Bloggers' Quilt Fest

I'm pretty bummed to not have a quilt to enter into 

this round of the Bloggers Quilt Festival

but it'll be fun looking through all the quilts

over the next several weeks.

Go take a look

there are already a ton of entries!

Just in case you missed it
or if you just want to see my lovely again :-)
here's my entry for the Spring quilt festival

well, that didn't go as planned

It's really nothing new ~ things not going as planned.

I don't know why I'm always surprised and disappointed

when it happens.

Guess it's that overconfidence thing.

It certainly explains why I'm so darn thrilled when I get it right.

I was so tickled to sit down and sew something;

it seems like ages.

I'd been to the fabric store

and really could have purchased more fabric than I did

but I was prudent

and decided I'd go back as soon as I'd sewn up what I bought.

Before going to bed

I cut out fleece jumpers for the girls

using a shirt of Lily's as a guide.

I forgot that the shirt I'd grabbed was too big in the shoulders.

I woke up before Tyler left this morning

so he could put caladryl lotion on my poor poison-ivyd back.

I didn't end up getting back to sleep

so I got up and sewed.

Lexi's jumper fits okay - bit it's kinda snug going on.

and she could do with a little more leg room.

Lily's.

Now, Lily's looks fabulous.

So long as it's hanging on a hanger.

On her - it looks 

well

just bad.

And then there were the pants.

I founded the softest  fleece with rubber duckies for $3.99 / yard

and thought I'd whip up a pair of 18-24 months jammie pants for Aiden.

And while I was at it

I'd make a pair for Lex', too

they are, after all, the same size......

Anybody need two pairs of 12 mo. ducky jammie pants??

~

I have decided that before I sew one more thing

(unless I cut into that jersey fabric I bought for sweats for Jeremiah...)

I'm going to take super detailed measurements of the girls

and draw them out on graph paper.

Surely

that will keep me from making such ill-fitting clothes.

I can dream....

overconfidence

I think

perhaps

one of the definitions of overconfidence

is

ordering crochet patterns

when you don't know how to crochet.

and you sure can't read a pattern!

ya think?

whole lot of nothin'

Sadly

there's not been much creating going on around here

the past few weeks.

I spent an hour

 a week or so ago sewing

and got 6 blocks made for my paintbox quilt.

I had hopes of entering it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival

but my progress has been pitifully slow.

I'm feeling rather 'meh' about my blocks so far,

and if I hadn't invested so much time already

running all over creation gathering fabric

and cutting it

I'd probably scrap the whole thing.

That

and the fact that

I really do have high hopes of loving it when it's (finally) completed.

I did manage to find a perfect duck fabric for Aiden

and made a simple batted & bound blanket for his 1st birthday.

Of course

I failed to take a picture of it before wrapping it up.

Oh, I whipped up a quick bib out of leftover fabric, too

And that

has been the extent of my crafting lately.

I should remedy that.

But with what??

soap on a rope -- or something

We had a little bit of money left in the gas envelope

when September ended.

Now

a die-hard Dave Ramsey fan would dutifully transfer that money

either to

a) debt

OR

b) next month's gas envelope.

a) We have no debt.     b) It was my birthday

so I spent it. 

I've seen felted soaps on the world wide web before

and it's been on my very long list of 'things to do someday'

but when I saw Ginny's tutorial in Rhythm of the Home

(I have no clue what steps I took that led me there...)

I knew

now was the time.

It was much less expensive to buy un-dyed wool roving

which was perfect, 'cause I wanted to dye some with koolaid.

We'd had so much fun dyeing playsilks for Lily's 2nd birthday;

I knew we'd find something else to dye someday.

Seriously

if you've never dyed something with koolaid

you gotta try it!
Lime koolaid is the coolest!

I probably should have found a tute specifically for dyeing wool

though - 'cause it began to felt just from the dyeing process

which - for our soap was fine - 

but it might not be okay for other uses.

Lex' was serious about her soap!

I love the mouths!

uh-oh!

whew! rescued

Felting soap was really very simple

but Jeremiah thought it 'got old after awhile'.

Lily wasn't overly enthusiastic about finishing the felting process either.

Josiah is pretty excited to use his soap

but I think he could take -or- leave the making of it.

Brandon and I want to make more
which is good, 'cause we've got a good bit of roving left.