WIP Wednesday {1.30.13}

You guys, I can not believe it is the end of January already! Ridiculous! Anyway, I am still very slowly plugging along. I really need to get back to working on the hand stuff - my knitting and hexies are sadly neglected, but when the mood strikes, I am sure I will be unstoppable. In the meantime, I have nothing finished, but I am working on it!

weekender - all the pieces are made and quilted. I still need to zig-zag the edges, and I am waiting on my other fabric still. I need to reorder one thing from a different store and hope that it comes quickly so I can keep going on this.

house block for sew south - I have figured out what I am doing and hope to get it done today.
pony club quilt  - I have fabric picked for the next block so I will get back to this soon.
hexies
honey cowl
floor pillow - I am still debating this one. I had a plan but now I'm not so sure and have been considering other ideas. Eventually I will be decisive and do it.

I am hoping by next week I at least have something finished, even if it's just the house block. And I would really love to have fabric to finish my bag, so I am hoping that happens. I guess if not, I'll just be making pony club blocks until I decide on a pillow design :) Happy Wednesday!

the weekender part I

I know I've mentioned before that I have decided to tackle Amy Butler's weekender bag. And now that I am almost done the exterior, I thought it was time it got it's own post. I had been admiring the pattern for the past couple of years and finally decided it was time to do it. I started with this lovely stack of fabric

and have gotten to this point so far

I am quilting the pieces to a piece of cotton batting and a piece of outdoor fabric (I found it a bit stiffer than the duck cloth and it was on clearance at Joann's at the end of the season) using a fairly dense straight line quilting. My biggest mistake so far is that I forgot to take into account that the handles will be covering some of the exterior pieces so a bunch of lovely patchwork will be hidden. Oh well. I have two more pieces to go, the long top pieces, and then I am going to zig-zag the edges of them all so that they don't fray and annoy me while I am working.

I am still waiting on my cording/handle fabric and my lining fabric. In fact, due to my order being missed, they no longer have the cording/handle fabric and I will have to reorder it again elsewhere, so I am pretty bummed about that. I will hopefully finish up those last two pieces today or tomorrow and then I guess we'll see when I have what I need to continue. I think it is going to be a fantastic bag though once it is done. If I can get those last pieces done, the house block for sew south is next followed by some pony club blocks while I wait to be able to finish this. Here's looking forward to a nice productive week!

WIP Wednesday {1.23.13}

Happy Wednesday guys! I didn't do much this week really, but I did do some birthday celebrating and city wandering on our long weekend, so I can't complain :)

have it all wallet - DONE!

weekender- planning and figuring out what fabrics I wanted to use and what I want it to look like was the hardest part and took forever. I think now that I am moving on it it will go a lot faster. And I think it is pretty similar to the way I made my getaway duffle bags so I am not too worried. I am still waiting on fabric for the piping/handles/lining though so that could slow things down.

house block for sew south - I forgot to add this one before, but I need to do it soon. It should be a fun one!
pony club quilt 
hexies
honey cowl
floor pillow


So I pretty much finished my wallet and worked on my weekender. This week I will at least get the weekender pieces all done, and if I get my fabric I might even get further. I also want to figure out my house block (I think I have an idea) and at least pick fabrics for the floor pillow. Slowly but surely I am moving forward!

have it all

Alright, so a wallet may not have been on my immediate to-do list, but rest assured I have been looking for the perfect wallet for approximately forever. And weeks ago I pinned the have it all wallet from the straight stitch society (their manifesto is fantastic by the way) and have been itching to make it ever since. Then the other day I saw Amanda's and it just pushed me over the edge and I just had to jump in and do it. I even fell in love with the pink/black thing she's got going on. Oh and I took a gazillion pictures, mostly because I wish I had seen more of what the pockets were like before I bought the pattern. Thankfully I ended up loving them, but in case someone else is wondering.

So I did it. And I love it. I mean LOVE it. Guys, it holds so.much.stuff. But in an organized sort of way, not a 'throw it all in your clutch and sort it out later' sort of way. And as if by magic (or a really good pattern if you'd prefer) it came out very near perfectly. My cards actually fit in the slots!! That never happens to me!! I really loved picking out fabrics, even though that probably took me longer than sewing it. I added little pops of pink inside the zip pocket and behind the card pockets, just to make me smile. And I used some chevrons for the zip pocket itself and I love it.

And for the record, I could totally use this as a clutch; my phone and chapstick fit perfectly and I added that nifty little d-ring there so I could slap on a strap and my keys. The only thing I changed was using a medium weight fusible on the outer pieces and not using the sew-in interfacing and it seems to have worked out just fine. I did add a button on top of the snap to jazz it up a bit since I only had plain snaps, but it wasn't the best idea since it makes it much harder to use the snap. It sure does look nice though! I really love how professional it looks!

It really is a spectacular pattern and I think I know what some upcoming gifts will be. Now I just need a nice new purse to go with it. Any pattern suggestions??? And now, since it is my birthday, I am going to go relax in my clean house, which I cleaned yesterday just so I could enjoy it today :)

WIP Wednesday {1.16.13}

Hooray! I finally got myself together to do my first WIP post of the year! I have been having a great time the past couple of weeks just doing whatever I felt like and not really worrying about what "needs" to get done, but it's time to get back on the bandwagon and have some direction. Of course you know that means I just bought a pattern and started a project that was absolutely not on my list of things I need to do haha. My actual list is super long, so I am just going to focus on the things I am going to start with...

have it all wallet - I bought this pattern yesterday morning and got through most of it, but I needed to run out for some interfacing, so I'll finish it up today I hope. I am so in love with it, I can't wait to start using it!

pony club quilt - I am a few weeks ahead on this one so I am pausing work on this to work on some of the other things. Until I don't feel like doing anything else and I come back to it :)

weekender - this has been on my list for a while. I am slowly gathering supplies so once they all get here, I will be ready to go. Obviously I need it to bring to sew south :)

hexies - I am over halfway done basting what I have, but I need to step it up and get these done.

honey cowl - I started knitting this the other day and I am making slow progress. No hurry though!

floor pillow - Since my little love bug is really into lounging in her room and "reading" I am going to make her a pillow. I have a 24" pillow form so I might make a swoon block pillow cover, which would go with her quilt too. I need to pick out some fabric though....

I imagine that is enough to keep me busy for a while. Once I make it through some of that I'll figure out what is next and eventually, it will all get done. At least that's what I tell myself. I am still lacking motivation a bit, but I am hopeful that it will return. In the meantime, this wallet is keeping me going today, since I just can't wait for it to be finished and to be using it! Happy Wednesday!

I almost forgot!

Well hello again! It randomly occured to me the other day, while sitting on my couch looking at it, that I never shared the finished product of my husband's gift! I am kind of impressed that I forgot, but being all secretive for so long will do that to you I guess.

Anyway, I naturally found the idea on pinterest. And it was definitely one of those that looked like it would be easier than it was haha. It took sooooo long to make this stinking thing, and I even had help in the beginning. I knew I would have a hard time starting it on my own, I have a tendency to avoid things like this, and I didn't have a whole lot of time that he wasn't home, so I enlisted my dear friend to help me. I did it pretty much exactly like in the tutorial, but I used a regular sharpie after testing it out. It seems to wash fine so that is good and I already had one. I will say, though, that the fabric sure eats the ink! I went through like 5 markers for this thing! To be fair, it is an 18x18 pillow case, but still.

I decided it needed to be like my cathedral windows pillow since it is the matching pillow form, so I made it the same size and with the envelope closure and all that. I used some Essex Linen for the main part and a fantastic black and white print, which escapes me at the moment, for the in between and binding on the back. The lyrics are our first dance song (the way I am, by ingrid michaelson) and it makes us happy every time we look at it. I wish the whole song would have fit, but I am happy I fit as much as I did. I had been looking for a nice way to have them around, without just typing them up and sticking them on the wall or something, so this was perfect. I admit it is definitely more of an anniversary type gift, but he has to take these things when I am inspired :)

So I think for real that this is the last of the gifts. I am still avoiding making my list for Wednesday, but I really really am going to make myself do it. I need to face the music. Maybe it's not as bad as I fear....

Welcome to the Pony Club

The Farmer's Wife Pony Club, that is! As I mentioned the other day, I started following this quilt-along that Susannah is hosting. I loved my original Farmer's Wife quilt so, so much and had been missing those little relaxing blocks, so joining in on this one seemed perfect. We are aiming to do 2 blocks per week, but obviously I went nuts and now have 7 blocks done, with no desire to stop. These blocks are 8" finished, so a bit bigger than the original farmer's wife, and from what I can tell so far, a bit more difficult.

Instead of going in the order of the letters in front like I did last time, this time I am just going alphabetically, mostly because then I can print one set of templates at a time. The letters are sweet though, and I love reading them.  It is also so much fun to do this scrappy style, without worrying about the other blocks, and just choosing fabrics for the block at hand. I think it will make for a really amazing quilt. The other one was all rainbow and, trust me, I love it, but this just has such a different feel. Also, these blocks are not on point like the others. What I am trying to say is that the idea is the same, but it is different enough to not feel like I am just doing the same thing again.

And now, the blocks!

a beauty

a dandy

alabama

apple tree

at the depot

arizona

basket of flowers

I know I need to stop these soon and work on some things that actually need to be done, so I am enjoying them as much as possible for now. I just love them! I also finally got my needles and started knitting another honey cowl, this time as a gift.  So those two things are pretty much what I've been doing. I am hoping to get my act together and make a wip list for next week and figure out what else I need to do. In the meantime, happy weekend!

What's been going on

We are settling in here down south, and slowly figuring out our new routine. The house is {mostly} unpacked and the new job begun. The little lady and I are getting used to not having daddy around so much, but it hasn't been long yet so I don't know for sure how that is going. It seems fine so far, but I feel like at some point it will occur to her that this is the new normal and she may not like it so much. I know we will get there though. I always think learning your way around a new place is the hardest; finding the best grocery store and which streets go where and all that takes time.

Anyway, I have not been idle on the sewing front! I finished setting up my craft space, which I love. It has a great big bookshelf so I can see everything, lots of windows, my desk and even a little table and shelves for the little one to color/play at. Here is my shelf so far.

A work in progress I think, but I am loving the way it is working out so far. I still have a couple of things to find, like my extra bobbins, but I am sure they will turn up.

I also got some happy mail! I actually have more fabric and some knitting needles on the way, as well as a sock knitting book, but this was a good start :)

And after a lot of consideration and lists, I decided to start the year with a super fun, low stress project. I had been planning on joining in the Farmer's Wife Pony Club Sampler quilt along that Susannah is running on her blog, and it turned out that once I started, I just couldn't stop. The proposed schedule is 2 blocks/week so that in a year we would have a quilt top, with some weeks off for life happenings (there are 90 blocks). I am doing scrappy blocks just picking whatever fabrics I feel like and look good together. It is so freeing and relaxing to just commit to an 8" block without worry. Consequently, instead of stopping at 2 for the week, I am up to 5 and have the next fabrics all picked out.

I am not too worried though, I know I will get distracted by life and probably skip a few weeks so I am just going to go ahead and do as many as I feel like until the next inspiration strikes. Everything just feels too big right now, so these small blocks are perfect. It keeps me going without being overwhelming.

That's pretty much all that's been going on around here. Just taking it day by day, block by block. I am going to try to dig out my camera and do a proper post on these lovely blocks really soon.