Disney Swap 2015

Yesterday I took a break from scheduled quilts to finish my Disney Quilts Swap quilt!  Despite not being perfect and having a few hiccups - I am still very pleased with how it turned out.

I wish I could say it was my very best quilting but I have learned something about myself - I work better with a plan.  I winged it with this one and if I were to do it over again I would defnitely do some things differently.  I do try to do my best with everything I make - and I tried to make this little quilt something pretty - so I really hope my swap partner likes it!

Of course I quilted a wrinkle in the back (you can bet I'll be putting the label there) and some gunk came flying off my quilting foot and I can't get the darn spot out so - I'm going to use a really professional method called "stick something over it".  LOL  I thought I had seen some really pretty 3d butterfly appliqués at one of the craft stores...I think with this being so frilly and girly it will look nice.

I have discovered I ADORE quilting satin!  It's a little finicky on the domestic - this is small so I quilted it on the Juki....even with basting the slippery satin wrinkled on me and I didn't even realize I had stitched in a nice deep wrinkle until I was finished.  The deadline is Wednesday so I just literally don't have TIME to rip it...so a label it is!  :)

I used my Derwent Inktense pencils to color in Ariel - and I actually traced this image onto the white muslin (with a few changes...it's actually a Christmas coloring page and had holly with berries and other Christmas elements to it that I removed) and just colored in the areas with fabric medium and ink.  I did go back and add black to the eyes which I'm not sure if I'm happy about or not - but there's nothing I can do about it now.  I don't think it's terrible...but I might have been better off leaving them blank and open!!!  LOL

The richness and shininess of that satin quilted is unbelievable to me.  I am really anxious to try this on the long arm with an even more intricate design.  This is a scrap that was gifted to me with a big box of miscellaneous fabric a year or so ago...so it's really lovely heavy - probably expensive dressmaker's satin.  I have toyed with the idea of quilting up some dupioni silk...but holy cow is that stuff expensive.  Until I have a really great quilt in mind...satin might be a great affordable alternative for me.  Very very lovely!  It also comes in more colors!

So this was a ton of fun.  Something different but still it has my style and taste in it!  I will take a snippet of the full package to share before I send it off.  My swap partner also likes Alice in Wonderland and Lilo and Stitch.  I bought a cute pin of Stitch when we were in Disney World back in September and also brought home some other goodies for her...while out and about today I might see if I can't find something of Alice to stick in with her little package.  :)

Happy Quilting!

Disney Obsession!

I took off a few weeks from quilting this September to work on costumes...and I've been sticking to my schedule!  We'll be all set for Halloween this year...

My youngest is going to be Anna...when she first decided she wanted to be Anna there was NO Frozen merchandise really anywhere...over the past few months it has begun to trickle into the stores and you can now get costumes for $16-$30...but we have a big family.  So I make just about all of their costumes (unless it's something really crazy that I cannot figure how to make without totally butchering it...)

The bodice of the dress was gifted second hand fabric from a friend, and the  blue faux satin was $2 a yard from Wal-Mart.  I also bought the gold ribbon trim from Wal-Mart and the pink ribbon, as well as the pink faux satin.  All in all I think this costume cost me about $8.  That might be estimating high!  :)  I painted Frozen-ish inspired flowers down at the bottom of the skirt but they didn't turn out all that fabulous.  I used acrylic paints and then covered them with sparkly nail polish.  So they aren't AMAZING but they are kind of hidden in the skirt so they will show just enough to give it some sparkle when she walks.  I'm not really a dress maker so I'm thrilled with how this turned out!  Costume making is one of our favorite family traditions!  :)

The best part?  My daughter told me when she put it on that she wanted to wear it forever....oh my goodness that just melted my heart!  SO SWEET!

Daddy is going to be Ralph from Wreck it Ralph this year and I've already bought most of what we need for his costume - still hunting for overalls...REALLY hoping I don't have to make those...what a pain...but I did make the cookie medal from the movie that Vanellope makes him.  I used inexpensive black foam and then tried to paint it like the cookie in the movie.  I had some leftover pink ribbon from Anna's cape that worked perfect for this.  I just finished it this afternoon and I plan to cover it/seal it with Mod Podge and then flip it over and paint the back.  In the movie the back of the cookie says "To: Stinkbrain".  LOL  Details are my favorite part of making costumes!

I also am working on Drizella and Anastasia costumes for my oldest two daughters...basically because I'm a Disney nerd.  I finished my oldest daughter's Drizella dress but still am looking around for what I'll use for the bow...I'm thinking maybe pipe cleaners behind some blue ribbon?  We shall see.  I haven't started Anastasia yet but have all the fabric ready.

Also haven't touched the Elsa dress, it's in pieces still but I have big plans! I was really trying to think of how I would make those sleeves of hers and I found this awesome cosplay blog were a girl had taken white tights and attached them to the dress!  LIGHT BULB!  I can do that!  Such a great idea!  So I'm on the hunt for white tights today...

So that's where I am with costumes and will likely have a few more to share over the next week or so!  Still have to get going on Maleficent and Cinderella!  Eeep!  ;)

Hope all are having a wonderful start to the fall!