Throwback Thursday… and more...

I have a handful of things I've finished up in the last month. (And a handful of things that I'm still working on…)

First, though… a Throwback Thursday to one of my earliest quilting efforts. I finally labeled it, so I can post it!

I used all Joann's fabric. It still looks okay in real life, but it definitely doesn't have the density of higher quality fabrics.  It feels thin and floppy.

 That's a horrible picture, I know. My real camera has broken and I took this with my phone in a room with bad lighting. Here's a closer view with a more accurate representation of the colors:

I went the greatest distance possible when I hand quilted this. At the time, I must not have had a walking foot or something. I had machine quilted another quilt at around the same time, but it was fmq'ing, so I don't know. Was I afraid of straight-line quilting? This was before all the quilting blogs and all the information available like we have now. I think I just didn't know what else to do! 

Haha! And my stitches were sooooooo even on the back!  So happy I have discovered the art of machine quilting!

I thought the colors looked like Spiderman colors - or maybe that's just what I told my 4-year-old (at the time) son so that he would think it was cool to have a quilt hanging in his bedroom. 

 Another Throwback Thursday… although not quite as far back…

I made this quilt for my now 8-year-old… probably when he was about a year old. I have pictures with layout possibilities that were taken in October, 2008, with what looks like a final sew-together in early 2009. Then I had it quilted by Stacey G. in 2011. By that point, I realized my boy had outgrown it, so I mentioned to Stacey that I would donate it to a charity. She was so sweet and did the quilting for free as her part of the donation! So nice. I finally put the binding on this month, and it's ready to go to a new home.

I just found a backing that was on sale, if I remember correctly. I'm actually a little confused about if I had washed the fabrics for the top and then if I did or didn't for the backing… I'm going to wash it now that it's all done and see what happens.  (ETA: I washed it and I still can't tell! So I guess that means it's all good. And I find it's a little hard to let this go, mostly because I know it was originally meant for my youngest boy. BUT… I'm strong. :) I hope it brings some comfort to someone who could use a warm quilt hug.)

I didn't put a label on, since it will be going out as a donation.

At the time that I made this quilt top, I also made a pillow to match. It was in "kid size" and it got lots of good use. I took this picture that happens to include the pillow… even though I was really taking a picture of how my son had arranged his toys on his bed. LOL. I love little boys!

After more than a few years of lots of love, my son decided he was too big for his pillow and he was ready to let it go. My sentimental heart cracked a little (hence taking a picture), but my practical side is all about decluttering, so we sent it on it's way. Oh, if they only could stay little a bit longer…  :( 

Moving on to present time… Halloween. I decided to make costumes this year. WHY??? Actually, I used to make my kids' costumes all the time when my older kids were young. I've done a bit more of the "store bought" routine with these younger two, mostly because I realize it's cheaper and they are usually happier about it!

But… for whatever reason, I decided to make the costumes this year. I chose a super easy pattern… really, the costumes weren't all that great. And I had issues with my machine at the same time. AND the hoods were out of a thin, very stretchy knit. Nothing about it went well, and I'm vowing to not do this again. Who cares if my kids wear the same Costco costumes as half their class??? Not me. Haha.

Anyway, they were ninjas. And they actually were happy with these getups, so go figure! (I got sick on Halloween, so I never took official Halloween pics… but these blurry photos will do:

I ended up doing a wrap-type hood for hers. I had just had it with dealing with that stretchy knit!

After all the problems (and my husband's fixes) with my machine while working on those costumes, I decided to throw together this dress-up cape that had been in my "to-do" pile for quite some time. I wanted to see how my Bernina was doing, and I thought a thick patch on felt would be a good test. What my husband had done to fix the machine worked, because this came together like a dream. (Which is how my Bernina usually behaves!)

The patch was from a reversible cape that we had purchased years ago. Batman was on the other side. It ended up tearing at some point, so I decided to make new capes and use the insignias from the old one. The Batman one has been done for quite some time.

Funny (?) anecdote: While I was away at a quilt retreat, my husband was trying to put together a pirate costume for my son's "pirate day" in first grade. He decided to make the eye patch out of some black felt… which he cut off the bottom of the Batman cape. I was like, "Whhhaaaatttt???" He claimed it was only 1.5 inches, but when I got home, it was really like 2.5 inches. OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE CAPE!!! Who does that??? Anyway, my kids have pretty much outgrown these capes, and I just have them for the grandkids' dress-up box, so I didn't make a new one, even though my perfectionist self wanted to. 

Next… I used to have a handful of small, stuffed pumpkins that we made at a Super Saturday one year. They added such a nice decorative touch to the top of my piano each fall. Well, a few years ago, my son helped me pack them up, along with the other fall decorations. He was about 13 or so… so I'm still trying to figure out how he didn't think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to pack the REAL mini pumpkins in the box, as well. 

The next year, I opened the box and there was a horrible musty smell. It didn't take long to find the moldy mini pumpkins… or the bugs at the bottom of the box. EW! And I was so sad. There were several homemade fall decorations that got ruined. :(

In any case, I saw a tutorial on IG this year for stuffed pumpkins. They turned out bigger than my old ones, but I like them:

They were super quick and easy to make!

Another quick project this last month or so were these gift tags made from the leftover trees from the Christmas Tree wallhanging I did back in September…

I actually made six total, but the other two didn't make it into this picture. :)

AND… last weekend I went out of town for a girls' R&R in St. George. It was so nice! Before I left, my husband and I had talked about a sewing table for my Juki that we could custom cut so my Juki would sit even with the top.  We found some tutorials on a couple of blogs that showed how they started with an Ikea table, and how they converted it to a sewing table.

Well, my husband is the kind of guy who makes things happen. When I got back from SG, I found this in my sewing room:

It is sooooo nice! It's just the perfect height and it's awesome to have it all flat and even. And the flowers were an extra sweet touch. :) He's such a good husband and so thoughtful. (And talented!)

While I was looking for the picture of the pillow I posted up above, I found this one that made me chuckle: 

So it's a horrible picture, I know. I took it with my old iPod Touch in the basement, so it really didn't stand a chance. This is something I found one day when my youngest two were about 3 and 4. I'm pretty sure it was the 3-year-old's work, although it's entirely possible they were in cahoots. Yeah, that was one of my quilting gloves. I didn't find it so amusing at the time, but I can (kind of) laugh now. I ended up buying new (better) gloves, so all's well that ends well.