Busy Busy Busy

Wow.  I have a lot of little finishes lately.  Back when I was teaching, it would have taken me months to do the same amount of sewing related things I've done in the past two weeks.  And I have two babies.  Am I doing something wrong?

I suppose most of these projects are fairly small.

I made this super cute block:

I've been looking for some kind of block of the month that I could use as interchangable decorations each month.  I'm a little late in the game, but I found this Hello Sun quilt along and I kind of love it.  I've also been looking for a good excuse to try this method of applique.  Maybe I will make all the blocks into a quilt someday.  And it was fast.  Once I made my panel of yellow, the whole thing came together pretty quickly.  Thank heavens for Heat and Bond. :)

I printed THIS little subway art to go with it.  I've got the other 11 stashed away for future use too.  SO easy.  I love it.

I also finished my growth charts.  You can see more of those HERE.

Then I started working on my stocking advent calendar thinking I would just work on it here and there over the next month or so.  Whoops.  I FINISHED it!  I still need to take some pictures and write a post about it though (maybe tomorrow?).  It's super cute.  I think I finished it so fast because there was lots of handwork to it - LOTS of cutting and turning fabric inside out and stuff.  I could do that in the evenings while I watched TV or football with the Hubby.  Thank heavens for Freezer Paper. :)

 

AND I made two blocks for my Storm at Sea quilt.  These were test blocks to check my cutting measurements and learn how to do freezer paper piecing.  I think I've about got the hang of it.  They take a little while to make, but they are fun and should keep me busy for awhile.

Linking up:

Twin Growth Charts

Here they are!  My quilted growth charts are finished.
Read more about them HERE and HERE.

I'm liking applique more and more these days.  I sewed the letters and numbers on (after quilting) using a blanket stitch.   I really like how they turned out. 

However, this is what happens when you have a baby underfoot (Bronx) who discovers the pedal before you can stop him...

Here is a shot of the back.  Some of the strip pieces have special meaning, although I'm sure I'm the only one who will ever care.  There is fabric from Daddy's stocking, their car seat covers, the first quilt I ever made, and even some from the shirt Daddy wore in our engagement pictures that has long since ceased to fit. :)

Of course, I had to copy my original inspiration and get a couple shots with babies in them.  I just couldn't help it.  This is Bronx in his pirate shirt (the back says "I've got a loaded booty").  

Now here's a crazy story for ya.  When I first went to write their heights on the charts (I started with just birth and six months, for now) using a permanent marker - I MESSED UP!  I thought I was writing on Jaxson's chart, but I was writing on Bronx's and I wrote the very first measurement in the WRONG SPOT.  I was actually kind of devastated and started searching the internet in a panic to see if there was a way to get it off.  I thought about just sewing a strip of white fabric over the top, but then decided to try rubbing alcohol, which seemed to get the best results according to the internet.  So I locked myself in the bathroom and went through almost an entire roll of paper towels and WAY more rubbing alcohol than was probably needed.  After lots of attempts and even some soaking, I finally just threw it in the washer.  The permanent marker faded, but definitely did NOT come out.  So I finally gave up and left the writing where it was and drew a tiny arrow to the spot where it should have been.  Now it looks like Bronx and Jaxson were the same height when they were born (which is not true, Bronx was 3.5 inches longer).  And Bronx's growth chart has a more wrinkled, washed look to it (and is slightly shrunk), while Jaxson's is still fresh and flat.  Oh well.  You really can't tell in the pictures, can you?

The lines on the chart are supposed to be exactly one inch apart, but they aren't perfect, so it looks like the chart is lying... :)  As the numbers get higher, the measurements are more accurate, but the bottom is a few inches off.  That's okay.  I don't intend to use these for measuring!

Overall, I LOVE them!  This was a fun project and it's fun to finally have something cute hanging in their room!

EDIT:  Would you like one of these for yourself?  Check out my listing on Etsy to order your own custom made growth chart!  Click HERE.

Edited again, 6/13/14:  Linking up with Fort Worth Fabric Studio's "Oh Sew Baby" series.  Check it out!

WIP: Growth Charts and Some Fabric Selecting

I finished quilting my growth charts!  I want the applique to stand out from the quilting, so I am going to add the letters and numbers last.  This is what I've got so far (times two):

Here are the backs.  I just pieced together some random leftover fabric.  Even though probably no one will ever see the backs.  :D

I quilted them with straight lines one inch apart.  I still don't have a walking foot, so I've resigned to always having wrinkles and pulls from using my regular foot to do straight line quilting.  I tell myself that it looks cool and that I did it that way on purpose - I was vigilant about making sure I changed directions with each line.  Does anyone know where to find a walking foot that fits a Bernina Activa that isn't FREAKING EXPENSIVE?!?!

We've been watching a lot of football lately, so I decided to sew the binding on by hand during games.  I've got the first one finished, now onto the second one!

I have all the applique pieces fused and cut.  The numbers will run along the skinny side, marking each foot.

And the names will run along the fat side.  I haven't decided yet if I am going to do something about the holes that are supposed to be in the Os and As and such.

ALSO.  It's almost time to get started on the stocking advent calendar I am planning to make.  I got out the fabric today and sorted it, just for fun:

I also pulled out this fabric.  I want to make some kind of skirt out of it, but I don't really know how to go about it.  Any suggestions?

I decided to go with this design for my Storm at Sea quilt.  Except some of the white spaces will be more grayish, cuz I don't have enough white.  And I'm going to add orange. :)   I'm SUPER excited to get going on this one!

And there you have it!  I actually have more than one work in progress today - even though I generally tend to only work on one project at a time.

Linking up!

Look who did some applique!

Applique has always made me a bit nervous.  I've tried it a couple of times (see HERE and HERE), but haven't been fully impressed with the results.
But then I got myself some fusible interfacing (I think that's what it is...) and realized that was the one rule of applique that I should NOT have broken.  My latest project turned out much better than my previous ones!

See, the Hubby and I are both BYU alumni and avid BYU football (and soccer, and basketball, and volleyball) fans.  I've been keeping my eyes peeled for some cute BYU attire for my boys, but to be honest - everything I have found is so. freaking. expensive.
So I took the plunge and decided to make my own (3 onesies for 6 dollars?  Okay).  I must admit, I was pretty nervous about sewing onto knit fabric, since I've never done that before, but I used that interfacing and everything came out great!

I printed my design (copied from Google Images) on freezer paper and then fused the interfacing to the blue part.  I sewed the background down using a zigzag stitch, partly because I wanted it good and stuck, and partly because I didn't want to worry about cutting seam allowance in my interfacing.  For the Y, I just used a regular straight stitch (slightly shorter than normal).  I'm hoping the edges get a tiny bit ruffly in the wash.  I was impressed with how easy this project was!  I'll have to make another set when they get bigger...

The boys are going to wear them tomorrow for our big game against Utah.  Go Cougars!!!

WIP: Growth Chart and Storm at Sea Quilt

I've been working on making a quilted growth chart for my boys.  Inspired by this one:

SOURCE:  The Student/Teacher via thelongthread.com

I spent some time digging through my scraps, sorting, cutting, and sewing them together very carefully in an effort to make sure the finished blocks measure exactly 1 inch tall.  They are VERY close, but they won't be exact.

It's not finished yet because I got a little distracted by an idea...

I want to make a quilt for someone in my life who doesn't seem quite so into the modern quilts that I love.  I'm guessing she would like something more traditional - like what my Grandmothers used to make.  I was having a VERY hard time thinking of something that would work, but still fit my style enough for me to be motivated to make it.  Until I found this:

I CANNOT find the original source for this photo!  I found it on Pinterest.  I think this version of the pattern is by Larisa Key - called "Impulse", from an old issue of Quilter's World magazine.

It's the Storm at Sea pattern.  I have seen some more traditional versions of this quilt, but wasn't really drawn to them.  THIS one, though, I LOVE.  It's traditional, yet there are so many different ways to make it look modern.
I'm thinking of using this fabric, which is part of a giveaway from Red Pepper Quilts that I was VERY, VERY lucky to win...

Although I am tempted to throw in the orange and brown...

I printed out a coloring page and set to work trying to decide exactly how I wanted my design to work.  Of course, the colors aren't true to form (I don't have THAT many markers), but you get the general idea.  This is what I came up with:

The three designs are essentially the same, with the difference being the way the white parts are distributed.  But I am having such a hard time deciding which one I like best!  Will you help me?  I want the ribbons to be the main focus, but I also want the circles and the stars to come through in the design as well.  What do you think?
Should I go with

A:

B:

Or C:

Thanks for stopping by!
Linking up:

p.s. If you are just visiting, you could check out the sewing machine cover I finished last week.  I posted my progress a few weeks ago, but never linked up the finished deal.

Sewing Machine Cover

I finished my sewing machine cover!
Here is the finished back:

I used Melissa's Tutorial to make my flying geese. 

Her tutorial was excellent.  My measuring skills?  Not so much.  Above are my geese before being sewn together.  They look great, eh?  Of course, once I sewed them together I lost all my points.  I realized this was going to happen before I attached them all, but after making 12 geese.  I decided to just let it go.  If I were making this for someone else, I would have picked them all and started over.  But I didn't want to do that, so I left them. :)  You can't really tell if you squint hard enough.

For the quilting, I kept it minimal and just echoed the design from the front, only quilting in the neutral spaces.  It took me like 10 minutes.

I stuck some purple ribbon into the binding for ties.

And here is the back.  Although it doesn't really feel like a "back."  It's just the other side of a reversible quilt.

The quilting looks cool on this side, though.

I bound it in a teal batik and decided on a whim that I wanted to hand stitch the binding.  I am getting better all the time and starting to see why people enjoy it so much!  I might do this more often, time permitting...

And here is my sewing machine all decked out!   

I hardly ever take the extension table off, so I made it a little longer to account for that.

I love it!