Exciting!

One of my quilts has been featured on the Modern Quilt Guild's blog!

You can view the post here:

http://themodernquiltguild.com/2012/03/01/100-days-week-of-using-what-you-have-featured-quilts-4

I'm also seriously in love with the star quilt that is also featured. Beautiful!

Happy Valentine's Day

My daughter helped me make this paper heart wreath for Valentine's day. Very easy, very inexpensive. I used a heart-shaped paper punch ($6) and 5 sheets of scrapbook paper (about $3). I traced a dinner plate on cardboard and cut it out to use as the backing, then layered the hearts on top with double-sided tape. Easy!

For her school party, we used the same idea as our Valentine's cards in 2010. They were too cute to only use one time. My daughter loves them and can't wait to share them at school tomorrow.

These are super easy to make - take a picture of your child holding their hand out and pretending to hold a giant lollypop. Add whatever text and decor you'd like (making sure to leave space for where the lolly pop will be) and print. Then make two small slices in the picture - just above and below your child's hand (and at the correct angle for how she's holding it) and insert the candy. We use dum-dums because they are small and lighter. You can use any lolly pop or even glow-sticks or pencils.

Happy Valentine's Day! Bring on the chocolate!

Bath Time "Glowing" Review

My kids love bath. Seriously LOVE. But tonight? Tonight I added $2 worth of glow sticks and they happily declared it the “best bath ever!”

As if that weren’t enough, when the water cooled off, I added bubbles and refilled the tub to their delight.

Yeah, I’d say I have pretty good odds for winning “Mother of the Year” in this house.

More String Blocks

I'm still plugging away at this project, and still unsure where it's going to end up (wall hanging? table runner? quilt? no idea...). I am using lots of my scrap fabrics and that is very rewarding. Plus this object will remind me of so many of my past quilts, I think it will be very happy to look at.

I timed myself this afternoon to see how long these blocks are taking. Since I went through and pre-cut and pre-ironed all the strips, the blocks go together pretty quickly - averaging about 12 minutes per block. That means I can sew about four of them during my son's nap and still have time to do other stuff around the house (i.e. blog the picture!). If I keep up this pace and make four per day, I'll be set with a quilt or wall hanging or table runner or table cloth or or or or or very soon. :)

Happy New Year!

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful celebration to welcome 2012. I have lots of hopes for this year, one of which is to spend more time sewing. This year these two little adorable faces have definitely been a distraction/deterrent. Especially that little one who is into everything and wants to take apart my sewing machine anytime he sees it. He looks like trouble, doesn't he? ;)

Today that little darling took a 3.25 hour nap (!!) and I got motivated to use some of my scrap pile and make some string blocks. I love these blocks and I love scrap quilts. I was able to make four blocks today. I'm not sure where this project is headed - I don't know if I want to make a large quilt or a small wall hanging or what. I figure I'll make these blocks until I get sick of making them and decide at that point. I probably have enough scraps to make a king-sized quilt if I get on a roll. ;)

In other news... I've also become a bit of a Pinterest addict. If you'd like to check out my boards and pins, I'm at http://pinterest.com/jodie_bissig/ .

And if you've heard of Pinterest but haven't joined, trust me all the fuss you've heard is worthwhile - WHAT a fun, wonderful, inspiring, amazing place to collect photos and links to anything and everything you are interested in. It's super easy to use and such a great resource. I'm currently daydreaming of the house we are building. Decorating, organizing, arranging. And a designated sewing/craft room to dream about, too!

Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

And a big thank you to my friend Melissa for taking our photos this year!

Christmas Ornament

Yesterday I had a few minutes and a lot of inspiration and made a Christmas ornament. It was absolutely the last thing I should have been spending time on, but it turned out cute and made me happy. Sometimes it's nice to "run away" from what I should be doing and just do what I want. :)

Today my little one is with Grandma and my big one is at school - after I finish editing some client photos, I'm hoping to spend some time with my sewing machine, so hopefully I'll have something else to share soon!

Farmer's Wife :: Block 7

"Birds in the Air"

Whew! This was a very difficult block for me! 36 tiny little triangles + 4 larger triangles. I did not enjoy sewing this and it's far from perfect. And I'm quite upset that the points of the triangles will be chopped off once I sew it with the other blocks. :( Oh well... hopefully the next blocks will go better (or I'll at least be able to figure out why this one did not!).