snow day, part 2

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snow day patchwork #3


snow day patchwork #2


snow day patchwork #1

Snow day, part 2 was all about the sewing. It. Was. Wonderful.

These are all the starts of new lunchboxes. I had started out just planning on working on one–the top picture–which is going to be for a friend’s sister. I love the fabric (It’s a Hoot by Moda) and was excited to get started on it. I got into a real rhythm, and by the end of the night, I had all of this work done. Nothing’s finished, of course, but everything seems to be ready for the next step now.

Back to see the kids for one more day this week. As strange as it might seem, these last two days of being home made me pine for the summer. Having all day to sew makes me so very happy.

on a sunday

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1.29.11

I seem to be hit by my first winter cold this season, and I’m showing it. Despite big plans, Saturday’s biggest accomplishment was going out for a walk with Ben and Hudson. Early evening found me surrounded by handwork and other projects on the couch, but instead, I spent my time with my head back, snoring.

Today though, I figured if I could sit while I sewed, instead of standing at my work table, I’d probably be able to get more done. I dragged out my machine to the kitchen, made a pot of tea and actually got a few things done. It wasn’t the sewing blow-out that I had hoped for, but I’m okay with that for now.


snow watch

I can’t help but be a little excited too–they’re calling for up to a foot of snow here by Wednesday. Let’s just say that the adults at school wouldn’t mind a little mid-week snow day…possibly even more so than the kids would. My fingers are already crossed.

soft shoe shuffle

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I just looked back at the date of my last post and am shocked that it’s been over a week since I blogged last. This summer is flying by. It doesn’t seem possible that we’re already into July.

I’m gearing up for a craft show in a few weeks, and was looking to make some new things to take with me. Here’s what I’ve been working on the past few days:


I made some shoes!

Shoes! Aren’t they so much fun? I should probably call them slippers instead, since I’m not sure they’d completely hold up for wearing out and about. The pattern comes via I Think Sew. Her patterns are so cute and really reasonably priced. And the shoes….oh my goodness!


shoes!

It took me a few days to figure out how to make them correctly, but now that I’ve got everything down, they’re a lot of fun to make. I’d like to have a nice pile of them to take with me to the show in two weeks!

And speaking of which! If anyone is semi-local, I’ll be at the I-Art Festival in Redford, Michigan July 24th and 25th. The show runs from 11-9pm on Saturday and from 10-4pm on Sunday. I’m hoping for great weather and a big turnout this year!

the best time of year

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As of noon today, I am on summer break, and I am a very happy camper.

See?


thumbs up for summer break!

I love summer for so many reasons. I love the flowers that grow in my garden. I love Fourth of July picnics, parades and fireworks. I love going swimming on hot days. But more than all of that I love sewing as much as I want, all day long. I feel like for two and a half months out of my year, I get to live my dream of being a full time quilter and crafter. It’s bliss, and it’s what I look forward to all year long.

In fact, in only took about 10 minutes this afternoon to get started.


new project

Bring on the new projects, the iced tea, the fresh blueberries, the day lilies that grow in my yard. Bring on my most happy time of the year.

at the edge

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More selvage action, people! I love this stuff.


Oh selvage...

Does it step over the line a little when the reason for wanting to buy more fabric has changed from using the actual fabric (or at least stashing the actual fabric) to being solely about the selvage? Because I think I’ve gotten to that point.

Also, good news everyone! I have two days left of work until my summer break starts. I am so looking forward to spending more quality time with my sewing machine.

little blue square

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I just recently (within the last six months or so) figured out about paper piecing, and it has totally changed the way that I think about piecing now. I got started with a few little string piecing experiments, based on Film In the Fridge’s tutorial and loved how simple it was. I love how you can take just a sliver of fabric and make it look neat and tidy in a block. It made me think about piecing in a whole new way.


little blue square

So last night I got to thinking about how I could make it work for squares and small pieces. I know so many people have figured this out already and are thinking “duh, Sarah, duh,” but I was so excited about how precise a teeny three inch square could look! Seriously fantastic.

I want to make a whole quilt out of these lovely little blocks, but for last night, I made a very quilty pouch with my little blue square. I’m thinking that tonight I’ll make a little green square!

i got my mojo working

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You know what’s super cool? How SO many people seemed to be genuinely excited about the hand quilting tutorial last week. It’s must have struck a deeper chord to me because it kicked my sewing mojo into gear. I want to sew everything now!


stacky

Despite my ongoing “Finish It or Pitch It” campaign (two quilts finished this spring!) I broke down and started some new things for my shop. When I updated last week, all three of my selvage pouches sold (thank you!!), so I figured that I’d make some more.

This has resulted in me losing my mind. I want to cut selvage for days, then refold my fabric and find interesting ways to stack it. My mild OCD is shining through the Internet like a beacon of light for all of you to see. I am crazy.


selvage

My mind is buzzing with activity. I want to sew (and cut) and sew and sew. I love that feeling.

gifts for a wee person

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Wee people are surprisingly easy to make gifts for. Find cute stuff, make it, and present to wee person’s keeper (or mom). Simple.



monkey onesies

I do not have wee people. I have a dog. And I work with mini people at work everyday. Although I do not currently have the desire to own my own wee person, I apparently have an intense drive to make cute embroidered onesies for other people’s wee people. Monkey onesies!



all of em

Despite saving these until the last minute (and staying up most of the night before the were due) I was overall happy with them. I used a Sublime Stitching iron on pattern, and other than figuring out that I had to use an interfacing under the stretchy material, the whole thing couldn’t have been any easier.



baby chalice blanket

I also wanted to knit a blanket, and being that the wee person will be arriving early this summer, I went with something lightweight. I used the Baby Chalice Blanket (link here if you’re on Ravelry) pattern, with in Knit Picks Comfy. It’s a 100% cotton yarn, and while I’m not usually a fan of knitting with cotton, this stuff seemed really nice to work with. Plus, it should help the wee person’s mom and dad when she spits up all over it and it needs to be washed about 15 times a week. No worries about felting it all up.

piles and piles

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What makes me happy these days?



scraps

Three bins full of fabric scraps to be re-sorted, cut, ironed and used.



full desk

A messy desk filled full of projects in progress.



what to do?

Happy, but maybe a little overwhelmed, I must say.

p.s. A few new items are in the shop. I’d love it if you’d take a look!

and now for the exciting conculsion…

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…to the sewing machine decision! I really do appreciate all of the great suggestions about machines, and I have to tell you all that I really did a lot of investigating and checked out your suggestions. It’s amazing to me how many variables there are in sewing machines. That, and the prices. I think I was a little shocked when I started looking at how much a nice machine would run. But, after debating what I wanted, I decided to pick something that would do everything. And everything is what I got.



Hey Brother!

I ended up choosing the Brother QC-1000, and so far, I really love it. I had worried about picking a computerized machine (out of fear that it might be obsolete in a number of years) but from what I found is that the power of a computerized machine is so much stronger and can keep its stitches much more even. The cool thing about this machine is that it automatically senses the thickness of the thread and adjusts the tension and stitch power to keep the stitches all the same. When I first started top stitching my totes, I was shocked at how nice and even and not messy it looked, even when going over the handles and sides.



Vrrooooom!

There’s so many features that I haven’t even had a real chance to work with yet, but I love the fact that it will be a long time before I run out of new things to explore on it. It’s such a dream to sew on, and I know that my finished products are looking a ton better. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s been a quick machine to learn, despite all the features.

And as far as features go, it threads itself, it cuts the thread at at the end of the seam, it sews front to back, side to side, and diagonally, it came with a walking foot, plus several other quilting feet (I have to get some practice with those soon!) and has more stitches than you can shake a stick at. Then, if I couldn’t find a stitch that I wanted it to do, I could upload a pattern to the machine and it would add it to it’s stitch library. It’s seriously, freaking cool!