Imaginon with Friends

Summer is ending and it's the time to freak out about all that you didn't get to do which you had planned on getting done. At the beginning of the summer, I saw a post about things to do in Charlotte with munchkins. Imaginon got my attention because... it's free.  So, when my water fun day was rained out, I thought about Imaginon.  Our water day friends and mommies decided to come too. 

First of all, it's a library. So, there is a great story time for families.  The librarian (I assume) was so good with the kids. She read stories, sang songs, and even "flew kites" (aka scarves) with the kids. 

Somebody enjoyed covering my face in the selfie.  "Squishy face" had to come to the rescue so that I could get one shot.

Story time ended with bubbles.

After story time, we let the kids play. It's a library with play areas. Such a cute place to take the kids and perfect for a rainy day.

Luke drives the wooden fire truck. 

Ryleigh rides the wooden fire truck. 

Jonas hangs on to the side.  

There was also a section for storybook play, in which I decided, there was no possible way to corral all three kids and get a picture. So, what we have next is an attempt of the mommies to get a photo of the six of us. Notice that there is no change in the mommies' faces, only the kids.

And finally, we finished with lunch at the market. 

Gathering Apron

Most recently, after the baby quilts were all done, I began a new project based on a request from my roommate. Yes, before you question it, she no longer lives with me. We actually live four hours apart. But, she has and always will be my roommate. Who knows? Maybe we will live together again in the nursing home someday. 

So, she asked for an apron. Simple enough, right? Well...if you give a mouse a cookie... You know how it goes. First, she looks at Pinterest. Then, she sees this thing called a gathering apron. And...since she is now a farmers wife, she needed a multi functioning apron.  

If you know me at all, you know that I don't follow recipes. I make my own. So, in typical fashion, I went about creating a pattern. I wanted it extra wide so there would be lots of room for veggies from the garden and deep pockets for tools from the kitchen.  We found this cute red mixer fabric in Floyd, VA and chose the others to match.  She requested the black on the pockets. 

Here is the product. The bow, then, can be used to loop through three button holes in the bottom to make a hammock.

Maybe Beth will send a pic of her wearing it to add to the page.  It should be noted that she is a good bit taller than I am. So, it's long on me.

Projects for Little Ones

I picked up this fabric almost a year ago waiting for the right project. Now, I found it.  For more than two years, friends of ours have been trying to adopt. After a few heart-breaking cases where the adoption failed to go through, they were able to adopt the sweetest little girl.  I mean, she is Gerber baby material.  (I am not biased at all.). 

I love the colors even though, in my opinion, chevron is on the way out of style.  Both sides are a soft minky and I love, love, love the strawberry that my friend, Maegan, downloaded for me.  We did a swap. I made a skirt for her little one and she did this for me. I also assured her that if I ever have a girl, I would make it worth the money using this pattern. 

It's just two solid pieces sewn right-sides together with a two inch seam.  Flip it right-sides out and top stich it. Pin, pin, pin. Minky "walks" horribly.  So, I pin everything. To me, it's worth the extra thirty minutes.  It will save you frustration later. Ask me how I know it. 

Quilt Multiplied By Two

Next on the to-do list was a project for my friend of 14 years. Yes, I met her on the first day of college and we bonded over our obsession with chapstick. We've been friends ever since. Very soon, her and her husband's world will be rocked with twin boys, lots of laundry, and diapers galore. For now, she is nesting and stabilizing the room with calming green, grays, and an underwater theme. I finished the second and final quilt's binding yesterday and continued with my quest to snap pictures of all my quilts before they go out the door.

Truth be told, this is all Amber's style and not mine. We found this adorable whale tail pattern and that became the focus. I was not super excited to sew lots of green and gray (even though I helped her in picking/matching the fabric). But, I really like how they turned out. Super calming neutrals with a few pops of color. It will take her about two seconds to notice that I threw in some yellow but she gave me full reign on making them. She will only have to wait three more days, until her baby shower, to see them.

Here are the backs. From afar, they seems solid gray but that have a cute gray on gray pattern.
                                               

My sweet friend, Patrice at www.simplyadesign.com, who knows me well and allows me to be the true control freak that I am, did the names on the back.

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One last little project from the scraps...

Future Baseball Fan

         And the quilting continues...

                    

These pictures were taken by Mama Fleming in the baby's nursery.

This is a quilt for a dear friend who wanted to do her room in vintage baseball.  Early in her pregnancy, when she was considering doing a quilt, she mentioned that she wished she could make it. So, I asked if she would want to help me make it. Super excited, she said "yes" and over the course of the following few months, we began our task.  First, she began hunting online for a baseball fabric that had a vintage feel.  Then, we went to my favorite local shops to find other fabric.  Using the fabric found online, we chose a few coordinating fabrics.

Once those decisions were made and fabric was purchased, she came over once a week and began learning to use the rotary cutter, mat, and my sewing machine (for some reason her feed dogs were not pulling the  fabric on her own sewing machine).

It's not perfect.  She made all the choices of how she wanted it as we went along.  Some seams are not perfect. Some cuts were a little off.  Making calculations on the fly aren't my strongest skill. So, there are some mistakes. But, overall it definitely has a vintage feel and I think mama is happy. Hopefully, mama feels a little more comfortable behind the pedal with her newly developed sewing skills.  Although, she may see me as a "sewing nazi" (I may have had her rip some seams).

Here are a few more pics which I took.

The front (minus the top corner)

The back

My trusty photo session assistant

Baby and fabric and quilts, oh my!

Tis the Season for having Babies

So, currently, I have four friends who just had babies and another five who are soon to have theirs.  What does this mean? Sewing like crazy.  This weekend, I finished the first of five baby quilts for the babies who are coming. (One friend is having twin boys!)

 My sweet friend and I went to my favorite local fabric shop and she chose the colors and prints which she liked.  She wasn't drawn to the typical "girly colors.  Hence, we have navy, teal, white, and I added periwinkle later.


From our fabric outing, she also decided to use sea turtles as her theme.  So, I used the scraps from the front to  make the back and appliqued the creatures.