Beginner's Quilt

I'm sure as many of you can guess I'm pretty new to the sewing world and figuring things out as I go along.  I love quilts but the idea of making one has always kind of scared me.  I decided to try to piece together a quilt, but make it a beginner's quilt.

There's my kitty Gaia checking it out!  

It's not perfect, but I think it's a pretty decent first attempt.  Even better, it was pretty easy!  I started out by cutting out a bunch of fabric rectangles that were 8x10" (12 of each in three different fabrics).  I arranged them on my coffee table in the pattern I wanted then started sewing rows of them together.

After I got six rows of six done, I started sewing the rows together.  Here's a peek at the back.

Then when I was done with that I made a sandwich of back fabric, quilt batting, and my sewn together pieces (right sides together with batting in the middle).  I sewed around the entire thing leaving a big opening for turning.  I turned right side out and then hand sewed the opening closed.  Pretty easy, even for a beginner like me!

I'm a Versatile Blogger!

I have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award by two amazing people!

First is Mel from The Crafty Scientist!  She has a great crafting blog that you should all check out.  I love her specimen art!  She has both butterfly and snowflake specimen art that you can see here and here.  I may need to make the butterfly one for my house!  She also has other great tutorials and a few amazing printables.  Make sure to stop by and say hi to her!

The second award comes from Adithis' Amma Sews!  The first thing that drew me to this blog was a beautiful dress made from pamphlets!  You have to take a look at this because it does NOT look like it was made from pamphlets.  She also has a ton of amazing tutorials, so make sure to check them out.

Thank you both so much for giving me this amazing award!  There are four things you have to do when accepting this award.  They are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award, and let the giver know you accept the award!

Onto the 7 things about me!
1.  My husband and I got married on the beach in Hawaii (on the big island).  Neither of us have the personality for a big wedding; we wanted something small and low key.  My dad lives in Hawaii and he helped us scope out a good beach to get married on!  Then we flew over to Maui for our honeymoon.  It was amazing and I wouldn't have done it any other way!

 2.  We have four pets.  A one year old chocolate lab named Chester.  A biiiiig grey cat named Gizmo, a medium sized tan cat with blue eyes named Gaia, and a small black and white cat named Gilly (who happens to be sitting on my lap as I type this).

3.  My favorite color is grey.  If I could have everything in grey, I'd be super happy!  Right now I'm living in my grey knit Uggs that my mother in law Julie got me.  They are so cute and crazy comfortable!
4.  I'm a pretty shy person at first, so coming up with 7 things about myself is somewhat difficult.  But once I get to know people I come out of my shell.
5.  My husband and I every once in a while spend an entire night listening to music.  We take turns picking a song  and this often goes on for hours where we just listen to random music (this is in fact how we spent our night last night).
6. My favorite book of all time is The Stranger by Albert Camus.  I have been trying for about 6 years to get my husband to read it, but he still has not. 
7. I love sushi!  It seems most people either hate it or love it, but I think it's amazing.  My husband got me hooked!


The 15 great bloggers that I am awarding are:
1.  Punky Noodles-This is a brand new craft blog started by my big sister Stephanie!  Make sure to go check it out!
2.  Rook No 17-Jenn has made an amazing blog featuring great crafts and amazing recipes.  She also has a great weekly linky party!
3.  A Law Student's Journey-Kitty posts some amazing tutorials on her blog.  How she has time to make things while in law school is a mystery to me.  Make sure to check out her T-Shirt headbands, they are adorable!
4. 504 Main-Holly is like wonderwoman.  She is a mom, wedding planner, designer, and author!  She's an amazing gal with an exceptional blog!
5.  Between 3 Sisters -This blog, started by three sisters, offers great fashion tips, recipes, and decorating!
6. Just a Geek Named Jess-What first drew me to Jess's blog was an amazing pair of shoes that she mod podged with comic books!  They are super cute.  I'm so glad that I became a follower because she has a great blog!
7.  Ninth Street Notions-Amanda has a great blog with tons of great crafts, recipes, and an awesome linky party!
8.  The Loops-Megan has a great blog  with some great crafts and tutorials.  Right now she has pet week going on so make sure to stop by and check it out!
9. Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom-Suzy has some amazing tutorials (make sure to check out the faux metal wall art, you'll be surprised what it's made out of), and has interviews with amazing people!
10. Creation Corner-Tasha has a great blog with amazing tutorials and a great link party.  What more could you ask for?!
11.  Crystal's Craft Spot-Crystal's blog is full of amazing ideas that I want to try.  Make sure to check out her crocheted specimen art!
12.  Home Frosting-This is the newest blog that I have found and love!  Lesa has a great sense of style and can't wait to see the amazing things she comes up with!
13. Thursday's Kiss-Cierra at Thursday's Kiss has a great blog that always has the best craft ideas and recipes.  Right now she has a ton of great St. Patty's day crafts that you still have time to make!
14.  The Country Chic Cottage-Angie's blog is amazing and filled with great DIY projects and giveaways.  Make sure to stop by and check otu all her amazing ideas!
15. Young Nester-Lauren has a great, fairly new, blog where she shares all of her creative ideas.  She also has a link party for crafts made under $10, I really love the idea of a thrift link party!


Thanks again to The Crafty Scientist and Adithis' Amma Sews for giving me this award.  Also, Happy Pi Day! (The math nerd in me wouldn't let me end this post without saying that!)

Easy Dog Bandanna Tutorial

Today is my puppy Chester's first birthday!  I can't believe he's already a year old, this past year has flown by!  I made him a bandanna and some treats for his birthday today.

The bandanna is so easy to make.  For a lab/retriever size dog, cut a square of fabric that is 25 inches by 25 inches.  Cut the square into a triangle by cutting a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Fold a quarter inch of fabric under on each of the three sides and press with your iron.  Then sew with an 1/8 inch seam all the way around.  And you're done!  Pretty easy right?  All you have to do now is get your dog to sit still long enough to put it on him.

I think he looks pretty handsome with it on.  But I'm a bit partial to this little guy!

I also made him so special treats for his birthday.  I have wanted to try making the dog biscuits from Dukes' and Duchesses for a while and finally made them.  And Chester loooves them!   I didn't have a bone shaped cookie cutter so I used flowers and people.

Here he is being a good boy and shaking to get a delicious treat!

Do you have any great dog projects you have made?  I would love to see them!

Dove Chocolate Winner!!!

Thank you to everyone for entering my first giveaway!  Hopefully we'll have another one up soon.  Using random.org we have our winner:

Breaking Free From Old Ways said... I like the divine dessert cups!

Congratulations!!!  Please shoot me an email at eyespydiy@gmail.com within the next 72 hours with your name and address so we can send your prize.

My first attempt at purses!

Onto my latest project...purses!  I've always been a bit chicken to try anything bigger than accessories that you put inside a purse, but decided to try my hand at it.  In fact, it wasn't as hard or scary as I thought it would be.  I looked at a purse I had and kind of backwards engineered it in my head.  First I made a brown and yellow bag out of this globe print that I'm a little bit in love with!

The best part about this bag?  It's reversible!

Did you notice my new Eye Spy DIY label on the front of the bag?  I had some fun making waaay too many sew in labels this weekend!

After finishing that purse I decided to make another, with the red gingham and denim.

Here it is with the denim side out?  I can just imagine someone carrying this to a 4th of July picnic!

 And here is a shot with my new label, this one is in red.

The labels were so simple to make.  All it takes is a roll of ribbon, some iron on transfer paper, a printer, and an iron.  I used GIMP, a free online photo editing tool, to make the labels look how I wanted them, then inverted them so the text was backwards (that step is important).  I was able to get about 50 labels off of one sheet.  Then I printed it on the transfer paper and ironed it onto my ribbon.  So easy!

Dove Chocolate Discoveries Giveaway!!! {CLOSED}

It's finally here!  The first giveaway on Eye Spy DIY and it's a good one!  Have you heard about Dove Chocolate Discoveries?  If not, you are missing out on an amazing chocolate experience!  I'm pretty lucky, because my sister, Stephanie, is a Dove Chocolate Discoveries Chocolatier, so I get to try out lots of their chocolates!  Dove Chocolate Discoveries hosts great chocolate tasting parties where you come and eat chocolate; how fun is that?!

Let me show you a few of their products.  My favorite product is the chocolate mousse.  It is so creamy and decadent; and it's so easy to make!

I will be trying the new White Chocolate Raspberry Daiquiri Mix at my Dove Chocolate Discoveries party this weekend and can't wait!  They sound delicious!

You can also make your own chocolates as well with the Pro-Series Tempering Unit. You can add super cute patterns to the top of them with transfer sheets.  I got some of these for Christmas and they were adorable and delicious!

Would you love to win some amazing Dove Chocolate of your own?  Stephanie has generously offered one of my readers a mousse kit, including one mousse packet and two chocolate bars (makes 6-8servings) and a raspberry daiquiri packet.  Don't worry if you don't drink alcohol you can make the daiquiri mix with lemon-lime soda instead!

How to win (open to US Residents only):
Mandatory Entry - Go to Stephanie's Dove Chocolate Discoveries site and come back and comment with your favorite item.

Bonus Entries (Leave a comment for each entry)
1)  Become a follower of the Eye Spy DIY blog, or let me know that you already are a follower (1 entry)
2)  Sign up to host your own chocolate tasting party with Stephanie, if you live in the Boise/Meridian/Nampa area (2 entries)
3)  Sign up under Stephanie to be your own Dove Chocolate Discoveries Chocolatier; you can get started through the end of March for as little as $49.00! (5 entries)
4)  Sign up to receive Stephanie's Dove Chocolate Discoveries Newsletter, the link is in the bottom right hand corner of her site (1 entry)
5)  Blog, tweet, or post a facebook message about this giveaway (1 entry each-Please leave a link so we can go check it out!)
6)  Make a Dove Chocolate Discoveries Purchase through Stephanie (3 entries)

The giveaway will be open through March 1st.  I will select the winner using random.org, the winner will have 72 hours to contact me after announced!

Can't wait to see if you won or would you like to buy some chocolate of your own?  Currently Dove Chocolate Discoveries doesn't allow online purchases, but you can still make a purchase by contacting Stephanie through her site.

Good luck and have a sweet day!

You can now follow me on Twitter!

I've finally joined the twitter world!  I put it off for so long, but finally gave in.  It will be a bit of a learning curve for me, but I'm excited to finally have a twitter account.  You can follow me by clicking the twitter button in my sidebar.