Lemon Tree Tales

Last project of the year

I finished the last project of the year yesterday afternoon, thank goodness and just in the nick of time. It was the pink zig zag quilt to go with Miss J's pink doll bed, the twin to Miss L's turquoise doll bed and pinwheel quilt that you've seen before. We had Miss L & Miss J and their parents over for a holiday feast last night. Well, Steve and I tried to make it one with our first try at a beef wellington. It may not have been terribly pretty but it did taste pretty good. In our books that's a success. At any rate we enjoyed ourselves and had a grand time with our friends. I'd say that's a fantastic way to end the year, wouldn't you? Oh, and did the girls like their beds? I believe they did. Of course Fearghus tried his hardest to be involved at dinnertime by barking his head off because he was stuck in his pen. Never fear, once dinner was cleared we released the little beastie to have fun with the girls. They spoiled him something fierce with treats galore. Today he's napping off the excess energy. Steve and I are taking turns at having him curled up on our laps for the naps. He's so sweet like that.

For those who are wondering, here's how the doll beds and their matching quilts turned out in the end. I added a bit of stencilling to the headboards with a butterfly and flowers.

I still wanted to get to a few other projects before year's end, but sadly didn't account for my time wisely. Well I guess they'll have to wait their turn for next year instead. Happy New Years to you and yours! May 2012 be one of prosperity and happiness, oh, and crafty goodness too!

More Beaded Kumihimo Bracelets

They're done! The hard part is always to attach the findings to the beaded kumihimo bracelets. This time I found some filigree end caps and pretty toggle clasps in an antique gold finish and a silver finish.

And I found the perfect miniature paint bucket containers at Michaels to put them in. Since they were color coordinated I didn't have to figure out a name tag. My friends and I have been giving each other gifts in certain colors for a few years now. It seems funny but then again everyone tends to wear these colors so it all works out well.

Miss L's new doll bed

It's finally complete... Miss L's turquoise doll bed with a striped mattress and matching doll quilt. I do hope that she likes it. Maybe this weekend I'll make a matching pillow for it. But first I have to work on the set for Miss J.

The doll bed is a duktig from IKEA (very reasonably priced and it will fit an American Girl doll), and the quilt is one that I just made using a template from Anita Grossman Solomon's book Rotary Cutting Revolution. The mattress ended up a wee short but I don't think that it takes away from the effect. I didn't use covered buttons, just a series of unmatched ivory ones. Next time I'll use a colored floss to sew them on instead of the cream thread. I had a lot of fun making the binding... it seems to really finish off the quilt (16"x20"). The quilting is simple stitch in the ditch around the pinwheels and a bit of straight stitching on the border. Before I give it away I'll throw the quilt in the wash so that it gets soft and crinkly.

Now it's time to put a second coat of pink on Miss J's bed. Ooh, I can't wait to see the two of them together.

Pinwheel Quilt Top

It's been a while since I've worked on this pinwheel quilt top, but my deadline is fast approaching so I've made a bit of time this week to get it done. A few years ago these cute pinwheel quilts appeared on many blogs and I fell in love with them. I even got a Lil' Twister tool so that I could make one. But before I even used it I found out about another way to do it that gave you less waste. Oooh, I had to look into that. Anita Grossman Solomon has a book called Rotary Cutting Revolution that shows how to make quite a few complicated looking blocks that take advantage of a paper cutting template and a rotary cutter. What's more, since the size of the block is determined by the size of the paper template I was able to play with its size to get a nice little 2" block. Yay! Plus the added bonus of being able to rearrange your pinwheels before you sew them, as I did here. Oh my goodness, did I really start this back in August? Geez, I need to get better about following through with my projects in a timely manner.

Here's Anita's book:

and here's the top:

The backing and batting are pinned so now it's time to quilt it. I'm getting pretty happy about it and am hoping to get it done by this weekend. Of course there's the pillows and mattress to match, but first things first, doncha think?