Woof Woof Meow Quilt with Pockets for the Kitties

Years ago I bought a panel of cats and dogs called Woof Woof Meow.  I got a jelly roll of the fabric and while I made the cat and her kittens, I never finished up the quilt.  Well, five years later, I finally finished up the Cat Quilt with Pockets.

The cats and dogs were fabric panels designed by Stacy Iest Hsu.  If you remember I made some of these little cuties a couple of years ago.  At that time I even made them a small quilt to wrap them in so that they would stay warm.

Now I've finished the kids quilt made from the jelly roll and added five pockets to the front of the quilt.  I designed the quilt and when I bought the fabrics I knew that I wanted to add some pockets for the kittens or puppies.  

Here is a pic of two of the kittens in their little pockets.  I thought it would be fun to crawl under a quilt and have your pets close by.  You could also use the pockets for other toys, too.

Here is the quilt before I added on the pockets.  I made the pockets with a gather so that the pets would fit into them.  I have to say, I'm so glad that it's done.  I put it in my granddaughter's room in hopes that she will like it.  

What's to come?  There are still more strips in the jelly roll that have blue fabric in them.  Maybe someday I will make a second quilt with some dogs to match.  You never know.

 

Sewing Carrots for Easter

I've got "lots" of old sweaters that I like to cut up and make crafts with.  They are sort of taking over a corner of my sewing room.  I was going through them the other day and spotted a pretty cashmere orange sweater and I decided to make some carrots with it.

Once I got started making carrots, I couldn't stop.  I used some beige and tan sweaters and then found some cute plaid fabric.  For the tops, I cut a 3" strip of felt and then snipped the leaves, being careful not to cut all the way to the edge.  

I rolled up the felt and sewed it into the gather space at the top of the carrot.  I think they came out cute.  

I make some cute tags to put on them and put them in a little basket.  Last night I was moving sweaters around and found two more orange sweaters.  I wish that I had time today to make more carrots!  Maybe this weekend.  

 

Cotton Washcloths

Back in the winter I felt like doing some crocheting.  I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some pretty cotton yarn in some subtle colors.  I love their "I Can't Believe It's Cotton" yarn and decided to make some washcloths with it.  

They're easy to crochet and I can make them while watching tv in the evenings.  Each skein makes 3 cloths and here is what I made!  They measure about 8 inches and here they are folded up and put into baskets.  

My sister makes soaps and has a little shop in CA and I sent them to her for the store.  I hope they are big sellers for her.  

Now what?  I am off to make more of these for myself and to put in my little dining room shop.  :)

 

Pop-Up Petals

When I first saw the PopUp Petals online, I knew that I would like to try it out.  It comes with cute flower images and 2 pop-up cut outs.  This card uses Basic Beige cardstock and a paper from Country Woods.  I stamped the image, cut it out and mounted it to a piece of designer paper cut out with Branching Out dies.  

The cards are pretty but the surprise is when you open them up.  I stamped a couple of flowers behind the flower box so that I looks like more flowers are in the box.  I got the idea from Diana Gibbs.  So sweet!

I love the colors in this next card.  I don't usually use peach and blackberry together but the contrast is nice and the card is very bright and happy.  I used a piece of paper from Country Lace and added the pot and flowers.  The saying is on one of the Everyday Arches dies.

I'd have to say the inside of this card is my favorite!  I cut two pop ups out and added a piece of paper to extend the pop up area.  I used papers from Celebratory Sips.  This card will have to go to someone very special because adding the pop up panel is like making two cards and then putting them together.  I just love how it turned out.

My third card in this series is a fancy fold and uses pretty floral papers.  

And the inside looks like this.  I added an extra panel in this card, too, to make the pop up look larger.  I loved making these three cards and I love the pop- up dies.  I do wish that they were a bit bigger - I found the pop ups to be somewhat small.  

I would definitely use them again.  Which card is your favorite?  

Nature Walk

For my card class this month, I chose to use Nature Walk, a new designer series paper pack.  It features the colors in nature and can be used for both masculine and feminine cards.

My first card uses Basic Beige for the background and Gathering Leaves embossing folder.  I cut out the focal point with the Arch Dies and added some light "grunge" to it.  I decided to use Very Vanilla cardstock instead of white, which I hardly ever do, but I like it in this card.

The strip along the bottom front is from Nature Walk and I cut out a leaf die from an older set called Artistic dies.  I love the woodsy nature look of this card.  

The next card uses a paper with a soft brown script on it which might be my favorite design in this paper pack.  I added a brown sprig cut out from the Gorgeously Made dies.  There's a little tan strip that's embossed to add embellishment and a circular saying to complete the card.  On this card, I used Very Vanilla for the saying.

This card uses Lost Lagoon as the card base and a sheet from the Nature Walk for the background.  I added a Peacock and a vellum rectangle for the focal points.  I cut the leaf and the sprig from Artistic dies.  I had some paper with copper accents in it so I used that for the sprig and then added a copper scalloped circle behind the saying to tie in the copper color.

I could make cards with Nature Walk all day, substituting different colors and cut outs.  

Stampin Up's paper supplies, dies and stamps just keep getting better and better.  The cards came out so beautiful.  I just love the creativity that Stampin Up gives to me.  

 

Loving the Lovely Arrangements

 For this week's card class, I took out the set Lovely Arrangements and the pretty papers that coordinate with it.  The papers have pre-printed sections with flowers that you can cut out or die cut for your card fronts.  I have to say, I just love making these cards and using the pretty papers.

Our first card is made using Everyday Arches to cut out the floral panel from the designer papers.  I added a fun circle die to the edge to accent the focal piece.  I embossed the white cardstock and added a saying from the stamp set along with some ribbon and bling.  That's pretty much it and look what a beautiful card it is!  I got the idea from Robin Daus.

The next card is made in pretty much the same way, only this time I used the Party dies banners for the focal point.  I added a circular saying mounted on a blue scalloped die.  I got the idea for this card from Tracy Bradley.

The third card is made using the stamps and dies and takes much longer than just using the papers.  I die cut the arch die and trimmed it at the bottom so it would fit on my card.  I stamped and added three flowers and some sprigs.  The top flower and the saying have dimensionals under them to give a little lift to the card.  I saw this idea from Heidi Collins.

Everyone enjoyed this class and the simplicity of the cards. The next day I made more cards.

Look how pretty this card is using the Crumb Cake and Olive Green colors.  It's made the same way as the first card, only using designer paper instead of the white embossed layer.

This one has a smaller printed image from the designer papers.  I ended with a total of 12 cards, but seriously, I could make them all day.  

Winter Sewing Retreat

In January I did go to my quilting retreat, but honestly I wasn't feeling that great and didn't get a lot done this year.   I got a virus in late December and it's left me with some vertigo that I am learning how to deal with.  So while I can do some things, I'm not quite up to my normal crafting self.

I am working on a jelly roll quilt using fabrics by Corey Yoder.  The pattern is in the book, On a Roll.  I saw it a few years back and have been wanting to make it.  It's a Moda All-Stars book with quilts made from different quilters.  

I finally managed to get the pieces from this Tilda quilt put together.  I'm going to put some borders on it to make it a bit bigger but I'm happy with how it looks.  

After looking at the photo, I noticed a couple of squares on the bottom row that need to be fixed.  Since my retreat I've fixed them and hope to finish up this quilt soon.

The fabrics are from a couple of charm square packs of older Tilda fabrics.  I know some of is from Plum Garden.  I still love that line of fabrics but I'm ready to finish and move on.

It usually snows here in upstate NY during January when we are on the retreat.  The retreat center is located in the country and the freshly fallen snow makes everything look so beautiful and peaceful.  

My friend Carol worked on a cute baby blanket with blues and a put a small bear in the corner.  She had it finished in just a couple of days.  Oh, and look - she has on the sweatshirt with the dresdan quilt block that I made for her!  She looks so cute.  :)