June 10, 2013
So, where exactly is Summer? The weather here has been pretty dreary, cool and rainy for the first few days off of school for the kids. We are dying to go to the pool, but instead are watching movies and playing games inside. I am getting a lot of sewing done, but only have a few pictures to show since my oldest spilled a cup of milk on my laptop and fried the hard drive and erased EVERYTHNG on it. So, a new hard drive later, but not too any pictures of projects to share.
This is my "Three Squared" quilt, which I started back over Christmas Break! I finally finished this past weekend, and now it is for sale in my etsy shop. You can find it here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnchoredOffshore I have a few other things in the works, hopefully I'll be posting those soon!
Crazy Polka Dot Quilt and Blocks for Boston
Now that school is done for the summer, I am feeling really inspired to finish old projects and start new ones! I finally quilted and bound my Crazy Polka Dot quilt, and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm keeping this quilt for me. Selfish. Yes. I decided also decided to construct some Block for Boston, and will be sending them off to the Boston Modern Quilt Guild this week. They are collecting blocks to make into quilts for the Boston bombing survivors, which I think is a great idea! I had fun picking fabrics to stick with their color scheme too.
A Baby Girl Chevron Quilt!
I've finally reached a goal of mine, to make a chevron quilt! My accuquilt cutter made this so easy! I've long been admiring chevron quilts on pinterest and other's quilting blogs, and I finally decided to give one a go. I chose fabric in a girly color scheme, perfect for a fellow nurses' baby girl, set to make an appearance in July.
I actually liked it better before I quilted it.....oh well! I hope she likes it!
Almost Easter
I said I was going to make a new bag in my previous post using brighter colors and whatnot. Well, i used different colors, but not exactly how i planned. Turns out that I used a different interfacing for the pouch at the left, and it wasnt stiff enough, which was the the opposite problem with the other pouch, which was too rigid. Anyhoo, I decided to give the first pouch I made to a friend for her birthday, and gave the one at left to my daughter, who begged to have it to store all her Mini Hand Sanitizers (its an obsession, i tell you!)
Anyway, heres another pic of it.
Anyway, heres another pic of it.
I recieved 2 awesome gifts this month. One was from my parents, who gave me the quilt that used to hang in our basement, one made by my great grandmother, all by hand. I had forgotten about it, since i dont think I had seen it for probably 22 years. I was asked what i wanted for my birthday, which is coming up in May, and i mentioned I'd love a vintage handmade quilt. Score!
Then, my grandmother gave me a quilt that she embellished, probably back in the early 1950's. Its a little yellowed, but nothing a good washing won't take care of!
Pillows!
Next, I decided to take advantage of all my scraps and make some giant pillow covers for my kids. All of these covers took me maybe a week to make, since i was bored and on Spring Break from school. It was fun figuring out different color schemes for each child, based on what they like, and what I *hoped* they like! 3 boy pillows, one girl pillow. I also had enough fabric to make another cover, pillow #5, since originally they were made for 36 inch square pillows. I ended up using 27 inch square pillows from Joanns, since i had a coupon and didnt want to wait or pay shipping for bigger ones! The 5th one will be for the son of a couple my husband and I have been friends with for 8 years. Their little boy is 5 days older than our youngest! I hope he likes it! Miss Olivia made herself at home in a nest of batting, inside our wooden chest during most of the time i spent working on them!
March Madness
And it has nothing to do with basketball...yet! First, since I am not Irish, and have no other St. Patty's Day decorations, I decided to fashion one of my own. I winged the entire thing, and I only have a quick 1/2 finished picture to show for my efforts. The finished door hanging is bound and adorning my front door, but its pouring rain and I can't get a picture right now. I made the Shamrock inbetween peicing my improv quilt, which for now I am calling Crazy Polka Dot Quilt (yeah, I'm super original, I know).
It started with the Ta Dot blocks (see below). I couldnt stop, and I ended up using all of my 5x5 precuts of them and a pack of bright Kona Solids. I wanted to try something I've never done before, and that was basically, sew a quilt with a solid background and peice randomly to make the blocks off kilter. I confess, it took me a few weeks. I'd peice half a row, then take a break for a few days. All that measuring, cutting, sewing and ironing just got to me. I made many mistakes! I dont even know if the darn thing will quilt without wrinkles and puckers, but I did accomplish my goal. I even have the background fabric ready and waiting. It's a raspberry Ta Dot print, and it's totally awesome! :)
Keeping in line with my theme of procrastination, i started a cosmetic bag for a friend from a tutorial in Everyday Handmade. I feel like i read the instructions a thousand times over. Maybe I am not so great at interpretation, but sometimes i was like, HUH??? eventually i figured it out, and i really like the bag (even though looking at it i think my friend might enjoy a different color scheme, and i uses too stiff of an interfacing.) I am off to make another bag with a sunnier palette, and some lighter weight interfacing!
Keeping in line with my theme of procrastination, i started a cosmetic bag for a friend from a tutorial in Everyday Handmade. I feel like i read the instructions a thousand times over. Maybe I am not so great at interpretation, but sometimes i was like, HUH??? eventually i figured it out, and i really like the bag (even though looking at it i think my friend might enjoy a different color scheme, and i uses too stiff of an interfacing.) I am off to make another bag with a sunnier palette, and some lighter weight interfacing!
2/13/13 Catching up on a few things..
I've been crafting away, and have hardly had the time to post between school, work and family stuff. This semester has been a bit easier at school (thank goodness) and I've been able to keep a slow and steady progress going in between obligations. First up is the finished wall hanging of x and + blocks I went crazy over. I think i just had to get them out of my system or something!
Then, i was cruising amazon.com with my 11 year olds, who are on this Rubic's cube craze. In order to get free shipping, I had to spend 25.00. Easy enough, once I found a lot of Ta Dot fabric with a 5x5 square of each print. hurrah. Inspiration via:
and here they are. i am in love with them. i have no idea if i will use them in a quilt, or what, but my mind keeps calling them my circus blocks, because thats what they remind me of.
1/29/13 Process
Do you have a specific process that helps you create? I absolutely do. Before I started sewing, I barely watched TV. I could spend 8 hours writing at my computer. I would only watch like one hour of TV a week, because I was obsessed with LOST and couldnt miss it. With the craziness of having 4 kids, running the house and working, I was able to scratch out some time for just me, and about 3 years ago, that didnt involve TV at all. Fast forward to today...I watch probably more TV than I ever have, but I justify it because at the same time, I am DOING SOMETHING. I am cutting, I am measuring, I am standing over projects, moving peices and parts. I am ironing, ripping seams, pinning, binding. I am mostly watching various tv Series on Netflix. I love the fact that I dont have to wait weeks to watch a show, I can just power through them all in a weekend. I remember the first time I did that, and I was making my crazy rainbow patterned quilt, and I watched Prison Break like there was no tomorrow. Not to say I am proud of this, that I devour shows like Cadbury Mini Eggs, but it does help with my process. I snapped a picture on Saturday night, in the midst of a x and plus block marathon. My bedroom was a disaster of scraps, threads and bins stuffed with fabric, but it was so great, to just be sewing, to be making a mess, to be creating. It always helps to have the Winchester boys on your TV screen....
1/20/13 Crazy for Remix, a Quilt and some BOM blocks!
I did some New Years Shopping, and I finally caved to Ann Kelle's Remix line. For so long i have been obsessed with it, but was never able to find enough of the fabric together at one site where i could purchase several different prints. The I found Hawthorne Threads, my new favorite online fabric store! They have TONS of fabric! Seriously. I about peed myself when i saw how much Remix they had available. They also have knits, if you're interested!
YES. So much remix. I havent cut into yet, but it is calling my name!
Then, I figured since i was ordering Remix, I could add to my Tula Pink buy stocking up on some Parisville, and one of my favorite Saltwater Prints, as well as some other greats (from Text and Constellations, I think). Then, I found some MORE stuff on clearance. I felt guilty about spending so much money on fabric, but exhilarated at the same time knowing that I got alot of stuff I've been wanting for a long time. (shhh.)
I've also been busy making a quilt for a girl at work who is letting me borrow her Microbiology book for this semester. She wouldnt let me pay her for it, so i decided they only thing left to do was....make her a quilt of course! I finished it yesterday, washed it and gave it to her at work. She was surprised and seemed to like it. Yay. I had no idea what colors she likes, or really anything at all about her beyond we work together! So i improvised and just picked colors i liked. I used my Accu Quilt Go! for the squares which made it come together super quick.
I thought i should say, that my dog was not attempting to poop in this picture. I snapped it right before he decided to sit down. lol. I've also been working on my BOM skill builder blocks for the quilt along at Pileofabric.com. Below are the first 2 blocks.
Hmmm...
Just trying the new site out...not sure if I like it yet! (or maybe I just dont know how to use it yet!)