Starting a "My Precious" Quilt and a 4th of July Skirt

For my birthday this year, my mother-in-law got me the Quick Curve Ruler by Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful. I've heard a lot of great things about this ruler and was excited to give it a try. For our June quilt guild meeting, we had a pillow cover swap. I thought it would be the perfect time to try out this ruler using some Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy squares that I already had precut. I loosely used the tutorial here to make this block (I started with larger squares for my four-patch and added a border to make the block approximately 19 inches finished).



I didn't end up making the pillow for our guild's swap because I liked how it turned out so much that I decided to make more blocks and turn it into a quilt. Sorry guild ladies!

I also used this ruler for my Modern Yardage star quilt, which I shared a bit about here.

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As I'm sure any of you regular readers know, The Middle loves wearing skirts and dresses. Some days it bugs me (wear something else, kid!), but other days I'm glad that I can whip up quick and easy skirts for her. I had this Dress Up Days zig zag print on hand that I thought would make a fun 4^th of July skirt. I added a bit of ric rac trim to the bottom. The skirt is a little on the long side, but it’ll work for this summer AND next.

For those of you in the states, have a safe and happy July 4th holiday tomorrow!

Last-minute flannel skirt

For Christmas, we bought my four-year-old daughter her own sewing machine. Technically, we bought it for our two older kids to share, but our son hasn’t gotten into it very much. The Middle, however, asks on a regular basis if she can sew.

Last night, I asked her if she wanted a new skirt to wear. She jumped up from the couch and ran to my fabric, where she pulled out the last little bit of this Anna Maria Horner Folksy Flannel print. This is my favorite AMH print. I got a 39” remnant earlier in the year and used most of it to make a pillowcase for myself. The leftover piece happened to be the perfect size for a 4T skirt…no cutting even required!

I happened to have a 1 ½” wide elastic in my line of sight, so I made a larger casing for the skirt than I usually would. A quick hem and voila! A finished skirt for my fashionista.

August/September Bee Blocks and Other Random Sewing

August was Megan's month in the Sew Beautiful Bee. She asked for Lone Starburst blocks. She sent a bunch of really bright fabric scraps and asked us to follow the tutorial found at the Six White Horses blog here. I loved, loved, loved making this block! I usually start to sweat a bit when asked to paper piece, but this one was very doable for me and I had a lot of fun with it. I'll definitely be making some of these for myself in the near future!

AnneMarie's turn was next for September. She asked for improv hexagon blocks inspired by Angela's block here. AnneMarie sent a bunch of Japanese import prints. It was fun to fussycut these fabrics for the hexagons.

While perusing Instagram, I saw Rae's maxi version of her Washi Dress and just about died. I stalked her blog for a couple days, anxiously awaiting the release of her pattern. I snagged one and quickly bought fabric to make a Washi Tunic and a Washi Maxi. Here's my "quick, honey, take a picture of my shirt with my phone" photo. I haven't tackled the maxi yet, but I am please with how the tunic version came together.

My older daughter is at the age where not only does she love to wear skirts and dresses, but she likes wearing things that I've made for her. I want to take advantage of that for as long as I can since I know all too soon she'll refuse to wear anything I make for her or even hint at thinking is cool, because of course anything Mom thinks is cool will be the complete opposite. Several Saturdays ago, she wanted to wear a skirt (of course), and I sadly, but not surprisingly, was behind on laundry. I pulled out some Heather Ross Crafy Chloe Pin People fabric and made a quick 10-minute skirt. My daughter's friend wanted to play, and when she got to our house, she saw me making the skirt for my daughter. She asked if I'd make her one too. I tried to hide my huge goofy grin, said, "Sure," and asked her what her favorite color is (pink). I finished my daughter's skirt, she got dressed, and the two girls went out to play. I then ran upstairs, found some pink fabric, and whipped together another 10-minute skirt for the friend. (I noticed she was wearing it yesterday when she came over to play...my heart sang!)

I mentioned earlier that paper piecing makes me nervous. But, I've really come to love English paper piecing (EPP). I've been accumulating supplies over the last couple months and decided it was about time I make a zippered pouch to store my paper pieces in. For this pouch, I cut two 10x10 inch squares from Melody Miller's Ruby Star Shining typewriter fabric and two 10x10 inch squares from Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley Lodge Lattice in Azure fabric, and used a 10 inch zipper. I boxed the bottom of the pouch, making the finished bag about 8 inches wide by 9 inches tall. It's the perfect size (for now), and it's great to have all my EPP supplies in one place.

Well, thanks for making it through that hodgepodge of a post. I have a couple more finished quilts to show over the next little bit. Have a good weekend, everyone!

A few random sewing projects, part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I've really been enjoying working on some smaller projects that offer instant gratification when I finish them in one sitting. Perhaps this is because I've started so many big quilt projects that are in various stages of completion. Here's a hodge podge rundown of some of the projects I've been working on lately.

First up are a few drawstring bags using Jeni's tutorial. With three kids five and younger, it's a constant challenge to stay organized out our house. I made a few of these bags to help in our toy-organizing effort. These really are so quick to whip up, especially if you use ribbon as the drawstring. I plan to make many more of these in the near future.



I also sewed up a quick skirt for my daughter using the Crafy Chloe unicorn fabric by Heather Ross that is available at Hancock's. My daughter is pretty much obsessed with wearing skirts on a daily basis. I figured rather than buying more skirts since so many if hers have gotten too small (she's growing like a weed), I'd just make some.



This one isn't lined, but it's also meant to be a play-day skirt. I've since made another skirt just like this one using some DS Quilts and Lizzy House fabric that she can wear to church. I wanted it to be lined, but didn't want to "waste" good fabric on the lining, so I made it reversible instead. I still have to take pictures of that one, but I'll show you what I'm talking about when I do.



Now, I don't know about all you ladies, but when it comes to "that time of the month," I usually just carry tampons and such loosely in my purse. I remember in jr. high and high school being so embarrassed when I needed to use the restroom and tried so hard to be discreet. I decided it was time to have a cute little pouch I could house those supplies in and stick in my purse, making it easier to just grab the pouch rather than stick a tampon in my pocket and head for the bathroom. While I was at it, I made a few more for my nieces so they can feel a little less self-conscious too.



Last month, Jessica (Euphoria on Flickr) invited my to participate in a charity sewing event, Bibs for Babies, that she was organizing. The Operation Shower non-profit group gives baby showers to military families, helping to raise spirits despite deployment. She asked for everyone participating to make two baby bibs that she can donate to the cause, hoping to collect 100 bibs. This was a first for me, and while there's definitely room for improvement, it was nice to use some materials I had on-hand as well as contribute to good cause.



Well, that's the rundown for now. Check back Saturday for a few more projects I have in the works.

SLMQG Sewing Saturday

For our quilt guild activity this month, we got together for a sewing Saturday. Four hours of uninterrupted sewing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!

I took a lot of WIPs with me because I didn't know how much I could get done in that amount of time.

First thing, I finished sewing the blue trim to the bottom of my Bloom and Grow skirt.



Next I finished the last few blocks for my Swirling Stars quilt. My SIL helped me come up with some layout ideas. Now I'm wondering if I should use this quilt for cuddling up on the couch instead of for my daughter's bed since it's not overly girlish. I have more girly prints in my stash that would probably lend themselves better to a quilt for a girl's room rather than a quilt to be partly used by the male members of my family.






Two of the girls in the guild with me demonstrated free motion quilting, one of a cute vine design and another of stippling and loops. Both girls, Leigh and Kati, said over and over that free motion quilting takes a lot of practice. But, they made it look so easy that I thought it would be a piece of cake. Uhhh...not so much. (These next two images don't even show the worst of it.)

Even though I made this baby quilt to practice on, I don't want it to look like crap because I really do like the fabrics and the quilt top.


When the mister got home from work that night, I asked him to give it try. He quilted a small section and decided it's not for him. When he finishes the quilt he's working on (hooray!), he said he'll be doing a different type of quilting.


When I picked up the Bloom and Grow fabric at my LQS, I saw these Christmas goodies. I want to make an advent calendar this year and this fabric, especially the panel, will work wonderfully!


I love the retro look to it. It reminds me of my grandma.



I also had to pick up some Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba and Beccabury for Riley Blake. One of my older sisters sang that song so much when I was younger. She even has a beautiful deep alto voice and sounds just like Karen Carpenter. Maybe I'll have to make a quilt for her out of this fabric.

Bloom and Grow Skirt

I love the Bloom and Grow line by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake, especially the Brown Large Bloom print. I went to my local fabric shop and picked up a couple yards to make myself a new summer skirt.


Here it is in the works. I've got the base of the skirt put together. Tonight I'll be putting in the zipper and adding some trim at the bottom. I'll post pictures of the finished product tomorrow.