Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Beans, beans the magical fruit!

No - there was no tooting but there were hours of joy!

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I had seen many examples of kids playing in beans, but I was nervous to try it for my daughter. She has a tendency to put everything in her mouth and uncooked beans would be an interesting thing to fish out of her mouth!

But luckily she didn't eat any!

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I just bought 5 bags of different kids of beans - all shapes sizes and colors - and dumped them into a plastic bin.

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I think the dog was almost as fascinated as she was!  He only ate about 3 or 4!

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She played in there for over two hours!

I highly recommend this for your toddler! And the best part - you can put the lid on it and store it away for another day!


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Finishing

I have been finishing some long overdue projects the last month or so.  One project that I recently finished is perhaps my oldest as well! About 10 years ago I took a class called "Quilt in a Day."  We learned how to cut and piece a quilt and miraculously I actually finished piecing a quilt top in that class.  But finishing a quilt top is not a finished quilt!  Time, fear and other interests got in my way and left that quilt unfinished.  I made many more quilts after that but for some reason never got around to finishing that first one!  Until now.

I decided it was about time to get that WIP off my list. 

A little repair work on a seam that didn't quite seal and I was ready for the backing and the quilting.  I kept it simple and just stitched in the ditch.  Since the original fabric I used for this was long gone I found some maroon fabric that was a close match and made my binding.  Then it was finally done!

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I'm so happy to have this quilt since it represents so many things for me.  It was the beginning of my life of sewing and quilting and also introduced me to a friend who led me to knitting!  I met my friend Margaret at that quilt class year ago and she mentioned she had a knitting group.  I had just started knitting and had only made one or two projects.  Meeting Margaret and going to my first knit night led me to a whole new world of friends and experiences. 

So thank you quilt for opening new doors for me! I'm glad you are finally complete :)

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I added a little decorative stitch for the binding too.  I like how it repeats the little flower motif from the white fabric.

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From my oldest to my newest quilt!

I also recently finished a circle quilt:

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I fell in love with a circle quilt after seeing one on a little gray's blog. I made a crib sized one for my girl out of fabrics I've had for a while - just waiting for the perfect project. 

I applied the circles using a zig zag stitch. 
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I changed up the back a little to add a little surprise design there as well.

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I love how it came out and hope my little peanut eventually loves it as well!!