The Spunky Diva

Well Folks … I almost washed out of the Quilt-Along on the first block… it had triangles, LOL!  This is the first block I have ever made using triangles.  {Not that I have done tons of quilting.}  It came out so well!!!! I used the reverse of the tan, pawprint fabric so that the pattern is as subdued as possible since it is my ‘white’ fabric.  This block shows how all the different patterns/colors are going to work together.  The pattern at P2 showed only four of the fabrics being used, but since this is the center block for the quilt I made each corner using a different fabric so that they would all be used in the center block.  You can check out the other blocks that have been posted to the P2 Quilt-Along Flickr group .  Happy quilting! Linking up with: Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design We Did it Wednesday at Sew Much Ado

http://www.allfreesewing.com/ has some truly creative Easter crafts listed on their site.  It is a great site to find inspiration or to find directions ranked by your own crafty level.  AllFreeSewing ranks each craft for difficulty, the type of sewing involved {hand or machine}, and lets you know about how long it will take to complete the project.  Here are couple of the crafts I would love to try to get done for Ms. T and Ms. Diva, time and children willing of course, LOL! The Bunny Hat Photo Credit: http://www.allfreesewing.com/ Bunny Onsie and Dress Photo Credit: http://www.allfreesewing.com/ Peeps Bunting Photo Credit: http://www.allfreesewing.com/ Happy Crafting!

Here are photos of the completed Fresh Flowers Quilt with fabrics from Moda.  I still have to finish quilting the layers, but all the pieces are together. It does not have a traditional binding.  I wanted the backing fabric to ‘wrap-around’ to the front side.  So, I attached the backing {with the batting attached} to the pieced front, with the ruffle insertion attached, leaving an opening to turn the quilt inside out.  I then closed both ends when I attached the silky, carrot fabric.  Flipped the quilt inside out, sewed down both sides along the ruffle, and now it is ready to be quilted. I just love these fabrics.  The printed text fabrics are just lovely.  Wordy = cute! Linking up with: Mid-Week Mingle Follow My Back Tuesday Santa's Gift Shoppe Blog Hop Making the World Cuter Monday Pink Hippo Party at Pinkapotamus Take A Look Tuesday at SugarBee Crafts Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Message from the Japanese Patchwork Quilt Tsushin website: http://www.viq.com/ (Roughly translated by Tanya again) Comfort Quilts are quilts to ease pain and sadness. In North America, at times of natural disasters or when there is a need in foster facilities, volunteer quilters have had the custom of donating quilts. There are no definite requirements but quilts with warm batting and light stitching are made for both children and adults Patchwork Tsushin is asking for donations of any quilt (brand new or in nearly new condition after washing) or any quilt that quilters might take on to make especially for this cause. There are no size requirements but quilts either square or rectangular and at least 100 cm. large (approximate 40 inches) would be appreciated. Rather than works of art or quilts for showing, quilts that can and are appropriate for use are necessary. Baby quilts for newborns are especially welcome. Any quilter’s level (beginning and advanced) is appreciated. Mailing...

The quilt top has gone from this sneak peak shot... To this... I love the orange silky fabric and the fun pleated trim I found at Hobby Lobby... The fabrics used in this quilt top are Fresh Flowers from Moda .  This entire quilt top was pieced together using a Jelly Roll, and there is still fabric left over to add a piecing strip to the quilt back.

Went to Kohl's the other day, and found some really fun appliqued placemats.  Making pillows of of these placemats was done quit a bit, and linked up by several people to the different link parties.  Here is a tutoral on how to create these fun easy pillows: Easy Placemat Pillows by Meredith at Heardmont.  I have to admit though... all I did was use a seam ripper to undo about 4 inches of stitching, stuffed the placemats, and then restitched using mathcing thread.  Took about 5 to 10 minutes to create each pillow.  $2.50 per placemat and half of a $3.00 - 12 ounce package of poly-fil = less than $5 per pillow.  Making this a thrifty way for you to add some festive holiday pillows to your living room. I really like the peaking bunnies!  While checking out the Easter placemats I also picked up a very cute St. Patrick's (70% off = $1.00) and a fun Valentine's placemat.  I figure these can store flat until next year, and then get 'stuffed' jus...

Here is Ms. Diva modelling her newest addition to her hair accessory collection.  These fun felt stitchies are designs from GG Designs Embroidery and are fantastic!  Using felt and hair clips , they are very quick to stitch-out and I foresee many more of these being added to her hair accessory collection.  {As you can see her morning milk wins out over being a complete photo ham.} Here is the group photo before cutting each one out: I love well this blue flower clip matches one of Ms. Diva's  new outfits from Great-Grandma C. The designs I used from GG Designs Embroidery are: Butterfly Stitchies Flower Stackable Stitchies and the new Leaf Clip Snap Barrette Stitchie I am thinking that I may need to get some of these stitched out this month, LOL! Linking up with... Take-A-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee

Check out this new item that will be arriving in the Spunky Diva store soon: Travel Tissue Cases! These fun fabric cases protect your tissues from the wreckage caused by other items in your purse over time. Keeping your tissues fresh and ready for when you need them. I use a variety of fabrics to create a unique and useful accessory. Some of the fabrics are brand spanking new, while other fabrics used have been upcycled from a previous life {typically no longer used clothing}. All fabrics are washed and dried prior to construction to insure that if the need arises you can through it in the wash and not worry about shrinkage. Here are some more photos of the Fresh Cherries Tissue Case.   

 Here is the completed Curtain Valance for Grandpa's room.  We used the tan and blue fabric Mom found at Fabric.com.  This is the same fabric I used for his Christmas Gift . . Here is a picture of the pillowcase. We are going to change out the fabric behind these doors and make a leg rest cover for his recliner. To create the valance, we did a 2" ruffle at the top, and 3.5" gap for the curtain rod, and then double stitched along the bottom of the rod space.  The red line is the top of the fabric where it is folded.  {The fabric above that is just extra fabric I had the valance laid on top of for the photo.}

Hey Everyone ~ I can't believe Ms. T is already eleven days old!  She is doing very well, and she has her one week/two week old check-up today {I will tweet her new stats when we get out of the Doctor's office}.  Ms. Diva continues to amaze with me with how helpful she is trying to be.  No mean feat for a 15-month-old.  She already has an 'understanding' that Ms. T's binkies are not hers, and is determined that the baby's bottle needs to be held by the person holding the baby.  Otherwise she will hand you the baby's bottle, LOL!  Having Ms. T at home motivated me to finally get around to redoing the seat cushion for the rocking chair.  A task that had been on my to-do list for waaaaaaay to long.  Here are the results. I am not terribly thrilled with the finished look, but it is uber comfy.  I used a four inch foam from Joann's {purchased New Year's on sale}, and some micro-suede {also purchased at Joann's during the New Year's sale}....

One of my goals ( more to goals of 2011 to be posted in a goal post, almost sounding sporty here, later this week ) is to be better about using up fabric that I have been collecting this past year like a fiend.  Have questions about the amount of fabric... check out these posts: Fabric Posts .  I also want to continue learning new sewing skills in 2011.  I purchased a ruffler foot , and decided there was no time like the present to get started on ruffles! Since I used fabric I had on hand, a shirt Ms. Diva was outgrowing, and the ruffler foot... technically this project did not cost a cent.  {technically}  One of the issues with a lot of Ms. Diva's shirts is that she is very tall in the body, and even though she is already wearing 18m and 24m shirts they still tend to be to short.  So... this purple shirt became the subject to my first ruffling experiment.  I used a 6.5" strip of the Hearts fabric folded in half (no wrong side showing), and ruffl...