Splendorfalls

a haiku for solids

2012-02-10T06:00:00.001-06:00

Solids are rock stars.

Such a pretty solid stack.

Solids are my friends.

You may have noticed that I've been reevaluating how I use and purchase fabric.

I'm also working on doing a better job at sewing with what I have.

Have you heard that bacon commercial on the radio where they guy talks about how good bacon is?

How you can put it on salad! Salad!

That's me and solids. You can make a quilt entirely out of solids! Solids!

Trouble is I don't think I've ever made a quilt out of just solids!

SOLIDS!

Until now.

I have a plan and will report back when my mission has been accomplished.
{which lets be honest, I'm sorta hoping you forget about and don't hold me accountable}

Cue the mission impossible theme!

ear bud pouches

2012-02-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

After seeing a fellow guild member make a few of these as gifts they went right on my mental to-do list.

I finally got around (he he) to making them a week or so ago.

The free tutorial to make your own Circle Zip Earbud Pouches is over at dog under my desk!

Easy. Cute. Functional.

What's not to like?

frenchies

2012-02-06T06:00:00.001-06:00

I needed a Sparkle Punch break mid way through and decided to make a few purses using the Amy Butler Frenchy Bag pattern. I'd made this purse years ago and held on the the pattern.

One for my niece made from AMH Garden Party and Lou Lou Thi with a little Ta Dot accent.

One for me made from AMH Lou Lou Thi and Joel Dewberry Aviary 2.

They aren't perfect, but were still fun to make. I got lazy and decided to try and use the Pellon Craft Fuse I had on hand instead of what the pattern recommended - that was a mistake; too crunchy. I followed the pattern exactly except for adding the piping accent between the main purse and the top.

sparkle punch part one

2012-02-03T06:00:00.002-06:00

I knew I wanted to participate in Elizabeth Hartman's Sparkle Punch Quilt-Along as soon as I saw it.

What better than to use fabric I have on hand?

You might remember my disappointment about how little of my DS Quilts stash this project ate up.

Anyway I cut and I cut and had this stack of pretty 3.5" squares.

Then I cut more and sewed and pressed and sewed and pressed and trimmed

320+ little 3.5"star parts.

Honestly at this point I was feeling a little tired of the sewing and pressing and sewing and pressing, but once I got the top half of the quilt up on the wall I was reinvigorated and ready to sew it up!

All this is sewn together now and I'm about a quarter of the way done with the bottom half.

I really like this pattern. It's equal parts modern and traditional with the added bonus of improv stars!

If stars intimidate you, this might be your pattern.

I'll post part two when the quilt is complete!

scrappy doo

2012-02-01T21:06:00.000-06:00

You may recall a while back when I was excited about my new scrap system of color separated plastic bins.

I thought, at the time, that this would make sense for me. I thought I'd need a piece of orange and be able to head right on over for some orange! It would save me time and since those scraps were so organized I'd surely use them more right? Sure it was taking up a bunch of space on my shelf, but it was going to be worth it! All in theory of course. {smile}

Fast forward to now. Do you know how many times I opened those boxes in the last five months? Less than five. Do you know how many times I actually "filed" my new scraps? Less than one. Turns out, the super organized scrap storage systems are not for me.

The new plan?

1) be more judicious about the scraps I keep.

2) throw them haphazardly into scrap basket.

3) when the basket it full, cut, share, and trash.

So decide on a scrappy project and CUT what I need. SHARE what I don't, TRASH the itty bits.

My Mom is working on a new quilt that I think will turn out similar to this one that Crazy Mom Quilts did (which I LOVE) using mostly my scraps. For the past few Fridays we've sat for an hour or so going through my scrap bins. I cut out a square to keep for a hexie (you can read why I'm keeping one hexie of each at this post) and Mom cuts whatever she wants out of the rest. I tossed anything tiny and gave the small but usable stuff to a friend.

I'm currently down to just a little more than this.

Ahhhhhh....

It feels so good to be using up and sharing all that fabric that was just sitting there.....aaaannnndddd......I cleared off enough room on my shelf to bring my scrapbooks up from the basement! I'm excited to be able to have these out to look at and share with the Little Miss - after all I made them for her!

Scraps out. Scrapbooks in. Happy me.

I have to thank Jenny for inspiring me to really think about my scraps. She's been a woman on a mission cutting her scraps to use and it really got my wheels turning. Thanks Jenny!

crafternoon

2012-01-23T06:00:00.003-06:00

Crafternoon this weekend was paper covered lids! We scraped up all the recycled food jars we could and hauled out the Modge Podge to make these fun covered lids featured over on design sponge many moons ago. Fabric would be just as cute and maybe even a little bit easier to manipulate.

highlight of my day

2012-01-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

In the waiting room at a doctor's office a few days ago I was delighted to be able to spell the word "quilt" while playing Scrabble. Seriously, made me giggle with joy.

It truly is the little things.

pretty pillowcases

2012-01-18T06:00:00.001-06:00

The St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild is working on collecting pillowcases for the All People Quilt 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge and I finally had a chance to sew up a handful.

This was my first attempt at pillowcases and I was delighted at how fun and easy they were!

(I used the Roll It Up Pattern)

I couldn't resist sewing up a special little case for the Little Miss.

I had just purchased this cute purple sheep fabric at The Quilted Garden intending on making some PJ's, but the lure of the pillowcase was too strong. I couldn't resist.

Here it is on her bed with her Santa-made heart pillow and Panda No. 2

(yes, there is a Panda No 1)

{smile}

oh dear

2012-01-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

No no, I don't have unusually petite hands and use Car's Band-Aids.

This is Little Miss.

First thing that happened was her hand getting smashed in the car door across the knuckles.

You can see the bruising.

As if that weren't enough, she then somehow found one of those little yellow Olfa containers.

{Quilters, you know were this is heading}

Long story short she had picked up a small rotary cutter blade out of the container and cut her fingers.

She silently came into the living room to give the empty case to my Mom and that's when we saw the blood.

As I was rinsing and cleaning her right hand in the sink trying to see where the cuts were, I noticed her other hand was bloody and she had it clinched tight. As I unfurled her fingers, looking for more cuts, I discovered the rotary blade in the palm of her hand.

How on earth it didn't cut her little hand I'll never know.

It could have easily been so much worse.

We thought everything dangerous was put up and she had an adult less than two feet away.

It all happened so fast.

Sigh. I guess this is why they say accident's happen.

We all felt terrible though.

One because the blades were there in the first place, another because he was sitting 'right there', and me because I should have taught her about rotary blades and how sharp they are (I use one practically every day for crying out loud!).

Kids are so amazing though. She was completely healed up in a weeks time.

I honestly think as adults we were more taken aback by it than she was because we possess the knowledge regarding how much worse it could have been.

Phew.

excess

2012-01-13T19:54:00.001-06:00

Having decided to participate in the Sparkle Punch quilt a long over at Oh Fransson, I pulled out my stack of DS Quilts fabric from Joann's to start cutting. I thought, "Yes! This is really going to make a dent in all that fabric!". I probably even subconciously thought, "...and justify all those fabric purchases!". Halfway through the cutting I realized I was wrong. Really really wrong.

Seriously - the stack doesn't look any different.

Notes to self:
1) You do not have to have every print in every Denyse Schmidt or Anna Maria Horner Line.
2) Just because Fat Quarter bundles don't count as yardage on Hawthorne Threads doesn't mean you have to buy 1/2 yard sets.
3) Repeat after me: Fat Quarters are your friends.
4) It's only fabric.
5) Something you like more will eventually come along so use what you have NOW.
6) Don't buy more of something just because you are afraid of the Flea Market Fancy Effect*.
7) Remember how stupid and gluttonous you felt when consumed by the FMFE?
8) Remember how you had FMFE fabric remorse and sold/traded it all at a loss because you felt bad selling it a price as high as you paid for it?
9) Keep saving a hexie sized piece of your favorites; having a small piece helps you let go of the rest.

*The Flea Market Fancy Effect (FMFE) is when a fabric line becomes hard to find and desirable once it's out of print selling for ridiculous amounts of money.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this conflict of hoard vs. use. In every other aspect of my life I am quick to purge unused items. I'm ruthless with my scrapbook supplies, clothes, books, and household goods etc. Fabric is the one exception. Of course, not all fabrics fall in this category. For me, it's primarily Denyse Schmidt and Anna Maria Horner fabrics. All my other fabrics I use like normal person, with no strings attached.

In 2012 I'm making it a priority to sew more often with the hoarded fabric and practice conservatism on new purchases. With the upcoming Flea Market Fancy re-release and new DS Quilts lines hitting Joanns every 4 months or so I would be wise to heed my own advice.

12 days gift 2011

2011-12-29T17:45:00.000-06:00

I almost forgot to share what I made for Midwest 12 Days!

I made 20 of these cute little organizer wallets. Yes 20.

The tutorial is available over at lbg studio if you'd like to make your own.

Why so many?

Well 12 for Twelve Days of course, then I made a few as gifts for friends.

The rest I'll use as teacher gifts!

These were completed before vacation and before the grey plague (mostly dead - ha!)

I'm currently fighting; I just forgot to share!

perfect zipped bags

2011-12-27T19:07:00.000-06:00

A while back Elizabeth Hartman updated her Perfect Zip Bag pattern and I finally had a chance to sew a few up just before Christmas. Eh hem, yeah okay it was Christmas Eve...sue me. {wink}

Look at that! A practically perfect zipper pouch corner. That alone made me happy but the way Elizabeth attaches the zipper is different than anything I've ever seen and I was very happy with the results of that too!

I am so proud of the quality of these bags; they really turned out top notch!

I can't say enough good things about the pattern.

Isn't that zipper pull cute? I picked that up at Fabric Nosherie a week ago. Always good stuff there!

I've been pretty much a sewing/crafting slacker with vacation and Christmas in December. It also doesn't help that I've been sick twice this month and this second go-round is particularly sucky. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be flagged on some sort of Illinois DEA list for buying so much medicine.

I can't wait to get well and start some new projects in 2012!

pretty package swap: receive

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

I was so excited to return from vacation to find a big ole box from my fabulous Pretty Package Swap partner Emily on my doorstep! I exercised restraint and opened the package the next day when I would be more refreshed and could savor each any every detail.

First of all, look at this pretty paper!

I must be shopping in the wrong stores for wrapping paper.

The pom poms in mustard are so yummy!

I'm thinking they need to be sewn to the bottom of cool dishtowel.

Yep, it's on the to-do list.

So Emily sent the most wonderful things!

First up is this charming hobnail milk glass vase!

I mean seriously - it's fabulous!

I added a little red and white twine to give it a little holiday flair while it sits on my mantle.

Emily also sent me these gorgeous glittered twigs with instructions to display them in the vase

and can I tell you that I LOVE it!

The vase and twigs goes perfectly with my other Christmas decorations too.

Emily also sent me some local flavor in a can of Gold Star Chili!

I can now tell you that I have tasted the "taste of Cincinnati" and it is very yummy!

Emily recommended a dip to make with the chili so of course we dove right in being it was already one of our go-to party snacks!

We usually make this dip with Hormel Chili with No Beans, and while that is good...the Gold Star was even better. Had a bit more kick and flavor I'd say.

Excellent gift Emily; we loved it!

{when can you send more chili?}

I tease.

Last but certainly not least Emily surprised me with the most awesomest calender in the history of calenders.

I gasped when I opened the package.

I thought, "how did she know?, how did she get in my head like that?"

Pinterest is how she did it, but it didn't dawn on me until later; funny!

I drool over just about everything over at Rifle Paper but this is my most favorite and now I can look at it everyday!

Do I really need a calendar next to my sewing machine?

Probably not, but that is where it will get the most view time from me, so there it will stay!

Sigh. Love it. Want to marry it, love it.

Emily thank you so much for such a lovely package; it was entirely perfect!

I also want to thank Danni over at oh, hello friend for organizing such a wonderful exhange.

vacation

2011-12-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

I went on vacation in early December to Disneyworld. I don't have anything crafty to show, but it sure was a lot of fun. The Little Miss is at the perfect age to enjoy the parks and she certainly gave us lots to smile about and memories to keep. We decided to keep it simple and forgo our big camera's and instead took all Hipstamatic shots with our iPhones. I thought I'd share a few today.

Lanterns in China (Epcot)

Shops at Magic Kingdom

Crazy light display at Hollywood Studios

Trees in Suessland (Universal Studios)

Holiday Decorations at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal)

Diagon Alley (Universal)

Sunset on the plane ride home.

She makes her fun anywhere.

The Little Miss coloring on the bus between the hotel and park.

Once we compile everyones photos we are going to print a small square book with all our favorites;

I can't wait!

little gifts

2011-12-14T14:30:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd share some little gifts I exchanged this year.

My Mom received something similar from someone in her twelve days group several years ago. I loved the look and decided to make a smaller version for two dear friends at work. We are having an ornament swap and tea at the London Tea Room today and I can't wait!

My local quilting bee, the Lou Bee, had a secret sister swap for Christmas. We swapped a 1/2 yard of fabric and an ornament. My Mom was kind enough to whip up these cute little knit mittens; all I had to do was add the tag! Thanks Mom; psst something like this would look great on my tree!

And finally just a quick pic of the wrapping on my Lou Bee swap. The card was a make and take at Archiver's. The doily idea I stole from Ashley Ann and Tasha.

12 days packaging 2011

2011-12-08T06:00:00.004-06:00

Got my 2011 Midwest 12 Days gifts all finished up, wrapped, and shipped.

I'll share what I made after the gift exchange, which by the way, I'm having a hard time waiting for!

tea towels

2011-12-06T06:00:00.001-06:00

I am one of those people who works best under pressure and with boundaries.

As a result I get inspired by contests and magazine submissions all too often.

I've won a contest here and there, but my magazine luck isn't too hot.

It's really alright by me though because all that really matters that I made something I'm proud of.

Like these tea towels that I just am smitten over.

Just pretend you are reading Stitch and not my blog.

See, it's practically the same.

{wink}

The are a cotton linen blend with some pretty Anna Maria LouLouThi embellishments and simple embroidery. Just some store bought bias tape to finish them off.

I felt very clever with my pretty rounded edges and hook loops!

The best part is now I can USE them; woot!

pretty package swap: give

2011-12-05T06:00:00.003-06:00

This year I am participating the the Lovely Package Exchange over at oh, hello friend.

I am sooooooo excited!

I've met my super fabulous swap partner Emily who blogs at GoHausGo.

{Emily you should have received your package, but if not don't scroll down!!}

Since my blog is almost always sewing related, I thought I'd snap a few pictures of things around my house so Emily can get a better sense of my style; though I think she probably 'gets' me enough already. Nothing like Pinterest boards to bring new friends closer together right? {smile}

Hi. My name is Mary Claire and I can't stop buying vintage glass.

Collection of bits above my cutting station.

Vintage Christmas? Yes, please!

Vintage 50's bedroom furniture complete with an ugly but I still like it lamp.

You'll notice all my earrings, love earrings! Most of mine are from Elizabeth Williams

Jukebox! 45's of kitschy music; love!

In the kitchen: pyrex, cookbooks, and recipe boxes.

Okay enough pictures of my stuff; do you want to see what I sent to Emily?

A smorgasbord of goodness (least I hope so!) Vintage floral frog with St. Louis postcard, K. Hall soap, vintage miniature princess phone, wooden snowflake ornament, vintage milk bottle to use as a vase, a vintage apron, a letterpress note pad, and a little wallet that I sewed up.

I painted and papered a sturdy shoe box to create a make shift 'hat box' to hold all the goodies.

Wrapped it with some torn fabric strips, bakers twine, and a few baubles.

I thoroughly enjoyed putting this package together; I hope you love it Emily!

habitat

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late in sharing my STLMQG Habitat Challenge quilt, but better late than never!

I was inspired by one particularly pixelated print and away I went. I used Faith's Photoshop Tutorial to design this quilt and had a lot of fun doing it. I definitely came up with a design that I wouldn't have otherwise created using her method.

The quilt is made up of 24 identical blocks, just turned to create the pattern.

It's probably the most masculine thing I've made to date, but I think I like it.

Quilting is just straight lines down the length of the quilt about an inch and a half apart.

The STL ladies really rocked this challenge - I encourage you to check out some of the pictures here!

odds and ends

2011-11-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

Some seriously cute Summersville tape and fabric!

I am really looking forward to the Summersville Moda release!

Made some cute little reusable produce bags for the open house.

Each set has three different sized bags and comes with it's own storage tote!

I've got three of these beauties almost finished.

Juli Ann's original is a stunner and she was nice enough to allow me to make a few to sell!

Lou Bee blocks for Grace!

Didn't she choose a good color combination?

These were really fun to make!

String blocks for Val's Charity Quilt!

I'm so glad I could participate in her effort!

one dollar

2011-10-26T20:53:00.000-05:00

I almost couldn't believe it myself, but yes, I found a handmade toddler shirt made of Heather Ross Goldfish at Goodwill for one dollar. It's well done; certainly better than I could do!

Not really sure if I have the heart to cut it up or not; only time will tell!

I wish I knew who made it!

I mean does someone with awesome fabric taste live close by?

What if this person has a yard sale?

I know, right?

That's what I thought too!

{wink}

picture day

2011-10-24T06:00:00.002-05:00

School pictures were a week or so ago and of course I wanted to make something for the Little Miss to wear!

And of course I waited until after dinner the night before. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?

Last minute on school pictures and halloween costumes?

I'm pretty sure that's in the parenting handbook somewhere.

{wink}

Anyway, my plan was to make a simple skirt out of this beautiful Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush fabric. I hemmed up a piece and used some fold over elastic to make a simple gathered skirt. Seriously love that stuff. I just pull it taught while sewing it to the fabric; it scrunches up AND finishes the edge at the same time. Score! When I tried the skirt on E. it was too long and being that it was late I wasn't about to re-do it. Instead I went "shopping" in E's room for something that might work.

I found an old, sorta stained, used to be white tank top during my hunt and decided I could attach the skirt to the tank and make a little dress. Pinned it. Sewed it. Done. Covered up the stained shirt with a sweater and we were in business! It went so well I had to make one for a friends little girl. This time I found a 3 dollar clearance shirt and some cute whimsical mushroom fabric that I know my friend will love!

bizzy kid

2011-10-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

Here's my latest quilt finish!

The pattern is Bizzy Kid by Cluck Cluck Sew.

Fabric is mostly Anna Griffin Fifi and Fido. There are some Laura Gunn Painter's Canvas, Joel Dewberry Woodgrain, and a few solids in there too.

It's a bit of a color departure for me, I'm not usually one to pick pastels, but I fell hard for the houndstooth and wavy zig zags! I picked this up at Bindings Borders and Squares in St. Charles if you should decide you need some too!

The Bizzy Kid pattern was easy to follow and I just love the way it looks. I'll for sure be making this one again soon.

My quilting was inspired by the wavy zig zags and ended up looking sort of like long lines of vertical flames. I purposely oriented all the quilting vertically and I'm happy with the look.

I still need some practice to get my stitch lengths more even and I definitely need to have my machine looked at. The stitches just don't seem to be really digging in to the fabric as much as I'd like no matter how I adjust the tension.

Oh! I have to tell you about the basting on this quilt!

My friend Kalynda, who is a long arm quilter, basted this quilt for me using water soluble thread.

She ran a simple large scale meander of the entire quilt and I gotta tell you that it made the quilting process much more enjoyable. Once I got used to looking past her stitches while making my own (it took a little while), I was thrilled not to have to stop and take out a pin or smooth things out so I didn't get a pucker. Awesome!

I also loved that I didn't have to kill my back on the floor basting!

I'll defiantly do this again, probably on larger quilts and/or those that I think are special enough to deserve the small cost associated with professional basting.

If you are local and want to contact Kalynda, her info is here!

fabric nosherie

2011-10-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

Have you visited Fabric Nosherie yet?

There's lots of yummy fabrics there......just sayin'!

Here is some of my loot from the shop.
Yes, that's Anna Maria fabric!
Soooo excited to have a place to buy AMH in person!

Oooh, Ahhhh!

My friend Juli Ann was buying this cute little pattern card by Valori Wells and I had to have one too! The pattern is super simple, only costs three bucks, and they are so much fun to make!

Yes, there are nine there. =)

I was really excited to try out pearl snaps and loved having an excuse to buy some really cute ones from Cowgirl Snaps on Etsy.

I might have an advantage after years of grommets and snaps in the scrapbooking world, but I thought attaching the snaps was really easy. I love the finished look!

Before you think I won the lottery or something after seeing that big pile of fabric up there, I should confess that I was asked to make a few items for Fabric Nosherie in return for store credit.

The talented ladies at the shop made the fabric selections; I think they did a great job!

Quilt and apron fabric and patterns are available at Fabric Nosherie!

fat quarterly - fall inspired

2011-10-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Can I just tell you that I'm really excited to be a part of

The Fat Quarterly's Fall Inspired issue that is due out on October 7th?

I feel like a kid in grade school who just got a smiley face stamp from the teacher on her paper!

My contribution is this small quilt inspired by that ubiquitous fall candy we all know and {some} love; candy corn. Before you tell me, I should say that I do know that candy corn is officially white, orange, then, yellow - but that just didn't look as good.

I hope the candy corn purists out there can find a way to forgive me?

Trick or Treat!

Wouldn't this be cute for a October born baby who loves modern quilting?

(who am I kidding, don't all babies love modern quilting?)

Giggle giggle.

And because you all know I have a hard time making one of anything,

I had to make a second quilt with Anna Maria's LouLouThi!

I did more hand quilting on this one...lets call it organic hand quilting shall we, eck hem...{coughs}...moving on...

I love the contrast of the red stitching on the white fabric!

I was pleased that the candy corn pattern translated well to patterned fabrics!

I think this will be my go-to baby quilt pattern for a while. It sews up fast and is small enough to take a little extra time for the special hand sewing touches (if you are so inclined).

Well that's it! If you haven't already checked out Fat Quarterly you should consider it; each issue has lots of great patterns, inspiration, and interesting information about the fabric and quilting industry!

metrolink quilt

2011-10-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

Ooooo Momma I love this quilt!

I love it.

Made completely from my scrap bins and some Moda Bella Stone.

Absolutely no thought given to fabric placement.

Quilted in a snaggletooth random direction zig zag, that when washed looks a little like elephant skin.

Backing is Cloud Nine Cut Out and Keep (so soft!) and the binding is strips dug out of the scrap bin.

This PDF pattern was easy to understand and the quilt went together very easily! Once you get the cutting done you can chain piece your heart out, so it goes rather quickly.

Metro Link Quilt Pattern available for purchase here.

Visit I Like Orange, too! to see what else she's got to offer!

Did I mention I love it?

little bits

2011-10-01T21:31:00.000-05:00

Got a few smaller projects off the to-do list this past week.

Oh how I love scratching off that to-do list;

it means new projects are on the horizon!!!

Last year my friend Nancy kindly stitched up these adorable little snow people for me and I've finally got around to showcasing them in their very own little pillow! Thanks again Nancy - I love them!

Pattern is by Annie Oakleaves

Sometime this year some friends and I got together for a fun Crafternoon where we tried our hands and freezer paper stenciling. Baby onesies, totes..you name it we painted on it! My sister has a Cricut and this design was on one of the cartridges; doesn't it remind you of Amy Butler Wallflower? I stenciled it on linen and that was it. It's spent the last however long in my drawer of odds and ends until I finally decided to make a pin cushion. I can't say it's my favorite thing, but I still get to mark it off the to-do list whether I like it or not. Score. Anybody need a pin cushion?

So my rectangle fabric bins got me thinking about how to make square bins. My brain just wasn't getting it when I was making the rectangle bins. Lucky for me a light bulb (finally) went off and I figured it out. I decided to make a few square bins with a pocket and finished edge to hold projects for folks who knit (saw something similar to this way before my Pinterest days so sadly I can't give credit for the idea). This Little Apples bin is for my knitting machine Momma (seriously guys, you tease me for being prolific...you should meet my Mother...I think she knits in her sleep!)

True to form I made a few extra in Essex Linen and Kona red to sell at the Open House.

I've got a few more finishes to do/show this week before I start cutting my next batch of projects!

Can't wait!

composition caddy grows up

2011-09-30T06:00:00.002-05:00

I've been busy making small batches of cute things for an upcoming open house where some friends and I sell our wares. It's a fun way to make a little money but really I think we all enjoy having a few days to just sit and visit each other more than anything.

I finished these grown up versions of my composition caddy tutorial a week or so ago and thought I'd share some pictures.

I was inspired by the book I {Heart} Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale and decided to do a little patchwork on the covers along with a little simple hand stitching.

11/23/2011 ETA: I must have also been inspired by this post by Bloom, which I just re-found via Sew Mama Sew. Now that I saw it, I remember seeing it! Funny how that works. I'm glad to be able to link to it so you can see another tutorial too!

I made two versions, a DS Quilts version and an aqua version.

Both cute, but I do really love the look of the DS Quilts one.

I also added some 1/4 inch elastic to the back that can wrap around the front as a closure. I bought my elastic on Etsy at Elastic by the Yard.

To make this grown up version, I just made sure my finished patchwork exterior was the correct size and left off the crayon pockets and handles. Easy Peasy!

Check out what Rachel's been making over at Stitched in Color; this post too. She uses a different tutorial for her covers and has made lots of really great ones as gifts for friends!

Lots of inspiration if you are wanting to make a journal cover! Yay!

alphabag

2011-09-28T16:02:00.000-05:00

Each week in my daughters pre-k class she is allowed to bring something to school, in a bag, that starts with the letter of the week. Of course I had to make her a cute alphabet bag (any excuse right?)!

If you want to make your own bag/purse, I used this free pattern from Very Purple Person.

It's easy, cute, and reversible!

high five

2011-09-27T07:44:00.000-05:00

A friend recently asked me if I would make her child's classroom quilt for a silent auction fundraiser benefiting the school. Always up for a challenge (and an excuse to use up fabric) I agreed, and was delivered the cutest stack of red and aqua hand prints on muslin

(I did plan ahead and asked for those colors).

I had enough aqua fabric, but did buy a bit more red (thank you Joann's and Denice Schmidt). I also bought a cute backing by Michael Miller from Hawthorne Threads. Can I tell you that this fabric is really soft! It has me wondering if all the new Michael Miller fabrics are this soft?

Used the good ole Log Cabin block pattern and oriented the blocks to big off center on-point squares.

The quilting follows those on-point squares in a repetitive concentric pattern.

I am quite smitten with this quilt. I think it's all those sweet little preschool hands!

farmers mom?

2011-09-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

So while I completely stagnated on my Farmer's Wife blocks (holding steady at 18 for months now) my Mom churned hers out in record time.

I'll tell you a little secret though....she cheated.

And you know what?

I'm totally going to cheat too!

I think it's so beautiful!

Mom knew she wanted blue and green and also wanted to make something fresh and a little more modern than she's done in the past. Using almost exclusively fabrics from my stash (yay for stash busting) she chose her fabrics and went to town.

I think it was somewhere between block 15 and 20 that my Mom and I both started losing steam. We talked about quitting entirely or just making smaller quilts. Then I remembered a quilt I had seen on Flickr and showed it to my Mom.

The quilt had some intricate blocks, some intermediate, and some single prints and yet it still made our eyes happy. It almost fooled the eye into thinking the whole quilt was intricate blocks, which I'm sure wasn't the intent of the maker, but it sure made a light bulb go off in our heads!

My Mom made more of the Farmers Wife blocks, but rather than focusing on making one of each, she duplicated some of her favorite blocks in different fabric combinations. Then she made some simple four patch blocks and even cut out some single print blocks. I think the quilt is still very lovely and gives almost the same 'feel' as if she'd followed all the patterns in the book.

I'm sure cheating is not for everyone, but for those who feel overwhelmed by the project, who don't really want to make all the blocks, but still want to make something lovely - it's not a bad option if you ask me!

Mom pebble quilted on her old Bernina (I'm pretty sure she hated every minute of it) and used an Amy Butler flat sheet for the back.

Yay to my Mom for her quilt finish! It's gorgeous Mom!

snacky mcsnackerson

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Reusable snack bags. Love them.

Bought some from an Etsy seller a while ago and really liked the functionality.

I decided to make a few more in a slightly different size for me, some for my sister, and a few extra to sell at this years Holiday Open House just for fun.

I'm definitely not going into the reusable snack bag business because well,

they are kind of involved to make.

If I need any more I'm headed back to Etsy!

picnic

2011-09-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

Went on a picnic a few weekends ago with the family!

We relaxed! We ate! We enjoyed the outdoors!

It was a beautiful day!

I love using quilts for picnics!

Hooray for the Hipstamatic for making my run of the mill picnic look a little more fabulous than it actually might have been.

You probably can't see that we inadvertently sat in the path of a Frisbee golf course, or the fact that we were on a hill that made our drinks topple over. What, you can't see the cookies that I apparently didn't cook long enough and formed a singular mass inside the tin foil? Not even a glimpse of the random kids who kept appearing from out of the woods? No?

Good.

You can see it, how I'm going to choose to remember it.

{smile}

A special sweet afternoon with my best boy and my best girl!

this and that

2011-09-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

Checking in with some bits and pieces!

Made two cute little airplane pillows using the plane tutorial over at Bad Skirt and one for easy pillows over at Hyacinth Quilt Designs! I have a friend who is a trained pilot and has a husband who flies for a commercial airline; needless to say their kids LOVE planes too. These made up quick and my friend was really thrilled with them; yay!

Anyone else plan quilts during boring meetings at work then have to take a picture of the plan since you need the information on the other side of the paper? No? Just me?

{Harumph}

This is a simple log cabin quilt I'm going to make for a friends daughters pre-school class. The centers of the cabins will be hand prints from each kiddo and the quilt will be auctioned to raise money for the school. I'm really excited to make this quilt; sometimes it's nice to quilt to quilt, but really I find quilting with purpose much more satisfying and motivating.

Holy Moly! Won this awesome charm square from Katie at Swim Bike Quilt. Have you heard about 100 Quilt for Kids? It all starts on the 15th so be sure to check it out and donate a quilt if you can! I gotta tell you that I'm pretty stoked about getting a few pieces of the Australian only DS Quilts prints; they really round out the collection!

This is my little one (four) who wanted to "do a project" and sit next to me while I was doing some hand quilting. I got her an embroidery hoop and some scrap linen and she embroidered for the first time.

Heart. Melting.

Teacher gifts! At my daughters school she switches rooms every six months and each room has two teachers....sooooo....we make a lot of teacher gifts! This time I made little linen blend zippered pouches and included a coffee gift card and a jar of homemade jam for each teacher.

Oh and I gotta show you this cute printable I found via Pinterest before I wrap up this hodge podge of a post. So easy and insanely cute!

Are you on Pinterest? Click the button below to find me!

habitat challenge beginnings

2011-08-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

I let this fabric sit a long time before deciding what to do with it. It really is the perfect challenge fabric because while lovely, it is outside of most peoples comfort zone even if just a little. I'm talking about Jay McCarroll's Habitat line, that the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild was kindly given by Free Spirit Fabric and The Modern Quilt Guild to use in a challenge.

My favorite print is the pixilated one (lower left). Inspired by that, and feeling a little unsure of what to do with the bigger graphic prints I decided to go small. Really small.

Really really small.

These blocks are four by five inches and will be a part of a larger block.

I'm relieved to have finally started on this project and excited to have the hardest part done.

The rest should come together quickly for the big reveal in October!

rectangle fabric bin tutorial

2011-08-21T16:05:00.000-05:00

{Do me (and yourself) a favor and read through all these instructions before making your bin! There are magics of math involved in this tutorial that I do not claim to understand. You might think of a better way after you read through it.}

First you'll need to make a pattern for your fabric bin.

Here are some simple steps to guide you through making your own pattern.

Note: I'm using 1/2 inch seam allowances and folding my bin down one inch. If you want a larger fold, you can adjust the pattern accordingly.

The grey area above represents the one inch your rectangle is wider than it is long (half inch on either side). For my example today I'm making a bin with a 3 x 4 inch base. I added 7.5 inches to the top and bottom: 1/2 inch for my seam allowance, five inches for my desired height, and two inches for my decorative fold. Be sure to only add this measurement to the dark pink area (the width of your bin bottom, less the two 1/2 inch seam allowances). Shown in the mauve areas below.

My base rectangle side seam was 3 inches, so half of that is 1.5 inches. I added this measurement to all four sides. Shown in the light grey areas below.

Then I added a 1/2 an inch for the seam allowance. The total width of my pattern (at the wide parts) is 8 inches. Shown in aqua below.

Easy enough right?

I'm sure there is some mathematical shortcut to figure out how to do this and of course you have already guessed that I am to lazy to figure that out. =)

Moving on...

Using your pattern cut out your interior and exterior pieces, one each.

Tip: I only drew half of my pattern and just cut my fabric out on the fold. Up to you.

I used cotton duck cloth for the exterior and quilting weight cotton for the interior.

Note: if you do not use a heavy weight fabric for the exterior your bin will not stand up on it's own. Add a heavy weight iron on interfacing if you are not using a heavy weight exterior fabric.

Starting with the exterior piece match up the two right side seam allowances (shown in blue on the pattern diagram) right sides together and stich a 1/2 inch seam. Do the same for the left side seam.

Hopefully you can see the seams on the right and left.

You now have a flat little bin with two holes at the bottom.

Squish the right opening flat, lining up the bottom edge to the side edge and stitch a .5 inch seam.

Repeat for the left opening and turn your bin right side out.

(You can press your seams or just finger press like I do)

Now repeat these steps for your lining except don't turn the bin right side out.

Slip your interior bin inside your exterior bin wrong sides matching. Line up the side seams and top edges and do a quick stitch around the top to hold it in place.

Now that your bin is assembled, all that's left is to fold down the top edge twice and you are done!

To make nesting bins (from the previous post) I made three patterns whose bases were 1/2 inches smaller than eachother.

And that's that!

Note: Did you notice your fabric bin base is the size you planned in the beginning but is oriented north south, rather than east west? Some magic that my brain can't figure out. The other thing my brain is rufusing to handle is how to actually make a square bin using this method

(I'm not sure it's even possible).

If anyone figures it out, let me know!

nesting fabric bins

2011-08-17T06:00:00.003-05:00

Nesting fabric bins have been on my to-do list for about a year now.

Finally got around to it last weekend!

Made my own little pattern, a little trial and error, and voila!

Of course a little Anna Maria Garden Party makes every project a little sweeter!

scrap storage

2011-08-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

I think I've shared my fabric storage before? It's an old armoire with free standing shelf inside.

Until recently I kept all my fabric scraps in one of those little three drawer plastic drawer thingys down there on the bottom (the middle one). I also had one drawer for selvages (on the right).

Things were getting a bit cramped and messy so I knew it was time for something different.

My solution isn't fancy or even all that thought out, but it's a start! I'll try this for a while and see how it goes. I've got shoe size plastic boxes for red/pink, orange, yellow, green, blue/aqua, purple, neutrals/brown/black, selvages, special/hard to find scraps, and finally, linen scraps.

Now I have to break it to the husband that those shelves he carried downstairs, you know the ones I didn't *need* anymore, need to come back up. {sheepish grin}

single girl

2011-08-08T21:39:00.003-05:00

Not going to talk too much about this quilt since I posted far too much about it in the beginning!

How about some quick readin' bullets?

-It took from February to August to get it done.

-The pattern is Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt.

-The quilt is a queen size, approximately 86 x 86 inches.

-The background is linen, the backing and foreground are quilting cottons.

-I pieced it and then had it long arm quilted.

-I did not prewash any of the fabric, not even the linen.

-My Mom finished the binding for me (yay Mom!).

-Did I mention it was finally done?

Roll that beautiful quilt footage!

Interestingly enough I'm not totally smitten with this quilt though I do admire it a whole heck of a lot.

I could sell it or donate to a good cause...hmm...will have to ponder on that.

Until I decide I'm pretty much happy just knowing it's done.

Done!!!

ETA:

I think the way I wrote my original post and some of the comments from may not be painting a complete picture of this quilts story. I definitely need to say that the quality of the quilting on this quilt (by Quilted with Love) is superb; everything about it is top notch!

It's true though, that I'm not 100% happy with the quilting pattern or thread color I chose.

That said, anyone who is not me (and that's a lot of you) would probably never notice and would probably think I was nuts.

{wink&smile}

a week in the life

2011-08-07T21:33:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I participated in Ali Edwards A Week in the Life.

Ali Edwards is my hands down number one inspiration for scrapbooking and has been since, well, forever. I've read her books and participated in several of her other projects, but this was my first A Week in the Life. Can I tell you that I am regretting the fact that I didn't do this sooner?

For three years I've been documenting using Becky Higgins Project 365, taking pictures most days and journaling small bits (before that I just did straight traditional scrapbooking). I do also supplement with traditional albums for bigger stuff or just special pictures etc.

Until now I thought that this 'system' was all I needed.

During A Week in the Life, I took lots more pictures than I normally would and also kept notes using Ali's handy downloads. It took a little more time, but it was beyond worth it.

I found that by paying more attention to our days and what was happening that I was more reflective, patient, thankful, and to be honest, happy.

I still find benefit in Project 365 and even my traditional pages, but after this A Week in the Life, I know I want/need to focus more on our bigger story, on more in-depth memories and feelings.

Maybe not all the time but some of the time.

I'm looking forward to the evolution of my scrapbooking after this experience!

Here's a handful of pictures of my album:

I printed all my pictures in 4x4 and 8x8 via scrapbookpictures.com

I put all my layouts in my Project 365 Album; easy!

carnival-ish

2011-08-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

This quilt was supposed to be for my teenage niece.

This quilt was supposed to be Carnival by Jaybird Quilts.

This quilt is not either of those things.

It began with me wanting to make a lime green quilt for my niece.

Next I had an awesome swap with a flickr friend who so kindly sent me a wonderful assortment of greens. Seriously, I only had to add one or two for this quilt; thank you Jeannette!

Then I stumbled upon the Carnival pattern and thought it would be fun to try.

One pattern and overpriced (but worth it) ruler later I had this.

Hmmm...this looks like a jumbled mess. It's supposed to look like this which is decidedly not a jumbled mess, but cute little pinwheel thingies.

The instructions even warn about fabric choice, obviously I wasn't listening. I found when I separated my blocks a bit, the pattern showed up better and thus sashing was born. Ta da!

So now I'm happy, I can see the pinwheels, I'm happy with the sashing.....but wait a minute, this quilt is small. Too small for a teenager! We have already established the fact that I didn't really read the pattern so really this should not have come as a surprise to me, but admittedly it did.

It was at this point I had to decide whether I wanted to add a border (I like the look of the border on the pattern cover but I just wasn't feeling like I'd like it on my own), make more blocks (I quickly ruled this out as I decided I was too lazy to make more), or just finish it as is and call it a day?

(ding ding ding we have a winner!)

I quilted this is in a loopy free motion design. I am happier (not happiest yet) with my stitch lengths these days, but I now know that this loopy design isn't my favorite. I actually think I would have preferred stipple (gasp!); I've never been one to embrace the stipple but maybe it does have it's place?

I find that I tend to get caught up at the way the quilting looks at the micro level and forget that most people will be looking at the quilt on the macro level. I have to remind myself to step back and look at the big picture now and then. When I do, I'm usually pretty pleased, imperfections and all.

scraptastic crazy quilt

2011-08-02T20:01:00.000-05:00

Back in May it was my turn to design a quilt for the JOY Circle of the Do Good Stitches Bee. I chose to do an oldie made modern; the crazy quilt. I put out the instructions and waited patiently for the blocks to arrive!

Watching this quilt grow as I received more blocks was a pleasure. In the end I didn't get all of the blocks, but that's okay right? Life happens to the best of us. There were still enough to make a square quilt and use the left over for the binding.

You might have guessed that this quilt is a bit seam heavy though it still went together fairly well. I will say there were some stretch issues due to many of the prints being on the bias, but all in all it turned out great and frankly it is so 'busy' that I doubt anyone would ever notice these small imperfections.

I quilted in random straight lines and used an old black fabric I had along with the leftover blocks for the binding strips. In retrospect I should have just used the extras on the back because all the seams and bias in the binding made it quite tricky to finish; another quilting lesson learned (love that)!

This quilt is being donated to the "Love Quilts" effort coordinated by the The Quilted Garden who is currently collecting for families in Joplin Missouri affected by a devastating spring tornado.

I could stare at this quilt for hours, inspecting all the different fabrics that were used.

I hope that the recipient is a little one who can do the same!

gulp.

2011-07-31T10:51:00.000-05:00

A long while back I entered a quilt into a contest. The Jelly Roll Challenge to be exact. The prize for the top 12 quilts is being published in a new Jelly Roll book by Pam and Nicky Lintott and the top 3 quilts get some pretty awesome prizes ($$ and sewing machines).

After weeks and weeks of waiting the winners were announced this morning and I'm beyond excited to know that I made the top 12!! Gah! The top three will be announced at the Houston Quilt Market this fall! Three more months!

I'm still unsure if I'm allowed to share pictures of my quilt so that will have to wait, but I still wanted to share in my excitement!

I can tell you that I used a Modern Workshop Moda Jelly Roll

picture from The Fat Quarter Shop

and a white solid. The pattern was tricky and took me three tries, but with some advice from my Mom and Jenice at The Quilted Garden, I was able finally get it perfected!

It's amazing what experience quilters (not me), starch, and a little painters tape can do!

One of the judges, Pam Lintott, mentioned this on her blog while judging/testing one of the quilts. I have to wonder if she was talking about my quilt?. {blushes}

"I am testing another favourite today. This one is a bit tricky and I am thinking we are going to have to say in the book whether they are simple, intermediate or advanced. This one is a bit testing but it is looking good."

I can't wait to show you my quilt and to see the other entries!

rip rip ripping challenge finish

2011-07-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

I've talked about this little quilt before (and here) but I wanted to be sure to share a few finished pictures.

Just some simple diagonal quilting lines and red binding. Nothing fancy, but I like it!
{of course I ran out of red and had to use 12 inches of a print}

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else made with

their fabrics at the next St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild meeting!

My daughter wanted in on the quilt holding action; she loves to help and this quilt is just her size!

Fabrics are Heather Bailey, Joel Dewberry, Amy Butler, and Denyse Schmidt that I randomly received in the STLMQG challenge. I love challenges. They push me to create things I would never have otherwise and help to motivate me too!

ETA: This quilt was donated to the St. Louis chapter of Project Linus on 9/17 for Swim Bike Quilts! 100 Quilts for Kids Project!

dream a little dream

2011-07-26T16:17:00.001-05:00

I am so thrilled to have this quilt done. It's one of my favorites and I'm excited to report that I'm even happy with my free motion quilting (I know, right?)! I love vintage sheets so it's no surprise that Moda's Dream On line was a favorite from the get go.

The pattern is Charming Stars from the Moda Bake Shop sans sashing and borders making it a tad more more modern in my eyes. Three charm packs and a little bit of solid and you are ready to go!

I chose to quilt in the popular pebble style and I'm finally feeling like I'm getting the hang of it (pebbles that is, not necessarily all free motion work). I learned that I prefer less overlapping of stitches in my pebbles and like more definition and spacing of individual pebbles. There is a video by Alissa of Modern Quilt Guild fame on Pebble Quilting here.

This as opposed to...

this. It's subtle but you can tell.

I tried a few new-to-me ideas with my binding on this quilt and I thought I'd pass them along. Instead of my normal 2.5 inch binding strips I used 2.25. Since I am limited with the amount hand sewing I can do (and since I can't ask my Mom to finish every quilt I make) I've been trying to improve the way my machine finished bindings look. I've learned that if I sew slowly and am careful to keep a consistent quarter inch seam distance on the front and press before sewing to the back I get a much nicer looking binding. The 2.25 inches made it even better because there is less room for "back flap".

Consider this my small and possibly ineffective campaign to end the senseless tragedy that is,

"Quilt Back Flap".

Kidding!

I can't say it's any better for hand finishing because I haven't tried it, but it is my new width of choice for machine finished binding.

I also tried a tip I got from someone somewhere (sorry to you someone, somewhere who I forgot and can't credit) to use a smoky purple/grey thread when you are stitching in the ditch instead of matching your fabric. The smokey color will actually blend in more because it looks like a shadow to the eye. I had this tip in mind when I bought my first spool of Aurifil 50 and so chose color 5021 ; it worked beautifully when stitching my binding to the back!

Hopefully I'm not boring anyone with things you already know, but I didn't know, so maybe it'll be news to someone. It really wouldn't be the first time I was the last to know something though, if so, accept my sincerest apologies. {wink}

reversible grocery bag tutorial

2011-07-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

The wait is over!

The free tutorial you've all been waiting for

(errr....no?, well let's pretend shall we?) is finally here!

I present the Reversible Grocery Tote!

After much deliberation and advice from friends (thank you friends),

I decided to offer this pattern up for free.

I'm just not ready or willing to deal with the work required to make patterns to sell,

because frankly, this was enough as it is! {smile}

Let's take one last trip down memory lane shall we?

It was back in August of 2009 when we first met this little workhorse of a grocery bag.

It was so well received by family and friends that I made a few more!

These were for my sister in law, who takes fabulous pictures.

Lucky for me she likes to trade!

A year later I was still making them!

They really are great; the staff at Trader Joe's and my local grocery

store are always commenting on them.

They hold a lot thanks to the boxed bottom!

They can support a lot of weight (two gallons of milk? no problem!).

They can be washed (goodbye germs!).

They are a great way to showcase some of that fabric you've been hoarding!

They are reversible (you know for your different shopping moods)!

The make great hostess gifts!

I do hope you give one a try and let me know how it goes!

Download the pattern here!

Download the instructions here!

the one that didn't

2011-07-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

No no, I didn't finish a quilt that quick!

Just this morning I received word that this little baby quilt of mine didn't make the cut for a magazine I submitted it to. No worries though; I don't think it's amazing or anything, just good enough to try!

But hey, now I can share it with you right?

Meet the Medieval baby quilt. It's the same pattern as the quilt I sewed up for Miss Laura Gunn with her lovely Painter's Canvas fabric except this time with Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms.

I think the pattern works much better with the busy prints, but that is just me.

I finished this one up back in May I think; hope you like it!

keeping it simple

2011-07-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try something new on the old blog; quality not quantity.

Instead of posting little things almost everyday, I'm going to try to keep my posts to completed projects or bigger themes. While I schedule most all my posts in advance, time is getting harder to come by these days.

I've uploaded 366 posts since November of 2008 and 100 off them have been since January of this year! Yikes!

I'll likely post a few interim project pictures to Flickr if you'd like to see what I'm up to in between blog posts.

See you again once I finish something!

farmers wife update

2011-07-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

I'm 18 blocks in and frankly feeling like doing all 111 is more than I want to tackle.

I don't need a queen size quilt and face it, cutting out all these teeny tiny triangles is making me a little nuts.

{more nuts, depending on who you talk to}

Right now I'm thinking of making the lap size, which I think is fifty.

I do like the way the Good Folks is looking as a sampler and I'm glad I decided to cut into it again.

There are tons of blocks to oogle at the flickr site!

yes, more jam

2011-07-06T06:00:00.004-05:00

It's getting a little ridiculous with the jam making, but I can't help myself. I mean how can I resist such cute red sour cherries? Mary Englebright eat your heart out right?

And although the picture is dark, that's a big 'ol bowl of black raspberries that I bought at our local farmers market just screaming to be made into jam!

The sour cherry is my favorite, though next year I'll put the fruit through the food mill.

The black raspberry was a labor of love. First through the food mill, then through the strainer to get rid of all those pesky seeds. (Can you tell I'm one of those people who have 'issues' with food texture?) I lost a lot of volume with all the straining, so the six jars I ended up with are pretty much like black gold to me.

Just one or two more recipes on the to-do list, then I'm calling it quits until next year!

stlmqg ripping challenge progress

2011-07-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Well I got the top done and am pretty darn happy with the way it looks.

I think adding the red squares really helped pull the not quite matching fabrics together.

Now I am excited about quilting this one and putting on a matching red binding!

composition caddy tutorial

2011-07-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week I showed you my first try at a composition caddy and said a tutorial was coming. Since I already had it written and just needed to add pictures it went pretty fast and I'm happy that I can share it with you today!

Version 2.0 was made with a Michael Miller Tammis Keefe print, a Lizzy House 1001 Peeps, and a Moda Sweetwater newsprint.

The tutorial is for those standard size composition books we all know and love. I wanted to be sure to tell you about a great Primary Journal version for kids by Mead. It has a space for a picture at the top and lines for writing at the bottom; great for that budding author/artist in the house!

Download the PDF!

ETA: I replaced the really huge file with a smaller one!

I'd love to know if you make one, and of course give me a shout if you find

anything wrong or have questions!

stlmqg ripping challenge

2011-06-30T06:00:00.004-05:00

We are in the middle of another St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild Challenge; this time it's the Rip Rip Ripping Challenge! We all started with one yard and cut it in half, we then passed that half around a while until we all got a new half. Then we took that new piece, cut it in half and passed that around...you get the idea. What we ended up with was five pieces of fabric, four of which were not the one you started with.

I was perplexed for a while at what to do and worried that my fabrics didn't "go" together, but ultimately decided on a zig zag design. Unfortunately the zig zags really highlighted the fact that fabrics didn't match, but I had already cut and made my half square triangles....what to do...what to do....

Pinwheels are what I did and ya know...I think it might be working!

Maybe these fabrics play together more nicely than I thought or maybe I picked the right pattern; I'm pretty excited to finish this one so I can see how it looks! I'm going to put little red squares at the intersections.

Luckily it's just baby baby sized so I should have it done next week!

sugar pop

2011-06-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

In an attempt to create something fabulous to submit to a contest, I blew through two Moda Sugar Pop Jelly Rolls, and still didn't get it right. No worries though, I was able to use my mistakes and make three small quilts that look a lot like this:

I can't show the other two, because they are too similar to my submitted design.

The good news is on my third try, third jelly roll, this time Moda's Modern Workshop, I finally succeeded and executed my vision without error! I'm crossing my fingers that I might win!

I think I might have looked at these colors a bit too long; I've started making desserts that match my quilts!

dream on

2011-06-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

What seems like forever ago (was really fall of 2010) I purchased two Moda Dream On charm packs. It was right after market and someone (can't recall who) bought some at the sample spree and was selling them; I was hot for all things vintage sheets so of course I *had* to have them.

And so they sat.

And sat.

At some point Sew Mama Sew had a sale and I had the mind to order some backing so at least my charm packs got a friend to gather dust with.

And so they sat together.

And sat until I finally dug in last week.

Of course I didn't have enough for the pattern I chose and was lucky enough to find someone willing to swap with me over on Flickr; yay Flickr!

The pattern is Charming Stars via The Moda Bake Shop sans the sashing.

I can't wait to get it quilted up so I can show you how pretty it is.

The colors in this picture are a bit darker than real life.

In my ever growing quilt sickness, I kept every scrap I trimmed while making the stars and sewed them together to make half square triangles. Yeah, I know. {smile}

composition caddy

2011-06-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Made this little composition book caddy a month or so ago for our friends sweet daughter who was having a birthday. Her momma kindly took these pictures for me since I absentmindedly forgot!

I made the pattern up as I went and all went well until I got to the end and realized my top stitching ate up some of my calculated space, so I had to trim the covers of the notebook to fit. Next time I'll be sure to add to the pattern to compensate; doh!

(howdya like my fancy artwork? ah ha...ah hem, don't quit my day job right?)

Fabrics are Ann Kelle Remix and Moda It's a Hoot.

It was fun to make and I hear it's been a big hit with the birthday girl!

Isn't she the cutest?

Tutorial will be coming once I get around to making another one!

hydrangea love

2011-06-24T06:00:00.012-05:00

My hydrangea is in bloom and that makes me smile!

Pretty good start to a Friday if I do say so myself.

Enjoy Summer's first official weekend!

farmers wife post one

2011-06-23T06:00:00.006-05:00

I couldn't resist joining in the fun of another quilt along. This time it's The Farmer's Wife.

Even better, my Mom is sewing along too!

The last quilt along I did was for the Single Girl quilt. I found that having the group to go to for questions and seeing everyones progress gave me the extra oomph I needed to finish a challenging

quilt that I might not have made otherwise. Since that quilt is off at the long arm and all my other projects are finally done, it was time to start something new!

If you haven't already heard, The Farmers Wife is a book by Laurie Hird. There are 111 six inch blocks in the book accompanied by letters from 1920's era farm wives answering the question, would you want your daughter to marry a farmer? It's really interesting to read the letters, I do recommend it.

I'm afraid this quilt along is going to be even more challenging than the Single Girl so I'm glad my Mom is sewing along too. We called around and found the book at a local shop late last week and quickly got started since we were a few weeks behind the pack. The goal is to make two blocks a week. At first I thought this was slow, but after making some blocks with seriously tiny pieces and tons of triangles, I changed my mind...two...sounds grrrreat!

I chose to use one fabric line for my quilt; Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks. After using every scrap I had of what I had from this line last year I slowly started collecting it again finding deals on Etsy and swapping with Flickr friends. It really is one of my all time favorites and I'm hopeful that the Good Folks and the Farmer's Wife will get along well (so far so good).

Here are 9 of the 10 blocks I have done so far. Two were hard, the rest were pretty easy. I'm afraid the next 101 might lean towards the hard side...more of those pesky little triangles, but I'm up for the challenge!

My Mom has always loved green and blue and so that's the color palette she chose. She wanted to be sure her quilt felt modern so she came over to my house and dug through my stash to pick our her fabrics. We found lots that she liked and she even found that she had some scraps at home that went along with the rest nicely!

I think her quilt is going to be lovely!

This is going to be a slow project but hopefully I'll have lots of progress to show each month, and this time next year we'll have two quilts to ooh and ahh over!

Photographs of all the individual blocks are posted on Flickr if you have the inclination to see them up close.

(don't look too close at mine, he he)

pizza heaven

2011-06-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

It's no secret that The Good Pie and Peel are my two favorite local pizza stops,

but sometimes making pizza at home is just as fun!

My hands down all time favorite sauce is Smitten Kitchen's Moderately Easy Pizza Sauce

(I really like the dough at that link too, it's a thinner one).

For a thicker crust, I use this Quick and Easy Pizza Crust Recipe

(I use regular flour instead of bread and it turns out great).

Three things I always use/do for great results at home:

Penzey's Pizza Spice

Fresh Mozzarella (no shredded cheese)

Hot hot hot oven and a preheated pizza stone.

Mangia!

jelly roll rainbow 1600

2011-06-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

The Jelly Roll Rainbow is done!

I first blogged about it here and you can find out how to make one here.

I personally think it takes longer than stated, but even still, getting a quilt top done in less than two hours is pretty great.

I used a Kona Cotton Jelly Roll and added Kona Coal two and half inch squares between each strip. I ended up using Sulky Invisible thread on the top because every other color thread I tried just looked silly with the rainbow of colors. I was a little nervous about using this clear thread, but it really wasn't an issue at all. The best part is that it hides a multitude of mistakes!

I had to set my tension to 1 so the bobbin thread wouldn't show. I've heard some people's machines will 'take' the invisible thread in the bobbin, but my shop didn't recommend it. Someday I might be brave and try it, just to see.

I intended to sew one very neat spiral, but quickly realized that I am not that good at machine quilting yet. So instead I did lots and lots of free hand spirals in all different sizes.

The binding is partly scrappy, using up three or four different solid remnants I had. The other part I used a rainbow chevron print from Ann Kelle's Remix line.

Thanks to the creative ladies at the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild for pointing out this tutorial!

do. Good. Stitches. {June}

2011-06-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Another month of Do. Good. Stitches gone by!

Tutorial found here.

hot pepper jam

2011-06-17T06:00:00.003-05:00

The jam-fest continues...this time Hot Pepper!

We love to serve Hot Pepper jelly or jam over a brick of cream cheese and serve with crackers;

I think we're going to be set for a while!

binding

2011-06-16T06:00:00.002-05:00

I had myself a little binding party over the the weekend.

Five quilts.

Note to self: from now on, bind as you go.

stashtastic

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Have you seen Lizzy House's new line 1001 Peeps?

It's lovely and the colors are gorgeous. My selections arrived last Friday and I am more than happy!

Even more exciting, to me anyway, is the fact that Miss House has decided to include new colorways of her popular Pearl Necklace fabric, which I think originally was part of the Red Letter Day collection, in her new lines. I think I am missing one print, but oooh just look at this goodness! Can't wait for more.

Last but not least I decided to pick up a scrap pack from Hawthorne Threads and I'm glad I did. The fabrics were great and look how big the pieces are! Those are all folded up!

the cuteness

2011-06-14T06:00:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine shared this cute shirt tutorial with me a few weeks ago and I couldn't resist making a few. Well truthfully I made seven, with my Mom's help, so we could share with friends. {smile}

First up is some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms (my favorite print) with some Ta Dot and Mirror Ball for accents. I didn't use a pattern for the skirts, just winged it.

Second selection is Erin McMorris for the main print and some Riley Blake for the accents.

These little outfits went together quickly and look so sweet on the Little Miss.

I'm thinking I need a skirt made out of this AB fabric...and sheets....and wallpaper...and stationary...and dishtowels...and that's all. {wink}

Tanks are from Old Navy and were two for 12.

Be sure to head on over to Quilt Story to see what everyone else is up to this week!

coming soon

2011-06-09T06:00:00.010-05:00

So back in 2009 my Mom and I designed our own grocery bags. I had a similar bag but it needed some fussing, so we (ahem my Mom) cut up a plastic big box store bag and used that as a jumping off point. After some tweaking and many conversations where we discussed our 'differing' views on sewing methods only to realize are saying the same thing, we got it just the way we wanted it. It's roomy, reversible, easy to make, and easy to carry.

Between us we've probably made over fifty bags by now. At one point I tried to sell them, but found that no one really understood how much designer fabric costs and therefore didn't want to pay ten dollars for a grocery bag when every store sells their own version for a buck. I've talked about doing a tutorial. Mom's been asked by her guild for the pattern and we still have yet to deliver. I submitted to a magazine and was not accepted. I sometimes think I should make up the pattern and try to sell it as a pdf, but really, does the sewing world really *need* another grocery bag pattern?

I just can't commit to a plan and I'm not really sure why?

Free blog tutorial or pattern to sell?

Either way, know I'm working on it and one way or the other it'll be available soon!

ps. thanks to the husband for his excellent modeling work

jam!

2011-06-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

So I bought a few strawberries....

...did a little canning...

...bought some gooseberries...

...and have lots to share!

Thanks to my enabling sister I've been bitten by the canning bug. We've tried strawberry jam in the past and basically made strawberry hard candy in jars. We tried pepper jelly once too and essentially made some spicy rubber ball - like jelly. Third times the charm right? A few weekends ago we made plain old strawberry jam and guess what? It worked! I couldn't help myself and last weekend bought more strawberries and made gooseberry/strawberry jam and on Monday made strawberry vanilla jam.

I'm no expert and my skills definitely need some honing but canning my own jam makes me feel downright domestic and resourceful.

My daydreams lately have been filled with raspberry and blackberry plants, Weck jars, and this Pear Vanilla Jam recipe!

You want to know the funny part?

I don't even like strawberry jam!

I know!

cosmo bag

2011-06-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I spent a a few nights working on this not so little cutie.

It's the Cosmo Bag from Amy Butler's book, Style Stitches.

I chose a Denyse Schmidt Quilts fabric from Joann's for the outside, accented with linen and a Moda Bella Solid for the interior that matches the turquoise exterior print.

The bag wasn't hard to make, but it did feel tedious at times. It took me two nights to cut all the pattern pieces and one night to sew. The final assembly of the bag, in my opinion, could have been done differently and might have resulted in less frustration with finishing the bag handles. I guess AB lost my number {wink}.

All in all it went together quite well despite my beef with the handle finishing.

The bag is heavily interfaced, yet still is a bit floppy for it's size. I recommend a sturdier interfacing than the pattern calls for and/or using a decorator weight fabric.

Another tip is in regards to the pockets. For the exterior pockets, sew a line horizontally about half way down the side panel before assembling the bag. If you don't do this you'll end up with super deep, skinny pockets that, in my opinion are useless. Sew the horizontal line and you can at least use the pocket for keys or a cell. For the interior pockets the pattern calls for one vertical line of stitches for each pocket to make two sections. I found this to be too floppy as well. Two vertical lines will give you three still ample pockets but it will also hold them more taught.

It's a beautifully designed bag and with a few little tweaks can be pretty functional too!

jelly roll 1600

2011-06-01T06:00:00.002-05:00

Last month the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild had a sew-in and though I was busy working on my Painter's Canvas quilt, I did take a break to whip out this Jelly Roll 1600 quilt top. I first learned about the 1600 project on our guilds blog and several of us then decided to give it a try.

I sewed in grey squares instead of sewing each strip directly to one another and with the rainbow roll, I think it turned out pretty cool. I've got this baby basted and ready to go; I just need to pick up some clear quilting thread because every color I've tried to quilt it with looks rediculous.

flirting the issue skirt

2011-05-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Made this skirt almost a month ago for my niece using Anna Maria's free Flirting the Issue skirt pattern.

The skirt sews up fast and is even lined!

This would be a great beginner project for anyone who wants to try their hand and sewing clothes.

I used a lightweight cotton lawn that drapes quite nicely and just a simple cotton lining; perfect for the hot and humid days of summer.

a very good mail day

2011-05-27T06:00:00.004-05:00

Today in the mail I received three books for the Little Miss and this one for me! I am very picky when it comes to sewing books and 9.5 times out of ten will pass on a book because there are not enough projects I would want to make. I just cant see spending the money on a book for one good project and 10 mediocre to bad ones. I usually hit the library first and then my local bookstores to get a sneak peak, but this time I couldn't find a copy anywhere. I loved the dress on the cover so I bit the bullet and bought it; I am not disappointed. The dress patterns alone are worth the price of the book. Good thing I got a killer box of fabric in the mail today!

Anna Maria LouLOUthi Voile!

This print speaks to me. Seriously love it.

Larger cuts of my favorite prints. The coreopsis prints are number one in my book, but the framed prints are a close second. Shadow (the purple print) is amazing and I will definitely be ordering more. The XO prints are such a great staple so I had to get more of those. Had to! Ha!

And finally a fat quarter of each print. As always Anna Maria delivers a line that works together without being overly matchy. Her color sense is (to my mind) genius.

I am pretty sure I need a 12 step Anna Maria Horner program.

singer featherweight

2011-05-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Nope. It's not mine.

I was talking to a friend at work (who knows nothing about sewing) about these cute little metal sewing machines I saw all over Paducah. I explained what they were and what they were called and he says, wow, that sounds a lot like the machine we have at home. Long story short, we look it up and sure enough the sewing machine he and his wife have at home was a 1962 Singer Featherweight in darn near perfect condition! Amazingly they bought it for twenty bucks at a yard sale 15 years ago!

I got to take it home and sew on it before they sold it on eBay; it was a lot of fun to use, I can see why people love them so much!

medieval: soul blossoms

2011-05-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Not completely comfortable with my Medieval quilt pattern in Painter's Canvas, I threw a small quilt top together with an assortment of Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms. I am loving the way it looks and feel like it is much more me. Phew.

single girl update

2011-05-23T06:00:00.002-05:00

The single girl quilt top is complete! Hallelujah right?

The linen was forgiving and challenging all at the same time, but I'm glad I stuck with it because I love the finished look.

I'm headed to the long arm quilter's house tomorrow afternoon and can't wait! This will be my first time having a quilt professionally quilted so if you have any tips for me my ears are open!

medieval: a painters canvas quilt

2011-05-13T06:00:00.003-05:00

Due to some crazy issue with Blogger my original post regarding this quilt is now gone as is my Quilt Festival post...so...slight change of plans...my Medieval quilt is now my Quilt Festival quilt; ta da!

(My apologies to those reading about the Medieval quilt two times)

The St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild was asked by Laura Gunn to make some quilts for display at the Spring Quilt Market using her new Painter's Canvas line of fabric....in 11 days. Wha what?

Crazy me, I said I'd do it.
Don't worry four other members were up to the challenge too!

It's not as easy as I thought quilting on a deadline and I definitely have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into the Quilt Market booths!

I'm calling the quilt "Medieval" because it reminds me of castles and knights with shields; hopefully I'm not the only one who sees it? I tried orienting the blocks in several different directions, making arches, color blocks, randomness etc. but this layout with the repeating pattern is what looked the best to me. I have to admit I had a hard time working with the large blocks of bold color that are outside of my normal comfort zone. Overall I'm happy with it but admittedly a little weary about the look.

I'm going to make a baby quilt with the same pattern using Amy Butler prints; if it turns out I'll post the pattern as a quick tutorial.

Thanks so much for reading about my little endeavour!

I can't wait to see what quilts everyone else has blogged about!

Find Painter's Canvas here!

Check out the other STLMQG's Painter's Canvas Quilts here, here, here and here!

catching up

2011-05-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

Easter!

Dentist Appointment. (no cavities; yay!)

Paducah!

Choosing fabric from Laura Gunn for a 10 day turn around quilt project.

(Today is day 9 - I'll post more on this another day)

Baby Shower (not mine; yay!).

Cinco de Mayo! Churro's at work; yum.

Dinner at Peel with an old friend.

St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild Sew-in!

(I hope to post more about this too)

Mother's Day!

Awesome gift from my family; Elizabeth Williams Jewelry!

Birthday Party for friends kiddo! Aren't her decorations amazing?

Phew! Believe it or not, that's still not everything, but you get the idea...busy!

hstamhgf pillow

2011-05-09T06:00:00.001-05:00

Yup, it's my half square triangle anna maria horner good folks pillow. Catchy name right?

Finished this back in April, but never got around to posting it. It's been a busy couple of weeks!

I tried piping on this pillow. Um...yeah, not a lot of fun to be had there. I mean, it looks nice and all but really was a pain to sew (I'm sure due to my piping novice). Not saying I wouldn't do it again, but I'd think twice about it!

Do I even have to say how much I love it?

Sigh...Good Folks...will any new fabric line ever compare?

makeup roll

2011-04-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

My friend Rachel over at Stitched in Color designed this fun customizable Makeup Roll pattern and asked a few sewers to test it before it hit the market. I was more than happy to oblige, especially since it's so cute and I had this new Denyse Schmidt fabric burning a hole in my stash.

I found the pattern easy to follow with lot of pictures and text to help me follow along. I had this little cutie whipped up in an evening!

Mine is going to a silent auction benefiting the American Cancer Society!

single girl update

2011-04-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

I was inspired to take this picture after seeing this picture documenting Single Girl quilt progress.

I am just past the pin like hell phase and am now in put all the blocks together phase.

I have four complete blocks sewn.

I have 12 to go.

The end is in sight!

Hoping to have a quilt top to show soon!

dress parade part two

2011-04-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Seems like one is always in the laundry so I can't get a picture of it. Trust me; it's cute.

I am very happy I made these and while I thought I'd regret making so many, it has actually worked out well. The Little Miss almost always wants to wear a dress so now we have lots to pick from.

She gets lots of compliments and people always seem to know they are homemade, which I'm telling myself means you can't buy anything that cute as opposed to "they look homemade". Ha!

do. Good. Stitches. {April}

2011-04-26T06:00:00.002-05:00

This month I was asked to fill in for another circle of the do. Good. Stitches Charity Bee.

Twist my arm why don't ya?

Rainbow blocks were requested with few restrictions; I made the above large block with the idea that it would look like it was cut from a hexagon.

I loved my rainbow block I made using a paper piecing American Pineapple pattern so much I made another one for the bee, but with white in the center instead of linen.

And well, with rainbows on my mind, how could I not buy this awesome hounds tooth fat quarter bundle??

pineapple pillow

2011-04-25T06:00:00.004-05:00

Finished this pillow Friday night and am crazy in love with it!

Did some simple decorative stitching with Perle on the front,

put in a simple hidden zipper on the back!

I used this downloadable pineapple pattern if you are inclined to give it a try! I used scraps and some 100% linen I picked up at Joann's.

I'm entering my pineapple pillow in Stitched in Color's Blogger's Pillow Party for April!
Be sure to click over and check out the other entries!

those aren't pillows!!

2011-04-22T06:00:00.003-05:00

Yet.

Got this pillow going last week. Used some AMH Good Folks scraps and linen scraps to do a little more half triangle action. Happy to report all went well this time around!

Made this pillow top after experimenting with a paper pieced American Pineapple block for a charity bee. I loved the results and thought it for sure wanted to be a pillow!

Of course more linen...I think I'm becoming a one trick pony.

I'm hoping to get these done over the weekend; we'll see...

do. Good. Stitches. {April}

2011-04-21T06:00:00.003-05:00

Finished my blocks for my circle of the do. Good Stitches bee! This month we were to make house quilt blocks. After I made these fun row houses I re-read our instructions and realized these might be too different than what was asked for. I'm going to ask this months designer to see what she thinks, but either way I'm glad I made these. If they won't work for the bee, I think I'll either make a wall hanging or make more 'city' type houses for a small quilt!

ETA: I can use them for the bee! Yay!

hot mess

2011-04-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to you guys I was encouraged not to give up on this little wall hanging and did as you suggested; I quilted it out. Not really knowing what that meant I tried to quilt in the direction I needed the fabric to stretch and actually this sorta worked. My rhombus was still a rhombus, but less pronounced!

I had to trim up the sides and you can see on the left all the little half, half squares.

We're not even going to talk about all the frayed seam repairs that sucked away perfect triangle points!

I used some old leftover thick poly batting and quilted on the diagonal. You can't see it too clearly in the pictures but it made big 'waves' or ridges and it looks kinda cool. Gives it a little oomph anyway.

From a distance I'm pretty fond of it.

Up close it's a hot mess.

'Hot Mess' will be my entry into the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guilds Solid Challenge. I'll quickly be disqualified because I didn't plan this out well (what? no!) and my quilt is smaller than the required size. Ah..see..I told you it was a Hot Mess!

I can't wait to see what everyone else does with their Robert Kaufman Kona charm pack!

i must be crazy

2011-04-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

New Denyse Schmidt at Joann's!

The nice lady there got everyone of them from the back for me and cut them all.

Only took an hour and a half.

Seriously good day.

project modern challenge two

2011-04-12T06:00:00.003-05:00

Here's the quilt I made and submitted for The Modern Quilt Guild's Project Modern Challenge Two.

Lots of orange scraps and some orange solids, pieced together in whatever form suited my fancy that day. I honestly thought very little about what I was doing and just went for it.

This method of piecing is harder than I thought it would be, but I did enjoy the process.

The back is minky and butterflies since my daughter decided early on that this quilt was for her.

I free motion quilted pebbles, faux bois, water ripples, and grasses with orange thread. The nature theme seemed an easy choice for me after I decided my creation looked like a sunrise or sunset.

I love the contrast of my quilt to the cold February winter day behind it.

It's not my favorite quilt, but it has grown on me over the last month or so!

I can't wait to see all the other entries and to see how each person interpreted monochromatic!

Just a few more days until they announce the winners and reveal all the other entries.

couldn't resist

2011-04-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

After using just about every last scrap of DS Hope Valley and almost buying it again at least weekly for six months or more, I finally took the plunge and bought another fat quarter pack.

Should have got the 1/2 yard bundle shouldn't I?

dress parade part one

2011-04-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

This makes five total. I've got four more that are 99% done; just need elastic around the neck.

I'm happy report that the Little Miss loves them and asks to wear them; hooray!