Night Sky Quilt Top by Jaybird Quilts

Phew, you'd think I'm not getting any sewing done, but I am.  Maybe even too much sewing! Branching out to clothes again though - trying to implement some skills I've learned from craft sewing into garments

A few days ago I finished a Night Sky quilt top. I made it for someone I love, so that's always harder than making something for myself. Like.. higher standards, and working with desires I may not agree with!

It came together in fits and starts, I put it away for awhile, not loving how I was choosing the colors (or maybe not liking the colors in the first place)  but winter is going to be here any minute and er... although one quilt doesn't make that much of a difference when it's cold out, it cant hurt!

Wasabi supervising

I hadn't had a strong desire to make this, but  took a trip with my husband last spring to the Washington peninsula.  We stopped at a quilt shop along the way that we came upon (unexpectedly I swear!!!) as we had lunch on the drive over.  Luckily it had some great stuff in it, and I got the Night Sky pattern and the sidekick ruler to go along with it. (I already have her Hex N More ruler, as she's local and all :)

Bad news is when I started cutting this pattern out, I um.. didn't read any directions and just started cutting pieces out with the ruler.  That means my stars ended up larger than they were meant to be.  Good news is that meant less stars, so the quilt top only took like uh.. 30+ hours to finish compared to how long more stars would have. I imagine it would've been a lot worse if I'd made smaller stars, but maybe a lot better if I planned knew what I needed and cut everything out at once.

good vs evil

Err, as I didn't read any directions  I sewed the whole stars together instead of half stars. Don't do that if you want ease in sewing together, unless you are awesome at y seams.

I'm not and although some of mine came together beautifully, others were.. well... let's just say I hope everybody who sees this in person is drunk and not paying attention!



I would've liked to make this with a lighter background.  I also went a bit crazy on the brights with last years moda's bundle of new colors... they had some day glow choices, that's for sure!I don't know that I'll make this again, but I'm sure going to play around with the sidekick ruler more.

Sew Together Bag - Take One

I thought this sew together bag was an awesome looking pattern, and saw a lot of pretty versions of it.  I read lots of reviews and tips and it seemed like making two at once was the way to go, to learn, so I had fabrics set aside and partially cut out for when I got around to it.  When I had time to sit down and start it and realized I was making them for *peoplewhoarenotme*  so I decided to nix those and make one out of fabric I love.

Lo and behold, I had a lot of trouble with doing this.  I couldn't chose single fabric to base this on.  That sure says something about my stash, huh?  I settled on a color scheme - orange and blue.  I don't even know how I feel about those colors together, but I have a surprising amount of orange and blue fabrics so... why not?



I followed the sewalong tutorial  which was helpful - especially how it was broken down into five days so you weren't overwhelmed.
I'd read reviews that made it seem stressful, but besides one area where it was a bit unclear what you were supposed to do, this helped a ton.  I'll say the directions themselves were minimal IMO, and would've benefited greatly from picture or drawings about what the hell you were supposed to do.  This is why I always try to read a few reviews of a pattern before buying it - or waiting for a sew along.

Note: I also found this website to be a great tutorial for sewing the bag together, Cassandra has a great set of photos to walk you through making it.  I read a HELL of a lot of walk throughs before I settled on switching between this and the sewalong.

Surprisingly, I admit, this was kind of fun to make.  I liked watching it come together and comparing it to other people's as they put it together.   I put a pincushion on one side, and a felt piece for needles the other.  Directions on the pattern are nonexistent for this so yay for the internet!


 Here is the bad thing.. I have NO need for this bag.  My travel crafts are embroidery and hand sewing, and I already have more useful bags for this, including ones that fit a hoop or two. That said, I should be able to jigger it so it has less pouches but is taller, with a bit of  *math*  I happen to suck at math, but I love the idea of having a couple zippered pouches for various projects instead of fishing floss bobbins out from a tangle.  I'll figure out that damn math sooner or later!