A Really Finished Rainbow Quilt

I'm officially calling this quilt done!  And I really think I mean it this time.  See, it's all bound and everything, that totally says done.

So the last time I thought it was done, I had only sewn the quilted top to the backing along all the seams.  It was then that I realized that all the blocks were warped from all that dense quilting, and that they bubbled in the center of each block.  I know that only I would ever be bothered by this, but I was really bothered.  

After hiding it away for a couple months, I busted it back out did some hand-quilting on each of the squares to attach the centers of the blocks to the backing and bound it in a bunch of black prints that I've been stashing away for just the right project.

I absolutely loved laying under this quilt and slowly adding all those little stitches.  There was a lot of just running stitches along the quilted lines, or following the pattern of the fabric, but there's also stars, x's, pluses, feathers and zigzags.  I may end up adding more when I'm bored and need something to keep my hands busy, and since the top has so much going on, I could probably fill it with stitches and it wouldn't look overdone. 

This quilt is going to get a bit more time on the couch before I run it through the wash.  I'm a little nervous about what shrinkage is going to do to this quilt, so I want to have some quality time just in case it spontaneously combusts in the dryer.

Linking up to Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

Snow Day!

Staring at the snow and general goobering.

 Snow day.  Stuck in the house all day with these two crazies, a bucket of animal crackers and my sewing machine.  Luckily, we'd done a run through Joann's yesterday and the flannel was $2.79 a yard!  The kids got to pick some for new pjs and since no one was going anywhere today, they got to help me sew them up.

I had supervision while cutting (did three pairs at a time with a sharp rotary blade. Yay mass production!), and the dude was put in charge of placing the pins back in the pin case.

The trains were his favorite, and the only pair I could wiggle him into, but three pairs of pjs done in one afternoon is probably a record for me.  I used the Parsley Pants pattern and cut a few corners, like ironing, and actually measuring the hems.  The end result is still a solid pair of pants, so it worked out.

The mustaches were my contribution to the pile.  I'm really hoping to convince him to wear them to school for the next pj day.  Instant cool.

Our other project for the snow day was to make Valentines for his class.  He made all the design choices and shot down a lot of my suggestions.  He just wanted hearts with glitter and his name in pencil, none of my yarn, stickers, or markers made the cut.  I love the focus.

We may have to make a few more for non-school friends, teachers, and family because he loved doing this.  Plus, why not make more since the house already has a thin coating of glitter on all flat surfaces.  :)

Rainbow QAYG: the Reboot

Well, since January really kicked my butt, I'm going to make the most out of February!  I've already made a giant list of everything I want to do, but I'm going to pare it down to just the things I want to complete this month.  And since my eyes are usually bigger than my sewing box, I'm going to try to be realistic and only have a couple things on my "Must Finish" list.

This is one of the first things I want to get done.  It's the Rainbow Quilt-as-you-Go quilt I "finished" a while ago.  I'd sewn it together and sewed the top to the backing when I realized that it was quite lumpy.  All my blocks were slightly warped (which might still work itself out in the wash) so they bubbled in the centers.  I was so frustrated at that all that work hadn't turned out perfect, that I just rolled it in a ball and stashed it in the corner of the sewing area.

After some grumping about it, I realized that doing some hand quilting in the centers would attach them better to the backing so there'd be less lump.  So I grabbed my collection of Perle Cotton and got to work.

With all these little decorative stitches, it's turning out to be one of my favorite projects.  I know I'm going to love cuddling under it and tracing all those stitches.

And this guy is loving sitting next to me while I stitch.  He gets to pull the needle as it comes up from the bottom.  A very serious job!

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday and Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Working on My Closet of Washis

I'm clearly a convert to the Washi Dress.  I love how it fits without fiddling, and I can make it in just one morning.  I keep meaning to try the three-quarter sleeves, but then I chicken out.  And I really need to get the Washi expansion pack that Rae just put out, the Peter Pan collar kills me!

I've had this pile of fabric for quite a while ($4/yard from my last Marden's trip), and I've just been waiting for the time to make the dress.  It's really a chrysanthemum print, but it looks really odd and geometric from far away.  So it's fun but respectable.

She had to get in on the fun.

I ditched the interfacing on this version.  I figured the scoop neck would be fine without it, and I didn't have any.  Instead, I just sewed the facing around the neck and then sewed the bottom edge of the facing down.  Super easy, and seems to hold up well.

We had to take a break suddenly for a Popsicle stick sword fight.  And now I can say that this dress has been "battle-tested" and aced it with flying colors, even though the sword fight ended in a draw.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday!

WIP Wednesday!!

It's my first WIP Wednesday of the new year, and I have a kind of New Year's resolution project to share!  Perfect.

So the Catvent QAL left me with a bunch of awesome scraps that were conveniently similarly sized, so I figured they'd be perfect to use together in another project.  I was keeping them all together in a little baggie since my normal scrap bin would have taken over the entire dining room, and that baggie got pretty full.  So I decided to start stitching them together into some "found fabric" a la Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play.

I didn't want to cut them any smaller, so I would just find pieces that fit together and sewed.  When some of those pieces fit together, I sewed some more.  And eventually, I got a couple pieces that were decently sized!

I've used up almost all the patterned pieces, and have a bunch more solid scraps, so I'll save those until I fill the baggie up with more prints and make some more squares.

So what's the New Year's resolution?  I want to use up those scraps almost as fast as I make them!  No more 10 gallon bucket of scraps for me!  Fingers crossed...

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday and Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday!

January do. Good Stitches

I just got into the Cheer circle of do. Good Stitches.  I've been on the wait list for a while, and I'm pretty excited to join this group.  I've seen some of the quilts that they've made pop up in my Flickr stream, and they're some of my favorites.  The Airplane Quilt they did back in July is amazing.  

This is the first block that I've made for the group.  It's the Antique Tile block from Fresh Lemons.  I love this block, and was halfway through sewing the first one when I realized I've done this block for another bee, and loved it then too.  Clearly, I need to make a whole quilt of these for myself.

I'll be sending them off tomorrow (yay for turning in assignments early!), and I can't wait to see what our quilter does with them.

February is my turn to pick the block, and I had decided on the economy block from Red Pepper Quilts.  I've had so many of them in my Instagram feed because of the sew-along, it's like subliminal messaging to make them.  But now I'm not so sure I want to use this block, since I'd need everyone to make at least four.  Sure they stitch up fast, but that's a lot of blocks for a bee.

What do you guys think?  Any other block suggestions?

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday!

Hello Birdie Super Tote Finish!

I'm back!  It was a great break, just knitting and sewing up presents, and enjoying Christmas break.  And I got to get more practice with the fancy new camera, and I'm so excited to take pictures now.

But the tote!  It's the Noodlehead Super Tote.  I won (kind of, begged) for the pattern at our guild's Yankee Swap and was dying to make myself one of these bags.  They're super big, and zippers!

So I was just waiting for the right fabric sale to get myself some supplies, when I realized that the perfect finishing touch for my cousin's art supplies Christmas gift would be to wrap it all up in a tote.  Luckily, I'd just managed to convince a friend to spend some quality time at the Ikea fabric section for me, and she brought back this hilarious bird print.  And it was almost home dec weight, so perfect for a tote.

Finished it off with some coordinating solids and red piping, and it was done.  The whole thing only took one night, but it was a late one.  And a real testament to how easy this pattern goes together is the fact that in my caffeinated, buzzy, late night stupor, I only had to rip out one side of the zipper because the fabric was stretchier than I anticipated!  So much win!

Still haven't made one for myself, but I plan on looking through some more of those Ikea fabrics later and finding a print for me.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday!