I spy with my little eye....

...a quilt that's finished! This I Spy quilt is my first bigger sized quilt. I've learned a lot about quilting while making it. I've definitely got the quilting bug! I'm working on a second quilt (just for fun using lots of PINKS because I can) and I might just make a quilt for our bed too!

I'm looking at the photos of the quilt and you can't see any of the mistakes in it, unless it's right under your nose. The binding (the border) was machine stitched on the front but hand stitched on the back so I spent a lot of evenings with it. I wanted the framing of the squares to be neutral since the blocks already had so many colours in them. I worried it looked too dark for a kid's quilt, but the colours definitely POP!

It's square and not meant for his crib. I just like the way it drapes

 When Alex first saw it the first thing he noticed was "APPLE!". He's since noticed the mittens and "full" cup of hot chocolate as well. Fun!

(The colours are more accurate in the first photo,

hard to take a picture of it without

 a clothesline or fence to hang it on like all the quilting bloggers do)

It's already been put to the Kitty Tackle test!

Colours! A felt book for Alex.

I haven't been posting as much because I've been busily working every evening on this felt book I've made for Alex. I started it, hmm let me think, the beginning of October? Maybe September? I can't believe this book is finally done! I had seen the felt book at my friend Crafty Mel's house. She made the felt book for her son, and it was beautiful. I wanted to make one too! She lent me the pattern (sorry copyright!) and slowly I collected what I needed for the book. I started making a few pages from the pattern, but then deviated from it. About a third of the book is from the pattern, the rest I did on my own, making images that Alex would recognize. I tried to make it interactive, giving Alex stuff to do on most pages.

It took about 30-40 hours to make but it was a lot of fun. I did some hand sewing, machine sewing, embroidery, a quilted square and even a tiny bit of needle felting.

Alex loves fire trucks so this was a no brainer. The ladder is a working zipper.

Orange. This one was from the pattern. The goldsfish come out of the tank.

Banana! You can peel the banana. Meh, not my favourite page.

Another one partially from the pattern. The little bird comes out of the nest.

Whale! When I started this Alex didn't know whales, but now he says Whale. The airplane is a button.

This was supposed to be grapes. I'm happy with the butterflies. There's a second butterfly that comes out from the cocoon.

Watermelon. It's pink. There's an ant. Doesn't do anything.

Who is that squirrel sharing an apple with?

A friend!

 I needle felted the white around the eyes during an unusually long nap.

This page makes me very happy! I love the squirrels!

What do you think?

Easy Peasy Crafting: Mini Stocking for gift cards

 I hate giving gift cards. I much prefer picking out presents for people. For some people though, like a teenage boy, gift cards are the perfect gift. I guess I could just put the gift card in a card, but it seems like a of waste, especially if this person already got a Christmas card from us. I've seen little card holders, some quite cheesy at the Dollar store, and others, equally cheesy for several dollars elsewhere.  I was inspired by Wombat and her use of reusable gift bags she made. So I've made some cute little stockings that can hold gift cards, candy canes, little notes, or some chocolates. They're also reusable. I used some fabric I got from a friend and some yarn I had lying around the house. 

So to start, you take your fabric, fold in half (right side facing in) and trace a stocking (or any shape really) using a card as a guideline, making sure that there's enough fabric for a seam allowance.

You then do the same thing to the second fabric. Take the fabrics and put the two opposite colours together, with the toes facing in the same direction like this.

 Then stitch the two boots rims together with the fabrics facing right sides together. Once you have two weird two headed boot things, place those together, right side facing each other. Then stitch all the way around one boot, and most of the way around the second boot, leaving a space open at the bottom. (Stitching using photoshop to demonstrate, not actual bad sewing).

Oh if you want to add a string, insert it so it's facing the right sides of the fabric in the stocking with just the end sticking out. If you add it right at the middle point between the fabrics it makes the stocking reversible!

And this is the result! (Made with other fabrics)

Sewing! Alex's halloween costume

Yes, I am going to be one of those mothers that makes halloween costumes instead of buying one. Homemade costumes seem to be a dying breed. Hopefully this little person will always want the costumes I make and not be all " Oh mom, all the cool kids BUY their costumes!". Alex didn't even go out trick or treating this year (I contemplated it but in the end it was too cold) but I wanted him to dress up. We chose a lion because when asked what a lion says Alex roars and shakes his head. Perfect!

I got a pattern since I'm a little rusty at sewing but ended up altering it a lot. It was supposed to be a one piece outfit but I thought he'd never get to wear it again. I made it into a hoodie and pants (with a detachable tail). My only real snafu in sewing came from buying the wrong zipper. Three times. Too long, doesn't unzip at the bottom, too short and finally just right. I was terrified of putting the zipper on, but I did pretty well. The pants were easier than I thought. They were seriously too big (he could have worn 2 snowsuits under the pants) but I traced a pair of his pants and they came out perfectly. I'm on the hunt for some good fabric now to make more pants for him.

It was so great getting the sewing machine out. It had been buried deep in our storage closet for too long. Since our space is so tiny I had to clear out a couple of shelves on my bookshelf to make room, but it's totally worth it. My brain is spinning with all the the potential sewing projects!

Roar! (He totally did this on his own, unprompted)

Chasing his prey, like any good carnivore.