Finally.....

I hope that everyone is doing well!!

It is interesting how life works. I had hopes to blog often and big dreams for this year. However, life does not always make things easy resulting in change of plans...lol. Working full time has definitely had a larger impact than I thought it would. The kids are loving daycare, how ever, the time away from me has been hard on them and they require all of my free time in the evenings and weekends.

Despite all of my new challenges, I am happy to say that one of my sisters got married on the weekend. Her wedding was absolutely amazing, and she was truly a beautiful stunning bride!!

In the limo on the way to the ceremony

I was one of the bridesmaids and both my girls were flowergirls!!

The 3 of us in the limo

The girls were truly amazing the entire day..and my oldest daughter I must say is quite the little party animal...she danced the night away until we left at 1130 pm (to be honest all the kids played until we left :) )

For the bride and groom I did make a custom wedding cake for them. It was a huge success with the couple as well as all of the guests, caterers and management of the hall they rented!

Full view of cake on top of water fountain

Closer view of the top 2 tiers of the wedding cake

Close up of the Calla Lillies I made out of fondant. They were tipped with blue and silver.  Made about 150 of them.

I am so very happy for my sister! The gentleman she married is so wonderful to her, he treats her very well and truly makes her happy!!

Now that the wedding is over, I am hoping that I may get some good quality time with my sewing machine. It has been a very long time and I am really missing it!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

been super busy!!

There has been sew much going on!! And sadly, blogging had to be put to the side :(

Here is a quick bit of a run down. I was commissioned out by a dance studio to create and sew a costume for 1 dance class, and then several tutus for another dance class.

For the costume, I have to say it took me longer than I had anticipated. There was no pattern for what the class wanted, So, I drafted up a pattern and thought "WOW, was that ever easy!! However, the prototype was HUGE!! So back to the drawing board I went. long story short, it took me a few times to get it right. And then, once things were to the right size, I was busy getting everything sewn, and ready for delivery! This costume that was needed was to resemble the jacket of a children's story book character "Madeline".  I must say, when everything was said and done, they turned out well. There are things I would have still liked to improve on. But for drafting a first pattern, I think it was pretty good. Most importantly, the girls and their parents were extremely happy with them :)

Front view of the Jacket.  My little model was about 2 sizes smaller that the class that needs them. So that is why it looks rather big and baggy on her :)

Back view of the jacket

The tutus were all the same, red with some black. I needed to make 12 of those.

12 of these were needed for the one class. All of them identical

Then, among all of that, it was decided that I need to go back to work full time, so I had to find daycare for the 3 young ones, and also a full-time job...both in which I was successful with!  To make it special for the older 2, together we made them a special backpack. My daughters was a Tinkerbell, and my sons was a Disney Cars! Both of them are well loved and I must say I am very happy that it made their day!! For these darling backpacks I used a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop here. I did alter the pattern a bit to suit our needs :)

Both backpacks completed

Close up of front

View of the back

I have also seriously debated in entering into the McCalls Quilt Design Star 2011.  And I think I may have the perfect entry...just a few more things to do to it and then pictures :)

And finally, I am done sketching a secret project that I am very excited about!!!

Oh, these next 2 weeks are going to be very busy, but will be well worth it!!

Just wanted to say......

THANK YOU!!!

I know I have not been the most regular blogger...I must admit I am rather inconsistent to be honest! I do try, however, with 3 wee young children, blogging seems to happen when I have lots to say,something to share or a few spare moments!

With that being said, I just wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone that stops by and says hi, and reads what I am up to!! You all really are the best!

Again,

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Hope you all have an amazingly fantastic creative day!!!!!

Starting this weekend....

So, I have had all supplies for a Dear Jane quilt for some time now, well I am FINALLY going to start making it!!!  For some reason this quilt terrifies me and excites me all at the same time! So I figure now is as good as ever to just jump right in and start with a block!

 I will post pictures when they are complete :)

Crafts, quilts and pillows! Lots of Pictures!!oldes

Oh we have been sew busy here. Right now it is really cold outside...-25 and with the windchill -35. Last night it was actually -35 before the windchill....brrrrrrr. With that being said, it has been indoor activity week and trying to get lots done!!

So here is what we have done so far!! The kids did some crafts using up all those itty bitty scraps of fabric I had,  taught my son a bit of sewing knowledge and he made his very first sewing project, and I completed a quilt top. So here are some pictures (there will be a few as I love the pics). I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!!

Oldest daughter creating her masterpiece

Proudly showing off her work

Close up of her masterpiece

Little mister creating his masterpiece

Proudly showing off his work

Close up of his masterpiece

Little mister pinning the pillow together (was closely supervised and there were no pin pokes!)

Me teaching him how to guide the fabric through

him guiding the fabric through himself

Learning to put the pins away once they are removed

Pulling pillow right side out

Stuffing the pillow

Hand-stitching the opening closed

TA DA!!! One finished Spiderman Pillow and one VERY happy  little boy!

Prep work completed for quilt top

Called this one Hawaiian Sunrise. 

Front on view.
Pattern used was called Windowpanes Designed by Bradie Sparrow

It has been such a great week of creativity!!! And it is so much more enjoyable when my wee ones enjoy creating as well :)

If you are interested in the Windowpane patterns, hop on over to A Quilty Kind of Girl and get one from Bradie!

And just because I thought this was cute, here is my youngest daughter. She was playing peek-a-boo with a bucket! 

Peek-a-boo!!! 

Well, off to get some work done! Hope that you all have a fantastic day!!

My New Nephew!!

Well I received an early morning phone call letting me know that baby was born!!

He made his entrance into the world at 615am, weighing 5 pounds, and measuring 16 inches long. He is so so tiny and the sweetest little bundle of joy!!

so tiny all bundled up

big cousin holding him and very happy about this!

making faces

all cuddled up with his new blanket!

Oh, new babies are such a wonderful joy! And this Auntie is over the moon happy!!!

Patiently waiting.....

Last week I was busy making a few things, and I managed to get everything done with time to spare. You see I am waiting for the announcement of the arrival of the newest family member. We know its a little boy and I am so excited to be an Auntie again!!!

This past weekend we held a baby shower for my sister in law, and I for this I made a couple of things. One was a blanket (which our family has named Budzy's) and I also made a diaper cake. Also, several people pitched in and we bought her a stroller/car seat combo, some sleepers, a monitor and diapers. The mommy to be was so happy and greatly appreciative of everything.

Today she has gone into the hospital for an induction, so now we wait....I hope my littlest nephew decides to arrive soon!

So, here is what I made :)

Budzy (baby blanket)

front and back of the budzy

close up of the fabric I used for the front of budzy

Picture of the diaper cake. I usually add more to these, but we opted for very simple as it was the table center piece :)

Hopefully soon I will be able to post some pictures of my new wee nephew on his budzy!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Hugs,
Christine

Tutu's are done!

Well I have completed the custom order for Tutu's. And I must say that I am very happy with the way that they all turned out! It was a change to have a large order like this. Usually I do one or two, but this ended up being for 11 Tutus! I was happy to get them all done with in a few days of confirming the order!

These are the wands that I made to go with the Tutu's

Here are all 11 of the Tutu's together

close up of one of the Tutu's

The lady who ordered these came and picked them up this morning and was very happy, and that made my day!

And to make my day better, I received a message from someone who would like to place an order for dance class! They would like to see a sample in person and then decide from there! How exciting!!

I have also begun the new baby blanket, which I am hoping to have completed tomorrow!

It really is a great feeling to be back to sewing and my crafting

Been a long time.....

Wow has it been awhile since I have made an entry in my blog!! Not doing so well with keeping up in daily posts for the last month. There has been so much going on, and my kids have really needed my undivided attention. As a result, blogging was put on the back burning for awhile. I am hoping that things have settled down and things will return to normal!

I am currently working on a birthday party order for 11 Tutu's, making a baby blanket for the arrival of my newest little nephew (end of Feb), and designing some quilts while I await the arrival of some fabric!

Well, I am hoping to be in touch with everyone much more, but hope that you all understand that my wee munchkins need to be my number one priority!

Hugs,

Christine

My baby is 1!!

Yesterday was such a fun day! My youngest daughter turned one!

Where did the time go! We had such a great day, we all (myself and the 3 kids) went out for lunch at McDonald's. Then once the kids were finished eating off to the little play area they have for kids! Oh it was so so much fun! There were lots of smiles, giggles, laughter and lots of fun!! Then off to Walmart we went with Grandma, where we looked around and found a few goodies.

We are having a birthday party this weekend, so I have so much I need to do before then. I have picked out a sweet little cake for her which I will be doing tomorrow. Then there is the cleaning that should be done (seems like so much more work is involved with cleaning with 3 young children ;) ) Oh I am so excited!!

Once this weekend is over, I am excited to be able to take some time for myself and pull out my sewing machine! I am missing the sound of that machine :)

Well off to get a wee bit of cleaning done :D

Cuddles, cuddles and more cuddles!!!

Today was a day full of cuddles. Both my girls are suffering from a nasty head colds. There has not really been any naps today, but there has been lots and lots of cuddles. Both girls have been beside me or on me most of the day, and when they were not, my little man was sitting with me getting hugs!!

Now that the 3 of them are in bed asleep for now, I am going to just take it easy and do some hand stitching, maybe some sketching, or maybe I will just take the night off and get some rest!!

Night all!

Getting back into the swing of things!

With all the holiday hustle and bustle, the family visits, parties and just fun, routines seem to have gone awry! Finally I am getting some sense of organization and routine back!

Today, the kids were back to smiles and almost back to listening much better, daily chores are getting all caught up and I am feeling a bit of breathing room...wooohooo!

Tonight has been a big relief, I have managed to get caught up on the laundry. It is all folded and in the morning shall be put away..phew what a relief, and trust me, if you could see me now, I am doing a huge happy dance!! Laundry is my LEAST favorite chore..blech ;)


      

I managed to get another side of my husbands wall hanging done last night!! This is FANTASTIC!! I can not wait to have this one completed, done, finished and off of my to do list! This one has taken me over a year to do and has challenged me every step of the way! When you all see it, it really looks simple, but it has been one that has pushed me out of my comfort zone and literally be a challenge every step of the way...nothing has been easy with this one...not even the binding..oiy!

Well off to make the to do list for tomorrow! Have a great night all!

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. 
Abraham Lincoln