A Break From Sewing and Back Again

I have been in a serious sewing slump lately. Until yesterday, it had been over a week since I had even sat at my machine. I had been absolutely uninspired.

During that time I did teach myself to knit. My daughter, Alice, wanted to learn so we watched a few videos on YouTube and within the hour we were knitting.

I still can't actually make anything in a shape other than a square or rectangle, but I'm working on it.

Over the weekend Ben was in a play at school called 'The Wiz of the West'. It was put on by the Missoula Childrens Theatre. The kids all have an audition on Monday, and if they get a part they practice all week long and have their performance on Saturday. They don't allow you to take any photos during the performance but I got some cute ones afterward and I bought a DVD copy of the play. Here's Ben in his tarantula costume hanging with his sisters after the show:

I have my first craft fair coming up in a couple weeks, so this break from sewing was really poor timing. Yesterday I still didn't feel like it, but I decided I needed to force myself to just make something. ANYTHING. Pinterest is a really great place for finding inspiration (and wasting several hours on the computer) when you have lost your mojo. I got on, determined to find something simple to make, but wasn't feeling the urge to make any of the things I found. I ended up making my own pattern and these are what I came up with:

They are cases for iPads. I thought they might sell well at the craft fair, especially as Christmas gifts. The first 3 I made were from beautiful fabrics I received from my lovely friend Rebecca. They reminded me of fall. Originally I was going to make placemats with them for my thanksgiving table, but I couldn't find a coordinating background fabric I liked to go with them.

The fabric line is called 'Swoon' designed by Melissa Averinos. I just LOVE it.

After I made these I made a few more. I was kind of addicted after I made the first one. I guess you could say that my mojo has been found.

Also, my Misfits hoop is Finished and has been sent to it's new home. I want to show it SO BAD, but I don't want to give away any surprises. I hope my partner loves it (and the special extra goody I made to go with it). As soon as she gets it, I will definitely be posting pictures for all to see!

Kids Embroidery

I finished my hoop for the latest Misfit swap recently, and my two oldest girls really love it. I wish I could show you, but it would totally give away who it was for! Anyway, when they girls saw what I made, they really wanted to try it.

I took them to JoAnn's and got a few skeins of DMC floss and they got started right away. Sara, my oldest daughter, decided she wanted to stitch an apple tree. She found a scrap piece of white fabric and I helped her get it into the hoop. She then used my chalk pencil to draw her design on the fabric.

After about half an hour this is what she had.

And this is her finished tree.

She asked me to post a picture of it on Twitter to get all of friends opinions on what she had made so I did. She got a great response and everyone thought she did a wonderful job.

As to not be outdone, my Alice immediately got to work on her hoop. She found a picture of a bird in one of my old Martha Stewart magazines and she wanted to make that... It looked a little advanced for a first try so we decided that maybe butterflies would be a better choice. She chose her colors and got to work. She even got fancy and made little french knots for the ends of their antennas. 

I think they both did a great job and I'm so proud of them! They love making these and I'm sure we'll have many more. I'm thinking these would make perfect Christmas gifts for the girls to give to their grandparents.

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!

Helping Friends

A friend and fellow Misfit recently participated in a swap and had a rather rotten experience. Sometimes things like that happen I suppose, but I couldn't help but feel awful for her. I'm not going to go into any details about what went on, but suffice it to say that I was afraid that the doll quilt she received might possibly be a source of bad feelings for her. I wanted to make something to replace it. Something she would be happy to hang on the wall, to remind her that there are nice people in the world who really care about her.

I started chatting a bit with Amanda about getting some of the misfits to possibly make a block and send them to me. Of course, many of them jumped on board. This is such a great group of women who are always willing to help others. Amanda put together a tutorial for the block we would use (we settled on the Ohio Star block). We did a teensy bit of stalking to find out her favorite colors, and before long, I started getting beautiful blocks in my mailbox.

This was the block I made

Then I got several more

And this was the finished product.

I happen to know that she loves vintage sheets as well, so I used part of a vintage sheet I had for the backing.

 

We all signed our blocks so that Amy would know where they all came from. These blocks came from all over the U.S. and even one block from Tasmania! How awesome is that?!?! I am so happy to know all of these wonderful, generous ladies and I am happy to call them my friends.

I'm still here...

Life has been busy and crappy. I plan to get back into the swing of things and the best way to do that is to just jump in, right? So even though I have nothing much to say or share, I thought I would a least post a little hello and say I'll be back to normal soon (I hope).

I did finally use my Sherbet Pips charm pack and some scraps sent to me by my friend Sharon to make this baby quilt. I feel like I'm a year late to the party =)

I apologize for the crappy cell phone pic, but the batteries are dead in my good camera at the moment...

Anyway, I'm hoping life stops being a pain soon. When it comes right down to it, I just have to keep reminding myself that the only thing that really matters is this:

Bike Ride

I haven't ridden a bike in years. The last time I rode a bike, I flew over the handlebars and did a face plant in my driveway. I am the most awkward klutz on the planet, I swear.

My husband would ride his bike everywhere if he could. He loves his bike and always has. We had a day off together on Monday and he decided he was going to drag me along to ride with him. Never mind that I don't actually own a bike or a helmet of my own, he was determined that I was coming. So he loaded up his fancy bike and my 11 year old daughters beat up, ten dollar yard sale bike and off we went.

We went to a lovely little town called Orting. They have a great bike trail and the town is so cute! If only it weren't in the path of a lahar from Mt. Rainier, I would love to live there. Anyway, we parked the car and got out the bikes to begin our little adventure. Remember how I said I didn't have a helmet? Well, my husband found one for me. Dora the Explorer. No kidding. So, I'm riding a child's size bike wearing a Dora helmet. The plastic shell on the outside came off, so it was just white styrofoam, but the straps had little smiling stars on them in rainbow colors and it choked me.

Here's Kevin riding up ahead of me. I nearly crashed while taking this picture. Note to self: Stop riding while taking a photo...

Here's the Mister. Happy and in his element.

This is me. Also happy, but very out of my comfort zone.

They had the most darling little store there (also happens to be the pumpkin patch where I take my kids every October). They grow their own fruits and vegetables in the huge gardens. They sell them, along with lots of other local produce, honey, homemade sauces and salsa, etc. I got a flat of blueberries. I am a happy girl.

When all was said and done, we ended up riding about 5 miles that day. I was exhausted and sore, but also pretty proud of myself. Orting has a wonderful quilt shop called Wild Rose which we stopped at as well. I didn't buy anything, but I love looking around just the same. So, Monday turned out to be pretty good for me. How was your Monday?

Canning Day

I don't consider myself to be very domestic. But every once in awhile I get the urge to be Suzy Homemaker. My husband and kids all know that isn't really going to happen, but I like to fantasize every now and again that I am June Cleaver reincarnated.

I have had the inkling (and the supplies) to learn how to do some canning for quite some time. I am really interested in sustainability and living off the land. I want a huge garden, and some animals. I do have some space here, but our soil is incredibly rocky and it's hard to garden in it. I am thinking of having my husband build some raised garden beds for me so I can use good soil. He also ok'd the idea of getting some chickens possibly this spring. So I guess I don't really want to be a homemaker. I want to be a farmer!

Anyway, over the summer we went to visit family in Yakima, WA and there are lots of places to get great deals on fresh fruit around there. I stopped at a fruit stand and they had a 25 pound box of peaches for $10.95. Seriously! I couldn't pass that up. I brought home a box and the next day I began the canning adventure. I also got 25 pounds of apples and nectarines.

I spent nearly the entire day peeling and cutting peaches. My kitchen looked like someone had been massacred in it. I made an absolute mess!

Canning, it seems, is much more difficult than it looks. But I did it and by the end of day I had six quart sized jars sitting on my counter with the lids making little popping sounds.

After my canning experience, I decided to finally make the quilt that I had planned with some fabric I got from Connecting Threads (which, by the way, makes all their fabric in the USA made from cotton grown in the USA) called "Canning Day". It seems too perfect not to, right?

It is a bit farther along now. I have the entire top complete. I need to eventually get some backing fabric so I can quilt her up!

So tell me, have you ever canned? What are your favorite things to make? And am I crazy or has anyone else made a quilt to go with another project like this before?