First Times

I have a bunch of use it or lose it vacation days that I'm trying to take before the end of the year.  Yesterday was one of them.  Do you ever feel like you sew all day and don't have anything to show for it at the end?  That's how I feel about yesterday. 

 

I already had the pieces cut for my next How Far Will You Go Quilt so I just had to put them together. 

 

My first attempt at y-seams.  Not too bad!  I definitely thought they would be worse.

 

 

And my first attempt at curves.  Again, not too terrible.  the point where the two pieces meet up on the bottom left is a little off but I'm leaving it.

 

I did spend quite a bit of time working on the custom diaper bag I'm making.  I finished quilting the front, got all of the pieces cut (except for the handles) and started attaching the pockets to the lining.  Now I'm to the easy part--construction.  I'm hoping that the quilting will make it sturdy enough that I do not have to use pellon as a stabilizer, making it so much easier to sew.  In fact, I may add a bit of quilting to the back, sides, and bottom now that I think about it.  Right now I have just quilted the front panel and side pockets.  I originally pieced together the front and back panels but decided to leave the back a solid so that the work on the front really stands out. 

 

 

The one thing I do have to show from yesterday is a pretty, shiny burn on my middle finger (appropriate in a way).  It doesn't look like much, but it hurt like %*&#!

 

Remember those booties I made for Baby T?  The ones that I hated (not the booties themselves, but the making of them)?  Well turns out Baby T's mother AND father loved them.  And they want a few more pair.  And I have trouble saying no when people ask me for things always feel so guilty for saying no that I end up doing what they ask in the end.  Sooo, I'm going to wait a couple of weeks to build up my resolve then try another pair and see how it goes. 

 

This little boy usually puts up one heck of a fight when its time to sleep.  It doesn't matter if it is a nap or bedtime.  He literally fights--pulls hair, hits, kicks, screams.  BUT last night, despite the fact that he was exhausted, he was in a great mood and we had a wonderful time!

 

My cousin has agreed to watch him on Saturday so that I can get some work done (thank you, thank you, thank you) so hopefully I'll have more to show on Sunday :)

WIP Wednesday

Not a whole lot to report around here.  All of my WIPs from last week are still WIPs this week :(

I did finish another block for my How Far Will You Go Quilt.  Only 3 more to go!!!  I'm going to be cutting it really close on fabric (no pun intended).

 

I finally managed to buy the floss that I was missing for my 25 Days of Christmas Cross Stitch.  Its a lot easier to tell what things are now that I have white and gold on there.  I hate cross stitching but I'm so excited to see what this looks like when I get it done.

 

I haven't had much luck on my Christmas presents either.  This is the start of my brother's wine tote.  I'm fairly certain he hates mustaches as much as I do so it may have to find another home.

 

 

I started on my little pinecone guys.  Now they just need twine/ribbon to hang them from -which I forgot to attach before I put on the scarves- and little hats.

 

 

And a cute little paper pieced block that I'm thinking of making into a covered journal.

 

 

That's all for this week.  Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Open During Construction

The Husband got back from his trip last night so I was able to get back to work.

I had someone request that I make a covered journal with a cupcake on it using pink, blue, and green.  This is what I came up with:

 

Hopefully the little girl that it is destined for will love it and get some good use from it! 

 

The rest of the evening was spent catching up on my Etsy orders- lots of earbud pouches!!!  therefore a trip to the post office is in order (sigh)- and on the remaining blocks of my How Far Will You Go Quilt (nothing photo worthy, I assure you).

 

I am still working to improve the design and layout of my blog so please bear with me during "construction" :)

Manly Fabrics?

I have been hounding my brother lately about helping me to find some masculine fabrics. I have been toying with the idea of making a quilt for him and I also would like to make some quilts in the future that are geared a little more toward men. Every line that I have showed him that I thought might work has gotten a laugh. I finally thought to show him the Mario Quilts that I keep seeing pop up in blogland. As a self processed computer geek, he LOVED them! Soooo, now I have another quilt to add to my current list of works in progress. I simply have to figure out which characters I want to include and get to work. His birthday is at the end of March and his house should be almost done being built at that time so it may be a combination birthday and housewarming gift.

I didn't get much time to sew this weekend as The Husband was out of town, but I did get to spend some quality time with Squeak. We went to a birthday party that was held at a local cheer gym and Squeak even made a little friend, J, who we will be setting up a play date with in the near future.

 

Then we headed to the local Deluxe Indie Craft Fair.  It was even better than I had hoped.  It was supposed to be a scouting mission but I did break down and buy a couple of things.  All of the items are handmade and it is a juried show so I'm thinking it might be a little more my style than some of the shows I've gone to in the past.  Now I just have to make some items to submit cross my fingers.  I've already started compiling a list of the items I would like to take.  The booths were very small and cramped so I will have to take limited inventory.  I did also find some great vendors that I look forward to buying from in the future.

 

The Husband is due back tonight and I will be able to get back to work again.  I've fallen behind on all of my orders (and everything else, eek!) so I need to get caught up and I really want to finish my How Far Will You Go Quilt this week.

I did rearrange a little from the original layout (I didn't want any of the same blocks near each other if at all possible) and I still have 2 20" blocks and 2 10" blocks.  After a trip to JoAnn's to get more pink fabric, as well as some of the dark brown for the backing, and batting and I'm all set to finish it up.  I am ashamed to say I have been using the polyester batting in my previous projects but I have upgraded to a soft, dense cotton for this quilt. 

 

I've made a little progress on some other small projects, but more on those later this week :)

Giveaway Winners

The winners have been contacted. #104 Sallie won the drawing for the three piece pouch set and #58 Camelama won the supplies package. Winning numbers were randomly picked by The Husband. Thank you so much to everyone that stopped by and for all of the wonderful comments. I was not able to respond to everyone but I did read every single comment and appreciated the answers to both questions. I look forward to getting to know those of you that are now following my blog!

It's Time to Vote

The time has arrived (I can't say I've been anxiously awaiting it because I actually though it was a random winner, oops!)...to vote on the Travellin PicStitch Projects. You can cast your vote here. I know I won't win but I had a wonderful time participating so please head over and check out all of the projects and vote for your favorite.

 

It's time to meet Francine.  She is currently on her way to Ohio to compete in the Fox Softie Pageant.  I have made up a whole story about Francine but I won't bore you with the details. 

Since lots of the comments left in the last few days have said they enjoy seeing failures as well as finishes, I though I would give you a peek at Frankie.  Frankie was my original fox softie.  I was going for a bit of a distressed, rustic look with him (raw, fraying edges and all) but I think I took it too far and now he just looks sloppy.  For some reason I can't bear to throw him away...

Sewing Without Squeak

Thanks to my mother in law I had several uninterrupted hours of sewing time yesterday. And I have almost nothing to show for it. I did manage to get all but one of my Etsy orders finished up. And I made the custom order wallet that was placed at my craft show a couple of weeks ago.

 

I already had a basic pattern that I had used in the past by changing around the layout and adding card pockets but when I saw this pattern at the store while picking out my fabric (pink & green were the colors requested) I decided to see how they had done theirs.  I did like their method of making the card pocket better than the way I had done it in the past.  My way created a lot of extra bulk at the seams.  I did omit the zippered pocket and accordion pocket in favor of a flat pocket.  The customer had looked at my personal wallet as an example (poor, battered thing that it is) and I wanted to keep it as close to that as possible.  It is a present for her sister and she requested it to be done by the 10th so I'm pretty excited to not be down to the wire for once :).  I found what I hope are the perfect fabrics.  I also picked up a yard of Christmas fabric on sale for $5.  I'm thinking it may be perfect for the backing of my 25 Days of Christmas Cross Stitch Wall Hanging...

 

I cut my pieces, making the changes to the bottom pocket, and attached the first piece.  Then I forgot to take any more pictures until I was done (sorry!).

 

I also changed around all of the interfacing suggestions.  Instead of doing a fusible interfacing and a sew-in interfacing as required I cut little rectangular pellon inserts and attached them with fusible fleece to give it the sturdiness that I felt it needed.  Overall it was a great pattern and someday I'm going to make it the way it was meant to be by actually following the directions ;P

 

The finished inside complete with props.

 

Then on to my next custom order.  This customer had a very hard time deciding between two different diaper bags that I had at the show.  She loved the fabric on one and the design of the other.  She eventually asked that I try to find more of the fabric to make the different style.  I knew I had a little bit left in my stash, but not nearly enough, so I went back to the store and they were out (no big surprise; I bought the fabric I long time ago and just recently got around to using it).  The fabric she liked was a printed patchwork pattern in soft pinks and browns.  After Squeak and I scoured the fabric store for what seemed like (and most likely actually was) hours I could not find a pink/brown that I was happy with.  I settled for pinks and grays.

 

I went home and cut my pieces.

 

And started piecing them.

 

After adding some borders out of a fabric that I found in my stash, they were the perfect size for the exterior panels.

 

So I added the batting and started quilting.  I decided to do an angular spiral in the gray blocks, diagonal lines in the whites, and a grid in the pinks (all in coordinating colors of course).  It is taking me forever but I'm falling in love with the bag.  Let's hope the client feels the same way when she sees it.  If not, it will find a, hopefully temporary, home in my Etsy shop.

 

Linking up to Really Random Thursday.