Cindy Apron and a Giveaway

 Four years ago my sister died of breast cancer, and while I think of Cindy often, this time of year I do a lot of remembering -- an always present smile; creating goofy "commercials" with Dippity-Doo in front of the big bathroom mirror as kids; laughing; singing duets together; meeting half-way between our homes for shopping;  creating tasty vegetarian meals; more laughing; and always loving and caring for those around her.  For the past several years, I've created a "Cindy Apron" to give away as an act of  remembering my sister, Cindy.  See this post for the first apron, this one for the second, and this one as the "special edition" Cindy Apron!  This year, I am making two -- the one pictured here, which will be given to someone randomly chosen, and another one given to a randomly chosen family member.  That means 2 apron give-aways!   For the family one I will make the design of your choice and color of your choice.  Check out the links above to let me know which style you like.  The one pictured will be for the public give-away.  So, let the fun begin.  All you need to do -- family, this goes for you, too! -- is leave a comment on this blog page.  I will leave the give-away open for one week.

Gerber Daisy design.

The apron ties around the neck for adjustable length, and at waist.

Remembering Cindy, with love.

Mini Quilt finished!

Spring really is just around the corner!  As I look out the window and see the ground covered with a beautiful snow, I have to wonder about that!  On my dining room table, though, it looks like spring.  Take a look...

 Happy thoughts of spring!

Barbie clothing by Olga

I'm happy to feature some creative works by my friend, Olga, who is enjoying sewing some Barbie doll clothing.  Take a look at her great work!

I believe the pattern for this set was found here.

Thanks, Olga, for sharing your creative work.  Keep at it! :)

Work in Progress Day

Yesterday a beautiful snow graced my day.  This was a delight to me because, as you know if you read this, I love a Snow-Sew Day!  It was also a WIP (Work in Progress) day.  I have several sewing projects started, and worked on a few of them yesterday.

Do they call this Sewing ADHD?

The first little project was to make a Bunny Treat Bag, featured here.  This was a quick project and turned out cute.  The ears are the only clue that it's a bunny, but I think in a basket at Easter,  there would be little confusion.

I cut into my Riley Blake Summer Song collection for this project.

A cute little bag, filled with treats!

My next project is about one third completed.  It is a mini pinwheel quilt.  I decided to use the Summer Song fabric collection for this project as well.  I imagine the finished project on the dining room table with a vase of beautiful spring flowers in the center.  The tutorial for this project was found here.

This project was not on my list yesterday, however, I'm enjoying the progress I see each step I complete. It will be a messenger bag, started several days ago.  I'm loving the hexagons on the front flap.  Today may just be the day to continue on this one!

This is just a little peek into my sewing room.  What are your works in progress?  Baking -- sewing --lesson planning -- writing a book -- making cards -- or just trying to keep a step ahead of your kids???

A quick project

Here's a quick little project for the day!  I saw the idea for these bookmarks on the sewcanshe.com daily tutorial.  They are a great way to use fabric and ribbon scraps.  Check out the tutorial here.

Featuring some of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics.

Other fun things coming...

I found this great bundle of fabric at Tuesday Morning last week for $4.99!  What a deal!

It's soon time to make my annual "Cindy Apron", and I'm thinking this may show up in it.

Winter Sewing

A cold winter Sunday afternoon, in my opinion, is a great time to enjoy some sewing.  Two projects were on my list today, and I'm glad to say they are both finished!  The first project was to finish the Sister's Ten BOM January block in the blue fabric.  I love how it looks!

Grandmother's Frame (January's block)

Grandmother's Frame (middle) with Susannah (February's block)

Because I was on a roll with the sewing this afternoon, I pulled out a project I had started a few weeks ago.  It all began when I won a lovely selection of fabrics from Silly Mama, which included a cute collection of 2 1/4 inch squares by Aneela Hoey called "Posy."  I decided to make a notebook cover for the journal I use to record my completed projects.  I did not use a pattern for this one, and I learned things along the way, so....there are imperfections which I normally would not post, but... sometimes it's good to see it all -- imperfections included!

Fabric collection - Posy by Aneela Hoey

Quilting on back

I used a Moda fabric called "Flirt" for the inside flaps, binding and pockets.

The completed inside.

The outside -- oh dear!  This is where you can see how things went a bit crooked!

My sewing journal. 

The inside.  

I tried to think of a way to do the journal with pockets and not having to use a binding, but just couldn't figure it out this time.  Next time I'll check out some tutorials on line! :)

Susannah

..."Oh, Susannah, oh won't you come for me..."  I can't help but sing that song when I see the name of February's block for the Sister's Ten Block of the Month (BOM) club. My Susannah block is made with Ravenna, a beautiful collection of fabric by Dear Stella.  When I saw this fabric I immediately knew this is what I wanted to use for the Sister's Ten quilt.  I had already started it in pinks and mauves, using fabrics I had on hand, but decided I'd rather like to make one using this lovely fabric.  Maybe two quilts will emerge from this project -- one pink, and one blue -- or maybe I'll make a pillow out of the pink block, and just do one quilt!  You know the old saying, "Time will tell!"  This will be a year-long project, so I'm going to try and figure out how to set up a separate page just for this quilt-along.  Check out genxquilters to see the tutorial for the Susannah block.

Susannah -- February blocks