A Grandmotherly Quilt

Almost there....

I finished layering the UM quilt for my brother, and managed to sew the layers together (albeit poorly), so now all I have left on this one is the binding. I just need to figure out what fabric to use and then find the time/energy to bind it. I'm kinda over this one already!!

Layering:

Top side stitched:

Back side stitched:

Topside UM Quilt

The sun came out for the first time in months today, and I think it inspired a higher level productiveness in my apartment!! I finally finished the top layer of my brother's UM quilt, and I cut all the pieces for the back side. It should be pretty fast going to get the whole thing put together, I'm just way too energized to do something like that (or maybe its the three cokes and entire pot of coffee I just drank...).

Bento Squares

I finished sewing each of the squares and have now put them aside to focus on other quilts (and to let my eyes rest from the insanity of this one). I still need to add the border strip around each block, and then decide if I'm going to use any sashing. But as of right now I don't expect to come back to this project for at least another 2 weeks. I need to let it fester before moving on to the next steps.

In other news, I think I found an owner.

Woops.... FAIL me.

I was trying to be so secretive about my Heather Ross VW van quilt that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. So here are the only two that I have....

The first picture if just my basic over all layout. The second is the finished squares, the strips for the top, bottom and back, and a more "decided" layout. If you have a decent imagination just fill in the blanks with white Kona cotton fabric (hard, I know). The binding is also a blue fabric, so no stretch of the imagination there either.

The real struggle came with trying to layer all the pieces. For some reason my sewing machine was rebelling against me (jealousy I'm sure), so when I tried to stipple the quilt I ended up with a bunch of birds nests and had to painstakingly take out all the stitches. Adam was actually a HUGE help with this too, and it kinda became our project while watching TV in the evenings.

Once I got the stippling stitches out I decided to try using the ribbon technique. Basically I threaded yellow embroidery ribbon through the quilt, and then tied each piece in the back. It's a technique I'd been wanting to try anyway, and I was pleased with the result... it makes the quilt much more "old fashioned" and let's it breath a little easier.

The second major struggle was when I took it to Miami and washed it (to try to even out the holes from the stippling attempt, and to get the cat hair off since Emma liked to lay on it despite my protests). When I removed it from the washing machine more than a few stitches had come out, and I had to rush to figure out a solution to the fraying. I ended up just using my mom's old sewing machine (which was a whole other set of problems) and rejoined the fabric with a zigzag stitch. Fortunately because I used white as my background color it wasn't all that noticeable.

All in all I had much higher hopes for this quilt than the end product provided. I did learn a lot in the process though, and I guess that's half the battle. My mom was also very excited about it (maybe a little too excited), but I guess mom's are happy with just about anything you make for them. I appreciated it though:)

Santa's Sweet Shop = Sweat Shop!

So I decided to alternate between sewing and baking this weekend, as part of my attempt to finish my Christmas presents before Christmas. Turns out that's more of a prison work camp assignment than a fun thing to do, but in the end I accomplished what I set out to (or at least came close enough). I tried the cake in a jar project I've been wanting to attempt for a while, and honestly it was a lot harder than the directions let on. I managed to over fill almost every jar, and then managed to drop almost everything I touched on the floor.... it was not a very happy, easy work environment to say the least. But in the end I think things worked out okay. And I was able to bring in the tasty treats to work today, so check those gifts off the list.

Now to just finish my shopping, sewing, packing and cleaning in less than 24 hours.

Filling the jars:

Baked spillage:

Looking better with sugar on top:

The finished product is much prettier:

Holiday Macaroons:

My excellent "leftover's soup":

UM Quilt updates

I've officially started the blocking on the UM quilt for my brother.

So far I like the way its coming out, and I think it will really look nice once I get the "balancing strips" added to each block (ie. the bottom right square will have a thinner green strip on the outside, and the upper left square will have a thicker green strip...).

I'm also really liking the colors on this quilt (and not just because I bleed orange and green myself)!!! Working with such bright colors on such a large scale (think the entire quilt) is something I haven't done before, and I have to say it makes everything much more cheerful:)

Now to just get this sucker finished in less than three weeks... I'm already horribly behind on my Christmas schedule.

A tote for quilts

Whew, I finished my second tote.

Sadly its not as good as the first one I made (although I'm not exactly sure how I lost skills...), but its good enough for holding a quilt which is more or less what it was intended to do!!

This also makes one entire Christmas present that can now be wrapped and placed under the tree. As soon as I get a tree...

bad days mean good sewing...

It seems that the worse my day is the more productive I am with sewing... I guess in the same way that I love to clean when I'm mad because I get out all my frustration on the dirt, the repetitive nature of sewing stops all the thinking. If that makes sense. And while sucky days suck, I'll definitely take the productiveness!!

Tonight I managed to finish the last of the HR squares and bind the KND quilt (thus making it 100% completely done now... and let me just say that using decorative machine stitches make binding not only easier, but also looks as if I almost know what I'm doing!!).

And at the end of the day its all relative.

The things we do for family...

So this is the quilt I'm making for my brother, Ryan. I'm 99% sure this is the layout I'm going to use, with the green of the back layer wrapping around the front side to make the binding.
I wanted to make him something to take with him when he moves to California in January so that he'll have a little piece of home all the way on the other side of the country.
The only real debate left is how to sew the layers together... its between using the stippling technique (example below), or using diagonal lines (which I think might be more of a "guys" look). I guess it really comes down to time since I essentially have less than a month to start and finish this.

little bows make a big difference

Enough said.

A dress for Luna

I'm not 100% finished with this dress (I want to add a bow around the top, for that little something extra), but I still think it came out very cute for a little play dress! And while this dress has become so easy to make at this point that I can bust one out in about an hour, I think I may step it up a notch for the next dress and try my hand at my new Oliver & S pattern.

I love the fabric used with this dress though, very light (which is perfect for Miami weather) and very girlie and bright! I may have to find some more like it...

Not so secret secret quilt...

Okay, so it is a secret quilt, but obviously not to the one reader of this blog (ie. me).

I started piecing this together last night and actually got 75% of the way through the front panel. Today I've managed to finish the front and back panels, layer the quilt, baste it, and now I'm 50% through sewing all the layers together.

I'm using a technique called "stippling", which basically means I make a bunch of curvy lines that never cross (or at least almost never cross). Once the quilt is washed the curvy lines will help it take on a cozy, wrinkled look.

So all in all I'm really proud of myself and this quilt. I still have the binding to deal with though, which that seems to be my weakest skill, but considering I've done better on this quilt than I thought I would I'm hoping this is the breaking point where I actually sew the binding like I know what I'm doing...!!

Fungus among us!?!

I've been testing various layouts for the "secret quilt"... I'm not 100% completely convinced with this one, but I think it's the best to date. At least it's sticking with the original theme(s) and color scheme!

Commitment Issues...

So I finally committed to the finishing fabric for the fairy tale quilt!! Of course now begins the daunting task of cutting and binding the edges, which always seems to go poorly...
But at least it looks good so far!:)

Polka-Dot dress revisited

It's definitely getting easier to make dresses from this pattern, so hopefully soon I can start making my own alterations and really making them mine...

A Father's Day tie that's quickly becomming a Christmas tie....

So I thought making a tie would be a fairly simple thing to do, but it turns out it requires a whole set of skills I don't possess... one being patience, the other being able to sew a "slip stitch". I've gotten as far as I can go and so now I just stare at it, hoping if I wish hard enough it will just sew itself. And considering that its already July and well past Father's Day, I've decided this should just be a Christmas present, which I will send along with the Father's Day card that's still sitting on my desk.


I will make no comment about the fact that this is a Florida Gator's tie, except to say that perhaps all the problems really stem from the Gators sucking so hard.
Go Canes!!



UPDATE:
This did not manage to be a Christmas tie either... maybe it will be a Father's Day 2010 tie!! I also like to think my NOT finishing this tie in 2009 helped the Gators NOT go to the National Championship again. Whatever it takes!!:)

Fairytale Quilt

So I'm in the middle of a "fairytale quilt" for Anasofia and Gabriella.... its much more time consuming than I could have ever imagined (who would have thought hand sewing a quilt with a million tiny pieces would take a long time??!!...). But I'm really proud of it, and I actually like the way its coming out (thanks to my test quilt that answered a lot of my questions through trial and error, and Adam's mom who explained the whole process and gave me the most helpful advice about piecing the layers together!!). Although when it finally is finished (I guesstimate about another 6 months) I think I'll be taking a break from the intense hand quilting world and trying my luck with machine quilting!!!