Swoons 2 & 3

Here are pictures of my second and third Swoon blocks - taken in the evening light, which is why they look kind of funny. After making these I decided enough with the brown and green and bought more golden/orange fabrics. I'm hoping for a mostly yellow and gray color palette, but I'll toss in these green and brown ones to break things up a bit. I'm still using mostly Flea Market Fancy fabrics, but I can't resist adding in some other things as well.



I actually finished up a fourth Swoon last night but haven't had time to take pictures yet. We are having some bizarre rainy weather here now that it is June - my poor garden! I managed to germinate some okra seeds this year and was excited to watch them grow in our "hot dry weather," which is apparently all they need to do well. Who would have thought it would become cold and wet now that those little tropical plants are thriving in the back yard. Huh. Anyways, I'm plugging away at this quilt and very determined to actually finish it before the summer ends. Happy Tuesday!

Hexagon Progress

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been diddling around with various sewing projects, with a mind to actually finishing one of the ones that's been hanging around for a while. Most recently I hit 60 hexagon flowers and decided that was enough. While figuring out how to lay them out I just couldn't resist doing it by color - my mind just seems to work that way. I've made quite a few quits that started out with the intention of being scrappy and showing that I am a free spirit. Every one has instead betrayed my type-a-ness by blending from light yellow to dark brown. This will be another one of those. :)



I've decided to intersperse these colorful flowers with neutral flowers in Kona White with centers made from Robert Kauffman's Quilters Linen in dark gray. It looks like linen but is cotton - nice and easy to work with. So I'm back to paper piecing hexagons which is so fun - I love that popping sound of the needle poking through the paper.



I also have big plans to crank out my Scrappy Quilt for Rachel's Quilt Along. It needs to be finished by next week and I have a few evenings to myself coming up - fingers crossed that this will actually happen. If it does I will have some pictures to show you some time soon.

do. Good Stitches January blossom quilt

Remember back in january when I posted a tutorial for the "blossom block?" Well, all the ladies in my sewing circle sent me their blocks and here is what they turned into - doesn't it look great! I'm still surprised by how wonderful all these different fabrics look together. This is just the quilt top - I still have to baste and quilt this monster (it is HUGE!) then add binding... I'm daydreaming of how to piece the back. Maybe a few floating blossoms? Anyways, I was so excited I had to share this picture before the quilt was finished.

Sampler

I spent the entire afternoon shoveling dirt out of a huge planter box that has been infiltrated by gophers. The plan is to replace the 10-year-old wire mesh at the bottom of the box and hopefully get a few more productive years out of the bed. It was HARD, and boy am I proud of myself! But it doesn't make for a very pretty picture (neither the pile of dirt or ME), so I decided to share this with you instead.

I ended up with a ton of extra hexagons while working on my hexagon quilt. These ones just didn't fit in for one reason or another, so the other day I decided to sew them together into... something. Of course it would have made more sense to work on one of the many other unfinished projects I have laying around, but whatever. I'm always most excited about the new project that pops into my head. I'm thinking of this as a sampler of sorts. It was really good practice for me in terms of sewing hexagons together, and I am planning on hand quilting it, which is what I'd like to ultimately do on my real hexagon quilt. This little thing is a much less intimidating piece to learn on.



This was my first time ever basting with clothespins - this is the bag I received from my Grandma a few years ago. I usually use straight pins and routinely jam them into my fingers while machine quilting whatever I'm working on. It's just part of my process. Somehow, though, that didn't sound as trivial when paired with hand-quilting. I'd like that experience to be as relaxing and pain-free as possible, so I braved the clothespins. I've always avoided them because it annoys me to have to close them. Basting is my least favorite part of quilting and I'd rather bleed all over my quilt than close up a few clothespins - it seems to take too long. This was easy, though, because my tiny quilt is only about 12" square. I'm thinking it would look cute under a vase of flowers or something. Of course there is no wall space to speak of on which to hang it, and maybe it is too crazy and weird for that anyways. I'll probably just tuck it away until I have a real sewing space to put it.

Scrap Attack update and an experiment

Last night I finished the last of my scrap attack blocks. I made 36 5 1/2" squares and plan on joining them into nine 10 inch squares. I would have liked to make more, but I felt myself losing steam and I am running out of scraps that work for the color scheme I'm going with. I'm hoping the end result will be a nice sized throw, so I'll probably add size with the sashing. Here is my pile of scrappy squares - I just love the look of a pile of squares waiting to be turned into a quilt.

The other fun thing that happened was that I received a package of awesome teas from my cousin Jen of International Tea Moment. She receives tea samples from all over the place and was doing a destashing of her tea cupboard - it definitely pays to have a famous tea reviewer in the family! She asked me to take a picture of myself drinking some of the tea, and here it is:



Don't I look great? Yep, that's because I photoshopped off all my zits and digitally whitened my teeth, then brightened my complexion using the levels tool. I don't really look like that. Here's what I really look like:



I'm sure there is some sort of profound conclusion I could come to at this point, but I'll let you do that. I was just surprised by how EASY it was to make myself look like I had actually had a full night's sleep and didn't spend the entire morning chasing a three year old through IKEA. No wonder I always feel so bad when I look at those pretty magazine ladies - they have had the life airbrushed right off of them! Speaking of which, its back to real life for me, yellowed teeth and all (maybe I should stop drinking so much tea? haha.)

Monkey Wrench Quilt

I finally finished my first quilt! It is so funny to say that when I have completed dozens of quilts, but this is the very first one I ever started, and the only patchwork quilt I've ever made for myself. Being the first-ever, it certainly isn't my "style," nor is it in colors that I would choose today. It is a huge mish-mash of fabrics that were lying around 11 years ago when I took it into my head to make a quilt. If you looked at it up close you would be scandalized by how poorly the corners line up and by the obvious lack of planning that went into the whole thing. But in spite of its many imperfections, I absolutely love it.



I love how all the different fabrics remind me of various projects that I did with my mom and Grandma. There is the striped fabric that was left over from the pillow cases my Grandma made, the floral print from the dress my mom and I almost finished making together, the tiny duck print from fabric used to make me a jumper when I was a baby... even though nothing matches, it all reminds me of the history of crafting that those lovely women passed on to me. It reminds me of what a Little House on the Prairie quilt would have looked like - pieced together from precious tiny scraps of what they already had. I also love all the purple and pink in this quilt. Folded on the back of the couch, it is like a tiny oasis of femininity in the midst of all the wrestling and burping I am surrounded by.

Oh, and by the way, it is pretty hard to hide a 6-foot-3-inch guy behind a quilt on a windy day. Happily, my brother is a patient guy and stood in the freezing cold for a long time while I tried and tried to get the perfect shot. I never did, but these are good enough. And no matter how nostalgic you are about your quilt, it might not be enough to cheer up a 3 year old who has just been awoken from his nap and is unhappy about being outside in the cold. Oh well.

Scrap Attack Quilt

Have you seen that Rachel is hosting a Scrap Attack Quilt Along? I tried to resist it, but then I saw this tutorial on how to piece your super tiny fabric scraps, and my last shreds of self control were destroyed. I have a huge overflowing drawer of teeny tiny scraps that I don't have the heart to get rid of, and a quilt is just where they need to go.



Happily, I just finished up one of the other quilts I've been working on (pictures coming soon), which freed up a little space in my sewing cabinet and brain to add this new project. I sorted through all the scraps trying to pull out things that wouldn't result in anything too riotous. I'm thinking blues and purples with pink and grey, give or take a bit. Thankfully, Rachel talked about the importance of incorporating solids into the mix, which has been a huge help. I usually ignore the ever growing pile of solids in the scrap bin, but they definitely help ground things when working with so many different colors and patterns.



Well, these blocks are super addicting! I love making them and they are fast. The lack of planning and cutting definitely appeal to the rebellious part of me that always wants to measure everything and make it symmetrical and perfect. Speaking of which, I am still trying to decide whether I will use sashing or just sew all the blocks together into a huge happy mess. I'm supposed to be finished with the quilt by the end of March and think that's a realistic goal. I'm envisioning backing it with something different, like Anna Maria Horner's velveteen and not using any batting to give it some more drape. Happy Friday everybody!

Log Cabins

These are my first-ever log cabins and I love them! I can't believe I've never made this type of patchwork before. It is right up my alley - lots of strips of fabric and not much planning ahead. . I made these for what I thought would be a quick little birthday project for a friend, but my second attempt at following a real pattern turned out to be extremely frustrating. I didn't even take a picture of the end result because by the time it was finished I didn't want to see it EVER AGAIN. *sigh* (It's nothing personal, Rachel, honestly!) If I can offer a half-hearted explanation: I turned these log cabins into a quilted little change purse with one of those squeeze-on-the-ends-and-it-pops-open closures. I even bought these fancy closure things and waited for them to fly here all the way from China. And then, after bungling the purse part three separate times, I spent a HOUR AND A HALF "sliding" the clasp through the loops (the pattern should really say "man handle"). Ninety minutes. And I was not about to give up, either, folks. I had already made the dang purse three times and the light was at the end of the tunnel. So I sat there grumbling and almost crying with a pile of various sized butter knives, chopsticks, and tweezers in front of me until I got the dang thing finished. And the purse is actually super cute, I just couldn't bear to photograph it. BUT I loved the log cabin making part of the whole thing. And the giving-the-gift part, of course. I'm thinking a huge log cabin quilt might be in my future...

This and That

I considered entitling this post "Oh no, she's decorating again!!!" but thought better of it. I'm trying to stay positive. :) Anywho, in my constant quest to make a tiny house that is crammed full of stuff look cohesive and cozy rather than crowded and hectic, I am yet again rearranging the weird little space above my sewing cabinet. After deciding I needed less color and looking for all kinds of pictures on Pinterest of "decorating with white," I have decided to make a huge colorful collage of fabric hoops, as inspired by these pictures. Oh well, I guess I'm just not going to be able to get away from the color thing. I can't help myself. Do you see how she has hung hoops on hoops in this first picture? I can totally see myself doing something like that.



I love the curved effect of the plates on this wall, so I am copying it to make up for the fact that I have a super tall armoire next to a short tiny cabinet... And neither of these is too matchy-matchy, which looks effortless but is actually quite difficult to pull off. I'm working from the one tiny corner in my house that I like the look and colors of:



Plenty of white, but also lots of color, though nothing bright or over-the-top. It is a collection of my mom's old books, as well as some of my own. I love dilapidated old books, they have so much character. The more crumbly, the better! SO, here are some fabrics I pulled yesterday when the urge to do this project struck me:



I'm afraid the colors aren't looking quite true in this picture... the overall effect really is much less green. I've put some of them on the wall, but it isn't finished yet so I don't want to post a picture of it yet. It is nice to have something different up there, and I actually think that adding these different colors and patterns has calmed down and lightened up the space. Hm. As if I even know what I'm talking about!

And while I'm making a mess on that side of the house, I've managed to clean up one mess:



Over the weekend, that became this:



The only disappointing thing about this project is that my overdue book fines were more than the cost of the actual book that I got the pattern from (don't tell!). *sigh* I had to make a few tweaks here and there to make up for cutting and measuring flubs on my part, but this is the very first time I've managed to follow a pattern from beginning to end without making a royal mess of things and throwing the half-finished project in the trash. (I guess I made the dinosaur without a dramatic incident, too, so this is the second time.) It was super stressful because I am such a perfectionist and am completely self-taught and actually don't know much about sewing at all. But I learned a lot, and am in love with the end result. I almost didn't post pictures since this is a Christmas gift for somebody, but I just couldn't help myself. Aren't the fabrics gorgeous?!?! That Anna Maria Horner is the bomb, and I found that some of her Loulouthi prints mixed perfectly with a stack of Joel Dewberry fq's I recently bought. Love it when that happens.

And that's it for now. I have a ton more little projects in the works as Christmas approaches and I'll try to post pictures of the things that aren't for people who read this blog! Are you making hand-made gifts this year? I'd love to hear what you are making - I love handmade gifts!

Half-way there...

Remember my 49 Monkey Wrench Blocks? Last night I finally got to work piecing them into a quilt. I dug up the pattern I was following all those years ago, and saw that rather than piecing each block with sashing between, they are actually placed on the diagonal with setting squares between each block. In the pattern, the setting squares are supposed to be a solid color, but of course I opted for a print. (I know, even after I touted the joys of solids in my last post...) I thought this Tula Pink "Damask Dot" would modernize things a bit, and hopefully keep the eye moving so it isn't easy to spot all my terrible corners! (In my own defense, these Monkey Wrenches are the very first patchwork I ever did and I cut all the tiny pieces out sitting on the carpet using paper scissors...) It was super hard squaring all the blocks off to the same size, and some are a bit wonky, but with that gorgeous damask between each one I don't even care.

Oh, and please pardon whatever is going on with my shirt and belt in this picture. Pretty sure this is what I accidentally look like most afternoons following my super-rushed potty break between making snacks and playing marbles. Hm. I should look in the mirror more often.

Anyways, the boys were excited this morning when I showed them the quilt I am making "for us." I didn't have the heart to tell them it is really for ME. But I think there will be room under it for snuggling, so I guess I can share. Hoping to finish the piecing tonight while the hubs is throwing pottery at our neighbor's house...

The View from up here:

Last week I treated myself to a trip to the fancy fabric store in Los Gatos that I like to go to when internet shopping just isn't cutting it. Sometimes you just want to feel the fabrics, pile them up in various combinations, and drool shamelessly all over the place, and this is the place to do it. Titus was nice enough to come with me, having been bribed with a trip to the candy store located across the street. (The fact that he really had not choice in the matter played a part as well.) Well, look what happened. I walked out of there with a deceptively small bag jammed full of Anna Maria Horner fabrics. Her voiles really are the silkiest excuses for cotton I have ever met. I have been dreaming up (another) quilt for myself using some of her Innocent Crush fabrics, and this trip pushed me over the edge.



I'm exerting huge amounts of self-control every day to not cut into these beauties. First I must complete my preparations for this weekend's craft show, then I have a little buddy who needs a T-Rex for his birthday. There are also a few fabrics in this pile for some special gals' Christmas gifts... are you tired of reading about my sewing stress yet??? There really is more than quilt-dreaming going on around here, but for now you'll just have to take my word for it.

Weekend Musings

I've just been sewing away over here. In preparation for the two craft shows I've decided to participate in (insert husband rolling eyes and bracing himself for an overly-emotional and stressed-out wife), I've decided to stock up on bibs and holiday bunting, the two things that seem to sell the most consistently. I just listed a few baby boy bibs in the shop... I wish I still had someone wearing bibs so I could keep the camouflage one!



I'm also finalizing plans for Christmas gift sewing. A huge trip to the fabric store is in order, because I have some really great things in the works. Some of them are from this excellent book, which I borrowed from the library:



There are some really easy and beautiful projects in there - I definitely recommend taking a look at it. I also printed up the patterns I ordered from Gingermelon - these little guys will be for Titus. I'd like to think that I'll have at least one ready for his birthday next month, but they will probably all have to wait to be gifted until Christmas:




Aren't they cute?!?! I can hardly stand it. The directions come in pdf form, which is basically immediate crafting gratification - no waiting for them to arrive in the mail. And they look really straight-forward and detailed, which is good since this will only be my second foray into sewing anything three dimensional. I'm looking forward to making boyish versions of these little guys.

So that's what's swirling around in my head at the moment. Well, that and what to make for dinner and whether or not I should clean the bathroom before our friends stop by this evening, and whether I should go for a run or paint my toenails. :)

do. Good Stitches

I am so excited about do. Good Stitches! This is a wonderful quilting circle started by Rachel of Stitched in Color. A long time ago it was common to be part of a quilting circle, or bee, where a group of ladies would get together and all work on one quilt at the same time. This way a person could actually end up with a completed quilt in a faster amount of time. They would take turns working on each other's quilts, sharing sewing secrets and chatting about life, becoming dear friends.

Well, isn't it fantastic that because of the internet I can now be in a quilting circle with a group of ladies from all over the country and we can work together on quilts for children in need?!?!? I think it's amazing. Every month a different person is in charge of designing and completing the quilt. She sends us our assignment - this month it was the "love in a mist" block - and we were to use deep autumn colored fabrics from our stash. These are the two blocks I came up with.



My blocks are packed up and ready to go in the mail tomorrow. Our fearless leader will receive all the blocks, put them together into a finished quilt, and send it to Alternatives for Girls, a charity benefiting homeless and high-risk girls. It's such a blessing to be a part of this, so wonderful to be working with like-minded women who have a heart for kids in need, and a real treat to try out fun new quilting projects!

The Madness

1. hexy love, 2. hexies purse, 3. herringbone quilt., 4. I Spy Hex Quilt, 5. Pink Cabinet - Drawers, 6. Coloured sea, 7. Patchwork Star Blocks, 8. I Spy Hex Quilt, 9. Sunny pair

Just wanted to share some of the quilting madness that is whirling around in my brain these days. (Hm... just realized that one picture is included twice. I just discovered this photo tool over at Big Huge Labs - super fun!) I have all these hexagons and am trying to figure out how to configure them into a quilt that isn't a disaster. I've decided to sew them into flowers, but then what? Should I include a solid border around each, or sew them together like you see in these pictures? A very difficult decision... I am also planning sewing projects for Christmas gifts. I have joined a charity quilting bee (more on that later). I am preparing for a holiday craft fair. AND there are just way too many beautiful fabrics and projects out there to keep straight in my overly-ambitious mind, not to mention the 6 or so other unfinished projects lying around. It is all good, but sometimes I find myself with a free moment to sew and realize that I am standing in front of the sewing cabinet wasting time just trying to decide what to work on. Tonight it will be hexies. I love those guys - the perfect Friday evening project. Hope you are enjoying your evening as well!

I know it's 90 degrees outside...

...but I just can't stop making these Christmas banners! They are so fun and look so cute wound around their little piece of card stock, all stacked on top of each other. *sigh* I have run out of Baker's twine, though, so I'm off to make something else. Perhaps I'll stray from holiday sewing for a bit in order to restock baby boy bibs. Have a wonderful weekend, and if you are here in California, stay cool!

Progress

Last night I blocked off all 49 squares of my "vintage fabrics" quilt (is is called "blocking off"? I'm never sure if I've got the terms right since I kind of collected all my quilting skills haphazardly.) It was a nightmare! These 49 squares were the first I ever made, and I cut all the little pieces out with scissors, so things were pretty wonky. Hopefully all that hard work pays off and I'm able to attach them fairly easily.



When I got the bag of squares out of my sewing cupboard, I was not at all excited to work on this quilt. Like I said before, this is a bit too traditional for my style, and the fabrics aren't my favorite, either. Too many browns... However, once I started working on them, I feel back in love with this quilt. I started recognizing the fabrics - a little triangle from the dress I sewed with my mom, a bit of fabric left over from the throw covers in my Grandma's living room, a tiny duckling print that my Grandma used to make me a Christmas ornament. I realized that in using fabrics that were just lying around, I accidentally preserved a bit of my family's history, and that makes this quilt VERY special. The above square is my favorite - I love all the non-matchy bright colors.



We're newly home from a road trip to Oregon. I'm hoping to get some pictures from the trip ready to show you, but you know how I am with things I'm "hoping" to do... As you can see from those cute faces, we had all kinds of crazy underwear-on-the-head fun. It's nice to be home and back to my sewing machine. I made some progress on the hexagon quilt as well - those pictures are coming soon!

Sunday Sewing

I usually find myself with a bit of quiet sewing time on Sunday afternoons, thanks to my husband. Today I finished up my custom bib order - they are SO cute! I snapped this teaser picture but didn't have time to bust out the fancy camera and do an official photo shoot, so you'll just have to use your imagination.



Finishing those allowed me to do some work on my hexagon quilt. I love making these little guys - it 's very soothing. I'm the type who always needs to be doing something even when I'm sitting down relaxing, and this is the perfect portable project.



I've only finished a little more than 100, and have about 1,000 more to go, but I'm really enjoying working with so many different fabrics. I printed this awesome coloring sheet that Melanie over at Texas Freckles created and worked on figuring out my hexagon layout. As you can see, I had a little help. I'd also like to mention that I did this while in the heat of a Nerf Gun War. How's that for multi-tasking?

Speaking of unfinished projects...

...how's this for one? All this talk about my hexagon quilt made me remember how bad I am at finishing quilts. There is the twin sized one that I started for Moses, um, 5 years ago, which I tell myself I will finish around every Christmas. And there is this one, my first EVER quilt, the one that started it all. :) I remember that a quilting magazine caught my eye in the grocery store about 8 years ago because the front cover featured a quilt with bright pink sashing, which I had never seen on a quilt before. So I bought the magazine, and in my typical impulsive style, spent the next few days tracing and cutting out ALL the tiny little squares and triangles for 49 different blocks. (This was long before I had a rotary cutter.) I used mostly vintage fabrics that my Grandma had given my mom and me, and then went to the only fabric store I knew of and bought vintage-looking fabrics to fill it out. Somewhere along the line I lost steam, and I packed the quilt away with only 7 blocks left to piece! It was a really fun find, and I spent yesterday finishing the last few blocks between chores and playing with the kids.



This quilt is definitely not my style, since I started it long before I had even developed a style or knew what I liked in colors, fabrics, and designs. But I love it anyways. It reminds me of something someone would have made 100 years ago, pieced together from tiny scraps of fabric from old aprons, dresses, and curtains. No two blocks are exactly alike, and it will be one of these quilts I used to like as a little girl - one where you are always discovering a new fabric or color that you didn't see the last time you looked.

I'm hoping to make it to the fabric store to chose the finishing fabrics for this - not sure if I'll go with the original bright pink sashing, but we'll see what I can come up with. Another sewing project on the list, but this one is just for me and the hardest part is complete!

Tie wrap-up

OK, now to take pictures of the boys in their ties. Titus, smile!



No, silly! Not like that! Open your eyes and smile!



Titus, when you smile you have to keep your eyes open, OK? Ready? Smile!



Hm, not quite what I had in mind. Maybe if I get in the picture with him. Ready, set, smile!



Smile!



Smile!



Oh well. (The boys looked really cute in their ties.)