i sewed something!
i'm making a pillow with the fabrics i posted yesterday.
don't know if this heart will make the final pillow,
but at least i started : )
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
ready for the new year
These are my completed sewing and quilting projects of 2011. Not very impressive. I did however finish a lot of quilt bee blocks - over 50! Between homeschooling and my husband's health issues this past year [he's recovering nicely!], sewing wasn't a high priority.
But this year should be better! I am participating in NO bees this year. First time in several years. While I will miss the interactions, I look forward to focusing all my sewing energy into making exactly what I want to make.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
week in review
i went to our annual homeschool group's moms' christmas brunch.
i always enjoy making something for our white elephant gift exchange.
this year, i just made something that was simple and quick.
then i packed up my sewing machine and put it all away.
i was sick off all the clutter.
trying to decide if i want to set up a better sewing space in my bedroom.
i know. i know. i just moved it all out in the family room,
but now my sewing space is too small.
we visited my sil and her family for our nephew's birthday.
brought free gifts from our citrus trees.
received some mail goodies.
more on that in another post.
hopefully.
marguerite and i spent the day with friends
dipping things in chocolate
yum!
then marguerite spent the night there
and zach stayed home with my mil
and billy and i went to dinner to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary!
marguerite spent friday throwing up.
and it was quiet awhile before i had a shower ; )
plus i'm gearing up for 52fridays
which is weekly self portrait challenge on flickr
helps me get over my disdain of seeing pictures of myself
some books i've finished lately.
click on the picture to take you to flickr
if you would like to see my very brief reviews.
or you can just take my word for it that i like all three of these.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
let the crafting begin!
alternate title: our fall/winter vacation has begun
a few months ago, while we were in the thick of homeschooling, i finished up the sewing for my free piecing swap for molly and also my bee ff blocks. then i packed away my sewing machine. when it was sitting out all ready to go, i was feeling the pull [sometimes the guilty pull] to sew when i knew that i didn't have time for it.
but this week started our break from school until the new year, and my sewing table is finally cleared off of all non sewing stuff. i am ready to get going! maybe today.
each year my dear friend katie and i make christmas cards. it's such a joy to spend an evening each week having dinner at her house and then working on cards together. lots of laughter and even a few tears are shared between us. and while we work on our cards, our friendship deepens.
i haven't made my card list yet, but i made 39 cards. i know some will cherish them and some will think it's a waste. some will realize how much effort goes into making them and some will chuck it into the garbage after the holidays are over without a thought. but i make them for me. the act of making them gives me pleasure. those who love what i make are the icing on the cake.
a few months ago, while we were in the thick of homeschooling, i finished up the sewing for my free piecing swap for molly and also my bee ff blocks. then i packed away my sewing machine. when it was sitting out all ready to go, i was feeling the pull [sometimes the guilty pull] to sew when i knew that i didn't have time for it.
but this week started our break from school until the new year, and my sewing table is finally cleared off of all non sewing stuff. i am ready to get going! maybe today.
each year my dear friend katie and i make christmas cards. it's such a joy to spend an evening each week having dinner at her house and then working on cards together. lots of laughter and even a few tears are shared between us. and while we work on our cards, our friendship deepens.
i haven't made my card list yet, but i made 39 cards. i know some will cherish them and some will think it's a waste. some will realize how much effort goes into making them and some will chuck it into the garbage after the holidays are over without a thought. but i make them for me. the act of making them gives me pleasure. those who love what i make are the icing on the cake.
Monday, October 10, 2011
finished
i told you i was going to sew like a mad woman! i finished up bee ff and the free piecing study. all of these blocks are for molly, my free piecing partner. i still have to make my own blocks for those two swaps, but it's ok with me to wait. when i started both of these swaps, i didn't realize how busy i was going to be this year. homeschooling is taking up a large amount of my time and leaving very little sewing time. my plan is to not sign up for any other swaps for the rest of this year and next year so that i can focus my sewing time on completing my own projects.
hold me to it!!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
sewing vacation
that would be a vacation to sew not a vacation from sewing.
we only take about 5 weeks off from school during the summer, so through out the year, we take a week off here and there and then a big chunk of time from thanksgiving until the new year.
i am terribly behind in my two swaps [beeff and the free piecing study]. so this week i'm sewing like a mad woman trying to catch up. actually this is the last month for both groups, so i'm hoping to finish everything. besides school, their is a lot on my plate right now. i'd like to get these finished and maybe put away my sewing machine for awhile. we'll see.
today i sewed some simple curtains for our family room and a simple scarf for marguerite. i might have to borrow it myself if i can convince myself that i'm a scarf wearing person.
i also sewed some star blocks for lynn for beeff.
i started off just cutting and sewing willy nilly. very wonky. hmmm, maybe i should measure my pieces first before sewing them. what a novel idea.
here are a few more that i actually took the time to measure before cutting my fabric.
think i need a few more wonky ones. i can't decide if i'm just a rebel, just a lazy butt or i just like variety. maybe a bit of all three?
we only take about 5 weeks off from school during the summer, so through out the year, we take a week off here and there and then a big chunk of time from thanksgiving until the new year.
i am terribly behind in my two swaps [beeff and the free piecing study]. so this week i'm sewing like a mad woman trying to catch up. actually this is the last month for both groups, so i'm hoping to finish everything. besides school, their is a lot on my plate right now. i'd like to get these finished and maybe put away my sewing machine for awhile. we'll see.
today i sewed some simple curtains for our family room and a simple scarf for marguerite. i might have to borrow it myself if i can convince myself that i'm a scarf wearing person.
i also sewed some star blocks for lynn for beeff.
i started off just cutting and sewing willy nilly. very wonky. hmmm, maybe i should measure my pieces first before sewing them. what a novel idea.
here are a few more that i actually took the time to measure before cutting my fabric.
think i need a few more wonky ones. i can't decide if i'm just a rebel, just a lazy butt or i just like variety. maybe a bit of all three?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
free piecing study - september - churndash
or is that churn dash?
ready for a tute that is full of bad photos and lots of rambling? ok. let's get started.
i started with a 12.5"ish square cut into a wonky grid ala this tute. i pin so i can remember how the blocks go together.
cut some fabric for the churndash part. if i were to do this over, i would cut larger pieces for triangles. cut the bars to fit the middle side pieces.
sew the bars onto the middle background pieces. the top left shows one that has been sewn but not pressed open. the top right shows one pressed open, but oh look, i made a mistake and have to redo that one because i wasn't able to cover the background piece. *speaking of mistakes, i sewed all four of these wrong the first time. nice. then when i had figured out what i was doing (forgive me i had just gotten out of bed) i then sewed two wrong just like the one shown. nice. i spent a few quality minutes with the seam ripper before continuing.* the bottom left shows one pressed open but not trimmed. the bottom right shows the square flipped over and trimmed. use the background fabric as your template to guide you where to trim.
the top left shows one flipped over but not trimmed. the top right shows one flipped and trimmed. the bottom left shows trimmed and opened up. the bottom right shows the excess background trimmed off now we don't need it for a cutting guide.
same process with the corners.
lay everything out in it's proper place and sew together.
and voila! a wonky churndash block that just barely squeeked into a 10.5" square. and i wish i had made the triangles bigger.
did you notice that i made mistakes and had to rip out seams and resew?
did you notice that i wished i had made the triangles bigger?
did you notice that i barely made it to the desired size?
free piecing people!
free piecing is a learning experience.
and while i was sewing (and seam ripping), i realized that this is a pretty fussy method with the wonky background. sewing with squares would be easier. but if you are trying to achieve an extra wonky look, this is a way to do it.
ready for a tute that is full of bad photos and lots of rambling? ok. let's get started.
i started with a 12.5"ish square cut into a wonky grid ala this tute. i pin so i can remember how the blocks go together.
cut some fabric for the churndash part. if i were to do this over, i would cut larger pieces for triangles. cut the bars to fit the middle side pieces.
sew the bars onto the middle background pieces. the top left shows one that has been sewn but not pressed open. the top right shows one pressed open, but oh look, i made a mistake and have to redo that one because i wasn't able to cover the background piece. *speaking of mistakes, i sewed all four of these wrong the first time. nice. then when i had figured out what i was doing (forgive me i had just gotten out of bed) i then sewed two wrong just like the one shown. nice. i spent a few quality minutes with the seam ripper before continuing.* the bottom left shows one pressed open but not trimmed. the bottom right shows the square flipped over and trimmed. use the background fabric as your template to guide you where to trim.
the top left shows one flipped over but not trimmed. the top right shows one flipped and trimmed. the bottom left shows trimmed and opened up. the bottom right shows the excess background trimmed off now we don't need it for a cutting guide.
same process with the corners.
lay everything out in it's proper place and sew together.
and voila! a wonky churndash block that just barely squeeked into a 10.5" square. and i wish i had made the triangles bigger.
did you notice that i made mistakes and had to rip out seams and resew?
did you notice that i wished i had made the triangles bigger?
did you notice that i barely made it to the desired size?
free piecing people!
free piecing is a learning experience.
and while i was sewing (and seam ripping), i realized that this is a pretty fussy method with the wonky background. sewing with squares would be easier. but if you are trying to achieve an extra wonky look, this is a way to do it.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
quilted pillow
a dear friend is turning 40, and her family gave her a surprise birthday party. i wanted to make her something special because she is a special friend.
it was nice to work on a small project and be able to complete it so quickly. yay summer. we're starting school soon, and i will miss getting so much done.
i have never made a quilted pillow before, and i knew that the top would shrink once it was washed from all the quilting, so i zigzagged around the edge of the unbound top and washed and dried it. i'm glad i did! it shrank so much that i had to chance from a 20" pillow to an 18" pillow because it was just a tad smaller than i needed it to be.
18" x 18"
machine pieced, quilted and bound
with a simple, envelope opening in the back
i didn't have a gift bag big enough, and there was no way i was wasting money on one either. so i stitched one up with my sewing machine and some newspaper. took me less than 10 minutes to make, and it was a hit at the party. a new way to recycle! yay!
Friday, July 22, 2011
overnight bag
now that we are in the full swing of summer, marguerite has a lot of sleepovers. i've been meaning to make her a overnight bag. she picked out the fabric a month or so a go, and i finally got around to sewing it. glad i did because she's spending the night at a friend's tonight. and i made i plenty big to not only hold her clothes but anything extra she might want to bring.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
still playing catch up
april's free piecing block for molly
anita's blocks for bee ff for june
i'm in two swaps this year: bee ff (bee of flickr friends) and sarah and molly's free piecing study. they both are to end in october, but i think i'm going to try to finish them up before summer ends. i've had more time to sew since we finished school last week. that way when school starts, i can focus all my attention on homeschooling if i want to.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
free piecing study - july - block 2 - basket
for our second block of july, we will be making baskets. i first saw these in the Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again book. there are some great basket quilts out there such as this and this.
first cut a background piece at least an inch longer and higher. then cut a basket shape and a handle piece which is cut on the bias. that handle i cut turned out to be too wide to manage. i suggest cutting it about 1" to 1.5" so it is easier to work with.
put the basket on the background piece and cut to fit the basket. piece the basket fabric into that piece.
for the handle, fold the edges to the center and press. no need to be super precise.
the top piece on my ironing board is the first handle i cut. because it was so wide, i couldn't get it to shape right. the second handle i cut was much narrower. to get the shape, iron and pull and iron and shape and iron and pull. keep manipulating it until you get the shape you want for the handle. but remember, it needs to lie flat with no wrinkles and puckers. i held down one edge with the iron and pulled and turned the piece with my other hand moving the iron further and further and pulling and shaping at the same time with the other hand. sorry. it's hard to explain.
lay the handle on the background and see if it "fits" the basket. once you are happy with the shape, pin [i know, i almost never pin] the handle onto the background and machine applique the handle down.
trim the two background pieces and sew together. done!
two tips: first, the wider your basket, the easier it will be to fit the handle. second, a narrower handle piece is easier to manipulate that a wider one.
here are a few baskets i made a couple of years ago for a bee:
remember you can wonk it up by changing the angles on the body of the basket and by shaping the handle asymmetrically.
first cut a background piece at least an inch longer and higher. then cut a basket shape and a handle piece which is cut on the bias. that handle i cut turned out to be too wide to manage. i suggest cutting it about 1" to 1.5" so it is easier to work with.
put the basket on the background piece and cut to fit the basket. piece the basket fabric into that piece.
for the handle, fold the edges to the center and press. no need to be super precise.
the top piece on my ironing board is the first handle i cut. because it was so wide, i couldn't get it to shape right. the second handle i cut was much narrower. to get the shape, iron and pull and iron and shape and iron and pull. keep manipulating it until you get the shape you want for the handle. but remember, it needs to lie flat with no wrinkles and puckers. i held down one edge with the iron and pulled and turned the piece with my other hand moving the iron further and further and pulling and shaping at the same time with the other hand. sorry. it's hard to explain.
lay the handle on the background and see if it "fits" the basket. once you are happy with the shape, pin [i know, i almost never pin] the handle onto the background and machine applique the handle down.
trim the two background pieces and sew together. done!
two tips: first, the wider your basket, the easier it will be to fit the handle. second, a narrower handle piece is easier to manipulate that a wider one.
here are a few baskets i made a couple of years ago for a bee:
remember you can wonk it up by changing the angles on the body of the basket and by shaping the handle asymmetrically.
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