A Simple Skirt

Sydney is very tall for her age. As her doctor told us at her recent check-up: "She's the size of an average 8 year old." Yep that's my girl...well her daddy's girl. I love her beautiful height but it does make buying clothes for her a little tricky sometimes. Especially since most skirts for little girls are getting shorter and shorter these days. And while I'm tempted to go on and on about my frustrations with that I'll continue on to a lighter note.

After some searching for skirts she could wear to school (they need to be mostly navy, light blue, white, and tan) and not finding much selection I decided to make her one. I made this little skirt for her a while back and she wore it quite a bit throughout the spring. It is perfect for her and makes everybody happy. Her school is happy with the colors, Mom and Dad are happy with the length, and Sydney is happy to have a unique skirt to wear to school and show off her individuality.

It is from the Lazy Days Skirt tutorial. It was so easy to follow and super simple. I will definitely be making more of these for the coming school year. The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner which I had in my stash and the ribbon is just a basic navy ribbon I picked up at JoAnn's.

New Pillows

I made these pillows a few months ago but just realized I haven't shared them here. The pattern is Anna Maria Horner's Love Emblem pattern. She also has a free pattern to make two different size quilts using the same pattern. They are beautiful. This was my first try with such a challenging pattern. All those different triangles and points and fitting it all together was a bit overwhelming. In the end, they didn't turn out perfect but I like them and learned so much in the process.

For these pillows I used her Folksy Flannels Collection along with some solid cream flannel I picked up at our local JoAnn's. It makes them very soft and snuggly. For the backs I just used some Kona solids. For the stuffing I mainly used the stuffing from the pillows we already had on the couch. This saved some money. Plus, we didn't need more pillows just different ones.

I like the idea of making new pillows every few months to give the room a fresh feeling. Hopefully I'll find some time to make up some new ones this fall. I also like trying new things and pillows are a good size for trying new patterns or techniques or color combinations. Do you have any favorite patterns for pillows?

Flannel Patchwork Ball

Yes, I know it is March so please excuse the next couple posts. Last Christmas I wanted to make Shane and the girls each a handmade gift instead of buying gifts and I wanted to share them here too.


Up first, is the littlest Mulholland, Violet. I made her a little patchwork ball. The pattern is from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner. It is all hexagons and pentagons sewn together. I thought it would be confusing and that I might have a lot of taking out stitches and resewing but Anna gave clear, concise instructions and diagrams. It was so much fun to make. I used a bunch of her different flannels which made the ball super soft and cuddly. I think half the time Vi uses it for a pillow.


As you can see not all my corners match up very well but luckily Violet doesn't mind.

Baby Quilt: Pink and Orange

One more baby quilt to share. This one is also for a friend who is due in about a month. These fabrics are Anna Maria Horner prints that I had in my stash along with some solids.


Like I mentioned before I want to keep trying new things with each quilt so I decided to add a little hand embroidery for the quilting. First I used my sewing machine to 'stitch in the ditch' and then used thick embroidery floss to add detail. I just tried to do some straight stitches around different portions of the patterns in each piece. It really added a handmade feel to the quilt. I think in the future if I decide to do this again, I'll try to add even more.


The pattern is the same as this first quilt. I really love this pattern because it is super quick and so fun to pick out prints since it is designed for six fat quarters. The back is an Anna Maria flannel and I tried my hand at making and attaching binding again. This time the binding went much better and I feel like I'm understanding the process much more. I think my favorite thing about this quilt is the colors. I must confess that I wanted to keep it. I hope little Alli loves this quilt to shreds.


I have one more baby quilt finish that I'll share once I get pictures of it. And since I have more friend's expecting there will probably be more quilts to come this year. I really love making this size quilt. It is just fast enough to feel satisfying and keep me interested in each individual project.

Baby quilt: Pink and Black

Here is another baby quilt for yet another friend about to have a baby, a little girl. I had all these pink fabrics already and the black and white came from my mom. She probably had the black and white check since I was a little girl. The pattern is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. I really like how easily it all came together.


My goal has been to try a little something new with each quilt since I'm such a beginner still. So this time around I decided to tackle making and attaching binding. It came out alright for my first try. I think the fabric I used was a bit thin and something a little sturdier would work better. I used the same check fabric for the back and since it is a bit thin I added some cotton batting so it would be a little warmer. Hope you enjoy Baby O.

Hearts and Needles

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a weekend of heart shaped food including toast with hearts cut out and filled with eggs. We call these birds in a nest but I'm not sure that's an official name for this food. We also made homemade pizzas in heart form.


Today is a no school day for Sydney. The girls have been having a fun day playing together. While Vi was napping I decided to work on a little hand-stitching.


It is so lovely to look down at this fabric (from Anna Maria Horner). But so much better to look up to find Syd has joined me with her own project. She knows how to make a mama feel so loved.


The only thing that would make this day better is having my Valentine here with me. But alas, a day of love is not a holiday for the movie making folk. :) I'll just have to wait until dinner.

Blue Crocheted Granny Square

This was a wedding gift for yet another wedding this past year. One of Shane's closest friends from college was married a week after my sister. This blanket is just a giant granny square with a couple different shade of blue and some cream too. I liked how simple yet soothing it looks. It is a perfect size for a lap blanket.

I also made another one of these for our landlord for Christmas. It was a dark hunter green and this same cream color in big large stripes. Of course, I was finishing it up right until we gave it to her so I forgot to take a picture.