in progress

The weather is a little gloomy here right now. We're heading into winter and the temps are dropping.  We've also had rain here the last few days, so all I feel like doing is lounging around in my pajamas and hand sewing hexies together.
And I have been doing a bit of that among other things, just not enough of it in my opinion.

I am busy in two swaps that come up the end of October and middle of November, so I do have things to make, just not much motivation yet.  It'll come, right?

This is what I'm putting together for the Pillow Talk {Swap}.  My partner is pretty silent, and her wish list was not very specific, so I'm mostly working off her mosaic and the comments of others.



That one hexy is 6" high and there will be another above and below it.  Just deciding now whether to go with the aqua dots, the yellow dots, or one of each.  So far the Flickr consensus is the aqua dots.  I may be leaning in that direction now too.

The second swap is Modernista Homemade.  My partner here was pretty specific and is not super silent.  This is both good and bad though because now I don't dare to post any sneak peeks!



This is what I will be working with for her though.  Don't tell, kay?

I only have the prints cut up, and have yet to tackle the linen.  

A question for you.  

Do you prewash your fabrics?  

I prewash if I plan to make clothes from the fabric, but not if I am going to be making a quilt or a mini or so.  Should I be prewashing everything?

i'm going to melt

It is so hot!  I thought it was hot enough before, but this is really hot.  I really don't know what to do with myself or where to be in order to stay cool.  Since Monday we have had over 30degree temps (for the Fahrenheit people, that is well over 80degrees), and with the humidity it feels like 40!  We don't have a/c, and usually we wouldn't need it, but I sure loved getting groceries this week just to walk in to the bliss of a/c.

Since I don't know what to do with myself, I've been basting hexies.  I have three and a half fabrics done and basted.  I love these colours.

The Cheddar for the centres came in today, so now I have all the fabrics and can even start making flowers if the mood hits me.  These hexies are actually bigger than I thought they would be.  I am used to working with 1" sides and these are 1.5" sides which is kinda nice because you get a bigger flower.   That means less flower making to cover the same area  : ) 

 In this heat, I also spent some time distracted in front of the computer.  I mean, really, it's too hot to go and mow the lawn or water the garden, or anything like that, so I may as well waste some time on Pinterest and Etsy.  

I found these lovelies.

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I never used to have a thing for bikes.  Then I met my husband.  He is big into road biking and he rather sucked me into the hype of Tour riding too.  Before we met, he had bought himself a road bike here and went biking a bit.  Then after we met, I bought a second hand road bike and we went together.  

An old pic on an old camera, so excuse the quality.

I always liked the flat roads while he likes hills. Luckily we both like bike paths that meander and go up and down.
I really like biking now and I watch all the Grand Tours with him and even have my favourites in the races. 

Unfortunately, this year my favourite go knocked out of the Tour de France early because of a crash.  

Next year Ryder!

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In the last year I have been slowly collecting bike fabrics too.  They are not so popular and most of the good ones are on Spoonflower, but I really can't bring myself to spend such a large amount of money on one FQ.

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So I guess, until I stop being so cheap, or I run into some money, all these lovely bike fabrics will have to wait for me. 

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At least the looking is free!

it came!

First off, I have to post this picture of my sweetie happy with her new towel.

I tried it on her the next morning hoping I had made the hole big enough for her head to fit through.  It did.  She was excited to wear it for a while.  But then it started to get in the way of her play, so it had to come off.

Yesterday and today the mailman was good to me.  

The fabrics and papers I ordered for Hexie MF came!  All except the yellow colour for the centres, but that's okay because at least I can get started on this.

I absolutely love these all together and I cannot wait to start putting it all together.

The gray colour is perfect!

Of course, I couldn't wait and as soon as the first few fabrics and the papers came, I was cutting and basting.  

I had never basted the paper to the fabric before with glue, and I must say, why didn't I find this out earlier!  It makes it so much easier because the fabric is not moving around on the paper.  I never liked using a pin because that always bent things up a bit, but this glue idea - brilliant.

Because I am in Canada, shipping can be quite pricey to get fabric.  Most Etsy sellers charge $12.95 CAN for 3.25 to 8 yards.  One seller had most of what I needed for the QAL, so I ended up ordering extra to fill up the parcel to 8 yards.  That way at least, my shipping was worth it.

That's where these beauties come from.

I asked Cheryl of on the grain fabrics to add to my order of 1/2 yards a rainbow potluck of 16 FQs.  Colour is always handy around here.  She picked some great fabrics and included a great variety of colour.  

Thanks Cheryl!

summer's here

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!  It ends on Wednesday, June 27.

Enter here.

 

Summer is here and it sure is warm. At least for me. 

I used to love the heat. I lived in Australia for 6 months, right during the summer, and I loved the heat.  Now, if it is 23Celcius, I'm good.  Anything warmer and I just don't know what to do with myself any more! 

With it being summer, I am sure spending less and less time sewing and thinking about sewing.  Though I do have a pair of shorts cut out and waiting to be sewn up for D. They are from the most recent Ottobre magazine.

 Stinking cute!  

I am using a dark blue linen-ish fabric.  I am not really sure it is linen.  It seems to me to be more of a rayon linen wannabe.  The pockets on the side will be the balloon fabric from the Children at Play line by Sarah Jane.  

But this week is supposed to be rather warm, so D and I will most likely be on the deck in the shade spending some quality time in the kiddy pool.  Or as D calls it, the cool.

I am not doing much sewing, but I am doing some receiving.  

I received this package from Cherie for the June A Little Fabric A Little Chocolate Swap.

I know.  There's no chocolate.  But since being pregnant, chocolate has lost it's allure.  It's sad really because I truly got a lot of enjoyment from eating bits of chocolate.  Hopefully this problem rectifies itself after the baby is born.

Instead of chocolate, I asked for scraps and some squares.  She sent a bunch of squares.  I will have to find something to make with them now since they are not right for the hexy playmat.  

Maybe granny squares?  Hmmm.

I also received today a giveaway win from Art Gallery Fabrics.  

A while ago, she had a scrap giveaway on Facebook and I emailed my address and got to be included in the mass mailing of scraps!

Now, there is a lot of green in here.  For those of you who know me, green is not a favourite colour.  

However.  

I like these.  

I could become friends with green yet. 

playing with fabric

Have you heard of Fat Quarter Idol? 

 

First thing I thought about was the movie Shrek, when they do a parody of American Idol.  

Anyway, it's a fun competition over at Sew Mama Sew where you get to pick fabrics to fit the theme of the week.  Looked easy and fun to me, so I thought I would give it a go.

The theme this week is 'Sweet Child of Mine'.

I began with this Walk in the Woods print and chose the rest of my fabrics from there.

This is what I ended up with.  

I chose three gray with coloured print, and then two each of red, gray and aqua prints along with coordinating solids.  I think it's kind of cute and it would work well for boys or girls.  

What do you think of my choices?

i spy a...

In an effort to get my hexie playmat all sorted out in the near future, I am swapping some 4" i-spy squares. The swap is hosted by Jenn at compulsively creative.

 I had to choose 10 different fabrics and cut 20 4" squares from each.  So I send 200 squares and I get 200 back - 190 being different than the ones I sent! 

Now I probably won't be able to use them all since there are some prints I definitely stay away from such as skulls and halloween prints and the like, but I think I will get enough to finish my playmat!

These are the 10 prints I sent off today.

200 layers of fabric makes a pretty tall stack I thought.

I'm Back!

We had a good holiday with the family in Holland. Two weeks can go by so quickly, and yet when I look back, it seems like it was longer than two weeks. It was good fun. 

When I got in the house I had mail waiting for me and I could hardly keep myself from ripping open a special envelope because I knew it was my swap package from the Mouthy Stitches swap.  I did wait, for about a half hour before I did open it.  

I knew by the address which pouch it was and that was part of the reason I was so excited to open the envelope.  The address was familiar because it was the same address I sent my swap package out to!  Sneaky swap mamas, pairing Rachel and I together!  

I couldn't be more pleased with the pouch and the scraps I received!  The pouch was one of my favourites in the swap from the very beginning - the colours are perfect, the fabric is a fave and the wrist strap is just what I asked for!  She also generously included some perfect three inch squares for my hexie project.  I also love every one of them, especially the laundry line one in the pic below.

Just look at all this beautiful stuff!

I consider this the front.  LOVE IT!

Bikes on the inside... it doesn't get any better.

I am so in love with this pouch!

Funny thing is, because Rachel was my partner, she had been stalking my blog and had seen the pouch I had made in full, even though I only put peeks in the Flickr pool. When she saw the pouch I had made, she was convinced it was for her!  It really doesn't get any better than when your favourite pouch is the one you actually get.

Also while we were away, my branding stamp finally came.  Now I can brand the clothes I make and people will know where it came from.

I like it.  Simple and cute.

Swapping Out

It's swap time again! 

Well, I think swaps are kind of an ongoing thing, but for me it's swap time again!

And again, it's two more swaps that I haven't done before.  The first one is For The Love of Solids (FTLOS).  I watched from the side last time as all these gorgeous creations made only from solids popped up.  Usually I work with prints, so this will be a little different.  I am looking forward to finding out who my partner is and then stalking and scheming up the perfect swap.

Here is my mosaic for the swap.

I choose dark but bright solids along with a dark dark gray.  I love colours that are bright and deep rather than simply bright.  

I also asked for my partner to make me a sewing machine cover as I saw so many nice ones on Flickr and my machine stands naked on it's table.  Would be nice to cover it up and keep it looking like decor rather than industry.

The second swap is a new one called Mouthy Stitches.

 

This swap is for a zippy pouch - zippy, not snap or clasp or button or velcro - and a FQ of scraps.  It's called Mouthy Stitches because the swap mamas want us to participate in discussions and commenting.  It is a rule that we must comment!  I like that rule.  I have done some swaps and my partner hardly ever commented on anything and then you are left wondering what to go with.  Comments are good.

Here is my mosaic for the Mouthy swap.  Some are the same as my FTLOS mosaic, but that's cuz they are really really nice!  And if you love something, pick it.

I am looking forward to the scraps for this one as I am hoping for fussy cut scraps so I can make hexies from them.  

I am collecting 1inch hexies to make a play mat type dealie for my girl.  I want every hexie to have something meaningful on it, whether it is a solid colour she can name, a very specific pattern like dots ro stripes, or a picture of something.  I have so far, a dog, mushrooms, cupcakes, red riding hood, and some other pretty good ones. 

As you can see, I need a LOT more to get anything of a good size.  This may be a very long term project.  

Unless I hit the scrap jackpot!  

Haha.. ha... ha...

Yeah, not likely.

All Done

***  If you are looking for giveaways, I have three going now!  Two for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day, here and here, and one for follower appreciation.  One has only one entry!  Ack, a sure winner! 

They are all open until Friday.  ***

I went from W.I.P. to finished all in one day!  Yay me!

Well, not all the way finished because I simply don't have the right kind of button to finish off the bag.  I was thinking a big wooden button, but I don't have any big enough. 

What do you think?  Big wooden button?  Big white button?  

I am always so indecisive about these things.  

Today was also a good day to check my mail.  I not only got a card from my in-laws today, but I also got the ALFALC swap all the way from Tasmania!  And it was well worth the wait.  

Check it out!

A little can of Milo, 4 beautiful bits of fabric, a super cute card, vintage buttons (oh, how I love buttons) and fudge!  

I had mentioned to my swap partner that I had lived in Australia for 6 months when I was 19 and that I used to have Milo every night, but we don't have it here.  (Though I did once find it in Walmart.)  And being such a sweetie, she packed up a little can for me!  I remember my cousins always had it on top of cold milk and they would eat the crunchy powder before it could dissolve.  I liked it that way too.  But I was cold today, so I mixed it in with warm milk and, mmmmmm, I guzzled it down.  I probably should have just drank it nicely and enjoyed it, but I was too excited.  

Yeah, I'm a little nerdy that way.  But I am not alone in my nerdy state, and by my age, I don't really care what people think of me anyway.

And for one last shot... the fabric closeup.  A little fuzzy, but oh so scrumptious!

A Little Dress and Fabric Love

Well, after that very hard pattern I thought it was a good time to make something a little easier, you know, to make me feel good and competent again. So I pulled out my Oliver&S pattern for the Seashore Sundress.

Now I know it is fall going on winter, but I figure D can wear this as a jumper with long sleeves underneath or a cardigan over top. Plus, fall needs some bright blue to keep things lively.

I love how this little dress turned out, and it only took me one night to get it done! Whew. I feel better about my abilities now. The fabric is something I acquired via a Flickr swap and it is a Michael Miller print. The blue really is as vibrant as it looks in the photos.

I broke out the button kit for this beauty.  Two matching swirl buttons!

Pockets that really serve no purpose, but are cute if you remember they are there.

Linking this dress up here

In other news,
When I opened my email this morning, I had to mails from two fabric shops.  They both wanted to show me some new prints, and what darling fabrics they are!  I am a sucker for so called Children's Fabrics like these. 

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What fabrics are you a sucker for?  Florals?  Geometrics?  Solids?