A request!

my husband, who doesn't ask for much,
requested a little traveling pouch for his engineer stamp.
that's my project for today! having fun finding scraps of skull fabric
and other black and white steven related goodness! YEAH!


note to self: interfacing would have been nice and hmmm,
i need to learn how to sew neatly!!!


and that also means everything else is being pushed baaaaack!

i'll get back on track i swear!

I'm back!!!

I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'll be done with my Montessori work before the end of June. Yeah me (though I've been more than somewhat a loser in taking so darn long to finish)...

So that means I'm knitting again...whoo-hoo!!! I'll post photos later, but let me tell you it's really "purty". I'm playing with Noro's new sock yarn in the brightest colorway you can imagine; coral, red, cobalt, periwinkle, aqua, yellow, magenta, lavender and some others I can't remember. In a very simple, but pretty lace. It was supposed to be a shawl, but right now I think I'm going to morph it into a shrug for Mia.

Ah, it's so nice to have my hands on yarn again!!

Finished!

1)the super cool diaper changing pad! flames and embossed snake skin!
machine quilted with the name of the recipient (Cal), hearts and swirls!!! CUTE!

2) finished ripping out the "bad" quilting on the blue/brown lap quilt,
picked a different (less troublesome) fabric for the backing and am ready to sandwich and start quilting!!!



wooooooohooooooo!

oops, I'm doing it again

rather than finish up any of the myriad of WIP that I have (see list),
today I'm starting something new. Silly me.
A diaper changing pad for my new friend and mom
who's little boy has grown too long for the one she currently uses.
-sigh-

I really need to finish up some other things ...


:((((

Setting Block - star quilt-along #1

of 12!
-sigh-

Block 3 - stars quilt-along

actually finished this "ohio star" block
on friday, just been too busy (ok, lazy) to post! YEAH!

am currently working on the setting blocks...but keep getting nervous...


ps. this is my first block done with the 1/4" quilting foot with guide?
not sure if it's that much more correct than eyeballing it, but it is less stressful.

Slow Crafting week - boo

it always seems that when i'm ready to create or craft,
the regular schedule of my sweet little girls goes right out the window...

today is the first chance i've gotten to do anything...

so far, i've fixed this skirt that I found in Anne's stash...

she was probably going to use the fabric for a quilt, i just decided to fix the waistband and make it into a summer skirt...

and to take the stitches (quilting) out of the blue/brown mini quilt and try again with free-motion machine quilting, without so many challenges....like the cheap batting and heavily textured 3 color woven houndstooth silk... boo to removing so many stitches.

Happy MOTHER's Day!

to us!


Yesterday, I had a very good and productive morning!
I fixed my block one on the star-quilt along.

Cut my block two and began to layout my setting blocks.


and as the highlight of my day, I received a giant suitcase of fabric from
a lady I "met" on a social networking website, who was offering her stash
to any who would take it!!! I said YES!


It's so interesting to see what kinds of fabric other people buy. I like about
95% of it, and have so many ideas for it... i think there is even some fabric for
a little dress or two for the girlies!!!

Now i just have to finish the pattern for the mushroom dress so I can make one!

Sweet Swing Smock

one down, one to go!

after deciding to make it reversible, and
trying to figure out how to get it together
without reading the instructions, I came up
with this:



while it's cute, I know it's not right.
I also made the executive decision to eliminate the
binding that the pattern called for, so, now
I need to dig out some cute little buttons for the closure!
(this will also probably go over better with the sister, who
would likely try to untie the little ties in the back of her sister's smock)


so, after doing a little online research, I
found this website instruction on making a
double sided jumper...

we shall see how the second one turns out!

Oh and, because I couldn't figure out how to enlarge
at the local deli's photocopier
without having the pattern come out on 9o different
pieces of paper, I only enlarged the pattern
200% instead of 235% and well, it's the perfect size for a little top!!!

AWESOME!

now if I could only get my "model" to stand still while I take a photo..hahaha!

and now for the matching

undies..
now that the smock is cut and the binding fabric has been found,
I will need to make the matching bloomers from this blog.

I'm so excited to see this little outfit!
(times 2)
YEAH!

creative A.D.D.

I sure wish I could just focus on one project at a time.
Just cut 2x the Sweet Swing Smock a la Amy Karol out of
the giant tulip print black/grey/kelly/cream print.
Just spent the last 10 minutes rumaging in "the closet" looking
for some suitable black fabric to make the binding out of...

a cry in the distance...someone is awake...

My poor girls!
ha!

and now I NEED to make a toy box from the box pattern here.
Out of some crazy awning stripe fabric I've had for ages!
however will i find the time to do it all???

UH-OH

look what I found at the flying squirrel today!!!
vintage baby dress!
sooo cute, now I want to make more for my girlies!

Strolling in Style!

At last, my craziness is paying off!

well, not financially, but aesthetically at least!
JUST FINISHED the second one LAST NIGHT
and now
we've got a sweet stroller ride, cute enough
to make my mommy friends want their own
nikki original baby bum cozies!

next up: the pattern for the citymini stroller baby bum cozy
and then one for the bugaboo!
(luckily that's the one I offered to make my mommy friend)

and the one that will most likely make the most of!
(yes, that's me counting my chickens before they hatch)

YIPEEEEE!

these are the fabrics I used for mine
(to match the babies' mini quilts):
for sophie:

for pescha:cute!

ok, so not such a hot photo...

OOPS!

too bad i wrote the directions down wrong...geeze.
awwwww...learning.

check out the whole groups stars here.

Star Quilt-Along: Picking fabric & Block 1

i'm going with a picnic theme for my stars quilt
red gingham with ants being the fabric for the back, and the grass as the binding.

i had to draw out the instructions - no printer,
and not interested in relocating either the laptop
or the "sewing area"

getting down to it...

block 1, just in time for the second one!
a little wonky, but for my first block, not bad!!!
i'll probably have to redo it at some point, notice the left hand side...oops!

blue and brown

trying to make a little quilt.

was inspired by something in this book.

was some extra fabric from the
sunshine happiness log cabin quilt
and
a blender pack.
and
a piece of hounds tooth brown and turquoise and cream woven silk from ages ago...

-shrug-

it was supposed to be a birthday gift, but first i have
to just figure out how to do the free motion quilting so
it doesn't look awful.

Quilting along ...

with another crazy mom
hopefully I'll be able to keep up

YIKES!!!
i'll definitely be learning some much needed skills!

sunshine happiness log cabin quilt

YEAH!
all the blocks have been sewn up...somehow i lost about 1/2 inch on them...guess i need to be more diligent when using my quilting guide to get the perfect 1/4" seam. (YEAH RIGHT)

so here are the pieces...

next step sew the blocks together



then the outside borders,
then the quilt sandwich (still waiting for the batting to come)
and then quilting...

this was supposed to be a duvet cover, can't decide if I should just make a second KING size quilt out of it or a quilted duvet cover or just a pieced duvet cover...
my sister, my inpiration, what do you think???

My sister, my inspiration

Oh, I miss knitting! I've been nose-to-the-grindstone trying to finish my Montessori diploma work (long story) ... and I had to put my knitting down. I want it!

I have gotten a few colleagues started with their first lace project, a lovely shawl called Cascading Leaves. I donated some lovely lace yarns from my stash. And yes, I have enough stash to "give away" yarn to 4 folks and not have touched the stuff I love...so? It's killing me not to be able to work ahead of them, even though I know I'll be able to catch up eventually.

I just finished making a beautiful knit afghan. I'll post some pictures of the work in progress and then the final object. I nudged a team of about a dozen knitters to make 80 squares for the blanket; we each knit mitered squares in striking pairs of colors. Then a handful of us sewed all of those squares together, and those big squares into strips, and then the strips into the afghan. And then I knit a mile of "attached I-cord" to give it a lovely clean edge. I calculated that it was likely about 200 person-hours of work... next time I'm gonna keep it, I say!

Can't wait to get my hands back on yarn!

Catalogs as inspiration

lately, i've taken to ripping pictures of quilts out of catalogs before I recycle them
and browsing my favorite houseware and clothing websites, enlarging and copying
diagrams onto postits. then I spend a few minutes to an hour graphing the quilt and putting it in my book.

now if I could only figure out what fabrics to use for my imaginary knock off catalog/website quilts.

hmmm.



oh anthropologie, how i love you.