back to reality

I could most definitely have gotten use to seeing this view every day, but alas, our vacation has come to a close, we left the high 80 degree weather, white sand beaches and crystal clear waters for....cold, wind and rainy Pittsburgh fall weather.  blah.  

I'm also going through slight withdrawl from these yummy fruity "Banana Mama" drinks.  Who knows what exactly is in this, yes lots of rum, (and, ahem, lots of calories, I'm sure) but they were delicious, and I want one.  Now.  

Anyways, while our resort did have free WiFi, I didn't use it much.  It was nice to be away for the week, and untied to my laptop and the internet (however I feel completely lost as to what is going on in bloggy land now :-) )

There was of course no sewing to be had (I think my sewing machine is going through withdrawl) I did start a new hand project, and made some progress in between naps on the beach.  I had seen this Daisy Chain ABC Crewelwork Sampler  from Posie: Rosie Little Things a few times now, and decided it would be the perfect new take along hand project.  I had been meaning to put together some Birdie Stitches blocks to take with me, and just plain ran out of time before we left.  

Since this was sort of last minute, I didn't have time to get my hands on some crewel yarn, so I am using 2 strands of DMC embroidery thread, which, for the most part is working out fine.  I'm not getting as much of the "fuzzy"ness that the crewel yarn would give, but I like it well enough.

I am using some Robert Kaufman quilters linen in Taupe and am really enjoying working with the different stitches.  My new favorite is the stem stitch.

My favorite letters by far are the "A" and "B".  I think that A took the entire plane ride down to complete, but was worth the time, for sure.  The B is done completely in the stem stitch.  

 

I'm getting much better with my satin stitch.  My only regret with this is the ink I used to transfer the design.  The directions said to use a super fine tipped pen, so I did, but I'm finding that some of my stitching is not completely covering the line marks (probably because I'm not using the crewel yarn) and the ink is permanent.  It's not a huge deal, but I'll remember that if there ever is a "next time" with this pattern.

I'm off to get reacquainted with my sewing machine, its been far too long!

WIP Wednesday {10.5.2011}

Happy WIP Wednesday!  This will likely be my last post for a week or so, no worries, I haven't fallen off the face of the bloggy world, the hubs and I are headed on vacation :-) 

Completed

September Bee Block

Nothing like the last minute, right?  I'm down to one monthly bee (I think I need to do something to remedy this!), and this block is for Stephanie in the Simply Strings Bee. I absolutely adore this block, and now have an "X Strings Block" quilt on my list.  I cannot wait to see how Lindsay puts these blocks together, it is going to be a stunner!

In Progress

baby boy quilt

While this past weekend brought weather entirely too cold, and rainy to boot, I did manage to get this quilt top pieced together.  Does anyone else have a terrible time coming up with names for your quilts?  I'm stuck with "baby boy quilt" how generic.  Anyways, for now, more on baby boy's quilt here.

Birdie Stitches

I finished up May and June's Birdie Stitches blocks.  I just love June's typography block, I tried my hand at some satin stitching on some of the words for added visual interest, and once I got the hang of it, it turned out pretty nice.  I know I say it every week, but I just love working on these blocks.

Travel Handmade

  

I decided at the last minute that I should make a new makeup bag and make up brush holder (I'm a Bare Escentuals gal, and you really rack up the make up brushes using that stuff!) for our trip.  I had a few scraps of fabric from my weekender bag left over, and thought it was meant to be.  Now my makeup and brushes will be traveling in style :-)

This Weeks Stats:

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 1

In Progress: 7

FWQAL

Birdie Stitches

Baby Boy Quilt

October Bee Blocks

September Bee Blocks

Blocks that need to be turned into a quilt top

3x6 bee blocks

Spiderweb blocks

UFO Quilt tops (maybe, someday)

Postage Stamp Quilt top

Central Park squares

See you in a week or so!  Stop over at Freshly Pieced and add your WIP (and check out Lee's fabric line, Kaleidoscope Lane if you haven't already, it's amazing!)

12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt Along

Hello friends!  Christmas is undoubtedly my absolute most favorite time of the year, and I already have so many handmade projects and gifts in mind, it's borderline crazy.

To get you in the spirit (with plenty of time to spare), it's time to announce the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along! Twelve bloggers will each create a unique 12.5" Christmas-themed block and prepare a tutorial to go along with it. The block instructions, available on each designers' blog, will be spread over a 6-week period, giving you plenty of time to join in! If you decide to quilt along with us, at the end of the 6 weeks, you will have a completed Christmas quilt top!

If you are planning on joining, the quilt top will require 12 fat quarters, or 1 layer cake. You are also more than welcome to use various solid/holiday scraps! In addition to that, you will need approximately 1-1/2 yard of solid fabric for the sashing.

Here is the schedule for each of the 12 blocks; on the respective date, you will be able to find the block/tutorial on the specified blog. You can also check back here after the date has passed, to find links to the tutorials!

Oct 25 - Julianna @ Projektownia Jednoiglec
Oct 27 - Sara @ Sew Sweetness
Nov 1 - Kaelin @ The Plaid Scottie
Nov 3 - Jennie @ Clover and Violet
Nov 8 - Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy
Nov 10 - Riel @ The Q and the U
Nov 15 - Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts
Nov 17 - Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews
Nov 22 - Jessica @ SewCraftyJess
Nov 23 - Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs
Nov 29 - Heather & Megan @ Quilt Story
Dec 1 - Kim @ My Go Go Life

There is also a '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along Flickr Group for you to join in! We'll be sharing our fabric choices, completed blocks, and questions along the way!

Hope to see you around for the quilt along!!

Sanctuary Squares baby quilt top

We've had just horrible cold and rainy weather this weekend, and horrible weather = lots of sewing time down in my sewing room!  

Lots and lots of chain piecing occurred, and quickly turned into this finished baby quilt top (please pardon the terrible horrible indoor pics to follow, mother nature was not agreeing with an outdoor photo shoot today):

I had this quilt from Hyacinth Quilt Designs pinned on my Pinterest wall for some time now, and thought that this commissioned baby quilt would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try.  I altered the dimensions, so that this top measures 42" square, and a perfect baby quilt/crib quilt size.  

 

I really love how these colors work together, all of the fabrics came from my stash, the animal prints are from Kate Spain's Central Park, with various assorted prints in blues, greens and yellows, with Kona White as the "frame" color and Kona Chocolate as the background color.  I have a good bit of the white Kate Spain animal print stashed away, and will make a perfect quilt back for this little guy's quilt.  

I'm going to set this quilt top aside until after our vacation to finish up, I'm thinking either some free motion stippling, or some fun organic wavy lines, we'll see what sort of mood I'm in.

I will be linking up to Sew Modern Monday, stop over and see what everyone is up to!

WIP Wednesday {9.28.2011}

After a brief delay in our regularly scheduled programming last week, WIP Wednesday is back!  I'd like to give a shout out to our host Lee, who is in the middle of designing her fabric line for the Connecting Threads contest, can you believe it?? Designing her own fabric line!!  Good luck Lee, can't wait to see what you have come up with, I know it will be just fabulous!!

Completed Projects

Weekender Bag

I am so thrilled with this bag, I can't bring myself to put it away just yet...for now its sitting on our dining room table, and I have to admit I just walk in there and look at it, because I can't believe I actually finished it!  More on this finish here.

Secret Pillow Project

Remember this sneaky peek?  Well my two pillows are completed and will be on their way to their new home, with Ann in Italy on Friday!  As soon as she receives them, I'll share them with everyone!

New Projects

Baby Boy Quilt

Just as I was thinking I wanted to start something new, a friend of mine commissioned me to make a baby quilt for her.  I always immediately go looking to buy new fabric, but I stopped myself, and pulled this selection from my stash.  I need a little more of the solid brown Kona, but I am super proud of myself, I even have fabric for the quilt back {{quilts made from stash fabrics}} more to come on this soon, I'm just itching to  cut into these fabrics!

In Progress

Farmers Wife QAL

No new blocks this week.  Block #35 is one of those darn baskets.  I'm still deciding if I should skip the stupid basket and make two of another block, or just suck it up and make the darn thing.  Part of me feels like I'm cheating (yes, I know this is ridiculous) if I skip the basket, but I just plain don't like them.  One basket is enough.  Argh.  More of these to come soon.

This Weeks Stats

New Projects: 1

Completed Projects: 2

In Progress: 7

FWQAL

Birdie Stitches QAL

Solid Spiderweb quilt

Weekender Bag

September Bee Blocks

Pillow Swap

Baby boy quilt

UFO Quilt tops (maybe, one day...)

Postage Stamp quilt top

Central Park quilt top

Be sure to pop over and wish Lee good luck on her fabric line, and add your WIP!

A weekender kind of weekend

It's done!  It's done!  It's done!  {insert happy dance here}!  My fingers will eventually recover from the 9,000 pin pricks, and I'm pretty sure my arms are going to be sore tomorrow from wrangling this behemoth through my machine, but it's done, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  

By far the trickiest part was sewing the whole conglomeration together with the cording, but with the help of some clothespins, like Elizabeth and Megan had suggested instead of the binder clips as recommended in the directions, it went much smoother than I had envisioned the dreaded step 11c would go.  I will also advise using steam a seam or stitch witchery when making the cording.  You end up sewing the cording three times, with the idea that you sew closer and closer to the actual cord with each set of stitches.  Using a double sided adhesive eliminates at least one set of stitches.     

Instead of the elusive non separating zipper the directions call for, I picked up this parka zipper at Joann's and thought it would do the trick.  I like it because its more of a heavy duty zipper, and it has two zipper pulls for opening and closing.  I had planned on just taking off one of the pulls when I shortened the zipper to the length I needed, but I ended up leaving both pulls on.  In the end, I think I am going to like the two pulls, as it now opens from either end.  I want to add a fun decorative pull to the zipper, but by the time I got the bag finished, I just wanted to be done.  

I also lengthened the handles some, so that it now comfortably fits on my shoulder.  I cut the handle length to 54" instead of the 48" called for in the instructions, as Becky had suggested when she made her Weekender. 

I also made a few alterations to the interior.  I found it odd that for a bag this big there were no interior pockets included in the pattern.  I took matters into my own hands and added a few pockets to the inside, and am so so happy I did.  

 For this pocket, I used the pattern for the exterior pockets, and just sewed a seam down the middle to create two sections.

On the other side of the interior I added a zipper pocket using this tutorial.  I am planning on using this bag as a carry on bag for an upcoming trip, and thought I could use this more secure inside pocket for my passport and ID.  

I tried to avoid hand stitching as much as possible, because for starters I'm no good at it, and secondly, because I just plain don't like it.  I again took a hint from Elizabeth, and pinned the top of my lining to just inside the zipper portion of the outer bag, and machine sewed over top of my line of stitching from installing the zipper to secure my lining.  This way I know my lining is nice and secure, and don't have to worry about my hand stitching coming undone.  I was noticing I think from the extra weight of adding the pockets I added to the lining that the lining kept sort of collapsing on itself and looking messy, so I broke down and just added a line of hand stitching along the upper seam where the cording is, to keep the lining nice and tight against the walls of the bag.  

All in all I'm glad I challenged myself with this bag.  I can't say I'll be making another for quite some time, if ever, but I'm super pleased with how it turned out, and I'm sure it will get lots and lots of use.  

While I'm super bummed I'm missing out on the Sewing Summit this year (maybe next year??), I am consoled  by the fact that my new weekender bag and I (along with the hubs :-) ) will be sipping some sort of tropical drink on the beach in T minus 12 days.  By some stroke of luck we have convinced my brother to come and house sit/dog sit the crazies for the week we are gone.  Cue music...All my bags are packed I'm a ready to go...

I'll be linking up to Sew Modern Monday, stop over and check out all the amazing modern finishes! 

The Farmers...Daughter?

I kid, I kid.  Although one of the blocks this week is named just that, Farmers Daughter.  This week is actually both this week and lasts weeks Farmers Wife blocks combined, and include a few highs, and a few lows.

Block #31 Evening Star

This is one of my favorites so far.  I picked up some of this adorable Riley Blake tree print on my last trip to my favorite LQS, and thought this block would be perfect for a little fussy cutting action.  I added some Oh My! by Sanae for Moda and this green canvas print.

Block #32 Farmers Daughter

Hmmm, no matter how I look at this I most certainly don't see any resemblance to a farmer, or his daughter, but regardless I like it anyways.  I used some of this pretty Kaffe Fasset print and paired it with some pink and orange I had lying around in my stash. 

Block #33 Farmers Puzzle

I am really digging this block, but I beg you, please, pretty please don't look too closely at those ragged edges.  I'm not exactly sure what went on here, everything was piecing together nicely, until I pieced in those longer strips, and it just wasnt matching up for some reason.  I fudged it a bit, and figure that there will be enough of these teeny tiny blocks, no one will notice my Farmers Puzzle that has the triangle points slightly chopped off.  And if they do, I don't really care :-)

Block #34 Flock

This block is just eh to me.  Don't love it, don't hate it.  I've come to the conclusion that its all about fabric choices with these blocks.  I love each of these fabrics, but together? Not so much.  The green is a Sandi Henderson print and the grey is Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda. 

These blocks are slowly taking up my entire design wall, and I'm not sure how I'll display them once they grow larger than my wall...perhaps I'll just decorate my sewing room walls with Farmers Wife blocks