Grayson

I finished up this little guy today. He is a gift for my favorite little nephew.

And since he is a Christmas gift he is dressed in a fun pair of Christmas pajamas! I love the fat penguins.

The crazy hair was (in a round about way) requested by the recipient (he fell in love with Ethan's baby Charlie's hair). And he got blonde hair and blue eyes like his (soon to be) new owner.

I love the way he turned out and hope Noah loves him too!

-Erin-

Yudu Progress...

So this weekend my best guy friend came to visit! YAY! And he brought more camouflage! (And helped pick apart a huge chunk of that camouflage so I can get started on some more of the boys Christmas gifts!)

Anyways...while he was here we got tons done! And when I say we, I mean all of us. Friday night we just relaxed and hung out. Saturday morning I made biscuits and sausage gravy while Charlie made scrambled eggs. Yummy!

Then Charlie taught my brother and cousin how to fix the brakes on the Jimmy I drive everyday. My little guys rode their bikes and helped out the big boys by throwing the trash away and stuff. I sat outside and picked apart more camouflage.

My mom worked on some drains that have been draining super slow for a while now and fixed a leak under the bathroom sink.

I made home made noodles and added them to chicken and veggie soup. I also made some delicious home made bread to go with it...sorta.

Then we got to yudu! Practice anyway.

It's fun. The prep work takes a loooooonnnnngggg time. But it wasn't really hard. The items we made so far aren't perfect but it is part of the learning curve and we are happy with how they turned out.

The 'big' boys wanted the Glock logo. We also did Lego heads but I didn't get any pictures of them yet. We ended up screen printing about 17 items.

Here we experimented with a different brand of fabric paint. It wasn't as sharp of a picture but it still turned out cute.

I think I'm gonna really have fun with this thing as I figure it out.

-Erin-

Noah's Gift...

...well part of it anyway! I finally finished him!

I know if I said he needed a face but I decided he looked so cute the way he was that I decided not to add one.

And as for giving him a name...I decided to let the birthday boy do that. But he is totally rocking the shorts I made for him!

Remember I said he has a surprise? Well...

Please ignore the lovely smudges on my phone. It was late and I wasn't thinking when I was finally able to photograph him.

...a secret pocket for tooth fairy money or whatever else Noah could think of!

-Erin-

Quilt-A-Long Part 2

So I have my 24 9-patches all done!

The next step is to cut 3 inch strips to make borders around the 9-patches. I had to be careful with the lime and white hippo fabric. It was directional, so be sure to check with your own fabric!

Then sew them together alternating them so that they are solid-pattern-solid-pattern or pattern-solid-pattern-solid and so on. Be careful and make sure the seams line up for a more professional look. If they don't line up it tends to look wonky.

I followed up with a photo shoot. That step is optional, however, totally recommended.

The bias tape is made from a different fabric from the same line. I wanted to use some of the fabric in the quilt but the pictures were a larger scale and just didn't look right in the pattern. I do think I will be making a couple of pillow cases out of that fabric just to throw a little more of it in there. It is a super cute fabric after all. I just didn't want to have to drag the serger out the day I finished up this project. 

I had a couple of extra 9-patches with borders attached so I made a couple of small throw pillows. I think they turned out super cute.

Now it's time to hand them over to my mom. She is planning to hand quilt them for her youngest grand baby (and my super adorable nephew!) Noah, who is the lucky recipient of all this!

-Erin-

Quilt-A-Long Part 1

Here's what I started with: 3 strips of white fabric and 3 strips of lime green with white hippos printed fabric. Mine are 3 inches by approximately 2 yards. The actual length isn't so important at this point.

1. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance sew 3 strips together lengthwise alternating printed and solid fabrics. Repeat for remaining 3 strips. Iron strips. In this case, I ironed away from the white fabric.

Here's what you should have:

2. Cut the long strips down to 3 inches giving you:

I got 32 white/hippo/white strips and 32 hippo/white/hippo strips from the small amount I used.

3. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew the strips together alternating them to finish with a 9-patch. I was able to get 22 9-patches total. with 1 remaining strip.

4. Repeat until you have enough 9-patches for the size quilt you are making. I am making a twin size quilt so I will need 24 9-patches.

Be ready for the next step next Saturday!

-Erin-