Thank you, I am Blessed

Happy 4th of July Everyone!  Warning this post is loaded with photos :)

I want to say a special Thank you to Dad and Rhonda for their support of my fabric addiction, and Mom for all of the lovely boxes filled with fabric.

Mrs. Bobbins

For my birthday Mom sent this little box of joy filled with fabric and a few birthday gifts for Katerina, Love you Mom.

How did you know that the kids have been begging for one of those worm things?

Dad and Rhonda gave me $40 for my birthday and I immediately bought some fabric, thread and stabilizer, all from one shop to save on the postage (crazy postage prices)

I got the little buttons on the bottom right of this photo from my favorite button company Button Mad, they are handmade buttons made by women in South Africa, and they are always beautiful.
And I made this...

It is a crib organizer that I have made for a friend of mine that is expecting a baby in September in Portland Oregon.  I asked people who have Pinterest to pin it for a Challenge and although I did not win a popular vote, at current I have 32 repins and 53 Likes, but I think it was less at the time of judging.  So I did not win the most pins, that belongs to this wonderful quilt.

Kelli Fannin of Seriously... .I think it needs stitches made it and not only is she a great quilter but she is also a great person, we had chatted before the challenge was due and I can see how she got almost 200 repins and 200 Likes, not only is it a fantastic quilt but she is a fantastic person.
Then there was the second and third most pinned and liked Pinterest projects, you can see them here.

And then there was the winners in the superlative categories:

1.  Most creative -  In the Mist of Falling Rain by Lynn Kline

2.  Best use of color -  Tumbling Hexies by Ramona Putnam

3.  Best technique - Pillow by Jana O'Brien

4.  Most creative use of thread - Quilted Table Runner by Susan Slusser

5.  Most functional - Crib Organizer and Diaper Clutch by Mara Capron

That's me #5, - JUDGES, JUDGES, thought my project deserved the prize for most functional, wow, really?  I love it don't get me wrong, it is what I wanted to make for my friend and is pretty cute.  See these baskets

Not only do they hang on the organizer from the buttonholes in the middle.

But they can also hang on your door knob, so you can have one in another room if you want.

And then the clutch I used the selvedge (the end piece of fabric that some people throw away) to create a strap.

It can hold a few diapers and the diaper wipes.

The panel I used my machine to quilt a vase filled with Cosmos, they mean Peaceful, because I hope the baby brings them peace and is peaceful!

So that is what I made, Katerina had great fun helping me photograph it.

The last 3 was another day and I told her stay right there (pic on left) but she couldn't resist coming in and checking it out again.

And Thank you to AGF (Art Gallery Fabrics, love the texture and feel of their fabric) Angela Walters the designer of the panel and all of the sponsors of the Challenge and especially the Judges, hehe.

I wanted to give a special Thank you to friends and family who have supported me, THANK YOU!

MARA

Katerina's Birthday Fun!

Kat turned 3 today!  My little girl is getting bigger, in fact she weighs a ton, like a bag of cement.  She weighs the same as Nik and he is 2 1/2 years older.

I made a cheesecake, lucky for me they don't like it so much, and are only eating the cherries that ΓιαΓια made.  This time Nik waited and they blew out the candles together.

I made Katerina a dress, it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it too, but it's not to bad.  Yesterday when I was finishing it up, Arthur was watching the kids at the tree and I went outside to find her doing this.

Playing with mud!

I had wanted to try the dress on her but we had to do it later after a bath and her she is dancing in her new dress.

Finally Finished a Project

I am so happy to say that I finally finished a project, I have a list a mile long and dream of getting things done, but most of them just stay in dream land.  Well last weekend I was able to complete on of my projects, a cute dress for Katerina.
Mom sent me some material for our collective birthdays in June and I wanted to make a t-shirt dress.  Arthur wouldn't let me buy a new t-shirt so I got creative and used one of her old onesies that didn't fit anymore and just cut off the snap bottom part and then followed the directions given by this lady for her t-shirt tutorial.

Here are some pictures.

this is what I started with

sewing it together, only took me 1 hour

The 1 hour includes tryng to decide what kind of hem I wanted to make and playing around with scrap fabric, I decided on letter M, it looks good.

she looks cute, but it's a little to long, so I shortened it.

and made a backpack with the bottom snap part

I finally had something I could use my old Starbucks safety pin for

it worked out great in turning the straps inside out.

going to Corfu, in her new shortened dress

on the boat playing with a billion other kids

We want to buy some land next to this beach, nice hey!

climbing the rocks back home, with her backpack on.

uhoh, their planing something.

Ahhh! funny picture time.

June Birthdays

My birthday was on Sunday and we celebrated baby Kat's today. We are lucky enough to have found Betty Crocker cake mixes at a Super Market in Trikala, so I made chocolate cupcakes and vanilla (from scratch) cupcakes. Nik being so kind as to blow out his sister's number one candle (he was also kind enough to pick out a present for himself when we went shopping for a gift for her).Her too cute new shoes.

In her birthday dress from Grandma Katerina.

The ladybug cupcake that I made, I think it came out pretty cute.