It's The Little Things

This time of years seems to fly by in the blink of an eye.  Holiday festivities are in full swing. Baking, planning, gift making.  It seems every year about this time, I start getting in panic mode. Will I get my gifts finished, will I be ready for the holidays, are my shops stocked?! Amazingly it does all come together.  It may become more stressful every year, but it all works out.

After selling a good bunch of bookmarks from Twiggy & Opal Too last week, I thought I had better restock.  They make great stocking stuffers!  You may be thinking 'do people still use bookmarks'? The answer is a big YES!  There are still die hard book readers out there! Holding a book in your hands or encouraging a child to read is still pretty popular!

These whales are fabulously fun!  A closed book with a whale tail saving your spot...too cute!

A pod of whales!

Complete with a blow hole!

If mammals aren't your thing...how about a den of snakes?  These are my kind of snake! Very friendly, cute and one that I would actually hold!

I used leather for the forked tongue.

And of course if you are wanting a slightly more sophisticated look, I got you covered!

The button is perfect to keep the bookmark from slipping inside your book.

In the end, I think I made about 30-35 bookmarks.  It was a welcomed afternoon of something different.  I needed a break from quilting.  Just a short break.

I have officially been blogging for a year now (I started October 5th, 2013) (happy anniversary to me) and decided it's time to take off the 'training wheels' in 2015 with my very own tutorials.  Gotta move forward, take it up a notch!

These are so easy!  And I cannot wait to share a tutorial with you!  

LINKING:

LET'S BEE SOCIAL

WIP WEDNESDAY

FABRIC FRENZY FRIDAY

CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP

Pretty Much Caught Up

The start of September has been pretty hectic.  My son had a birthday, I had a birthday, I went to a Quilt Show, spent 4 days getting new windows put in the house and lastly and most importantly, I finished 2 beautiful custom orders!

With the above quietly behind me, I am hoping to stay on track for a while!  That means getting back to blogging!

I finally finished this quilt!  Yay!  After a pretty long process of deciding on fabric, we settled on Rapture by Pat Bravo.  If I ever get to writing the pattern for this quilt design, it would look like this.  For this quilt however, I added to the sides making it larger. 

Something like this:

57" x 80"

It will now fit a little bed for a little girl!!  I think this will take her through many cold nights and grow with her.  Not too childish!  

I included a panel across the bright yellow back and quilted the heck out of it!

It feels good to finish quilts.  It feels even better knowing it is going to someone who will have many, many years of warmth and joy from them!

Since the little lady (she is 6) receiving this quilt is an avid reader, her mom asked if I would include a bookmark using some of the fabric from the quilt.  I was delighted!  What better way to put a smile on a little face...while encouraging them to explore the world with a book?!

Double sided whale bookmark.  I created this design with children in mind, but that certainly doesn't mean any 'big kid' wouldn't love it as well!  Bookmarks like the whale are available in my second Etsy shop:  Twiggy & Opal Too!  I also have some cute little snakes!

Linking:

ANYTHING GOES MONDAY'S