It’s the season to start christmas projects and not talk about them. But I did cut the pieces for a new quilt, for ME this time. And instead of sewing the quilt pieces I made a little something out of the scraps. A sneak peek;
October 1, 2011
September 22, 2011
My yesterday. Just had to share.
We interrupt this normally sewing blog for this comic break-
So, Darcy’s toy snake fell out of the car at the sitter’s house, and the sitter thought it was real, and her neighbor thought it was real, and animal control thought it was real and called for backup and the cop thought it was real, until he got it in the snake bag… when he figured out it wasn’t real. They were terribly embarrassed, and I, well I guess I should be embarrassed, but I think it is pretty funny.
September 11, 2011
Peacock quilt
We are at the end of a long summer of weddings. And this wedding brought us to the North Carolina beach for a week. Which is pretty great. Only on day 2 and feeling all the stress melt away. Ahhhh…
This bride is crazy organized and had a theme over a year ago. Rustic Beach or some thing like that. All I know is she plans to have lots of peacock themed stuff. So I took that and ran…
Did I ever mention that I eloped? I don’t want to sound like a hater, but dear lordy, weddings these days are so big and involved. This here wedding celebration is starting on Wednesday with brunch and winding up late Saturday night. And there is no avoiding any of it, my hubby it the best man! Oy-Vey!
It is enough to drive a girl to strawberry daiquiris on the beach. Not that I had 2 or maybe 3 earlier today. Give me a justice of the peace and a nice quiet beach anyday.
anyway- the backside-
All green with a nice little pieced stripe. That navy is the bed sheet, I might have had a photoshoot with a daiquiri and not noticed that until now. Don’t worry folks, there is an aunt and uncle and grandma around to be in charge should anyone need to have a diaper change.
Sorry, got distracted there for a second. Here is another photo of the pieced stripe on the back.
And a little tag, Ta-dah! Now back to the beach. Much more relaxing to be done this week!
September 7, 2011
Playhouse, work in progress
The hand-me-down furniture has been painted. And 3 gallons of Kilz has made the inside of our old garden shed habitable for a little girl. We have to frame those lower windows and paint the floor a color other than white but we are well on our way!
p.s. the dog painting was painted by a much younger me who was going to write a childrens book about a blue dog. That never materialized, but it looks pretty okay in the playhouse!
September 2, 2011
more patchwork pillows
I am paying my babysitter this week in homemade pillows. I fell in love with them while I was making them. I wish I wasn’t sending them away.
Even though I kicked these out fast I spent a few extra minutes and added some top stitching…
August 25, 2011
2 weeks in pictures
I was forced to pull myself away from sewing for a little while.
Because a tree fell on the house.
And poked a hole in the nursery. We were at the grocery store when it happened, but the little miss points at the ceiling and says, Uh-Oh. We now have a new section of roof, but there are still some repairs to be done.
We have been savoring the last few weeks of warmth.
And I have put my quilting aside to do some other outdoor projects not related to big stinking trees. I started transforming the smaller, older tool shed into a playhouse for the little miss. A few gallons of Kilz on the inside so far but there is much more to paint. And there is a new window to be framed. I have been image searching and loving all the playhouse ideas out there and collecting all my inspiration on pintrest. Seriously, click that link and you will start dreaming about your own playhouse.
My mom arrived with these treasures and I promptly painted them with the wrong paint (*%^&#*@#!) . I thought I was spraying them with black primer but alas, it was product called “undercoating” which still has not fully dried 4 days later! So, there might be a trip to the sandblaster and then a do-over. In the end I want these to be red, with a pink seat and pink table top, and they will live in her playhouse.
So, that is what has been going on. Plus 2 more weddings, a birthday, a family reunion and friends staying from out of town. I have 17 days to finish a wedding quilt who’s top is not quite pieced… Or a year and 17 days if I choose to take my husband’s advice…
August 9, 2011
Purple Patchwork Pillows
While racing around with 4 house guests this weekend I managed to finish these pillows for a wedding present. I took some photos with baby on one hip, husband asking which tie to wear and me trying to figure out what to wear 1 hour before the service. I’m happy that I got a picture taken at all is what I am saying…
I pulled the pieced part out of my scrap basket. I have no idea what I originally intended to do with these patchwork stripes but I know for sure they came from this quilt.
And the perfect purple triangles? Came from this quilt.
I am sure this is going to sound hokey and ridiculous, but I love how these pillows are connected in a small way to an earlier wedding quilt and a graduation quilt. And how (in my crazy thinking) the bride is connected to the other people I sew for, even if she doesn’t know it.
August 4, 2011
Scrappy Houses Quilt
I have been done with this quilt for a while, but was waiting for my mother-in-law to come for a visit so I could finally give it to her. Christmas in July is what this really is, 7 months past it’s due date!
There is a lot going on in this quilt,I took some detail shots in an earlier post.
I like the back almost as much as the front. It is a long saved Ikea duvet cover. I had to add a little to the sides to make the twin size expanded to a queen size. The final size on this quilt is 90″ x 90″. Green is a hard color when it comes to quilts. Or at least I find it to be tough. It always looks a bit christmasy unless you can find some nice light greens. I think the binding saved this one from the christmas vibe. I am always on the lookout for green on green prints, and now more than ever because I have used up 2 of them!
July 27, 2011
A dress for later
Well I lied. I said I was gonna try sewing this dress without a pattern but I realized I had a pattern very similar!
I tried my hand at the Japanese pattern book I picked up ages ago … I wish I knew the name…
that is the cover, this is the dress I made
I made the smallest pattern, 100, which I later looked up and learned it equates to 3T. It was my first time in ages sewing with knits. This is saying a lot! I have been sewing since I was 12 and many failures in the early days had me too scared to ever try knits again. But I watched this video on YouTube and holy crap, it worked! I wasn’t brave enough to do all the pieced shapes from the dress I mentioned a few weeks ago, but I think it is pretty fantastic.
Full disclosure; I wish I could say that the contrasting fabric at the bottom was artistry and creativity, but truthfully it was accommodate the lack of fabric I discovered a little too late.I won’t be adding horizontal seams in knits again, it puckers a little too much for my liking.
And in this picture you can see the pockets. Currently below the knee (HA HA HA HA!) It will fit sometime around 2014…. But I love the pattern so much she will have a whole collection of these dresses by then!
I knew it would be way too big for her while I was cutting it, but it seems silly to take pictures of a dress on a hanger when there is such a cutie model who works for cookies!
I got all 3 knits from Cloth and Bobbin.
July 20, 2011
My helper and birdhouse gourds
First, I would like to present photographic proof that all those people with 3 and 4 kids who find time to sew obviously do not sleep, because this is a regular sight in this house with just one baby.
In that last picture you can just make out the 12″ Habitat blocks for donation quilts. Which were made when I should have been asleep. They ended up inside a weeble treehouse just a few moments later.
speaking of treehouses… oh heck, there just isn’t a good segue-way for this, oh well, plunging in;
My vegetable gardener husband grew birdhouse gourds from seed . After we picked them we put them in a milkcrate and stored them safely in the garage to dry out. Fast forward five years. I have been telling anyone who will listen that I want birdhouses for my birthday. I have 6 or 7 birdhouses currently and they are mostly occupied and I have a totally illogical urge to invite more squawking poopers over to our yard. Anyway, it came to me in a dream that I have moved that damn milkcrate around the garage umpteen times and it was high time to make my own birdhouses.
I won’t bore you with the construction details (just put it in google, folks). But the whole reason I am posting the pictures is I wanted to share how much I LOVE the patina on these gourds before they were painted. People pay big money for granite that looks like that! But I am too lazy to go all the way to the store for varnish, so, white they are.
