WIP Wednesday {10.31.12}

Happy Halloween!! We haven't made a call about trick-or-treating yet, but so far it looks to be cold and rainy, and since my 2 year old doesn't really care, I'm not sure we'll be going out. It's alright though, she'll have plenty of Halloweens to make up for it :)  In sewing land, I didn't get much done. It was a long week with many interruptions, but I did what I could. I also appologize in advance for the horrible pictures, but I am not kidding when I say that, like much of the east coast, we have not seen the sun in days so a dark inside picture will have to do.

Completed:

chair

the only thing completed is my chair makeover. I love this and it just brightens up our office. There may be more furniture makeovers in my future....


New: I didn't really have time to start anything new. Which is probably for the best. Although I think I got a few more gifts decided.


Still Going:

feathers!

This is my main project at this particular moment. I now have all the strip feather pieces cut and the stems, so next up is a whole lot of background. I am looking forward to the cutting being done and being able to begin sewing. 

lilly belle
Yep, still need a back and some batting before I can do anything with this, and then I'll need hand quilting supplies. So maybe one of these days I will get around to it. 


Waiting:
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....

So there it is. I am hoping to make some really good progress on the feathers quilt this week and maybe even pick up a back for lilly belle. I have a couple of other things being plotted, but nothing has made it very far out of my head yet. I am a bit unfocused these days, and I keep having moments of ohmygodtomorrowisnovember. It will all get there though.

a "new" chair

Wow, so it's Monday again. Well that just flew right by. I feel like I've been under a rock or something and can finally come up for air. Last week ended in some insanity in which my husband was gone for 3 days and I decided to do my chair makeover. But all is well. He is home and life feels normal again, and we have a lovely new chair in our office.

Let me start by saying, I have really not done much in the way of furniture makeovers. Ever. And the couple times I have tried it, it didn't go particularly well. But this time I am super happy with the results. It is not without problems of course, but I am proud of this little chair.

Last time we were visiting, I asked my in-laws if they had a chair we could have for me to redo and to replace our broken folding chair that we had been using. It turns out they had one that the cats had gotten to and really messed up the cushion.

I wanted a nice bright color and opted for spray paint, what with so many nooks an crannies. I got a super bright yellow (after I was told no aqua/turquoise) to match a lovely print I found at Joanns. It was crazy taking off the old cushion. A million or so staple later we had a look inside and saw the springs/foam/batting. After a discussion with one of the ladies at joanns, I was on my with with a pile of supplies. I think the foam I chose was a bit higher, but I can't be sure if that was because of the old one being compressed by use. It is super comfy though and you can no longer feel the springs when you sit. I had a bit of a problem when I just traced the old cushion and it was a bit small with the added height, but we made it work. I just love how it turned out. Such a happy chair!

In other news, I didn't make a halloween costume since there was no tiger fabric to be found, but it turns out that it probably doesn't matter since it is supposed to rain for the foreseeable future and this mega storm is supposed to hit up here on Wednesday. I am still working away on feathers and hope to have all the strip pieces cut out today. Then I just have to cut out a gazillion background pieces and I can start sewing :) I really want to get going on this one, but we also have visitors coming the next two weekends, so that will drag it out a bit. I also really need a new purse. One thing at a time I suppose.

WIP Wednesday {10.24.12}

It just occurred to me that I only have week until Halloween. Hm, I didn't realize I was in crunch time already. Hopefully I can find what I need and get it done. Really I spent this week working on my new quilt project, and it feels like it is pretty slow going. It's fun though.

Completed:

texty geese pillow

Done and in the gift pile. I do still kind of wish I could keep it, but I am going to be strong.

New:

feathers!

This is my commissioned quilt. I made 2 blocks to see how it went together and how it looked and honestly, I love it. Now I am trying to do the rest more assembly line style so I can get it done more quickly. It is going to be queen size so I need 57 blocks. I am pretty excited to see this one grow. I am hoping by next week to have all the strippy feather pieces cut out so I can start cutting out the rest of the pieces. It is a pretty long process though, so we'll see.

halloween costume
I have no picture because I have no fabric. But, I do know what I am going to do and it should be quick. She already has a tiger mask and tail so I am just going to make a vest out of tiger fleece {if I can find it} and she can wear that. I just hope I can get what I need.

chair redo

I got this chair from my in-laws because we need a new desk chair {our folding chair broke} and they had this one sitting around. The cats obviously got to it so it needed work. It is already taken apart and it is waiting for a paint job and new cushion. I think it is going to be pretty fantastic. This is going to be my project for the second half of this week while the weather is nice. I have never done anything like this so it is an adventure.



Still Going:

lilly belle
Yep, still need a back and some batting before I can do anything with this, and then I'll need hand quilting supplies. So maybe one of these days I will get around to it. 


Waiting:
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....


So really just a chair, a halloween costume and a quilt to work on right now. The husband will be away for a couple of days this week/weekend so I am hoping to have the chair done by the time he gets back so he can use it at his desk.  I may or may not also start working on the husbands gifts while he is gone. If I have time. Either way it should be a crazy week, and hopefully not a bad one alone with a toddler for days. Wish me luck!

texty geese

Is it a sign of a good weekend if you are just super tired at the end of it? We had a lot of fun this weekend while my parents came for a visit, but man am I tired and longing to get back to our slow, steady routine. We had a beautiful weekend in upstate NY and visited our second pumpkin farm of the season and just generally had lots of fun. I also now have an entirely different type of project to tackle as we now have a new {to us} chair that needs to be painted and reupholstered so we can use it as a new desk chair. We'll see it it goes, I have never done anything like that before, so I am hoping with a little help I can pull it off.

I really didn't get to sew at all this weekend, but I did finish up the pillow I was working on. It was pretty small (at least compared to a quilt) so it didn't take long to get the binding on, I just had to make myself sit down and do it.

This is the first time I have put binding on a pillow. I thought I would give it a try so I didn't have to worry about the raw edges inside and it worked really well and I love the look of it. I did an envelope closure (my favorite) and I just love it. The fabric is all leftover from the napkins that failed, and it is really just a happy pillow. I am so obsessed with text + rainbow and I love this headline text fabric. And I found the numbers at a LQS and they just felt right for this.

It is 16" so I had to enlarge the circle of geese pattern to make each quadrant finish at 8 inches instead of 6, which was not the easiest since I needed it the exact width of a piece of paper and my printer did not appreciate it. But I just ended up cutting off the seam allowance and making sure I had enough fabric hanging over to cut it the right size.  I also did quilt it, echoing each of the geese, but it blends in so much you really can't see it. It gives it some nice texture though.

I do love this pattern; and if I am honest I really would like to keep it, but I am going to be strong and give it as a gift. To make myself feel better I think I already have another pillow cover planned to replace it. It may take forever though. And I actually have the second one that I need alreday planned too, but at the moment I have to keep it secret. Right now though, I have about a gazillion feathers to make. Or 55, whichever. I do love them though, so that helps. I'll have some sneaky pictures on Wednesday of those I have done so far :)

The good and the bad

I'm going to go ahead and start with the good. I am super happy that I have my first big quilt commission! The photographer that took our family pictures back in July asked me if I would make her a quilt for her bed. The best part: she wants a feather bed quilt! I have been looking for an excuse to make one of these and now I have it!

I just got all my fabrics and washed them and everything, and I even did a little cutting/piecing. She really liked the original picture so I am using field study fabrics, with kona charcoal stems and a cream background. I am using 15 different prints and seriously, they are so much prettier in person than on a computer screen. I ordered from Sew Fresh Fabrics and Peg was super nice and made me my own little bundle of 1/4 yard cuts since the pattern recommends you use 1/4 yard cuts instead of fat quarters.

I am super excited and I can't wait to see it come together! Of course it is queen size so we are talking a lot of feathers here. I just hope I don't get tired of them before I am done haha.


Now for the bad, because I might as well keep it real. Got to accept the failures along with the successes, right? Remember those lovely napkins I just got finished. Well I washed them. And it did not go well. As in throw them away because I can't possibly give them to anyone as a gift. I am pretty depressed about it, but when I washed them they shrunk so unevenly it isn't funny. The backs have a good inch of extra fabric and they do not lay remotely flat. Not to mention they are really no longer square. *sigh* I couldn't even bear to take a picture, they are tucked away where I don't have to look at them. And this is why I usually pre-wash my fabric. I figured I didn't have a problem with the last set I made, but this one apparently the outer and inner fabrics just shrunk completely differently. I suppose part of the problem was getting a cheaper solid fabric from Joanns. Anyway, I guess now I know better and I will go get more fabric and try again. I will probably figure out a way to use the fabric from these for something, or maybe they will be my napkin set, I don't know yet. I'll figure it out when I can stand to look at them again.

And just so that we don't end on a bad note, here is one more picture of pretty fabric :) Have a lovely weekend!

WIP Wednesay {10.17.12}

Another week half gone. How does it happen? Somehow we have entered into a period of craziness around here, and I have no idea when it will stop. Thankfully, sewing has been keeping me sane while at the same time helping me get lots of gifts done all kinds of early. It was quite a productive week. In fact, I am almost out of things to make that I have all the pieces for.

Completed:

getaway bag

Father-in-laws gift done. I love the way it came out and am even considering making one for my dad and/or brother.

napkin set

text print + rainbow = love. I really want to keep them, but instead I am going to wash them and get them ready to send off as a wedding gift.

flashback skinny tees

The other day I realized that we needed another pj shirt now that it is colder, and figured a couple more regular tees couldn't hurt. So I whipped up the gray one to go with the pj pants she already has and made 2 others for everyday use. I love this pattern. Luckily she loves them and wears them all the time. 


New:

pillow cover

I think this will be a gift. If I can part with it. I am a little in love. Today I am going to quilt it up and finish putting it together {I hope}.


Still Going:

lilly belle
Yep, still need a back and some batting before I can do anything with this, and then I'll need hand quilting supplies. So maybe one of these days I will get around to it. 


Waiting:
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....

I have a big quilt coming up, but I am still waiting on the fabric before I can get started. It should be here soon though. In the meantime, I'm not sure what I am going to do while I wait. I guess I can figure that out later though, no rush. Maybe I'll make a pillow cover for me! In any case, I'm sure I will keep myself busy somehow ;)

another gift down

Happy Monday! We had a lovely weekend around here. Yesterday was incredibly beautiful and we made it out to one of the farms around here and my little love got to go on her first horse ride, eat delicious cinnamon buns, and play with pumpkins and dirt. Good times all around. Hopefully we'll get to go enjoy the weather a bit more before it gets cold again.

This weekend I also managed to finish up another gift. I made my father-in-law a new carry on bag, which he will hopefully like and use (I was told that he needed one....). I used the getaway duffle bag pattern, which is the same one I used back in March when I made one for myself. I made it pretty much the same as the one for me except I ditched the inside pockets and jumped on the bandwagon and quilted the outside instead of using interfacing.

I had a horrible time with the interfacing on the first one and while it was pretty nice when it was done, this one was much easier to sew and I like the end result even better. I used a bottomweight black fabric from Joanns for the outer and quilted it to a layer of batting and a layer of stiff outdoor fabric. It was a pretty cheap and easy solution. I also added some tabs at the ends to make the zipper easier to use and remembered to put piping on the ends too. I just did straight line quilting using the edge of my walking foot as a guide so it is pretty dense, adding to the structure.

The lining is a mickey mouse fabric (also from Joanns) because he loves mickey, and disney really. I did a little running stitch on the ends to keep the lining attached so it doesn't fall into itself and it worked well. I love that the bag is softer but still holds its shape with the quilting. Really I just kind of love it and I hope he does too. I never can be sure with him, but hopefully it will get a lot of use.  Maybe I'll make a little toiletry bay to go with it out of the leftovers, but I haven't decided yet.

Now I am working my way through a set of napkins. Then a pillow cover I think. I don't know, I'll decide when I get to it. One thing at a time.

sweet little messenger bag

Happy Friday! I am so ready for this weekend. Plans include resting, sewing, pumpkin/apple farm, and baking. I.can't.wait. I am happy to say that I am almost done the getaway bag, I just need to do a bit of hand sewing the lining, and I am ready to start some colorful cloth napkins. I am fairly sure they are going to be awesome and I am going to have a really hard time giving them away.

I thought I would share more pictures of the little messenger bag I showed on Wednesday. It is another gift crossed off my list. It started long ago when I first saw the girl playing with horses fabric. My first thought was that it would be perfect for my cousin's daughter as her mom is really into horses and I think she is too. I finally broke down and bought a fat quarter of it recently and decided it would work perfectly with the naturalist's scavenger hunt bag from Growing Up Sew Liberated.

As a side note, let me just say that I love this book. It has some great patterns in it and I have loved what I have made so far, and I have plans for a bunch of other things. I found it hard to find any books with good basic kids patterns, particularly for knit fabrics (which my little love is much more likely to wear). Although the crossover tee came out larger than I had wanted, she wears those jammies all the time. 

Back to the project at hand. I loved this little bag from the moment I saw it and couldn't stop thinking about what a cute flap that heather ross fabric would make. The only thing I changed from the pattern really was that I curved the flap and used a skinny binding instead of stitching it and flipping it out. I I really wanted the pop of color around it and it gives it such a nice finish. I did leave off the eyelet that the pattern has since I didn't have one and did not feel inclined to go out and buy one.

I used the same fabric for the entire lining and just used 2 different fabrics for the outside. The little pocket is my favorite. Since I used quilting cotton (aside from the flap), I did use a light interfacing on everything to give it more structure and it worked out well.

While I love it, there are a few things I would do differently if I made it again. I might add a closure for one thing. I don't know if things are just going to fall out of it. Also I should have read through the instructions first because I didn't realize how the adjustable strap was going to come together. It threads through a ribbon loop and I am a bit worried about that holding up to 4 year old wear and tear, but I guess we'll see.

I really hope she likes it and will get good use out of it. It is now happily sitting in my gift pile and I have it all crossed of my list. It feels good. I am planning on doing a few more gifts and then I get to stop and make a quilt :) I am kind of hoping to be halfway done my gift making by the beginning of November, but we'll see what I can do in the next couple of weeks. I also need to stop and make a few more shirts for the little one too....always so much to do!

WIP Wednesday {10.10.12}

Is anyone else a little excited that tomorrow is 10.11.12? My husband thinks I am nuts, but I am pretty excited about it. I just like cool dates, I can't help it! Well anyway, I've pretty much switched from quilt mode back into making a bunch of smaller things so I have quite a bit done this week. I am looking forward to a quilt I have coming up, but before then I am trying to knock out a bunch of gifts so they are done. I am sure that when December comes I will still be scrambling, but for now I am in no rush and am just enjoying getting it done, the way gift making should be :)

Completed:

tragic kingdom

Finally done and I am in love!

pleated clutch

Gift for my mother-in-law. I am so happy with how it turned out!

tiny messenger bag

For my cousins daughter. I got this heather ross fabric specifically for this and I think {hope} she loves it. I'll post more about this one later.

zip pouch

Using the tutorial at Noodlehead. A birthday gift for a sweet friend.


New:

getaway bag

Gift for my father-in-law. I am trying out quilting instead of interfacing this time. We'll see how it goes. It is all quilted and cut and I am going to start putting it together today. Hopefully it isn't too painful.

napkin set

This is for one of my husband's cousins who is getting married in December. I kind of want to keep them. Just looking at the pile makes me happy and I almost don't want to cut into it. I will have to make myself do it though, hopefully this week.

Still Going:

lilly belle

I got some pearl cotton for my first hand quilting adventure. I don't know when I'll get to start it though since I still have no batting/backing.

Waiting:
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....


After that I need to figure out what exactly is next. I have a nice list of things to make, but we'll see what I am feeling. I also think I am going to be working on a special quilt soon but I am waiting for details to be finalized. Right now I am just hoping I make it through this getaway bag. I can't believe I am going to have all these things made and sitting around for a couple of months, that is so unlike me! Ah well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts. I hope everyone has a lovely week!

Tragic Kingdom

I finally have my tragic kingdom quilt done, washed and ready to show! I feel like it took an awfully long time, but in any case, it is done now. It finished at about 31"x42" once it was washed, so kinda small but not too bad.

I had been wanting to make a spiderweb quilt for ages. Seriously, it was one of the first things I pinned I think. I don't know what pushed me into actually doing it, but I think it was the idea of using all the different blue backgrounds that I just couldn't get out of my head. It used up a lot of scraps (although somehow I still seem to have tons) and I love the way these blocks look together. I trimmed them down to 11.5" when I was done because they were a little wonky, but they worked out just fine. I just love looking at all the little scraps from so many of the things I have made and it was really nice to not put too much though into it as I was making it. The blue fabrics are mostly ones given to me that had been sitting in grandmothers attics and such, so it was nice to use them for something.

The advantage of it coming out smaller than I intended, was that I only needed one piece for the backing. I used a print I already had sitting around. It is busy, but I think that goes with the scrappy front. The binding is a binding leftover from a quilt made ages ago. Clearly I made too much binding, but I guess it worked out in the end since I didn't have to make any for this :) The quilting is straight lines on either side of the seams and I love it. I had wanted to do some free motion quilting, but the centers were so wonky that I knew it would just end with frustration and puckers, so I went with straight lines and I am so glad. 

So there you have it. And in case you were wondering, here is my little pile from my shop hopping adventures. See how well I behaved myself?!?!

We stopped at 5 different shops (3 that were new to us), starting about 1.5 hours away and working our way towards home. It was so much fun and the sun even came out for the afternoon and we got to really enjoy the beautiful upstate NY fall. Good times all around. Now I need to settle in and start sewing. I have a lot of piles around here of things to make, mostly gifts, and I just want them done and out of my way, even if they are going to sit in a bag for the next 2.5 months. Now if I could just finish my socks so I can move on to another knitting project that would be great!

Perfectly Pleated Clutch

Warning: mother-in-law, if by chance you read this blog, look away now or have your gift spoiled.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, I finished my first holiday gift yesterday! I am feeling pretty good about that so early in october, but I still have a long way to go on this list of mine. Today I am hoping to start on the next thing, although I am pretty sure I don't have all the pieces for any one gift at this point, so all I can do is start a bunch of things until I get to the store.

But anyway, my mother-in-law bought Amy Butler's Style Stitches a while back and was kind enough to let me borrow it so I could make a few bags, while naturally mentioning which bags she would be happy to receive this holiday season ;)  I thought that really it was the least I could do and so I set to work. I made the smallest version of the perfectly pleated clutch.

It is quite a good pattern. In the instructions it says you need something like 1 5/8 yards of fabric but upon inspection that was for a 54" length of fabric so I used a half yard of leftover voile instead. I think it used less then the recommended amounts for everything. I really was a bit sad to use the rest of my diamond mine voile, but it looks so good in this pattern and I already had it. The band/handle are pastry line voile and the lining is some yellow pearl bracelets. It turns out that I find this the perfect yellow fabric and now I am pretty much out. Sad times.

The pleating was not as bad as I was afraid it would be. It was tedious and took a while, but wasn't hard and the result is pretty fantastic. The hardest part was flipping it over when you are done and not messing it up, but I managed without too much trouble. I didn't love her instructions for putting in the zipper and if I did it again I would probably do it the way I've been making my other zip pouches, but it wasn't bad. And really it just looks so impressive, especially considering how relatively simple it is.

So yeah, all in all a good make. I find the end result really impressive and it is just so soft and lovely in the voile. Hopefully my mother-in-law loves it :) I guess I just have to wait 2.5 months to find out! Also I guess I should get making myself a few bags before I have to give the book back. For now, happy weekend! I will be off roaming around new york state checking out some new {to me} quilt shops and hopefully keeping the budget under control. I'll be back Monday to finally show my tragic kingdom quilt, which is now bound and awaiting washing.

WIP Wednesday {10.3.12}

Well, I did it. I am happy to report that I finally made myself sit down and list all the gifts (both holiday and wedding and birthday) that I need to make in the upcoming months. Did I mention that my husband has 3 cousins getting married in the next year?!?! 3!!! I think I am only making quilts for 2 of them though, and I have plenty of time. The holiday list is kinda long but it's actually not too bad and I am pretty excited about most of it. I am in the midst of figuring out fabrics and what I still need and all that. In fact, I must admit that the fabric ordering has already begun. Now to find the patience to wait for it to get here!

In the meantime, I have been busy with a couple of quilts.

Completed:

echo baby quilt

 I love this simple little blanket and I love the quilting that I tried. Overall a super happy finish.

New:

lily belle quilt

 I love this fabric collections so much that I went ahead and bought the entire collection fat quarter bundle. And I finally cut into it. Big patchwork and hopefully my first attempt at hand quilting. I am really looking forward to it even though it may be a forever project. First I guess I need some batting and back for it.....

Still Going:

tragic kingdom

I am thisclose to finished this. Only a bit more binding to stitch down and then a good washing. Can't wait to have this one finished.


Waiting:
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....


So I guess this is the calm before the storm? I know I have a lot coming up, but I am looking forward to it and not crunched for time (yet) so I guess that makes it okay. I think my biggest problem will be figuring out where to start. I guess first I have to go pull fabric that I can use from my cabinet and finish my shopping list. Hope everyone is having a lovely week!