Carving it up!

No Guts.. No Glory! Tonight we carved our pumpkins... the kids look forward to it every year.

Here is my oldest - cleaning out the guts.. bluck...

And here is the family clown.. yucking it up. He attempted to clean out his pumpkin - but the smell was making him gag.. sooo.....

Daddy did it for him. I seriously hate sticking my hand in there.. I'm with my youngest on that one.. disgusting. I prefer the design.. and cutting part of the process.

Here is my oldest.. putting the final touches on his.

The pumpkin on the left belongs to my oldest.. it doesn't sit on it's bottom so it looks like the pumpkin is looking up. The one of the right belongs to my youngest.. he likes traditional "scary". He showed me a picture of what he wanted.
Here is a better shot of my oldest son's pumpkin - can you see the 'scar' he put on the left eye?! He's very creative.

I'll share pictures of them in their costumes this weekend. Have a safe Halloween!!

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Buyers Remorse...??

So when I was at Target today - I decided to purchase youngest child a pad of paper and some markers because he LOVES to color and draw. He goes through notebooks and paper like crazy.

Despite the wind - we had an awesome evening to sit out on our patio tonight. He was out there with his markers and paper.. coloring away. I was inside doing the dishes from dinner.

When he came in... this is what he looked like...

How can I get mad at that face??!! He has always been the child who colored on walls.. and he even took a sharpie to the floor and a pillow sham one time.. he was 2 1/2 when that happened. I've always had to hide the markers from this one.

But recently when he was in the little kiddie playhouse at the grocery store.. he was using markers and he didn't want to leave because he wanted to keep coloring with the markers.. So when I bought them today - I thought he was ready to have them again.. Maybe I was wrong.

He's in the tub right now.. thank goodness I bought washable markers.

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Hushabye Quilt... so sweet

I wanted to wait and take pictures of this quilt in the sun when it came up tomorrow morning.. but I just couldn't wait to share it.

The quilt was requested by a friend who is giving it to her niece at a baby shower soon. I loosely used this pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. The "recipe" on the Moda Bake Shop actually makes a large quilt - so I basically only did half of it.

I used the fabric line "Hushabye" by Tula Pink. Instead of using a jelly roll of fabric I used a charm pack and some fat quarters. And my white was not a jelly roll either.. I cut it myself from yardage. Basically - I did it all the hard way. But that's what I had to work with. I didn't want to have go out and buy more fabric.

The finished size is 42 x 54 (before I washed it) which is big for a baby quilt. I didn't do all the borders from the original recipe because that would have made it 48 x 60.

I personalized it with the baby's name.. Emma Rose. I will be delivering it in the morning and can't wait to see what she thinks!

It turned out so adorable don't you think? Pin It

Crawl.. Walk... Run... Ride...

It's all over.. he's a master without training wheels.

My 5 year old has learned to ride his bike without his training wheels.. he's had us outside so many times today... The minute his head was off the pillow this morning, he was asking his Dad to take him to the park to practice.

And this afternoon I was out in front of the house with him while he rode.. and rode...

He's not wobbly either. So hopefully we will be able to ride as a family soon since our weather is perfect for riding bikes right now. That's one good thing about winter in the desert.

Sometimes it's sad when I think that this is my last one with training wheels.. they grow up so fast! Pin It

Old and Easy..

No.. this isn't a post about anyone's older sister! Although that would be interesting!

This is about some bags that I made about a year ago.. before I was blogging. I went to my local JoAnns one day and saw these cute halloween panels. Each panel had 4 pictures and some trim along the edges.
I cut the panels and turned them into Trick-or-Treat bags for my boys. I used the trim along the edges for the handles. They were so easy and quick to put together... and they'll last for years to come.

Happy Halloween!!!

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A Bag and a peek...

Well the Friday Night Sew-In was a success. We had a great time and boy did we get a lot done from our to do lists! I worked on a couple quilt tops Friday. (and Saturday.. and Sunday).

I had a very busy weekend.. shopping, b'day party for a great little 4 yr old! And the not so fun stuff too.. like laundry and mopping the floors. But in the middle of all that, I managed to get some sewing done.

This is a new bag that I made last night. The pattern is from The Tiny Seamstress. It was fun to make and it's very flirty! I love trying new patterns because it gives me so many ideas for the next bag.

And here is a sneak peek at the two quilts I'm working on. Hopefully I will find time this week to finish them. I have quite a few projects that I need to do for other people too. The first is with Moda Tranquility.
And this second one is using Moda Authentic. I love them both!
I will be busy working on all these projects the next week.. can't wait to share more! Pin It

FRIDAY NIGHT SEW-IN!!!!!! Join the FUN!

Whahooo.. it’s a Friday Night Sew-In tonight!! Anyone want to join?

No matter where you live.. you can sit in your jammies.. in your comfy place and sew. And your fellow Sew-In participants (miles away) will do the same. Sometimes we work on the same project – but with the Holiday’s coming (fast) we are all working on something different.

Some of us share our progress during the “Sew-In” via Blackberry Messenger – or text messaging. But this ‘real time’ sharing is completely optional.

If you would like to participate – leave a comment to let us know you will be joining. We don’t have a hard set start and end time. Since most of us have busy families – we never know when we will work our way to the sewing room. But in the past – we have started between 7 – 8 pm (PST)

And if you want to share ‘real time’ – just send me an email at handmadebyheidi (at) cox (dot) net - we can work out the details.

Otherwise – just join in the fun and blog about it tomorrow!! (But don’t forget to leave a comment so we know you are joining and we can check out your blog and see what you were up to) Pin It

Online Quilt Festival - 2009

Well - since I'm fairly new to quilting, it wasn't hard to choose my favorite quilt to share in the online Quilt Festival.

I made this quilt recently for our family picnics in the park. Since we live in the desert - we have alot of picnics during the winter months when our weather is so nice.

To see the original post - click here. I talked about where the pattern came from and more about the fabrics.

And a special Thank You to Amy for hosting this event! Click the picture below to see all the other participants in the online Quilt Festival!

Thanks for stopping by!

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**WARNING** High Cuddle Factor

I made this cute and cuddly baby blanket for a friend. She wanted it for a gift for someone who just had a little baby girl.

It is soooo soft! The pink and brown hounds tooth is Minkie! Minkie is hard to sew - but so worth it in the end.

I hope the little one likes it!

I'm almost finished with my Spooky Hollow wall hanging too. I'm doing the hand stitching on the binding right now - but had to put it down to do the dishes and put away laundry. I'll finish it tomorrow.... hopefully.

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Something old.. something new.. how's that go again?

I know you've already seen the picnic quilt - but I thought I would share some pictures of my kids enjoying it at the park last Sunday...

As I mentioned in the picnic quilt post - this is a pattern from the book Material Obsession. What I forgot to point out is that I got the idea to use the pattern for a picnic quilt from one of my Quilting Bee Buddies. Here is her picnic quilt.

And next.. this is a bag that I made last night. My husband requested it for the daughter of someone he works with. She was in the hospital recently and he thought it might cheer her up a bit.
And I'm loving the fabric so much that I might have to make another for myself.. I'm really obsessing over "Cotton Blossoms" by Moda lately.

And here is a wall hanging that I am working on for my Mom. I need to get it quilted so I can get it in the mail to her soon!!! I love the colors!

Come back in a few days.. I have an adorable baby blanket that I can't wait to share.. the fabrics are in the dryer as we speak.. I'll be sewing it tonight after dinner.. a walk with the kids and the dog.. and maybe a load of laundry.

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Friendship Swap - Full Circle

My Friendship Swap Partner is Sandy.. from Colorado. I received my package via the big brown truck on Monday night. My 5 yr old followed me from the door to the kitchen..

him - "what is it?? Is it for me?? huh mom.. huh"

me - "No.. it's for me this time"

him - "aahh man.. what is it.. more fabric?"

Does he know me or what!!!

Here it is...

I absolutely love this bag. It's a lunch tote and it's so pretty. Ever since I moved to the desert - I miss the fall colors and this was perfect.

She also included a kit to make a pin cushion that I can't wait to tackle. Little did Sandy know that I have a thing for pin cushions.. old.. new.. I like them all. And there is also a pack of cute "Quilt Diva" note cards!

We have sent a few emails back and forth and I really like her. She's got a fun sense of humor and we have a lot in common.

Thank you Sandy!!

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The Good.. the Bugs.. and the Ugly!

I finished the picnic quilt!!! I'm so excited and I love how it turned out.

First the Good... I got the measurements and pattern from one of my favorite books that I have mentioned before - Material Obsession. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this book. So many great patterns and ideas.

And now the Bugs.. I was on a hunt for bug fabrics all across the Valley of the Sun - that is where my recent Shop Hop came in handy. All the squares are fat quarters trimmed to 18 inches. Since this quilt will spend most of it's time on the ground - I didn't want to spend alot of $ on the backing. So I purchased the sashing and the back from JoAnn's with my 50% off coupon (gotta love the coupons).

I got a little wild with the back - I wanted to add something fun. My tree looked better in my head.. but I still think it's cute. Can you tell that's a swing?? lol.


And the Ugly... My husbands skinny little ankles sticking out from the bottom of the quilt. Hilarious!!.. We had a good laugh at those - they look like they belong to one of the kids.

We are heading to the park today for a picnic - we will break the quilt in with some grass stains. Meet us there at about noon - bring a bucket of chicken will ya!? Pin It

Lucky Duck!!

If you don't already know this - I'm a very lucky person (as I've mentioned before).

If you sew - you probably know what a Shop Hop is. We just had ours here in Maricopa County. I love doing it each year because I see stores I don't normally visit - and they always have fun fabrics that I haven't seen yet.

There were 9 store in this years Shop Hop. I paid $5 for a passport and had 9 days to travel to all the stores. I put alot of miles on the Pilot - I had 4 stores that were all on the opposite side of town and traveled 105 miles that day alone!!

But it all paid off.. because I WON!!!!! Sure, I didn't win the Bernina.. but I did win one of 10 prizes! And in a county as big as Maricopa.. I'm very lucky to have won!

Maricopa County Shop Hop winners are!
Grand Prize: Bernina White Pearl Sewing Machine
Janet G

$100.00 Shop Gift Certificate Winners:
Sun Valley Quilts - Sharon W
Quilter's Bee - Brenda W
Quiltz - Linda D
Bearly Stitchin' - Barbara T
Quilted Apple - Heidi F
Desert Flower - Edith L
Quilter's Ranch - Kathy D
Zoe's Trunk - Carrie K
Quilter's Oasis - Bonnie D

I have been wanting to get the new Rouenneries by French General for Moda. I'm hoping the Quilted Apple will have it.

That's what I think I'm going to use for my upcoming Quilting Bee. I have December and need to get my fabs out in November to my fellow Bees. I already have my blocks all planned and think the Rouenneries would be perfect!

I will make sure to share my fabrics that I buy with my gift certificate!! Now I'm off to finish a project I can't wait to share with you!

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