Gifty Lap Quilts

A few months ago I decided to make lap quilts for three lovely children of my acquaintance for Christmas.   I've figured out why making things without patterns is a bad idea!  I don't particularly love any of them, but I am happy to say they are done ;)  I also get to say that all three of these were made at least partially with fabric I won, which made it less risky if they didn't turn out.

The first was made mostly with a pretty Kona Cotton Bundle from Canton Village Quilt Works that I was lucky enough to win from Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric.

It really ended up looking like I think it's the 70's still.  No idea what a 12 year old is going to think of that, but I won't worry about it, there are two dogs that can use any of these if the kids don't like them!  Her favorite color is pink but I still think I went overboard.  It's not quite as bright as the picture implies, but it's sure...pink.

The second was made with a combination of Kona solids and some Robotic fom Birch Organics given away by Fabricworm through Sewcanshe.  I went with the sexist slant of boys like robots (and his Dad said he'd like the robot and sciencey prints, which makes it slightly less sexist?  I know his daughters are just as interested in science as anybody).   It's my favorite of the three, maybe because it's the least busy.

 

 

 

 

 The last one had a good amount of Monaluna's Fox Hollow organics that I won from Moona Fabrics through a giveaway from Maureen Cracknell last year,.  This was a hard one, I decided to make it around the Fairy Tale Castle pattern I tested for Blossom Heart Quilts.  I made side A too busy, had to cut it apart and simplify it.  Side B was mostly a gathering of 12.5" blocks.  When I got "done" I realized it was way too small and had to add on, and now the 7 year old has the largest quilt.

When I started the quilt her favorite color was purple, but as of last night it was pink, sigh! She has surprising taste in fabric, picked out the prints for this ball I made and didn't choose the prints I thought a young girl would.  I'm still banking on her standards being lax if there are animals involved though, and hope she will just start singing about foxes and what they say.

I'd just done straight stitching on the first two quilts, after it taking less than an hour to stipple this one, I'm wishing I'd done that for all of them, it was actually easier than all the repositioning.

OK, long post, big pictures, wish I'd gotten outdoor photos, and glad they are done so I can get back to the other holiday sewing projects I have!

Sew Sweetness Greenbacks Wallet

What a BIG photo!!!

I'll be working on improving my sewing skills in 2014 so I can make higher quality items, things that have little to no chance of falling apart in the same calendar year, things that people will say "No way, you made that?  Compared to the crap you turned out last year, that's fantastic!"

Cough..  OK, no really, I'm just waiting for a compliment on something I've made.  It's been two years, and that was clothing, so I'm waiting for that craft sewing flattery.

cell phone holder on back of wallet

That said, I thought I'd try something totally new to me, a wallet.  Sara at Sew Sweetness has a pdf for a variety of wallets of varying difficulty -  beginner/intermediate/advanced, more or less. I didn't really have a need for wallet #1 which is about credit card sized, and attempting wallet #3 scared me, so Wallet #2 it was.

I wasn't quite sure what size it was going to be, I figured it'd be similar to the clutch I made from the patchwork pencil pouch tutorial at LBG studio.  What?  The tutorial specifies on the first page that it will be 5" by 7"?  I just didn't read the directions until now because I'm lazy, but Bam!  Her tutorials are complete, so if you're not lazy like me you'll be very happy!

The fabric is from timber & leaf by Sarah Watts.  I'd coveted Fawn in Birch Blue print and missed out on the last of it.  Hawthorne threads finagled some bolts that turned up in the manufacturer's warehouse, and I luckily saw their FB post about it, and ordered these three prints.  

Interior of wallet

I may have gone overboard on interfacing after my floppy purse fiascos of a few weeks ago.  I didn't trim it 1/2" smaller than the fabric, resulting in lot of layers. 

Deviation - I altered the pattern.  I have a spiffy  pouch I put all my seldom used cards in, it's the only "madebysomebodyelse" item I didn't throw out like yesterday's trash once I realized I could make my own shit, and I love it. Therefore no need for that many credit card holders in the wallet.  Luckily making lots of zippered bag in the last year came in handy, and I just add a zippered bag onto one side.  

The only problems I ran across were 1. when sewing the credit card area into three slots it didn't work - I needed just a wee bit more room (was wondering if I'd needed to add a seam allowance but that didn't seem to be the case).  Instead I divided it into two, resulting in 6 slots.  2. I had trouble following the directions for the wrist strap, and although it's not a direct result, I feel it's too long - a few inches longer than I'd like, too long to feel secure if I'm carrying it solo in public.

With a zip pouch on the other side (and I HIGHLY recommend doing this, I feel kick ass - not only do I have a place to stash change and bills - who am I kidding?  I don't carry cash since debit cards were born.. but there's room behind the pouch to stash a small notepad or your checkbook) this pattern ticks a lot of my wallet needs.  I'll throw it in my purse because it feels stealable despite the wrist band, but I'm pretty happy with it.  Damn urban living!

Winter Anybody? That & A Mini Quilt

I'm linking up my winter fabric choices for Ali's (yes it IS the best name ever isn't it?) winter Stash Flash.  My husband and I take turns decorating the tree each year, during my years its a tasteful (;) blend of silver, turquoise, green and purple, and his years it's that plus whatever will stick to the tree.  It doesn't help that we give each other ornaments each year, and while I usually receive something pretty & feathery, I keep giving him things with tentacles that just don't really coordinate well with anything...

That said, my idea of winter mainly combines the limey greens I love with the classic red I associate with the holidays.  In my bundle are lots of prints that make me think of ornaments, stars & wrapping paper.  That koi print? yeah yeah, it just includes two of the colors I find Christmasy, AND every winter I worry about fish in ponds freezing to death.  Mmmhmm.  You have until the end of the month to link up!

I also finished binding a mini quilt I'd been working on.  I was looking for a pattern that would work large scale, and though it would be fun to start making test minis to try them out.   This block pattern was from EQ5, and I made it with 2" squares that ended as 1.5" squares.  The end product is just under 12.5" square.  I am just amazed as many points line up as do!   This just won't work for what I had in mind, however my machine pedal has been slipping all over the place and I put this down today between it and the carpet, and it's keeping it in place so I'm pretty content!

Self Drafted Tote

Somebody needs to use a lint roller before taking pictures.

Now that I've made a couple of bags I thought I would try my hand at making a simple one myself (as both bags are too huge to carry as a purse).  I had an amazing purse that I bought for a trip to Italy some years back, it was ugly but GIANT, so I could carry all the normal things, a bottle of water, a book, a hex paper piecing kit, and still throw in whatever else I might need.  It got splattered with painty water a few weeks ago and I had to get rid of it.

My dress form was kind enough to model the tote for me so I could take some pictures (although she did bitch that I haven't finished the shirt she's wearing yet).  I think the storage inside is just about right, with one zipper pocket and two interior pockets for my keys and compact.  I put an exterior pocket on it for my phone and it was nice to be able to customize it to just the right size, deep enough so it doesn't peek out and get snatched by a crazed phone thief, but not so deep I'm digging for it if it rings.

lining, it stands up on it's own, yay!

Eventually I'll have the perfect bag, but for the moment, this is a great general tote. The only thing I don't love about this is that the fabric next to the zipper should be stiffer, but I made it right after the Aeroplane bag & before I vowed to the heavens above to never skimp on the proper interfacing again. 

AND I should not be lazy, I should've switched my black thread out for something peachy to topstitch the interior zipper. Other than that, the only thing I would change is to insert some elastic or an elasticized pocket along one edge to slip my water bottle in so it can be upright instead of lying flat at the bottom.

Next on my table is a more purse shaped purse, we'll see how that goes, then I'll get back to other people's patterns, cause there are less headaches that way ;)

Aeroplane Bag, ready for flight!

Phew, it is done, and I got to use a cheesy title!  I'm entering this into the Sew Sweetness Bag Contest just for fun.  Sara has good complete directions, and I've added her book to my shopping list, since I have faith it will be just as good as her pdf patterns.

There were two patchwork panels I was going to use to make yet another Noodlehead open wide pouch, but co-opted them for this and just added to them.

I'd ordered half a yard of Essex Yarn dyed linen in black from fabric.com, and lo and behold, I got the end of the bolt (they put a little sticker on it that says "JACKPOT - you got the end of the bolt") and I got almost a full yard of it, plenty for the straps and bottom.

For the lining I used Serenade Moon Light from Art Gallery's Poetica line.  It was already the center of one of my patchwork blocks & while conflicted about having a dark interior, I rarely have enough of anything to accomplish something this fabric consuming, so just used interior white zippers.  

I still have a lot of work to do on figuring out interfacing.  This lacks the stiffness in the sides that I'd like.  Silly me, Sara has a great post about interfacing and bags right here - which I forgot about until I started writing this post.  I tend to buy few yards of different interfacing here and there and can't keep track of which is which so I winged it. Joann's is having a half off interfacing sale right now so I'm going to get bolts of the most needed ones so I don't run into any confusion again.

There were some mishaps along the way, but they were pretty much just user error.  I did remove my sewn in backwards zipper and put it in correctly like a good girl, although I don't think its as nicely centered as it should be there in the picture.  I LOVE how when I unzip it it stays open, this will make it a great bag to carry crafting stuff around in and not have to root around for things. I'll either be making this again or reducing the pattern by 50% to make a handbag from..maybe both :D

The Quiet Quilt

I am working on a self drafted medallion quilt, after having so much fun with the Modern Medallion from Handstitched class, and the Marcelle Medallion I did with Penny Poppleton's QAL. Uh, that second one is still in very early stages of handquilting, so I don't know what the hell possessed me to start another quilt.

It's kinda but not really a low volume quilt, and I decided to name it because it's cooler that way, right?  Drafting paper pieced medallions without being exact at measuring isn't awesome, but this his how far I am to date.  I chose all solids for the medallion, one art gallery pure elements solid, with the rest selected from the new colors in the Moda Bella line, since I was lucky enough to win a bundle from Shruti during her Bella Parade.

Natural light is more flattering -  its not really that dayglo playdough colors.  If it ever stops raining I'll grab one outside.  Over there to the right are most of the fabrics I'm pulling from for this. 

And yeah, I put one rows of HST facing the wrong direction.  More unpicking to do - and now I have a lamp for the living room so the light is better in there and I can see what I'm doing in the gloomy rainy season here!

Really I think this might turn out horrifically, but I'm enjoying the process of deciding what I want for each border, and that is satisfying enough!

Aeroplane Bag, in progress.

I had been ignoring the Sew Sweetness Bag contest happening over at Sew Mama Sew! because I have so many things I am working on with a Christmas deadline, and it's got a December 13th deadline.  Considering I've had her pattern for a wallet printed out for a month waiting, I figured if I couldn't get around to making that, a bag was out of the question.

DOH!!!

NEVERTHELESS, I don't make sense, so I got started on her Aeroplane pattern.  I'm happy with how it's turning out, and as I also did the Amy Butler Weekender SAL, felt a bit better about making another large bag, and prepared to keep it from being another floppy mess.

basted interior pocket on top, pinned on bottom

Right now I'm at a bit of a stall, because I did a stupid thing.  I'd been going off my printout of the PDF, which wasn't great quality, so without a clear picture (and her pictures ARE great, I just guess it's time for a new printer) sewed my zipper in upside down on the main panel.

Instead of stopping and checking before sewing the lining on, I sewed that on too and now have a choice.  I can try to do this, and mess with the zipper, or I can rip the whole thing out.  I will probably rip the whole thing out, but ugh!  I am taking a break for a couple days and working on other things.

I also liked sewing in the zippered pockets the way they were set up, and I have a tip if you're having problems, as it was difficult to pin through the layers of fabric and zipper and hold it in place.  I used pins for the first one, then grabbed a bit of 505 adhesive spray basting for the second one.  I'm sure you can see even with my less than awesome photography skills, the difference in the picture, the pinned one is all ripply, and the basted one stayed nice and flat.

Fabricworm review 2.0

I'm working on a neutral based quilt, and needed a few more fabrics. Fabricworm had a great eight hour flash sale, and so I picked up a few more prints, and took the chance to order one of their Japanese/or Organic, scrap packs.

This is the second time I've ordered from them - the other was a year and a half ago, and I talked about it here, including the problems I had with the Aneela Hoey bundle not having all the right fabrics, and how I couldn't get some creases out of a couple prints no matter how long and hard I pressed.  As I've settled on making the majority of my orders from The Intrepid Thread, Hawthorne Threads, and Sewmeasong for my various needs, I have avoided temptation, but it was a good sale dammit!

scrap pack

This ended up being good bad & neutral.  I ordered on the 11th and it arrived on the 18th, slower than expected from CA to WA, even with the high volume of orders from a sale.  They sent the wrong color of one print, I wrote and they checked their inventory, saw that it matched with this being the case, and are sending out the correct fabric, saying I should get it in a few days, and can keep the incorrect one.  That is nice, but a bit frustrating as I am trying to not work on my quilt anymore until I get all the fabrics in.

The scrap pack was mostly Jay-Cyn for Birch Organics (eiko, camp sur and elk grove), with a couple of Rashida Coleman-Hale Koi prints that I already have some of.  The only odd monkey is that Elk Grove elk family print in Sun - it's a knit - I love working with knits for clothes, but I'm stymied as to what to do with a 9" by WOF knit bit of mustardy elks.

I can't say I will start ordering more often from here, but they do manage to carry prints that I don't run across elsewhere which does make me keep browsing them, like this Cosmo Textiles, Halloween Forrest in Black, that I couldn't resist adding to my order.   Cupid kittens with umbrellas...sold!

EDIT - I just sat down and measured the scrap pack for yardage, and I will say that their 2 yards per weight, even with one of the fabrics being canvas, measured in at 2.8 yards. Not a bad deal at all.

Foxes, Mermaids & an Embroidery Wall

I finally finished a vintage mermaid tattoo type embroidery this week that I've been working on for awhile. I had a lot of fun shading this one with colored pencils, and am thinking it's time to upgrade from a 12 pack to something with more variety (fancy!).

It's been added to my embroidery wall, as we are in a rental and I don't want to fix the repairs dozens of little nails would leave, I've taken a slab of insulation that was too small to really be used as a quilting design wall, and made it into an embroidery wall. 

I'm liking this for a few reasons, I can move it around, and even the large hoops are held up by one, yes one, pin.  I will probably be getting around to covering it in fabric - perhaps a vintage sheet soon, so it is prettier.

On a fox note, there is a seven year old of my acquaintance that has suggested she has an interest in trying her hand at some embroidery.  I thought I'd start simple, and use the F Fox pattern from penguin and fish that I got as part of the Handstitched class I did last year.  I am grateful to have bought a Crayola light up box to trace embroideries with, it's such a time saver!

I also whipped up a couple of felt pincushions for her to choose from, and suppose I should pick a sampling of floss in both realistic and fantastical colors for her to pick from, as I probably shouldn't expect her to be traditional about this stuff, now that I think about it.

Easy eye mask & an out of control design wall.

Phew, I've been meaning to make an eyemask for months, and now that its dark all the time & I don't need it, I finally got around to it.  This is the Bari J eyemask, and I spent last night doing some embroidery on the flannel, then whipped it together this morning with  Art gallery's Carnaby Street groovy vibes in citrus.  I just used batting instead of fusible fleece since I have a lot of bits of it.  It lets a bit of light in at the nose, but is more comfortable than the three eyemasks I already own, so it's a win.

Without the embroidery, I'm guessing it could be completed in 15 minutes or less




Made another pincushion, I don't know why.  I actually made three, but that's neither here nor there. Also sorted through some bins & threw some WIP's up on the design wall. 

I'm self drafting a medallion quilt which is going..oddly, and the crosses and HSQ are for that.  The atrocity that is black and red is a sewing machine cover, and what broke my Singer and left it out of commission for a good chunk of this year, sewing through a couple of layers of canvas and batting.  I'd like to finish it now that my machine is back home (and I'm so glad!)

Viking Wear & WIPs

I haven't been making clothes lately -not that I was ever good at it, but there's a Viking themed pub crawl this weekend and something viking is required so I raided my fabric stash to use what I had at hand.

So far I look like a Christmas elf, but oh well :D   I winged both the tunic and apron dresses.  The red fabric is kinda see through, it was meant for a vacation tunic...I'm either heading to goodwill for a slip, or will attempt making one tomorrow.  The apron dress is wool, which I've never worked with before, it's not particularly shapely, but considering I probably wont be wearing it more than four hours, I can live with that. 

For accessories, I made a 6 panel hat by tracing my iron (so glad I found that suggestion somewhere today) for a template, and used some "fur" I picked up from Joann's earlier today for a capey thing.  The brooches are actually beads that I picked up in a lot of beads and trims at an estate sale, they happened to be sewn into this shape for some reason.

I'm not quite sure how to do the cape, sometimes it was pinned on with those brooches which I'd like to do, so I'm still working on the shape. Tzatziki let the fake fur sit on the cutting table for a whole 30 seconds before she jumped up to claim it as a bed, so I took that as a cue to call it quits for the evening.

Maybe I'll end up with better pictures, but the hubby is out of town and the cats wouldn't help me take any :( So there ya go, my first pub crawl, my first winged patterns, my first attempt at being viking-ish.  
 

On my quilt wall (mostly at least)
A Carole Friedlander Tangelo quilt I'm working on for my sister, in purple, green and black.
Starting the hand stitching for my Marcelle Medallion, with Aurifil 12 wool thread (giving me a bit of breaking issues so far, but I'm stubborn).
A mini quilt with 2" squares, as I was considering doing a large version with some much loved fabric, and want to try it out first.  Verdict so far, probably not doing that.

Trajectory Pillow

I'd downloaded Dorrie's altered pillow size (16") version/template of Megan's trajectory quilt after wandering across it on Craftsy awhile back and it felt like a "make a pillow day" so I, you know... made a pillow.

This seemed like a good way to use the Lipari charm pack of Oakshott I'd snagged from Contemporary Cloth that were in stock a few months ago, as I hadn't found any around Seattle to touch and look at.

Working with the Oakshott was nice - the fabric is sturdy, and didn't fray badly during the process.  It turns out though that most of these colors were too dark for my taste to show off their best properties in the gloomy indoors, but look at that nice glow in the sun! I still find them very charming and hope to get a pack of the Ruby Reds sometime. 

Trajectory pillow back

I used Essex linen in Ivory for the rest of the front, and the back is Kona in Iron. It's quilted with Aurifil, which is really starting to grow on me. 

The pattern went together in a matter of a few hours and then I procrastinated quilting it for awhile since we had some lovely warm weather early fall weather that I had to go sit out in.

I'm sure it will bug me for awhile that the fabric looks so much less fantastic in shade than it does in sun but I suppose it's just like my hair, which is always more awesomely impressive when it is out in the sun ;)

Marcelle Medallion and uh huh, shopping

I'd really better start reading all the blogs on how to get better pictures  That and making myself a big old pressing board so I can keep this thing wrinkle-free for more than 5 minutes. As I said in my last post, I've finished my Marcelle Medallion, and now my batting has arrived & I'm piecing the back.  It ended up at about 86" by 94". My husband was sweet enough to hold it up for me and this is the first quilt that's been so large he couldn't hold the corners.

On another  note, I just got back from Bellingham, WA.  It was one of those days  - the end of a trip where you are eager to get home. I was on my way to my last commitment, lunch plans.  There was that moment when you realize you have enough time to stop by that quilt store and spend 15 minutes in it, or you can risk going to have lunch first, and then being way too impatient to drive back through all the busy streets to check it out.

Of course it was a no-brainer, and I made the quick stop at Fourth Corner Quilts.  I hadn't checked for fabric stores before I left, and wasn't even sure what I'd find.  Really it was such a blur that I can't say much about it - it had multiple rooms, with both classic and modern prints and sold Janomes, one of which I lovingly caressed as I walked by it and its $4k price tag. 

I am sure I missed a lot of gems, but I didn't have time get fabric cut.  Luckily for me - pre-cuts!  They had a lot of charm packs, layer cakes and even the hexagon precuts, but on a lot of the fabric displays, they also had 1/4 and 1/2 yard cuts of a pretty good variety of fabric, more than I've seen anywhere before. I ran around in glee and when I got up to the register I realized I had a nice choice for the basis of a new quilt.  I already have some of the Ladder Dot and I'd used a Comma charm pack for this pillow.  I'm pretty sure that  is Kaufman Interweave Chambray in sorbet there, I was happy to see it in person, I likely never would have ordered any, and it's much prettier than any of the pictures I've seen (yup, including that one) convey.

Birch Bay, WA

Considering making another trip up sometime soon just to browse in depth - I used to make the 2.5 hour drive this route to visit my husband when we were dating, and now it's only 1.5 hours so it seems like a win ;)  Also I got to see a bald eagle and gorgeous sunsets, so I see no down sides to going again.

Marcelle Medallion Quilt Top Finished

Oh ya!!!!  Despite being thwarted by cats at every turn, I managed to get all the pieces of the top out from under them long enough to get this sewn together. These colors aren't really what ever would've chosen, but I think I'm going to like it since our bedroom in this rental house is blue.

One problem - one of my cats (I know which one, dammit) jumped up on it when I was testing the width out on the bed, and poked and ripped holes.  The rip's about 1/4" but since it's in a solid border, I'm not really sure how I'm going to fix that.  I see some creepy applique in my future!

After my plus signs I added a border of Domino Dots in Starfruit from the Waterford park collection, wider on the sides than the top and bottom, and then a 2" border of Kaffe Fasset shot cotton in Blue Jean (I had JUST enough to do it, and one border it a teeny bit narrow on the last couple of inches.  Nevertheless it's some giant size I have no idea about the final measurements of, but I think if we ever switch to a king size bed it will actually cover it adequately!

I'm looking forward to getting my husband to stand around holding it over the balcony so I can take a picture of the whole thing - after getting rid of all the spider webs out on the porch that is.

Still haven't started piecing the back, but it's going to be simple.  For the binding I'm using Bella Stripes in Citron by Lotta Jansdotter -  I've only used solids in binding up til now, so I'm looking forward to trying something different.

I'm just waiting for my Warm and Natural batting to get here, and debating if I want to hand quilt it or not. *shudder*.

Zakka Along 2.0 - Prettified Pincushion & Pink Castle Purchases

Now that I'm embroidering and sewing all over the place, I never seem to have enough pincushions around.  Like scissors and boxes of kleenex, I like to have at least one in each room. This was what I was looking forward most to making from the Patchwork Please going on for the Zakka Along 2.0 with Debbie at A Quilter's Table.

Essex Linen? Check. Cute little pictures to put on all four quadrants? Check. Adorable fabric colored button made with my own little hands? Check.

Not too much to say about this, it wasn't too hard to put together ( cause I did it messily), I've realized I'm not great at fussy cutting and I still haven't got the hang of doing neat corners in projects like this, especially seeing others pincushions.  It's larger than I thought it would be, and it's stuffed with poly-fil.  Pins go into the loosely stuff linen very nicely too, so win for me!



I'm sorry the sew along has come to a close, and I'll probably be going back to make a couple of projects I missed during the busy weeks of moving.  An awesome bonus is that I won the prizes in a drawing last week from Debbie - Aurifil and Pelleon swatches and some fabric!

warm scrap bundle from Pink Castle

Now back to my Marcelle Medallion, and trying to figure out how my newer sewing machine has been sitting in its box after being broken for 3 months and I haven't gotten it shipped out the door for warranty work yet.

Because there's not enough pictures here for my liking, I'll share these too.  I just got my order from Pink Castle which included a warm scrap bundle and because I'm a nosy bastard, a small scrap vomit bundle.  I'm happy with the variety of the scrap bundle, and I'll just stare at the scrap vomit for awhile until I can make sense of it ;)

Scrap Vomit bundle from Pink Castle

Embroidery & Marcelle Medallion Progress

x
"Suck It" is a 7" hoop.  It tends to be something I say instead of "Screw Off" when I'm in a good mood.  Really, I usually mean it very lovingly!
It isn't particularly noticeable here but I used a darker orange at the centers of the petals and a lighter one for the outside edge and tips.  I used this nifty cursive font generator to plot my lettering


I also did one of the girls from a Natalie Krim picture, I didn't get the smile down, there's a lot of practice I need to do on learning fine detail.  She's got some really cool quirky stuff, and I wanted something fun to look at.





I'm just slowly making progress on my Marcelle Medallion plusses.  Finally put up a quilt wall this week on a 10 foot tall wall since pinning a bit of batting to the wall wasn't very satisfying. This one is out of range of my cat's claws, but kinda out of mine in a lot of ways at 5'2"...

My cats remain highly amused that I'd been laying out my fabric on the floor in the interim, and I'm tired of their smug looks every time I walk in the sewing room to see the mess they've made.