Bye Bye 2016 and a Little Redecorating

I have not blogged all month. Ugg. The addition of a part-time job this year has made my free-time even more rare. It's hard to keep up with everything, but I enjoy working and making extra money. We had a great Christmas and I hope that once I get everything cleaned up, life will settle into a quiet winter rhythm!
Like Harry Potter, Davy and Andy share the smallest bedroom. It has been messy with laundry and legos sprawled over the rug and was still decorated with trucks from Davy's toddler days and a changing table holding Andy's wardrobe.
So, it was time for an update. Several days of folding, sorting, and cleaning and a few new things and their room is more suitable for 6 & 12 year old brothers.

The bunkbed is not new, but Santa brought new bedding for both boys: Davy has Star Wars and Andy has Pokemon. The book baskets on the wall are new. Andy's clothes moved from the babyish changing table to the drawer-steps on the bunk bed.

We bought a new cube organizer to fit under the window. Each boy has a chalkboard bin for small toys, a canvas bin for PJs and a canvas bin for books. Some of their new Lego kits are also shown.
I made the simple blue curtain and a fuzzy blue area rug is not shown.
The boys love their "new" room. Now on to the 10 other rooms that need cleaning- ugg.

Happy Cake! and Pie...

This could be a piece of cake for my Birthday today!! But it's not...

It's a part of this quilted wall hanging I made for a friend. She has an independent bakery and is in a new premises. I wanted to make a decoration to make the space welcoming. My vision was of someone looking through the window of a bakery and seeing a shelf of treats with the sign on the wall.

The pie is Key Lime and the cake is Carrot Cake. I have tried both of these and the Carrot Cake is absolutely scrumptious! I paper-pieced the cake and pie slices from free patterns online. Paper-piecing is my absolute least favorite quilting technique. I always put the pieces to the wrong side of the stitching line, so when I flip it it's too small. I had to fix that pie a few times! I tried to add dishes under the treats, then quilted a "wood grain" on the table and added a lace tablecloth. You got that, right??

I digitized the logo for machine embroidery. I will say it is "inspired by" her logo.

I wanted it to look like a sign, so I used the frame. The clouds are on the fabric, rather than digitized. I think it came out well. My friend loved it!!

A Quilt from Tests

I had so many "test" squares from my embroideries that I packed them up to work on at Retreat (in September!)

I had not picked off all the stabilizer, so that's why you see the white shadows. I used 8 of the 4x4 design tests to make this baby size quilt.

I love 1930s prints, so I used those for the 4-patch blocks and borders.

With an extra duckling, I made this square, which might end up being a preemie quilt or pillow square. Of course, I have not quilted these yet!

I still have a whole pile of 5x7 designs and more 4x4s too!! I have to think of some other projects to use them in.