Catching Up

I'm sure that some of you will understand the complete and utter relief that is felt when you finally get caught up on your bee blocks! That's how I feel after spending a sewing day with my awesome PMQG peeps and getting these Cocorico blocks finished.

First up is Leila's block. Her theme is A Woman's Work and she wanted blocks that reflected the everyday tasks of a proper 50's housewife. Here's my (almost) finished block:

In doing some research for this project, I learned that in the early 50's, only about 1/3 of households had electric washing machines. Most people still did their laundry by hand. This is when I sent up a big fat prayer of gratitude because I'm pretty sure if we didn't have an automatic washer and dryer then my kids would wear a wardrobe of dirt.

I still need to embroider the little hand crank before I send it off. Hopefully, Leila will like it. It sure was a joy to make.

Next up is Kylie's block. Her theme is Best of the British. This was a very fun block to design and stitch up. I hope Kylie enjoys it.

I'll send along some black buttons for the centers of the wheels but I didn't want to sew them on in case they get in the way of assembling and quilting. It seems a bit busy but I just couldn't resist the crown fabric for the background.

In the midst of everything else, I'm also in the process of reorganizing my sewing space. It will be fun to share pictures when all is said and done, but I'm afraid it's going to be one of those things that gets much much worse before it gets better.

Summer is winding down here so we're all filling our days with as much sunshine and fun time as we can. Hope you are enjoying life as well!

Brace yourself

I actually made something! And I'm posting about it!

It certainly wasn't my intention to spend the summer ignoring my sewing machine or my blog, but sometimes that's just what happens when there are swimming lessons, Tae Kwan Do classes, ballet, and general summery mayhem happening all around at the speed of life. 

But somehow I managed to steal away for a little bit and FINALLY make my June Cocorico block for Amy. Her theme was The Artist's Studio.

At first I wanted to try an easel but luckily, Kylie beat me to it. Her block is stunning and no doubt much better than what I might have come up with.

What I did end up making was this:

A calligraphy pen and inkwell. I wish I had taken a better picture so you could see that the steel blue fabric on the left is actually a calligraphy print with writing and different nibs, but it looks pretty washed out in the photo.

One of my favorite parts of this block is the text above the pen nib. Part of it reads, "postpaid, safe arrival." If you've ever participated in an online bee, then you know the worry that can grip you when you hand over a block that you've worked really hard to make and you hope that the postal system won't let you down. Over at Cocorico, we seem to be a particularly nervous bunch while we wait to hear that our blocks arrived safely so I thought Amy would appreciate this little detail.

I promise I won't wait another month before posting! I actually have a lot of things in the works and am excited to show them off. Meanwhile, hope you are enjoying the summer with friends and family.

Ballet Bag for Bailey

My daughter is four and a half. She's the girliest tomboy I've ever met. When we were making plans for what to do over the summer break, she wanted to take ballet classes. Since her ballet classes are on the same day as swimming lessons, we knew we wouldn't be able to make it home to change into her dance clothes. It seemed a very good excuse to make her a little ballet bag!

This is the wonderful Bento lunch bag tutorial from Ayumi. It's really a perfect little bag. Cute and stylish with some lovely details in the construction that make the whole thing sew up like a dream. I especially like the drawstring cover that lets things stay securely inside even when a certain four and a half year old swings the bag like a lasso.

The cute ballet fabric is a Japanese cotton canvas print from Cool Cottons. Handles and drawstring cover  are Alexander Henry farmdale and heath. The blue dot is an unknown from my stash.

This is the third or fourth time I've used this pattern and I love it. Go make one for yourself!!!

April *ahem* Cocorico block

Finally made my house block for Charise in the Cocorico bee over on Flickr. Yes, I know it's June. Call me a slacker, or a perfectionist, or obsessive. I promise it won't hurt my feelings.

Actually, I had about five different designs drawn up but nothing that I wanted to commit to fabric.

And then I designed a block I really loved, started sewing, and trashed the whole thing because it. just. didn't .work.

Ugh.

Finally, I decided that less is more, radically simplified the design and came up with this.

The original (crazy, overly ambitious) design had a pieced house inside the key. I mean, really? Who do I think I am? Besides, this little polka dot number is way cuter than anything I could dream up.

And the original (again, crazy, overly ambitious) house was a fancy schmancy Victorian with turrets and who knows what else. As it turns out, a few beautiful fabrics and a simple, clean design made for a much more visually appealing block (that didn't involve cussing or crying - bonus!).

I think that this process, as difficult as it was, actually taught me quite a lot. I will definitely aim to simplify my block designs and try to keep things cleaner and less muddled with "extras." There are so many amazing fabrics out there that can do a lot more than my piecing skills ever could. But I will definitely keep playing and learning! And I really hope that Charise likes her block!

Exciting!

Awhile back I was invited to do a pattern test for Sonja over at Artisania. She creates beautiful and fun paper piecing patterns, so naturally, I jumped at the chance!

This pattern, I Love Sushi, will be available in her shop soon.

The blocks are fun and perfect for a confident beginner. The instructions, templates, and diagrams are all clear and easy to follow.

Can you believe I already had this sushi fabric? I was going to make pajama pants but it was too perfect not to use on this project.

Check out Artisania for some beautifully styled pictures of this quilt on the actual pattern! Thank you Sonja, I'm so flattered that you chose to feature the quilt on your pattern!

And now I'm craving some sushi!

Trajectory: Finished!

Yeah! A finished quilt!

For the binding I chose a patterned fabric with black, gray, and yellow on a white background. I wasn't quite sure at first, but as it turns out I really like the subtle peek at a pattern around the edges of the finished quilt.

I didn't do a tutorial on the binding because there are already so many amazing binding tutorials out there. For this quilt, I cut the binding strips at 2.5" and did a double fold binding. Sometimes I'll opt for 2.25" strips but for this one I really wanted to make sure the print was more visible.

And here's the back.

Seriously digging the straight-ish line quilting.

This quilt will be on display at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July as part of a special exhibit by the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.

I hope you've enjoyed reading/playing along. It was great to have these posts as a motivator to get this one done. For some reason (um, maybe it's the 4- and 6-year olds???) I haven't had nearly the kind of time I would like to get my creative mojo going. Hopefully, things will balance out a little better soon and I can spend some more time playing and having fun with fabric.

Trajectory: Making the Quilt Back and Quilting

So, anyone still with me here? Sorry for the lapse in posting, but life has a way of rearranging the best laid plans.

Here's what I did for the back of my quilt. I started by making one block using two leftover boomerang blocks and two plain blocks:

Then I used a bunch of the scraps and trimmings of the various gray and yellow solids to make a big long strip. I really like using my leftover fabrics from the front in some way on the back - helps to tie everything together. Then I just added a bunch of kona in ash to fill everything out and make the back about 4 inches larger than the front on all sides.

Then it was all about winding a bunch of bobbins and finding my groove with the walking foot.

For this quilt, I didn't mark anything, just started in the center and used the seam lines as a rough guide. Some of the lines are more straight than others and I like the organic flow of it not being too "perfect."

And there you have it - back and quilting all done!

Yes, I realize that I didn't say anything about basting and making the quilt sandwich. There is lots of great information out there about how to do that part and if you've already made a quilt or two then you may already have a way that works for you. If you're curious, I usually spray bast my quilts because I don't have the patience (or knees) for pin basting. I do have some issues with the use of chemicals and what I might be doing to the environment so I'm constantly questioning their use and may re-evaluate my preference. For now, it's what I do and I've had great results. Not one single pucker on this quilt, front or back.

Meanwhile, I'm almost done with the hand sewing part of the binding and will have a finished quilt to show you next time! If you've been playing along, drop me a line and let me know how it's going. I'd love to see other interpretations.