Fabric Drawer Liner

Yesterday was bathroom cleaning day around my house. I hate this chore. Mostly, because I always find something that could need more organization, a more thorough scrub, or just a little something more than a good scrubbing with vinegar.  

Yesterday was no exception-- and what I found was the drawers. 

No matter how often I wipe them out, little bits of hair (from my husband's razor) gets in them. It makes them messy and look quite disgusting.  I was thinking I needed to go to the store to buy some more drawer paper to  change it out, and frustrated by; (1) going to the store, and (2) having to change out the drawer lining again, when a thought struck me...

Why not line the drawers with fabric so that I could remove the fabric occasionally, wash, and replace. 

Much more earth friendly than sticky drawer paper.

Especially when the fabric I upcycled from a shirt in the "donate" pile. 

I measured the drawer and cut a piece of fabric from one of my husband's old shirts to fit inside.

Then, I placed velcro on the bottom of the drawer and on the backside of the fabric.

Voila! The fabric stays down, the drawer stays clean(er), and mama stays sane(er)! 

Quilt Sandwich Time

All done with the top of my muddy colored string quilt!

Time for a quilt sandwich... except that, because I'm moving in two weeks, my safety pins are PACKED!

Time to go "old school" and use a needle and thread!

Curved needles and thimble are packed too. Really?

What was I thinking?

But now I have a whole new problem! Why does Kip love quilt sandwiches? He was thrilled with the fun catch the thread game as I pulled it through the fabric.

Can you hear him purring???

Okay, let me just say that I love my curved safety pins!

Sooo much faster!

At least I'm done and ready to start quilting

Did I get too crazy with the back?

happy fabric tuesday!

Bubble Skirt for my Bubble Girl!

Last week, I decided Taylor needed a little spring skirt to add to her wardrobe. It was so easy to make!

 I love this chiffon watercolor fabric!  It's perfect for gathering and has just the right amount of bounce for the perfect bubble!  The lining is just some cotton I had extra of - since I tend to always over-buy fabric!  The important thing is, Taylor loves it!  I see more skirts of this nature in our near future - maybe even one for mommy!

Lancaster County, PA

My brother and sister-in-law came to DC for a visit this last week and on their
last day we made a trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - the heart of Amish Country.
There are a lot of fabric stores and places to buy handmade/hand-quilted quilts!
This is just ONE... The Old Country Store
(check out their online store!)
They have it all: beautiful fabric, quilts for sale, and even a quilt museum.

Here are just a few of the quilts in the museum!

Sampler by Ada Martin



Confetti by Elsie M. Campbell



Bargello Wave by C. Jean Horst



Pyramid Tumbling Block by C. Jean Horst



Love My Stash by Elsie M. Campbell



Crazy Quilt by Maribelle Steffy



Bargello Abstract by Janice Maves



Postage Stamp Colorsplash byC. Jean Horst




Cathedral Windows by Reba Degan

And here is the store!









Quilts for sale!

And of course we passed lots of horse and buggies!  

Spring Pants

I am in love. 

With my girl and my hubby, of course.  

But also with this fabric and these pants.

They pants are Anna Maria Horner's Quick Change Trousers from Handmade Beginnings.

The pattern is for reversible pants, but I wanted something a little lighter for summer, so only made one layer with a cuff.  They were so quick to put together and very easy!

Although. I must admit. I didn't start them until about 10:30 at night. And, I had a TON of work I was supposed to be doing.  BUT, what's a girl going to do when she finds  adorable fabric--on sale no less-- and it's just staring at her? Taunting her.  

Sew me! Sew me! 

So I sewed. And drank quite a bit of coffee the next day!

I think it was worth it. (Karis does too.)

I wanted Karis to show off her new trousers at church, but thought they needed a little dressing up, so I made a quick bow.

I used, roughly, this pattern from The Purl Bee.  

LOVE it!

I think more of these fabric flower bows may be in Karis' future. 

And, definitely more of these pants!

We're linking up with Fabric Tuesday - check out all the cute projects on their site.
(Girls, we missed you!)

Meet a Mama Monday - Meet Robin!

Happy Meet-a-Mama-Monday.  Today, we have a very special mama for you to meet.

Her name is Robin.  She isn't a mama yet.  Although she will be any day now!

Right now, she is in that all important nesting phase.  She is busy gathering all things necessary to keep her little ones (that's right, multiples!) safe and warm. She is tiding things up.  She is scoping out her surroundings, making sure it will be safe when her dear babies arrive.

Remember that time? Right before you had your baby.  When you looked around the house, and thought, oh dear! The walls are not washed.  How can I ever bring a child into this world when the walls are not spotless?

And, you ironed all your fabric stash before  color coding it (again).  After all, how can a babe thrive if the fabrics aren't pretty and organized?  

This mama is doing a little bit more important nesting than wiping down walls and organizing fabrics.  Not that those aren't important.  But, this mama is nesting. 

Literally. 

She is building a nest.

As in, a nest with sticks. 

Meet Robin:

(pictures coming soon)

Karis and I first noticed her out Karis' window this weekend.  I thought, how funny, that bird is sitting so still and for so long.  Then, when we came back later and she was there again, I started to wonder what was up with this bird.  

She must have decided Karis and I weren't too dangerous, because she started to build her nest a few hours later.  We've watched it grow the past two days.  And now, it looks  ready for some eggs!

We've also enjoyed spotting Mama Robin in the yard, eating my neighbor's newly planted grass seed, much to her chagrin.  

Karis now wakes up from her naps saying, "mama bird."  I don't know if this is, "Mama, bird." As in, 

"Mama, there is a bird outside my window!" 

or

"Mama Bird!"

or

"Mama, come get me right now, this bird is looking at me again and it's kind of freaking me out." 

or

"More, more food! The bird has food, I want a snack.  How about some jelly beans? More, more!"

It's probably the last one.  But, I'll pretend it's the first.

this moment - breakfast (a little blurry)

Today we're joining soule mama for this moment albeit a little blurry!

A Little Spring

Spring has sprung! Or, at least, it had before this storm moved in. And to celebrate, I thought my girl needed a little spring quilt.

I absolutely adore this fabric... although I forgot to save the name of it. The spring birds are so adorable. You can almost hear them, "cheep-cheep" for their mama!

It was my first attempt at free motion quilting. And, I'm in love. It's so much fun, and the results are beautiful. I need some practice- some wider loops, fewer corners... perhaps I need another trip to the fabric store to find some more fabric to practice with!

Cheep-cheep!

Happy Spring!

Check out Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday!!!

IMG_2361

IMG_2361, a photo by karismama on Flickr.

String Quilt

Do not adjust the color on your computer!

There is no color : )

Well, sort of a color.

Mud?  Sepia maybe?  

Not black, not brown but somewhere in between.

I like the name "putty".

Done with the squares, done with the horizontal strips.

Just need to put the strips all together, make a quilt sandwich, quilt it, bind it and 

get it off to my son and new daughter-in-law...

I better get to work!

Oooo, pretty!

Look what came in the mail today!!!

Modern Affair Mango Flower Blast and Modern Affair Olive Fizz by Patricia Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics and,

Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms Cilantro Laurel Dots and Soul Blossoms Lemon Daisy Paisley

Two of my daughters were just here in D.C. visiting, and carrying an over the shoulder purse while navigating the metro, visiting the Smithsonian, the Capitol, the "Mall"AND walking 500 miles for a Georgetown Cupcake cupcake (a.k.a. DC Cupcakes on TLC) is nonsense! It adds at least an extra 20 pounds to your shoulders and always needs to be adjusted and monitored. We decided that a small cross-body purse is the solution. Soooo, I'm going to try to make a couple out of these lovely fabrics. Any ideas out there?

Happy Birthday, Karis ... part 1: The Cake

Turns out, there is one thing our girl who loves all things edible doesn't like. 

Cupcakes. 

We had a little birthday celebration for Karis while we were in DC with my parents and bought Karis a genuine DC cupcake complete with ganach and pink frosting.  Karis was very excited to see it! And, she loved everyone singing happy birthday to her.  But then, she got a taste of the frosting.

She gagged. Then signed, "all done, all done, all done!" (I'm pretty sure the raising of her hands like this means, "Get me away from this cupcake RIGHT NOW!")

So for Karis' real birthday, we decided to do something a little different.

(Can you believe this girl is ONE?!?!)

An adapted version of Southern Living's Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake. 

Made gluten free and with less sugar. 

3/4 stick of butter, softened

1 cup of  sugar

4 oz cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix (I used Pamela's bread mix.)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup berry glaze (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to  350.  Beat butter and sugar together.  Add cream cheese.  Add eggs, one at a time.

2. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating at a low speed.

3. Stir in vanilla extract.

4. Pour one-third of the batter into a greased loaf pan.  

5. Make the berry glaze by heating berries over medium to high heat with a few tablespoons of water, add a few tablespoons of sugar if needed.  Continue to heat until syrup forms. 

6.  Pour a few spoonfuls of the berry glaze into the batter of the loaf pan.  Swirl with a knife to mix batter and berries together slightly.

7. Add next one third of batter and repeat.  Add remaining batter and repeat.

8.  Bake at 350 for one hour.  

We topped the cake off with the remaining berry glaze mixed with powdered sugar. YUMM!!! 

(Karis was more fascinated by the candle than the cake.)

And she was REALLY sad when we wouldn't let her touch the candle.

But, she LOVED the cake!

And, since no one year old should only have one or two birthday parties, we celebrated with some family and a few friends on Saturday.  For this birthday party, we decided to do strawberry shortcake.

Success! (Although, to be honest, the strawberries were a success. Karis wasn't overly fond of the shortcake or the whipped cream.)

Snow Day

In anticipation of the 4-7 inches of snow we are supposedly getting this afternoon, I thought I'd share some pictures from our last snow day.

Karis wasn't really sure what to think of the snow. Like she does with most new experiences, she studied it closely. I'm sure she would have loved to touch it, but silly mama, I didn't take her gloves off.  Plus, she was so bundled up, she could hardly move. I think I'll have to take her out again today and let her play in the snow without gloves! 

Seeing these pictures, I can't help but think how lucky we are.

We have warm clothes, a warm house, plenty of food to keep our bellies warm, 

and love of family and friends.