A Leaner Year

Getting all that baby stuff done in 2012 was a reminder that once on the sewing wagon, things usually are fun and progress much faster than I had imagined.  But in my life sewing time has it's ups and downs.  The ups result in unfinished works laying helter skelter all over my studio.  The downs are when I walk into my studio and can't initiate anything because of the chaos. I guess the organizational side of me always wins over the creative.  UNLESS there is motivation to finish - like the grandbaby's due date, a big social event.  You get the idea.

So on this New Year I look over my accomplishments since the last post.  I do actually keep a list of project completed each year (organizational side again) so let's see….

Marin wanted a specific dress to wear for Owen's first birthday.  She described it, we found a pattern that would work and then looked for fabrics.  The result!?  A chevron navy and white halter dress - very nautical and she looked great in it.

Marin with family and in-laws

The pattern is McCalls M6745, Riley Blake "Chevron"cotton print, Kona Solid White, navy piping.

The skirt was supposed to be pleated and the pattern cut in more of a "circle".  I had to adapt it to a straight line pleat, and was pleasantly surprised that the zigs lined up with the zags and it worked out!

I didn't actually complete any quilt projects last year.  I see that I several tops underway that are still waiting to be quilted YEARS later.  Where does the time go?  I've made several baby items, and pieced a few tops. This better be the finishing year.  Here is a project I am working on from the scraps from owens' baby quilt.

I'd like this to be a large floor pillow for Owen to flop on to read books in his room.  I am using this Floor Pillow tutorial as a guideline for putting it together with the leftover 2.5" strips.

That's all for now - wishing you a year of completions too!

Liz

Baby on the Brain October 2012

I was writing this post in October, after grandbaby Owen arrived, and finally after a "pregnant" pause I thought I ought to post it!

There are a lot of wonderful tutorials and ideas online for making things for babies.  Pinterest is a great place to gather and save ideas for later, or to a website that provides a tutorial or pattern for an idea. Often you don't even need a pattern you can just "wing it" and it comes out fine.  I made Bapron bibs using the tutorial from Craftiness Is Not An Option's blog. They were fun and easy to make.  I recently purchased a new sewing machine with an embroidery option.  I tried it out, and didn't want the sample to go unused, so I turned it into a bib. And also took some rectangles of fabric used in my baby quilt, added some chenille backing and had a couple easy burp cloths.  It surprised me how quick it is to make these items - and how much you pay for them in the retail store!

Winging It.... you don't really need a pattern for these bibs and burp cloths.

 Flannel recieving blankets and a nursing cover (aka Hooter Hider)!

MissouriQuiltCo's You Tube video for receiving blanket

 Pacifier Clips

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2010/10/october-14-pacifier-clip-tutorial-sophie-lili-giveaway/

And....

Play Mat - Using "layer cake" coordinated fabrics by Moda

Stichery Dickory Dock design by Amy Gibson

Even baby Owen likes it!

Lost In Time

I opened my blog today and realized that I had not posted for an entire year! WHAT? I never considered myself one to write in a diary or keep a journal.  I guess that much is obvious to you too!  But now that my grandson  is born I have been more inspired to sew.  And sew things I have not even considered in decades. First on the list was the baby quilt. Hmmm. I got paint swatches from the kids and some ideas on the concept of the room.  The nursery had grey walls, and they decided to add one accent wall in argyle. So I started looking at different quilt patterns. I finally settled on a pattern by Teri Christopherson, Black Mountain Quilts called BABY CAKES.  This gave me an argyle look and I modified the pattern to three blocks across and four down to give me a better crib size. It is approximately 46 x 58".  This is a nice size for transition later into a toddler bed.

And then of course you have to see it in context.  Here is the nursery - ready to go. And the quilt was done on time too! I guess by now you've noticed that there are some Seahawks fans in this household.

Fat Quarter Star Quilt-A-Long next installment

On the Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along we get a new star pattern every two weeks. I signed up to do this so that it would help push me along into starting some new projects.  Here are the last two blocks I made. I added some blue scrap fabrics to the mix, colors which I pulled out of the apple print that is the inspiration fabric. Block 3 really required a few more colors to get the total effect of the pattern.  Now that I've done this I may rework Block 2 to make it a bit more dynamic. I've never made a quilt project where I didn't have the entire picture at the beginning. It will be an interesting exercise to make it so each block will play well with the others.

Block 2 - "Friendship Twist"  Designed by Carrie Graziano
http://cricketsstudio.blogspot.com

Block 3 - Friendly Winds Designed by Mary Lou Casada
http://www.cheaperthantherapyquilting.blogspot.com/

!

Fat Quarter Star Quilt-A-Long

This summer has been amazingly full and busy. But alas, no quilting time at all.  I brought Mr. Seamweaver home from a hip replacement surgery on Monday and was sure I'd have some quiet time at home.  I joined up with the Fat Quarter Quilt A Long,  mostly to prod myself back into a routine of being at the sewing machine- and to use some fabric stash that has been sitting way to long.   Today I finally got the fabric out and made my 1st block.

Fabrics from stash

Block 1 - "Heart of the Matter" Designed by Konda Luckau
http://www.moosequilts.blogspot.com

This is a quilt a long where 12 different people design a block and everyone makes it. It's also a way to get me into a routine of blogging more often.  We'll see how that goes!  I had pulled fabric for at least 3 projects today, which is pretty darn good.  But I am also still working on a few that are mentioned in previous posts.

Fabric Portrait Quilts

Recently I was skimming through some blogs and found this one,  http://sweetleafnotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/fabric-portrait-resources-what-ive.html  - a great resource Michelle gathered on fabric portrait quilting.  I also took the Realistic Fabric Portrait class with Marilyn Belford through Quilt University (online).  This has inspired me to start flipping through some portraits to do another. Its such fun to see it come alive in fabric.  Here is the inspiration snapshot, and the final quilt, the subject was my grandmother who passed away in 2000.



It was my first attempt at anything realistic like this, so I tried to keep it simple.  I did not include the hand or cane, rather focusing on the head. Today I am pulling some fabrics for a simple border on one side and then very simple quilting and binding. There is a lot of top stitching on this type of piece and I personally don't think it needs a lot of quilting too. I started this quilt about 5 or 6 years ago and I think its time to finish it, and maybe start another?

Small Blog Meet

I've linked up with Lynne at Lily's Quilts Small Blog Meet which gives all us bloggers with less than 50 followers the opportunity to get noticed! If you are stopping by from Lily's Quilts, THANK YOU! and please leave a comments so I can visit your blog too!