Apron and Ironing board

Disclaimer: I think every picture I took is blurry! I am a terrible photographer....

Let me show you some of the things I've accomplished this week. Recently I won a few giveaways and I wanted to show you what I did with my prizes. This one came a few days ago from Nadine at Material Girls. It is fabric and a all the trimmings to make an ironing board cover.



And here is my new ironing board! Thanks Nadine...It looks beautiful. Isn't it a fun print? My DD especially liked the pink and black. I told her she could use the new ironing board whenever she wanted. She just laughed....



Here is my next win....Can you guess who gave away these wonderful Japanese fabrics? You guessed it! Ayumills of Pink Penguin. These fabrics are absolutely delightful! At first I didn't want to do anything , I just liked to look at them. But then the need to make something took over. Look out...



This is what I made first. It is the basket designed by Ayumills of Pink Penguin. It it such a fun and easy basket to make. This is the fourth basket I made. Did you notice the teapot button?




Finally, I made an apron out of another one of the pieces. I love aprons. Now I need to decide if I want to keep it for myself or give it away as a gift.



Thanks ladies! I noticed on Ayumil's blog she has a new bag tutorial. I can't wait to make that one too!

Piece & love,
Dawn

Arsenic and Old Lace

is one of my all time favorite classic movies. Cutie, cutie Cary Grant learns on his wedding day his favorite aunts have murdered their 13 gentlemen friends. He also learns that insanity runs in his family. Speaking of favorite aunts, old lace and insanity in the family...

My Aunt Shirley (one of my favorites) came by to visit this week and brought me this:



This old lace was made by my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth. She died in 1910 at the age of 26 shortly after giving birth to my grandpa. Mary Elizabeth contracted malaria and after a difficult delivery she was simply too tired and passed away when grandpa was only 10 days old. That means this lace is approximately 100 years old! It is in excellent condition. Wow! My great grandma crocheted two pillowcase edgings and my aunt kept one for herself and gave me this one. Now here comes the insanity part....What was my aunt thinking? How blessed I am to be the recipient of such a wonderful gift. Thank you Aunt Shirley!



I finished two arm chair caddys designed by Helen of Hugs and Kisses. Thanks Helen and hugs and kisses back at ya. Also, hugs to Ayumi at Pink Penguin for the basket tutorial. The basket and the top arm caddy are for my mom for Christmas. Shhh, don't tell. And the bottom one is for...me!

Thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who left a comment on my very first post! You are all the best.

Piece & love, Dawn

First

Ok, here we go! I guess it's time for me to jump on this band wagon. Now where to start? I think I will start at the beginning.

I remember as a very young child sitting under a quilt "tacked" to wooden frames. The frames were supported in each corner with the chairs from our kitchen table. It was a magical place. It was where I watched Saturday morning cartoons with my sister and cousins. It was where I played Barbies and 'house'. It was where I would listen to grown-up talk. Or at least I thought I was.

I grew up in the era of "tied" quilts. Often my mom and grandma would buy sheets (or fabric)and tie the quilts with yarn. I don't remember ever seeing pieced quilts. Although my mom had a large assortment of scrap fabrics. Speaking of scraps...

This was the first quilt I ever made. I was about 12 years old. How do you like those colors? I rummaged through my mom's scraps (now we call it a "stash") picking out a solid that matched my print. My template was a piece of cardboard I used to trace each square and then I cut the square out with scissors. No rotary cutter or cutting mat for me.

This was the sewing machine I made my quilt on. It is a Singer 'featherweight'. It belonged to my mom and last year for my birthday she asked me what I wanted. You guessed it! I love this machine. It brings back a lot of wonderful memories. Some day I will show you what I sew with now.

This was the very beginning of my journey as a quilter. As a newlywed my husband bought me a sewing machine at a yard sale. I sewed Halloween costumes and clothes for my young kids. But as they grew they liked the mall clothes better and no longer went Trick-or-Treating. About 5 years ago my friend Sherri reintroduced me to the quilting world. Now I'm totally hooked! I have wonderful quilting friends aka peeps (you know who you are). Now I'm ready to fly with this blogging thing and hopefully gain some new friends out there in the blogging world.

One more thing: Thanks Sherri for helping me get started!