A little bit of sewing

I've had a little free time this summer to do something a little different than quilting. Lately I've been caught up in bag making! It's been so much fun, if not a little difficult at times. But you know want makes it literally 100 times easier? When you are sewing with beautiful fabrics from  the lovely ladies at Cotton and Steel,

After Market I got my little hands on a couple fat quarter packs and got to work. The outcome? Two beautiful bags! The first Amy Butlers Weekender tote (More like three weekender) made with August.

Also whipped up this cutie with one of my favorites from August. 

I also scored a lovely bundle of Homebody! Everything about this line reminded me oh hand sewing and taking things slow. So I whipped up the sew together bag by sew demented! And I love the outcome! Full of hand sewing goodies. 

It's so much easier to sit down and work on binding when everything is in it's place in a cutle little bag!

I can't wait to start sewing with the other lines! They are all so truly wonderful.

WIP-Wednesday a Wonderful Weekend and an August Tote!

So...I walked into one of my LQS on Friday afternoon and spotted this beauty!

Sarah Watts 'August'

Yes, that is Sarah Watts new line August for Cotton + Steel! My heart starting beating fast, I was surprised to see they were selling it. So, of course, I scooped it up and paid before they changed their minds!

I knew right away what I wanted to make out of this lovely line- Amy Butlers Weekender Tote. I've heard stories about how tough this bag is to make but decided I just had to do make it with this line! I've had this pattern for about 3.5 years and now is a great time to tackle this project.

All Friday night I couldn't stop thinking about that fabric and getting started on the tote, so first thing Saturday morning I went and got duck cloth, piping the works...except the zipper (where does one find a 30" non seperating zipper?)

Cutting into the fabric made me panic slightly. Usually I find fabric I love and then there it sits...forever. so cutting into this and using it right away felt great!

Following the trend of quilt as you go with this Tote, I made tons of progress on Saturday and Sunday. But for now, I'm taking a break until I pick out my piping fabric. I'm debating between a coral and a more pinky color... stay tuned for more progress and better pictures :)

I'm linking up over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday! And over at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday! Hop on over to see what everybody else is up to :) 

Have a Splendid Week :)

A Friday Finish!

I am so excited for this finish, it has been a long time coming! I have been working on this quilt since August, and have been slowly working my way through it. Once it stops raining or snowing and we have some sunshine I will get better pictures, but right now I am so happy to share this with you all!

I knew as soon as I got a bundle of Amy Butler's Alchemy line that it would be a swoon quilt, i just loved the butterflies so very much. I paired most of the blocks with dreamy Kaffe Fasset shot cottons which are my new favorite fabric to sew with.

Back in December I had finally finished piecing all of the swoon blocks back in November and basted it shortly after. The part that took the the longest was the hand quilting, I echoed the blocks with coordinating perle cotton size 8 and stitched small diamonds in white perle cotton in the cross centers. I bound the quilt in a crosshatch coral/orangy color. I was a little worried about the color until I finished the last inch, then it was LOVE! I think it works well with all of the fabric, especially the center square. I didn't get a picture of the back but it is Anna Maria Horner and it is amazing.

This quilt was a labor of love, I worked slowly on our snow days, this year we had 14 thanks Mother Nature. It's a little small for our bed but looks amazing on Grandma's bed, a lovely touch for our out of town guests to enjoy.

I'm linking up over at the Devoted Quilter for TGIFF!

Happy Friday :)

...catching up...

Ahhh, I haven't posted since January! I don't know where time has gone, it's not that I haven't been creating, because these last few month's I've been super productive!

I have created so very much, finished a granny square quilt, knitted two complete scarves (yippie) and finally finished hand quilting my alchemy swoon and so much more! So, today let's do a small catch up :)

Hand quilted my lovely swoon

I have started learning to knit! I took a simple neck warmer class back in February, and picked some Malabrigo Rasta (spoiled I know) but it knits up quick on a size 15 and is perfect for the beginner like me. I promise finished pictures to come soon! next weekend I learn to knit in the round :) wish me luck!

I've been involved in many bee's over the last few months the Simply Solids Tiny Bee, it's a group of 4 ladies who are extremely talented!

Simply Solids (tiny bee, 4 ladies)

Those feathers!?! Yeah, there for me, I had asked the ladies to make feather blocks from AMH pattern to make into a quilt. So I made a bunch and washi taped them up on my wall and fell in love with it! So over the weekend it turned into this! I hiked to the Ikea in College Park for the frames and by Saturday night the Quilty Hubs had them hung and level! So now, I have even more blocks to make for the quilt, but love the new artwork for our living-room wall!

Please Don't mind the photo it's from my phone at night

I've also been participating in the Sew Pieceful Bee over at Flickr and am having a blast with all the fun blocks and super talented ladies! Can't wait to see what March Brings!

February Sew Pieceful Bee

Snow day sewing: Classic meets modern block

What's better than a snow day after winter break? Sewing on a snow day!

Erin over at Sew at Home Mummy, hosted the simply solids bee last year (loved it, such a fun bee) and this year is doing a very fun QAL. It's called Classic Meets Modern QAL, and I'm super excited. Nothing makes me happier than making classic blocks with a modern twist! I will be working with an assortment of shot cottons and kona white, no prints for me! Here is the first block, and I'm truly in love with this one.

Bear claw/paw in shot cottons and kona white

 If you are interested in joining in hop on over to Erin's blog and Flickr to join in the fun!

New Year, New Goals

I can't believe its 2014! This last year has been super crazy and wonderful at the same time. I started 2013 with great intentions of becoming more involved in the blogging community. This was kind of a fail due to the move and new job, but have every intention to be better in 2014. I also wanted to become more involved in quilt/sew alongs (win) thanks to Flickr! I created and received such wonderful blocks from the granny square bee, simply solids and the bee white black bee.

To ring in the new year I pieced this lovely! I'm so excited and in love with all the blocks I received from the Granny Bee, I have saved a few for the back! I taped it up to the wall behind our sofa, and I have to say I kinda love these bright colors with that blue wall. Maybe I can talk my hubby into hanging it once it's quilted!

Granny Square Quilt, LOVE!

Happy New Year! And here's to me keeping my goals

WIP Wednesday: Blue and Gray

I feel like this month is just flying by, and it's leaving me in the dust! We've been very blessed this month, my the In-Laws came to visit. While the boys worked hard on yard work and re-building our fence, Mom and I went shopping for some pottery! So, very little sewing happened until yesterday/today, but it is so good to have some family time!

My nephew B has been waiting patiently for a quilt of his own however,I don't think I can say the same for my Sister-in-Law (I kid)

For B's quilt I wanted something a little bit masculine and boyish! I choose some Parson Gray Curious nature, and some Simply Color by V and Co  and some of my lovely stash! I sure hope he likes it, if not it can stay here with me!

I am using this great tutorial by John from Quilt Dad. I am in love with the pattern and felt it fit perfectly in the boy quilt category especially with the Parson Gray fabric.

Parson Gray, Simply Color and Stash

 For the solid I choose a pearl gray color, and I am so happy with it. I got all of the HST's sewn together and trimmed up to 7"

Waiting to be trimmed

Trimming to 7"

 This picture makes it look like all of the fabrics are super gray, but I promise those are some nice navy blues in there!

All the HST's Trimmed and looking pretty

 The blocks will all eventually look like this. Note the word eventually, life is a bit crazy around here but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Today, I'm linking up over at freshly pieced, hop on over to see what everybody else is up to! As for me I'm going to try out a DIY Tagalong recipe! Wish me luck!

An Easter Finish

It's finished! I finally got around to finishing the English Garden's quilt. This is going to be Mother's Day quilt for Mom H. It's officially washed and dried to crinkly goodness, just waiting to be with her
.

This quilt top has been finished for a few months and just sitting in the UFO pile. I had just been procrastinating the quilting because I had no clue what to do. But after some consideration and wanting to get another 2013 finish I settled on straight line quilting.

So, yesterday morning I guilted (is that a word?) my husband into helping. I decided to try to spray baste this quilt. Recently I had read about spray basting and decided to pick up the supplies and give it a go. So we headed out to the driveway and got to work. Of course, as soon as we started getting the back taped and everything all situated-everybody in our neighborhood decided to drive by-isn't that the way it goes? But, we got it done in less than 10-minutes. No wrinkles, no pin pricks just a smooth quilt. This is where I started to worry about how it was going to go through the machine. I was prepared for the wrinkles-So I let it set another 10-15 minutes before I started feeding it through.

 

I choose to quilt 1/4 inch on either side of the vertical seams, I wanted to keep it simple and use straight lines.  Also, that's about all I feel confident doing. Someday FMQ will be something I try-maybe after a few classes at the LQS. 

I can not say enough good things about spray basting. Usually with pin basting I end up with a few puckers-even taking extra care they show up. I can with 100% honesty say I had ZERO puckers! Zero, I was amazed. This was by far my most favorite quilting experience, I didn't get pricked or scratched by those pesky little safety pins. I think working with a smaller quilt for my fist time spray basting also had a lot to do with it.

I finished quilting and binding this quilt in about 3 1/2 hours. Now to wait to give this to Mom H for Mother's Day, I just need to figure out a cute way to wrap it for her. Of course it wouldn't be a quilt from me if the Quilty Cat didn't help and of course I let him. It's hard to resist someone so stinking cute :)

I'm linking up over at From Pixels to Patchwork , Quilt Story and Sew Cute Tuesday! Hop on over and check out what everyone else is up to!

WIP Wednesday: another scrappy trip

 I'm on my second trip. A scrappy trip quilt that is-and it's been a little rough this time around.
                                                    

The first scrappy trip quilt I made was such a fun time, I couldn't help but make another. The first one I made was just a bunch of my favorite fabrics and no real plan, I just cut and paired 'em up.

This 'scrappy trip' is for my Grandma, and I set out with a plan-sort of...I had the fabric (more about that here) I knew I wanted one color to run down the center of each square, I debated between green or red. And then I got to thinking, 'do I really want to use these colors?' Of course all of the doubt came AFTER all the strips were cut and sewed into rows. So I made a couple blocks, and left the rest uncut and sitting in a pile on my sewing room floor, pouting just a bit about the mess I was getting myself into.

The last few days I had been staring at the wall of eight blocks, trying to find the ambition to finish up the rest of the blocks-and I did it! Today was a great day, I kept telling myself that if this quilt was going to be at Grandma's by Mother's Day then I needed to just do it. So, I got all of the strips cut and ready to go-to keep me motivated to move along.

I can't get enough of those binding clips-they are so great!

After I got the fist block of the morning done and up on the wall with the others, I was surprised at how much my opinion of the colors had changed. I guess a few weeks away from it really helped. 

First block of the day done-LOVE IT!

Once all of the blocks were done and arranged, rearranged and maybe rearranged again, I was in LOVE! I got them into a layout I was pleased with and realized all that worrying was for nothing!

Choosing the red for each of the center blocks is probably my favorite part, it really helps define the diamonds!

A finished top

I'm sure I will be dreaming of how to quilt this tonight, but my plan for now is to quilt in the diamond pattern you can see-maybe in the red and then a few in the middle. I'll keep dreaming!

Tonight, I'm linking up with over at a Quilt Story and tomorrow over at Freshly Pieced!

A busy little Bee

This weekend was full of fun. There were garage sales, good food, lots of sun and some green beer and of course a little sewing!

I have a few (well more than a few) bee blocks to share today that I finished, and they should be with their owners by now or very close. These blocks have been so much fun to make over the last few weeks, and I am so glad that I have gotten involved in these bees and swaps. Currently I am in 3 Bee's and a Swap and I am having a blast, the ladies are so much fun and very creative and it's fun to be sewing with these ladies.

Bee White Black Bee Blocks

 February's Block for Mama Miss

March block for Leona

Mini String Block Swap

these blocks are 6.5x6.5 unfinished

Red's and green's string blocks

Bright string blocks (my fav)

Granny Square block bee

Red, aqua and pink for Jane

 

 Virtual Quilting Bee Block

for this bee I choose greens, light/dark grey and whites-very simple and different-and this one is staying with me. I can't wait to see all of the blocks together

Check out the bee and join over at Diary of a Quilter

Simply Solids Bee

I'm the queen bee in the simply solids bee for March and I choose the Tilt-A-Whirl block-you can find the tutorial at Fresh Lemon Quilts. My color choices and my the back for the quilt.

Simply Solids color choices

Tilt-A-Whirl Block

All of these blocks have been sent out, and I hope you ladies love them :) Happy Quilting!

A little help, with this little lovely

I just got this lovely quilt top back from it's stay in the quilt shop. It's going to a pretty special person, but I can't say who because she probably reads this little piece of my world.

English Gardens

All that is left to do is baste this lovely and quilt it but I need some help! I have no clue how to quilt it, the only quilting I personally do is straight lines and stitch in the ditch and I'm not sure that is going to cut it with this quilt. Please, help any thoughts would be great!

I'm really hoping to get this lovely basted by the end of the week, but we'll see. I'm thinking about ditching the sewing machine for the beautiful weather we are having here in the Q and taking a hike in the foothills!

I'm linking up better off thread for Sew Cute Tuesday

 

 and at Quilt story

 

 Head on over to Better off Thread and Quilt stories to see what all the other lovely lades are up to this week :) There are some great finishes!