Photography

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Fall Inspiration

About a month ago, we here in Florida had a cold front swing through dropping our normal 80 degree days into the 60’s and 70’s.  That first run of cooler temps was finally the first true sign of fall and when crafty floodgates opened.  I don’t tend to make all that many homemade gifts, mostly because some of my family members are struggling right now and fun gifts tend to make way for more practical, needed items.  Plus, as I’m sure you know, not everyone appreciates homemade gifts like us crafty peeps do.  Nonetheless, something about the cool weather and impending holidays really got my crafty mojo revved up. 

I’ve completed all of the Flurry quilt blocks, and now need to arrange them and start adding the sashing.  Last month I went to the local annual Quiltfest and picked up a yard of Amy Butler fabric along with a cute mini quilt kit. The blocks in the kit were all paper pieced, and were SO addicting!  Not to mention it’s just the best thing to have a fun project that you can whip up so quickly.

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The little kimonos are so cute!  I have another kit like this one waiting in the wings that is all birds and birdhouses. It’s actually one my mom picked up, but I talked her into letting me put it together for her. 

A couple of weeks ago I started seeing those yarn wreaths popping up all over the place again, and decided to jump on the bandwagon. Voila, an easy little fall wreath for the front door.

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I was pretty happy with how it came out except I wish I wouldn’t have been quite so clumpy with the flowers. Still, it does look nice from the road.

Finally, one of my friends is having her baby shower this weekend and she asked me a few months ago to make her a diaper bag.  I figured that since she knew I’d be making her one, I might as well let her pick out the fabric. So I sat her at the computer one afternoon, let her peruse the online fabric store, Hawthorne Threads (one of my faves!), and she chose this gorgeous Joel Dewberry fabric from his Aviary 2 line.  I used the Hip Mama Diaper Bag tutorial and this is what I came up with:

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It’s difficult to tell from this picture, but this is a really large bag. I think it will be perfect for filling with diapers, bottles, pacifiers and all those baby things that need to travel.  The bag also has a huge zipper pocket on the back, velcro pockets on each side, 2 large pockets in the front under the flap and 2 large elastic pockets on the inside.  A word about the pattern..it was really well-written and so easy! I really sailed through this project without much difficulty.  The only issue I had was in the amount of fabric. I ordered the 1 yard called for in the lining, and ended up just shy of what I needed to do the additional 2 elastic pockets on the inside of the bag.  The recipient will never know they were supposed to be there, but she may miss the added storage.  I think it was probably my own error, but for the newbie trying this pattern (like me), I might suggest adding just another quarter yard to the lining requirements. 

That’s a pretty good recap of what I’ve been working on. Coming up are the 2nd mini quilt, finally completing (after 2 years!) my wonky 9 patch quilt, a mug rug for a swap I’m in, and the cutest little cupcake potholders ever!