Easter Baskets 2016

My shop isn't officially open, but I made some Easter baskets this year for new babies who wanted to match their older siblings. :)

I accidentally dyed my hand aqua with this one. Oops!

The camo baskets were dipped in natural walnut hull dye.

They are probably all a little too young to hunt eggs this year, but I am sure they will carry a few treats on Easter. I am glad that I am able to make something quality that will be an heirloom for these children and will last for a very long time! 

WIP Wednesday ~ Getting Ready for Easter

Besides one for my nephew, I finished up all of my Easter basket orders last week and it was a big relief to be done so early! I will share pics of all of those later this week.

We had a spell of nice weather, so I spent some time in the sunroom cutting out one of the girls' Easter dresses. I usually don't start them until a week before Easter, so this was highly unusual for me!

This is the start of the next page of the spring quiet book I am making. I actually finished the page since I took this picture, so I will keep showing the quiet book progress on my facebook page.

If you follow my facebook page, I shared this scary story the other day! 

My biggest fear while sewing actually happened yesterday. I was trying to hem jeans and forgot to change from my old, dull, standard needle to a denim needle. That side seam was just too much. The needle shattered and a piece hit me in the eye! It scared me more than it hurt. We have an awesome eye doctor who saw me right away! He got everything checked out and flushed out just in case. The needle just left a scratch, didn't stick in the eye, and didn't hit the center, so I am very fortunate! When picking up my antibiotic drops I also got some new safety glasses and denim needles so that I could finish the hem.

I am very thankful that everything worked out OK! After hemming those jeans later, since I had a fresh denim needle in the machine, I did some mending on my daughter's jeans. They turned out great and I plan on blogging about them later, too.

I really need to get moving on those Easter dresses, but I also want to start a million other projects. It is hard to stay focused! 11 days to go! Would anyone like to take a guess at my "theme" this year?

Linking up at SillyMamaQuilts.

Red and Aqua Sampler Doll Quilts

I give up. I am tired of waiting for the doll bed to be fixed. I am tired of waiting for decent lighting. I give up.

Even though it was overcast and raining today, I took some plain pictures inside of those doll quilts that I finished almost a month ago so that I could post them here. I am too much of a perfectionist sometimes!

I got the over-achieving idea to make sampler quilts for these. I started out with 8" blocks before I realized they would be too big. Then, I changed to 6" blocks, but with the sashing they are still a little too big. Oh well.

The red and aqua color scheme matches the backing fabric, also used for sheets, that my daughter chose. It matches the red bunk bed and their bedroom very well, too.

Here are some of the best blocks I made. 6" finished blocks are pretty difficult to make. I don't plan on making such small blocks again for a very long time!

I also put the wrong binding colors on the quilts. I wanted to balance out the reds and aquas and totally messed that up. But I didn't feel like taking it all off to fix it. Are you noticing a progressively non-perfectionist attitude with these quilts? They took about a year to make so I just wanted them DONE!

The names of the sampler blocks from left to right- Churn Dash, Jacob's Ladder, Pinwheel, Sawtooth Star, Contrary Wife, Shoo Fly, Clay's Choice, Friendship Star, Carrie Nation, Fox and Geese, Anvil, and Welcome. Some of them probably have more than one name, though.

These quilts were part of my Finish-A-Long first quarter goals! Hooray! I don't think the last project is going to happen, but 2 out of 3 isn't bad!

I also enjoyed trying out free motion quilting and I plan on doing more project with that in the future. Maybe one day the bed will get fixed and I can show you the matching sheets and pillows, too. :)

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Monday Funday, Motivate Me Monday, Inspiration Monday, Show & Tell, Naptime Creations, The Gathering Spot,  Take a Look Tuesday, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Tutorial Tuesdays, Your Whims Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesdays,  Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Wildly Original, Thriving on Thursday, Grace at Home, The 36th Party, Freedom Fridays, Feathered Nest Friday, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Craft Frenzy Friday, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way

WIP Wednesday ~ Productive Week

I thought I would do another WIP Wednesday post to share what I have been doing around here lately.  I may not have blog posts up to prove it, but I have been super productive!

I finished up 2 out of 3 doll quilts, but did not get any pictures of them yet. Those sampler ones took so long that they deserve a full blog post. :) Plus, there is a piece on the doll bunk bed that needs fixed and nagging has not worked thus far. I may have to do it myself.

I made two stuffed bears from outgrown baby clothes (that was the sneak peek at the end last time!) and even a little blanket for one bear. I plan on posting the pattern I made for those, but I didn't get it perfected yet. I might even do another one just to test it out.

I started a crochet cow hat! It is almost done. I made one of those last year while I was on a blogging hiatus, so I never posted about it. Maybe I will show those pics when I get this one done, too. The first one is better because it is a brown cow. :)

Oh, and I am trying to do the 40 bags in 40 days challenge to declutter my house. Yesterday's task was my embroidery floss. It was all over the place, so my sewing table is much cleaner and the floss is super organized! I only got a sandwich bag worth to throw out, but I am counting it. :)

Speaking of organizing sewing stuff, I got this bobbin tower on clearance at Michaels a few weeks ago and it is awesome! I love being able to just reach up and grab the bobbin I need and the threads aren't hanging all over the place. I highly recommend it!

So, that is a little peek at what I have been working on this week. I am linking up with Silly Mama Quilts.