WIP Wednesday {6.13.2012}

I have to start this weeks WIP Wednesday post by saying this will be my last WIP Wednesday as a 20-something!  My 30th birthday is quickly approaching, and my 20's will soon be long gone.  I suppose 30 really isn't all that different from 29, but it seems the years seem to go faster and faster, and instead of fun and exciting things happening as you turn one year older...you just get older.  With that said, lets get on with the show!

Completed Projects

Purse Palooza  

I finished up this fun tote bag and reviewed the pattern over at Sew Sweetness for Purse Palooza, in case you missed it, you can check it out here!

New/In Progress

X Marks the Spot baby quilt

Remember way back when when I was looking at ways to arrange my leftover Swoon HSTs into pillows??  Well, in true indecisive fashion, since everyone had such awesome input, I just couldn't completely settle on a design idea.  I ended up setting the HSTs off to the side, and ignored them to work on other things.

Fast forward until now- my cousin and his wife recently had a baby girl, and I am super behind on getting them a baby quilt.  I came across  my Swoon HSTs and got the idea that maybe I could make them into some sort of a quick and easy baby quilt, seeing as how they are already sewn, pressed and just screaming to be made into something pretty.  After arranging and rearranging them on my design wall, I formed this sort of "X marks the spot" block, and think I am going to go with it.  I am thinking of adding some borders and sashing, as I only have enough HSTs to make about 4 of these blocks, but I think I can make it work.

EPP Hexies

I've been working away at hand stitching these little guys together.  I am really finding it quite relaxing to veg on the couch in the evening with the hubs hand stitching these hexies together.  I have the first 150 or so basted, and few flowers sewn together.  I am completely fine with this project taking eons to complete, as long as I can stick with it for that long!

MBS tutorial

These little elephants are pieced, basted, and ready to be quilted.  I'm hoping to have this finished in the next few days, stay tuned for a completed tute soon!

Kitchen Update

Were back at it in the kitchen!  After finishing the cabinets, we had decided to contract the rest of the work we wanted done (countertops and backsplash).  Of course we hymmed and hawed on deciding on the backsplash, that by the time we finally decided, it wasn't going to done by the date we needed it finished.  Left without many other options, we decided to just do it our selves.  I am super pleased with how this is turning out, we used these 3/4" glass tiles that came on 1 square foot sheets, which made it super easy for fitting the tiles around the outlets and such.  The hubs is off today, and is planning on finishing the grouting.  I'll be sure to post completed kitchen photos soon!

That about sums up this week!  While I'm relishing the last few days of being 29, be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!

Purse Palooza: Amy Butler Spice Market tote review

Head over to Sew Sweetness today and check out my review of the Amy Butler Spice Market Tote as part of Sara's Purse Palooza 2012!

In case you haven't heard, here are the deets about what Sara has going on:

1. Every weekday in June, there will be 2 amazing guest bloggers scheduled to share with you a purse sewing pattern review. The review will contain detailed information about what they thought about the sewing pattern, modifications they made, what kind of interfacing they used, and more! Get inspired! 

 2. Even more exciting...THERE WILL BE A GIVEAWAY EVERY WEEKDAY IN JUNE! That's right, 20 GIVEAWAYS! Your Giveaway Fairy Godmother is Kim from My Go-Go Life - she has some unbelievable giveaways planned! 3. At the end of the event, you will get a chance to show off your purse in order to win some amazing prizes!

3.  For more info, check out Sara's post here with all the contest details (and all the prizes!) and how to enter your own purse in the fun!

Pattern Review Schedule 

June 4 - Sara @ Sewsweetness (tutorial: bag interfacing)               

               Kim @ My Go-Go Life (Urban Jungle Bag) 

June 5 - Meg @ Fashioned by Meg (Anna Maria Horner Art Student Tote)               

              Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews (Posie Rosie Little Things Jane Market Bag) 

June 6 - Kaelin @ The Plaid Scottie (Oliver + S Day in the Park Backpack)               

              Colleen @ The Busy Bean (something from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book) 

June 7 - Bree @ My Crafty Crap (Jenna Lou Designs Mabel Bag)               

              Ayumi @ Pink Penguin (Signature Bag from Kumiko Fujita) 

June 8 - Tamiko @ Patchwork Notes (Hexagon Patchwork Bag from Playful Patchwork)               

               Jessica @ A Little Gray (Pat Bravo Verona Bag) 

June 11 - Jessica @ Sew Crafty Jess (Amy Butler Spice Market Tote)                 

                Amy @ amylouwho? (V. and Co. Favorite Bag) 

June 12 - Sara @ The Pretty Pickle (Charlie's Aunt Casablanca Clutch)                

                Lindsey @ LRStitched (Noodlehead Envelope Clutch) 

June 13 - Erin @ 2 More Seconds (Keyka Lou Bucket Bag)                

                Caroline @ Sew Can She (V. and Co. Carry All Tote) 

June 14 - Ali @ a squared w (bag from I Like Orange Too)                

                Rachael @ Imagine Gnats (Jen Giddens Pocket Tote) 

June 15 - Holly @ Bijou Lovely (Noodlehead Go Anywhere Bag)                

                Katie @ There and Back (Sweet Pea Pocket Purse) 

June 18 - Monique @ Sew Fun by Monique (Millie's Market Tote from Happy Home by Jennifer        

                Paganelli)                

                Katie @ Swim, Bike, Quilt! (Green Bee Scoop Tote) 

June 19 - Jennie @ Clover and Violet (Lunch Bag from Pink Penguin)                

                Joanna @ Shape Moth (Emmaline Bag) 

June 20 - Jen @ Bettycrockerass (While Baby Naps Metal Clutch)                

                Krista @ The Spotted Stone (The Sometimes Crafter Amanda's Knitting Bag) 

June 21 - Katy @ The Littlest Thistle (Noodlehead 2-4-1 Tote)                

                 Terri @ Sew-Fantastic (In Color Order Lined Drawstring Bag) 

June 22 - Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy (Amy Butler Weekender Bag)                

                Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs (bag from the Bag Making Bible) 

June 25 - Amy @ Sukie Don't You Know Who I Am? (Amy Butler Sophia Bag)                 

                Heather @ {House} of a la Mode (Retro Mama Granny Bag) 

June 26 - Julianna @ Jednoiglec (Charlie's Aunt Kitchen Garden Bag)                

                Jeni @ In Color Order (Bari J. State Street Tote) 

June 27 - Kerry @ Very Kerry Berry (bag from Suzuko Koseki)                

                Michelle @ I Like Orange Too (Left Bank Granny Bag) 

June 28 - Kay Whitt @ Sew Serendipity Studio (tutorial: adjustable strap with metal slider)                

                Amy Barickman @ Indygo Junction (tutorial: installing grommets/magnetic snaps) 

June 29 - Melissa @ Bittersweet Designs (Bella Nonna Boutique Shoulder Bag)

WIP Wednesday {6.6.2012}

It's been a little quiet in these parts lately, and mostly because I've been working on projects that I just can't show you yet!  I've been scrambling to meet a few deadlines (I may have over committed myself just a tad..), but I have a plan in place to finish everything up and get back to a little sewing "normalcy".  So without further ado, this weeks post is mostly a post of sneek peeks!

Completed Projects

EZ Dresden Project

I finished up this project over the weekend, but have to wait to share it until next week!  Check back next Thursday for a tutorial!

In Progress/New Projects

This project is for Sara's Purse Palooza, and has jumped to numero uno on the "need to get done" list, as I'll be guest posting a review of this pattern on Monday!  Hopefully all will go smoothly, I'm excited for a new summer bag!

MBS Project

I've been playing away with these super adorable fabrics for an upcoming Moda Bake Shop tutorial.  The fabrics are from Tim and Becks upcoming line for Moda, Bungle Jungle, and will make just the most adorable baby quilt!  Stay tuned for a completed project soon!

do. Good Stitches x and + quilt

I feel bad.  I've been a horrible do. Good Stitcher.  It seems I've been working on finishing up this Japanese x and + quilt for eons now, and it keeps getting put to the wayside.  It's about a third of the way quilted, and hopefully I'll be getting back to it soon!

EPP Hexagons

Believe all the hype.  These are just as addicting as everyone says!  I'm hoping these little guys will turn into a lap quilt in time, I have about 150 basted, only about 1000 more to go.  More about this project in yesterdays post.

That about sums up this weeks goings on!  Stay tuned for full posts about all these sneaky peeks in the coming weeks.  Be sure to head over to Lee's and add your WIPs!

something new.

I have been itching to start something new, and with summer having set in, and feeling like I have less and less time down in my sewing room, I thought a hand sewing project was just the ticket.  Something sort of mindless that I can take along on various upcoming trips, or easily transport to sit outside on the deck while enjoying the beautiful weather.   

For the moment anyway, I have my eyes set on a scrappy hexie quilt.  I have been trying to tame my scrap bins, and this might actually help me make a dent, as it looks like I'll need about 1200 1" hexagons for a throw size quilt.  I dug out my paper hexagon templates, scrap bins, and used my Accuquilt GO! Baby and hexagon die (the 3" die works perfectly for 1" hexagons) to quickly cut a whole slew of fabric hexagons to start basting.  I am using the common English Paper Piecing method, if your interested, Christina has a great post from a while back with a review of a bunch of different variations to EPP.



I'm not quite sure of where this is going just yet layout-wise, I can't decide between going completely scrappy (like this and this) or a more "controlled" scrappy, by piecing together scrappy flowers like above.  I'm really torn.  What do you think??  I stitched together a few flowers to see what I thought, but I'm still undecided.



For the time being, I suppose I'll baste until my fingers fall off, and go from there.  What about you?  Do you have any on-the-go project favorites??

WIP Wednesday {5.30.2012}

It's been quite a week around these parts!  Lots of family time and barbecues this weekend, but I did manage a few chunks of quality sewing time.  Of course this was squeezed in between sneezes and nose blowing, and just waiting for this stupid head cold/sinus icky-ness to pass...yes still waiting...ugh.  Anyways, achoo!  On with this weeks projects:

Completed Projects

Owl-y baby quilt

This little guy is finished and on its way to its new home.  More on this quilt here.

May Bee Blocks 

These blocks were made using Elizabeth's Radiant Ring tutorial (which is awesome!) and are for Toni in the Imagine circle of do. Good Stitches.  This quilt will be so bright and cheery, can't wait to see it come together!

New and In Progress

EZ Dresden Project

This is the carnage of a little stitching, slicing and dicing using the EZ Dresden Ruler.  I'll be showing the finished project as part of the EZ Dresden Challenge Blog Hop next month, so stay tuned!

That about sums up this weeks projects!  I've also been plugging and chugging away on quilting my do. Good Stitches Japanese x and + quilt.  Hopefully in the next few days I'll be finishing up the quilting and shipping it off to Threading Hope.  Be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!

completed owl-y quilt

Despite coming down with a dreaded spring head cold/sinus infection this past weekend that left me just sick, icky and exhausted, I managed to squeeze in a little quality sewing time, and finished up this adorable baby quilt.  I used Amy's Chain Linked pattern as my inspiration, and doctored the block size a little, to fit to a sweet little baby quilt.  

I really love the geometric pattern with the aqua and white, and how it still features larger sized charms in a slightly different way.  As  I mentioned last time, this quilt was a commissioned baby quilt for my aunt who is gifting it to a co-worker.  She told me that the mom was doing the nursery with lots of "cute little owls" and I knew just the fabric.  I pulled out my remaining scraps of this Anne Kelle Urban Zoologie owl fabric, and paired it with a few coordinating prints in blues, greens and yellows, and a baby quilt was born.  

Since my FMQ foot is still out of commission, and they are apparently back-ordered at the store (grumble...) I pulled out my old machine to do some fun loopy FMQing.  Man, it really made me appreciate my new machine all that much more!  I think I am starting to like these fun loops even more than stippling.  It was just enough fun an whimsy to go with those adorable owls.

I hope the new mommy to be loves these owls as much as I do!

Quilt Stats

Quilt Name:  Owl-y chain linked baby quilt

Quilt Pattern: based on Amy's Chain Linked Pattern

Quilt Size:  39" x 45"

Fabrics:  Anne Kelle Urban Zoologie Owls, Kona White, Kona Aqua, and assorted coordinating prints

Binding:  Sparky & Marie Piccadilly Aqua double leaves

Quilting:  Loopy all over FMQ done by me on my home machine

SMS Giveaway Day Winner

Thanks to all who entered my SMS Giveaway this week!  Mr. Random has helped me select a winner...Drum roll please....

Congratulations Julie!  Look for an email from me in the next few days to get your address so I can ship out your winnings!

Thanks again to all who entered!