my monkey

I made a monkey for Craft Hope's 4th project. I was a little too close to the deadline, but I hope my monkey got there in time to go to the preschooler's burn camp. Here she is:

and a close-up of her face:

I also made a few 9-patches last week:

Isn't the "unmentionables" fabric cute? Sorry to be shocking if you're reading here and you're my father-in-law. :D

This week I am going to finish up two baby dresses and two Project Improv quilt bindings. And some other stuff, too. I have the backing fabric for my watercolor quilt! I have baby pirate costume fabric, also!

baby gift

Our friends Jennifer and Jared had a baby shower last week and I made a few things for them.

Their nursery has a monkey theme; I got this cute monkey knit from The Fabric Fairy. It's a good, thick, cushy rib knit. The pants and hat are made from the NCBE pattern; shirt is Ottobre, from 5/2006.
I also made this little set:

While I was at it I made this top for my girl:

From Ottobre 3/2004. I kind of like the green thread on this; mismatched but cute.
I am working on more nine-patches today, and thinking about finishing up another big quilt.

my birthday week

My birthday was last week and our family went to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Emporia, KS, for part of the celebrations. It was interesting to see the old ranch home and other buildings, all made of limestone starting back in the 1880s. There's even a limestone chicken coop and a limestone outhouse.

There was also a quilt show.

This was one of my favorites. I took a whole bunch of other pictures but I'm going to share them later.

We missed the bus tour of the park while we were there but had a good time looking at the quilts and walking through the house on a self guided tour, and talking to the women who were there demonstrating spinning, natural dyeing, weaving, and outdoor cooking.
Here's my oldest with the bookmark he wove:


So, that was a fun family field trip and we got to see another interesting part of our state that we hadn't been to before.

Also for my birthday, my parents and my husband's parents gave me this:

Actually, they gave me money and I searched and searched and hemmed and hawed about which fabrics I really wanted, and finally found a smoking deal on all these precuts at Jojo's Gift Shoppe. I love it all. I really really love the Eva charm pack, there are some great dark purples and pinks and chartreuse greens in there. That's a Neptune honey bun there, in case you couldn't tell.

So--it was a good birthday. I'm also planning on subscribing to Quilter's Home for my birthday... maybe I'll go sign up online this morning. Have a great day!

This week's Sew -n- Tell

Park City Amy and Amy Lou Who are hosting their second Sew and Tell--head on over and add yours if you have something to show off!

This is the quilt for my grandpa's 85th birthday. My mom pieced it, and I quilted it and did the binding. The birthday party is tomorrow, and the white and tan squares are (mostly) unquilted so guests can sign the quilt. I used a variegated blue thread; it shows up a little better in this picture:


I have been working on a custom project for my etsy shop and needed a break so I made these little pants for my girl:

The pattern is from Ottobre Design 1/2007, size 74. They fit really well with some growing room (she is maybe just under 16 lbs now and 12 month size store bought pants are still a bit too long). I love those front pockets; they crack me up.
I finished the dress a little while back but hadn't shown it yet. Once she's up and walking I figure she can wear it as a top in the winter too--layered over long sleeves, maybe. And, she is getting close. We were in the bookstore tonight and Cory was showing L a stuffed dog. She stood up and was actually able to stay balanced for more than just a second.
Here's the pants back view:

(The color is way washed out in this picture, sorry.)
Oh yeah, and these are made from some of my Target tablecloth stash fabric. I love finding fabric at Target, and bought this table cloth and a similar pink one a couple years ago.

Finally, today I worked on a few small things. Here is my no-schedule 9-patch progress (I made 5 of them today, on the far right):

If you're interested in seeing what some folks have been doing with 9-patches, go here. I am just working on mine when I want to, and I am not quite sure what I will end up making with them (I am thinking, maybe queen size?) I am hoping to swap some with a few friends so let me know if you're interested in doing that.

I also made four cloth napkins from Katie jump rope fabric today, and two blocks for my Christmas quilt. It was a fun day.