Where I Cut Flea Market Fancy, and the World Didn't Explode!

I've spent all afternoon working on a really awesome project.  I'm pattern testing for a blogger I've read forever and squeed a little when I got the email yesterday.  Right now, it's super double secret, but hopefully I'll be able to share the pictures next week because I actually cut into these beauties for it.  And two Anna Maria Horner scrap packs that I've had stowed away for the right project.  It's awesomesauce.

I did manage to finish the last block for my Sew Pieceful swap.  And I got them shipped out!  I'm pretty proud of myself for getting that all squared away two weeks early!

Here's all the blocks together.  I ended up not changing out that brown polka dot fabric for white after seeing some of the other blocks that people have made in that palette.  I think the white would have been too white, so I hope she likes it.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday!

WIP Wednesday

I couldn't help myself!  I went into Joann's to get one very specific colored fabric for a swap block, and found this awesome sparkly teal corduroy on sale for $4/yd!  Who could possibly say no to that?  Plus, I had a half off coupon for the piping, so I'm in the middle of  making a seventh pair of Parsley Pants!  (Love that pattern!)

This is the stack of 24 Rainbow QAYG blocks.  I'll have to do some real scrap organizing to get the 16 more blocks I need.  And organizing might mean making these awesome color coded scrap buckets from Sunday Morning Quilts.  Of course, that could just be me procrastinating.

I think tomorrow these might end up being some quilted pouches.  Grown-up ones, for me that I don't have to fill with the kids' toys.  I definitely need a better make-up pouch, and maybe one for my EPP stars that I started years and years ago.  Carrying them around would definitely be incentive to work on them more.

For size reference, that's a giant 12 inch My Little Pony.  

And that is almost a whole second sleeve!  I've had more knitting time on my hands now that school's back in session and I'm waiting in the massive pick up line at the school.  I have maybe seven more four-row repeats before I can join it to the sweater, but I'm going to have to try on the sweater torso first to make sure it's long enough.  The more I look at it, the shorter it seems to be.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

Oh My Stars!

So I have to admit that I'm a bit of a fabric hoarder.  When I really like a line, I buy all of it and just stare at it.  I'd love to make pretty things out of it, but I either have too many good ideas and can't settle on just one, or I have some okay ideas, and can't bear to cut into the fabric unless it's for the perfect project.

Example: I have fat quarter stacks of both the Flea Market Fancy reprints and Comma.  They've found homes where I can look at them while I sew, but that's it.

And the same was true of my stack of DS Quilts fabric from Joann's.  It was girly and flowery, but not over the top.  And it had the perfect mix of flowers and geometric prints.  I managed to find them all in the clearance section.  I'd search through those giant shelves and do a happy dance when I'd find it marked down to $6/yd.

Swirls and pebbles!

Then, one day, I decided that I wanted to do something traditional with them, but not boring, and I found the Solstice Stars Quilt Series at Fresh Lemons.  Trying out a bunch of different star patterns would be fun, and using only these fabrics would keep it from looking too crazy!

One of my favorite stars is the first of the row of four.  So many little pieces though!  And the wave quilting on the far left is one of my favorite patterns to do.

I made a few of the Solstice Stars, but didn't have the courage to try the paper pieced ones.  Then I searched through the Gen X Quilters Block Library for a few more to get some diversity.

I was trying to figure out the layout, and was considering making the whole top out of stars, but my friend Jess suggested the big chunks of fabric.  Genius!  It looks modern, and you get to really see how awesome that fabric is.

The quilting was really fun too.  I did a bunch of different patterns within the stars, and then all the different fabrics have their own pattern.  The quilting doesn't really show up well on the chunks, but it adds a lot of great texture.  

I'm still deciding whether to sell this one in my Etsy shop.  I like it, but it's so different from anything in my house.  I'll probably just hang it on my wall for a while and see how I feel about it.

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday, I Have To Say for Show and Tell Tuesday, and Funky Polka Dot Giraffe for Too Cute Tuesday!

Pants, and Yarn, and Bread. Oh My!

I had a very productive weekend.  I made THREE pairs of Parsley Pants!  A pair for both my kids and one for a friend's daughter.  I had a couple yards of this yummy lightweight denim left over from making her Multi-Tasker Tote, and figured I might as well use it up.

I did all of them with pouch pockets, and used more of the piping I found at Marden's.  I'm going to have to start stocking up on that stuff.  I never thought I would get into making clothing enough to really use it, but now I want to add it to everything.  

Of course, pictures of the pants on the kids will have to wait.  I got both kids dressed in the pants this morning, we went outside to play, but before I could take pictures they'd started soaking each other with the hose.  Maybe I'll get to the laundry tomorrow and try again.

The rest of the weekend was filled with a marathon baking session.  I realized we were eating the last loaf of bread in the freezer and decided I might as well make two batches while I had the time.  I love this white bread recipe from Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila, you just mix, ignore, shape, rise, and bake.  The whole process takes a couple hours, but most of that time you're just ignoring the dough.  I'll have to make some of her wheat bread too.  It's super yummy, but you have to refrigerate it overnight, and I find that by the next day I don't have the ambition to finish the job.

And I balled up some yarn and worked on the second sleeve of my Sweatshirt Sweater.  I only have two more hanks left after this, which makes me kind of nervous.  I have a feeling that I'll be fine, since I only have a bit of sleeve and the armpit of the body up to do, but I'll be nervously checking my yarn until I finish.

Linking up with The Train to Crazy for Make It Wear It Thursday!

Small Finish, Long Week

Toby the Cat is very bummed that this isn't my finish for the week, and is determined to cuddle under my Rainbow QAYG Quilt no matter what!

Honestly, though, I am pretty bummed.  I finished all the blocks, had my backing picked out, and was about to quilt the two together when I realized that I needed to make it a twin size.  Right now it's 4'x6', so that means adding another column and two rows.  Sixteen more blocks!!  But I have a feeling that a certain little girl will want to have this when she gets a real bed, so I'm going to keep going.  I may have to "help" some friends with their scrap stashes because I'm pretty much out of decent batting scraps.

I did manage to finish this Multi-Tasker Tote, though.  Sorry there's no amazing pictures of it; I was too excited to deliver it to it's new home to pause and take any.

Everything but the bottom super hard interfacing came from my friend's (yo Letty!) crazy fabric stash that was handed down to her.  The outside is denim that I quilted onto fusible fleece (because she had bags and bags of it!) instead of using the lightweight interfacing that the pattern called for.  It makes the bag stand up on it's own, which is something that I wish I'd done with mine.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but I did randomly spaced straight lines in navy and orange thread.

On the inside, instead of the one small pocket, I added a bunch of pockets with elastic tops.  I used this tutorial from Sew Thrilling Crafts.  It was super easy, so I'm going to have to add these to every bag I make from now on.  There's six pockets on the inside, of varying sizes, and the four orange pockets on the outside, so I don't think she'll have any problem with storage.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Flamingo Toes for Think Pink Sunday!

Blocks That I've Set Loose Upon the World!

 So here's a post all about blocks I've sewn and given away!  It's kind of the most nerve-wracking thing I've done.  I want to make everything perfect, because the person receiving them is going to see the backside.  They'll know if your scant 1/4 inch is really a true 1/4 inch. Oh, the scandal!

But you do never know if the person who gets it will like your color choices, the layout, or the style.  And once you've put that much work into a block, you don't want them to just cast it aside or have to rework the seams.  Really, the only thing to do is just make sure you like it.

 

This is the last block I made for our Guild's block lottery.  The theme was scrappy stars on a white background.  I thought I was done once I'd made the first two, but then I saw the Mercury star and had to give it a try.  

Surprisingly, I thought this one would be more complicated to paper piece, but I liked it much better than my first.  I think it helped that the block was symmetrical until you got to that last piece.  I think there's a whole quilt of these in my future.  Maybe in all solids!

Here's a shot of all the stars in the lottery.  I really can't wait to see it all finished.  It's going to be a pretty awesome quilt. 

And these are my blocks for the Sew Pieceful swap.  I initially started out wanting to make a Broken Herringbone, but just couldn't get myself excited enough to do all the little pieces of sashing.  Then I found this other block in Jeni Baker's HST Block of the Month quilt.  Once I had all the half square triangles pieced, I played around with them and decided I liked this layout the best.  

I'm not really sold on this block though.  The colors are true to what was requested, but it just doesn't look great.  I might switch out the dotted background with white.  Really not looking forward to that, but it might need to be done.  

And, yeah, couldn't think of a decent title.  When in doubt, go dramatic!

Linking up with Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday and My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday!

WIP Wednesday!

This week I finally got my butt in gear and started my swap blocks for the Sew Pieceful group.  Half of the colors are out of my comfort zone, but at least in my stash, and there's one that I have to go buy a fabric because I have nothing remotely close to the color requested.

Here's the fabric pull for the third of my four blocks this month.  All the colors match the request, and I like it, but I have no idea how the recipient will feel.  And I'm a sucker for keeping things a surprise, so there's no way I'll ask.  I think it'll work out.  

And here's the stack of fabric to be made into clothes this week.  That denim will easily make two or three pairs of Parsley pants, and light green piping for the little girl, dark green for the dude.   

I'm not sure who's going to end up with the sparkly blue fabric.  I dug it out of a remnant bin thinking I'd make the girl a Bateau Neck Top like this one from No Big Dill, but I like the fabric so much I might keep it.  

This is what I'm working on at this very minute!  Mending a mountain of t-shirts for a friend.  I don't understand how they get so mangled, but they're a quick fix. 

Finally, the world's most patient cat presents the ribbing of the second arm of my Sweatshirt Sweater.  I feel like I'm very near the peak of this sweater and after I join the arms, it will all be an easy downhill slide to the finish.  

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!