Wiksten Tank

Whew!   I'm giving my blog a workout today, huh?!?




Well, I braved the whole "cutting into my AMH fabric".   I love it!   I made a size medium and took in the sides about an inch on both sides.   If I hadn't done that it would have been way too blousey for me.  I like shirts/tops to fit close to my body.

Here's the dress on me:




And a side view, so you can really see how much I brought it in:




This was super simple to make!   I can easily see myself making a whole army of these for my closet.  

Quilts and Mug Rugs tomorrow!

Sewing for Claire

My daughter likes me to sew for her.   Which is thankful, because somebody needs to want and appreciate all this stuff I'm making!   I've made her 3 items lately.

Item #1:



Another Roller-Skate Dress.   This was quick and easy, especially since I didn't have to refer to the directions all that much!   She likes it because it's soft.   She's also been in a "I only wear dresses" phase, so hopefully this one will get lots and lots of use!

(This dress still has no button, and it's been worn twice.   Oops.)

Item #2:



Some place mats using a novelty fabric I had purchased quite a while ago.   I wanted it to feature Churn Dash blocks (see above), and I wanted it to use some of the fabrics I had accumulated from the Stash Stack Club from Pink Castle Fabrics.




The blocks ended up being a lot of improv - making these scraps of fabric fit.   I didn't like it.   Give me a pattern any day and I'll be happy.   But hand me fabric and tell me to create, and I'll be stumped and annoyed.   They ended up turning out quite cute if I may say so myself.




They also used up some fabric.  :)  After doing these, I've decided that I love polka dots and stripes, and I need more of them in my life.

I used a new to me quilting pattern:



The contrast is high on this one so you can see the detail.   It was super easy to do these, and I have plans for a quilt in the near future using this FMQ pattern.




I find that even my mistakes are hard to see when you view it as a whole.   Some of the clamshells are obviously wonky, but frankly, if you see that I think you're looking too close!   All in all, I would definately recommend this pattern to anyone wishing to try something different from straight lines, but not too different, if you know what I mean.

Item #3:




A travel pillow for our upcoming beach 9 hours away vacation.   I totally made this up on my own after googling "travel pillow for kids".   There were some similar items, but at the price of $30, I knew I had to make my own.   It's roughly 7"x26" and has 4 velcro straps on the back.




Claire loves it.   She slept with it the night I gave it to her, and it's currently hanging out wither some baby dolls on the living room floor while she naps.   :)

The best part is that I got to use that Kokka fabric you can see in the last picture.   My very first "on a whim" fabric purchase.   Two years later, it's found a purpose.   Joy.  I think it's absolute perfection in this project.   Claire also made very sure before she went to bed that if we lost this pillow, ya know, if it got lost in the woods or anything, that I could make her another one.   After I reassured her that it would rarely leave the car, and would never get lost, she nodded off to sleep.   Still making sure I had enough fabric to make another one.

TovaSewTogether

This post is a little late, considering I think I made this, what?   A few weeks ago?   Better late than never!

So after making my daughter the Roller Skate dress, I knew I needed to make myself something!  I'd bought some fabrics from Sew Mama Sew's $6 sale, and I had some AMH linen.   My sewing buddy Emily and I decided to encourage each other by setting a deadline and messaging each other through instagram.   We both decided on the Wiksten Tova.



I decided quite last minute that I was too scared to use my precious AMH linen on my first attempt at garment making, so I headed out to Hancock Fabric and pick up this Madras material.  It wasn't that hard to put together, and I really like the results.



I decided to leave off the sleeves.   I thought they looked kinda funny, and I had seen sleeveless versions around the web and liked them more than the ones with sleeves!

I made a small and used a medium length since I like long shirts, and did no other alterations.   I've worn it a few times and noticed that the top is tight across my back and shoulders.   I think when I make this again I'll size up to a medium and perhaps take in the sides just a touch.   It's a cute shirt that I think will get plenty of use!

I've got a lot of things to blog about (I've been busy) so stay tuned!

Quilts needing to be Quilted...

I've been working on what I'm dubbing the "Spinning Ombre Stars" Quilt.   Here's an updated picture of the quilt top sewn together:



I'm really impressed with how it looks.   It turned out exactly as I envisioned it!   Since this picture, I've basted the quilt, and hand-quilted about 80% of it.   I'm hand-quilting inside each ring and star.   If that makes sense.   I backed the quilt with a sketch flannel in dark blue that I had originally purchased for my #scrappytripalong quilt, but once I auditioned it with the quilt, it just didn't work.   I think I would have preferred a lighter blue, but the blue I had worked well enough.   This quilt isn't staying with me, so if it's not perfect, nobody will be the wiser.   I'm hoping to get some quality TV time in tonight to catch up on some shows I've been neglecting, so hopefully it will be all quilted up by the end of the weekend!   I'm going to try something new for the binding (maybe), a scrappy ombre binding, following the light to dark that the rings are making.   If that looks terri-bad, I'll just go for a normal binding.   Oooh, maybe a low-volume binding?   Always nice to have backup ideas.

The next quilt that is awaiting the needle and thread treatment is my Feather Bed Quilt.


Here's a picture of it before I sewed up the top.   It's twin size, but unfortunately due to my inability to print out a pattern is a little short of the dimension in the pattern.   It's not too bad, and it will still fit on a twin bed quite nicely, I'm just a little irritated.   For the feather stems, I used Kona Marine.   It's a really pretty blue.   This is currently basted and backed in the pink woodcut fabric from AMH's Innocent Crush line.   I got that fabric at a steal from fabric.com for a measly $5/yd (or something really close to that price, it's been too long!).   I have no idea how to quilt this one.   I've been toying around with a few ideas.  
1) horizontal lines in between the feathers(1" or 3" apart?), outline the feathers and up the stem
2) horizontal lines across the whole quilt
3) outline feathers and up the stem

Options #1 & #2 would be a lot of work.   #3 would be easy.   But I'm keeping this quilt, so a lot of work doesn't phase me that much.   I'm leaning towards #1, but the sheer amount of work is kind of making me hesitate.

Lastly, on a slightly different note:  never buy the white on white fabric.   It's terrible to cut, machine and hand sew.   The bigger dots more than the little dots.   I hate the big dot Robert Kaufman white on white fabric.   Hate.   Here's a picture of what you shouldn't buy:


Oh, and if you have to unpick your stitches, it totally shows.   Those white dots are paint!   Totally gross.

Here's to hoping it's not a month and a half before my next blog post!
Elizabeth

WIP Wednesday #1

So I'm going to start doing these!   I think it's going to be good to give myself some kind of "Hey you haven't finished this yet" kind of motivation.

So, without further ado, here's what I've got in progress:

#1: Spinning Stars Quilt




The plan is to do an ombre effect, going from light to dark aqua/teals.   I'm using two low-volume bundles I purchased from Westwood Acres on Etsy, along with some scraps that I managed to pull out of my scrap bin.   I didn't have a lot of low-volume scraps, but I did have some of the aqua and grey on white swirl fabric you see above in the middle of this block - it's from the Washi Line by Rashida Coleman-Hale.   I purchased a half yard bundle of that on pure whim last year and it's really come in handy for zip bags, pouches, etc.   I'm sad to see the last of these fabrics go, but I'm also glad they're being used.   It's so satisfying to know that I used up some fabric.    It is similar to using the last little bit of toothpaste.

These blocks are cut from a template, all pretty much on the bias.   If you look at how the block is constructed, you have to sew these two triangle pieces together.   Since my machine's favorite late night snack is little bits of fabric, I start sewing the triangle pieces together in the middle and sew out on both sides.   It takes a little longer, but if you look closely you can see that everything is really lining up quite nicely, despite all the sewing being on bias.   Here you can see how well the first block went:


Pretty impressive, if I say so myself.   I managed to get 3 blocks done, and the rest should come together quite quickly with most of the cutting already done.   Here are the 3 blocks together:


(Not Shown, for very boring reasons) Fabric Cut:
3/4 of A pieces
24/128 of B pieces
All of the C pieces

#2: Feather Bed Quilt

All blocks completed, just languishing in a nice neat pile.   I have the backing all picked out for this, and I already know how I'm going to quilt it.   The assembly of this quilt is open-ended, so when I got to that step I admittedly faltered.   I didn't want to just copy her pattern - I wanted to make it a little different.   I also didn't like how the pattern wasn't clear on what size cuts of fabric to make to "fill in" the spots between the feathers.   I don't have a design wall, so I'm going to need a dedicated day to decide how to do the layout and sew it all up.

#3: Roller Skate Dress

I have the lining cut and the fabric pre-washed.   It should theoretically take me about 2 hours to finish this.  In reality, it will probably take me 2 weeks.   I think Claire will really like this, and since she's a little short in the shorts department (ha!), she could really use the dress to beef up her wardrobe until I either go buy shorts or ask my sister-in-law for the hand-me-downs.

#4: Dessert of the Month, Winter Sampler & Woodland Sampler (in-progress)


No progress on the winter, and April is coming along nicely.   But let's not forget how I skipped over March.   I really like their Spring Sampler,  but I hesitate to buy it when I already have so many projects half-done.

#5: Grandmother's "zip-pouch/purse" thing (not started)

My grandmother wants me to make a "zip-pouch/purse" thing.   But it needs to be smaller than the one I showed her, with a handle.  *sigh*   Nothing is ever easy for her.   But I'll get around to it ... I basically don't want to have to make something up.   So that means I'll be browsing the interwebs for some awesome tutorial that will be the correct size.   Boo.

#6: 3/4" Hexagon Pillow

Obviously a long term project.   I maybe have a 5"x6" portion of the 20" pillow done.

Linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Lately

I've been busy!   I've made lots of new things, but no quilts.   I have a sketch for my next one though. We will see if it actually comes to life...

First, an Easter basket.

No pattern, no real plan.  I knew how the construction was, so in my crazy head I though it'd all be ok!   In reality, it's floppy, too wide, and the walls of the basket part are too short.   Oh well.   It's cute!   Hopefully it'll prove useful carrying babies around or something...

Second, a Miss Maggie bunny from Posy Gets Cozy.

Here is the finished bunny.   I wrapped up bunny construction on Saturday night.   Then I whipped up the dress a little quicker than I would have liked to.   Here's a picture of Claire and Miss Maggie:


"Take a picture of Miss Maggie Momma!"
All the work was worth it because in the morning Claire got this really excited grin, grabbed the doll and whispered to her really quietly "We're going to be best friends.   You can sleep with me."   Melted my heart!

I have yet to complete the boots and the cape.   I haven't finished the boots because I've been busy with other stuff, and I haven't finished the cape because it looks terri-bad.   No, really.   I'm really glad it's a gift for a 3 year old.  

Third, I made Claire a dress!

Here it is!  

I used the Roller Skate Pattern from Oliver + S.   The fabric is from the Habitat Line by Jay McCarroll.   I got it $6/yd a few months ago.   There's enough fabric left Mommy might need a matching shirt!   Claire also really loved this.   She wore it all day long, and the next day, and made sure I was washing it so she could wear it again.   I made the size 5.   It was a really good fit.   A little big in the arm holes, but not exposing.   I have another all ready to go - a pink AMH voile this time!   The only thing I'm not fond of is the lining color.   I didn't think about it (next time I will), but I wish it were a color not so obvious.   Or I could have picked a really cute color, hot pink, light blue, etc.   It was easy to construct and I'm planning on finishing up #2 this week!

Next time I'll talk about my private swap with my sewing buddy and everything else I've been up to!

Elizabeth

#scrappytripalong

I just couldn't resist.   It looked so quick and easy.   And it was.   It really, really was.


Here is a picture of the quilt with my lovely husband (aka quilt holder).

I used all fabrics from my stash.   Once I had pulled a bunch of them out - I created a few rules:
1. No reds, blacks, or browns.
2. Stick to cool colors.

I think i was pretty successful in this.   There's one particular Lizzy House print that reads more "red" than the purple it is, but other than that I think all the colors are working well together.  As I look at the picture, I also see that the quilter's linen in dark purple looks black.   I also wish it had been left out, but I was trying to give the quilt a lot of different values.   I think it would have looked better if I'd stuck to all light/medium value fabrics.

I backed the fabric in grey sheet that came from a sheet set I had bought for backing a queen size bed quilt.   I'm glad to have used it!   The binding is a light grey herringbone, Riley Blake, I believe?

This quilt is headed to my sister-in-law's family.   They have been very generous with baby items.   Clothes, toys, essentials.   Just my way of paying them back!   Plus, we don't need any more quilts.  :)