WIP: Taking Stock

I've learned over the past few years that I'm not the kind of girl who likes to work on a whole bunch of projects at once.  I hate leaving things unfinished, so I'd rather finish one project before moving on to the next one.  However, these past few weeks I have been trying to balance several different types of projects - sewing for ME and sewing for my brand new ETSY SHOP.  I think it's time to take stock of what's in the works!

First of all, I got sucked into Jen's One Block Wonder quilt-along.  It's been a good in-between project while I wait for new fabric to come in the mail.  :)  Read about my beginnings HERE.  I'm almost finished with my second set of hexies and then it's layout time!  I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with this quilt, but I needed to sew something just for fun.  This is going to turn out really cool.  And the finished product photos will probably be about a million times better than these...

I recently listed custom quilted growth charts in my shop and I'm so happy to have my first order!!!
I'm making a BYU themed growth chart that's going to look awesome when it's finished (GO COUGARS).  I'm just waiting for more fabric to come in the mail.

I'm also making a blue/green/gray growth chart for a little boy who will be arriving soon!  It seems like I need to go fabric shopping again... oh darn.  ;)

But seriously, these are going to be super cute.  I'll keep you posted.

A few months ago (ACK!) I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Sew Lux Fabric (through Blossom Heart Quilts' Kate Spain blog hop).  (Great service at Sew Lux, BTW.  Super fast shipping too!)  Geez, I think I have a love hate relationship with gift cards!  They are the best kinds of giveaways to win, because you get to choose whatever you want with them, but I sat on my gift card for like three months before I finally decided what to use it on!

I'm thinking about making a puff quilt from these to list in my shop.  But who knows.  Maybe I'll change my mind.  Maybe I'll make a few more bibs/burp cloths for the shop.

I've already got a girly car seat canopy listed in the shop, so I've decided to make a boy version.  I'm thinking of using this fabric with brown minky, mostly because I have SO MUCH of it:

Most of my time lately has been spent on Quiet Books.  I've decided to list a few in the shop and I'm working on samples.  I'm planning to do four different books.  I've got about 1 1/2 in the works right now with the other two in planning stages.

I picked up these flannel chevrons awhile back - I'm thinking more baby items.  Maybe these will be part of a giveaway soon?

And of course, my poor neglected Storm at Sea quilt.  It has been a WIP for a LOOOONG time.  Which is kind of sad, because it's going to turn out AMAZING.  Maybe I'm just nervous about quilting it.  Either way, I've set myself a deadline for this quilt, but it's still pretty far away.  I've designated this my "Sunday" project, so that I'm not tempted to stress over Etsy stuff on Sundays when I should be resting. ;)  I'm about halfway finished with my Snail Trail blocks.  I can't wait to show you what they will look like all together! 

Well, I guess this turned out being a post mainly about fabric.  And my Etsy Shop, which I'm sure you're tired of hearing about.  Yeah, sorry about that.  I promise my next post will be all about quilting!  I better go sew some fabric together!

The Beginnings of a One Block Wonder

Have you heard about the One Block Wonder quilt along happening over at Quilter in the Closet?

When I first saw Jen's quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I was floored!  The whole thing is made from ONE cut of fabric!   Seriously, you should check it out.  It's amazing.  Luckily, Jen got such a big response to her One Block Wonder quilt, that she decided to host a quilt-along!

I was pretty excited about it at first, but then realized that I might not be able to participate right now due to my current fabric diet.  This quilt requires a large amount of one single fabric.  Finally, I decided to go through my stash and see what I had that was at least a half yard and fit the design requirements.  This is what I came up with:

In the end, I let the Hubby pick for me and he picked the masks:

From that, I cut groups of 6 triangles from exactly the same spot in the print and started putting them together.  It works!  My cutting isn't perfect - I don't have the fancy ruler or pins called for in the book, but I think it's fine.  :)

All 14 hexies are ready for me to decide where to put them in my layout. Cool, huh?  And these all started out as one big cut of the same fabric.

Here's the thing - 14 hexies isn't really enough for a quilt.  Maybe a big pillow.  I'm thinking about making another set of hexies using the other African fabric from my first photo and mixing them in.  What do you think?

Character Pillows

I've been dying to share these with you!  They've been finished for quite awhile now, but since they were birthday presents for my two sisters, the final post had to wait.

One of my sisters is an avid Harry Potter fan, the other is a huge Dr. Who lover.  So, naturally, I started searching the web for Potter/Who ideas.  I found some paper pieced patterns, but had no idea what I would use them for, so I kept searching.  Finally, I came across this super cute etsy site:  Heart Felt Design.  Seriously, go check it out - she makes these ADORABLE character pillows.  Of course, I wanted to make mine myself.  So I did.  See:

I sat down and made up my own paper pieced patterns for the Potter and Dr. faces.  No, I won't be sharing them with anyone, and no, I won't make these to sell.  I already feel a little guilty for copying Heart Felt Design's idea. Of course, my pillows are paper pieced with cotton, hers are appliqued with felt, but still. 

Here is Harry, all squared up and ready to go.  He is about 16 inches square.

Of course, I couldn't stop there.  I had to go back and try out those paper pieced designs that started me on this road in the first place.  I found both of my small designs at Fandom in Stitches.  It's an awesome place.  The HP Snitch pattern comes from THIS page.  There were some pretty tiny pieces, but I think it turned out okay.

Here is Harry with his mini block:

And here is Harry the pillow.  Isn't he cute?

The mini block went on the back of the pillow, so now it is "reversible."  :)

Next up, Dr. Who.  I haven't had a chance to watch Dr. Who yet, so I'm hoping this is an accurate representation of Dr. #10.  Can you tell?  His bow tie came out a little wonky, but I wasn't about to go back and redo it.  And those triangles in the corners?  Those are elbow patches, thank you very much.

For my mini Dr. Who block, I had to go for the tardis.  My original plan was to make THIS one, but in the end I decided it had too many pieces.  So I went with THIS one from Fandom in Stitches.  Unfortunately, this pattern had some TINY pieces and my papers kept ripping and nothing lined up properly.  My middle section turned out HORRIBLE.  SO I scrapped it and started over again, this time skipping a few parts and simplifying the whole thing.  The overall block still turned out a little crazy, but much better...

Here is the Dr. with his mini-block:

And here is Dr. pillow:

And the back, with an easy envelope closure:

I'm a little jealous that I don't get to keep them for myself.  

Check out this awesome giveaway opportunity at Sew We Quilt!

Sew We Quilt is a "Sew and Show" blog.  Click on the button for more details:



And don't forget to use the code TAKE10OFF to get 10% off in my brand new Etsy Shop this week!

INTRODUCING: Always Sewin Somethin - The Etsy Shop!

Well, I did it!  I opened an Etsy shop.  I've been working hard to stock it over the past few weeks and I finally feel like I have enough items listed to share my good news with the world!  (Now that it's fairly stocked, I think it's time to make a quilt...)

I debated about my shop name for days and days, then finally decided to keep things simple and give it the same name as my blog.  For now.  I still kind of like Baby Stitched (thanks to everyone who voted on a name!), and a few others, but I'm waiting to see if something better comes along.  So for now, it's Always Sewin Somethin.

I've been making bibs, burp cloths, diaper pouches, even a few onesies and a car seat canopy.  I plan to make one or two new items a week, depending on what sells.

Check out my shop HERE:

Here is a sneak peak of some of the items listed:

What do you think?  I'm hoping that this Etsy shop will be a good way for me to fund my habit, while at the same time keep me busy making functional things with an end goal in mind.

Want to help me celebrate my grand opening?  Find something you like (or tell your friends) and use this code to get 10% off your first purchase:  TAKE10OFF
This coupon is good until Sunday, October 6th.

Thanks for supporting me!!!

My Favorite Thing

Recently, the ladies in my church group got together for a night of sharing our "favorite things."  Everyone was asked to bring something that was their favorite, with the intent to give it away to someone else.  It was a really fun activity, especially for me, since I am still so new to the area and don't know a lot of people.

Of course, my favorite thing is sewing, so I had to make something handmade to take to the party.  In the end, I went with potholders, because they are the easiest thing to make from a favorite block or two, they are quick, and don't cost much to make.

I even used some of my favorite fabric!  Leftover Me and My Sisters fabric from THIS quilt.

I had fun choosing designs that I love right now and ultimately ended up making two hot pads, so that I could make four blocks.  Two with triangles and two with squares.

 This was a fun project to use scraps on.

I kept the quilting simple on the chevron hotpad, and ended up doing an off-center spiral on the squares hotpad.  Different, but fun.

I tried something new and used a thermal fleece (kind of like insul-brite, but I have the feeling it's not quite as good) and a layer of terry cloth inside my hot pads.  I haven't been too impressed with the quality of thermal fleece I have, but I still have a bunch and I need to use it.  I read about a lady who uses only two layers of cotton towel in her hot pads and never gets burned.  So I compromised and used both.  I hope it was a good choice.  I tried testing them out before taking them to the party, and they seemed to work better on one side than the other.  Hopefully the lady who picked them doesn't have any problems.

I hand stitched the binding down because I wanted it to look really nice.  Machine binding just seemed too risky. :)

I love my Sketch fabrics!  They go great with everything and they make wonderful bindings.  Plus, using different colors of the same fabric helped my two hot pads appear more as a set.

For the loop, I tried this little ribbon technique I found at Chasing Cottons.  I felt like it would be easier and have a more finished look than the traditional looping of the binding.  The ribbon is sewn in with the binding on both sides.

The party was so fun!  It was great to get to know some of my neighbors and to have a chance to tell them about my favorite thing to do.  Now I know who all the quilters are in the area and I found out there is a guild here in my tiny town!  There are a couple really amazing quilters here.  And the best part?  My hot pads were the first item taken!  Wahoo!  I was really happy that someone actually liked my work.  I guess I'll keep sewing.

Speaking of which - did you hear I'm starting an Etsy shop?  Things are moving right along.  I've got materials to make a whole bunch more baby items, packing supplies, and a whole system for keeping track of everything.  Just need to nail down a name.  Do you have any ideas for me?  Would you mind taking my little poll at the top of my sidebar?  Thanks so much!  I'm excited to get this thing going. :)

Birthday Bibs and Some Thoughts on Etsy

I made more bibs.  ;)  I know you've seen a million of these, but I need to document them so I don't forget I made them!

These were for my nephew, who just turned one.  My boys are 20 months old and we use ours ALL THE TIME.  I love that they are really big, and they are easy to throw in the wash when they get dirty (I'm not really a fan of those plastic bibs).

Anywho.  Here they are.  Since we love Connor so much, he got three:

 My brother and sister-in-law have a little dog, so I went with some dog themed fabrics I've been saving up.

 I couldn't just use one whole piece for this one.  I had to add the strip down the middle and quilted some pebbles into it.  I've found that my favorite bibs are the ones that are a little more heavily quilted (but not too much) - enough to help the bib hold it's shape a little bit and not turn floppy.

Connor's nursery is Noah's Ark themed.  This is the best "Noah's Ark" fabric I had on hand.  It's not my favorite - it was given to me by a friend, but it does have all those animals on it. 

I tried something a little new and free motion quilted Connor's name on this one.

This last fabric was actually too cute to break up, so it got to remain whole.

For this bib, I quilted around each of the ovals, giving the bib a kind of bubbly feel.

See the bubbles?

And NOW for the OTHER part of this post.  I need some advice!
When these bibs were opened at Connor's birthday party, several people (including a grandma who frequently shops at Etsy, and an uncle - believe it or not) commented on how I could totally sell these.  It really got me thinking.
I've been toying with the idea of starting an Etsy shop and selling things for awhile now.  I think those comments were the push I needed to get serious about it.  I've mentioned the idea to several friends and family members and everyone seems to think it's a great idea.  At this point, I think I'm going to do it!  I'll probably stick to smaller things that will hopefully sell easily - bibs, burp cloths, onesies, maybe even some quiet books.  I'm thinking of making a few baby quilts - maybe rag quilts because they are easier (and thus cheaper) or puff quilts, because they are a little more novel.  I've always been a little nervous about making quilts to sell because I would have to charge so much in order to be compensated for my time.  What do you think?  Is it worth it?  Will people pay?
Well, the ball is rolling in my mind and I think there is no stopping now.  Except for one thing.  I can't think of a good name!  Help!  What is a good name for an Etsy shop selling mostly sewn baby items?  I've considered going with my blog name, but I'm not sold on the idea.  What are your thoughts?

*ETA*  I've done a little research into what names are still available on Etsy.  These are a few that I am thinking of:
ModernBabyStitches
BabyStitched
AlwaysSewinSomethin
SewinSomethin
StitchedForBaby
BabyMaking (hubby's idea - he said it was more memorable)

I've added a poll to the top of my sidebar, if you have a second - go vote!  I'd love to know what you think!