Monday, November 26, 2012

Around the House

So, what's new with you?  I've been working on some small items before I start my "Project Checklist" power-push to finish up all my in-progress quilts by the end of the year.

Remember the stocking from last week?  I made two more and added felt letters for our holiday mantle.  Cute!



I also just started a baby quilt for a soon-to-pop friend featuring this cute blue elephant Savanna Bop fabric:



The baby quilt will also feature a scrappy mix of teal, gray and blue fabrics.  And!  Look at my seam alignment!  I have finally achieved sharp edges!  It is so much easier now that I have figured out how to properly match up seams.



And, finally, I would like to tell you about a new kid's show called SlugTerra.  It's a cartoon about a group of inter-species teens who roam the underworld looking for the team leader's father while battling opposing groups with shape-changing slugs.  Yes, another one of those.  I guess the main slug is kind of cute?



Anyway, there are no toys associated with this show (yet), so my son and I decided to make some!  After going to the craft store for some fabric markers, we were able to make one "battle" slug and one "cute" slug.  Feast your eyes on this:


SLUGS!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Recent Goings-Ons

Hi Quilters!  I just finished up a big batch of holiday orders -- aprons and place mats.  Now that these items are safe in their new homes, it was time for me to get back to some personal projects.  I have a lot going on right now!  I enjoy thinking up projects and planning things and picking out fabric and cutting fabric so much.  Then I tend to lose steam.  It's a problem.  Anyway, here is a small taste of what I've been up to lately...

I am loving Elizabeth Hartman's new book Modern Patchwork.  She is my quilting idol and I want to replicate everything she does.  I pre-ordered this book before it was published and received my copy the day it came out!  I decided that my first project would be the "Rapid City" quilt.



You know, one of the things I most liked about this quilt was the color scheme.  But, for reasons unknown, instead of trying to duplicate it, I decided to pick something completely different.  So I'm making my quilt out of The Birds and The Bees by Tula Pink.  Which is nice!  But it's all starting to look a little matchy-matchy.  OH WELL.

Another thing to note is that I did all the cutting for this quilt like 3 months ago?  And the cutting is extensive -- there are two full pages of instructions and you need like 40 sandwich bags to organize all the pieces.  I thought it was all a little anal retentive at the time, but now that I am starting to assemble the quilt top it is so convenient.  ACTION SHOT!

 
I also made this cute Christmas stocking over the weekend.


I might make more of these -- they are super easy and take less than an hour.    Pretty good for a Hanukkah-type lady!  L'CHAIM!

I'll be back soon for a new version of PROJECT CHECKLIST!  I have sooooo many unfinished items.  It's going to be a doozy!


Monday, November 5, 2012

Takin' Care of Business!

I was recently excited to participate in a pre-holiday craft fair organized and hosted by my friend Christina, proprietress of Christina Waters Stationery!

I made some pencil cases and aprons to sell at the event, and also brought the yellow felt G pillow I made for my son's room.  The pillows were a big hit!  I received orders for six pillows in various letter and color combinations.

Here they are, ready to go to their new homes!



I was also asked to make a child's apron.  I'd never made one before, but I shrunk down my trusty pattern and ended up with this (on a 6 year old for size reference):



The border and pocket are patchwork.  Super cute, if you ask me.



I still have two adult aprons and a set of eight place mats to finish...photos to come!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Boy's Room Mini Makeover!

When we last checked in with my son's room back in April, I was messing around with fish-print curtains and dotted duvet covers and Star Wars: The Clone Wars decals and it looked like this:



Well, get ready to freak out because it now looks slightly different!



Basically, it's much tidier and the color palette is calmer.  To achieve this slight difference, we first did a HUGE toy clear-out which opened up a lot more floor space.  We then retired the old toddler table and got a new desk at Ikea for homework and art projects.  It's the Ikea Micke desk in white/green, but I spray painted the front of the desk drawer with chalkboard paint for some reason.  Cute!




We picked out some more mature grey and blue bedding.  It's the Land of Nod Midtown duvet cover, and the pillows are from Target.  I made the G pillow out of mustard-ish wool felt.  Let me know if you want one for your name!



Next, of course, we added a quilt!  It wouldn't be Quilty Business without some quilty business.  For this cute wall hanging, the pattern is Neighborhood Charm (free) and the fabric is mostly Chicopee (not free).



I hung it on the wall by attaching a long fabric tube to the back of the quilt and then putting a thin wooden dowel in the tube, which is held to the wall on picture hanging hooks.



We also added a few fun accessories like these army-men book ends from Urban Outfitters:



And on the dresser I added a few rocks from my childhood rock collection (nerd alert):



My son is really happy with his slightly different room!



Friday, October 5, 2012

Non-quilt Quilted Items!

In addition to all the quilts I've been working on, I have also made two different types of items.  They are all quilted!  They are just not quilts.

The first are these cute place mats:



Since this set of blue and grey ones, I've also made some others.  Might be good for gifts and/or craft fairs?  They are fun to make, and you can make up a set of four during a 2-hour Dateline.  Pro tip: if you're watching a 2-hour Dateline, it takes that extra hour to explain that the murderer was the husband.

I also made this super cute pencil case:



I got the pattern online.  It was fun to make!  I was able to successfully install a zipper!  I definitely sense more of these in the future.

Well, have a good weekend!  I plan to do lots of sewing and will work on my photography skills to see if I can actually post some attractive images.  Here's hoping!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Catching up on More Business!

Continuing yesterday's photo dump, here are some photos of projects that are actually completed and mostly living at other peoples' houses.  These photos are from my phone, so be warned they are even worse than usual!

First up is a cute quilt of Loulouthi fabric that follows a free pattern called Positively Perfect.  I made this for one of my sisters for use in her kids' play room.  We also whipped up some coordinating drapes and pillows!  For this quilt, I used a jelly roll and the quilting was just straight lines.  Quick and easy!




Next is a quilt made for one of my other sisters (I know, there are so many of them) from Lucy's Crab Shack fabric.  The pattern is called Beach Blanket.  The Sister seemed to really love her quilt!  




I also made a unisex baby quilt for a pregnant friend!  (Not a sister)  I used this Charming Plaid pattern and one MoMo Oh Deer! charm pack in addition to a lot of white.



The quilting follows the lines of the squares then adds diagonals:



I really love the back of this quilt -- it's just a big piece of the Oh Deer! Enchanted Forest print:



Perfect for a girl or a boy!  She is having a boy, FYI.

And finally, I did one more square of my never-ending Swoon quilt.  This thing is probably going to be done in 2014 if I am lucky.  Here it is:



Even though that last one is still a work in progress, looking at all those quilts makes me feel pretty accomplished!  Check back tomorrow for even MORE projects that are quilted but aren't quilts!  HINT: one is for eating dinner and one is for encasing pencils.  Mysterious!




 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Back to Business!

Hi Quilters!  I took an extended break from blogging but have decided to get back into the swing of things.  To get the blogging ball rolling again, I am starting with a photo dump from my camera over the last few months.

First.... the Sparkle Punch quilt!  Here, you can see that I had finished all of the individual squares, but had yet to assemble the quilt top.  Here I am laying out the whole quilt on the floor to make sure my star colors were distributed evenly:



I will update you on the current status of this project later this week!  SPOILER ALERT:  it's not done.



Second is a fun quilt made of Hello Pilgrim fabric using the pattern Off the Rails.  Here is the front:



And the back:


And an in-progress shot of making the quilt sandwich (I use painter's tape to keep the back of the quilt from wrinkling):


I will take some updated pics of this one too.  I'm actually still working on it....I'm trying to free motion quilt it!  The lesson I am learning is that I don't enjoy free motion quilting.


Finally, here is a project I actually completed!!!  EXCITING!  It is a circle applique quilt made of Reunion and the pattern is from the book Little Bits Quilting Bee.  Here is the front, all finished and stuff!



Here is the back.  I just made a wide stripe out of some of the leftover fabrics.



Close-up of the back.  I love the bunting print fabric!



The big circles are cut from a layer cake and then machine-appliqued onto the front:


And, in big news, I retired my 5-year old used for size reference and am now using a 6-year old!  Here he is!  For size reference:


More tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Fishy Curtains

Remember that post a long time ago about how I wanted to make new curtains for my son's room?  This one?

Well, after taking BOTH votes from the comments into consideration, I decided to go with option one (the fishy fabric) since I already had the coordinating dotty duvet cover from Ikea.


Curtains are very easy to make.  I made four panels total (two for each window) and I probably put in about 2 hours of work.  I think they came out pretty cute!



They are lined, but for some reason I totally forgot to hem the bottom of the lining:


No biggie.  I also made a fun Super Hero pillow cover:


All, in all, the new curtains, pillows and bedding looks pretty good!



Now we just have to figure out a plan to rid the walls of those Star Wars decals...


Bye bye droids!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Closet Clean Up!

Take a look at this:




Gross!  That is the closet where I keep things like extra pillows, pillow innards, seasonal decor, wrapping paper and non-sewing craft supplies.  I got very upset with it the other day when I wanted some wrapping paper but all the paper I had was bent and creased because of the closet mess.

So, I took everything out of the closet:





Then I put it back in neatly!



 I got these plastic bins at Target.   One holds nice crafting paper and the other has punches.



And did you notice this gift wrapping station?  I am a regular Candy Spelling here.


I got the components for the over-the-door gift wrap organization station from the Container Store after seeing this setup on Pinterest or the blogs or somewhere.  I guess it got super popular suddenly because the lady at the Container Store said I was the third person to purchase that system that day!

Great minds think alike!