Processing

What a weekend! I've been home for a couple days now, and I am still processing the pure amazingness that was Sew South. Having never been to a sewing retreat, and in fact not even really having any friends that sew much, my expectations walking in to this were pretty low. I was really just hoping to meet a few people and learn some new things. Instead I was completely blown away by the 50 amazing women I met and spent the weekend with, and now I feel like I have 50 new friends. It was refreshing, it was inspiring, and it was just plain fun.

I always think that quilters/sewers are a generous bunch. I mean we love to create and make pretty things and let's face it, they need to go somewhere, so we do give a lot of things, but I was just amazed at the openness and generosity of everyone I met. I got some fantastic fat quarters in the swap. I struck gold in the sample swap and ended up with a boxy pouch, some fabric bracelets, an amazing paper pieced star pouch, and the most awesome sew south notebooks you could imagine, so thank you so much to Kari, Kim, Karen, and Nicole. Amy gave me a super amazing fat quarter of fabric that I am so, so excited about. I won two really sweet door prizes: a sewing machine print and some little notecard/tags. And somehow I ended up with the sweetest roommate ever who was not only great company all weekend and didn't kill me in my sleep, she came with bibs for my upcoming little one, a pincushion ring, and a stamped needle case, and then gave me a mini charm pack of noteworthy that I was drooling over, so thank you Susannah Kate, for being amazing!!

In addition to the amazing people, we had amazing sponsors. I can not believe the amazing things we got. We started with a sweet welcome bag (hello new rotary cutter!!) and at the end Jennifer went all oprah on us and we got the most amazing goodie bag! We got so many things, including but not limited to, batting, fabric (constellations!!! notting hill!!!!!), thread, patterns, magazine and even a book! I took a picture of the sponsors list and I just have to say that they were all so incredibly generous! It was way better than christmas; I mean really, I never get things like this for christmas!

Last but not least, I even made a few pretty things. We started off paper piecing where I made that adorable little bunny block that Jennifer designed. At the request of my little love bug it quickly became a tote bag and there is actually a second bunny on the back (she loves it in case you are wondering). We then tackled the duffle, a decidedly difficult project, especially for 50 people sharing a few irons, and Lindsey did an absolutely amazing job teaching it. The frame clutch came next and it was a small and incredibly satisfying project that Di taught. Finally we did some PJ pants (I did a muslin of shorts that is not finished yet, but I do plan on making the pants) taught by Jennifer Roycroft from We're Sew Creative, the local fabric shop we visited.  In addtion, we had a lovely talk given by the amazing Leah Day! She was so inspiring and just wonderful to meet and listen to!

Guys, I can not say enough about how good this weekend was. I wish it wasn't over, but I have tried to bring some of that love and support home with me. Community is such an important part of sewing and although I truly love the online community, it was nice to have a physical community, if only for a few days. Jennifer did an amazing job of bringing this community together and creating a fantastic environment that was so enthusiastic as well as so positive and supportive. So now as I try to get back into the swing of things, I will hang on to this wonderful experience and bask in its glow for as long as possible. I already miss all my new friends and wish we could sew together regularly. But hopefully it will push me to go out and create a community here instead of just being an isolated mommy all the time :)

sew and go

So presumably I am off having a lovely time with my sewing peeps at Sew South right now. But, I thought you all deserved to know about my ongoing obsession with the book Liberty Love. Oh sure, it started with the marcelle medallion, but it has snowballed a little. I made no-sew fabric flowers which I will present with the clutch they are made to be on, and this lovely sew and go organizer.

Now this project is not for the feint of heart. At least I don't think so. I guess it wasn't hard, but it had a lot of pieces and I am never a fan of super stiff interfacing although I do appreciate what it can do. Working with metal chain was a first for me too and for once I feel lucky I got the snaps in the right places and they actually work. In the end, it was totally worth it though and I love the way it turned out. It took me forever to pick fabrics but it is so bright and cheery and fit my things perfectly.

So here it is empty

and after I filled it up.

My only issue at this point is that if I don't keep it upright, things will fall out of it. We'll see how much of an issue that really is. Also I really should have used the ribbon width the pattern recommended, but I found this one and it was perfect so it is a bit skinny, but it works. I pretty much love it though, and I am glad I got it done in time to bring with me. Anyway, I'll be back next week! Happy Weekend!!

Ready to swap!

Preparations are well underway for the Sew South retreat next week. I am happy to report I finally got moving and am even hopeful I may get a few extra things finished! We'll see though, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself....

The first thing to tackle, which I must admit I had been meaning to do for weeks, were the items for the sample swap. I chose to make pencil case bags, and I showed my test bag a few weeks ago. The pattern is from Amy Butler's Style Stitches.

I wasn't thrilled with it though, I just couldn't get the zipper quite right. Usually when that happens I just add some end caps, but this time I decided to do the zipper installation from the open wide zippered pouches that Anna from noodlehead posted. I love the result! I still used the Amy Butler pattern, just with the zipper in differently. I probably could have made the smallest size, but I went up one so that a regular pencil would fit inside. I picked totally random fabrics that made me happy, and I even hand stitched the lining shut so they would look totally pretty :)

I really hope the people who get them love them. It will really be my first swap so we'll see. I am pretty excited to see what I get to come home with too! I'll report back later on that one. In the mean time, have a good weekend! I am hoping to make some incredible progress on the rest of my stuff, but this nice weather might just tempt me outside instead. Either way it will be a win.

Another week

Here we are at the beginning of another week. I have high hopes for this week. If I am really lucky, I will have a weekender bag at the end of it, we'll see how quickly I can get it together. I finally got what I needed on Friday so I have the piping made and am ready to start construction. I am really hoping it is not too painful. Making piping was not nearly as scary as I was afraid it would be. I will write more about the process when I am finished, but let me just say that I used one FQ to make all the bias tape I needed for my piping as per this tutorial. It was amazing. Anyway, here is a little picture of how far I've gotten. I sure hope it comes together well!

In other news, I did make my house block for Sew South. It is less than 2 months away and I am so stinking excited!! I'm planning on starting my sample swap items soon, but this needed to be done first. I opted for a nice simple house block in solids since most other people seem to be making busy and wonky ones. Hopefully it will look nice in the quilt!

And I guess that's about all that is going on at the moment. I am planning on {finally} buying some fabric for one of the wedding quilts I need to make, so that will be good. And I even printed out some pictures to make a smash book for the vacation we took last spring! I still have a lot to pick out, but I started and that is huge. I am hoping that will give me a push to actually make the first year scrapbook for my 2.5 year old. I would really like that done before she is 3 haha. I have an awful lot to do, but I am trying to take it one thing at a time and not overwhelm myself. First, the weekender!

Socks!!!

Do you hear me? I made socks, people!! And they are pretty and knit and wearable (not so much by me, but that is clearly not the point). And there are no holes or anything! I am pretty much bursting with excitement over here in case you can't tell! I didn't think I would ever make socks, and yet here I am. The next pair is already planned, and hopefully the next pair will fit my feet. Making 2 socks at once is pretty much awesome since I am pretty sure I would never make the second one otherwise. I made them from the book Knitting Circles Around Socks, and I used a yarn from knit picks, but I forget which one since I just stole it from my dads stash. And hubby says they are comfy and he likes them, which he might tell me either way, but we'll see if he actually wears them. He probably won't anyway because he'll be afraid of ruining them. Here they are on his lovely man feet

In other completely unrelated news, I am going on my first sewing retreat in March. Have you heard about Sew South?? Jennifer over at ellison lane quilts put it together for us here on the east coast and I am so looking forward to meeting some quilting/sewing/blogging friends and spending a weekend doing what we love most. When I last looked there were still a few tickets left in case anyone else was thinking of going. It looks like it is going to be loads of fun and I can't wait!!

What I really need to be doing today is working on the feather quilt. What I am going to be doing instead is going to a LQS and running some other errands and preparing for a weekend with my sister, which will not involve any sewing but will be pretty spectacular. It's okay though, I think the cutting part of the feathers is almost done. I hope so anyway. Not my favorite part. I guess that is something to worry about next week though. Happy Weekend!!!