I'll catch you guys next year :)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year!
It's been a wonderful year, I have had a blast sharing my projects! Here's a look back at some of the things I have accomplished!
I'll catch you guys next year :)
I'll catch you guys next year :)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
I Love Ikea Fabric
This past summer I picked up some bolts of fabric at Ikea, they are about 3 yards each and the fabric is 50" wide. They were $4, I should have picked up more! I got one stripe in both red/orange and one in blue/green. I have now made seven pillows! They are so bright and refreshing. There is even more fabric leftover!
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| Isabella is an excellent pillow model! |
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| Red/Orange Stripe - 18" pillows |
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| 20" Pillows |
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| Basketweave pillow - 20" |
I went back to Ikea this fall looking for more fabric, I wanted to make some cute Amy Butler floor pillows, but it wasn't there! Boo! Hopefully it will come back. Frankly I'm debating putting some wide stripes on Spoonflower so I can make more things. :)
I quilted the tops of the pillows and put fusible interfacing in the back, it's just a flap that I embellished with a smidge of the stripe. The pillows are soft and feel very nice. It is just the 2 sets of stripes that I manipulated in as many was as possible!
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| The backing fabric is all from ikea (save the orange flannel) It's all adorable. |
And to plug my triangle calculator. I used it to make all but the basketweave.
This blog post is a bit late because the floor pillows are causing me some trouble, today I was able to sort them out and I hope to be finishing them in the next day or so. I tried something tricky... It will be OK, but it's taking forever.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Colorist
So I got this done in 2 naps and one evening. That is how I measure time. :) That is CRAZY fast!! My Parents are in town for the holidays and my Mom was able to help, which does speed things up significantly, but Wow, to have a completed beautiful top in 2 afternoons of work plus a little evening time is just madness!! It looks amazing and I learned some new skills on this.
1. Spray starch is the greatest thing ever - and now I know what my Grandma smelled like.
2. Lizzy House knows how to write a legible, outstanding pattern - at no point do you need to google "tips on completing the pattern" which is an essential step with EVERY SINGLE Amy Butler pattern. Love you Amy, but seriously.
3. Ripping fabric is how I'm cutting fabric from now on. One little snip, and *rrrriiip* and a perfect line, so satisfying
4. Curved seams are OK, just go slow and ease it through and it will be just fine
So I'm totally thrilled. I have some other things to work on while I wait for the backing fabric to arrive. I hope to ship this out to a quilter, I've never done that before but I love the concentric circles and I really cannot do that on my sewing machine.
1. Spray starch is the greatest thing ever - and now I know what my Grandma smelled like.
2. Lizzy House knows how to write a legible, outstanding pattern - at no point do you need to google "tips on completing the pattern" which is an essential step with EVERY SINGLE Amy Butler pattern. Love you Amy, but seriously.
3. Ripping fabric is how I'm cutting fabric from now on. One little snip, and *rrrriiip* and a perfect line, so satisfying
4. Curved seams are OK, just go slow and ease it through and it will be just fine
So I'm totally thrilled. I have some other things to work on while I wait for the backing fabric to arrive. I hope to ship this out to a quilter, I've never done that before but I love the concentric circles and I really cannot do that on my sewing machine.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas and the Colorist
Merry Christmas!!
It was a happy one for me, under the tree I found this pattern! (Actually times 2 due to some communication issues between husband and mother) But it's totally great since I want to make the baby and the big quilt more than once (depending on how hard it is...)
Anyway, after the baby went to sleep my hubby and I quick went to work picking out 30 fabrics to make the rainbow. Here is the final selection!
Hubby wants me to make the baby one with only solids. I think since he got me the Kona dark box for my birthday he's eligible to make requests :)
I have so many projects in the making! I hope to share more soon.
It was a happy one for me, under the tree I found this pattern! (Actually times 2 due to some communication issues between husband and mother) But it's totally great since I want to make the baby and the big quilt more than once (depending on how hard it is...)
Anyway, after the baby went to sleep my hubby and I quick went to work picking out 30 fabrics to make the rainbow. Here is the final selection!
Hubby wants me to make the baby one with only solids. I think since he got me the Kona dark box for my birthday he's eligible to make requests :)
I have so many projects in the making! I hope to share more soon.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Saturday Projects
After making myself a snazzy iPad cover, I decided to make my Mom a new one. This one is fully washable! It has some cute Ikea striped fabric in it, and at her request is of course lined with fleece
It fits more loosely but still cleans the front of her iPad. I have found this is a great quick project to whip on on the same Saturday that we purchased a ENORMOUS Christmas tree that we now need to decorate. It's 12 feet and amazing!
I also noticed that my husband's laptop was starting to take the finish off our kitchen table. Nothing serious yet, but I like that table and he likes to work there... SO I made him an extra large insulated place mat.
The fabric is Daisy Mae by DS for Joann, and I really thought that turquoise and navy print looked like a keyboard! It's moderately masculine and very soft.
I bought a quarter yard of the prints you see there and definitely have enough to make at least one more if not two. There is potholder material in the middle, and I just turned it right side out and zig-zagged the edges. It's not too fancy but it's getting the job done, and is machine washable.
A very productive Saturday!
I think I want to try and make a messenger bag. Isn't it just a larger iPad holder, with a strap? I think it's totally doable, so look for that soon!
It fits more loosely but still cleans the front of her iPad. I have found this is a great quick project to whip on on the same Saturday that we purchased a ENORMOUS Christmas tree that we now need to decorate. It's 12 feet and amazing!
I also noticed that my husband's laptop was starting to take the finish off our kitchen table. Nothing serious yet, but I like that table and he likes to work there... SO I made him an extra large insulated place mat.
The fabric is Daisy Mae by DS for Joann, and I really thought that turquoise and navy print looked like a keyboard! It's moderately masculine and very soft.
I bought a quarter yard of the prints you see there and definitely have enough to make at least one more if not two. There is potholder material in the middle, and I just turned it right side out and zig-zagged the edges. It's not too fancy but it's getting the job done, and is machine washable.
A very productive Saturday!
I think I want to try and make a messenger bag. Isn't it just a larger iPad holder, with a strap? I think it's totally doable, so look for that soon!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sexy Hexy Christmas Quilt
Back in July (I think) I bought ALOT of Kate Spain's Flurry Fabrics. I have yard pieces, and half yard pieces, I'm pretty sure I have all of them. Additionally I got flannel that coordinated. I had no plan whatsoever but wanted to make a cute Christmas quilt for Isabella.
The stack of fabric is enormous, so I think I'm going to make at least 3 quilts and the first one is Sexy Hexy by Amy Butler.
It's a free downloadable pattern. Like all Amy Butler patterns I have (Weekender bag, Gum Drop pillow, and Honey Bun pouf) it is VERY VERY over-engineered. The directions for this quilt were no exception - 11 pages long. Let's be fair, the last 6 pages are pattern pieces but if you read down the supplies list there is so much stuff and then the directions are so involved by the time you actually get to sewing I'm pretty sure you don't care about the quilt anymore.
After Googling "Sexy Hexy Love Quilt", and searching around on Flickr I realized that not many people have made this quilt, and I'm sure the 100% reason is the horrendous long-winded instructions that make this project seem much harder than it is. Luckily before I gave up and switched to something else I found this blog post, and suddenly the quilt was simple. Here are some good guidelines:
1. Follow the instructions to assemble the pattern page first, it's clever and works well.
2. Cut out the templates A, C and D these are used to make the full sized Hexagons
3. Do not add seam allowance to the A shape, it doesn't need it and looks weird.
-I put lightweight fusible interfacing on A - it get's appliqued and I think it looks/works better
4. Work one Hexagon at at time, cutting out one center, then six sides of template C then six of D,
-I used a pencil and traced the shapes on the fabric then cut out with scissors
**note template D takes 1/4 yd of fabric for one hexagon, template C takes more than 1/8 but less than 1/4
5. Sew C to D six times as shown in a picture on the instructions, press, then sew them together to form the outside of the hexagon, press.
6. Applique A to the center, I used 2 pins per side (I NEVER use pins for anything so this is a big deal for me)
7. Repeat until you have seven hexagons, it's six surrounding one in the center - for planning purposes.
I like this method because you can build each hexagon as you go based on what you want the final quilt to look like. I have only made a few, but they are pretty easy and I think look pretty awesome.
Another cool idea would be to make "string blocks" cut out the side templates out of wonky cut - sewn together strips.
The rest of the quilt is 1/2 hexagons which seem to be pretty straight forward and then these little side pieces which also don't seem hard. I am apprehensive about Y seams, but I'm going to skip the directions and look on you tube. I'll be happy to post links and tips then.
Happy Christmas Hexing!
The stack of fabric is enormous, so I think I'm going to make at least 3 quilts and the first one is Sexy Hexy by Amy Butler.
1. Follow the instructions to assemble the pattern page first, it's clever and works well.
2. Cut out the templates A, C and D these are used to make the full sized Hexagons
3. Do not add seam allowance to the A shape, it doesn't need it and looks weird.
-I put lightweight fusible interfacing on A - it get's appliqued and I think it looks/works better
4. Work one Hexagon at at time, cutting out one center, then six sides of template C then six of D,
-I used a pencil and traced the shapes on the fabric then cut out with scissors
**note template D takes 1/4 yd of fabric for one hexagon, template C takes more than 1/8 but less than 1/4
5. Sew C to D six times as shown in a picture on the instructions, press, then sew them together to form the outside of the hexagon, press.
6. Applique A to the center, I used 2 pins per side (I NEVER use pins for anything so this is a big deal for me)
7. Repeat until you have seven hexagons, it's six surrounding one in the center - for planning purposes.
I like this method because you can build each hexagon as you go based on what you want the final quilt to look like. I have only made a few, but they are pretty easy and I think look pretty awesome.
Another cool idea would be to make "string blocks" cut out the side templates out of wonky cut - sewn together strips.
The rest of the quilt is 1/2 hexagons which seem to be pretty straight forward and then these little side pieces which also don't seem hard. I am apprehensive about Y seams, but I'm going to skip the directions and look on you tube. I'll be happy to post links and tips then.
Happy Christmas Hexing!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
iPad2!!
Recently my honey got me an iPad2, now it's supposed to be "ours" but he's not with it all day... Anyway I found the covers at the Apple Store to be a bit, overpriced and boring. I was positive I could not make a good cover for it, and then I was looking on Etsy and realized, yes, yes I could. So when my parents got an ipad2 on Black Friday I quickly whipped up this cover:
It has an open top, with an elastic-button closure. The outside is all leftover decorator weight fabric and the inside is lined in fleece. My measurements were a bit snug with all the bulk of the batting and heavier fabric not to mention the interior fleece, but the snug fit created a fantastic side effect... IT CLEANS THE FINGERPRINTS! That's right people, it cleans it all off. So I highly recommend the fleece lining. I was very happy with this, but personally feel the elastic is flimsy, and an easy point of failure that would be hard to repair. I like a flap. So I looked at this cute embroidery case I bought and modeled it much bigger. I used some of my Amy Butler Fabrics and voila!
Notice it opens revealing 2 pockets on the front, that's my smart phone on the left and my glasses and
a pen
I LOVE this, this is easily the best thing I have ever dreamed up and executed. Usually stuff I make w/o a pattern looks, well exactly like that. This actually looks like something you would buy.
The fit isn't quite as tight as the first case I made for my parents, and since it's lined with quilting fabric, not fleece there is very little cleaning action, but I'm less concerned about that and MUCH happier about how it fits and what it looks like. I would like to get a tutorial up since this takes about an hour to sew, but it's Christmas time and I'm super busy, but perhaps if enough of you comment... I might find the time :)
It has an open top, with an elastic-button closure. The outside is all leftover decorator weight fabric and the inside is lined in fleece. My measurements were a bit snug with all the bulk of the batting and heavier fabric not to mention the interior fleece, but the snug fit created a fantastic side effect... IT CLEANS THE FINGERPRINTS! That's right people, it cleans it all off. So I highly recommend the fleece lining. I was very happy with this, but personally feel the elastic is flimsy, and an easy point of failure that would be hard to repair. I like a flap. So I looked at this cute embroidery case I bought and modeled it much bigger. I used some of my Amy Butler Fabrics and voila!
Notice it opens revealing 2 pockets on the front, that's my smart phone on the left and my glasses and
a penI LOVE this, this is easily the best thing I have ever dreamed up and executed. Usually stuff I make w/o a pattern looks, well exactly like that. This actually looks like something you would buy.
The fit isn't quite as tight as the first case I made for my parents, and since it's lined with quilting fabric, not fleece there is very little cleaning action, but I'm less concerned about that and MUCH happier about how it fits and what it looks like. I would like to get a tutorial up since this takes about an hour to sew, but it's Christmas time and I'm super busy, but perhaps if enough of you comment... I might find the time :)
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