And The Gender Is...

We are visiting in NC for awhile.
One of the reasons we came was for the gender reveal of the new baby.
This video shows both sets of grandparents popping the cannons that will tell us the gender.

Avery said he wanted a sister.

He is one happy boy!

We had a little party and then popped the cannons.

I was a little slower than the other grandma, HA!

We are certainly enjoying our time here.

It has been fantastic spending time with Avery.

We have spent time blowing and chasing bubbles.

Playing Thomas trains.

(his absolute FAVORITE)

Making and eating popsicles.

Gigi used a basic smoothie and made it into a popsicle.

His mama gave me the directions as follows

A banana, some strawberries, a scoop of PB, one or 2 scoops of yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

I used her immersion (stick) blender to blend then poured into molds.

It's been one of the most fun times this trip!

Looking forward to spending more time with this little guy.

Can't wait to welcome baby girl into the family in August.

~XOP~

Prismata is Bejeweled and FINISHED!!

 I realize you all saw Prismata after I finished coloring him in with the pencils.

I wanted to mimic the bubbles from the original drawing using crystals.

I finally got brave enough to give it a try a few days ago.

HE  IS  AWESOME!!!

I have him pinned on my design wall.

It is covering some pictures so that's why he looks a little wavy.

You can see how I placed the crystals.

I put a few in the outer white waves.

These are Aurora crystals.

Then I decided to put one in the center of his eye too!

You can see the white crystals here a bit better.

I am so thrilled to finally have this one really finished!!

I have shown my daughter in photos and she is super excited to finally have it also.

I have not told her yet but I would like to try to enter him into an AQS quilt show.

It's probably not good enough to win anything but it would be neat to be accepted into a show.

Sorry I have been MIA.

We have been busy getting ready to go see Avery for a month.

I'll be bringing my computer and I'll try to remember to post.

If not be prepared for a photo dump upon my return!!

~XOP~

Paper Pieced Ballerina Blocks

I have 4 great nieces, three of which do ballet.

There nana and I decided to make ballet bags for them.

(including the one that can't join up yet, too young)

JoejuneandMae is the designer of these adorable blocks.

The ballet bag pattern is a free one on their website.

I spent the day with "nana" and we worked on making the blocks.

We were each going to make 2 

We each made a brunette and a blonde.

I am so smitten with how they came out!

 You can find the tutorial for the free ballet bag here.

Stay tuned for bag progress.

Nana and I won't be getting together for awhile though.

She has the fabric to make the bags so they will wait until we have another sew day.

I would love to make more of these adorable little dancers.

Aren't they so cute??

~XOP~

Using Inktense Pencils

 Remember Prismata?

The adorable dragon quilt I made from a drawing my daughter did when she was in high school.

In the original drawing the dragon had rainbows coming through the water.

I wasn't sure how to mimic that on the quilt.

I decided to try using Inktense colored pencils.

I had read about a technique where someone used these pencils and then used water to blend the colors.

Once they are dry they are supposed to be colorfast.

Here is what I tried on the dragon quilt.

My daughter said she loves it!

Next up is using some heat fix crystals to mimic the bubbles on the original drawing too.

That will have to wait for a bit though.

What do you think about using these colored pencils?

Would you try it on a quilt?

~XOP~

Hedgehog Quilts

I tested a pattern for Meags and Me called Lil Nugget.

It is hedgehogs and pinwheels.

The hedgies are machine embroidered and oh so adorable.

I used the Summersault fabric line by Erin McMorris.

It is an older line but so bright and cheery.

I decided that I was going to try and use up stash fabrics for some of these test quilts.

I did not have enough of any one Minky so I put these 2 together.

I loved the rainbow as it matched the colors on the front so well.

I split the rainbow and inserted the bumpy Minky between the rainbows.

I think it came out pretty cute and used up my stash.

win-win.

I had 5 embroidered hedgies and some bright pink, Minky left over, so voila, a small quilt.

I put a pink flannel with white dots around it for a border.

I had a bright pink bumpy minky in my stash for the back.

Another win!

 

I had my daughter drop off both of these, another baby quilt and a wedding quilt with my LAQ.

I am not sure how I want the hedgehog/pinwheel quilt quilted.

These hegies are so cute and were very fun to make,

as you can tell since I had some left overs!

Do you have a favorite hedgie?

~XOP~