Monkeys In My Bed

Friday, April 12, 2013

Paper Mache

I haven’t had much time to craft at all lately, but I came across this cute paper mache confetti bowl had to make one for myself. It was fast and easy to make and it’s now sitting cheerily on my coffee table. It’s not very sturdy, but it sure is fun to look at.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Hexagon Ambitions

Ever since I saw my first English garden quilt, I have had the desire to make a hexi quilt. They are time consuming because they are done pretty much completely by hand and time isn’t always something I have a lot of. The other night, on a whim, I started cutting out a bunch of hexagons from all my scraps. I have done several baby quilts lately with similar color schemes and thought it would be a great way to start clearing them out.

A bunch of hexi's ready to goMy very first ever hexi flower blockAnd my second

I set a goal of doing one block a day, but that is overly ambitious of me. Honestly, if I get the quilt done by the end of the year, I will be happy.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Angela’s baby gift

After having three boys, a very dear friend of mine will be having her first baby girl soon. I am so excited for her! I jumped on the opportunity to make some fun girly baby stuff.

Skirt, embellished onesie, headband, and burp cloth

Dress, diaper cover and shoes

I LOVE the shoes!

Bib

Hairclips

Of course I had to make a quilt

Close-ups

Back of the quilt

The fabric is “The Simple Life” by Tasha Noel from Riley Blake. I hand quilted it with Size 8 Pearl Cotton Thread

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Teacher Christmas gifts

Between my four girls, they have a total of 12 school teachers so I had to come up with something inexpensive and easy to make for them all.

For the girl teachers, I made homemade bath salts. They are super easy. You just mix 1 part Epsom salt with 1 part sea salt, add a few drops of essential oil to make it smell good, and put it in a jar. Then I attached an ornament and a tag and they were good to go.

For the boy teachers, I made an easy batch of homemade caramels. I had to taste test them first and they were super yummy. I found the recipe here.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Scrappy Blues and Tans

I started this quilt in the spring. My goal was to finish it by the time summer break was over. That didn’t happen but at least I finished before fall break started. It’s a fairly big quilt (72 x 88 inches) so I used up a lot of my blue and tan/brown scraps. I even did a scrappy binding. I hand quilted it with #8 Perle Cotton thread with the same big, chunky stitches that I used on this baby quilt. While the hand quilting is what took me forever to finish the quilt, I love it.

I’m linking up at:

http://tatertotsandjello.com/

Saturday, October 27, 2012

A Baby Girl Quilt

I made this one for my oldest daughter’s amazing chorus teacher. I wouldn’t ordinarily go through this much trouble for a teacher that she only spends about 45 minutes a day with, but she is truly an awesome teacher. The quilt was a super simple strip quilt made with Children at Play by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabrics. I absolutely adore every single fabric in the line. The backing was all white with the exception of one strip of some pinwheel fabric in the line.

When I was learning to quilt, I always heard that if you hand quilted, you had to use these teeny tiny stitches that are perfectly uniform and, in my opinion, impossible to achieve. Recently, I have seen some quilts where the quilter used big, chunky, not so perfect stitches and I loved the effect had so I did that on this quilt and am so happy I did.

The bib is made out of the same fabric

and the same chunky stitches.

Where was this fabric when I was having babies? I’m seriously in love with it!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Donkeys in rain boots

I found this fabric on Etsy and had to have it. How can you not love donkeys in galoshes? So I whipped up a new skirt for my four year old this morning. Kennady loves it and can’t wait to wear her new skirt to preschool tomorrow.

The donkey fabric is Jack and Jenny in Water by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman and the orange chevron is Medium Chevron in Orange by Riley Blake.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 117–20

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

You might say, “I’m not the creative type. When I sing, I’m always half a tone above or below the note. I cannot draw a line without a ruler. And the only practical use for my homemade bread is as a paperweight or as a doorstop.”

If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.

But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy. Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things.

If you are a mother, you participate with God in His work of creation—not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by teaching and nurturing them. If you are not a mother now, the creative talents you develop will prepare you for that day, in this life or the next.

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.

Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.”

The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.