D Whynn Designs

A Quilt Story

A while back my younger sister, my very much all grown up adult younger sister, whined that no one EVER makes her anything.  She doesn't have a bag, or an apron or a quilt --- NOTHING. I'm always making something and I NEVER make anything for her.

Sadly, it is true.  Not intentional, but she is right.  So I decided that I had to put creating something for my sister as a priority on my list.

A short while later Denyse Schmidt released her Hope Valley line of fabrics and everything about these fabrics, color, style, design, screamed my sister's name. After a mad search through all my pattern books I felt that Fanciful Flowers in the Material Obsession book was also screaming my sister's name -- with those huge 18-1/2" blocks, big bold appliqued flowers and lots of color it was all her.

  
  
Unfortunately, I was never able to blog about my quilting adventures because my sister is an ever faithful blog reader and would have demanded to know WHO that quilt was going to be for.

I would love to have shared with you all the fact that I had to place 4, yes four, separate orders for more fabric, that one day I cut all my plain applique blocks to a measurement of 18" square instead of 18-1/2" which meant over a yard of ruined fabric and yet another trip out to the quilt store OR how I put the borders on upside down which didn't matter one bit for the finished quilt but meant I had to read the cutting instructions upside down for 3 rows of borders - a challenge at best.

 

My sister was working hard on her doctorate and with fingers crossed would graduate this spring - enough time for me to be able to present her with a "now you can rest a bit with your very own made just for you comfy, cozy quilt".

 

So while she was writing and revisioning and working and defending I was sewing furiously!

Congratulations Dr. KJK! We're all so proud of you!

Love,

The Nice Sister

Pretty Maids All In A Row . .

A few months ago we added some children's patterns to our line at the quilt shop.  Here are some shop samples I created.  Reminded me of how much I enjoy sewing children's clothing!

With a matching dress for the doll, of course!

 

This darling outfit - halter top and skirt - was my absolute favorite but these are poor pictures.  I think it would have modeled better on a kid!

 The halter top.

The skirt.

Together.

These patterns are all by Mod Kid Boutique. I found the patterns to be well designed with plenty of photos, diagrams and easy to follow written instructions.  They are available in many quilt shops as well as all over the internet.

 
I cannot remember the designer of this pattern but it's an adorable dress for a baby or toddler or can be sized to be worn as a summer top for a child.  There are several differnt strap styles on the pattern. 

For my favorite 4-year-old.  She picked the fabric.

Today's cranky mood is brought to you by the fact that I purchased one brand new Christmas quilt/project book and then added my two Australian Shepherds and one swimming pool . . . . . . . . . 

  
  

Special Delivery!

Saturday is my son's 19th birthday. My son has become very interested in cooking. I believe from all the cooking done around here as well as from his job in the kitchen of a local restaurant.  I decided that I would surprise him with a good Chef's knife that was all his own. 

Because I really don't love going shopping out in the world,  I ordered him a Wüsthof Culinar 7-Inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife from Amazon. If Amazon issued frequent shopper cards, I'd be a platinum card carrying member!  Yesterday the knife was due to arrive so I had my eye on the door waiting for the delivery so I could snag it and hide it and SURPRISE him with something.

Come afternoon the Fed Ex man is pounding on the door.  I ignore it because my delivery men usually knock, drop and run and with my dogs it's just easier to get the package after he's left.  But the Fed Ex man continues to pound and he's peeking in the front door glass yelling hello! hello!

I open the door to find the Fed Ex man bleeding all over the front porch yelling "my leg", "my leg", "the knife" "the knife".  Do you have a towel?  Chaos followed - on a grand scale - to the extent that my son now joined the communtion to see what the heck was going on.

This is what my box from Amazon looked like:  Quite the suprirse to find 3" of a high quality chef's knife sticking out the end of it!!

 

Inside the box:

 
My favorite - the label with "Sharp Object Inside".  And yes, that's Reader Rabbit software for a little one I tutor.

Before the picture taking, we did bring the weaving and extremely excited (older) Fed Ex man in out of the sun and heat, offered him a seat, peroxide, Neosporin and butterfly band-aids.  When I told him I was going to take some pictures of the box, he wanted me to take a picture of his leg . . . . So there you guy, a cleaned up and repaired Fed Ex man leg:

 
  

After it was all said and done, we just kept repeating that unless you were here, you wouldn't believe this story.

My son loves his new knife and used it last night.  Unfortunately it won't be wrapped with paper and bows as a surprise.  Disappointing, since they are hard to surprise by his age.

And, yes, I did contact Amazon.  I got one of those nice form emails telling me they were so sorry, they take every effort and they hope I continue to have pleasant shopping experiences. 

While I will certainly continue to be a frequent Amazon shopper, they may want to take a little extra precaution when packing some of those boxes.

 

Totes Times Eight

I start this post by commenting on the fact that I have no idea why it has been so long since my last post. I haven't done anything profound in the last month and a half like travel the continent, solve the world's problems, reflect upon life -- nope, nothing.  I guess time just flies by.

As I believe I have mentioned before, I teach preschool - 4 and 5 year olds and I have done this for many, many years.  We run on the same schedule as the public schools which means we are now officially on Summer Break!!

Each year we always give our students some little end of the year gift.  I was stumped this year because A) I've come up with years and years worth of gifts; B) Any gift is multiplied by 10 so cost is a concern and C) I like to give them something that reminds them of our year together.

Finally, it dawned on me. This class loved to draw in their journals so I got them each a "journal" (really, just a notepad from Office Depot and a cool 4 color pen (because packs of markers times 10 are expensive) and then made them all a tote bag.

Super easy and faster than I could have gone out to the store and found something.  Plus I used stash fabric and it's always a good feeling when you are creating from the stash.  It was fun to match fabrics to each kid's personality.

Great party gift idea and if you have a stash anything like mine then that makes them virtually free!

To create:

Cut 2 rectangles 14-1/2" w x 16" l.  Use 1/2" seam allowances.

With RST and using the serger (how fast can it get!) sew down one side.  

Open up and serge all the way across the top to prevent fraying.

Fold back together, RST, and stitch the other side and bottom.

Iron down top of bag 1/2".  Attach 16" of webbing about 2" in from each side to the front and back of the back at the top.

Fold over hem. Topstitch around, fill with goodies and you are good to go!

The kids LOVED them. One little girl wore her bag out to the playground and all through snack!

Time to go turn on the sewing machine - it's summer break!