric I couldn't find, to send me their scraps (some of them actually obliged... dear sweet Etsians!).  Once I had gathered all my I spy fabrics I bought a kit that came with two plexiglass pieces, a hexagon & a triangle.  Then I started cutting and cutting and cutting and piecing. 

Once all the hexagons & triangles were pieced together, I cut the strips for the green border, picked the font for the embroidery, and printed a bunch of templates of the words I considered embroidering along the border.  I layed all the words out along the border strips until I got just the right combination.  It says "I spy... cherries, gators, hippo, cupcakes, fish, sushi, bones, icecream, rainbow, flamingo, guitar, horse, treasure, kiwi, glasses, turtle, shells, flip flops, and..."  Then I embroidered and embroidered, and embroidered, and sewed. 

Then came the pink border, a fun fabric for the back, and the binding to match

If I knew then what I know now about sewing and quilting, I never would've tackled that project.  I was so proud of myself  that it all came together in the end, but I'm even more proud of myself now that I know what an accomplishment getting all those hexagons and triangles to match up just so, not screwing up all those embroidered words, and getting everything facing the right direction is! 

Last but not least, I have to mention that I never posted about this project because it was unfinished for so long. I did all the piecing, quilting, and sewed on the binding, but I fused the binding down & in my opinion, hand sewing the binding is really the only way to go. If you've been following this blog, you know I ABHOR hand sewing! I was really stubborn about finishing this quilt all on my own, until it didn't get finished for 3 years.  I finally asked my good friend Ann, quilter and blogger extroidanaire, if she would have pity on me and sew the binding.  She graciously agreed and waalaa a big fat check on my 2011 to do list! 

Thank you Ann, I feel so fortunate to have you as a friend and quilt mentor!

 

Bentos!

When people find out I make Elle bento lunches they almost always ask me what foods I put in them. So if you're looking for ideas for your kiddos lunch, how about the things that have been Elle's bentos of late...

pickles, animal crackers, chicken & dried cranberries, fig newtons, ritz crackers, almond butter & jam sandwich, apple sauce, corn, pork, crackers, prunes, banana, cheese, almonds, rice cakes, quiche, raspberries, pirate bootie, muffins, fruit snacks, hard boiled egg, snap peas, stromboli, strawberries & whipped cream, soup, fruit leather, apple, trail mix, graham cracker, pineapple, nuts, green pepper, chick pea salad, cheese sticks, grapes, lunch meat rolled up, or ganola!?

Your Way Wednesday

Crafting is my way to relieve stress & stretch my creative muscles.


Sewing is my way to have some uninterrupted time to myself.


Bentos are my way to show Elle I'm thinking about her.


Parties are my way to love on my girls & our friends


Tutorials show my way of making this or that.




I want to see your way! I'm really excited to give you an opportunity to do just that in my link party:
 <center><a href="http://ellebellecreative.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Link up your latest project every Wednesday on the Elle Belle Creative Your Way Wednesday link party!" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l639/ebcreative/finalYWWbutton.jpg" /></a></center> 
 

Only two rules for you:
Add my lovely "Your Way Wednesday" button to your blog or blog post that you link up to Please link directly to your blog post, not a giveaway, your link party, your Etsy shop, or even just the home page of your blog.
 In exchange for following the rules, I'll leave a comment on your blog post & if you're my favorite post I'll feature you on my blog by the end of the week.
   

Valentine's Projects

I was looking for inspiration that would spark an idea for Valentine cards that Elle could give her friends at school this year and decided to start with my own past Valentine's projects.  In case you haven't been following along for the last three years here they are:

Love Notes jar

You've got mail!

Felt Heart Garland

I still haven't come up with the perfect idea for Elle's Valentines yet though... have you made or seen anything creative and fun for a 5 year old's class Valentines?

 

I want to be ReMarthable!

Martha is running a contest and asking people to show her how "reMarthable" they are by sharing a craft or recipe or idea that they've done that has that Martha quality to it.  I need your help... I can't decide between two of my favorite projects - the photo cupcake picks or the chalkboard thought bubbles. 

Will you please please leave me a comment and tell me which of these two projects you think I should submit to Martha?

 

Your Way Wednesday Features

I'm still new to this whole link party thing... I meant to set last week's links to thumbnails but it ended up just a list and I didn't realize it until most of you had already linked up. Thumbnails are way better, I love seeing all your goodies in neat rows... so sorry, I'll make sure it's thumbnails this week but thanks to those of you who played along anyway!


Since you didn't get to show off you handiwork in the link party I thought I'd feature more than just one of the links today.


Did you see What Allie's Making for Valentine's day?

This little project A Girl in Paradise made is now on my to do list:

These wire words Pocket Full of Posies made would be a great embellishment for lots of projects:

I found a fun brand new blog when I checked out this kids back pack post, Sew Dad

Last, but not least, another fun embroidery project for you from Liberty Original

Your Way Wednesday

Crafting is my way to relieve stress & stretch my creative muscles.

Sewing is my way to have some uninterrupted time to myself.

Bentos are my way to show Elle I'm thinking about her.

Parties are my way to love on my girls & our friends

Tutorials show my way of making this or that.

I want to see your way! I'm really excited to give you an opportunity to do just that in my link party:

<P></P> <P><BR></P> <P><center><a href="http://ellebellecreative.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Link up you latest project every Wednesday on the Elle Belle Creative Your Way Wednesday link party!" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l639/ebcreative/finalYWWbutton.jpg" /></a></center>

Only two rules for you:

• Add my lovely "Your Way Wednesday" button to your blog or blog post that you link up to
• Please link directly to your blog post, not a giveaway, your link party, your Etsy shop, or even just the home page of your blog.

In exchange for following the rules, I'll leave a comment on your blog post & if you're my favorite post I'll feature you on my blog by the end of the week.



Fabric (non-manilla) Folder

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to store cut-out pattern pieces?  I've been keeping mine in one of those boxes that's made to hold magazines... but they're unruley and every time I try to slide a new piece in, it gets caught on another one and bends.  So I had this idea and I'm not sure if it's really much better, but I thought I'd at least give it a try.

This is the Document Duvet from Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects book.  I made it with a decor weight fabric I bought on impulse at Ikea that seemed too "happy" for me to do much with after I got it home. 

The patterns I've bought at Jo-Ann's come in their own envelopes obviously, and even though they never fold up as neatly after you've used them, I still manage to cram them back into the envelope. Those will stay in the magazine holder box thingie.  But, I don't have that many of those.  Most of the pattern pieces I have are cut from tutorials, pattern files I've bought online, or designer patterns I've bought in fabric shops that don't come in the traditional envelope.  So I'm thinking I'll put each pattern in a ziploc bag, label it with the pattern name, hole punch the top, put them all on a metal ring, and store them in my handy dandy fabric non-manilla folder I just made.

Do you think it'll work?  I'd love to hear how you store your patterns!

Anne's Antics' Way

It was so fun to see your links pop up on my link party, Your Way Wednesday, thanks! I loved finding new blogs and reading about what you all have been up to lately.

Did you get a chance to check out the embellished tops Anne made?

The store racks are full of ruffle designed blouses and dresses. It's pretty easy to get creative and make your own! See Anne's way of duplicating this style on her blog, Anne's Antics.

The 1st EVER Your Way Wednesday

Crafting is my way to relieve stress & stretch my creative muscles.

Sewing is my way to have some uninterrupted time to myself.

Bentos are my way to show Elle I'm thinking about her.

Parties are my way to love on my girls & our friends

Tutorials show my way of making this or that. 

I want to see your way! I'm really excited to give you an opportunity to do just that in my first ever link party:

<P></P> <P><BR></P> <P><center><a href="http://ellebellecreative.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Link up you latest project every Wednesday on the Elle Belle Creative Your Way Wednesday link party!" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l639/ebcreative/finalYWWbutton.jpg" /></a></center>
I'm new to this whole link party thing, but based on what I've seen on other people's parties, there should be rules like:

• Please add my brand spankin' new, super awesome, it's beautiful... just admit it... Your Way Wednesday button to your blog or blog post. 
• Please link directly to your post & not your blog's home page
• Please link to projects only, not items for sale, your Etsy shop, or your own link party.

Only 3 rules, that's not so bad!  In exchange for following the rules, I promise to love you forever or follow your blog... whichever you prefer. I'll also leave a comment on the post you link to & feature my favorite linked post here on my blog in the next day or so.

Oh please, you lovely fellow bloggers, please participate in my first ever link party... I'm so nervouse!