Getting Close

It is spring break here and I have been busy getting the studio ready. I have some before and after shots to share! We finally chose colors and I am really pleased with how it looks.

 Obviously, these are the before photos. It's a huge space with lots of white and pretty darn boring. It is one of four (yes, I said four) garages on my property and it stored cars, car parts, and riding lawnmowers for a very long time. Making it girly was no easy task. This is my sewing corner where I have my personal machines set up. Super ugly and not at all cheerful.

 This spot was a little better because there was some color here. It served as my cutting and ironing station. But not super functional simply because the space on the shelves was being utilized all wrong. Bicycle helmets and hot rod magazines DO NOT belong in a sewing studio :)

I knew I wanted a spot to sit and relax so I moved in a loveseat and a coffee maker. But still... not the best set-up. Behind that quilt hanging up is an awesome peg board that could be used for all kinds of things, but I hated the red so I covered it up.

Ready for the after?! So much better, I promise!

DRUMROLL PLEASE!

 Ta Da!!! I switched the cutting and ironing station with the loveseat and coffee area. It makes so much more sense. Now I am using the peg board to hang scissors, rulers, cutting mats. The shelves above the loveseat now hold craft magazines and books for folks to look at while they hang out and have a cup of coffee. 

I still have a bit of cleaning up and organizing to do, but I'm mostly finished. My favorite part of the room is, by far, my fabric shelves. I had my fabric spread out in different places around the room. Shoved in cabinets, crumpled up in baskets, folded in tupperware bins... Now it is all in one place and out where I can see what I have.

Now it is time for me to start sifting through all the ideas in my head and come up with a class schedule. That will be finalized and posted within the next week or so. Be watching for it!

Tardis Awesomeness!

My youngest daughter loves Dr. Who. If you have no idea who I am talking about, look it up! I won't go into details but it's a sci-fi show on BBC that has been on for 50 years and it's really great. Anyway, my daughter had a birthday last weekend and she got some cash. Reading is one of her favorite things to do so she made the decision to purchase a Kindle with her birthday money.

Being the super mom that I am, I told her I'd make her a new sleeve to keep her Kindle in. Of course I knew it had to be Dr. Who themed!

I happened to have some Lizzy House Constellations fabric (because why would you not have it?!) and some Robert Kaufman Kona cotton in Royal Blue - which just so happens to be a great color to make a TARDIS.

If you are not familiar with the show, the TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) is Dr. Who's time traveling machine. It's basically a blue phone booth that travels through outer space, and time.

 Here is the front of the finished sleeve. I made up the pattern as I went along. She loves how it turned out.

 This is the back of the sleeve. The Constellations fabric was pretty much perfect for this project.

 One last photo with the flap snapped in place. I'm so happy with this sleeve, I think it's my favorite one yet!

Super Tote!!! (and a new-ish wallet)

I have a pattern crush on anything Anna makes. Seriously. I have purchased 4 of her patterns now and I have yet to be disappointed. Or confused. I hate when I buy a pattern but I can't figure out what the instructions are telling me what to do. She has the BEST instructions. Plus, she's super friendly so you don't feel weird asking a question if you have one. I frequently feel like a weirdo, so it's cool to change things up a bit.

You may be wondering who the heck Anna is. She is a pattern designer, blogger, sewist extraordinaire... and she can be found at Noodlehead! Her patterns are seriously great.You may remember the 241 tote I made last year that I wrote about here. (After looking for that post, I realized I never did take more photos of this bag! Ack!!! I'll have to remedy that!)

The other day I purchased her newly released Super Tote Pattern. I am notorious for carrying around a TON of stuff I don't actually need to take everywhere I go. But hey, just in case I might need it, right? This bag really lives up to it's name. It is super! Super HUGE!!! (I know there's a "that's what she said" in there somewhere...)

 Anyway, this is my finished Super Tote. Tada! The pattern calls for piping along the edge of the outside pocket, but it was 11:00 at night and piping sounded like a bad idea at the time. Instead, I just made a little binding for the top edge and called it good.

 I love the gussets on the sides of this bag. I was a little afraid to do it with linen because it tends to be pretty shifty. But Anna suggested using Pellon Shape Flex interfacing for this project. After getting that on the linen, I had no problem whatsoever.

 I was being lazy and just used velcro for the closure on the front pocket. I have plenty of magnetic snaps, but again, 11:00 at night...

 Here's another gusset shot. Love these! They make the whole bag come together.

 And my recessed zipper. I was a little afraid of this part (as I usually am when it's time to put in a zipper) but it really was easy.

 The pattern calls for elastic pockets on both sides, but I opted to just make one with elastic and the other pocket is just a regular pocket. I like a smaller, less deep pocket for all of my 126 tubes of lip balm (I mean, really? Why do I have such an obsession with lip balm?!). And my cell phone. You can see here what I mean about all the stuff. My planner, wallet, 84 pens (in the elastic pocket), earbuds, and 2 bibles... why 2? No idea. Sometimes I like the newer pretty pink one, and sometimes I like the old, worn, slightly beat up one.

After showing you my bag, I realized I never did a post on the Have It All Wallet I made. I love this wallet so much!!! This pattern was really easy to follow as well, and I purchased it from Straight Stitch Society. They have some other uber cute patterns as well.

I used my one single fat quarter that I own of Echino fabric. And it turned out upside down. I still love it though.

 Room for all my cards

 Checkbook, coupons, and loyalty/punch cards

And my money would go here if I had any. Sad face.

New Cutting Table

I have been wanting a new cutting table or a long time. For awhile I was using one of those tall, white fold-able craft tables from Jo Ann Fabrics. You know, the really wobbly ones that have wheels on the legs that you have to put a piece of folded paper or cardboard under to keep it from teetering as you cut fabric with a super sharp razor blade? Yeah. That.

Then I started using a small dining table. It was pretty ugly and way too low to the ground to be comfortable cutting for extended periods of time.

I found some bookshelves at Shopko on sale for $25 each (score!!!!). They have 3 shelves on them and are 36" high. I bought two of them, along with 12 small tupperware bins. The shelves serve as the legs for my new cutting table, and double as storage. I didn't have an idea for a table top until I brought home the shelves. I was moving things around in my room trying to make space for my new cutting table. As I was moving the old white craft table, I realized that I could just unscrew the wobbly legs from the top and just use that! It was a little too big so I took one of the fold-able sides off and it was perfect. My cutting mat fits on top with some leftover room to store my bolt of fusible fleece.

And if you were wondering what all those small plastic bins were for... COLOR CODED SCRAP STORAGE!!! This is very exciting to me because I have so many scraps. I never used them in project because it was hard to sort through a huge bin where all the colors of the rainbow were all jumbled together. So far since I have organized them, I have made 3 different projects using my scraps.

I built the shelves with the help of my 11 year old daughter. Including the time it took to sort through all of my scraps, this was a project that was about 2 hours from start to finish. It was inexpensive, saves my back from hunching over while cutting, and it looks pretty! It is so simple, I would encourage anyone who hates their current cutting space to give this a try.

Gettin' my Swoon on

I have had the Swoon quilt pattern by Camille Roskelley for a long time. I have been rather intimidated by it, but I finally gave into the Swoon.

A Flickr group was started awhile back for a Swoon-a-long by the lovely Miss Katy. Seeing all of the finished blocks and beautiful quilts gave me the push I needed to get started. I have a big empty wall over my stairs and I thought a smaller version of the Swoon in bright, happy colors would look great there. This pattern is great because it gives you the number of pieces you need for just one block. Most quilt patterns just say to "cut _ pieces of color #1" etc... to make the whole quilt.

I got out a couple of fat quarters and decided to make a practice block first just to see if I could do it without too much frustration. After a few hours (yes, it took me that long) I had this beautiful block: 

It was time consuming, and I did get confused quite often with the color 1 and color 2. But that was my fault for not paying close enough attention. This block is huge. Each one measures 24" square. I'm going to use this practice block as a mini quilt.

I gathered together my bright, cheerful fabrics and I'm all ready to go!

Pillow!

I love Heather Ross fabrics, but I usually can't afford to buy any. A few days ago I found a pretty amazing deal at my LQS. I was browsing their sale fabrics and I found two Heather Ross prints from the West Hill collection! Of course I snatched some up...

Last week I had a special treat come to me in my mailbox. Miss Tula Pink has a new book and, being her #1 fan, I had to have it. There are 20 awesome projects in here (10 quilts and 10 smaller projects) and I have been dying to make something. *Sorry! I can't get my picture to turn!*

I decided to make the Vortex Euro Sham using my new Heather Ross fabric mixed in with a bit of Lizzy House.

This is the top after I got it all pieced together. I used a light peach perle cotton to hand quilt it.

And here is the finished pillow! I really love it. The colors of the fabrics go together really well, and it  matches my couch perfectly. I'm thinking though, that I need some bright colors in my life and I may need to make a ton of these to throw all over my living room in cheerful springy colors.

Making

This post will be a bit picture heavy, as I have been sewing quite a bit, but not blogging. I'll just show you what I've been working on with a little caption under each photo. Deal?

This is a mini quilt I made for Lizze for Christmas. I used Parisville fabric in a Dresden plate pattern.

A Kindle cover I made for the shop, but I fell in love with it, so it's now mine.

Here's a few more Kindle covers. These ones actually will end up in the shop eventually.

And two custom Kindle covers I made for my friend Christine's mom. She chose these fabrics from what I had on hand.

This is the pincushion (plus a few extra goodies) I sent to my partner for a swap. I got mine in the mail a few days ago, along with another pincushion for a swap I did with Lizze. I'm saving those for their own post though. I'll show you soon!

I loved the cathedral window pinnie I made for my partner so I decided to make one for me.

I have wanted to knit socks for a long time. I found this gorgeous sock yarn at a local yarn shop here and couldn't resist.

Since I had never made socks before, I decided to try with a cheapy yarn for practice.

This is my sock progress so far. It's slow going because I have so much to do lately, but hopefully I'll have a pair to wear very soon.

A Christmas Quilt

That's right, a Christmas quilt. I know Christmas has passed but I'm still working on this one. I wasn't completely slacking or being lazy about finishing on time (as is usually the case). There's a story behind it!

My kids love handmade things and they love giving gifts. My oldest daughter came up with the idea that we - myself, my husband, and all 4 kids - draw names and have a handmade secret Santa exchange. Now my husband is one of those very picky types. I never give him anything because the response is always "That's great, dear. Thanks." (please note the lack of exclamation points!) If one of the kids got his name though, they could draw him a picture and he'd be completely happy with it. So guess who ends up drawing old grumpy pants name? Yep. Me. So then I'm stressing over what the heck to make him. He isn't really the kind of person who appreciates handmade stuff. Or if he is, he's not good at showing it (this is a hint to him in case he's reading).

I was making a lot of other gifts this year so I didn't think too much about his gift until, BAM! 2 days before Christmas I had a panic attack because I hadn't made a thing! I loaded up the kids and we rushed to the fabric store. I was in that store poring over little fat quarter bundles and charm packs, trying to think of something quick and easy. I literally wanted to cry right there in the middle of the store. And then I saw a few jelly rolls tucked away in a corner. They had one of the new Reunion fabric by Sweetwater. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to make him a jelly roll race quilt. I recently made one for my grandma and it came together really quickly. Two days before Christmas? I could do it!

Turns out I couldn't. I got the top done (minus the borders) in time so he could have something to unwrap. He wasn't really impressed with it. BUT!!! It is now completely quilted and I think he will love it *fingers crossed*. I think it was just hard for him to picture it finished.

I used a grey Kona solid for the borders, and the backing and binding are from the Hometown fabric line, also by Sweetwater. The two lines go together pretty well, I think. I haven't stitched the binding to the back completely yet, but I'm working on that now.

He'd better love it. I want to see him jump up and down and do a happy dance. Hey, a girl can dream!

Birthday Quilt

Next weekend is my grandmas birthday. My grandma is the sweetest lady I have ever known, and I love her dearly. I have made many quilts over the last several years but have never made one for her.

A few months ago I put together a Jelly Roll Race quilt top. I used Shangri-La by 3 Sisters. I had the jelly roll for a long time and loved the colors in the fabric, but never could figure out what to make with it. After I put the top together I folded it up and it sat on my shelf for quite some time.

Once I finally got started quilting it, the entire time I kept thinking of my grandma. The colors in these fabrics reminded me of her and how she decorated her home. I had meant to finish up this quilt and list it for sale, but I couldn't help but feel this quilt was meant for her.

I finished attaching the binding last night while watching 'V for Vendetta' one of my favorite movies. It was November 5th after all so I kind of had to watch it.

Here it is all finished - please ignore the fold lines. I still need to wash it, but it will be all ready to go this week. Happy birthday, Grandma. I love you!

Two New Quilts

Even though I haven't been around as much lately, I really have been keeping myself busy! I promise! I even have proof to show you that I have been doing things.

I have had this cheater print by Mo Bedell from her Party Dress line for quite some time. I started a baby quilt with it awhile ago and it sat in my WIP pile for several months. A few days ago I decided to take out all of the quilting stitches and start over. I really felt like it needed a border. Yesterday, after I was more than halfway finished with the quilt, I hopped on Pinterest during a little sewing break and I saw a quilt that was almost the same! I was upset by this. I was afraid people would think that I had seen it and copied someone else's idea. I have certainly made quilts from kits before and things that are definitely not original, but not to sell. And I planned to sell this one...

I finished it and I have to say, I really, really like it. And is it so far fetched that with a panel like this there are probably many quilts out there that look very similar to this anyway? That's kind of the nature of panels I think. I added a pretty border and quilted flowers on it...

And I backed it with a super soft vintage sheet, with the sweetest, most dainty little pink and yellow flowers on it...

I also finished another quilt that has been on my list for SO long. I had a charm pack of Sherbet Pips sitting on my shelf for what seemed like forever. It was high time I used it, don't you think? I posted a crappy picture from my phone a few days ago, but I have a couple better ones here (found my secret battery stash for my camera!)

I did a scrappy binding. The solid colors I used are all Kona cottons. 

I pieced the back in an attempt to add interest. Not sure if that worked out so well.

So that brings me to my questions for you. Have you ever made a quilt thinking you were so clever and saw another almost just like it? And, how long do you think is an acceptable amount of time for a fabric line to sit before you use it? Is there a point where the fabric is no longer "cool" (so last year, you know) and deemed unusable?

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Fave 5 Friday

I have been waiting to post this for several days since it has been quite an exciting week. But I ended up having some friends over for a BBQ tonight and the day got away from me so I'm posting at the last minute...

This week has included a birthday celebration, back to school, and first day of school ever for my baby boy! Also, I have a highly coveted, and somewhat hoarded stash of Parisville fabric that I finally cut into. I've taken a breather from the farmers wife blocks too, and this week I finally made 2 more.

Ben started kindergarten yesterday. He loved it. I, um... well. I didn't. Something about your kids going off to school for the first time and being more independent. It's a bittersweet experience.

Here's all my kids that morning headed out to catch the school bus. They were so excited. I'm glad to have kids who have a love of learning and can't wait for the school year to begin. My oldest is in 6th grade this year. Her last year in elementary school. Again, very bittersweet.

We also celebrated Ben's 6th birthday this week. He got a brand new, bright red bicycle. 

These are my farmer's wife blocks so far. I am behind, but will catch up soon (I hope). I made the two bottom right ones yesterday after a month or so of not making any at all.

Here is my prized stack of Parisville fat quarters. It hurt me to cut into them, but I am making something lovely which I can show you next Friday.

Now, I know it's fave 5 for just this week, and I've already posted 5 pictures. But I really feel compelled (because I love this boy so much and he's growing SO fast) to post some pictures I took from several months ago. I haven't found a reason to post them before, but with his first day of school and a birthday this week, I feel it's appropriate.

He will always be my baby, even when he's 50.

Be sure to visit Sharon's blog to see her Fave 5 for this week!