organizing my days, and a mini quilt

So this year (school year, as any mother of school-age kids measures her years), I have a lot I want to get done.  I want to wrap up the onesie business completely, and I still have a couple of hundred onesies to print and list in my shop.  It's a big job, and I've been chipping away at it.  But I also have other things I want to do and need to do.  Quilting projects, seasonal projects, etc.  I first thought I would alternate days, onesies then other things.  But I've decided it makes more sense to alternate each week. It cuts down on time I have to spend cleaning up and switching between each type of work.

Last week I worked diligently on finishing a mini quilt, putting together a napping size quilt and back, and making my halloween costume.  It was a lot.  I worked hard all week.

This week I need to get back to the business of onesies.  It's also Halloween so I will be at the boys' school helping with festivities.  This school year is going so dang fast, I can't believe it.

I had 3 quilts that I wanted to finish before Christmas, which was a huge goal, and I'm nearly done.  The tops and backs are all done.  I will send them to Sarah Russett, my long-arm quilter, and when she is done doing her excellent work, I will add the bindings and be done.  Yay.  Christmas gifts I'm excited to give, and a giant item checked off my to-do list.  I'll post pictures of them after they have been given away.

The mini quilt I finished this week is a project inspired by this print by Hannes Beers.  Last year the librarian at the boys' school mentioned that she was looking for things to hang on the library walls.  I immediately remembered that print and thought it would be perfect for the library.  I added to it a bit, and changed some elements.  I made a stencil on my Silhouette and then painted it on white fabric.  I did the quilting by hand.  It was my first foray into hand quilting, and while I have no idea whether I did it "right," I enjoyed the process and I like the final look of the piece.  I want to block it so it's a little more square, then add the hanging sleeve and it will be ready to give away.  It was super satisfying to do a small quilt project intended to hang on the wall.  I definitely will be doing more mini quilts in the future.

gifts for girls

I always enjoy making gifts for my nieces, or other little girls I know.  It's fun to use the girly colors or motifs that I have to skip when I'm making things for my boys.  Here are a few things I made for my twin nieces, who recently turned 7!

They requested shirts with butterflies, because they had grown out of shirts I had made them previously.  Of course I was flattered that they wanted a repeat, so I couldn't deny that request.

I wanted to make them another shirt each, and for reasons unknown I was inspired to do these all-over prints.  I just went with what I knew were their favorite things  at the moment (horses and dolphins, respectively) and set them on repeat.  I used my silhouette cameo and freezer paper to make all of these stencils.

Horses for Naomi.

Dolphins (and other oceanic goodies) for Grace.

From making Naomi's shirt, I had lots of little freezer paper horses left over that I couldn't bear to throw away.  I decided to try a reverse stencil with them, using a bleaching stencil method.  There are tons of tutorials online for doing this; I used Ashley's. 

So I ironed the horses onto these loop jersey scarves.  Then I used a spray bottle and a sponge to apply the bleach.

 

The scarves came out a little crazy.  I may have used too much bleach.  The silhouette of the horses were not as prominent as I hoped they would be.  A lot of the legs and manes got lost to the bleach.  

 I thought they ended up looking like ancient cave paintings.  Which is actually kind of cool.  But I wasn't sure they were really in keeping with a 7 year old girl's aesthetic.  I didn't know if they would even be able to tell they were horses, especially when they were bunched up around their necks.  So I decided to keep them for myself.

And I am wearing them quite a bit.  :)

I would like to try bleach stenciling again.  Maybe my nieces will get some scarves for Christmas.

a few stenciled shirts

I've been stenciling shirts in the evenings when Nate is gone, instead of watching tv.  It makes me feel productive and occupied instead of lazy and lonely.  I made three for T, birthday gifts (which I had to give him early because he caught me looking at the photos), one for S, and one for myself.

Calvin and Hobbes shirt, for T.

Sokka shirt, for S. 

Aang shirt, for T.

Calvin and Hobbes inverse stencil shirt, for me.

Appa shirt, for T.

Sokka, Aang, and Appa are all characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender.  Are you guys watching that show yet?  You should watch it; it's so good!  Appa is my favorite of these stencils.  I also love how T's Calvin and Hobbes shirt turned out. 

Here's a picture of T dressed up like a "war guy."  Because we'll undoubtedly be moving to a smaller space, I've been trying to decide what we can bring with us and what we can't.  There are a couple boxes of costumes and dress-up accessories in the closet that probably won't be coming with us.  The boys almost never play with them, but then once in a while the cousins will come over, and everybody will come downstairs in the most hilarious costumes.  So I hate to leave them behind when I think of those funny play sessions.  But this picture gives me hope that the creative play will continue, with or without actual costumes.  This "costume" consists of undies over shorts, pj shorts on his arms, socks on his hands, and a crushed soda bottle as his weapon.

This weekend we are driving to Michigan for a little family reunion.  Last time this event happened, Nate and I were attending a wedding, so my family took the boys without us.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the relatives I missed seeing 2 years ago, and also to trying out the famous zip line that the boys raved about after their first trip to this camp.  Camera battery is charging as we speak, I'll try to come back with some pictures and stories!
xoxo