more little things

Happy Wednesday! I decided that since pretty much nothing has changed, I am going to skip the wip round up this week and see where I stand next week. I've slowed down since I've run out of nice small, quick things to do. So here we are, the last of all those little things I've made recently. I think. Unless I dig something else up. But I don't think so, I think this is it for now :)


I am ashamed to admit that making a new pincushion has been on my list for well over a year now. I made one years ago, like 2009 maybe, when I started really sewing, and had meant to upgrade for a while, but never made it a priority. Finally I decided to just go for it and I am glad I did. I used the pattern from Liberty Love, but I don't have any liberty scraps, I made it a round smaller, and I used piping instead of rickrack, because that's what I had. Honestly, even though it is quite different from what's in the book, I really love it. I did one side of the log cabin more low volume and it came together quite nicely. Also, it felt good to use some of the much smaller strips I had been saving with no idea what to do with. It has happily taken up residence next to my machine.

This last thing, is just a little hairclip holder for the bigger little one. One day upon questioning where all her clips had disapeared to, she told me she had put them all in her piggy bank (thankfully it has an opening so we could get them out!) and I decided she needed a more appealing storage option. I had seen something similar on pinterest, but I didn't even pin it so I have no idea where. I used a 9.5"x3.5" rectangle to make a little holder with a ribbon down the center to clip the hair clips onto and elastic and a button to close it up. It was so quick and easy. I did add a layer of batting to give it a bit more structure and it worked just perfectly. She picked both the fabric and the button which she was pretty happy about. And voila!

So that's what I've been up to. Now I am left with mostly things that will take a bit more time which is kind of shame since I was just loving this super productive feeling. Hope everyone is having a lovely week!

New Curtains!

Now that we have been almost a week in our new place, things are settling down, almost unpacked, and I have my craft space {almost} all set up. Consequently, I have been cutting and preping like a mad woman so that this weekend I can get my penny sampler top done, some toddler slippers, and a doll hexie quilt. I have lofty goals, which I may or may not meet. 

Anyway, I wanted to take a minute to talk about the curtains I made. I know many people don't care for curtains, but for me, blackout curtains in my bedroom are a must. I like it as dark as dark can be, and I also like them for the kidlets, since it keeps them asleep just a little bit longer. 

The fabric is a premier prints twill from fabric.com that I really love. It is listed as lightweight, but it is still substantial and has a nice drape. I opted to go with grommets, which really gives them some class. I love me a professional finish, and they were so super easy to put in. I followed this tutorial for the most part, I just kind of used my own measurements since I wanted to just use 2.5 yards per panel instead of 3. Really I just did a smaller hem on the bottom and a smaller hem on the top with a 4" fold for the grommets, and the ended up being about 85" long which is perfect. The grommets are pewter color and I ordered them from joanns. I bought 5 packs and used 10 grommets per panel, which worked perfectly. I did have a problem with one pack having 7 of one piece and 9 of the other instead of 8 each, but I contacted Prym (dritz) and they responded so quickly and sent me a new pack! It was really awesome and I am so thankful that they did and I was able to finish these up.

Seriously, I love them. Which is good since I have to look at them so often. Now I am thinking about making another set for the girlies, but we'll see, no hurry on that at any rate. So that's that. Today I am hoping to have everything ready so that tomorrow I can just sewsewsew. With any luck I'll have good progress to report next week. Happy Weekend!

she's here!

Finally. 10 stinking days late! Little bugger.

But totally and completely worth it :) All 9+ lbs of her haha!

Anyway, I'll be busy soaking up some baby love, which I obviously can not get enough of, and getting used to our new family of 4. But I suspect I will be back here sooner than I should be. Since I am already plotting and planning and as a matter of fact, my penny sampler class starts today (totally excited!!). I spent my time while waiting for baby collecting my fabrics, so I've got quite a pretty stack and I can't wait to get started!

a divided basket

Good morning! Thanks to an uneventful weekend, I got quite a bit of sewing done! I guess really I just made a lot of small things, but that's alright, whatever feels productive! I am moving right along and finally decided that I am not going to be able to make everything on my list without stressing myself out, so I've figured out what the most important/simple/enjoyable things are and will probably go buy some of the rest. Which I always feel a little bad about if I know I could make it, but I know that it doesn't always cost less to make it and I need to keep what little sanity I have left, so there you go.

The biggest thing I worked on was this divided basket. I had been eying the pattern by Anna of noodlehead and finally decided it would be perfect to go inside the ikea cart we are using for baby storage. It turned out that if I had made it full size it would have been too long go fit the direction I wanted it to go, so I just went ahead and made it shorter. I took about 1.75 off of each pattern piece and left everything else the same. While it definitely changed the proportions a bit, it worked out really well and I am super happy with it. Plus, it fits in the cart!

I used a dumb dot print for the pocket and the handles, the blue is from peacock lane I think and some yellow pearl bracelets for the lining. It makes me so happy and I can't wait to take over it for myself when baby is done with it ;) I have no idea what exactly I am going to put in it, but clearly that is beside the point. I did use fusible fleece for the exterior pieces, along with some decor bond because that's what I had. The decor bond was a bit much for the handles, but they are certainly sturdy and I love how nice it made the divider.

Another thing off the list! I am actually done the hooded towels, as many wash cloths as I am going to do right now and the wipes, and I have a couple of other things ready to go. I am still waiting on some fabric too so once I get that I will really be in business! There is hope that all this stuff will get finished!!

Some crazy math

Weird, right? :) Alternate title: I'm so crafty.....I make people bahahaha.

So sometime in the second half of the summer, my little lady is going to be a big sister. Not that she has any idea what that really means at this point, but we'll get there. And that, my friends, is mostly why I fell of the sewing/blogging bandwagon for a while there. Not that moving 700 miles helped or anything haha. All things considered, I think I kept it up pretty well, but still.

In any case, I am feeling much better at this point and have a smidge of energy, hence actually sewing/posting more. I felt like I should mention it since I am starting to think baby sewing :) In fact, I am pretty sure my marcell medalion quilt from Liberty Love is going to be for baby. I started it the other day and have the center done, although I haven't photographed it yet. I should get on that. I am really excited about it though and can't decide whether to keep going or work on some pony club blocks. We'll see how I feel about it by naptime.

I guess that's enough excitement for one day :) I'll be back wednesday with my bits and pieces of progress!

ironing board makeover

I am happy to report that my iron has arrived and I am back in business! I am feeling pretty productive right now too since I basted some hexies and made my next pony club block and got the templates printed for the next set. I also may have gotten Liberty Love and started plotting a quilt....I'm just saying it's possible. And by plotting a quilt I mean be ready to start cutting at any moment :)

Anyway, one thing that I managed to do the other day was to recover my ironing board. Here are a couple before pictures in all it's grungy glory

I wanted to go with something nice and neutral so I picked up this nice fabric at Joanns the other day. I followed this tutorial at comfortstitching and used a nice packaged yellow binding I already had on hand. I had to put it on a little differently since it was already double folded, but I made it work. And I ended up just putting it over top of the old cover with a layer of batting in between because a layer of batting was not thick enough, but it seems to be working well.

So that's my story. I am hoping to get started on the aforementioned quilt today. I have big plans, I tell you, big plans! And then hopefully a relaxing weekend. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

swooning for a floor pillow

So, it's Monday. On the plus side, it is warmer than the weekend weather. Other than that, just Monday. Also, tragedy struck this weekend when my iron up and died. I don't know what happened, the light just didn't come on when I plugged it in the other day. It was so sad, and I did get it to work for a bit, but now it seems I need a new one, so I am waiting on that.

Before said tragedy though, I finished the swoon block floor pillow for the little one. She loves it and has a great time throwing it onto the floor and then throwing herself on top of it. Ahh the good life. This was pretty easy once I decided on fabric. It was hard since I wanted to avoid white since, ya know, floor pillow. And I knew I wanted that green in there because it's her favorite color, but after that I was stumped. In the end I am happy with my choices though and she seems to really like it. I picked solid gray for the back since it will theorectially show dirt less, and a gray/white herringbone for the binding, which I love. I was thisclose to sewing the binding down by hand when I realized that with the amount of wear and tear this is likely to take, that was a terrible idea. So I machine sewed it and it looks pretty good. The lines blend in on the front since I did a pretty dense grid for the quilting.

The quilting was the other thing I debated for a while. I wanted to just outline the star initially but somehow got it into my head that a tiny grid would be the way to go. I couldn't ignore it so I went with it and it was pretty intense. I am really really proud of it though. Thanks to my super sweet walking foot, I have no puckers. None at all, which I consider totally insane! I love the way it looks and the texture it gives.

So that's that. I don't know why I put it off for so long, but I am glad that I finally did it. I will probably make her another one eventually, but I already had this pillow form, so it will be enough for now. Now I have to go figure out what I can get done that doesn't require my iron. The answer, unfortunately, is not pony club blocks, which is what I was setting out to do when the tragedy struck. That's alright, all will be right in the world soon enough :) Maybe this will give me the chance to baste some hexies, or even knit some honey cowl!

If things seem a little slower around here....

It's because we have big life changes going on right now. We have learned this past week that we will be moving. In Januaray my husband will be starting a new job. In North Carolina. That means in less than 2 months we need to get ourselves together and move on down there.

Needless to say, things are a bit hectic around here, especially with all the holiday stuff going on. I am pretty much totally excited and totally overwhelmed. I have so many things to do and they have just been pushed to the side a lot more recently. But, I will still be trucking along trying to get everything done. Thank goodness I started the gifts so early so I at least have half of them done.

I am still cutting away at feather pieces, I have a new knitting project to work on for a gift, I have to remake my failed napkins, and I finally figured out what I am going to be making for my parents. Today I am going to be working on my husbands gift, so hopefully that goes well, and I still need to finalize what I am making for the little one. And I have to do all this before I have to pack up all my fabric, which I know will be sooner than I'd like. *sigh* I just have to try not to drown in all this and know that it will get done and things will calm down again in the new year.

So that's what's going on around here. I am super excited about all the change happening, I just have to not lose my mind.  I am crossing my fingers that I at least have all the feather pieces cut out by the end of Tuesday so I can start sewing. I really need to sit down and figure out how I can get all this done and what is reasonable. With all that said, I promise to be back Wednesday with something at least a little more exciting to show for myself.  We all know news is not as exciting as pictures of pretty things :)

this weekend

Do you ever have one of those slumps where you feel like you are doing nothing but work on things, and yet nothing seems to be getting done? I am so there right now, and I really shouldn't be. There is plenty of evidence that progress is being made, but things just feel like they are going to slowly! Needless to say, I did not get as much done as I had wanted to this weekend. It ended up being a lot of prep work, getting all the patterns cut and cutting fabric out for a whole bunch of things, but not much is sewn yet. I am almost done a fall jacket for the little one, but we are currently taking a break from each other for a few days because I was having some trouble with the final steps.

I did finish my couch pillow cover though! And I love it. It just makes me happy every time I go into the living room. As soon as the little one got up from her nap the other day and saw it was out there, she ran to it and started hugging it. My heart melted a little. And this is why I will make her anything she wants haha.

Anyway, I went for some nice flying geese to make a 16" pillow cover. My pillow form just keeps shrinking, but that's alright. I just pulled colors from my cabinet that I liked together and got to work. I like using the magic method and making 4 at once, so that is why there are 4 of each color, otherwise it would be scrappier I'm sure. But I love it this way. All made from what I had on hand. I actually ended up just fusing some fleece to the back of the pillow top and quilting it to that so we'll see how it holds up. Quilting on the new machine was awesome and I can't wait until I make my first actual quilt on it!

I still have two more pillows to cover, another smaller one like this and a big one, but I'm not in much of a hurry. It will be a good project to have on hand when inspiration strikes :) And now, I am going to go work on another practice tova tunic for me to see if this size fits! I have a list of things I want to finish before we go visit family this weekend, so I have to get a move on! And next week might be sewing with knits week for me so I can get a fall wardrobe started for my little love before it gets cold. I am tying to be prepared this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a day of food, family, fun and much to be thankful for :)

My new best friend

So. It's been a little while. It's a weird combination of busy and that chunk of time before Christmas where I can't reveal anything I am working on for fear of the recipient seeing it. Not that I am making a huge amount of stuff this year due to obvious time constraints. And since we are doing our Christmas traveling the week before Christmas, time is even more limited. It's alright though, I am pretty sure everyone in the immediate families will get something.

Anyway, what I do want to talk about is the best thing that has happened in my sewing life. Seriously, I don't know how I survived or what I was thinking. I would like you to meet my 1/4" foot.


Why someone didn't alert me to their existence sooner, I have no idea, but it seriously has changed my sewing forever. We all know I have a particular problem with accuracy. And I've come to terms with that and recognize that my project still look good. But this just changed my life. I now have even seems and they meet where they are supposed to almost every time (the remaining times I attribute to my inability to cut, even with a rotary cutter and mat). It's amazing. I didn't think I would ever be able to do that! It has been particularly good for my most recent project with lots of piecing and seems that need to match up, and they do, and it looks freaking awesome! More on that particular project after it is given. And finished for that matter.



The fabric just lines up so nicely along the guide...clearly I am easily impressed. And I can't wait to use it to quilt and make nice lines 1/4" from the seams. Yep, way too excited about this little gadget. Is it even really a gadget? Ah well, either way. The point is, awesome. And with that I must go. I have some serious basting to do this weekend....in between the family pictures, cleaning, hot chocolate and christmas decorating that must happen :)

Big Plans

Tomorrow the quilt shop hopping begins!!! I am so excited and have my fabric shopping list all in order....it's pretty long, although really not as bad as it could be. And really, since last year I think I bought like a yard and a fat quarter total, I'm okay with it. We'll see if I can find what I need or if I come back to the trusty internet.

Anyway, I sorted out a lot of things I would like to make this week to figure out where I stand. I still at some point would like to make all the types of quilts I posted about last time, but we'll just have to see where I can fit them in and what they will work for. I also eventually hope to get decent at free-motion quilting, but we'll just have to see about that...part of the problem being that I need to make something I don't care much about so I am not too upset if it looks bad. We'll see.

The current list:

• A quilt for my brother. I promised him one for christmas so now I just have to figure out what fabric I can find which will determine what it looks like. It needs to be a serious twin size which is bigger than I usually go.
• A Christmas quilt...it will also be a gift so I will refrain from posting more details at this time
• A belated wedding gift quilt...all planned out, I just need to find the fabrics....also withholding details for the time being
• A log cabin quilt for me. I have all the fabric cut and ready, it's just that projects for me get put on the backburner when it comes down to it. It is Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line and I am super excited. I love the fabric and can't wait to see what it looks like.
• A quilt for the little lady's eventual bed....only because I fell in love with this Ann Kelle line :)

I also have a number of eventually projects including, but not limited to a pieced white duvet cover and a queen size irish chain quilt for our bed. At some point I will also be working on my clothes sewing skills since I know I can make my little darling some amazing (and simple) things starting with most of the projects in Making Children's Clothing which I am really looking forward to. I am not going to try and actually list those eventually projects because it will just overwhelm me and I need to organize them first....still working on a system for that. Which I suppose is another goal, figuring out how to organize my patterns and ideas so I can find things and might remember I have them when the time comes.

Perhaps the biggest challenge I have set for myself, and naturally the one I am most excited about, is a hexagon blanket. That's right, english paper piecing, hand sewing, the whole nine yards. I'm crazy but excited. More details on that as I work them out. I am going to start by scouting some perfect fabrics this weekend :) That will hopefully be started before the holiday travels so I can bring it with me...what with not needing a machine and all.

I think that's all for now (I say that like it's not more than enough...). My to-make list is always growing and changing, so as usual I'm not too worried about it, I just like to try and keep track. And if I'm honest, these are just the sewing projects, I have a whole bunch of scrapbooking and such to do as well! (Catch up on Hubby's book, do the first handful of months for the little one...) And some assorted other christmas gifts, plus the WIP I already have, hopefully to be finished up as soon as I get the batting/backing/binding etc. Okay, really have to stop now....update to come after the shop hop!

covered boxes

I know it may be hard to believe, but I actually think I am going to get both of my intended crafts done this week! Hopefully I will be finishing up number two before dinner.

I know that this is not new and I must be the last person to do it, but I decided that I needed to cover some ugly boxes in fabric. See, I have been storing momentos for years in this ugly box:

And it needed a new life. It was dirty and kind of falling in, but behold! it has new life! I just never knew how to easily attach the fabric before and after looking through Your Space, I was inspired and off I went to Joanns. I ended up getting some Heatnbond iron-on adhesive and let me just tell you, it is fabulous! So easy to use and now my box looks like this:

Weird fabric choices, absolutely, but I wanted to use what I had and I kinda like it. And it is still much prettier than it was before. Oh the possiblities! The things I can cover in fabric with this stuff! Man, I am so excited haha. Anyway, that is my first project for this week and maybe tomorrow I will put the other one up.