Handmade in the Grand Trunk Show - April 30th

You're invited to the Handmade in the Grand Trunk Show on Saturday, April 30th from 10 am - 2 pm

2011- 52 Projects in 52 Weeks - Week 4

Week #4's project didn't involve quilting, or even fabric. It did include a trip to Hobby Lobby with the kids, and about 30 minutes browsing the hundreds of papers to pick out the ones we wanted to decorate some letters for the kids' art area.

52 Projects in 52 Weeks - Week 3

Need to catch up on the posts! Here is Week #3's project -

2011 - 52 Projects in 52 Weeks Challenge: Week 2

Week 2 Challenge - Complete!

If you know me, you know I am a huge Amy Butler fan. I love, love, love to create products using her beautiful fabrics. I have a stash of fabrics from her Belle line that I can't even bear to cut into because I know I cannot get any of them ever again! I have made hundreds of items from her Belle, Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern II prints. I was so excited when I found out she had a new line being produced, but when I first got it, I have to admit that I did not love it as much as the previous lines. Nevertheless, I was determined to combine them into a quilt top, and I am so glad I did - I really LOVE the result!

Here's a closer look at the fabrics in this line:





I settled on a simple patch design using 6.5" squares, then bordered it in 2 of my favorite prints from the line. I can't wait to quilt this - it is just begging to be snuggled (though it looks FABULOUS hanging on my wall too):



Until next week - Happy Stitching!

2011 - 52 Projects in 52 Weeks Challenge

Happy 2011! This will be the year I actually post to my blog on a regular basis (really!). I've set a personal challenge for myself to create at least one new item per week in 2011 - I mostly plan/hope that these are quilt tops, but new product ideas will likely be thrown in the mix as well.

Week 1:
I'll just start out by saying I have enough fabric to open my own store . . . I have more than a few boxes/piles/stashes of fabrics that I have bought with grand plans to sew into a particular quilt or project.
My first challenge project of 2011 was to sew up these cute prints into a quilt top - they've been cut and sitting on my sewing shelf for OVER a year now. . . no more!



This is a very simple design for using up small pieces of fabrics, and for combining lots of prints - sometimes called a chinese coin design. This quilt top features a variety of prints in pinks, yellows and blues and fabrics from Heather Bailey, some cute Japanese prints and more. Crib size quilt - I plan to back it with a cute polka dot print and do some simple straight line quilting on it.

Holiday Sale - Nov 26 - Dec 10

From Summer to Fall

Wow. Labor Day is upon us. For our family it means a start of a new school year - my baby girl is starting Kindergarten (how did that happen!?!) on Tuesday. It also signals that fall is on the way, football season (yay) and also time to get ready for the pre-holiday show rush.

We went from 90-some degrees earlier in the week to a crisp 65 today. What a change. I love summer time and the warm weather, but I simply LOVE the fall. During the summer I have a hard time getting motivated to cook - who wants to turn on an oven when you already feel like you are baking in the air? Leaves us in a bit of a crunch as I hate to eat anything that comes from a box, and detest fast food! (Okay, so pizza doesn't count as fast food, just for the record.) The cool weather has ushered in a cooking frenzy in our house. Friday night we had lasagna for dinner. Last night we had chicken and dumplings for dinner, followed by hot, fresh apple crisp for dessert. Yum! I find myself getting excited whenever I drive past the apple orchards on the way home - I can see the ripening fruit covering the trees, just waiting to be picked! Can't wait.

The Mom N Mia Quilts sewing studio has been going full steam - really, I haven't had much of a break this year at all, other than a few stolen weekends for family trips. No complaints.

This past week, I made over 100 reversible car seat strap cover sets - about 2/3 of those are for wholesale orders, but there was a rush on them in my Etsy shop as well.

Lots of wholesale orders to fill - proud to say that I am now supplying over 15 lovely boutiques across the U.S., as well as shops in Australia, Malaysia, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada and Brazil.

Easter's On Its Way

And this little cutie is all set with new Creative Kids Art Bucket -

Child Style Magazine - Owl Spotting!

I am honored to be included in the Winter 2010 issue of Child Style Magazine!

My On A Whim Owls in Pistachio Burp Cloth Set is part of a 2-page spread featuring oodles of adorbale handmade owls and other treats from Etsy creators!

Wrap It Up!

If you're looking for a fun, versatile gift for kids, check out our Wrap It Up Crayon Rolls (TM)!

I love making these because no 2 are ever the same. (Similar perhaps, but not the same)

My 2 and 4 year old take them everywhere. I especially love that I can fit them so easily in my purse or their bags. I also feel much better having them bring their own crayons than using some of the ones you get at restaurants (not the packaged ones, I mean the ones where you get a handful or cup of grubby crayons . . .yuck!).

Each Wrap It Up Crayon Roll comes with 10 Crayola crayons, but you can fit 20 or more in each Roll. Watch for more fun designs!

Who Loves Sock Monkeys

Do You Love Sock Monkeys, like I Love Sock Monkeys? I can't say I'm a huge fan of the old fashioned ones - they are really a bit scary . . .

But I love CUTE sock monkeys, especially the dozen or more adorable monkeys who live at our house (made by sweet Dulce at The Monkey Shop), like these ones:

You know you want some for yourself! Admit it.

Today I got a commission to make a custom twin bedding set featuring Sock Monkeys - just a simple quilt and a bed skirt, but I'm looking forward to working on it.

Fabrics ordered and jetting their way to MI soon...

Happy New Year!

*Breathing a sigh of relief that the 2009 holiday (crazy rush) season is over!* Not that I was in a rush to end the year in general, but the months from August to December are all a blur. Thank you to my wonderful customers who made 2009 such an absolutely fabulous year!!

2010 is already off to a busy start - lots of projects underway. I spent time organizing our laundry room last weekend (which had become little more than a dumping ground for fabric) - sorry, no pictures. You can actually see the floor, the counter, and MAN - I forgot how big that room really is!

This year I plan to tackle lots of UFOs (un-finished objects) that are currently taking up 2 entire bins in my craft room. I have lots of pretty new quilts planned, including at least one or two using the new line of Nicey Jane fabrics from Heather Bailey. (Love love love these fabrics!)

Here are some of the new Wrap It Up Crayon Rolls that I can't seem to make fast enough for my shop - lots more to come as soon as I get a semi-decent day for taking pictures:

A rather blustery day today

Custom Guitar Crib Quilt

So, it's been a very long time since I've posted, I know. Life just gets in the way of blogging. Here we are TWO weeks from Christmas already...how did that happen?

Life has been very busy for us the past few months. We said a sad farewell to the glorious weather we had in November (seriously, I can't remember having such mild weather in November before - we had several 60 degree days). We celebrated Turkey Day with family up north, traveled across the state to visit my grandparents, and drove home on the last 50 degree day of the year. Last Friday we were (ahem) gifted with 18 inches of snow . . .yes, really, 18 inches. Everyone else around us had between 3 -5".

I've been sewing like crazy. I am happy to say that I hit my goal of 1500 sales before my birthday (which is tomorrow . . . hint . . . hint) and am now trying to complete no fewer than 8 custom quilts before Christmas. Why do I do this every year??

Here are some of the fun things I've finished and shipped out the door recently:

Contemporary "Wave" Quilt Top

Custom Twin Baby Bedding Set

Etsy Front Page

Thank you to Peg from abacusbeadcreations for curating this beautiful treasury that was featured on the front page of Etsy this morning (3am early).

http://www.craftcult.com/vault_list.php?list=6525

Apparently the widget doesn't want to work for me . . . arg, but the link will take you to it.

Thanks Peg! Check out some of these lovelies from Peg's shop:

Christmas Tree Earrings - what a great little gift these would make for the holidays!

I'm a total sucker for anything aqua - I love this necklace.

Fabulous Fall Finds

I love the colors of fall - I only wish we were having fall weather right now instead of jumping right into 40-degree, winter-like days . . .brrrr

The Holidays are Coming . . . the Holidays are coming . . .

Do you realize we are barely more than 2 months away from Christmas? Seriously?!?! You have fewer than 70 shopping days left - better get a move on!

Here are some of the fun items I've found lately that I've added to my shopping list -

For Max, the ever-busy, 100% boy (who will be 2 only two weeks before Christmas):

I'm loving this Magic Kingdom Set of wooden toys from dadswoodentoys

and these Dino Adhesive Wall Stickers from lovemaestore look like lots of fun, not to mention they'd go great in his room that I am redoing in a dinosaur theme:

For Katie, the princess of the land, this adorable felt castle cake is definitely on the must haves list

super cute! Back to browsing for now!

Has it Been 4 years?

It is hard to believe, but in 3 short weeks my baby girl will be turning 4! Where did the time go little Katherine? Wasn't it just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital?

Still one of my favorite pictures - picking the giant peonies in our old back yard.And your first steps, on your 1st birthday!

So what will we do for a girl who's turning 4? A princess party of course! Here are the fun invitations I got from annamadeart:

Some artsy fun with sidewalk paint sets from SidewalkSensations for your guests:

And can't forget the goodies, these cookies look delicious (and pretty sure they will be as I've sampled others from sugarandflour):

What do You Get When you Put me and Batman fabric together?

I love doing custom work as it gives me a chance to create things I wouldn't be making in the normal course of my day. I love making bibs and burp cloths, which I can't keep up on these days, but I love the chance to work on new things too. I currently have no fewer than 10 custom qults to work on. I just finished up 2 monogrammed baby quilts for a customer (which I need to get pictures of), and am moving on to the next on my list, a very basic twin size quilt, then I have 2 wedding dress quilts to make - those should be fun!

One of my current custom orders is for a Batman themed quilt for a little guy in Canada. The request is pretty simple - a "simple twin size bed quilt incorporating classic Batman colors, and these 2 fabrics":

Here's the 1st draft of layout:

Gotta love Batman!

Busy Busy Bees

*Pausing to take a breath* and finally posting to my blog. I think I'm the only one who reads it anyhow.

The past 2 months have been a whirlwind of activity - lots of orders, keeping up with the kids, visiting with family, and on and on. July was a bit slower than May & June in my Etsy shop (both of which were record-selling months for me!) but I don't mind as I've had plenty of other projects to keep me going. Here's one of the latest - a custom bedding set made in all sorts of lovely green, brown and teal fabrics - I love making stuff like this but it is so hard to package it up and ship it off!

I just love the way this turned out - not too shabby me thinks for a quilt designed and made completely with no pattern. The back is pieced too, but I don't have the photos on this PC.

Back to work - doing a show in Holland this weekend with dear Karin of awindowintowhimsy.etsy.com - looking forward to it!