Finished Skirt

Oh it's been a while - sorry! I haven't been doing much quilting but I did manage to make a skirt this weekend. I think I'll just stick to quilting though. Heh. I guess it's because I rarely if ever make clothes. I dislike pattern sizing too. Finished measurements were for the hips and they fit well (yay for full skirts) but the waist is a bit snug. Should've gone up two sizes in the pattern... Anyway. I like the fabric and I might even make it again - overall it was pretty easy. I definitely need the practice with the zipper. Oh and I got to finally use my invisible hem foot for the first time ever so that was fun! =)

Round Robin

Well you'd think I'd slipped right off the face of the planet with how infrequently I've been posting here. I'm not dead, I swear! (Go check out my gardening blog and you'll see what's been keeping me so busy).

I finally made some time to work on one of the tops sent to me for a round robin swap. This was the top as I received it.


This is after I'd added my borders. It's got one more round to go before it makes it back to its owner. It was a fun one to work on. I just feel bad I'd had the thing for so long. I feel like I should've done more with it.


I have one more top to work on and then I'll be complete with this swap. It's good because I think I'm really ready to start working on my own projects again. I miss Dear Jane.

Fabric Bliss

I had so much fun last night! It was really hard to stick to the objective and just buy fabrics I liked with no plan! I'm such a planner - it was hard. HARD I SAY! lolz... I believe I might have cursed the gift givers several times under my breath. ;^) Corse if that's the worst thing in my life to curse about, well bring it on. Heh.

I want to make my sister a quilt so I thought I might get her fabrics and started filling the cart with fabrics for that... but then it just wasn't fun. She wasn't there to help and I didn't have a good idea yet of what I really wanted for that quilt. It felt rushed and obligatory. That was not in the intended spirit of these gifts. So, I put them all back! After all, these were supposed to be splurgy fabrics just for me.

I tried again. That's when it started getting fun. But holy cow! Shopping a whole city block worth of quilting fabrics makes the mind boggle. I couldn't even look at ALL of them - there were just too many! Really, at one point I couldn't shove another bolt into the cart without it toppling over and I hadn't even gone through a third of what they had to offer. They were all fabrics just for me with no real plan, rhyme or reason. Heehee. It was awesome. I will have to say that I picked out about 20 different patterns varying in yardage from one full yard all the way down to 1/4 yards. It was pure bliss. BLISS I SAY!

I didn't spend it all on fabric though. Sadly I actually needed a few notions and some thread so I could actually sew them together! Oh and a box of candy. Because candy makes me an extra happy sewer. Sew happy!!

All the batiks are nicely lined up when you first come in and I've always had a fondness for them so it seemed a logical place to start. I got 1/2 yards of each of the following...


I also couldn't resist a couple of few fat quarters of blacks for my potato chip quilt. I also just love them - so in the basket it goes! Plus a few needles and pins. My pins always seem to disappear... sewing room elves I'm sure.


Then of course there were a bunch of fun bright colors that I couldn't resist! With some summery white on white to set them off... I'm thinking these might go for the Single Girl quilt. Okay so I couldn't buy fabrics totally without a plan. ;^)


Best for last... I wandered off into a section that I don't normally visit in fabric land and found this beautiful little set! I think they'd make a perfect bag - I love, love, love the birds. Now to just find the perfect (free) bag pattern. I bought a yard of each.


Now if only I could get into my sewing room to play!!

Oh the temptation

So I made a commitment to not spending any money on new fabric this year. I've been very good so far but my friends and family conspired against me and got me gift certificates to my favorite fabric store for Christmas and my BD. Tonight I went and blew the whole wad. Zowie it was fun!!! Soooo technically I didn't spend any of my money - that was the deal right? *Squeee* I shall post some pictures tomorrow.

Where's the dip?

I've not really made any time for quilting as of late. Life is so busy! But I couldn't resist working a little bit on what I've come to refer to in my head as the potato chip quilt. It's so easy to just knock out a few of these snack size bits out! I'm half way though cutting out one little triangle from all my red and pink fabrics. I've still got a stack of blacks in envelops that I need to go though and cut out not only 5" squares for the trade but little triangles as well.




What I really should be working on is the round robin quilt that I need to mail out in two weeks - yikes!

What have I been up to?

Making a gift for my SIL. Yay! This is using the Monk's Bag pattern that an on-line friend posted a link to recently.





I received Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match a few years ago for Christmas. I finally got to use it! I wanted something that would really be a focal point on the front of the bag so I decided to pull the Cherry Blossom motif out of the strap fabric and make the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) applique block from this book to put on the bag and tie it all together.



The instructions call for one solid inner pocket. But I can never find a pen at the bottom of my bag so I added in an extra seam to make the pocket more functional to hold a pen and a cell phone or other small item.



I also agree with my on-line friend's recommendation to use a 5/8" seam allowance on the top of the inner (lining) strap. If you follow the instructions and use a 1" seam allowance it makes sewing it all together entirely impossible. Otherwise it's a super easy bag to make and if you don't go crazy with hand sewn applique, it would sew up in a couple of hours from start to stop!

One last hurrah!

So my last hurrah on quilting goodies* came just before Christmas while I was visiting the in-laws in Greensboro NC. My MIL took me to Randy's Quilt Shop. I bought a few yards of really cute fabric for a bento box I'll get to later this year and one pattern. Normally I don't buy patterns because there are so many free ones out there or I can pretty much figure it out just by looking at it but I couldn't resist this modern take on the double wedding ring quilt designed by Virginia Robertson. I've never made a DWR so I wasn't sure at all how it was constructed. Glad I bought it.
Glowing Wedding Ring


I really want to make it for my sister. She's been bugging me forever to make her another quilt. I gave her the first quilt I ever made. It's uh... funky. Now she wants a nice one. ;^) Who could blame her? lol...

* New years resolution - buy no new fabric for one year! Work on making the fabric stash smaller.

Happy New Year

One of my resolutions this year is to not buy any new fabric but use just what's in my stash already. I've already run into my first obstacle - I received a gift card to my favorite fabric store for Christmas! The plan in my head is to use it for things like needles and thread when/as I need them. However I know I can't resist a fun fat quarter! I am weak. Maybe I should make an exception to the rule and allow myself to spend it on backing fabric only for that pile of quilt tops I want to finish this year. Which is quilting resolution #2 - finish what you've already started! No new projects until TWO current projects are finished. At least that will cut down on the rampant new project spree I seem to always be going on and help me focus and get things DONE!

Christmas Quilt for my MIL - Done!

All done! Quilted and bound. =)


I used two color threads, navy for the majority of the quilt and a cream that matches the crosses on the front but contrasts and really pops on the back. I quilted it freehand using the "push through" method on my Bernina. It's sloppy. lol. I forgive myself because it's really the first one I've done that wasn't all straight lines. While I loved the idea of freehand, I don't think I'm a "push through" kinda quilter. I'd love a long arm! Maybe next time I'll rent one till I can afford to buy one. Hum...


I got lucky! It goes beautifully with the decor in her living room. Yay!

Done!

Yay finished the binding on my MIL's quilt. I'll try to get pictures up soon!