MIA - kidnapped by a special project!

Sorry for my lack of posts lately... I'm sure my 2 or 3 avid followers have been worried, haha.

I've been working on a secret project the past few weeks that I can't reveal until this summer. Its nothing cool like being in a book or going to market or any other wonderful thing I've been reading about on other people's blogs.... just a project for a loved one that is taking up the majority of my free time which is already rather limited. I'll be sure to post all about it and tons of pics when its completed and delivered!

Until then, I'm hoping to have an affair with a few smaller projects behind Mr. Secret Project's back... shhh... don't tell ;-) So lets hope for more sewing time and a more interesting post soon to come!




Just because I can't post without a picture, and these are pretty :-D



Seabrook Bag & a Pattern Giveaway!

I had the opportunity to test a new purse pattern for Kim at Sherrod Studio this month and I must say she was a pleasure to work with! This bag was time intensive for me due to lots of cutting and ironing (fusible fleece and interfacing on each part) but all in all it only took me 5 hours and was not difficult at all.

Here is my completed sample of her Seabrook bag:



This might just be my favorite purse project so far :)





Pocket option #2 - large split pocket on the front of the bag, great for keys, phone, anything you need to get to quickly!




Magnetic snap closure and 4 pockets on the inside for great organization and storage!

Not only was Kim super generous in letting me test her pattern, she is also offering a great giveaway opportunity on her blog for one of her new patterns, including this one! Head over to her blog to check it out - ends midnight pacific time April 23rd and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. Good luck!

Giant pillow alert!

I started working on this zigzag pillow and did not realize how large it would turn out. A 25 inch pillow seems a little bit overkill to me :) Its so cute tho... not sure what to do with it. Any thoughts-ideas?

I could just remove a row from one side and from the top or bottom ... but then it kind of ruins the pattern in my opinion. Hrmmmm....

Pleasing Pleats Purse

I am almost giddy about this purse. Who cannot love something with pleats on it, seriously... so cute! This tutorial was super easy to follow and using only 2 fat quarters and 1 magnetic snap, I was able to make this purse in around 2 - 3 hours including cutting out the pattern. Get the free pattern here.

This really makes me want to figure out how to make skirts... I love pleated skirts!

Yes this is hanging on my front apartment door around the peephole - sad photography skills, I know! Hey, I needed a white background and somewhere to hang it... worked for me! :-D I'm into sewing, not photography, sorry.

Lovely orange inside of my purse with magnetic snap and cell phone pocket, yay! A zipper pocket on the opposite side would be nice too, need to think about how to make that one.

At any rate, I think this pleated purse turned out rather cute. I do have some tips for you if you end up creating your own with the pattern link above.

1. For step #14 - it says turn the lining inside out. Its already wrong side out and should stay that way. You need to turn the purse inside out, so that the right sides are facing out when you insert it into the liner for sewing.

2. While pleating your purse front, it may end up smaller than your lining. You should trim the lining to match the purse front pieces before assembling either. Will save you some unwanted pleating on the inside while sewing, trust me! :)

3. Number 15 and 16 - sew 3" hole shut before tucking the liner into the purse - obviously!

4. I would suggest attaching the straps before sewing the liner and outside together - I'm not such a big fan of straps sewn on afterward.

5. THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP:
Use some type of interfacing on this bag and perhaps some padding inside the handle. Otherwise it hangs and bends like a tote bag and for such a fancy pants bag, you really do not want that. Sample #2 for me will def. use fusible interfacing... I'll let you know how that goes with the pleating process.

Pleats are easy and fun, don't let this pattern scare you! Enjoy!

Weekend sewing? I hope!

I've been in a slump this week with my craftiness. I had a pile of fat quarters that needed cut up for my 2nd charity quilt and although I ironed them on Monday at work, it is now Friday and they are still uncut. Boo :(

Here is a run-down of my non-productive crafting week:
Monday - Ironed 10 fat quarters - only productive thing I did this week after work!
Tuesday - Cranky, not crafty.
Wednesday - Stressed over a pattern I'm supposed to be testing - could not convince myself to make it and wrote some suggestions to the designer and then stressed all night that she would be upset/offended. Fortunately she was not, so I felt better about it Thursday morning :)
Thursday - Bought a pattern for a fabulous purse, printed it out, and forgot to take it home! Spent the rest of the evening after work/dinner/board game with hubby - trying to figure out what to make and made nothing at all.

Now for the weekend plans:
Friday - Going to our local climbing wall gym again today - awesome! Not crafty but VERY fun and productive
Saturday - Temple trip to DC and Ikea/Dinner afterwards - another good activity with my husband that has nothing to do with craftiness

But Sunday... maybe Sunday... there will be some crafty time before or after church. And if there is, this is what I plan on making:

 The Bracelt Bag by Kekalou Patterns

This is the pattern I bought yesterday. She is have a sale on her gorgeous patterns - $5 each and you get it instantly through email in pdf format - no shipping charges or waiting, awesome!
If you are looking for cute bag, pouch, wallet, etc. patterns I can highly recommend her site.

Not a very ambitious sewing weekend but hey, hubby time at the rock wall and temple is definitely higher on the priority list which is a-ok with me :)

Hope you all have a fun weekend - crafty or not!

AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster, PA - March 2011

My very first quilt show... o my goodness o my goodness was it ever fabulous! Such a long day and lots of walking but it was a wonderful outing with my mom.

The first thing we did when my mom and I arrived was to play with the long arm quilting machines! I thought I'd died and gone to crafting heaven! If only I had $15,000 lying around and no school loans, that baby would be MINE! haha - good to know that I can go back once a year to play with the machines tho... get a little fix to hold me over until one day... one day.... :-D

The vendor booths were great for patterns, ideas, and OF COURSE some fabric! And after the show we checked out some of my favorite fabric stores in another village close by and then had some super tasty home cooking in another village. All in all a super fantastic not to be missed type of day!

Inspite of all the other fabulousness, the best part of the whole day was ofcourse, the quilt show. Below is a nice long string of photos for your browsing enjoyment. I could not possibly take pictures enough to show the beauty of these and hundreds of other quilts at the show but here are some snippets of my favorite picks:

Joel Dewberry where have you been all my life?!

That's right folks, I'm in love and the lucky man is Joel Dewberry. Darling husband and Joel's dear wife, don't get upset, I only want him for his fabric and patterns... it's a very superficial and one sided love affair :).

I stumbled across this quilt pattern the other day and the attraction was instantaneous!

After being teased with this gorgeous quilt I immediately had to find the fabric which was used - it turned out to be Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry. His blog and this pattern can be found here

After seeing this gorgeous bundle of purples and blues, how could I help falling in love! And ofcourse, it didn't just stop there... the greys and the mustard yellow hues strengthened his hold on my heart (and wallet! haha)

The purple half yard bundle will be used for creating a smaller version of his quilt pattern above and matching pillows (o joy of joys!).

I'm not sure what these delicious yellow/grey fat quarters will be magically turned into but I'm excited to get them in the mail and find out!

.... and if this wasn't enough, I just found this bundle on Etsy today! It's from Joel's Gensing Collection - so many colorways and prints, so little time (and money!)

O Joel... I just can't get enough of you! :) This one will have to stay on my wish list for a while along with some of its little friends, but one day it will be mine... o yes... it will be mine...

:-D

2 hour weekend projects

As it is General Conference weekend for my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, I knew that I would be doing a lot of cutting during the 4 2-hour sessions this weekend. Therefore, I decided that each morning before they start (noon), I would work on a quicker project to feel like I got more accomplished than just cutting.

Saturday morning's project was this Sprocket Pillow - tutorial can be found here at Cluck Cluck Sew

I still need to get a nice big button for the center - I'm thinking a big red button or even an apple shaped one.
As soon as I saw this tutorial I knew I had to try it out and I totally agree with the author's statement that you can't make just one! I have over variations planned for when I have more time - such a fun and easy pillow and it only took me about 2 hours from start to finish, including cutting and a little hand sewing.

Sunday morning's project is something I've been wanting for a while... pillows to spruce up my living room and plain brown couch!

This pillow was a quick and easy disappearing 9 patch with a 2.5 finished border which matches the back. Its from Moda's Lilac Hill line. Growing up in Indiana I absolutely loved when our lilac bushes all around the house would bloom and this pillow reminds me of home. A second charm pack is on its way so that I can make a second pillow for our living room. Finally feels like spring has sprung a little in spite of the snow we received on Friday morning's work-commute :)

And if you are wondering why the pillow looks a little wrinkly, its because my dear husband took my pillow form and used it for his bed-time pillow! Silly boy... I will have to make some plumper ones to fill my pillow covers and give this one back to him tonight :)

... speaking off bedtime, I'm off for a pre-conference nap! Have a lovely weekend!

Weekend Project List Review

1. Trip to Joanns
- I was able to get everything I needed (and more!) other than basting spray. They only had one brand and it had so many warnings about flamability and the danger of inhaling it, etc. I did not feel comfortable buying it. Walmart had the same brand so sadly I am still basting with pins for now.
2. Binding the tinkerbell quilt

- I was able to get this quilt completed on Friday and it was so wonderful to share it with the children in Sunday School yesterday and mail it off today. See this post for the full story.

3. Using my new interfacing

- I made these little cuties over the weekend - will post more about them later with a link back to the tutorial I used. Loving fusible interfacing!

4. Lots and lots of cutting!

- I did get lots of ironing and cutting done this weekend but wow, I didn't realize how long all this cutting would take for my "special project". That is the main goal for my week ... along with starting the cutting for "special project #2" if I have time. My hands are going to be hurting by Friday I have a feeling!

All in all it was a wonderful and very productive weekend at my crafting table! I took Sunday off to nap, lounge around the house, and play board games with my hubby after church - wonderful use of my day I would say :)

First Children's Charity Quilt Completed!

This weekend I was able to finish my first quilt for the Children's Charity Project I'm helping out with at church. I was pretty motivated after figuring out a perfect home for this cute little quilt and it was really heart warming to share the story with the children at church yesterday.

You see, the children at church are reading their scriptures - alone and with their families - and by doing so they are earning quilt squares for these charity quilts which I am assembling. They are learning about love, charity, and service among many other things and it was great to be able to share with them how the quilt that they "earned" is going to bless someone's life.

A woman at work lost her home to a fire last week and they lost absolutely everything - including their 2 cats. They are all devastated and we are collecting donations through bakesales as well as offerings from other co-workers. It has been wonderful to see the outpouring of love and generosity from people at work. As soon as I found out that this co-worker had a 3 year old daughter, I knew that she was going to be the recipient of this quilt I've been working on. Once I told the Sunday School children yesterday I knew I had made the right decision. Their little hearts went out to that girl and her family and they were so excited to have helped earn a quilt that will provide comfort to her in this difficult and confusing time. One little boy stated later to his teacher "someone must have been cutting onions in there, my eyes were all watery after that story!" So precious :)

It feels good to get one done, and even better to know that it is going where it is truly needed. A quilt can't bring your home, pets, or belongings back ... but hopefully it can be the bearer of comfort and love to a 3 year-old girl.

***I also want to give a special thanks to John @ Quilt Dad for donating all of this beautiful fabric to our project. Of all the donations we received, this fabric was the best suited for a child's blanket and it was truly fate that brought it to us and gave me the idea for making this quilt first.

Weekend Project List

My weekend project list keeps growing and growing! I'm hoping that writing a few of my ideas down will keep it at a realistic level, or at least track the things I don't get done for another time.

1. Trip to Joanns Today for the following:

•  Basting Spray
• Interfacing (fusible and non-fusible)
• Purple solid fabric for binding

2. Binding the tinkerbell quilt so that it can be shown to the kids on Sunday and head off to its new home in Canada on Monday (long story ... short version is some little girl needs something to snuggle :))

3. Using my new interfacing to make purses! Yay!

4. Lots and lots of cutting! Gotta work on the "special secret project" - might also cut out squares for my Dr. Seuss quilt while I'm at it

Around all of this craftiness there will OF COURSE be some good ol' quality time with the hubby - we already have a date planned at the climbing wall tomorrow morning to get certified for belaying, yay!

And since no post is complete without a picture I leave you with this...
... this is how I feel inside when I don't get to craft all week, its bad, really bad lol...

Dr. Seuss Quilt Layout

I have found another wonderful use of Microsoft products in quilt designing, muahaha :)

Using images of the fabrics I bought for this project, I layed them out in the order I wanted and took a screen shot to be able to share it with you - genius ;-) haha. I've never done a simple block by block quilt and I think this one is so busy, it doesnt need a busier pattern. What do you think?
I'm thinking a thin white border around it and bright red or yellow binding to finish it off.

I also have this fabric which will be the center of the back with some bright color around it - probably one or both of the blues:

I don't have any children but I LOVE Dr. Seuss and could not pass up on my own Seuss blanket. One day when I have kids I may be nice enough to let them use it... we shall see haha.

No More UFOs Pledge

My pile of UFO's (Un-finished Objects) is getting out of hand and I've decided to pledge to do something about it before it gets worse. I've decided I cannot start any new quilt projects (zipper bags do not count! haha) until I get some of the following completed:

1. My stripey quilt - first quilt I started for myself. Its basted and rolled up and just waiting for me to finish it!

2. My first Children's Charity Quilt - I got half of the simple stitch-in-the-ditch quilting completed, just need to buckle down, get it done, and bind it. (I've added a pretty white border to this since the picture was taken to make it a bit bigger.)

3. Fall Throw Blanket that I started last summer - only needs backing to be pieced, quilted, and binding sewn

4. Random "Testing out this pattern" Blanket - I think it needs another border since I'm a giant and want my feet covered :)

5. A bigger version of the same pattern using Moda's Sugar Pop - I already have fabric for a pretty border, just need to buy the backing and binding and get it all put together and quilted

I also have some log cabin blocks I've started for a quilt - I have 42 out of 80 completed - that has become a "here and there - if I feel like piecing for an hour or 2" type of project, no projected deadline

O yea, can't forget my queen sized bed quilt - this is just 1 sample block and the top fabric - so no stress, it doesn't really count as a UFO since I haven't started it, have just planned it out

Top priority is also a rather large "special project" I need to get started on, for which I should have all of the fabric gathered by the end of the month. I don't want to reveal what it is incase that person is reading my blog - but it's going to take up most of my time for the next few months and has an important summer deadline.

... I think it helps to list out all of my current projects, makes me realize that I need to stop buying fabric and planning new projects and just get some finished! These are beautiful quilts and I'm so excited to snuggle them - definitely going to force myself to be motivated and get them done!

Will update on my progress as it all comes together - I'm hoping to have them all done by summer... wish me luck!