Plum and June

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2

2013-05-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite finishes of all time is this quilt I made for when my littlest (19 months) moves into a bed. I had intended for it to be a long term project since I started it almost a year in advance but at some point I got very motivated and finished it.

Before I began blogging (in February of 2012), I didn't have much of a fabric stash. But once I started reading and writing about quilting/sewing and sewing more as a result, I began to spend a bit too much time fabric shopping. For some reason, I bought lots of novelty prints and those accounted for the majority of my stash. I've since balanced it out and only buy novelty prints that I absolutely love but since I had a good number of fun fabrics, I figured I'd highlight them in the quilt.

I started by fussy cutting the prints and then bordered each of them with Kona snow (and sometimes Kona oyster or similar.) And then I did another border using a colorful print followed by another border of snow (by this time, I bought a few yards of Kona snow so I was able to stay consistent.) Then taking the leftover strips of the prints and more of the solid, I improv pieced it together.

I did a loopy FMQ and put together a bright and colorful back as well as a scrappy binding and finished it with several months to spare.

To see the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, click here.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 1

2013-05-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

How do people decide which of their quilts to "display" in the Blogger's Quilt Festival? When thinking about what to enter this year, I immediately figured I would just choose this and this. However, then I decided to read my post from last year's festival. That was just a few months after I started blogging and I had only made a handful of quilts at the time. In the post, I wrote about how my littlest (7 months at the time) had spent many hours on that quilt and how it was in so many photos of her but that she was getting mobile and the quilt was not being used much anymore but that I hoped she would find it at some later point and love it as an older child.

Well, that quilt ended up in the pile that my older daughters' use for various things but I recently made this new baby quilt. And, I don't know what it is about this quilt but she LOVES it. When we are in the house, she carries it around and is constantly cuddling with it. And when we go out, she makes sure to have me drape it over the side of her crib so that she'll know right where it is when we get home (at least that is my interpretation of why she insists I put it there.)

Like I said, I really have no idea what it is about this quilt that she finds so special. It is certainly not the first quilt I've made for her and there are several quilt in the same size around my house that she could have taken for her own but this is the first one for which she has shown affection.

So while this might not be the most complicated or unique quilt I've made, this is the one that is special for me today as I'm choosing which quilts to feature for the Quilt Festival. If you want more information about the quilt, here is the original post.

To see the other posts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, click here.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up Plus. . .

2013-05-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

My friends Nicole and Krista have been hosting a Liberty sew-along that I've followed along with both on their blogs and on Instagram. Since I had just used my Liberty fabric for this project, I hadn't planned on joining in but then I remembered that I had a few left over squares so I cut those up, paired them with some Essex linen, and made the pillow cover shown above. There is only one day left to link up but if you have a project to share, you can find the link up on Nicole's blog here.

In other news, I wanted to thank everyone for all the great book recommendations! I'm so excited to have added so many books to my reading list. And if you liked the fabric bundle, I have good news for you - Tactile Fabrics is now listing an identical fat quarter bundle for $27.50 (not including shipping.) It is called the Plum and June FQ bundle and you can find it here. I had so much fun putting this bundle together - I think it would work well in a project on its own or as a good stash builder. And this is one of my favorite color palettes right now (as evidenced here and here.)

The Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is being hosted by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts this week. Click here to see what Alyce has been up to living in Japan this past year and to add your link so we can see what you have been sewing.

Fabric Giveaway

2013-05-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hi there! If you are visiting from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, welcome! This is my space where I share my quilting and sewing projects - as well as some occasional crochet, knitting, and cross-stitch. Here are some of my favorite finishes:

Today's giveaway is from Tactile Fabrics, one of my blog's sponsors and one of my most favorite fabric shops. The owner, Jennifer, stocks the most wonderful selection of fabrics including some new lines like Glimma and Bike. And she provides fantastic service and fast shipping.

For the giveaway, Tactile Fabrics is offering the opportunity for one lucky person to win the gorgeous fat quarter bundle of pinks, yellows, and grays pictured below. There are so many fabrics I love in this bundle including prints from Comma, Field Study, Architextures, and Glimma.

You have 3 chances to win****!

1. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do but if you'd like a topic, how about recommending a good book - an exciting novel you just couldn't put down, a fun book for kids, a quilting book, or even a cookbook? (one entry)

Bonus Entries
2. Plum and June followers - old and new - get a second entry. Leave a comment indicating how you are following. (one entry)

3. Tactile Fabrics followers - old and new - get a third entry. You can follow them on Facebook here or Twitter here. And if you are not on (or active on) Facebook or Twitter, you can get this third entry by visiting Tactile Fabrics and coming back here to leave a comment about your favorite thing from their shop. Leave a comment indicating which one of these you did and/or your favorite thing from Tactile Fabrics. (one entry)

So you can enter up to 3 times! This giveaway will remain open until May 10, 2012 at 5pm PST and a winner will be picked at random and will be notified by email by May 12, 2012.

****This giveaway is open for U.S. shipping only.****

****And unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply comment, please leave your email address in your comment.****

****Tactile Fabrics is offering a coupon code for all readers good for 15% off - use code PLUMJUNE15****

And be sure to stop by Sew Mama Sew for links to the rest of the giveaways.

The giveaway is now closed. The winner is #18 Marci Girl. Congrats Marci - I have just sent you an email. And thanks everyone who entered - I enjoyed reading all your book suggestions!

Another Baby Quilt and the Link Up

2013-05-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what to say about this baby quilt. I started by pulling all the pink and yellow fabrics in my stash and making the 16-patch blocks (the squares finished at 2 1/2 inches.)

I originally planned on using Kona snow for the sashing but when I went through my stash to find it, I saw this blue solid (I'm not sure what color it is) and decided to use that instead. The sashing strips are all 2".

And since I wanted a rectangle shape, I added in the left over ends/scraps from when I trimmed the 16-patch blocks.

For the quilting, I wanted to use the flower motif from Angela Walter's Free-Motion Quilting book. I started the first flower (you can see it if you look closely in the center of the above photo) and then decided to just keep making more rounds of that one flower resulting in just one big flower to cover the entire quilt. I used Aurifil 2710 which is a light grayish blue so it blends really well with the blue fabric. I really love experimenting with different types of quilting and would definitely use this again - either as a bunch of small flowers or as one big off-centered flower.

Yet again, the back the does not match the front at all. But my daughter's love this back and think this is a 100% reversible quilt - which is so "nice" to hear considering the back took about 1/10th of the time to make as the front!!!

What have all of you been making lately?

1. Link up any recent sewing/quilting post.
2. In your post or on your blog, please include either a text link or a button letting people know about this link up.
3. Visit at least the two bloggers who link up before you and everyone who visits you from this post.
4. When the link tool asks for your name, write down the name of your favorite quilting motifs or one you would like to try.

Sewing . . . finally

2013-04-30T17:39:00.003-07:00

I finally did a little sewing this week. Since I wasn't sure exactly what to sew, I started by pulling some fabrics and cutting some long strips.

Then I stitched them together.

And then sliced them into smaller sections, made some very wonky flying geese, added in a few solids and some essex linen in flax and then improv pieced it all together into a baby quilt.

I then picked out some fabrics to piece together a simple back but got sidetracked with another quilt idea that started with this stack of fabrics.

And which might possibly include this block.

Linking to WIP Wednesday.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

2013-04-28T09:35:00.001-07:00

I haven't been sewing much lately so I don't really have anything to share except this set of drawstring bags I made a few weeks ago. I used this tutorial again but with my own measurements - however, I really should have paid better attention to my measurements because both bags came out about 10 times larger than I needed. The top bag was intended to be used to protect my camera inside this bag so I added a layer of batting. And I, um, could probably fit 3 large cameras inside of it. I made the bottom bag to carry my cross-stitch project but that bag ended up large enough to fit a sewing machine - well, that is a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit!

And I also want to mention some happy mail: an absolutely beautiful handmade item arrived in my mailbox today from across the pond. Sarah from Silly Banana Sewing made me this gorgeous pillow cover (it is the first photo in this post - I'll post some photos of it on a cushion soon) as a (totally unnecessary) thank you for organizing the new blogger blog hop last year. She also included several fabric scraps (including some Simply Color charms) for my daughters. Thank you so much Sarah!

This week's link up is being hosted over at Gemini Stitches. Be sure to click over to hear what Kirsten has to say about her experience joining two quilting bees this year and to see her lovely blocks as well as to add your own link so we can all see what you have been sewing recently.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

2013-04-21T16:55:00.001-07:00

Last year at this time, I don't think I knew what paper piecing was but I soon learned all about it from Kristy of Quiet Play. Kristy has built up quite a collection of adorable paper pieced patterns since then and I've been lucky enough to test some of them for her. This little house is one of my absolute favorites - I have it up on the wall in my baby's room.

Kristy is hosing the Let's Get Acquainted Link Up this week and sharing her new favorite project. Click here to see what she is up to and to add your link so we can all see what you have been working on.

Another Messenger Bag

2013-04-19T08:20:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't been doing much sewing the last few days but I recently finished this new bag which has been very busy lounging around this week! It is basically the same bag as this one but I enlarged it and added a recessed zipper.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts.

No Link Up This Week

2013-04-13T05:45:00.002-07:00

Due to some computer/internet related issues, there won't be a Let's Get Acquainted link up this week. It will return next Sunday. Sorry about that.

Have a great week.

Easy Messenger Style Book Bag Tutorial

2013-04-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is for the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop hosted by the wonderful Heidi of Fabric Mutt.

If you read my blog at all in August, you would have seen that lots of back to school sewing was going on in my house (here and here and even here.) For this hop, I decided to make a small messenger style book bag to carry a book (as my daughters are rarely without at least one book in their hands) plus all the fabric-covered journals, pencil cases, and pouches that we made last summer. I've included my measurements but so you can make this bag whatever size you want, I tried to include some guides on how to figure that out.

The only materials I used were quilting cotton, flannel, and batting. I started by cutting a piece of flannel for the flap (9.5"x10.5"). And then using the quilt as you go method, I covered the entire piece of flannel with scraps and some essex yarn dyed linen.

{QAYG in progress}

Next I cut a piece of fabric for the back of the flap the same size as the panel I just quilted, placed them right sides together, and stitched around the two sides and bottom (for bags I usually use a 1/2" seam - not sure why!)

Then I clipped the two bottom corners, turned it right side out, ironed, and put it aside.

Hmm, now that I am looking at the photos, I am not sure I should have chosen that big print right next to the typewriter - oh, well - too late now - moving on.

For the main body of the bag, I cut an 11" x 25"piece of the linen, the lining fabric, and some batting. Basically you want this fabric to be about double the length of your flap plus 4" and you should add 2" to the width as well. Note: if/when I made this bag again, I'll use a flap piece that is about an inch longer and only have the main exterior fabric be double the length plus 2" so that not as much of the main exterior fabric shows under the flap. Also, note that the flap and the handles are very close together - I prefer it that way but if you don't then maybe add 2.5" or 3" to the width of the main exterior fabric.

Lightly quilt the batting to the bag exterior. You can use flannel or home decor weight/canvas in place of the batting. Or you could use your favorite bag interfacing. Whatever you decide to use, take the lining, fold it right sides together, and stitch up the two sides. Do the same thing with the exterior. If you want to box your corners (I did slightly - about 1/2" on either side), I explained how to do that in this tutorial. (*As you can see in the photo below, when I made this bag, I quilted the batting to the lining fabric instead of the exterior fabric because I didn't want the exterior to have the "quilted appearance" - I like the way it looks but I wonder if things inside the bag will get caught on the stitching - has anyone done this? any problems?)

To make a scrappy strap, cut rectangles 5" x variable sizes from a few different fabrics and stitch together until it is your preferred length and trim. My strap measured 4.25" x 34" - I measured it on my 10 year old wearing it messenger bag style.

I like to use batting as a padding to make the strap comfortable. First, I fold in one long side of the strap fabric about 1/2" and press. Then, I cut a narrow piece of batting (2-3"), double it, and place it on the wrong side of the strap fabric. (*Important: leave at least 4 - 5 inches on either end of the strap without batting so that the part you attach to the bag isn't crazy thick!) Fold the side of the strap fabric with the raw edge onto the batting and then cover the raw edge with the neatly folded side and stitch several lines along the length to quilt the strap being sure that one of those lines gets close to the folded edge (hopefully, the photo below helps.)

Get all your pieces out and baste the straps and flap to the exterior fabric - right sides together. Re-check the strap length to make sure you are happy with since it is easy to change at this point (just make sure that if you shorten it that you will still be able to have the part without batting attached to the bag.)

Place the exterior inside of the lining right sides together (the lining should still be inside out) and using a 1/2" seam, stitch around the top leaving an opening on the front of the bag for turning. If you used batting, some of this is really thick. Go slow and use the right needle - well, basically do whatever you usually do with your sewing machine when sewing over thick seams. And then flip everything right side out. Now, normally I would then top stitch around the entire top opening but since my machine doesn't have a free arm and this bag was too thick for my daughters' machine, I just top stitched the front of the bag closing the opening I left for turning. I could have hand stitched the opening but I just used a thread that matches the exterior fabric and I think it looks fine.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you make your own. You could easily customize the bag with different pockets and compartments or a top/recessed zipper but I chose to keep it simple since everything that this bag is going to hold is either large (journal/book) or already in a pouch of its own.

Since this post is part of the Girl Friday Sews hop, there is also a fabric giveaway from Sew Me A Song. The giveaway is for six fat quarters including prints from Lecien Color Basics and Kumiko Fujita First of Infinity. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. Plum and June followers - old and new - get a second entry (leave a comment indicating that you are a following) and for a third entry, visit Sew Me a Song and come back here to leave a comment about your favorite item in their shop. So, 3 possible entries. The giveaway will stay open until Friday, April 12, 2013 8pm EST and a winner will be chosen at random. Make sure to include your email address in your comment unless you are sure that you are NOT a no reply comment. The giveaway is now closed. The winner is comment #27 Deborah. Congrats! I'll email you now.

Mon., April 1 -- Heidi Staples @ Fabric Mutt
Tue., April 2 -- Kristy @ Quiet Play (Pink Chalk Fabrics giveaway: $25 certificate)
Wed., April 3 -- Becca Bryan @ Bryan House Quilts
Thur., April 4 -- Amanda Woodruff @ A Crafty Fox (Westwood Acres giveaway)
Fri., April 5 -- Lee Heinrich @ Freshly Pieced
Mon., April 8 -- Svetlana Sotak @ SOTAK Handmade
Tue., April 9 -- Beth @ Plum and June (Sew Me a Song giveaway: fabric bundle)
Wed., April 10 -- Taryn @ From Pixels to Patchwork
Thur., April 11 -- Lori Hartman @ Lori H. Designs (Fabricworm giveaway: Robotic fabric bundle)
Fri., April 12 -- Leanne @ She Can Quilt
Mon., April 15 -- Blog Hop Recap at Fabric Mutt

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

2013-04-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I don't have any Farmer's Wife blocks to share today but I did make this dress for my 7 year old. However, despite measuring the dress on her throughout each step - it ended up way too small. Fortunately, I might be able to alter it a bit to fit my 18 month old instead (yes, I was that off in the sizing!!!) Maybe next time I should use an actual pattern instead of just trying to wing it.

The Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is being hosted by Nat at Made in Home this week. Click here to see all of Nat's beautiful makes and how she has them displayed around her home and to link up your latest post.

Patched Quilt - Finish

2013-04-02T18:31:00.001-07:00

I finished my 3rd quilt of 2013 this week. Part of my plan for 2013 was to make more big quilts and I have accomplished that. Of course, the bigger the quilt, the more time it takes and the more difficult it is to photograph since I can't hang it on the wall and my 18 month old is a just a little too short to hold it up for display!

My original idea for this quilt was to do all scrappy rectangles from my stash and scraps bin. However, as I was working on the first few rows, it reminded me too much of my scrappy trip along since I was using most of the same fabrics so I decided to add in the Kona oyster to make it a little different from that. But instead of having large pieces of the solid fabric, I cut the Kona into strips and added a low volume or light color rectangle of fabric to each strip (which is why I called it Patched.) Of course, now it just reminds me of this quilt which is made with fabrics from my stash plus Kona snow.

I backed the quilt in some cozy flannel.

And I machine stitched the binding again (which you can see in this pic I took while my husband was resting during the 5 minute photo shoot!)

My first thought was to just add some light quilting. At the bottom of the quilt, I just quilted some wavy lines and some large clamshells but then when I got to the solid fabric, I remembered that I wanted to try this stitch that Marta used recently which was inspired by Denyse Schmidt and I loved it. When I got to the middle scrappy section, I did more wavy lines and clamshells but then I finished the entire top half of the quilt with the scrolls. It is such a fun stitch to do and I really like the way it looks - even though mine is very wonky and uneven.

And surprising I didn't use gray thread for this one! I used Aurifil 50 weight in color 2309 - it is more of a beige/off-white color and it blended so nicely with the Kona Oyster as well as all the other colors in this quilt.

Next up: some spring/summer dresses for my daughters and then I'm excited to get back to tackling the Farmer's Wife blocks.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up and Girl Friday Sews

2013-03-31T17:11:00.001-07:00

The Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is still traveling around the blogosphere! This week it is being hosted by Taryn at from Pixels to Patchwork. Click here to add your link and to see Taryn's adorable spool mini-quilt (and her awesome Starburst quilt.)

And if you haven't already heard, Heidi from Fabric Mutt is hosting a fun blog hop that starts tomorrow (see all the hop details here.) Girl Friday Sews will be full of tutorials for items to use where we (and/or our children) work and learn. Noticing that this hop was starting soon, I put aside some time last week to decide what I was going to make and before I knew it, I made the item and even wrote my post - crazy! My date is not even until April 9th!

Since I spent my sewing time working on my top secret project for the Girl Friday Sews blog hop and the quilt that I spoke about in my last post, this is my only Farmer's Wife block to share this week. I really thought that my points had lined up well but now looking at this photo - yikes!

A Vacation, Some Scraps, and a Quilt Top

2013-03-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I tagged along with my husband when he had a conference in Southern California. It was my first time travelling without my kids in years and though I was sad at first, we had a fantastic time. One of the highlights of my trip that I got to meet and spend time with one of my best blog friends - Heidi from Fabric Mutt. (Here is her post about the visit.) We've been emailing and even video chatting for almost a year now and I can't tell you how amazing it was to actually meet her in person! And being the generous person she is, Heidi gave me the adorable bag above filled with a fantastic variety of scraps (there were even more than shown in the photo.)

And speaking of scraps, the day before we left for California an unexpected box arrived on our doorstep from another of my best blog friends - Nicole from Bold Goods. I've met Nicole twice and she knows how much my daughters love to sew so she had sent them a huge box of fun fabrics!

These photos show just a small sampling of what she sent - and yes, she sent Nano Iro and HTF Heather Ross to my 8 and 10 year old!!!

As I recently mentioned, my sewing space (which I share with my daughters) is quite small so I decided a day (or two or three) of organizing was needed to fit my daughters' growing stash and my new acquisitions. Somewhere between ironing, trimming, folding, and refolding, I thought about how I'd like to make another scrap quilt. Thus, I started trimming a 3" x WOF strip from many of my "non-novelty print" fabrics and putting them in a pile. And a few days later, I finished the quilt top.

I used some of the fabrics from Heidi and snipped a little rectangle from one (or two) of the fabrics Nicole sent (I worked out a trade with my 8 year old!) Also, last week at a quilt guild sewing day, one of the lovely members - Amy from The Calico Cat - brought a bag full of scraps that she shared with the group! There were so many fun treasures and I used many of them in this quilt.

For the quilt, I just cut the 3" strips into various size rectangles and (mostly) randomly stitched them together. After I finished about 5 rows, I decided to add in some Kona Oyster which I also cut into strips so that I could combine it with a few low volume fabrics. I'm excited to get this quilted (I still need to decide on quilting) and I plan on backing it in flannel - however, I have no batting at the moment so I likely won't be quilting it until next week. Oh, well - guess that will give me time to make some more FW blocks!

Linking to WIP Wednesday, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Lily's Quilts.

More FW blocks and the Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

2013-03-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Just a few more Farmer's Wife blocks. I'm not sure how I am feeling about the fabric choices in the first two - might be redoing those! I know a few of you have started making some too - link them up so we all can see.

This week's link up is being hosted by the lovely Deborah from Simply Miss Luella. Click here to add you link, see what everyone else has been making, and to see Deborah's beautiful Liberty pillow.

Meet My Machine! blog hop

2013-03-18T18:39:00.004-07:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to my stop on Stacey and Erin's Meet My Machine Blog Hop.

I've just spent some time in my sewing space trying to get a decent photo to share. However, the size of the space (approximately 5ft x 12ft), all the things in that space (sewing desk for me, child size table for my daughters, ironing board, and wide bookcase-type organizer thingamajig where I keep my fabric), that three sides are covered in windows (I sew in a tiny sunroom), and that my camera only has a 50mm prime lens (no zooming in or out), it appears that I won't be sharing any pics today! Hmm, is that enough excuses? Well, excuses plus a description! But so that I don't have a completely picture-less post, I'll share some pics of what I've made using my new machine.

Anyway, the reason you are reading this is to hear about my sewing machine. If you were reading my blog last summer/fall, you might remember that I wrote a lot about sewing machine problems and was constantly on a search for an upgrade. I don't know the model number of my first machine - it was purchased way before I actually started sewing (almost 10 years before!) when I thought I would use it to make curtains (I never did but I did make a pillow cover!) and sat in a box until my oldest daughter showed an interest in sewing (about 4 or 5 years ago.) It was just a basic mechanical machine that worked great for basic sewing and I even straight line quilted some smaller quilts on it.

However, when I became more serious about sewing (December 2011), I bought a computerized machine online that came with both a walking foot and a free motion quilting foot. I was so excited but I had problems with it from day one - fortunately, I was able to return it for a full refund so I took out my old mechanical to use again. By this point, I had started blogging and meeting people who actually owned sewing machines so I began paying attention to what people wrote about their machines and began seeking advice.

Ultimately, I bought the Juki 2010q and I LOVE IT! The Juki is a mechanical machine that only does straight stitch but it really has everything I need! It is awesome for free motion quilting (it also has speed control - you choose the speed by moving a little tab toward a tortoise or a hare!!!) and has needle down and a thread cutter! Oh, and it came with an extension table that I leave on all the time.

There have been exactly two times when I would have liked to have been able to zig zag stitch - once to secure the edges of the linen for the Woodland Sampler and once when I wanted to machine stitch the binding the way I did way back when (in early 2012.) As for the binding, not having the zig zag option just forced me to learn a new method (learning new things is always good, right?) and I just straight stitched around the linen a few times which seems to be working so far.

One more thing about the Juki - it does not technically have a free arm but I've still been able to sew bags on it so I wouldn't say that is something I miss (at least not yet!)

So, overall I am extremely happy with my sewing machine! Despite its lack of fancy features, I don't find it lacking at all! It really has everything I need and I have no plans for purchasing an additional machine (though I have thought about possibly getting a serger at some point in the not so near future.) One disclaimer here, though - my daughters have their own sewing machine (an inexpensive computerized Brother bought when my old mechanical machine stopped working) and though I haven't used it since I bought the Juki, that option is always there if I wanted to use a fancy stitch or needed a true free arm machine. And I'll probably start bringing it my guild's sewing days (not that I actually do much sewing there!) because their little machine is way easier to travel with than the Juki!

Here is the blog hop schedule and click here to link up a post about your machine!

SUNDAY, MARCH 17

Erin @ Sew at Home Mummy

Angela @ Heart of Charnwood

Shannon @ Crafty Turtle

Amy @ Stitchery Dickory Dock

MONDAY, MARCH 18

Ebony @ Love Bug Studios

Jaclyn @ Jaclyn Quilts

Amy @ Diary of a Quilter

TUESDAY, MARCH 19

Kara@ Me and Elna

Beth @ Plum and June

Nerissa @ Nissa Made

Elizabeth @ Don’t Call Me Betsy

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Carly @ Citric Sugar

Celine @ Espritpatch

Patti @ A Yankee in Queen Liz’s Court

THURSDAY, MARCH 21

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt

The Jolly Jabber Staff (Chelsey, Kimberly, Debbie)

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After!

FRIDAY, MARCH 22

Erika @ Sews it All

Lisa @ Vintage Modern Quilts

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side

Let's Get Acquainted! Link Up

2013-03-17T19:13:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post tonight since my husband is patiently waiting for me to turn off the computer so that we can watch our favorite TV show - the same husband who spent the whole day with our three girls while I was busy socializing with my quilt guild friends at our monthly sewing day (he didn't even ask me to write this!) Jamie from Busy Bee Quilts is hosting the Let's Get Acquainted Link Up this week. Click here to add your link.

Quilty Happenings

2013-03-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

1. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

2. Stacey from The Tilted Quilt and Erin at Sew at Home Mummy are hosting a great blog hop this week all about sewing machines. They've enlisted a group of bloggers to write all about their home machines AND they are hosting a week long link up for you to post about yours. For all the details and to see the list of bloggers, click here or here. And if you are interested in hearing what I have to say about my machine, my date is Tuesday, March 19th.

3. Have you heard about the new monthly challenge from Nat and Lucy (both of whom have newborns!!!!)? It is called Le Challenge and you can find all the details here. Basically, as Nat and Lucy explain: One theme, one month - all craft projects of any size welcome! They just posted this month's theme so go have a look!

wednesday. . .

2013-03-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

{low(er) volume . . . again}

{farmer's wife block 1 - foundation pieced - I purposely did not center the novelty print but now I think it looks like a mistake?}

{farmer's wife block 2 - rotary cut}

Anyone else working on the Farmer's Wife blocks?

Linking to WIP Wednesday.

Let's Get Acquainted Link Up!

2013-03-10T12:41:00.001-07:00

I haven't done ~~much~~ any sewing the past few days but here is the Woodland Sampler I wrote about in a recent post.

I'd love to see your sewing projects though. This week's Let's Get Acquainted Link Up is at Owen's Olivia. I found Nancy's blog awhile ago and we've been friends ever since (and after reading the end of her post today, I now see we have even more in common than I realized!) Nancy shares lots of awesome quilting/sewing projects on her blog AND she also blogs about her very cool home decorating projects! Lots of inspiration there - go check it out!

Knitting

2013-03-04T18:17:00.001-08:00

About 5 years ago, my oldest daughter got a "learn how to knit" kit. She was only 4 or 5 at the time so I figured I would try to figure it out first and then we would try it together. In addition to the book from the kit, I watched lots of online video tutorials and eventually figured it out. I can't remember if I tried to teach her or not but I do remember knitting two little bags from the kit and I remember it taking me forever to do so!

The kit also came with a crochet hook so I decided to try it. I borrowed a kid's crochet book from the library and I was immediately hooked (ha, ha!) Over the past five years, I've crocheted lots of things - many of which I've shared on this blog (here, here and here) and some which I haven't like the scarves in the above photo. But recently I've decided to try knitting again. I specifically wanted to knit a honey cowl after admiring the versions I have been seeing around on lots of quilting blogs. I only had the knitting needles from the original learn to knit kit so I ordered a set of circular needles and started with a simple scarf instead (and good thing I did because I had to completely re-learn how to knit.)

The circular needles eventually came and I spent some - um, lots of - time watching video tutorials and reading more knitting books from the library. I just couldn't figure it out but then my friend Nat came to the rescue with a somewhat simple, but totally perfect suggestion and I was on my way.

Well, at least I thought I was - I had figured out the trick to circular needles but apparently not the trick to actually reading a pattern correctly. I forgot to read the part about knitting four rounds before starting the pattern stitch AND I was knitting inside out (didn't even know there was such a thing) AND I somehow unknowingly switched to knitting right side out about halfway through. Oh, well, I decided to just cast off early and give it to my daughter to wear instead. And despite all the errors, it looks super cute on her so it worked out fine!

If you are a knitter, you can probably already identify the big (unfixable) error I made with this one. Yep, every thing I read about using circular needles clearly says that you need to make sure that you don't twist your stitches when joining the first round. I thought I was so careful but again about halfway though knitting this, I realized that I had indeed twisted the stitches! Well, since I have more than one daughter, I again just cast off the stitches and I was going to pass this on to my oldest but decided to try it on first and . . . I love it! It is not the big, thick, comfy cowl that I thought I was making but it works great wrapped around twice! If you are interested, I cast on 140 stitches and cast off when it was about 5 inches.

I took a break from cowls to try a hat (I'll save that for another post) but I'm starting cowl #3 soon - I'll let you know how it goes!

So, anyone have any suggestions for other patterns I should try (especially hats)? Or do you have a favorite knitting website or book to recommend? Or any tips?

A Few New Scarves and the Let's Get Acquainted Link Up

2013-03-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

I recently realized that I have a few occasions coming up in the next few months which are going to require me to wear something other than yoga pants. So I figured - why not sew some scarves?!?

Without giving it much thought, I grabbed the rest of the AMH flannel and voile from when I made some Figure 8 scarves for holiday presents (blogged here.) However, shortly after finishing this scarf, it occurred to me that flannel is probably not what I'll want for the spring so I went back to my small stash of voile and with the help of my 7 year old chose two prints to make a scarf.

I only had 1/2 yard cuts of each of these prints so I cut them in half lengthwise and sewed them together on the short side so that I had a long, skinny piece of each. I cut off about 10 inches from each of the fabrics and then just sewed the two fabrics right sides together leaving a small opening which I hand-stitched closed. I like it and definitely will be wearing it but I think for my next one, I'll make it a bit longer and wider. Which is funny because it is basically the same dimensions that I used and really like for the Figure 8 scarf but for the regular scarf, I felt it was too skinny. Next time I order voile, I'll have to remember to get a full yard instead of a half.

And speaking of scarves, I'll be posting about my knitting adventures later this week.

Hello March!

2013-02-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

February sewing: 1 big quilt, 1 small quilt, 1 mini quilt, and a pillow.

I also started the Woodland Sampler. This is my first cross stitch project and I've made about a million errors so far but I'm hopeful that my March square will be much improved.

My plan for this month is to start the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. Heidi is planning on making this quilt as well and I think it will be lots of fun to be tackling this at the same time. Anyone else interested in joining us?

Oh, and I totally missed my 1 year blog anniversary last week - crazy!

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day.

The So Many Fun Fabrics Quilt

2013-02-26T17:41:00.001-08:00

Back in November I shared a small version of a big quilt that I was planning on making slowly throughout 2013 for when my littlest moves into a bed. Well, I have been slowly working on it since November but decided that my February sewing goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes was to finish half of the quilt top. And then for some unknown reason last week, motivation struck and I finished not just the top but the entire quilt.

I had already sashed all of the novelty fabrics in both a print and the kona snow so all that was left was putting it all together. And once I started, I just kept going. Improv piecing with no specific plan is really my favorite way of piecing. I just cut several strips of varying widths of kona snow and a handful of bright prints and then just randomly put it all together with the blocks.

Since I don't usually make quilts this large, I didn't have enough basting pins so instead I decided to thread baste and I think I will be doing so from now on. For me, it didn't take any longer than pin basting and I really liked not having to worry about mistakenly sewing over the pins when quilting.

I decided to stick with FMQ swirly loops for the quilting and quilted the novelty prints a bit less than the rest of the quilt. I used Aurifil 50wt in color 2600 - it is a light gray thread that I think works well with all the colors in this quilt.

I used the scrappy binding that I showed in this post.

And I used lots of bright, colorful prints for the back.

I really enjoyed having a big project that I could work on in bits and pieces when I had the time. And now that it is finished, I've been thinking a lot about finding another project that I can slowly work on throughout the year. Of course, my other daughters want their own version of this quilt but well, I reminded them that they also know how to sew! Or maybe this could be something we can work on together!

Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes and Crazy Mom Quilts.