alittlesweetness

merry christmas!

I did it!  I really did it! Yep, I started a christmas quilt this month and I actually finished it just in the nick of time.  Camille's Vintage Holiday pattern didn't disappoint and I'm in love with the finished product. (Thanks C, for the inspiration)! :)

It was really fun deciding how to do each oranament block...

The pattern calls for one patchwork ornament, but I did two because they were so cute!

(here's one of them...)

The other little alteration I made was doing the pinwheel.  A lot of the blocks centers are made up of half square triangles, so it really just depended on how you arranged them.  I did two pinwheels.

For the backing I found a super snuggly flannel at Joann's and it was absolutely perfect for this quilt!  I love the softness and extra cozyness it brings. 

This quilt is a big size.... 54"X68"....which is one of the largest that I've made.  It took a little longer for what I was used to, but I'm so happy with the result it was totally worth it!

Now we can enjoy it for the rest of the holiday season...I'm sure I'll have it out as looooong as possible!

Thank you SO much to everyone who has supported me this year through my Etsy shop, the beginnings of my fabric designing adventure, your friendship, encouragement, saying hello on my blog....everything!  It really means alot to me and I'm so very thankful! 

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!  :)

Love,

Tasha Noel

p.s.  all orders have been shipped!  ;)  thanks for your patience!

road tripping hexie stitching

Our family enjoyed an end of summer road trip to Montana, where my parents were raised and I was born.  I wanted to see my Grandparents, who I haven't seen for many years and are at the end of their life here on earth.  I was so happy to visit with them and also let my kids see them too.  My grandpa (their great grandpa) told the kids stories about his cowboy days, showed them his chaps and spurs and branding tools, and they loved it.  Definitly worth the trip.

All along the way, everywhere we went (that I could) I took my little suitcase of hexies. 

It really helped with the car time and it was the perfect thing to have when we were in the outdoors and the kids were playing.

For example...While they did this....

and this....

I was able to do this!

My parents came with us everywhere we went during the week, which was so great to have the extra company.  I loved having all the attention on me and my family!  :)  Plus, my mom ooh's and aahh's at all the little sewing projects I show her.  The best confidence booster!  :) Thanks Mom!

One thing my mom gave me while in Montana, was this gorgeous vintage quilt that my other grandma had.  She passed away about a year and a half ago.  My mom almost gave it away, but couldn't ever do it.  Then, finally she knew why...that it should go to me. Thanks again Mom. ;) 

I love it so much!  Isn't is so cute!?!?!  It's in really good condition and hand stitched with pink thread!  SEW CUTE!

Our family loved being in the outdoors and doing some fun things around town as well.  Montana is so pretty...we loved every minute!

We also loved our first taste of Cafe Rio and went back a 2nd and 3rd time!  All of my family has lived around a Cafe Rio except us, so we've only heard about it and my family has made it for us before but this was our first real restaraunt experience.  YUM-O!!  I want more. :)

So...Back to hexies. 

By the end of our trip, I actually got a lot of hexie stitching done....at least for me.  Kerri had made me a cute little stack of hexies on our beach retreat so that really helped me have a good collection to work with.  Thanks Kerri! ;)

And I still adore my little needlebook from Amy.  Thanks Amy!  I always get compliments on it.  :)  Go to Amy's needlebook tutorial if you want to make one.  The hexie flower above is made with 3/4" hexies.  

These are tiny 1/2" hexies.

Lastly, I'm so proud of myself for figuring out (sort of!) instagram.  Finally!  On the way home I did my first little photos and it's so fun!

See my traveling in the car photo?

Now how cute is that?  And it was certainly entertaining enough for a road trip.

Come back next week and I'll have some fun news to share!  ;)

Tasha

the beach..

I just got back from a fabulous and relaxing beach retreat with all the adult girlies (and one sweet little baby!) on my husband's side.  And it was SOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!!!!

It was so amazing to sit and relax and stitch while enjoying the beautiful ocean right in front of me!

My spot

Cute 3/4 inch hexies.....love this size!

Kerri and I in our stitching spots as the sun was going down....

We did a little photo shoot together and decided red, aqua and white should be the colors to wear.  Shocking, I know!  ;)

Here's all of us!

Here's me.  (I know, a little cheesy, but we were having so much fun!)

Me and Kerri

We also loved being silly and dancing on the beach!

Basically, we did whatever we wanted!  We shopped at cute little antique stores, watched chick-flicks, had a campfire, watched shooting stars at 1 am!, stitched and sewed, stayed up late, slept in, painted our nails, relaxed, played, took pictures and giggled and laughed all weekend....it was wonderful!  It's amazing what a little 'girl time' can do!  Such rejuvenation and memories created.  I loved it!!  (Can you tell?!?!?)

I'm ready for next year!

*sigh...*

Tasha  ;)

p.s.  i'll be out of town again all next week, so the shop will be closed!!

Grannies and Annie

Today I finished up my Granny squares and I'm super excited!  I'm so glad I didn't let this one go on and on and on.  Yes, it's been known to happen. 

All 20 Grannies done!

The Grannies were so fun to put together and with needing only 20 blocks, it went pretty quick.

Now, time to get cutting the sashing!

I can't believe summer is going so quickly.  I think because of our move and a couple work related things for my hubby and I, we got a late start.  One little thing that Ava and I did a couple weeks ago was going to the Children's Theatre nearby to see the musical Annie. 

Annie was (okay...and still is!) one of my all time favorite movies.  I have no problem enjoying it anytime any of the kids want to (or agree to) watch it while I sew or make cookies.  I love it.  When I was young, my siblings and I would have contests to see who could sing "Dumb Dog" the best.  My parents owned a Dairy Queen for a little while, and we would sing in the microphone after closing when it was time to help clean up.  We always did our helping.  (I think). But we sang too.  Not that ANY of had/have decent singing voices, but we managed pretty well when it came to singing Annie songs.  

We had a wonderful night.  It was the first real mommy-daughter date we've had, just her and I going to a specific event that only the two of us could truly enjoy...and she was completly captivated the whole time!....it was perfect. 

Grannies and Annie. 

The End. 

Now, time to clean up and eat real food. 

C-ya!

Tasha

16 down...

I've been making some good Granny progress and I can finally see that this could be finished this summer.  I'm hoping...I mean VOWING...to get all my blocks done so I can sew them together during an upcoming beach retreat.  (I can't waaaaiiit!!!)

I've got 16 done and I'm loving it.  At first I was a little worried about my color choices, since lately I'm really also loving the addition of greens and yellows to my favorite combo of red, pink and aqua....(like I'm doing in my Farmer's Wife blocks, and some here, which I have ever so seriously neglected!).  I'm making this quilt for Ava, since I haven't done a baby quilt specifically for her from me, like I've done for all of my boys.  Her nursery colors were red, pink and aqua and even though now we are about to start decorating a toddler room for her and I may include the extra colors, I wanted to keep with the same nursery color scheme.  It just is so reminiscent of the colors I loved when Ava was born.

I have included gray, which I didn't do in her baby nursery, so I'm breaking the rules a little here....but shhh!  Anyway, aside from all that jibber-jabber, now that I have a bunch of these grannies done and I can see how it's turning out, I really love it!

I've really preferred putting a fussy-cut square in the very middle.  To me, it makes each block seem more complete and adds that extra cute touch I want for this quilt.

Now, just 4 to go!  Yesssss.

C-ya!

Tasha

enjoying...

Yesterday was a fun day for me.  Being a work-at-home-mom, I don't often enough venture out with just the kids and me.  Most the time our outings are on the weekend when my husband and I are both home.  Even then, like on a Saturday, sometimes I'll be finishing up orders or when Ava was littler and was napping and the boys would want to go to the skate park or something more geared to their liking, I would stay home while my husband took the boys to do something.  Now, here we are this summer and I'm so glad to be moved in to this house, (still lots of boxes and things to be organized, but we can function), 2nd fabric line complete (yay!) and the shop is on low key (no paper itmes right now)...so I get to enjoy!!  :)

Since we have a cousin staying with us for a couple days, just for fun, I decided to take the kids to Northwest Trek.  It's kind of like a zoo, but more like a nature and wildlife experience.  It's in the mountains, but just about 30 minutes from our house, so it was the perfect outing for me/us.

The cool thing about Northwest Trek is that you get to go on a tram ride for about 45 minutes and see the animals up close!  That bison was licking bugs off the tree.  ik!  But the kids thought it was funny. 

We saw elk, deer, bison, a couple fawns (so cute!) rams, a moose, caribou (baby's too!), racoons...lots of good ones and the kids loved it. 

After the tram, there are other animal exhibits to visit.  Not as many as a typical zoo, but it was really nice just to be outdoors enjoying nature and watching the kids excitement. 

We went into this little discovery center and the kids got pretty silly with the animal puppets. 

Afterwards, we got frozen yogurt at our favorite place, but I forgot the camera in the car.  shucks.  The kids loaded up their cups! 

Oh, and me too.  Heehehe. ;)

Have an ENJOY-able day!

Tasha

 

 

making it smaller

I've had this Wild Thing quilt in the works for too many ages now.  It's sad really, because I do love it and I've enjoyed making these blocks...it's just that I get distracted easily.  What can I say? 

I know you understand.  ;)

So what I finally decided to do, instead of feeling bad that I wasn't getting around to making the rest of the blocks....is to just make it a smaller quilt.  It'll still be cute hung over a chair and perfect for a lap.  Plus I'll be so happy it's done and being loved!

This morning when I had layed out all my blocks, i noticed the sun created a shadow of my sewing machine onto the quilt blocks.  Pretty awesome.

I've also been actually using my darling little woodland house pincushion for a pincushion instead of just a decoration sitting on my shelf.....so here it is all pinned up!

I got this in a Pincushion Swap on flickr...a loooong time ago!  I love it!

I'm hoping to be done with my Wild Thing Quilt next week sometime....

I guess you'll just have to wait and see.  ;)

Tasha

the farmer takes another wife.....

Yep, I'm jumpin on the bandwagon here!  The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-long has already started on Flickr, but I'm joining in anyway.

After seeing some of my favorite girls join up and other inspiring quilters here and there around the quilty blog world, I finally checked in on the group and couldn't resist picking up the book just as fast as my little (big!) car could take me.

As of a couple days ago, the book was on sale at my local Joann's for about $16 after tax.  I called ahead and had them save a copy for me at the desk, so it was a quick stop for me.  Which is good not to meander too much at the craft store!

The book is really interesting because it shares the answers from 1920's farm wifes to the question "Do you want your daughter to marry a farmer?"  Each of the women have 2 blocks in the book. 

I recieved some oh, so lovely fabrics from a swap last week and the precious little stack is begging to be put to some sewing love!  Perfect for some farmer's wifing if you ask me.  ;)

(thank you miss sweet and lovely person!! ;))

Some of the funny ladies in the Farmer's Wife group had me giggling with their comments that perhaps they couldn't quite live up to being a Farmer's Wife....it is 111 blocks!.....so they may just end up being the Farmer's Girlfreind or some even a Mistress!  (You know they may only get to making about half the blocks!).  Honestly, being just a girlfriend sounded good to me!  I figured instead of doing the 2 blocks a week, I'll probably just do one.  

I think someone said something like "...all the fun, but no commitment".....some seriously funny company.

So, I've gathered me up a little inspiration.......

.........and I can't wait to get going!   

How about you, did you always want to be a Farmer's Wife?  Well, you're in luck....you can! 

Happy Weekend.  :)

Tasha 

pure bliss

About 4 months ago I made this little Bliss dress for Ava. She wore it to a family event and then to church the next day. After that it magically disappeared! Oh how I searched and searched for this sweet little dress!! I was completely baffled at where it could be hiding!

Then, last week I was looking for some of my other bliss fabric for another project I am working on…..a little piece that had magically disappeared as well. (gotta love it when that happens!) I had the thought to look inside one of my ziplocks full of quilt blocks from the 3 X 6 Mini Bee I had done last year. To my super ecstatic surprise….there was the Bliss dress folded in between the quilt blocks!!!! YIPPEE!! I was so excited and so confused because I do not remember ever putting it there. How crazy!!! But I don’t care, cuz the mystery is solved! Luckily the dress still fits. I had also made this little hair clip to match. It was supposed to be fluffy, but the weight of the fabric made it lay flat. Oh well, I think it still looks cute.

For the trim I sewed a very scrappy-pieced ruffle with what I had leftover. It doesn’t look great, but it was an experiment and I think it’s cute enough. Pure Bliss!!

I LOVE this fabric and this dress! I will be sad when Ava grows out of it. Guess I’ll have to make another!

The funny thing was, is that I found the Bliss dress while I was sewing together the tiny Bliss squares that Camille had sent me. I was a stopping point on my other project, (I’ll show you soon!) but 'needed' something else to sew! I decided it was the perfect time to try out some pre-cuts and the perfect little excuse to give Ava’s baby’s a new soft quilt. It was so fun and quick to sew up….I just adore it!

See how happy they are! Pure Bliss!  (update!  Doll info:  Large doll was purchased from Love, Charla Ann and the small doll was a gift from Ava's Aunt Kerri.  She used a Bit of Whimsy Dolls pattern.)

For the backing I used some super soft minky. Although I did a binding, I didn’t use any batting and I also kept the quilting to a minimum. My objective was that it would be cuddly-soft and good for wrapping around a baby.

I think it’s so sweet and I loved working with the pre-cuts. It made it so quick and enjoyable for me. I need to do pre-cuts again sometime!

Speaking of Bliss. I have been terribly lame in not mentioning that the oh-so-lovely Camille, was sweet enough to allow me to mimick (copy!) her beautiful pink tulip Bliss fabric in my new Fabric Sale illustration.  After I had done the 'bliss fabric', it really helped me feel more inspired about creating the rest of the fabrics in the illustration.  So, really, thank you Camille!

Here's the completed illustration.  I appreciated all the ideas for backgrounds, it really helped me with my decision.  Thank you all!

Meanwhile, I’ve been enjoying some very blissful brownies……

They are sooooo good, (thanks Duncan Hines and my son) that I had to put them in this darling little dish, adorn them with pom-poms and take a cute picture!

I will try really hard not to eat all the rest of them myself. It really could be done, but I really really shouldn’t.

Didn’t I tell you before that pom-poms were cute?

‘Bliss’fully cute!

 

Tasha

how could i not?

This morning I bought this off Etsy.......

HOW could I not? 

I think it was meant to be!

 

And remember this:

Yep, it's time again and I'm enjoying them at the moment!

HOW could I not?

The best part?  My kids don't know about my hidden bag.  heheehehe.

So, my friends....I ask you again......

HOW COULD I NOT!?

The answer is simple.....

NOT POSSIBLE!

Do you have something you can't NOT have?

Tasha