But I'm a Quilter, not a Dressmaker!

In a foolish moment, I bought a pattern for a dress I thought my daughter could wear for Easter. It was cute. It was fairly inexpensive. I can sew - how hard can it be? I've made clothing before. Sure, it's only been costume items - a super-easy princess dress and some clown pants, but there are instructions, right? Then, delusions still firmly in place, I went one step further and actually bought the fabric. There was no turning back now. To make matters worse, I put off making the dress until tax time. Taxes trumped dress & I didn't start the thing until Thursday before Easter. How much time should one little dress take? I'll tell you. FOREVER! Technically not forever, since I actually finished it, but I think I went a little more gray while making it. Most of the gray was stressing over putting in the zipper, which I didn't think was part of the pattern when I bought it. I swear that little requirement showed up after I bought fabric. Really, I do. I'm proud to say that it only took one try to get it in & it looks fairly good for my first one since 7th grade home ec!

Most importantly, my daughter looked adorable in her little dress Easter morning!

A Study in Color and Scale

I like to make quilts with big squares and bright fabrics, especially with kids' fabrics. I was given some Civil War reproduction fabric and wasn't sure what to do with it. I found a cute pattern called "Uncle Frank's Socks" by Carol Hopkins as part of her Civil War Legacy pattern line. I liked it, but it seemed kind of small. I had some small bits of bright fabrics, so I blew up the pattern and made another. I quilted them the same way and arranged the blocks the same way. I'm amazed how two quilts can look so different!

Wishing for Warmer Days...

It is cold here & only getting colder throughout the week. I want to go back here ---->

My mom, sister, brothers & I went on a cruise 4 years ago. It was fantastic! Warm sun, sandy beaches, warm sun, beautiful ocean, midnight buffet, warm sun, maid service... did I mention warm sun?

I made this wall hanging for my mom to commemorate our trip. It includes the picture of our ship when it was docked in the Bahamas (where we spent a day on the beach & lying in hammocks beneath the palm trees). I also have a pictures of a sand castle, our family, a towel dog and Miami as we were leaving on the ship.

It makes me happy to think of it on cold days like today, when I could really use some sun. I think I'll make one of the trip that my husband and I took to Germany sometime, too. Check out my Etsy store. I can make something like this for you, too!

A quilt for Brian's wife

Over the summer I heard of a man who wanted a quilt with some pictures & words on it. It became one with names of his family members & some other words. It is for his wife. He said she likes pink & purple, but not roses. Do you know how hard it is to find pink fabric for grownups without roses?

This is how it turned out. He decided against pictures & we just went with words. I'm pretty pleased with it, although I wasn't sure for a while.

Brian is a fantastic guy. It is obvious that he adores his wife. I did have a huge fear that I'd get a call from her one day demanding to know who I am and why her husband kept calling me. I'm sure my planned "Uh, ask your husband" answer wouldn't have helped much. It was wonderful to make this for him.

You can get the whole universe in this little bag...

Maybe not really... a good chunk of the solar system is on this bag though! I made it for a Mad Scientists of Etsy team challenge. The challenge was to make a tribute to Nicholas Copernicus. Copernicus was famous for showing scientifically that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.

I handpainted the sun with fabric paints. The reverse side of the bag is quilted with the name "Nicolaus Copernicus". There is a triple pocket inside and a magnetic snap holds the whole thing together!

This was my first attempt at fabric painting. I'm really pleased with the results! Mr. Forrest Brandon (my Jr. High art teacher) would be proud!

The Moon in the Morning

Recently my daughter B had her first encounter with astronomy. The other morning we looked out of the nursery window and there was the moon. Not an extraordinary event, but we don't often see the moon at that time of day. This was of great concern to B since she's supposed to stay in bed until the sun is up. In her mind, the sun and moon can't be up at the same time. We explained that sometimes the moon stays up too late (the moon is nocturnal, so the morning is its bedtime) and we can see it in the mornings. This seemed to work and B was incredibly excited and we rushed out to take pictures. We didn't take the time to get dressed, but she slowed enough to grab her Tinkerbell cell phone so she could take her own shots. She didn't want to come in even though it was quite chilly for a September morning.

I'm very excited about her interest in anything scientific since I'm a math/ science kind of person (so is her dad). Maybe she'll be a great astronomer and make Pluto a planet again. Maybe she'll just continue to look into the sky with the same wonder and excitement she had that morning. I'd be happy either way.

My Brief Stint With Sweatshirt Quilts

A couple of years ago when my daughter was 2 or 3 months old, I heard that someone wanted a sweatshirt quilt or two made. They were shirts from the deceased wife of a widower. The task was a bit intimidating, but I plunged in. With both feet and a newborn.

That's the last time I'll make a quilt out of sweatshirts! I learned that they are incredibly heavy. I learned that I don't like to tie quilts. Not at all. Plus, I messed up the big one the first time around and had to re-do it. I did enjoy figuring out how the shirts would work together and figuring out how much of the scraps from the shirt I had & could use elsewhere. I'll try some with t-shirts though!

Here are some photos:

Quilts I made for my nephews and nieces

Since I'm Aunt Cindy, I'll start by sharing the creations I've made for those who call me Aunt Cindy.

Here is a series I made for my sister's 3 kids. On a geeky note, they're tesselations! I like how different they look when they're the same pattern.

OMG I opened an Etsy shop!

Usually I'm not the type to use OMG, but I thought it was appropriate today. My oldest nephew, who coined the term "Aunt Cindyland", apparently talks like that now. He's 13. My sister has started talking like that now, too. She's way older than 13. It cracks me up.

Here's the link to my new shop: www.auntcindysattic.etsy.com
I hope you visit often!