Two New Mini Quilts

I recently moved into an office from my cubicle and immediately set out on a decorating adventure.  I don't love blank walls--especially blank walls that are painted a cement color, bleh--so I knew I'd make mini quilts to cover the boringness.  And let's not mention the 16-pack of dry erase markers that found their way into my Amazon cart, along with a pair of gingham-print scissors and a coffee mug with Lucy Van Pelt on it.

I had time last weekend to start on my mini-making adventure.  It's been a long time since I was able to make something for me, especially a quilt.  I've been so busy prepping for the Indie Craft Parade that I've only focused on project bags for the last two months.  My WIPs are gathering dust.  It felt so good just to crank something out for me.

First is Carolyn Friedlander's Shirts pattern, which is entirely paper-pieced.  I've been wary of paper-piecing--so fussy, so exact--but I'm taking a class at QuiltCon all about it, so I should probably get some practice in, right?

Well...it turns out I love paper-piecing.  Seriously.

I used Denyse Schmidt prints and Moda Bella solids for this mini quilt.  The solids were a bundle from FQS in 2012--they're QuiltCon colors, which go surprisingly well with Denyse Schmidt.  I'm sure that's no coincidence.

The other quilt I made is another Modern Maples quilt.  I've done these before--a full-size and a mini--but decided to mix up the layout so I'd have some varied sizes and shapes on my new walls.

I was able to cut into a lot of my stash for this mini, including my newly-acquired Cotton + Steel and 1canoe2 fabric.

The back is a Martha Negley print with gingham to help lengthen it.  Doesn't it make you want fall right now?  It's been overcast and rainy here for weeks, yet very hot.  It's so deceiving.  It helps to be in air conditioning all day, so I can still comfortably drink hot tea.

I bought two other Carolyn Friedlander patterns, so I'm hoping to get those on my walls soon.  What have you been up to?

Fall Decorating and a Giveaway

This is my 200th post!  Can you believe it?  If yo've been here since the beginning, you probably can.

I whipped up something for fall today: the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery All in a Row table runner.  I don't see it on their website anymore, but it looks like Pink Chalk Fabrics still carries the pattern!

That moving shadow would be my dog.

This pattern does involve paper piecing, which is why I've sat on it for a year before using it.  But now that I have some paper piecing experience, it wasn't an issue at all!  It was actually really fun.

I used Essex Linen in Flax for the background and a whole bunch of fabrics for the pumpkins and stems!  I tried to stick with oranges and browns for the pumpkins, but a couple yellows did sneak in.

Most of the fabrics have shown up in other quilts--either my fall Modern Maples or my fall Donuts quilt.

I used the same Aurifil I used to quilt my Donuts quilt--variegated 50 wt., because it blended so well with the linen in my Donuts quilt.  I didn't want an allover quilting design because I don't plan on washing this.  Just something to hold it all together would work!

I bound it with a print from Zen Chic's Moda line Comma.  Because I don't plan on using the backside, I didn't think it mattered if the binding was different or not.

I picked up those canisters and that bowl at Target this morning!  I'm eagerly awaiting their entire line of fall decor, but this will tide me over.

Okay, now for a giveaway!  I've been cross-stitch crazy lately, and thought I'd give away a cross-stitch book.  Storyland Cross Stitch came out last month, and features tons of fantastical projects revolving around a magical forest.

The book features cross-stitch and sewing patterns for tons of projects, such as samplers, framed pieces, and little cuties like a lavender sachet and a pincushion.

This is my favorite pattern in the book!

It also comes with a cross-stitch kit so you can get started right away!

To enter, just leave me a comment, telling me what you're working on right now.  That's it!  I'll pull a comment at random on Thursday, September 12.  This is my first giveaway, and I don't typically enjoy them, but I thought it'd be fun to celebrate my 200th post!

Good luck!  And happy (almost) fall!

Weekend Crafting

I know it's only Labor Day afternoon, but I think my major craft projects for the weekend are done.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot done, because Nick's dad was visiting for a few days, limiting my time in the sewing room; fortunately, I still had time to sew!  And I picked up a new hobby along the way!

Yesterday I bought this purse from Target.  I've talked about this before, how I'm not really a bag lady, and I tend to use the same purses and bags until they literally fall apart.  My parents bought me the purse I use now two years ago for my birthday, and it is still in really good shape, despite being my go-to bag.  But something about this little guy called my name--maybe it was the fox?  Or the color?--and I stuck it in the cart.  Of course, this meant that my red wallet, which matches my current purse, would have to be replaced.

I bought the Straight Stitch Society Have it All wallet pattern last spring but never used it.  I don't know why not--it's so easy!  I cut it out and sewed it in about two hours, minus a break to run to Joann for fasteners (where are my fasteners?!).

I used two prints from Koi by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cloud9.  I also bought the It's a Plus print in voile, intending to make this scarf.  I'm wondering if it might be too much?  I love infinity scarves, and I love voile, but is it appropriate for fall?  What do you guys think?

Two things I screwed up: I banged on the spool of thread (following Dritz's directions!) too hard when securing the fastener, so the pearl side is shatterd; and my accordion pocket isn't centered.  It doesn't really affect anything, it just bothers my OCD...but not enough to fix it.

The new hobby I picked up is cross-stitching!  And dare I say it, I like it more than embroidery!  My sewing buddy Elizabeth cross-stitches and has mentioned her Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery samplers a few times (I'm familiar with the Pumpkins and love their designs.  I'm a slave to cute).  I finally decided to cave and subscribe to a sampler!  I signed up for the Halloween sampler, which starts next week on the 9th.  However, it wasn't until this weekend that I picked up supplies, as floss was $.25 at Joann and I had crazy coupons.  (Side note: did you know you can't combine coupons at Joann anymore?  This is madness.)

Before diving into the sampler border, which I need to start on!, I stitched up a cute lil' guy to frame and hang for the season:

I have one other fall-related pattern to stitch as well!  But I should probably get going on that sampler...

Finally, Elizabeth again had a great idea and suggested I make a quilt for our guest room using the new line by Leah Duncan, Tule.  I love Leah's work and bought her first line, Maya, last year.  I am also in love with her prints and asked for a couple from my brother for my birthday.  I wanted to originally buy the prints for the guest room, but wasn't sure how to tie it all in, until Elizabeth suggested the quilt!  I have it all planned out, and purchased seven coordinating solids to accompany the 20 prints in the line:

The solids should be here tomorrow, so I'll need to slice those up as well.  I'm really excited about it!  There's something about a new project, using materials you love.  It's hard to concentrate on anything else!

How was your labor day?  What'd you sew?

Cutting Into Liberty: An Anxiety-Ridden Hawthorn

I detailed my fall sewing plan a couple weeks ago, and between quilts, decided to get started.  A houndstooth dress is rushing the season, and I haven't purchased my wool coating or flannel for jammies just yet, but I had everything I needed to make my fall Hawthorn blouse.

After my last Hawthorn, though, I was a bit wary, especially cutting into Liberty.  I have to remind myself sometimes that it's just fabric; if something doesn't fit or is a bust, I can repurpose whatever I've cut and put it in something new, though smaller.  

Obviously, one of my alterations this time was to make the blouse version, version 1, with short sleeves.  I debated going sleeveless, because lord knows I love my cardigans.  But, short sleeves really do offer more versatility, especially in the South, when warm weather can stretch into October (though we've had some cool days so far!).

I also adjusted the side seams.  They're 3/8" instead of 5/8".  They're still snug, but I would say "form-fitting" instead of "sausage casing."  You can see in the above picture I thought I was being fun using bright red buttons, but they blended right into the fabric.  Womp womp.

I added a hem facing to the peplum instead of hemming it.  I just used some black bias binding.  This added structure and really didn't take away much length.  I love the design of this peplum.  While I wear my Vogue 8815 pretty often, the peplum has started to hang weird.  I think this one is much more organic and fluid.

I finished this blouse last Sunday--also the day I started it.  I bought a new pencil skirt from Loft and thought, I'll model it!  Well, like the fool I am, I forgot to check tracking and the skirt still isn't here.  Argh.  Hopefully soon.  I haven't worn it to work yet.

All in all, I'm much happier with this Hawthorn, and I'm hopeful it'll get lots of wear this fall!  It's officially the most expensive blouse in my closet, as the fabric was over $80, but hey, buy what makes you happy.

Finished: Donut Quilt

Yay, another finished quilt!  For those of you who really don't like patchwork, bear with me, I promise we'll move onto clothing soon!  (I just ordered a pencil skirt to go with that Hawthorn I have planned, so I probably need to sew it...)

I used Johanna Masko's Donuts pattern for this, but altered it slightly.  I started with the throw size, and decided, instead of borders, I'd add two more rows of Donuts.  I didn't repeat any fabrics , which is something the pattern recommends.  I also originally didn't want any left or right borders, but without them, the quilt was way too long and skinny--it just looked bizarre!  I added six inches to either side.

I'm completely unable to resist fall (or Christmas, but that's another story), and wanted another fall quilt for the collection.  I grabbed fabrics I loved that felt more like autumn for whatever reason--oranges, reds, and browns were prevalent.  I threw in some purples, blues, and greens for some pop, too.

I also used Essex Linen in Flax for the background.  I've only used Essex before in my Super Tote, which I loved.  Well, Essex is quite different to quilt with--I had a lot of shifting and stretching, which was a bummer.  I did, however, pre-wash my linen so I wouldn't deal with shrinkage.

Quilting this was pretty intense; I think I spent a total of nine hours working on it.  I straight-line quilted the donuts, 5/8" inside and outside and inside the donut holes.  I think quilted chrysanthemums in the spaces between donuts using the tutorial from Stitched in Color.  That really wasn't difficult, and I just practiced by drawing flowers in my work notebook between emails.  I also quilted with a loopy design on all borders and sashing--practicing it the same way as the mums!

Mums are so fallish to me, so I had to include them.  I used variegated 50 wt. Aurifil for the quilting, and I love how it blended in.  I thought about using orange Aurifil at first, but I already had the variegated in my stash, and it ended up being perfect.  There's texture, but you (hopefully) don't notice every single mistake I made.  I'd say I'm getting less horrible at free-motion quilting.  I'm not even somewhat good yet, but I'm getting more confident and trying new things.

PS--my Camille Roskelley Aurifil set arrived yesterday, so I really couldn't be more excited to try more patterns and open all that shrink-wrap on each spool.

The quilt is backed with two Dear Stella prints, and bound with another, all from their Piper line.  I originally bought both of these yardage cuts for clothing, but as I make more quilts, I'm using quilting cottons for quilts and apparel fabrics for apparel.  I'll probably have exceptions to that, but it's how I'm leaning now.  I used the Sprinkle print for one of the donuts too.  I thought it tied things together well!  Also, helicopters and confetti, what could be better?

This boy loves his quilts.

I also machine-stitched the binding!  That's unusual for me unless I'm in a hurry or am displaying something instead of using it.  However, I'm realizing with every binding that our couch is on its last legs and I end up in pain for days from the lack of hip support.  I was looking at hours on the couch with this quilt, versus 30 minutes at the machine, so I went with the machine.  I know a lot of quilters will cringe at that, but to them I say, you're welcome to buy us a new couch.

So that's the latest!  What have yall been up to?  I heard that new Robin Thicke song on the radio twice on our way home from Barnes and Noble this afternoon, so I've been singing it to annoy Nick.  Fun times!

Fall Sewing Plans

A third post...in one week?  You're asking yourself, is Emily feeling okay?  Well, no, I'm not.  I'm sick in bed at home, presumably with food poisoning, so I need something to pass the time between work emails.  Can I just say, isn't working remotely such a wonder?  I'm someone who feels terrible for missing work, and I don't take "mental health days" or anything (OCD with some overachiever playing heavily), so being able to work while propped up with pillows and some pets is fine with me.

Anyway, it's mid-August, which means fall is practically here.  Can you smell it?  In Charlotte, while we're a ways away from actual fall--at least a month--it is getting cooler and the light has changed outside.  Soon Pumpkin Spiced lattes will be available and I'll buy some mums for the front porch.  Soon!

I would like to sew some garments for fall, despite my lack of sewn clothing lately.  I find fall and spring clothes the best to sew, perhaps because they're my favorite seasons.  I'd love to sew more summer dresses, but if I even think of wearing a lining in the summer, I melt immediately.  Just like that, in my closet, from heat exhaustion.  And let's not get started on winter.  But fall is inspirational and beautiful.  I must plan!

Here's what I've planned so far:

First and foremost, I need a Colette Anise.  Need it!  Version 1, with covered buttons, please.  My mom gave me black-and-white houndstooth wool, which I was so excited to use...until I saw I'd need over three yards, and only had 2.5.  If you've made this, how are the cutting layouts?  Would 2.5 work?  Otherwise, I need to find some wool!

Next is the Colette Hawthorn (again), version 1.  I do enjoy a good peplum!  My reservations about this pattern are all about the bust, but I think reducing the seam allowances will help with that.  Plus, I have this amazing cut of Liberty stashed:

I could wear this with black pants to work, jeans on the weekend, and pencil skirts too!  I'd like to find red buttons but those are negotiable.

Third on the list--another Rooibos!  I really love the one I made last winter but it's wool gabardine and is heavy.  However, it's really cute and fits well.  Now, here's a crazy thought: what if I used the black and white houndstooth for this dress?  Is it too much?  For reference, here's a good example of the size of the pattern:

Is it too crazy?  In a bad way?  I need your thoughts!

Do PJs count?  These are on my to-do list for sure.  I change into pajamas as soon as I get home from work, so I really can't have too many.  I've heard awesome things about these--the fit is spot-on!--and really want to make some comfy pajama pants for fall--and also for Christmas!  (I can't be the only one who wears new pajamas on Christmas!)

Birch Fabrics is debuting their Charley Harper line--I'm dying, it's so good--and they'll have a flannel line!  I should use the cardinals for Christmas, right?

But for everyday use, Cloud9 has teamed up with Rae from Made by Rae for her new flannel line, Fanfare.  I think the Confetti print is perfect for jammies:

What are your fall sewing plans?  I'm also very excited to see the new patterns come out this fall.  I'm sure I'll need those too!

Little Fall Projects

I've officially given up on my Minoru.  The fabric and pattern never magically arrived at my door, so I took it as a sign.  I'm two for three (is that the saying?) on my fall projects.  Sigh.

I've been doing a few other stitchings lately, though.  Nothing too exciting.

My mom's been helping me out a lot lately, quilting and now she's knitting an infinity scarf, so I'm working on a few things for her.  First is this little owl scene.  The close-up of that owl makes me think it's making this face: O___o, probably because I gave it a crew cut.  Sorry, little buddy.

These might turn into another gift for my mom.  At first I thought I'd make her a mini Modern Maples quilt, but now I'm considering making one of the Barn Bats blocks from Elizabeth Hartman.  Opinions?  

I was boo'ed this week at work (before you think I'm being bullied) and my job, in exchange, was to boo two more co-workers.  I don't have a ton of money to go out and buy fun things this week, so I used what I had and sewed up two Perfect Zip Pouches and stuck a Cadbury Dairy Milk in each.  The whole aim is to remain anonymous--like a ghost?--but, because I'm an idiot, I wore my Flea Market Fancy shirt today, not even connecting the two.  I don't know that my co-worker saw me, but lord, I really wonder about myself sometimes.

Proof:

Duh.

I'm heading to Charlotte for a quick trip Thursday and Friday, so I guess it's a good thing I'm no longer making a jacket before Halloween!  Speaking of Halloween, does anyone else think it's awesome ABC is showing It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on the 31st, instead of weeks before?  For those of us who don't get trick-or-treaters, it's a blessing.

See you soon!