Hey.  How are you this final Friday in February?  I am great.  Still loving the yellow, as you can see.  I thought I would pop in between cleaning the house and staining some tables to wish you all a happy weekend.  I'm hoping to finish some projects I have started and maybe read a book.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Just a reminder that the mailing deadline for the Kids ATC Swap is TOMORROW.  Jane and Kate have finished their cards and will address their envelopes today.  Then it's off to the post office!  I am anxious to see what they get in return.

I'll be back here next week.  And by then it'll be March.  See?  Spring is right around the corner.

It's Pioneer Day for the third grade tomorrow.  Think Little House on the Prairie, the Virginia reel and butter churning.  Add in costumes, for kids AND parent volunteers, and you get a pretty good idea of what is going on.

I made three skirts, four bonnets and an apron this weekend.  For the bonnets, I used Simplicity 3723 only because I didn't have time to order this pattern (click on shop and find bonnet pattern) from Amy.  They came together pretty easily although I did tweak the pattern a bit.  The skirts are just two lengths of fabric sewn up the sides, hemmed and with a casing for elastic at the waist.  Kate doesn't need an outfit for school, but I couldn't leave her out of the fun.  She and Jane are both reading Little House in the Big Woods and I knew she would want her own bonnet.  For her skirt, I put in a very large hem.  That way, in two years, I can just take the hem out and redo it and she will be ready to go.

I could just pinch her, she's so cute.

I promised that I would write about the quilts and I am keeping my word.  I made them for the two first grade classes' art projects for our school auction.  The idea is not original to me - Daria made one last year and I basically copied her formula, with a few tweaks.

The first grades did the artwork for these quilts in October - one class drew zoo animal and the other class drew sea creatures.  I gave them sheets of paper pre-cut to 5" so I wouldn't have to adjust the size of the drawings.  And then I waited and procrastinated (ahem) and finally scanned the artwork into my computer and printed it onto the fabric.  I used the same fabric that Daria did - I printed 2 drawings on each 8.5" x 11" sheet (which I had cut down from the 11" x 17" sheets I bought).

To set the image on the printable fabric, you soak it in water for a specified amount of time.  The only problem I had in this entire process is that some of my fabric shrunk a tiny bit after soaking.  My original intent was to cut the artwork to 5.5" squares.  On some of the fabric sheets, this wasn't possible as the sheets were no longer 11" long.  To solve that problem, I cut all the artwork to 5.5" wide and then used my judgment on the height - some are 5.5", some are a bit less.

I matched each drawing with a suitable fabric and then sewed 2.5" strips around all four sides.  Once I had that finished, I used solid Kona cottons to complete each block - a tan for the sea quilt, white for the zoo quilt.  I cut long 4.5" strips and chained pieced as many as I could to each strip.  Daria said that this was a huge time saver for her and it was for me, too.  There was some fabric waste, but in the time vs. money debate, time was more precious.

Once I had all the squares sewn, I used my 12.5" square ruler to even them up and then sewed them together in a grid (5 by 5 for the sea quilt, 4 by 6 for the zoo quilt).  I added borders by using scraps of the colored fabrics and some additional bright solids on the sea quilt.  For the backs, I used two solid colors separated by a patchwork strip.  I asked the teachers to have some of the children write the quilt's name, their class, school and the year on paper.  I scanned that in and added it to the patchwork strip.  It's my favorite part.

 

I quilted the zoo quilt first.  I didn't want to quilt over the artwork, so I came up with a geometric pattern by sewing a certain distance away from seam lines.  I can't really pinpoint exactly what I did - I think I have quilter's amnesia.  Regardless, the quilting took concentration and way too much time.  I rethought my idea for the sea quilt.  Because it is square, I decided to go ahead and do an allover diamond pattern.  I sewed diagonally from one corner to the other, using a strip of masking tape as a guide.  From that point on, I used the guide on my walking foot to sew the grid lines 3" apart.  It was fast and somewhat brainless.  And even though I hadn't wanted to quilt over the artwork, I really like how it came out.

 

After binding, I washed the quilts.  The printable fabric cannot be dried with heat, so I threw them in the dryer with the air only cycle on.  Although it took some time for them to dry, it worked well.  I folded them up, took them to the auction.

The quilts were a big success - they both went for a good amount of money.  I'm purposely not telling you how much.  You won't be able to get it out of me.  Why?  Well, let's just say that one matches my family room pretty much perfectly.  If you think I planned it that way, you are right.

I like my new quilt.

Valentine's Day has come and gone - I know.  I wanted to share our valentines, though.  I was in the midst of all the auction work and just assumed my children would want to buy their valentines.  Was I ever wrong!  So I came up with a good solution that didn't take too much of my time and that we could make a bunch of with relative ease.  Notebooks!

To start, I cut a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper into quarters and gave two to each of the girls.  They each drew a front cover for their notebook and Kate drew a back cover, too.  I then scanned their art work into the computer and set up a document so that all four designs could print on one page.  Does that make sense?  Kate's artwork was on two quarters and Jane's was on one.  The fourth quarter was left blank because Jane wanted her back cover plain.  Once I was happy with the set up, I printed it out 25 times on card stock.

I took the card stock to FedEx Kinko's and asked them to cut the paper into fourths.  I could have done this part at home, but I really wanted the cuts to be clean and even.  I also bought a ream of copy paper and had them cut that into fourths, too.   All said and done, it cost about $7.  I took everything home and assembled notebook sandwiches - front cover, about 15 pages copy paper, back cover.  Using a zig zag stitch on my machine, I sewed up one side of each notebook.  The girls made name tags for their classmates and we were pretty much done.  We put a pencil with each notebook which made for a perfect ensemble!

I think from start to finish (drawing time not included!), it took me about 2 hours.  Not bad and certainly inexpensive.  I had another parent tell me that they took theirs to a restaurant that night and his son used it to keep busy while waiting for dinner.  Perfect.  We have lots of copy paper left over so I am sure we will make these again just because.  I think they would be great party favors, too.

All right, back tomorrow.  Yellow week got me on a blogging roll.  And yes, it was about time.

Thanks for a great yellow week!  I needed some brightness and cheer.  Have a wonderful weekend - I will be back next week with some sewn stuff.  Happy Friday!

I find it funny how my mind works.  On Monday, I saw Emily's photo of teacups and it reminded me of some yellow plates that I have.  And thinking of those plates took me back to my last two houses, my former boss and a very special little girl.

When Fatty and I got married, we moved from Telluride, Colorado to suburban Chicago.  I took the summer off from working to do wedding stuff.  When we returned from our honeymoon, I was offered a part-time job at the darling stationery store where we had purchased our invitations.  It was a wonderful fit - five minutes from home, retail hours and selling a product that I really love.  To top it off, I was working for an incredible woman.  Susan is genuine, kind, generous, supportive and smart.  She had started the business a little more than a year before and needed help.  I happily jumped in for a few days a week which quickly turned into full-time and then into managing the store.  It really was a perfect match.

Fatty and I had bought a small, 1940's cottage-y house and I was decorating it one room at a time.  We shopped the local antiques fair and consignment shops, looking for everything from a dining room table to chandeliers to McCoy pottery to add to my collection.  At one of my favorite stores, there was a set of nine yellow plates that just took my breath away.  I really wanted to buy one, but they were being sold as a set and there was no way I could afford to buy them all when we needed things like a new fence.

A month or so later, for my birthday, Susan handed me a box.  Inside were three of the plates.  She bought the entire set, kept six for herself and gave me the rest.  I was amazed and so very grateful!  She knew I would love them and I do.  I hung them on the wall above the bed in our guest room.  When we moved a year later, the plates were packed up in a box and moved to our new home.

The new house was much larger than the little suburban cottage we left behind.  I was pregnant when we moved in and I was dead set on getting each room painted and the nursery ready.  Many boxes sat for a long time, including all of the ones in the guest room.  I was put on bed rest at 33 weeks and at 36 weeks, I gave birth to a beautiful, but tiny little girl.  Jane weighted 4 lbs. 13 oz. but was otherwise healthy and came home from the hospital with me two days later.  My mom came to help and unpacking boxes was one thing we tackled while Jane slept.  When we pulled the dinner sized (11 inches in diameter) yellow plates out of the box, I realized just how small my baby was.

Those plates were hung on the wall above the bed in our guest room that day.  They were moved to a different guest room when Kate came along.  Five and a half years after Jane was born, we moved into this house.  The plates sat in a box for much longer this time and then they sat longer still, forgotten in a cabinet.  They are still in the guest room, but this time they hang over a mirror.  I put them up a few months ago, after I finished the guest room quilt.  The quilt was supposed to be pinks, greens and aquas, but it just screamed for a little yellow when I was making it.  I listened to my inner voice, added the yellow and didn't think twice - I loved it.

A few months after I finished the quilt, I remember the plates.  And they are a perfect match for the quilt.  It's like I knew, but I had just forgotten, that those plates were meant to be in our guest room.  I also think of Susan and The Custom Stationery Shop.  I adored that job and still miss parts of it from time to time.  I think it was there that I tapped back into my creative side after a few years of focusing on other things and for that I am very grateful.  Of course, the plates always remind me of Jane, as a tiny baby.  I did not realize, until I saw that photo, how tiny she really was.  I chalk it up to being a first time mom, with very little baby experience.  And of course, having a sweet, good baby didn't hurt!  As I type this, I think I need a new photo with Jane and the plate.  Yes.  I really do.

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I am amazed at all the yellow I've been seeing from you!  The list of participants is here and here and the flickr group here.  See you tomorrow.

Yellow for eating and drinking

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For more yellow, visit the flickr group here and yellow week participants here and here.

Today it's about our yellow houses

 

the one we play in

 

and the one we live in.

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There is a lot more yellow in the flickr group and with these players, too:

Paula, Sara Pippy, Maya, Jennifer, Hope, Erica, Lisa Q, paphos sk, Meg, The Rauths, Claudia, Charlotte, Molly, Kristyn, Daniela, Kendall Micayla, Melody, Christin, Barb, Hayley, Kat, Rosa, Jill, Michelle, Heather C, Mia, Casey, Sarah, Jess, Amy, Molly and Rachel.