Purple Tote

A great friend of mine commissioned me to make a little tote for her step-daughter's birthday. Two key points had to be incorporated into it - she loves cats and love love loves purple. A girl after my own heart on the purple thing! I think I hit the nail on the head. What do you think?

Kindof proud of myself because it all came from my stash!

The stitching up on that top strip really isn't crooked. Just appears that way because of the angle I took the picture and that it's snapped. I really can sew straight - REALLY!
Cute little kitties inside too!

Hope she likes it. I'll know soon enough!
Jenn

Halloween - finally and Landry's Quilt

I'm just now getting around to posting Halloween pictures. I'm a slacker - what can I say? No actually, working a full time job an hour both ways from my house, managing 2 kids and finding time to quilt - well it's just gotten the best of me lately. This time of year is super busy anyway. As always, still too many unfinished projects on my list for Christmas gifts. Maybe if I start in January this next year, I'll get them all done by December!

This is a sweet little quilt that I'm gifting to a good friend tomorrow. Her baby girl, Landry, will be here in about a month. I can't wait to see her all snuggled up in it.

TGIF!! Have a great weekend Ya'll!

Jenn

Shop Updated

Just loaded my etsy shop with more vintage sheet goodness! Go check it out. Spread the word! Wouldn't everyone's life be better with a quilt made from vintage sheets?? I know mine would!
Have a great weekend! It's a nippy 40 degrees here in Texas today!

Jenn

Made to Order in my Etsy Shop

Just listed this little project in my Etsy Shop. How cute is this?

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

Well as disappointing as the comment qty was, I am still happy that at least 3 of my loyal readers commented for the Vintage Sheet Goodness Giveaway!

So instead of picking just one winner, it's Vintage Sheet Fat Quarters for Everyone!!!

Punkie Pie & Chiska - I'll be emailing you for your addresses to send your FQ to.

Love - well Love is a longtime bloggy buddy of mine and she so graciously opted out of the running and said give it to one of the others. Well, she might just be getting a little something special in the mail herself, just because!

So thanks ladies for entering!

Jenn

Vintage Goodness Giveaway

Ok....I'm addicted. To what you ask??? The vintage sheet craze! It's almost reached hoarder mode! I am finding them right and left at my local thrift shops and have just loaded my etsy shop with fat quarter listings.
Purpleheart Ori"Jenn"als aka phorijennals

So, how about a little giveaway? Go check out the shop and come back here on this post and tell me which is your favorite vintage sheet piece. I'll pick a winner on Monday morning and you'll receive one fat quarter (19" x 23") of whichever one you said was your fav!!

Make sure that your email is listed in the comment area or connected to your profile!

Grin!! - can you SEE how happy this makes me???

Something else making me smile??? This fabulous little quilt that I also picked up at my local thrift store yesterday. And get this......for $1.99!!!!!

Major Score! It's going to look fa-boo on my mini-quilt wall in the livingroom.

So get over to my etsy shop and tell me which is your favorite FQ! Oh - and it couldn't hurt if you bought up a few things too. That wouldn't hurt my feelings none!

Jenn

Busy Busy World

Again....it's seems like forever since I've posted. I find that I'm being pulled in so many directions these days. Unfortunately, it's all my own doing. I just need to learn how to manage it better or figure out how to add 4 extra hours into each day! HA!

Here are a few things that have been keeping me busy lately.

These two, of course!! Emma is still progressing beautifully with her braces. It's amazing how straight her teeth have gotten with her only having had them on since May! She lost another tooth - thankfully not one that was connected to the braces!

The boy, well what can I say about him? He's always keeping me on my toes! Found out a couple of days ago, he's highly allergic to mosquitos after he stepped out into the garage for all of 10 seconds to tell us something the other night and when I put him in the bath that night, he was COVERED in bites the size of a quarter all over his arms, hands, legs and feet! And just when our weather was starting to get nice in the evening - now we have to keep him practically quarantined to the house! Poor baby! Which for him is ok I guess because if he had his way, he'd be watching Lion King on VHS 24/7! Oh wait a minute! HE'S ALREADY DOING THAT!!!

Here is one of SIX placemats that I made for a co-worker's upcoming wedding.

Here are my blocks so far from the Red & White Block Swap that Karen of Sew Many Ways hosted a while back. I'm actually copying the pattern that Annette from Sunshine Yellow did with her blocks. I did ask her permission first though. And the funny thing about this picture is that I took it in total pitch black darkness! We were in the middle of a huge thunderstorm that night when the lights went out as I was trimming the blocks. So this was the best of the pictures. At least I was able to guesstimate the center and get all blocks in the picture! That only took me about 7 tries.

Here is a commission quilt from a co-worker of mine. She was all gung-ho about learning to quilt and when push came to shove, she just didn't have time so she brought me her fabric and said - Can you make this into a quilt? Of course I said SURE! Well, about 4 weeks later, this is how it turned out. I used the Hourglass pattern from Allison over at Cluck Cluck Sew. I just love that girl! Here patterns are super simple to understand and her work is truly amazing! This was such a simple pattern but turned out looking quite complex.

The backing was a vintage looking sheet that I found on a trip to one of my local thrift stores. Oh and Malek himself picked out the orange binding! I'll have that boy putting colors together for future quilts before you know it!

Ok, so last but not least....I've been trying to throw together a SURPRISE 65th birthday party for my mom. Talk about stress! I keep biting my tongue everytime I'm with her because I'm busting at the seams to talk about it. Then luckily, I stop myself because I REALLY want this to be a surprise for her! So the invitations are similar to the ones that I did for my grandmother for her Surprise 80th birthday about 5 years ago. I'm a sucker for old black and white pictures and luckily, my cousin had made a scrapbook for my grandmother back at her party and had burned me a disc, so voile! All the old B&W pics of my mom that I could ever want! So cool how some of them totally remind me of Emma. She favors my mom alot! Oh and you see that little vintage car my mom is sitting in down in the center? She STILL has that! My Papa gave that to her when she was 10 months old. She's had it redone to it's original state and it's a real beauty. I've taken pics of both kids in it. I'll have to post them when I dig them up one day. Yeah - add it to the list!

So, that's my life round these parts in a nutshell. Still many other projects in the works. Oh and then throw Halloween costumes into the mix! I think my hair is about to set fire!

Where O Where Have I Been?

Ok - so I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... Summer's been hard around these parts, but getting better. School has started and we're finally getting back into that old routine. New school and new daycare to boot!

We also managed to enjoy one last dip in the pool as well as some much needed cooler weather yesterday (60's- 80's!!). Haven't seen temps like that in a LONG time. Yesterday the kids and I had a great time at the park playing in the sand.

I managed to finish up a couple of baby quilts for some co-workers over the long holiday weekend.

I really love being able to quilt small projects like this myself. It's saving me tons of moo-lah!

One for Baby Sister and a matching doll quilt for the Big Sister!

And someone also found his new favorite movie this weekend. Any guesses???

Working on another 10 or 11,000 other projects so hope to start posting more regularly. Not placing any bets, but I am still around.

Jenn

Just some commission work

Here are the projects that I've recently worked on. Slowly, the commission work is picking up.

Emma's 10th Celebration

Wow - it's been almost a month since my last post. What can I say, Life Happens! So here's a little of what we've been up to. Mostly celebrating Emma's 10th birthday!!!

Here's the Junk Food Junkie quilt I made for her. She LOVED It!

Then we had the family over and cooked some s'mores! YUM!

Then on her actual birthday night we took her to Medieval Times where she and Malek both got their faces painted.

This one really has nothing to do with Emma's birthday celebration, but I thought it was such a funny picture of Malek showing us his muscles. Something about the faux-hawk that brought out the tough guy in him!

Then Miss Emma had a slumber party with some of her best friends from school. Let's just say - 4 ten year olds and then Malek up in the middle of it all - I'm worn out! We swam, ate too much, watched movies and overall had a great time.
My living room was turned into a slumber party oasis! And of course you see the little mister right up in the middle AGAIN!
Bravely - my mom even joined in on all the fun.
So overall it's been a busy couple of weeks. Not a whole lot of sewing going on, with the exception of Emma's junk food quilt, but did manage to make a few more custom steering wheel covers for some folks here at work. Oh and some super cute Lobster themed placemates and matching coasters. I'll blog those in a separate post, because I'm sure I've overloaded you all on the pictures with this post!

I need a vacation! Maybe once school starts back up again I can catch a break! Yeah fat chance!

Jenn

Doll Quilt Swap Revealed!!

Yes Megan it finally arrived!! It was a toss-up but Malek really loved the envelope more I think.

Thanks so much!! Love the colors and look at the quilting - awesome!

And this is the one that I made for Megan! Sweet and simple. She said she loved it - it was hard parting with those colorful scraps though.

Still working on the Lobster placemats and coasters. Hope to finish those up this weekend so I can post a couple of pics. I've also got a couple more special orders for my steering wheel covers! Check them out here in my etsy shop - I do special orders too! Just convo me!

Dallas Mavericks Steering Wheel Cover

Support your favorite basketball team.....for sale in my etsy store. Go check it out!

GO MAVS!!

Can't wait til the parade on the 16th!! Right in our backyard!

Oh how I love junk food!

The top is done for Miss Emma's Junk Food quilt!! Yeah! That's what I did this weekend - not too shabby. Now hoping my quilter can get it done and sent back to me before her party on the 16th next month!

Doll Quilt Swap 2 Final TEASE!

Behind original due date but AHEAD of new due date!!

One last tease for Megan before she receives it in the mail.

Enjoy! Jenn

Also on a sad note, my friend whom I made the Mary Engelbreit FRIENDS quilt for on this post, passed away on June 1st after the bravest fight battling a brain tumor. We'll miss you so much Nancy!!

Graduation

My Emma is now a 4th grade graduate....with honors!! Straight A's baby - all year!! She was also selected for the Gifted and Talented program next year!! "Us"

Emma and her Nana - my mom

Emma with Grandpa and Mary - my dad and stepmom

This is Mr. Kenneth Davis - whom Emma's school is named after. He gave each of the students their graduation medal.

And these are the squares for a quilt that I've been saving fabric for since last Fall. It's all kinds of yummy junk foods. It's for Emma to celebrate her 10th birthday that's coming up on July 2nd. Turquoise and Hot Pink - HER signature colors!

Oh crap - just noticed that I've got 2 fry squares next to each other in the bottom row. It's much easier to tell what needs to be switched around once you've taken a picture of it. Kindof hard to tell laying out on the bed. Oh well - at least the squares are done - the swapping of squares is the easy part. I hope to get the top done this weekend so I can mail it off to my quilter and have it back in time for Emma's sleepover slumber party on the July 16th.

So - lots of other projects in the works too - what else? That's how I roll!

Later!

Jenn