I've Made a Decision

Ever since I heard about the Fabricaholics Anonymous challenge I've been on the fence about joining in.  I know I should but I REALLY didn't want to.  Especially after seeing all of the great new lines that are coming out this spring.

After my fabric buying craze this week I've decided to join in...but I'm adding a rule to make it easier for me to follow (see the last rule).

Approximately 27 yards of fabric courtesy of an end of bolt sale (40% off), 5 plus yards sale (30% off) and a birthday coupon (20%) off.  Sadly I also went to JoAnn's and bought a bunch of novelty fabric to make craft show items and I stocked up at an online sale.

FABRIC FAST RULES:

1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014.   

2) At 6 months reevaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year.  Evaluation July 1, 2014.

3) Create a UFO list and complete them!

4) Exceptions

• Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible.  However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable--I don't actually plan on doing this one.  I'm going to complete as many quilt tops as I can and finish them at a later time (there will probably be a couple of exceptions though).
• Fabrics to complete a WIP.  I'm including the Rock n' Romance collection since it is my living room fabric and I am needing to stock up on it before it becomes impossible to find.  Same goes for Salt Water since I'm redecorating the bathroom in it.  Rooms count as WIPs right?!
• Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric.  Notions acceptable too.
• Custom Order Fabric: Fabric may be purchased to complete custom orders.
• Craft Show Fabric:  My inventory is very depleted after a great show in early December, plus I'm supposed to take items to a local shop to sell.  I should have plenty of exterior fabrics in my stash but I may need to buy solid lining fabrics (from JoAnn's on sale/with coupon)
• Charm packs and/or layer cakes of new lines. In order to make this goal attainable I need to have a little wiggle room.  And my precuts do actually get used.

 
Okay, okay, I know I ended up changing nearly all of the rules but this will keep me accountable.  And it's doable.  I know myself too well to be able to say I won't buy anything for 6 months but I will do my best to resist. 

I need to sit down and evaluate my WIPs...

Now Showing...

Three of the quilts I made as Christmas presents.  The fourth, I didn't get to take a photo of before it was whisked away...

First up is my Dad's Pluses Lap Quilt.  I have always struggled to find masculine fabrics but thankfully I can always count on Parson Gray to help me out.  The quilt is Seven Wonders and the pillow is a combination of Seven Wonders and World Tour.

The weather was horrible when I was trying to photograph this finish so your stuck with an even worse than usual inside shot.  The photo of the pillow (which was actually a decent outside shot) seems to have disappeared.

Next was the baby quilt for my nephew.  I had originally wanted to make this for his baby shower but time got away from me so I made him a simple patchwork quilt instead.  So six months later I finally got around to giving it to him.  His entire room is Oklahoma themed and done in orange, blue and white so I wanted to match it as close as possible.  This quilt was also a great way to practice my free motion quilting and I have to say it has improved drastically over the last year!!

The third quilt was for my grandmother.  She was placed in a nursing home over the summer and has since had a stroke that has affected her short term memory.  She remembers me but not my kids.  After our Thanksgiving visit it was decided that she needed a quilt to brighten up her room.  I went home, took advantage of the Black Friday sales and came up with a simple patchwork quilt using three charm packs of Simply Color.  After deciding on the layout I had several charm squares left as well as some matching solids.  I decided to mail a 5" charm to each family and have them sign it and return it to me to be incorporated into the back of the quilt.  My hopes were that this would remind  her that even though we can't be there as often as we would like we are always thinking of her. 

The fourth and final quilt was a simple patchwork baby quilt using the new Foxes Playground line. 

Hubby has since asked for a quilt for his father.  It will be a combined Christmas/Birthday present that I hope to have ready by the January 12th.

Both of the LQSs are having their end of bolt sales today so I will be making a stop at each of them to stock up on background fabric (low volumes for a couple of quilts I have in mind, as well as white and gray).


That's enough from me for today.  Lots more to share though so check back next week :)!

What I Can Show You

A few of the presents I've made so far this year...

My first attempt at a Sugar Body Scrub.  It smells good if nothing else...

A pouch for a co-worker and an iPad Mini cover for my grandparents.

Crayon Rolls for various people.  There were actually 13 of these by the time I was done and it was late and I forgot to take photos before I wrapped them all up.

In non-present news...my cat blocks.  I'm now several days behind but thankfully these are quick, easy, and fun so I hope to catch up tonight.  I've seen lots of great projects made with these!

 And I had a show on Friday night that was closed early due to bad weather.  We didn't sell a single thing but I really liked the way our booth was set up.  It may be my favorite so far.

There are many, many more finishes to show off but they will have to wait until after Christmas.  Hope everyone has a happy holiday week!!!

Don't Forget...

There is still time to order a copy of Big-City Bags by Sara Lawson and sew along with us starting January 2014.  We will be working our way through the book one project per month.  I've been anxious to get started but with Hubby (and a few others) requesting presents be made in time for Christmas it has been put aside for the time--but as soon as Christmas is over...

I will be cutting into these beautiful fabrics (courtesy of a great Black Friday sale) for the first bag.

  Our Wonderful sponsors:

 

Fat Quarter Shop

Pink Chalk Fabrics

Pattern Crush

ByAnnie's Soft & Stable

LimaSews

A Material Girl Quilts

Cluck Cluck Sew

Happy Quilting

Blossom Heart Quilts

Sew Me A Song

Coats & Clark

And a special offer from zipit:  15% off of all orders for those sewing along

Use code sewingwithsqueak at checkout to apply the discount

 

I hope you all will sew along with me and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Inspiration Palooza 2013

I promised at least 2 posts today so ...

I thought I'd put together a list of items I have on my list for next year. And yes, I do actually have a list (a few in fact). Speaking of lists I've decided to do a Quilt Journal but more on that at a later date. 

My List:

*  Cascade Quilt-haven't decided on fabrics yet

*  Cartwheel Quilt-bought a lot at a great price from Christa Quilts

*  Tea for Two Quilt-pattern by Blossom Heart Quilts- using a jelly roll of Chicopee I bought with this pattern in mind

*  Hootananny Quilt- from the book Dare to be Square

*  Mario Quilt-I bought the fabrics and never got started

*  Chicken Quilt (not the real name) from Dessert Quilts (or something like that)

*  Get caught up on all of my 2013 BoMs 

There are a lot more I could add but I'm trying to keep it realistic. My Etsy shop is in a very sad state thanks to a great showing at a winter market a couple of weeks ago and I will have to spend quite a bit of time getting it stocked back up. Throw in two kids and I'm going to have my hands full!

And now for my favorite quilt:

My Star Surround Quilt competed during the QAL hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting. 

Sorry for the IG photo and not having any links to patterns but this post is being brought to you by the not so wonderful Blogger app on my iPhone (insert sigh of frustration). 

Linking up to Inspiration Palooza 2013.

A Long Overdue Update!

Lately I seem to be doing pretty good to get a post up every couple of weeks...yet today I have at least two in the works (maybe three if your lucky :P).

First off, a few things I've been working on:

Clockwork from top:  nook cover, toddler quilt top, lap quilt, art tote, and two cat quilt along blocks.

And my sewing space itself has been getting a little bit of attention lately...best it's looked in a long time!  More improvements to come hopefully!

I seem to have lost some of my photos from my photo because I know there's been a lot more going on!  You can always follow me on Instagram (@sewingwithsqueak) to keep up with me :)

We Have a Winner!

Sorry I'm a little late announcing the winner of the signed copy Big

City Bags. Without further ado...congratulations Amy!  You were randomly chosen by the enabler as the winner of the giveaway. I've sent an email for your information so get back to me ASAP so I can get it in the mail to you!

All in One + a Giveaway

I hope you all will stay with me through this lengthy post.  It has been quite awhile since I posted about any of my projects so I'm going to try to cram a lot into one post.

First up, the giveaway.  In honor of the Big-City Bags Sew Along Sara has generously offered to give one lucky reader a signed copy of her new book!  Just leave a comment at the end of this post and next Wednesday I will announce the winner.  The book was released yesterday so mine should be on the way.  I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

Sorry in advance for the terrible photographs.  I will take some decent ones once the quilts are actually done and give them a proper post.

Next a few WIPs.  There is no way I could fit ALL of my WIPs into one post so I'll stick to the quilt tops that I have completed that just need binding and/or basting and quilting.

Squeak's Wonky Stars Quilt featuring Let's Pretend by Sara Jane.

Princess's Churn Dash Quilt using Sara Jane's Out to Sea.

Just For Fun Plus Quilt using Wren & Friends.  I'm waiting for yardage to be released so I can buy enough for the backing.

Reader's Choice Sudoku Quilt.  I haven't done a Reader's Choice post the last two months because I've been busy, but I do plan on restarting in December.

In From the Cold Quilt by Kate Spain. 

 

Now a little bit of randomness:

My little family :).  There has also been lots of cleaning in anticipation of the redecorating I plan on doing when I get some free time.

 

And last but not least a few finishes.

My Silver Cinema Bag (pattern by Sew Sweetness).  I drew the owl, traced it onto the fabric then free motion quilted over it.  I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out.  The pattern for this bag is great!  I had never used a metal frame like this and was a little leery but it was actually really easy and I definitely see more of these in my future.

A few items that I've managed to get ready for upcoming craft shows.  I somehow managed to book myself for two shows on the same weekend.  One is a Friday/Saturday show and the other a Saturday/Sunday show.  Thankfully I have some great quilty friends that have agreed to help me out and man one of the booths for me on Saturday.  But that means I need enough inventory to stock both shows that day...EEEEKKKK!!!  I've got three weeks to get a LOT of stuff together!

 

A few coffee sleeves for the shows.

 

And I finally finished by Autumn Sampler.  It will hopefully be a pillow by the end of the day.  I have plans to make a Modern Maples Quilt to go with it but who knows when that will actually happen.  I've ordered the supplies for the two new samplers being released by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery but while I'm waiting for them to arrive I will try to get caught up on my Woodland Sampler. 

 

If you've made it this far, I'd like to say thanks for sticking with me!  Our computer is old, slow, and diseased so posts may be few and far between until Christmas-ish, when hopefully I will get a new one.

 

Linking up with WIP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Really Random Thursday.

Big-City Bags Sew Along

I'm finally ready to announce the Big-City Bags Sew Along based on the new, soon to be released, book by Sara Lawson.  Anyone who follows my blog knows that I'm a huge fan of her patterns and that I also regularly test out new patterns for her.  I haven't tested any of these patterns and can't wait to get started on them.  

The details:

• The book is set to be released on November 5, 2013 and is available for preorder through Amazon.com
• There are twelve projects in the book making it perfect for a year long sew along featuring one bag per month
• The sew along will start on January 1, 2014
• On the first of every month I will announce a new project and prize and direct you to the week's blogger, who will share their take on the project, as well as with their tips and tricks for completing it. 
• You will have until midnight CST to link up your project for a chance to win that month's prize.
• Join the Flickr group to see all the projects that have been made.

Now for our sponsors:

Pink Chalk Fabrics

Pattern Crush

ByAnnie's Soft & Stable

LimaSews

Material Girl Quilts

Cluck Cluck Sew

Happy Quilting

Blossom Heart Quilts

Sew Me A Song

And a special offer from zipit:  15% off of all orders for those sewing along

Use code sewingwithsqueak at checkout to apply the discount

I'm also still looking for people who would like to participate in the blog hop.  If your interested please let me know and I add you to the schedule :)

I hope you all are as excited about this as I am!!!

She's here!!!

Just a quick post from the hospital room to officially welcome our little girl Keaton to our family. She is healthy and cute as can be :). 

Squeak has met her and isn't quite sure what to think of the situation. We're still waiting for them to clean her up (they now wait about 8 hours after birth to bathe them) but here are a few photos for now. Btw I have quite a bit of crafty stuff to show off/share but it will have to wait until another day :)

A Full Weekend of Sewing

or at least it seemed like it.  I'm going to do this chronologically so bear with me :). 

Friday night Hubby sent with a friend to a hockey game so Squeak and I stayed home.  I did manage to get some work done on my Autumn Sampler.  And then I actually finished Week 1 before I left for the OKCMQG's Sew Day Saturday Morning.

I got to the sit and sew late and then spent about an hour (ok, let's be real, it was a lot longer than that) just chatting and sorting through the flea market/swap items that everyone brought.  I didn't take any pictures, but I got some good stuff in exchange for some old Amy Butler fabrics that I was never going to use.

Then after I got all of that out of my system I sat down and actually got to work.  First I finished up a bag I've been making as a tester for one of Sara's new patterns.  Wait until you see this one!  And unfortunately you will have to wait because the pattern isn't quite ready for release yet.  Shouldn't be long though!

Then I moved on to work on making my Halloween Sampler into a pillow cover.  I need a bigger pillow form but I love the way it turned out.

After that I had planned on cutting and possibly piecing my Sudoku Quilt that was the Reader's Choice Project of the September but my rotary cutter seemed to be having some issues so instead I made a quick block for our newest charity quilt then helped a fellow guild member with a paper pieced block.  Somehow I seem to have been voted as the person to go to when it comes to paper piecing (not that I mind, just that I think they highly overrate my abilities!).

At home Saturday night I started a custom ordered clutch which I was able to finish up Sunday morning along with the Sudoku Quilt.  Great suggestion from The Colorful Fabriholic.  I still have quite a bit of those fabrics left so it I get to feeling ambitious this week I may try and make the suggestion from Laura C. as well.  I'll be doing a more in depth post about this quilt once it's actually quilted but until my supply buying ban is over it will have join the other completed quilt tops in the closet that are waiting for batting.  Tomorrow another set of fabrics is being put up for suggestions so make sure to check back and tell me what you think!

I seem to be all about Halloween this year.  So of course Squeak needed a handmade quilted fabric treat bucket for all of his goodies!  I used a tutorial I found on the Birch Fabrics website and just added a long strap so he can carry it easily.

This is the smallest version and look how much stuff can fit in it!  I plan on packing it full of Halloween goodies and giving it to him before school then that night he can use it when we go trick or treating.

(Look who made a rare appearance in the background!)

One of the items I picked up at the swap Saturday was a little kit for a Christmas Candle Mat.  It was my first time using a quilters grid and I think I may have been better off just piecing it normally.  Not everything lines up perfectly but I think it's cute none the less.  Not sure what I'll actually use it for, but I'll figure out something!

And last but not least, I finally got around to cutting the pieces for my Lithium Bag (yes, another pattern by Sara!).  I'll do a full post on it and the inspiration behind it when I have it completed.

Purse Palooza starts today and I can't tell you how excited I am!  I have several purses that I've been meaning to make for quite awhile now so we'll see how many I can get done!

Linking up to Weekend Do.  

Behind the Scenes

I know things have been a little quiet around here lately but that doesn't mean I've slowed down any!  I've just been testing patterns and working on some other projects that I'm not quite ready to reveal yet.

I've got another bag tested for the wonderful Sara Lawson that I hope to be able to show you soon and a second on in the works.

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the Reader's Choice project :).  I have all of the supplies and plan to sit and cut everything and get it put together this weeekend in time for a Monday reveal.

I'm going to the doctor every week now and it's eating into my creative time a little.  

One of the most time consuming things that I'm working on at the moment is trying to put together a sew along.  This is not something I've ever done so before I officially announce what it is I'm trying to get everything organized and sponsors on board.  I can't tell you how nervous excited I am about it!!!

For pictures of my in progress works and a bit more randomness you can follow me on Instagram where I'm @SewingWithSqueak.

One thing I can show off this week is my finished Halloween Sampler.  

 

 I picked up fabrics for the borders yesterday and hope to have a pillow finished ASAP!  I'm loving Halloween this year especially since Squeak is old enough to have some fun this time around :)

Squeak is loving "school" and has already added a few new words to his vocabulary.  Before long there will be no stopping him :)

Wishing everyone a great Really Random Thursday!

What Weekend?!

I took my machine to sit and sew on Wednesday and would you believe that it is still in it's travel case?

Saturday was spent at a craft show.  Despite many, many obstacles and near disasters we made it and actually did pretty decent.

My booth is still a work in progress.  When I got there they actually gave me a space twice the size of the one I had reserved so I wasn't really prepared.  I borrowed a table from them but didn't have anything to cover it.

Lots of crates and boxes to create varying heights.

I definitely need to stock up on some of my smaller items.

I did take my little helper with me.  Squeak and I had a picnic on one of our quilts.

He deserved a nap :)

But he was up and ready to help me load when it was time to leave.

And Sunday was spent dealing with the aftermath of the show...

When I'm not using the crates at a show they are used for storage in my sewing room so in order to take them I create a huge mess!  It seemed like as good of a time as any to do a little rearranging and reorganizing.

It's actually got worse as I've gone along (how DOES that happen?).  After several hours in there yesterday I haven't made enough progress to take more photos.  Hopefully tonight will be productive :)

Aaragon Bag from Sew Sweetness

Another wonderful pattern from Sew Sweetness is being released today and I was one of the lucky ones that got to test it!

This one was perfect for me since Little Miss is due in about 3 weeks.  It is the ultimate diaper bag!  I originally had plans to do a patchwork version but when I went to pick up some supplies one of the workers showed me this fabric and I couldn't resist :).  It's the perfect gender neutral fabric and it coordinated wonderfully with the fabric I had pulled from my stash for the lining and accents.  Plus it's got cute woodland critters on it!  I still have plans to do a patchwork version but it's been put on the back burner until I get caught up on a few other things.

Since I'm going to be using this diaper bag for a toddler and a newborn I decided to skip the interior zippered pocket in favor of another elastic pocket.  My thinking was that I can use one side for each kid and hopefully keep things a little more organized than I usually do!  Two sets of diapers, snacks, cups, pacifiers, toys...well you get the idea.  This bag is loaded with pockets.  Mine ended up with four exterior pockets and six interior.

The instructions for the pattern were great although constructing it did have its challenges.  I wanted my bag to be super sturdy so I used a layer of batting with dense quilting plus a layer of fusible fleece on the exterior.  That made it a bit difficult to sew through all of the layers when attaching the lining with all of its thick pockets.  But I managed to get it done and get the binding attached (and I didn't even break a needle!).  I did finish the binding my hand though just to be sure I didn't mess up the bag at the last minute.  On the next version I might try to trim the fusible fleece so that it's a 1/2" smaller than the exterior pieces to help eliminate some of the bulk.

After all of that would you actually like to see some pictures of the completed project???

 I didn't get a photo of them, but I actually used purse feet!!  And they were as easy to install as a magnetic snap!  You will definitely be seeing more of them on my future purses.

 I think I will use the front and back exterior pockets for my items and leave all of the others for kids stuff.

And I absolutely LOVE the pop of color from the binding!  For the lining I used a solid gray  and for the elastic pockets I used a darker, gray with a cross hatch type print.  I do still want to add a "false bottom" to my purse to give the bottom more structure and prevent it from sagging.  Sara included instructions of how to insert one between the lining and exterior but I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been and  missed it :/.

The exterior zippered pocket has another fun burst of color thanks to some fabric I pulled from my LQS's remnant bin on a whim a couple of weeks ago.

All in all this pattern is highly recommended!  Be sure to check out Sara's post for more photos of finished bags and details on where you can find the pattern.