My Quilt is Done!

All right, so I have been working on this quilt for many, many months now.  I finally finished piecing it all together around the New Year.  Then I had to make the back and get the batting.  I sent it off to the quilter a couple of weeks ago and got it back last weekend.  Then all I had to do was bind it, which I managed to finish today!

The quilt is about 90"x95" and was made specifically for our bed so that it would drape and cover the entire mattress.  The pattern I used was actually for a wall hanging.  I had to modify it slightly to make it into such a large quilt.  

  I went with a black and white theme, and added the pop of yellow, which I love.  I got most of the fabrics at work, JoAnn Fabrics.  The only one I got elsewhere is the fabric that is also used on the pillows.  It is in the pattern of the wallpaper in the BBC TV show "Sherlock."  I absolutely love the show and I just love the pattern and sprang for a couple of yards of fabric with that pattern printed on it.  I used it in the quilt and had enough left over to make a couple of pillows in the "Sherlock" theme.

Here are a couple of shots to better see the borders and binding.  The quilter did a lovely job as well.

The Union Jack pillow was one I purchased.  I made the other two though.  I bought two 16" pillow forms and then made custom pillowcases for them.  I used that "Sherlock" themed fabric on the front and just used plain black on the back.  I sewed the cases so that they are an envelope style, meaning they have a flap in the back so that I can remove the pillow for washing if necessary.  That way I didn't have to mess with a zipper.

I left one of the pillows plain, but if you have see the show you know that Sherlock and John have a smiley face spray painted on to their wall.  I just had to recreate that look on one of the pillows.  I made the smiley face myself by manipulating some images in Cricut Design Space.  The outer circle is called "ring" and is on the "Paper Pups" cartridge.  I sized it to 5.85."  The eyes and smile of the face were made using a cut from the "Toy Story" cartridge.  It is a face of Lotso Bear, using the icon feature, found on page 66.  I kept just the dots of the eyes and his smile, hiding all other contours.  I sized the face to fit in the circle, then cut it out of freezer paper.  I was then able to iron the freezer paper on to the fabric and use it as a stencil to paint my image on to the pillowcase.  I used some yellow screen print fabric paint.

I am currently working on the bed skirt to finish off our bed.  I also have plans to make some curtains.  Someday soon I will actually have a grown-up bedroom of which I will be proud.  Getting this quilt finished was the first major step in that direction.  :)

Down on the Farm

My husband went to the Twin Cities this weekend. We visited the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota Zoo. The current challenge at BBTB2 was perfect timing then, and it gave me an excuse to scrapbook some of my pictures right away. Their challenge is to create a project with a farm theme. One of the sections we visited in the zoo was the farm section, so I used the theme and the pictures we took in that section. I also used the challenge at Exploring Cricut, which is to use a Disney cartridge, to create this layout. I like how it turned out and I hope you do too!

The layout is a 12"x12" double layout. I used two pieces of light blue cardstock for the base of my layout. I then ripped two pieces of patterned green paper by K&Company for the grassy hills. I matted all my photos with white cardstock and added a second mat to the photo of the horse and piglet. All the mats are cut 1/4" larger than the photos. I used County Fair for the barn, it is cut at 3 1/2." I embossed the front of the barn with Distress Stripes and the hay with Forest Branches for some texture. I also added glossy accents to the silo. I used Graphically Speaking for all the clouds. I added flocking to the two clouds that I didn't use for journaling. I used Country Life for the title, the font is cut at 1 1/2." I used Toy Story for Woody and Bullseye. Woody is cut at 5" and Bullseye is cut at 4." I used pop-dots to adhere the smaller journaling cloud and the picutre of the little piglet.

St. Patty's Day Pig

A St. Patrick's Day pig? That's right! I made this cute little pig, who is all set to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." I made it from a shimmery dark green cardstock. I then cut some green argyle patterned paper at 5 1/4"x4" and layered it on. I cut some glittery green cardstock at 5 1/2"x2." I then used an EK Success border punch along the bottom edge. I layered that with a piece of green polka dotted patterned paper, cut at 5 1/2"x1 1/4." My little pig is actually Hamm, from Toy Story. He is cut at 2." I then used my Gypsy to cut the hat, which came from A Child's Year. The hat was cut at 1.40." I also used my Gypsy so I could get the right size for the shamrock, which was cut at .60" from Give a Hoot. I used pop-dots to adhere Hamm to the card base. I stamped my sentiment, which is from My Pink Stamper, in pearlescent ivy ink by Tsukineko. I found the gold shamrock in my button stash and thought it was perfect. I then finished it off with two types of green bling.

This card is for the following challenges:

• The Paper Variety: green
• Celebrate the Occasion: any occasion; use green, white & one optional color
• Cooking with Cricut: "Double Take" - 2 pieces of cardstock, 2 patterned papers, 2 embellishments (at a minimum)
• Jitterbuggin': card with a pig on it, 2 patterned papers, buttons
• 365 Cards: "Super Sketchy Sunday" - sketch