Random Stuff

We had a lovely Independence Day here in our corner of the world. The weather was beautiful and the kids were totally into the holiday this year - as seen in Miss B's festive outfit.

A large part of our afternoon was spent launching a soda bottle rocket in the yard. Here's our little scientist getting everything set up.

Owen made this awesome contraption at a weird science party last spring. It has been a HUGE hit. A 2 liter soda bottle is outfitted with fins and a nose cone. The cap is replaced with a cork and one of those needle thingys used to inflate sports balls. You put a little bit of water into the bottle, jam in the cork,and then use a bike tire pump to inject air in through the needle. Aaaaaand BLASTOFF!

This was the first year we let the kids stay up for fireworks. Bailey was scared of all the noise but Owen was thrilled. He loved the sparklers, snakes, pop-its, and fountains.

And there has been some mild craftiness happening around here as well. I finished up my last block for Bee Vintage. It's been a lot of fun participating in my first online quilting bee. I'm sure I'll do more once summer is over and life gets back to a somewhat more predictable routine (with a lot less sunshine). Right now it's just so lovely to hang out with the kids and soak up the summertime.

I also made a block for the Tokyo Quilt Festival, which you can read more about here.

This block will be part of the Partnership Quilts made up of blocks from people all around the world! The quilts will then be donated to charity. This year's theme is squares and triangles. Don't look too closely because there are a lot of points that aren't so pointy and at least one corner that is all wackadoo. But I still like it and had fun playing with tiny half square triangles. The entire block measures 9" x 9" so each of those triangle blocks are just one inch square.

And apparently I was so excited about this block I took a picture before I even squared it up and trimmed the edges. Doh!

Bee blocks for (ahem) November

These are my bee blocks for Bee Vintage. Yes, for November. Total slacker.

The pattern is called Lady of the Lake and while I think it's lovely now that it's done I think I would go insane if I made a whole quilt with this block! one thing is for sure - I learned a lot about half square triangles while making these.

If you're new to HST there are a couple of tricks that helped as I assembled these blocks:

Measure slightly larger (I rounded up from 2-7/8" to 3" for the small squares) and then trim to square after sewing the HST. Seriously, this is what saved me.

Use a scant 1/4" seam. And go slow enough to maintain that seam allowance. (This was a little bit hard for me because I like to sew fast!)

Again, this bee has been a wonderful experience because I'm getting the chance to learn a LOT about making some more traditional quilt blocks and blocks I wouldn't necessarily choose for myself. It has really expanded my skills at piecing and pushed me to try new techniques.

Granny's Brooch

Last Christmas was the first time I hung this ornament on our tree. When my grandmother passed away I received some of her costume jewelry, including two brooches with the most fabulously blingy rhinestones imaginable. I went out and purchased the red tassels and just pinned the brooches to the tops of the tassels and had instant tree ornaments! I love them and they always make me smile and think of her.

Bee Block

Here is my October block for Bee Vintage:

My first ever wonky/liberated star. So much fun to make. I know I'll be doing more of these.

And I really REALLY love the different bright vintage sheets prints I used in this one. Another great thing about this block is that we were asked to use a white tone on tone print for the background and I found that piecing the vintage sheets with a cotton fabric made my machine much less likely to try to "eat" the sheets (pushing them down into the stitch plate on my machine). Nice little discovery!

September Bee Block

Better late than never . Here are the blocks I made for September in Bee Vintage. A nice little churn dash (which I had never made before).

I really like how this one turned out. It doesn't hurt that the yellow floral is one of my all-time favorite vintage sheet prints. Jennifer wanted two blocks and said straight or wonky was fine so I made one of each.

So, I really liked the first one. The straight one. But the wonkified one....not so much.

There's not enough contrast between the background and the feature fabric. And I think it would have looked better if there were more contrast in size between the half square triangles and the straight side pieces. So....not so thrilled with the result but I learned a lot and thankfully, Jennifer loves both of them!

This month we're doing liberated stars, another one I've been wanting to try!

New (Old) shower curtain

We've been living in our house for over three years and I finally hung a shower curtain in the down stairs bathroom. We've mostly been using this as a powder room and it's where the kids take baths so a shower curtain hasn't really been a necessity. But when I cleaned out my sewing space a little while ago, I went through all of my vintage sheets/linens and decided to make my very favorite flat sheet into a shower curtain.

This project was so easy it's almost embarrassing. Just measure the length you need and fold over the top to create a nice wide "hem" at the top of the curtain. Mine was about 2 inches after trimming the excess. Then I fused some lightweight interfacing to the top. At this point you could stitch the top hem in place or be lazy like I was and just steam-a-seam it in place.

By far, the hardest part was measuring the grommet spacing. Now that I am smarter and wiser I would suggest just laying your shower curtain liner on top and using the spacing that someone else has already figured out. Sure wish I'd thought of that sooner. Oh well.

Putting on the grommets is really fun and involves hammering!

And now we have an awesome new old shower curtain. We have a clear liner on the inside. I love that I can just take it down and throw it in the laundry when I need to. And I love that I get to see this beautiful vintage sheet every day. Even the men in the household think it's pretty cool, so that's a bonus.

I'm planning to make a simple tie back with some of the extra fabric that I trimmed off the top, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. Hopefully, it won't be another three years before I can make it happen.

And then there were MORE

Apparently, I can't stop making pincushions.

This one (below) was made from linen and a scrap from a vintage tablecloth. There was enough of the vintage goodness to actually make two of these so I'll be putting one in my new, as-yet-to-be-opened etsy shop. More on that at a later date.

This one was made as a gift although I will be more than a little bit sad to see this happy wee bee go. Isn't he cute?!

I have one or two more pincushions up my sleeve and then maybe I'll move on to something else. Maybe.

A New Favorite

If you haven't checked her out yet, go visit Ayumi over on Pink Penguin because she makes some pretty fabulous stuff. She's also super generous with the tutorials and often has some real gems in her etsy shop. She recently made a bento lunch bag for her husband and was kind enough to share her pattern with the rest of us in this tutorial.

As soon as I saw the bag, I knew I wanted to make one for a friend of mine who is a knitter. We had dinner recently and she pulled out her latest project in a plastic grocery bag! I said to myself: This will not do! She needs a cute knitting bag!

Voila!

One of the really cool things about this bag is the drawstring cover. It's a really lovely detail.

This bag was made from a cotton/linen blend with a colorful Henry Glass print for the rim and some random print from my stash for the cover. The lining of the bag and back of the handles is a green sheet from IKEA (which happens to be an almost dead on color match for Kona peridot, in case you were wondering).

So, after making this bag, I really REALLY wanted to make one for myself as well. So I came up with this little patchwork number:

I'm using it as my purse right now and love it! One of my favorite things about this one is the cover, which is made from a vintage pillowcase. Cute, right?

Ayumi's tutorials are very clear and easy to understand with lots of pictures to help you along. Her attention to detail in the construction and finishing of this bag are particularly nice.

I'll probably need to make another one. And then maybe another one.

August Bee Block

Just finished my August block for Bee Vintage. It's a Grandmother's Fan pattern, which includes curved piecing and hand applique - both of which I had never done before.

Just ignore that little wrinkle that I neglected to press out. Once again, it was really fun to try new techniques and a block that I probably wouldn't have chosen to make for myself. It's great to learn and I'm discovering that things are rarely as difficult or scary as I thought they would be.

Have a great day!

Snack Sack

Okay, there's been a lot more crafting than quilting going on around here lately. But that's fine with me since I ended up with these awesome new snack sacks for the kids! Now I don't have to throw their juice boxes, granola bars, raisins, whatever into my purse.

Cute, right? The main fabric is a taupe cotton sheet from IKEA ($4.50 for a twin, which is a huge amount of fabric). The detail pieces are fussy cut and raw edge appliqued onto linen/cotton, which is also raw edge appliqued onto the main fabric.

The back has a pocket made from the same fabric as the bag lining (vintage sheet - thanks Jill!). Handles are another vintage sheet fabric.

Couldn't help myself and made another tiny twill tape tag.

After making one bag I immediately NEEDED to make another one. Two kids. Two snack sacks. Heaven help me if they had to, you know, SHARE.

True confessions: I made this second one at an obscenely late hour. So late, it was actually very, very early. When I put the handles on I messed up the front one and it has a little twist in it. I could take it apart and fix it. But I'm not going to.

So there you have it. Snack sacks for everyone!

Pillowcase Dress

I was a little late to the party, but now that I've started collecting vintage/thrifted sheets and linens I'm smitten. My friend Jill recently gave me this great strawberry and flower vine pillowcase. Since it came with it's adorable little ruffle intact, I kept hesitating about cutting into it. Instead, I made this sweet little summer dress for Miss Bailey.

She loves it!

Perfect for running through the yard or watching bugs in the grass.

I added a second ruffle from a sheet that I had already riped into fat quarters. Loving the double ruffle!

Very easy. Very quick. And since my little tomboy loved it enough to wear all day AND do some twirling, I'm calling it a success.

True confessions

Apparently there's something in my genetic makeup that compels me to acquire fabric. New fabric. Vintage linens. Fabric swapped with others. Fabric from my LQS. Fabric from awesome online sources. It's becoming a problem.

Case in point:

Found these at my local thrift store over the weekend. Do I need them? No. Am I currently in a vintage sheet swap that has 84 fat quarters coming to my house next month? Yes. But when you see something like that crazy awesome purple flower print, are you supposed to just leave it there? You can see my dilemma.

And the chunky pastel stripes? Coming soon to a stripey binding near you!

And since it's true confessions time...I'm also awaiting some Castle Peeps that should come in the mail this week. Sigh. I may need an intervention.

New tricks

Lots of firsts to report today.

I joined my very first quilting bee over on flickr. Bee Vintage. It's an offshoot of the vintage sheet swap, which I'm also doing for the first time. For our first month, Sarah sent us some kona grass and asked for paper pieced string blocks following this tutorial. So, feeling like a complete and utter newbie I made my first paper pieced block, first string block and first time actually getting in there and using my collection of vintage sheets to make my first block for my first quilting bee. Whew!
I think it turned out okay! The main reason I joined the bee was to get out of my own little box and pick up some new skills making blocks and patterns I might not choose on my own.

And while we're on the subject of new skills....this is Owen's newest. Pretty much every time I try to take his picture now this is what he does. I thought he might be distracted by the chocolate frosted cupcakes we made for Father's Day, but apparently not.

Gratitude.

My friend Susannah is an angel in disguise. When I told her last year about Owen's diagnosis of Juvenile Arthritis, she immediately offered to do a benefit concert. Yeah, she's an awesome entertainer. She can currently be seen performing here. So, she's kind and funny and generous and just generally awesome and she gathered a bunch of similarly talented and awesome people to put together the concert. It was great. Everyone was incredible and the people who came seemed to have a great time. All the artists donated their time and talent and ALL proceeds went to benefit Camp JAM, a special camp for kids and teens with arthritis and their families.

So, I wanted to thank Susannah and I made her this scarf.

It's made from a patterned burnout velvet on one side and a solid blue/gray velvet on the other with some black velvet at either end to add to the length.

Here's a better look at the beautiful pattern.
I wish you all could reach through the screen to feel how soft and yummy it is. And given the fact that we had a massive hail storm yesterday, she may get a chance to use it before next fall/winter. Thanks, Susannah - you rock my world and you will always be family to us.

In other news of gratitude...how grateful am I that no one found this at the thrift store before I did?

It's this crazy cute apron with something like a million teeny tiny pleats. It also has this adorable little pocket with tiny rick rack detailing. You know if this apron were being mass produced today that rick rack would just be printed on the white trim. But this is actual teeny tiny rick rack sewn onto the white trim and then added to the pocket.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it besides love it and give it a good home. Maybe I'll wear it over the summer to serve frosty margaritas to our barbecue guest while I channel Donna Reed or something.

Have a great day!

Something Old...Something New

And best of all, a GIVEAWAY too! ***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

As part of Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day, I'm hosting my very first giveaway. And since very few people follow this blog, you're odds are really, REALLY good!

First up, I have a pack of 10 vintage/thrifted sheet fat quarters. Ten! All ten are different prints and come freshly laundered from my smoke-free, pet-free home. Unless you count fishes. So I hope no one has a problem with goldfish.

Aren't they pretty? I know you can make something cool with these.

A better look at the prints.

And now for the something new.... here are my recently completed Amy Butler potholders/hotpads. They're on the large-ish side for potholders so I was planning on using them more as hotpads, but I became a little obsessed and have, like ... LOTS of new ones now. Besides, I have enough of these fabrics to make two more if I miss them terribly.

But I do seriously LOVE these two fabrics. So so yummy.

And here's a pic of the back so you can see the pattern the wonky stitching made. Kinda groovy.

So, that's what I'm sending out into the world. I hope you like it!

The nitty-gritty:

This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you like the something old (fat quarters) or the something new (potholder/hotpads) and I'll choose two winners at random. If you like both then just leave two comments! Be sure to leave me with a way to get in touch with you for a shipping address.

This giveaway will remain open until May 20. The items will be shipped on or before May 24.

Good luck and check out all the other amazingly creative people participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. Happy crafting!

Score!

Lately, I've been drooling over all of the beautiful things I see made from vintage and thrifted sheets. The quilts especially are so lovely and girly and they look so soft and snuggly. I really think I need to make one for my Bailey. So, I've been poking around my local thrift stores when I get the chance (which isn't often because two year olds and four year olds have a very low tolerance for that sort of thing).

However.....

I've had a run of good luck recently! Check out the goodies.

Stack of goodness! I think I had the third one down (avocado green/turquoise/purple) on my bed growing up.

Yum.

Seriously! I cannot WAIT to use this.

OMG - the orange and brown and gray are too much! Having heart palpatations!

My hands down faves are these two - especially the one on the left. I may have to use that for the quilt back because it will pain me to cut into it.

Right now, these will have to stay in their nice sheet stack until I finish a few more projects. But I do so love looking across the room and seeing them all just waiting for me.