That 70s Quilt

I finished up a quilt that has been languishing on the shelf for months. I cut the squares over a year ago, pieced most of the top at my retreat in November, and then felt kind of blah about it. Yesterday I decided to get it done. I started basting at 12:30 and was done quilting and binding by 5:30. Not bad with a toddler running around!

It's pieced from 5 1/2 inch squares of prints that I really love separately. Together, I'm not so sure anymore. It reminds me of 70s decor. Maybe it will speak to me again this autumn? At this point I'm just glad it's finished. Not everything can be a masterpiece!

Weekend Sewing-- rainbows and scrap busting

My scraps are becoming a problem. I have 12 clear shoe boxes filled with them, separated by color. But over the last year or so I've also accumulated baskets and bags full that I haven't had the energy to sort out. Honestly, they're taking over my sewing room. And I hate it.

I'm sure if you hang out on flickr or read other quilt blogs, you've seen the awesome granny square quilts that are popping up everywhere. I love them! They use scraps! Perfect! I decided I'd go all out and make a twin sized quilt for Claire out of the blocks. So on Saturday morning I set about cutting 2.5" squares. I'm embarassed to say that I cut only eight before I thought I might go crazy. There are 25 of those squares required for each 9" block.

Enter in the huge, scrappy, rainbow log cabin.

I started with a big piece of Heather Ross blue ponies (one of Claire's favorites) and worked my way out with green, yellow, orange, red, and purple logs.

I'll admit that I thought it was really ugly when I first started. The different shades of green clashed badly. But I kept going. And now I love it. The only thing I wish I had done differently would be to make the blue starting block more scrappy. It measures 68 by 88 inches, just right for a twin size bed.

Of course this quilt top didn't solve my scrap problems. In fact, it may have made it worse. They're covering the sewing room! Whoops. Time to go do some clean up.

Valentine's Day Pillows

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not always the best at making handmade gifts for the kids on holidays. But this year I managed to make up some pillows for each of the kids using paper piecing patterns from Sonja of Artisania Patterns.

A hedgehog for Avery:

A horse (of course) for Claire:

And a robot for Cooper:

This pregnancy is moving along nicely. I'm 17 weeks along now and feeling great. This belly is already something else.

I've never really been a person who loves Valentine's Day. And I still really don't-- but I do love my family and know I am so lucky to have them. I hope you have a wonderful day with the ones you love too!

Lest you think I'm a meanie wife and forgot all about Rob-- he's anti-pillow, but will be well taken care of with some good beer and red duct tape. He appreciates more useful gifts!

Saturday Sewing

Claire is going to a birthday party tonight, and decided this morning that she wanted me to sew her friend a bunny like the ones I made the kids for Easter. I couldn't resist her desire to give a handmade gift, so I put my other plans aside and started sewing.

The pattern is by Hop, Skip, Jump. I didn't have flannel, and Claire rejected regular cotton and linen because it wasn't soft enough. We found a piece of minky, and while I didn't think it would work, we gave it a try. Slippery stuff to sew up, but it's forgiving enough that any wonkiness doesn't really show. Phew. Claire even helped me stuff the legs and arms-- my least favorite part.

Yay for handmade gifts! And for getting to skip our trip to Target.

still not a seamstress

I had quite a few readers ask me to keep posting about how I'm using my new serger. I've had fails and successes. First up, the fail:

I did try to make that 90-minute shirt from MADE. The issue wasn't with the tutorial, which is great, but with the pattern I drafted from one of Cooper's old onesies. Let's just say boatneck tops are not his thing. He's saying "cheese" in the photo but had previously yelled, "No Mama! No, no, no!" when I put it on him. I've since tried the raw-edged raglan shirt from Sewing for Boys, with some success up to sewing on the neckband. Problem is it uses only a sewing machine! No serger! Next try will be the envelope tee pattern from Growing Up So Liberated. And I'm going to do some simple flannel pajama pants for the girls.

Next, a success:

I'd say more about this project, but I've recently learned that Claire and her friends sometimes read my blog during computer lab at school. I don't think they'll have a chance again until next week, but I don't want to ruin any surprises. I'm working on Valentine's gifts for the kids-- and the serger was so dreamy for finishing off some edges in the construction phase. I'm still in love with the turquoise thread too and might never change it out.

So I've had better luck with projects of the non-clothing variety. I'm definitely going to keep trying though! I do love my serger.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

serging

Rob surprised me at Christmas by buying me a serger! It's a Brother 1034D, which gets incredible reviews and is very reasonably priced (especially for a beginner like me). I've been wanting to learn to sew clothes for the kids for a long time, especially using knits. So I'm really, really excited to figure everything out.

Today I tackled what I've heard to be one of the trickiest things about sergers-- threading the machine. It went more smoothly than I thought! Gutterman thread was on sale at JoAnns last week so I picked up some turquoise cones along with basic white and grey. I thought it would be more inspiring to start with a fun color as I'm learning. And it's silly, but it really is more fun.

Since I'm not quite sure what to sew yet, I've just been testing things out on scraps. But then I decided to try the rolled edge hem first and make some cloth napkins.



I'm still sort of in shock that it was so easy! One thing I haven't figured out-- is there a way to do needle down and turn corners with this stitch? I ended up doing each side separately, then putting a dab of fray check on each corner where I had to cut the thread chain.

Now what to do next? I'm not sure I'm ready for clothes quite yet (although this 90-minute shirt from Dana of MADE seems doable, and I wouldn't risk much recycling a t-shirt). For those of you who have a serger, do you have advice for a beginner project?

weekend sewing

Thanks to a quiet weekend at home, I was able to tackle two items on my to do list!

First up, some bee blocks for Krista. She's kicking off the first month of the Free Bee and has requested blocks similar in feel to these wooden trees (but without the stems). She only wanted one block, but I couldn't stop myself and did two. It was fun to sew up something so low stress.

Next, I completed my partner's bag for the Potholder Pass 10 swap!

My partner likes patchwork  and modern fabrics. I used a grey Robert Kaufman Carolina Chambray for the main part of the bag, a Suzuko Koseki kitchen print for the panels, and a scrappy log cabin for the pockets.

It's lined with one of my favorite white and orange florals. I hope she likes it!

Ah, to be sewing again. It feels so good.