No more thread!

 I have been sewing like crazy lately trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the end of the year, and then this happened:

Now I am one of those people who usually have 2-3 extra spools of thread laying around close to my desk and then another one down in the basement on the quilting frame. But not this time. I am not sure what happened, but this is all the thread I have left! I have even used up my last bobbin as well!

And it would happen that all of my kids have been playing very well together and I have been able to sew a couple of hours a day - but now I cannot.

I am in the middle of this Christmas present for my sister - yes I am late, but I was shooting for the end of the year.

I came across the blog Sew Kind of Wonderful through pinterest, and I bought her curved ruler. It came with a free table runner pattern and that is what I am making for my sister. She is extremely talented and you will not regret checking out her blog!

Tomorrow I am heading out and buying 5 or 6 spools of thread! Unfortunately I have the rest of the day to kill; I guess my house will get clean! Hope you are all enjoying your Holidays!

Nativity Ornament

This year I did not make very many crafts. This cute and simple ornament is one of them.

We made this ornament at my craft group. I got the idea from pinterest, where all the great ideas come from. It only took about 10 minutes, and that was with the cutting the one clothes pin. I am not the best, and you can see that from my not so good cutting job.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas, we enjoyed relaxing and spending time with each other. I hope to post about my other Christmas decoration. Even though it is after Christmas, there is nothing like get a head start on next year!

T-Shirt quilt

I would have to say that the latest craze around me are these t-shirt quilts. I just finished this one out of their favorite clothes from the baby's first year. And I have three more people who are wanting me to make one for them.

It was a little bit tricky because there are so many different sizes that I had to work with. But it was kind of fun trying to see if I could figure out the puzzle.

I like the way this turned out. I did a simple line quilting because knit is not very easy to quilt on!

I am thinking that this might be fun to make with a few of the shirts that my kids have gathered through the years. You know the ones I am talking about; those ones that are just too cute to part with or just mean so much to you. But I am last in line, so it is on to the next one - which is actually some bridesmaid dresses! I am a little bit scared to cut into them because they are so beautiful!

Dr. Seuss Cookies

Despite my lack of posting, or even getting on here for that matter, I am alive and well.

I have been busy being a mom, organizing - I have gone through so much stuff and gotten rid of so much stuff, it is unreal, -  cleaning house, training a new puppy - I'll post some cute pics later - and sewing. Man I love to sew. I like to craft, but not near as much as I like to sew. And I have quite a few orders piling up and so maybe if I stay on top of things I will get them posted on here!

I had to share this with you for a few reasons. One being that they turned out so dang cute, and good for that matter, and well I guess that is really the only reason.

I had a cookie exchange the other night and I decided that I was going to make these awesome cookies. I found them on none other than the fabulous pinterest! You are more then welcome to go and follow me on there and see what fun things I find and like.

I am not posting the recipe and directions, because the site I got them from did a great job on it. So just head over there to see more great pictures and the recipe.

I made these in green as well. I used a peppermint extract on both colors and it was super good. But you have no pictures of the green ones, because by the time I thought to get the camera, they were in the bottom of my pans and I was not going to dig through them all, sorry.

Everyone loved them and thought they looked like something that you would see in a Dr. Seuss book, hence the post title.

I was good this year and did package up most of the cookies that we got for some friends and neighbors. That way I do not have as many sitting around the house tempting me to eat them. And of course a few got used to bribe some children to clean the whole house - loving it right now!

I hope that all of you are having a great holiday and enjoying your sugar overload as well!

Tulle Halloween Wreath

I have been so busy with just life that I have had to put this blog on the back burner and re-align my priorities. In doing so I have not done much crafting lately. I have taken a lot of pictures and am working on this great picture which I will try to share when I finish - hopefully this next week.

Thing #2 had surgery two weeks ago and in her down time of not being able to run and play or to talk for that matter, she really needed something to do.

I found this super easy wreath off of the fabulous Pinterest. It seemed easy enough for her. It only took her about 1/2 a day and was a great way to keep her occupied without doing too much.

It is easy enough to make, you need:
Black tulle - I bought two rolls of it from Walmart
Orange ribbon
wreath form
I added a skeleton and banner to jazz it up

All you do is cut your tulle to the length you desire and tie it around your wreath form. Add as much as you need until it is the desired fullness. Add your ribbon and hang it up and you are done.

I saw these skeleton necklaces at the dollar store so I bought them and cut the skeleton off and added him to the wreath.

Also somewhere I saw once that someone had a wreath that said "we are dying to greet you". I thought that was pretty cute so I copied them. It was a while ago that I saw this, so I apologize for not giving proper credit.

That is about all that I have done for Halloween decor this year. We'll have to see if anything else gets done - I at least have to do costumes, right?! ;)

Fresh Squeezed Summer

I don't know about you, but I love fall. It was here for about a week, but then we went back to the warmer weather. It did allow me to take the kids to the green belt close to my home with my newly finished quilt and spend a lazy afternoon. And they needed to get out of the house and burn off some energy.

 Truth be told I really would not have finished this quilt if I did not have the birthday that I really wanted to get quilted. This one sat on the frame forever it seemed like! But it is done and that makes me happy!

 This is a huge quilt, and presented a few problems when I was trying to fit it onto the frame to quilt. I had to leave about a foot and a half off the frame and quilt it later because it just did not fit. It did cause a little rippling on the back, but thank goodness after washing it is barely noticeable.

 Isn't this just perfect for a lazy summer afternoon - or almost fall afternoon?

 And here I am with my glorious boot - which I just got back from the Dr. and I am in the clear to start running again. I am supposed to ease into it, which will be hard for me.

 I quilted it in a simple all over pattern, because it was already pretty busy with these bright colors.

 I love the teal blue on the back - it is seriously one of my favorite colors right now.

I hope that you have the opportunity to get out and enjoy those last few days of summer weather- or however long depending on where you live. But I am excited for fall!

Sneak Peak

 Just so you all know, I am alive and well, I just don't have much time for blogging lately. Conan's schedule has changed, which mean change for everyone, so we are still trying to get into a groove.

But I have been sewing like crazy! Thing #5 had a birthday this week and so I was trying to get this project done before that special day. I did, but I have not taken all the photos to post on here, so you get just a sneak peak of it.

This is a top of the quilt I am making. I have a lot of quilts but I wanted something special for my kids when it is their birthday. I saw the pattern for this quilt (it used christmas fabric - but I did not need another christmas quilt) I instantly thought that this would be super cute as a birthday quilt. I got the fabric a couple of months ago and have been working on it here and there.

When the kids went back to school I suddenly had the desire to get this quilt done. I tried to stick to bright cheery fabrics and not a lot of flowers - since boys make up the majority of our house here, but there was a few I just could not resist!

I also decided that a birthday banner would be in store for some of the scraps from the quilt - so we are all matchy-matchy! ;)

I really busted this out earlier this week, and now it has not left Thing #5's bed - which I love. And I love how the other kids cannot wait until their birthday so that they can sleep with it. I kind of made a few rules for the quilt. They are:
-you can sleep with the quilt the night before your birthday
-you get to open presents on the quilt, and everyone else has to stay off - I don't know about you, but everyone seems to want to help the little ones open their presents.
-you can sleep with it a couple days after your birthday - I did this because I figured I would let them use it until I am ready to wash, and then just put it away for the next birthday.

I love to celebrate birthdays at my house. Do you have any fun birthday celebrations or traditions that you do for your family?

Butterfly Quilt Pattern

I don't know what is up, it seems lately that I have no time to do everything that I want to. The kids are back in school, I should have a little bit more free time, but for some reason I do not. I have been crafting and sewing - wait until you see my next quilt, I love it! But I have no time to blog about any of it. But today I have a free pattern for all of you! Yippee!!

 Do you remember about a month ago I finished up this beautiful butterfly quilt? Well I am finally getting around to posting the pattern for it! I do not know how to make a PDF pattern, so this is what you get, sorry. (If someone knows and wants to share with me how to do this I would love it! )

BUTTERFLY QUILT approx. 60 X 70

3 yds white fabric for background
2 charm packs of 42 charms each
5 yds backing
3/4 yds binding


Cut your white fabric into 10 - 10 inch strips. Sub cut those strips into 42 - 10 inch squares.

Draw a line from corner to corner on wrong side of each charm pack square.

Take one charm and one white square. Place charm on corner, wrong sides together and sew on the line you drew.

Repeat with alternating corner.

Repeat with all white squares.

Trim excess fabric and press the corners open.

Lay quilt out so that colored triangles touch corners - making your butterflies. Arrange it so that no two fabrics are next to each other. You will do 6 squares across and 7 squares down.

Sew together row by row and then sew the rows together - pressing as you go.

Piece backing so that it covers entire quilt.

Quilt as desired.

Cut binding into 2 1/2 inch strips and sew together. Bind edges of quilt as desired, machine or hand.

Add buttons to the center of the butterflies.

Wash and dry and enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: This is the first time I have ever written up a quilt pattern, so I apologize if there are any errors - because I am sure there are. I am not that good at following patterns I just seem to take the base of it and go from there. Please email me with any questions or anything about this.

I really hope you enjoy your quilt!

Pardon my absence

I have been a bit busy this week and have not been on here.

This is what I have been up to however.

I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my foot for about 2 weeks now. After an x-ray, MRI and a visit to the podiatrist, this is what fancy shoe I will be sporting for the next 6 weeks.

Turns out I have 2 stress fractures in my foot. No running or high impact activities - just weights. I now have a couple of extra free hours in the day, maybe I can get some crafting done!

The magic of kids

Okay, I don't know about all of you but I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things here. I am loving having the kids back in school, but I cannot seem to craft. I have two projects just waiting for me to finish them, and they will continue to wait because I just don't want to work on them.

It is a sad day around here.

I am getting together with some friends this week, I hope that it sparks something into me!

On an up side I am really enjoying my kitchen staying clean for longer than 5 minutes. Here it is in all of it's glory.

But when my dearly loved children come through the door it quickly transforms into something more like this:

I am amazed at how fast this happens. To be fair though, some of the stuff on the counter is from me - but just some, not the majority. ;)

I hope that all of you are having a fabulous day, and that you are able to get something done. I am going to try and sew something and see what I feel.

Antiqued Bed

Do you ever have those projects that seem to never get done. Or I guess that just take forever to get that last step completed? I sure do. And this bed is a great example of that. (sorry for the washed out look - the sun was super bright through the window!)

I had it all done about 3 months ago, and then it just sat in Thing #2's room. Waiting to be put together.

This weekend it finally happened and she could not be happier. She is now off her mattress on the floor and on a real bed.

If you remember the bed started out just wood color with a slight varnish. I sanded it and then painted it. I really do not have space to do this, so I was at the mercy of one of my friends. After a few weeks I got it done and brought it home.

By this time it was summer and so I had it on the back patio and there I sanded it and applied a light varnish to give it that 'old' look as my kids like to call it.

I really love how it turned out. When we put it together we decided to flip the headboard and foot board so that she would have lots of space underneath to store things. Now to find some cute little boxes to use under there.

One end of the bed I painted with chalkboard paint and she loves that she can draw on it whenever. I think I am going to get one of those little tin pails for her to keep chalk and eraser in. Then I can just hang it on the corner.

And here it is all made - probably the only time it will look this nice unless I make her bed for her! But she was so excited that she finally got her bed together and can sleep on it!

And for those of you who care this project only cost me $15! Not too shabby right?
bed $5
paint $5
extra wood for support $5
Other supplies borrowed from friends, or had on hand.

End of Summer

I cannot believe that summer is quickly drawing to a close. I have no crafts or sewing projects to share with you, so I am sharing a little insight into my life and what I have been doing this summer instead of crafting. I have had so much fun this summer. But now it is just about over and we are getting everything ready for school. We have tried to do a lot of different things - but of course the pool was by far the favorite activity of the summer. Not that I expected anything else.

Look at how much fun these kids were having. They were all nice enough to stand there for me to take a picture - and no one tired to push anyone in for this shot! No all of these are not my kids, these were a lot of the same people that we hung out with this summer.

By far my favorite activity this summer was going on hikes with my kids. We only did this a couple of times, but I would have loved to do it every week. Even Thing #5 hiked almost every one - which was great, even if it was a little bit slow! :)

I just had to share this picture. Thing #5 is so tan - you cannot really tell by this picture, but he is darker than all of my kids, and he is the one I am most diligent with the sunscreen on! You can even see a vague sandal tan. You can really see the Hispanic side coming out.

To me this picture says everything about summer, bare foot tan feet, out in the grass. Not a care in the world. And that is what my summer has pretty much been all about, relaxing and enjoying each and every minute with my kids.

What was your favorite thing you did for summer break? And are you ready to get back into school ?

3 ingredient Lemon cookies

I waste a lot of time on Pinterest. It is full of so many great ideas and quotes. I found the recipe for these cookies on there and love that they only have 3 ingredients - if you don't count the powdered sugar for dusting. And I love just about anything lemon, so they were perfect.

I made them for a party we had and they were so easy and quick. Thing #2 actually did most of the work, I just supervised. I' m good that way.

The recipe comes from TidyMom and here it is.

1 box Lemon Cake Mix*
1- 8 oz container Cool Whip
1 egg
1/3 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

• Preheat oven to 350°
• In medium bowl, beat cool whip, egg and cake mix until well blended. Dough will be thick and sticky.
• Drop by teaspoonfuls into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll to coat.
• Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10- 12  minutes.

Let cool and enjoy! The kids were excited that I made cookies, because it has been so hot here I have not really cooked anything - including dinner. So they were excited that they got something cooked!

This is our last week before school starts - we are trying to squeeze every last drop of summer out of it! I hope you are enjoying the summer before it is gone!

Sand and Surf Quilt done!

Here is the quilt I was telling you about yesterday. Yesterday was a beautiful day here, slightly overcast, perfect for taking pictures outside! And it cooled down! I finally have this quilt done! I love how it turned out, and that it is big!

When I was making this I had to sew it twice because I did not follow the instructions correctly, and did not match the fabrics correctly. Can you say pain?!

I have mentioned before that I am trying not to buy any fabric, just use up what I have in my stash, and so I have had this fabric for a long time. The down side to that is that I did not think about the binding. So I tried my hardest to get something that would match from Joann's. It is not my favorite, but it works.

I just love the beachy feeling this quilt has. If only I lived by a beach - I guess we could take it to the lake.

Here it is in all its glory.

I am not sure why I am showing you this, but this is what the finished huge squares look like. For some reason I took a picture of the one that I used the same fabric around 3 of the center squares. But I was out of options and patience - so I just did it. You probably would not have noticed had I not said anything, right? Me and my mouth.

Hope that everyone is having a great time as summer wraps up. One of my kids starts school next week, and I am just looking forward to a more steady routine! But I have a ton to do to get ready . . .

Taking care of business

I want to apologize to all of you that there was no Fantastic Friday last week. We went out of town one last time before school starts - which is next week for us - and there was internet reception, but it was slow.

Slow internet + Jen on vacation = no Fantastic Friday.

I basically just enjoyed some quality time with my family and it was super laid back and nice - except when I got sick.

Also I have decided that I am not going to do Fantastic Friday anymore. There are a bunch of reasons behind this, the top tow are that no one is really clicking on the links and giving you any traffic, I don't make any money on this blog and I cannot afford to spend any extra money on linky tools.

Those are the main reasons, but I also feel like I need to be spending more time with my family and less on my blog. I know there are those of you out there who are able to 'do it all' but I am not one of those. I need to enjoy my kids while they are young and want to spend time with me.

I will still be posting about my sewing and craft projects, but I might not be on here all the time. I appreciate your understanding here, and I do have a beautiful quilt to show you hopefully tomorrow!

Old Window turned Picture Frame

Do you remember me telling you about that friend I was helping last week? Well here is what we were working on: turning an old window into a picture frame.

She got a box of these old windows for $2 at an antique place with her mom, and thought it would be great in her living room. (sorry about the low light, she really has no light in her living room)

She called me to help her figure out all the details, but really she needed no help, the girl has a good eye. I missed getting a picture of the window before she painted it, but it was that light brown color that you can see in some older houses still.

They had just gotten some new family pictures taken and she had them all ready to go, so we just had to figure out the placement of them. I really like how she had the idea to hang some by small cording - it looks great.

Then we cut the vinyl - easy peasy! I used my cricut and SCAL with a font that she found online. She put it all on and when I went over to see it again I just loved it! I wish I had an old window to make something cool with.

When I say that she has a good eye - she has a good eye. She found these old sewing drawers as well at the antique shop and was using one to hold cell phones and ipods and whatnot. The other one she thought would look cute on the wall. She had this picture of her Grandpas old bike and it all just came together!

This really is beautiful, and a great way to showcase lots of pictures easily!

And the winner is . . .

Number #185

Remembrances who said...

Right now my fave fabric is Urban Zoology!  Congratulations! Please email me within 48 hours or we will have to pick a new winner! And thank you to all of you for entering and becoming new followers of my blog - I was blown away by all of the comments that I got for this! Thanks so much!

Fantastic Friday #28

It is Friday! I have been busy helping a friend this week with some designs on her living room wall. I just took the pictures and I will have a post about it hopefully next week. Her mom owns an antique shop and she came across some great stuff, you will love it!

There was lots of great stuff last week, thanks to all who linked up. I did not get a chance to visit all the links, it just seems like summer gets so busy around here. I really loved these wood dice from The 36th Avenue.

When I read her tutorial I loved them, she also shared a game that they played with them on her blog. My kids would totally love doing something like that.

Grab a button and lets get onto the party!

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Rules:
*become a follower of Iron Violet Designs, I like followers - it makes me feel good. But I won't delete your link if you don't.
*link up anything that you have made - sewn, cooked, crafted, etc. family friendly of course.
*must link to a blog post, not your home page, another linky party, etsy shop or giveaway.
*link back to this post so that others can join in on the fun. Grab a button or do a text link either one is fine with me.
*visit a few of the links and leave comments! Everyone needs a little comment love!

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Let's get started:

ABC Wall

First off check out my Fabric giveaway here!

Now I can share that I have finished something! I had this all finished, but then one of the letters fell off and broke - so I could not very well share it with you when it was minus one letter. (it was the M and it is pretty big in my design) I have seen ABC walls around blog land and I had a perfect spot in my house that I could not decide what to do with. This was the perfect project for my empty space.

I started collecting letters a few months ago. I really do not have much of a budget for crafts so I had to collect them as they went on sale or I had a coupon for them and if I found any at thrift stores. It took me about 5 months to collect all the letters.

After I collected them I had to decide how I wanted each of them to look. I let the kids pick out the letter of their first name and tell me what color it should be. I painted this D green as per the request of Thing #1, but he really wanted a dragon painted on it. I had my mother-in-law paint the dragon when she was here a couple of months ago, because I have shared before that I really lack in the drawing abilities. And as you see, she is super talented at drawing. Thing #1 loves how this turned out - which makes me love it as well.

I had this F painted a cream color and distressed the edges. It looked so good, but then I put it up on the wall and it just blended into the wall. I asked Conan what I should do and he was the one that came up the great idea to cover it with flowers! Now it stands out and looks great!

I cover my C with crayons because crayons and coloring starts with C. It was super easy and it is the letter that gets the most compliments. I cut a C out of cardboard and then covered it with the crayons - I had to put a nail right through the cardboard to get it to stay on the wall. This what not my idea, I had seen this idea as a gift for teachers and even featured one forever ago on Fantastic Friday.

Everything else I either covered with paper, or painted a certain color and stamped a design on it. I covered my Y with yarn. When I was deciding how to paint these I tried to do something that had to do with the letter.

I really love the way this looks in my family room, and it was easy to do - just a little bit time consuming collecting the letters. I kept a copy of the ABC's in my purse and would cross off letters that I had collected so that I could not get doubles.

I hope that all of you are staying cool and enjoying your summer!

And don't forget to enter my Fabric giveaway here!