Sample Size

So I've finally figured out what I want to do with all the fabric I got from my bridal shower.  I'm going to do a modified log cabin design, using 4-inch (finished) squares of fussy-cut campers as the "hearth".

I'm much more confident that this could turn out well this morning, after playing around with junk fabrics I had in my stash last night.  I got a few of my I Spy squares, and 12 strips from a generic jelly roll I got on eBay a while back, and did some stack n whacking. This design was actually really easy and worked perfectly with jelly roll size/length fabrics.  I'll try and make up a tutorial as I go. 

 I made four blocks total, each about 16 inches a side, finished.

 Yes, that's batman.

 First finished block.

 Closer to what the real blocks will look like, with campers in the middle.

All four blocks sewn together.  It's actually kind of huge already, so I've decided to keep going with this thing and call it a "grown up I Spy quilt"...it's like your grandmother's house - at first glance, it's pretty and floral and traditional, but on closer inspection, there are all kinds of toys and fun things hidden in the nooks and crannies.  I'm going to expand it to 4x5 blocks (making it about 64x80 finished) and then I'll figure out what to do with it...we'll see.  It goes together super fast though.  With the jelly roll already cut, I cut, arranged, and sewed all four of these blocks in about an hour and a half last night. 

Winner, Design Wall(ish), and Weekend Report

Oof, what a weekend!  I went to Boston Balance with a friend of mine on Saturday, and learned the hard way that I am very much a big fish in a small pond in my local spin classes.  6 hours of grueling cardio later, I now know the definition of "advanced" in terms of spinning. I am maybe upper intermediate.  I am also in no small amount of pain, but it was so, so worth it.  I'm getting certified to instruct in 2 weeks, which I'm so excited for.

Which leads me to my design wall.  Mostly right now it's kind of in my head.  I still have the Ohio Star blocks going (lots and lots of ironing going on with that actually) and I still need to finish the place mats for our winner (quick digression here) who, according to random.org, is #2...Keeley!

I will get on those and send them out hopefully by the end of the week. In case you missed them, here are the pictures:

The "in my head" projects are definitely more in progress.  I've been thinking about making my spin towels more fun by adding some kind of silly applique to them.  I was thinking something like this:

I'm thinking I can just applique each picture/letter individually or something.  The dino would be probably 4 inches tall, with everything else to scale.  It would definitely keep me giggling during a workout.  I could make a running one too, for treadmill workouts.

Anyway, that was my weekend, that's my design wall, and now I'm off to work.  It's Hungarian week over at my cooking blog, so if you have any good Hungarian recipes to suggest, I'm all ears!

Structured Chaos

So this quilt is a little tricky.  I have this thing about having the same fabrics sitting next to each other in this style of quilt, so first fabrics of the train blocks can't touch. Then, fabrics of the borders can't touch.  Diagonal is ok, but not in any kind of pattern, and not more than 2 or 3 in a row, tops.  Then, the border needs to contrast with the square...so light block = dark border, bright block = light border, etc.  So there's a lot going on here...sort of like the whole "spend 2 hours each morning to look like you have bedhead" thing.  I'm trying really hard to make it look like I'm not trying.  :-)

That said, after I put these blocks together last night, I did a bunch more cutting and now have a pretty little stack of 1x5.5 or 6.5 inch strips just waiting to get their time to shine. 

And just for kicks, here's the lineup of quilts that used the fabrics first, from that top line (L-R):
Trains & Tractors/plaid couch/Save a Horse/Save a Horse/Save a Horse/plaid couch/Just His Size

I've got scraps from the complicated quilt, Abbey's Road, Mai's Ugly Quilt, and a couple of QFK quilts in the "to be cut" heap as well.  I'm trying to keep them relatively manly, so no pinks or purples (though lord knows I have enough of those!)  Oranges are ok though.

And on that note, I must leave my haven and head in to work.  Sigh.  :-)

Godspeed, Little Quilt

And just like that, he's gone.  My first commissioned quilt, on its way to the arms of 2 little boys and their mom.  *sigh*  I won't lie, it feels a little like having turned in a final exam that I'm pretty sure I did well on, but I'm still not 100% sure I got an A.  I hope they like it.  I had a lot of fun making it.

We had a little outdoor photoshoot yesterday:

This one is upside-down because that was how I could get the picture. 

The artsy ruffled shot

The back

My label!  How nifty is that??  It's technically an iron-on kind, and it faded a bit in the wash...I'm not too heartbroken since I got a good deal on them, but this might not be a permanent solution. 

All folded up and ready to go!

Oh, so my laundry woes...I washed the quilt and (gasp!) some of the blues looked distinctly more purple than when I started!  Eek!  I washed it again (and again and again...) with some color catching fabric and this is the result.  I sent a note to the buyer to make sure she washes it separately for the first couple washes.  The blues are back to blue, but my heart stopped a bit at first.  Phew!

All's well that ends well though, and this guy (shown here with a glimpse of the rod sleeve) went in the mail this morning.

Now that that one's out the door, I'm on to a new project.  Here are the squares of batting and backing, and a few choice scraps for border strips that I'm using for my Rag Train quilt:

Here's the final layout, with the upper left corner block done.

Quick picture of the workstation.  A note here...all the fabrics I'm using for this one are from my stash/scraps.  I'm not letting myself buy ANY more material for this - I have more than enough as it is, so I just need to get creative.  :-) If I've made you a quilt in the last year, you'll probably see familiar fabrics in this one.  

And the first two blocks done and sewn together,just to see how it'd work.  I found all manner of scraps from the plaid quilt to use, which I'm totally stoked about.  I adore plaid, especially as it's getting colder, and I think it lends a touch of funky personality to the quilt.  It makes me think of a lumberjack/hipster with a 3 year old who loves trains.  Anyone know anyone like that?  :-D 

So that's that.  Hopefully this one will be up on etsy sometime next week, assuming I get all my chores done so I have time to work on this.  It's going together quickly, but I gotta remember I have other stuff to do too...like wedding thank you notes.  :-) 

Design Centerpiece Monday

What a weekend!  I didn't get much sewing done until last night (and even that wasn't terribly impressive), but it was a really good weekend regardless.  We got our marriage license, I got fabric for centerpieces, we walked through the ceremony (the 5 minute version), I got a better idea of what to do for church decorations, we had a photo shoot at the fair (SO FUN!), I got my hair trial done...whew!

So first the design centerpiece pics:

 MOTU said he felt like this needed definition so I added some binding to it.

 Better. Still missing something though.

 Added some foofy stuff at the bottom, and that helped some.  I'm still not 100% sold on it, but it's getting there.  I want to make sure it's simple enough that the caterers won't have a hard time getting 16 of these done, but it needs to look good (and not like I threw fabric and a wine bottle on each table lol).  I also need better candles - these were just the ones around the house.

 Hair trial!

 This mess took 2 hours to get done, but that included a cut, shampoo, dry.  My hair is THICK.  The stylist was like "wow...you have a rope attached to your head!" when she got it wet.  I think I'm gonna cut it short for the winter...shorter looks cuter with beanies.  :-)

 Lotsa curls.  This held up surprisingly well for the whole night. 

 We went to a friend's vintage clothing store and this was the pattern on the floor.  I desperately want to make this into a quilt. 

And last but not least, the teaser pic from the photo shoot!  We had so much fun with this!!  I can't wait to see the rest of them!!


Tex|Everlasting

Design Stuff Monday

All things considered, it was a productive weekend.  MOTU got back from his 2-week long roadtrip around 4 AM on Sunday morning, which meant I had a few extra hours in the name of "waiting up until my man gets home" to do stuff besides clean.  Here's the rundown:

 Hooray eBay!  I got a whole slew of vintage buttons to make flowers with...now if someone would kindly buy one of my etsy listings, I can use them!  I'm debating learning to make button bouquets after the wedding, since those seem to be what's hot right now.  Ick, but it if it's your thing, it's your thing.

 The successful crayon project.  Kaleidoscope mini-muffin crayons.  They're pretty, but I'm not sure what I'll do with them since it seems crayons are a discouraged item to have in close proximity to the linens at the wedding.  Hum.

 The unsuccessful crayon project.  This went as you'd expect...the whole thing is a giant red glob and isn't nearly as pretty as I'd hoped. Let's not speak of this ever again.

 A finish! Ish! This is the top for Mai's quilt.  I even got it quilted this weekend!  All I need now is to trim the borders and put on some binding, and that baby's ready to go off to college! (Mai, if you're reading this, sorry to ruin the surprise...)

The pink quilt (which I'm calling "Valentine's Day Blues", putting a blue flannel pieced backing on, and selling on etsy as soon as it's done) is still up on the wall.

 Kini seems to think this bed is hers now.  My mom made me this quilt a few years ago when I was redecorating after a particularly nasty breakup.  She's awesome like that.  Whipped this up inside a week.  My mom rocks.

 Shelby has been getting ever more adventurous - this was last night, the windows from the kitchen to the screened-in porch.

And this was when I was eating pizza in the living room.  No joke. There's a shelf behind that door, and she just spies on me from there, thinking she's all sneaky. It makes me giggle every time.

And, rounding out the critter cam, Grisgris has found his place in my sewing room.  Right now, 2 of the 3 are passed out within arm's reach.  Life is good.  :-)

everybody say oooh ahhh

check it out, a new style of flower! me gusta.

UPDATE: 

By request of Inchworm Fabrics: 

The flowers are loosely based off of this tutorial: http://sewritzytitzy.blogspot.com/2008/11/from-annas-gardenfabric-flower-tutorial.html

I didn't cut the circles in half or do any sewing...I folded them into quarters and then followed the same steps of sewing the rounded edges.  The big petals started life as 3 1/2" squares and the small ones started out as 2 3/4" squares.  I didn't particularly like the look of two layers of same-sized petals, but the bottom layer ended up with a gaping hole that wouldn't have been covered by the button so I added a smaller layer of smaller petals.  I think in the future (ie, once I cut some red fabric) I'll use some reds to highlight the differences better. 

If that doesn't make sense, let me know...I can post a tutorial next time I make one. 

Holy Two Post Day, Batman!

Bear with me folks, I'm gettin' my creative on.

So last night, I came home to a darling (woah, did I say "darling"?  Seriously?  Yikes) thank you note from Matilda's momma-to-be.  It was clearly hand-made, happened to be in my wedding colors, and contained a challenge.  She said, "I can't wait to see what kind of creativity you use in your wedding."

Damn.

And yesterday I was looking at florists and online invitation printers.  Damn damn damn.

TODAY, I am looking at making the flowers, making the decorations, making the invitations...someone please stop me?

Here are a few of the ideas I'm toying with:

source

These little holders are so cute and so easy!  They would look so great for the ceremony, with maybe some ribbon instead of twine, and my autumn colors.  For reference, here's what the inside of the church looks like:

Maybe I'll nee to find a better way of attaching them to the ends of the pews.  I'm thinking I can make tissue-paper flowers.  I should probably practice that first though.

These flowers would make much better boutonnieres than the ones I made.  The ones I made look kind of like clown flowers when standing on their own on a man's jacket.  These remind me of carnations though:

If you look at the end of the tutorial, you can see them a little better.  Maybe adding a couple of those to the bouquets would work too.

This, I LOVE. I'm thinking I can find some battery-operated strings of white Christmas lights, then highlight the flowers from behind. Maybe use a different kind of vase (thinner, taller) and yellow/gold/orange/red papers. I think it'd make a really cute centerpiece.

I'm also loving these boutonnieres:

See the tutorial for separate pics...that's a bunch of them clustered together.



Here are some more ideas:

This is a super cute guestbook idea (and finally, something quilting-related!), but I have other ideas...I haven't decided if I'm going to clue my guests in to the fun that awaits them though, so I can't post those ideas yet:

Phew!  That was exhausting! 

I think I'm done for now.  I won't even bother with invitations until I hit up Joann's tonight on my way to Rising Stars Quilt Guild in Lexington...a friend from middle school (I don't think I've seen her since 8th grade!) invited me to come with her...should be awesome! I'm a little tempted to bring some squares to make into flowers. 


Anyways.  Enjoy the inspiration!