Feb
11
Curvy Bibs
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I told you I was taking a curves class with Rachel of Stitched in Color. Well, here are this weeks “basic curves” spoils. Each week there are 3 projects to choose from to practice the lessons. This was the second project, and since I have tons of flannel, and know of a little baby girl who is due (today!) soon, this was obviously the project for me.
I love the print on this first bib. I have no idea what it is, only that it was “especially for JoAnn fabrics”. The selvedge was cut off at just the “right” place. Boo. Anyway, I have been saving this one for I-don’t-know-what for I-don’t-know-how-long, and since it’s a food print, I think this was just the right application. Now, what to do with the rest of the yard….
On the second bib I decided to add the optional bias tape trim, but decided to lay it out differently than demonstrated in the class’s tutorial. Mostly because I was being a wimp and not wanting to deal with crossing the strips.
Once again, this is an almost instant gratification project. I seem to be doing an awful lot of that type of project lately. I spent a total of about 30 minutes working on these 2 bibs. I suppose it does help that I’ve been sewing garments for ages, so I have sewn this kind of curve before. But it was a good warm up and besides, I don’t think I’ve sewn curves of any sort on my new machine yet, and it does take some amount of muscle memory to keep a curved seam even.
So great and interesting first week of class. If you want to see some of the other participant’s work, check out the Stitched in Color photo pool on Flickr. I’m really looking forward to next week. I’ve already chosen the project from the 3 we will be looking at.
And Baby W, these bibs and your new quilt should be on their way this afternoon!
Feb
6
What else is new right? Somehow, once again I’ve managed to completely over-commit. I suppose it’s good that it’s been nearly a year since this has happened, but for now, it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to come up for air any time soon.
I’m obviously not blogging much, so what am I doing? Mostly a whole lot of nothing. Well, that’s not true. I’m procrastinating. A lot. Avoiding my long list of to dos. Last week, I managed to do no sewing at all in the evenings. I just sat on my butt and watched, House, Alcatraz, Fringe, Merlin and several other nerdy shows that I love so much, but sewing… or even thinking about sewing? No.
I did make these cute little bags for my sweet Hazie’s little odds and ends. I do love Jeni’s bag pattern as a quick gratification project. And I love that it’s using up fabric from my stash. I’m trying to pare down my fabric some because now that I’ve not got a whole room to myself, three huge boxes of yardage + a large bin of scraps and another bin of fat quarters is a bit much for the tiny loft/tv room. Ok, not really, I just want to use it up so I won’t feel so guilty when I buy more fabric.
What should I be doing? Well, the long list consists of things like:
1) Finish the Firebird Quilt – This one is due at the beginning of April for a fundraising auction for Alexis’ school. I actually started it last spring, but then got sidetracked — by oh a thousand other things — and it sat in the corner until recently when I picked it up again and realized that the quilting I’d started on it had caused the applique to pucker horribly. So what did I do? Yeah. You guessed it. Picked all of the (hand) stitching out. Boo. Then, I decided to stich in the ditch on the the applique (as if applique even really has ditches…) and we know how good I am at that… not good at all, but apparently getting better, because if you squint your eyes and turn your head 90 degrees you can’t see the stitching that climbs out of the ditch at all… mostly because you’ll be looking somewhere else entirely.
2) Finish this quilt for a dear friend – Another quilt that’s been in the works for a while. Admittedly, I’ve made progress since these photos were taken (I actually quilted the whole thing last night), but I need to get this one bound and photoed and sent off to it’s new home soon!
3) For the Love of Solids swap — I decided this year I was going to try swapping again. My last few attempts haven’t turned out so good. I either got zero feedback on the items I sent (which I thought were really awesome!) or have not received my items. I have high hopes for this swap though. It’s very active. So active that I’m having trouble keeping up! I hope my partner loves her items, though, I’ve only finished one so far and have only an inkling on the second item. Here is the sneak preview I posted ont he flickr group, it seems to be well received so far!
4) do. Good Stitches — This bee is not a chore at all. Two blocks per month is pretty simple to whip out. However, I am up to be the quilter/leader in March, and I still have no idea what quilt block I will choose for our group! I still need to make my February blocks as well.
5) Curves Class with Rachel @ Stitched in Color! – I think I might be some sort of Rachel Hauser groupy. do. Good Stitches is her brainchild, and now she’s come up with this (what looks to be awesome!) class for a bunch of us to improve our curvy piecing. I’m really looking forward to it (today is the first “real” day of class!) for the camaraderie, but also to hopefully get past my fear of drunkard’s path blocks (and other wonderfully curvy quilty blocks). I just hope I can make myself find the time to get some of the projects done.
6) Pattern Writing — I’m working on a pattern for one of my past projects. And that’s about all I can say right now. But it’s a big one, and taking a lot more time than I anticipated. I hope it’s worth it!
And those are just the items highest on my list. My goals for February as it were. I also want to actually blog about this stuff as it happens. I hope I don’t get too overwhelmed and just shut down completely. Last week was a good break, but I still worry that I’ll not be able to keep up, and instead of only leaving a couple of things out, I will just give up on everything… So, wish me luck!
Jan
23
Has another month already gone by (well almost)? That means I have another set of blocks for the DREAM circle at do. Good Stitches. I’m really enjoying this process so far. Whipping out two blocks (so far all in simple techniques) from scraps is really satisfying. We’ll see if I feel the same way after it’s my month to host… hehehehe.
This month Laura was our host and she chose these cute coin blocks based on this tutorial on Moda’s Bakeshop. I even had some of that sugar pop fabric left from Alexis’ quilt!
Once again, since our charity (Project Night Night) prefers baby quilt sized quilts, each member is creating one girl and one boy block so that two quilts can be made for donation.
I can’t wait to see these all sewn up and quilted. I’m sure they are just going to be adorable!
Jan
6
do. Good Stitches — December
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I’m so far behind for December because I was trying so hard to get Alexis’ quilt done that I had no time for anything else. Luckily, Anna (who must have some sort of super psychic sense about such things) chose a really simple — yet fun — block for the DREAM circle’s December blocks (say that five times fast!)
Postage stamp blocks are just classic and simple and fun… or at least fun for people like me who prefer picking out (and petting) fabrics to actually cutting and sewing. I whipped these two up in less than an hour (not including fawning over fabric and cutting squares).
It’s coming soon. March is my month to choose the quilt and I have no idea what I’m going to pick. What else is new right?
Dec
29
Handmade Holiday — A long overdue quilt
Filed Under Giving, Parenting, Quilting, Sewing | 10 Comments
It seems like I’ve made a thousand and one posts (ok, maybe only four) about this particular quilt, but I’ve finally come to the last post about it.
Alexis is nine and a half, and has never been the recipient of one of my quilts. They are always gifted (usually baby gifts) to other people’s kids. So this summer I finally swore to her that the next quilt would be hers. Well, the next big quilt anyway (as I snuck in several mini’s and a tree skirt).
So she picked some colors and I headed to the LQS for some solids. At the store, somehow a Moda Sugar Pop charm pack snuck in.
I thought I was only going to tie this quilt, which is something I’ve never done, but in the end it is partly machine quilted (4 horizontal lines on the ditch between each row of blocks) and hand quilted using the “big stitch” technique and 3 different shades of variegated cotton perle floss.
When I started the hand quilting, I thought I would only do every other “row” of white squares, but ended up hating that and didn’t really think it was enough quilting anyway, so all the other white squares were outlined as well. Unfortunately that still didn’t seem adequate as the centers of each windmill block were still completely unquilted, so I added small “x”s to the center of each block.
The back is also from the Moda Sugar Pop line. I had considered adding a border to the finished top, but there was just enough of the backing fabric to cover it as is, so no border. Which means this quilt is a little shy of a twin size at about 80 x 60ish. But that’s ok as Alexis’ bed is a loft style bed, and it doesn’t need to hang over the edges when made.
The binding is yet another Sugar Pop print. I love the binding. It’s not quite polka dotted, but close enough to make me smile when I see it. And the turquoise is Alexis’ favorite color at the moment.
This is also the first time I’ve added a hand embroidered label to a quilt, but I knew that the occasion screamed for it. So I included a simple message to remind us how long she actually waited for this quilt. She loves the label more than you could imagine. Go figure.
Originally I had hoped to give it to her for her birthday at the end of the summer, but that didn’t happen, obviously. Around Thanksgiving I decided that come hell or high water, she would get it for Christmas. I know she thought it would never get done because the squares would sit untouched for weeks on end. I know she was really surprised when she went up to watch TV in the loft one day and found a basted quilt folded in my spot.
I was wondering how I was going to pull off “surprising” her when she already knew what state the quilt was in at any given moment. On the 23rd of December I took the finished quilt down to our room and wrapped it up. I thought for sure she was going to notice it missing from my chair upstairs before we left for my aunt’s the next day.
I gave it to her Christmas Eve night, and as you can see, she was so excited when she finally figured out what it was. She was fighting with the tape on the box so hard for so long trying to get it out.
I’m so glad it was so well received. I know she will treasure for years to come… even when she hits those teenage years and wants a room entirely shrouded in black.
Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.