We added a pool fence to keep the boy out… Now he can run around the backyard without one of us chasing him constantly!

The garden is producing! This is our very first harvest of beans, but we’re wondering if anymore are coming. The bean plants don’t look so hot. But the tomatoes are taking off! I can hardly wait for them to ripen.

April’s Do. Good Stitches block. Lindsay chose the knee socks block but using colorful solids and prints. I can’t wait to see the quilt!

And this:

Became this:

March was my month to be the quilter for Do. Good Stitches, and I chose Ashley’s String block. Though, I also chose to lay them out in more of a herringbone pattern. I have the whole thing quilted now, but I am stuck on the binding. If anyone has suggestions, I’m open!

And stay tuned… I have a bit of my Mendocino Madness planned for Sew Mama Sew’s May 2012 Give Away Day!

Remember the Busy Book I made for the boy last year? I mentioned I might write a pattern for it, and guess what? Fat Quarterly has added it to their Issue #9 which is all about sewing with and for babies and kids!

I hope you’ll go check it out. The issue is already being sent to subscribers, and will be available to everyone else starting April 30. I read through the whole issue and there are so many great patterns and tips in it. I’m really excited to show it to Alexis. Time for some mommy & daughter sewing time!

For those of you who don’t know what Moon Munkie’s Mystery Make is all about here’s a quick recap: Moon Munkie sends out 4 bundles of mystery stuff and the “winners” have to make something using some or all of the mystery stuff within 4 weeks of receiving their package. This is what she sent me:

Oh dear. It’s purple. You all know how I feel about purple. Well, honestly I don’t hate it, I am just still kind of done with it since this quilt. But no matter, that fat quarter has better things in store for it. Like this:

I decided to make a notebook cover like this one from Rachel at Stitched in Color. Easy peasy. Only, I didn’t want plain stripes. Oh, no, I had to make it hard. So I decided to make chevrons or zig zags or whatever you want to call them (Is there a difference? No, seriously I really don’t know). If you look closely at all the pictures you can definitely see where I had to squeak out a little bit of fabric with creative piecing to complete the pattern.

Pleasantly, the purple became quite muted after I’d created the “new” fabric!

The charm squares she sent along helped me get enough length in the strip of fabric I would need to hold the whole cover on. And they make a nice pocket for all the junk that is forever falling out of my notebook.

I did have to add a couple of my own scraps in the back because I used up just about all of the fabric she sent along.

And for kicks, I made a little bookmark string from the embroidery floss and some of the buttons.

Alexis saw this thing and wanted it immediately. And to be honest I had planned to give it to her when I was done. But I changed my mind. I like it, I’m keeping it. She can make her own.

So this was a fun experiment, and I might be playing along and creating my own bundles soon. So stay tuned if you are interested in making something from a big package of mystery stuff!

But, I have to tell you, this quilt has been nothing but trouble from the start.

It was a year before I enlarged the original sketch onto an enormous sheet of butcher paper. And did I mention that I was about 7 months pregnant at the time? So there’s an image for you. Giant pregnant lady crawling around on the floor sketching on a giant piece of paper that insisted on rolling up.

After the pattern was made, I sat on the project again for a long while trying to decide what fabrics to use. I knew I would use (obviously) fire colors, but no matter what fabric stacks I pulled I didn’t like anything. I can’t remember what I was working on when I realized that these “almost” solid cottons would be perfect for this project. Just enough movement.

The actual applique wasn’t bad at all, and it came together fairly fast. I was really excited at how well it was going so I was ready to get it quilted when I discovered I had no thread that I thought would work. Back then I did all most of my quilting by hand and I planned to do the same on the Firebird. After searching at multiple stores for a variegated hand quilting thread in firey colors, I finally settled in and started stitching the starburst pattern.

It was not to be.

Some of you may have seen me sitting in the sewing room at Sewing Summit stitching a thousand straight lines on this quilt. I was about halfway through by the end of the Summit. That’s when I decided I hated the quilting. I mean really really hated it. So I put the quilt down and walked away. For about 6 months. When I picked her back up, I realized that part of what I hated was the fact that the quilting was causing the bird itself to bunch up in the middle of the quilt.

I decided that it must be picked out. Really, it didn’t take that long. Pretty much a snip at the starting end and a yank on the other end and out came each thread. I was still sad looking at that pile of used threads. It just seemed like so much work wasted. And by now I was running out of time to get the quilting done in time for this spring’s auction. I decided I would machine quilt it starting with stitching in the ditch around the bird to anchor it down this time.

I had this quilting pattern in my mind from the very beginning, and so when I finally decided to draw it on paper I was really glad to see that it looked as good in the real world as it did in my head. Now I was super excited to get the quilting done. So I fired up my machine with it’s new walking foot and started stitching. It wasn’t long before I realized that using white thread on both the upper thread and the bobbin was a mistake. The back of the quilt is Kona coal, and that white thread just looked awful. But by now I was feeling really pressed for time. I was exploring options to actually color the thread on the back with a marker or pencil or something… I wouldn’t recommend that approach. Both the sharpie I tested and the pencil showed through on the white front.

Ok, so the only option was to once again pick out the quilting and start over. And once again, it took a lot less time than I anticipated. It also got me thinking about thread tension because the lower thread tension was way too loose and the threads slid right out.

Well, third time must be the charm because I finally finished the quilting. This time with a dark gray in the bobbin and the tension adjusted properly.

The firebird’s quilting was done in various shades of red, orange and yellow, and it shows on the back. I think I like it, but I’m not sure. I love the gray though.

After making the label for Alexis’ quilt, I think I might be addicted to the freezer paper + printer method. Because this quilt shouldn’t need to be washed often, I just used the printed label and didn’t add any hand quilting.

The binding presented another challenge. I had originally planned to use a very pale solid gray, but after the way that turned out on this quilt, I thought that might just be too blah. I considered using one of the fabrics from the bird, but thought that might detract from the bird itself. I considered using the Kona coal, but decided that would be too much of a frame. By chance I had ordered some Sally’s Skirt from the Sweetwater Reunion line, but in cherry and ink (that’s red and black to the non fabric geeks). That tiny herringbone just speaks to me. The graphite color way was the perfect shade of pale gray. I love the binding on this quilt. Love. It.

I also added a dowel sleeve for hanging using Rachel’s tutorial.

As it turns out, the school wants to save the quilt for next year’s auction (hence the future date on the label). Which was fine by me, because when they called to tell me, I was still agonizing over the binding. I debated putting the whole thing away for a while, but then decided to get it off my to do pile once I found the binding fabric.

So, 3 years and 2 froggings later, the firebird is done. I couldn’t be happier with it.

This year I resolved to get more active in the (awesome) online sewing community. I joined do. Good Stitches which is a really fun quilting bee for a really good cause, and I’m really enjoying my bee group. And I even signed up for my first swap on flickr. I’ve done swaps on craftster.org and etsy before, but they were never this active or organized of a group.

For the Love of Solids is a HUGE swap with 100 swappers! It’s a secret swap so no one knows who is making something for them. My partner had a really great inspiration mosaic that really helped me decide how to style her items. Everyone makes one big item (from solid fabrics), and then a second item can be either handmade or purchased.

I can’t tell you who she is, because she hasn’t received her package yet (even though I sent it a week ago!! — Yes, I’m panicking!). One of the items on her “big item” wish list was a knitting needle roll. So I made her one based on the design I did for Alexis’ colored pencil roll. I, unfortunately,  don’t have the best picture of it.

For her small item, a little pouch made from linen and one of Faith’s solstice stars. With some hand-quilting. I also threw in a little stack of bright solids, and a sampler pack of Aurifil threads. I had an extra sampler and everyone should get to try them out don’t you think?

Then, last week I received my package from my partner, Five Baht Elephant. It’s so awesome! I love the dark neutral with the bright colors on this great mini. I just have to decide whether to take it to work to hang up or put it up at home. Sean thinks it’s a fabulous play quilt. I just think it’s fabulous.

She also sent along this really cute ruffled/pleated pouch. I mean, who can’t use another pouch. Noone, that’s who! And I wish you could see the awesome zipper pull on this thing. Amazing!

As if that weren’t enough, she even made some cute little scrappy coasters. My favorite is that stripey one in the middle there. It’s just so happy.

A huge success of a swap (so far… I wish my partner would get her package!! Stupid post office.) But it might be a while before I join another. Even though things have let up a bit, I’ve still got lots to do. But as I said before, that’s a topic for another day.

Have you joined any swaps? Which is your favorite?

Sadly, these photos are not that great. And that purple fabric for some reason always comes out way too blue…

Anyway, these are the drunkard’s path blocks from week 3 of Curves Class… we’re on week 5 now and I still haven’t finished anything from week three other than this little bitty quilt, and haven’t even started week 4 projects. Boo.

So anyway, four drunkard’s path blocks, cut into a circle. This was the first time I tried a couple of things with the binding. First of all, curved binding… I’ve done binding with angles, but never curved, so it was a bit disconcerting that it didn’t seem to want to lie flat despite cutting it on the bias. In the end, pressing it was a huge help. It laid right down after that.

Second, I used Rachel’s method to sew down the binding on the front. She always uses a zig-zag stitch and it always looks so nice. Mine’s not quite as good, and the stitching on the back doesn’t really line up so great, but I still like the finish.

I wanted the quilting to go through the medallion on the back, so it’s a bit off on the front, but I like it that way.

I’m going to be sending this little mug rug off to a friend of mine who loves purple. She’ll especially like this (I hope!) because it contains fabric from both of the quilts I made for her two little ones.

Anyway, because it’s reached it’s destination, I can now show you the finished product.

Some of you on flickr will remember that I was stuck on which backing to use. When I first saw this Denise Schmidt Sugar Creek plaid I thought it would be a perfect backing for this baby quilt. I loved how the criss-crossed lines of the plaid sort of echoed the squares on the front. But when I got it home, I just wasn’t so sure.

The green fabric is something I had at home (no idea what it is, I picked it up for a buck a yard about a year ago) and it is a very near match to the greens in the quilt front. But it wasn’t really speaking to me either. I got equal votes on both fabrics, so I decided to go with my gut and use the plaid after all. I’m really glad I did.

I bound the quilt in yet another DS fabric from JoAnn unknown fabric that I thought was a DS. The colors in this little polka dot match the back fabric beautifully. But again, I wasn’t sure how it would look for binding. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. I really like the dots… (surprise surprise. me? like dots on binding? never!)

The quilting is just 1/4 inch straight lines on the edges of each block. I probably should have done more quilting in the center of each block, but this seems to be sufficient and I was in a hurry to finish before baby arrived. I guess I needn’t have rushed.

So yippee! Another item off the list!

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!

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!

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!