Here's the second... (needed a different URL for linking). 

I like lime green and purple together so I started with those solids and then I ended up adding some blue.  Again the grays are there because I cannot leave them out.  Really, they just jumped right in!

A name...?

Calmed Down.

a contest

Let me start by saying that I am not very confident in my colour coordinating abilities. 

My wardrobe is mostly solids or 'blenders' for tops mixed with jeans or black bottoms.

My walls are all cream coloured and then I simply add whatever I like for decor, whether it actually matches or not.

When choosing fabric, I generally stick to fabrics from the same line as I am really not sure about mixing patterns and colours.

That being said, this is a bit of a step out for me.  

Sew Lux Fabric is having a contest on their blog called the Guest Curator Contest.

I hesitated, but I am entering two mosaics.  They are slightly similar in that I kept the two gray prints and the purple solid.  I'm not very daring.

I am currently dreaming up a quilt for my daughter that is made with blue and purple fabrics.  So for this one, I started with the blues and purples.  Then I thought to pull in some pinks for the girly factor and add some grays because I absolutely love gray and it keeps things balanced.

Let's call it The Quilt.

How'd I do?

something got done

It would seem that I am becoming a once a week blogger. 

I can only blame that on lack of 'stuff' happening around here.  Really, I do more sitting and hand stitching hexies or reading than anything lately.  Oh, and baking, because there's something about having cake in the evenings that I simply can't resist.

I do have some finishes to share though.

I finished some dress orders - no pictures of the dresses, but trust me, I have one completed, one cut and on the go and one, well, ready to cut.

I am a sucker for scraps, and though I said no more swaps until after the baby comes, I just had to get in on the Scrappy Swap.  We are trading a FQ's worth of scraps and a handmade item that's been made with scraps.  I love that part - it really forces me to look at my own scraps differently and then create something worth giving from them!  

I've seen Anna Maria Horner's feathers floating around Flickr and Pinterest and just knew I had to try one.  This was the perfect opportunity.

I pulled scraps that had pinks and purples and blues and after a few tries, I this came off the ironing board.

And, I am proud to say, I resisted the temptations of my stash and did everything with scraps.  

I turned the feather into a pouch.  I am not 100% happy with how my zipper turned out this time.  I skipped the fabric tabs on the ends and I regret having done that as it messed with my mind and broke three of my needles.

In any case, this feather pouch along with a good size FQ of scraps will be off to my partner next week.  Oh, and there is a surprise in the lining...

As of this morning, I am also finished with my Stack n Whack quilt top.  On Sunday, I saw that one of the friends I had attended this class with was already finished her top and that gave me the push I needed to finally get my act together.

Not a great picture, but really, taking pictures of quilt tops seems a little difficult to do alone.  You get the idea anyway.  I also had just enough of the purple fabric to cut enough for binding.  

All that's left is getting a backing and bringing it in to the quilter.  

Hehe, I say that's all that's left, but it might be a long time before that happens.

WIP Wednesday

I'm not very consistent in posting my WIP's, especially not on Wednesdays, but hey, I actually have something to show this time!

I have never taken any kind of quilting class, and most of what I learned, I learned online from blogs and other great quilters.  But, this past Monday, two friends and myself participated in Stack n Whack class at a local quilt shop.  I went not just to learn something, but mostly for the fun.  And we had a lot of fun since it turned out it was just the three of us there that day.  

I also got something started.

We had to find a fabric with a 12" repeat and I found this one from Pat Bravo called Fashion Mood in Bright from her Bespoken line.  I paired it up with her coordinating solid and ended up with these blocks.

I will admit, that on Monday I only got 4 blocks done and I made another sewing day out of yesterday and finished off the other 4.  I also have the triangles cut and just have to piece the top together and add borders and I'm finished the top.  

I'm also still plugging away at my Hexy MF quilt.  So far I've pieced together two strips for the top.  

Kinda nice that I can piece this together from the comforts of my rocking chair.  It does get a little clumsy since the strips as slightly stiff with the papers and they are pretty long. 

Coming along nicely though!  Just this stack left... 

I also have some dresses to make as a result of the tradeshow I attended last Saturday.  I've started cutting them, but was gone so far this week so I didn't really pay much attention to them yet.

I'm also still working on this one too!  

 

32 weeks and counting

Don't you just love self photos?

updates

A post of updates here - all for projects that were started and are now finished - yay! 

First, I want to show you a picture of our little girl wearing the new shirt I made for her.  Turns out it fit her perfectly and looked gorgeous in all our family photos.

I am in love with this little girl and this picture.

I also finished my Modernista swap project.  A little iffy putting it up now because if my swap partner sees this she will absolutely know it's for her.  But I don't think she hangs around my blog at all, and I really want to share!

My partner really wanted a table cloth and her table was not too big, so I thought "I can do that."  

And I did.

Main fabrics are all Lou Lou Thi sashing and backing is Essex Linen.

I did a very simple design because some of the Lou Lou Thi prints are so large it's only fair to show them off as they are.  In the centre, I embroidered part of the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." The embroidery would have worked better I think if I'd had some perle, but I only had floss, and there's no one local who sells perle.  

For the small items, I made some hotpads that have owl fabric for backing and the bunting I had made to fit over her window.

The second swap item I finished is the pillow cover for the Pillow Talk Swap.

My partner is so completely silent, I wonder sometimes if she is real.  No comments, no photos, nothing!  

Anyway, based on her mosaic these are colours she likes and she stated in her form that she liked geometric designs.  So here we have it.

Three 6inch hexagons with echo quilting, three rows of yellow pindot piping, and three smaller hexagons on three strips of Kona Coal.  Seems pretty geometric to me.  

Because the one side of the pillow is so densely quilted, I chose to do nothing around the small hexies - just the subtle lines of the strips pieced together.

It will fit a 20inch form, and I only had an 18inch form, so the cover is not stuffed well in these photos.  Too bad for that, because I would have loved to have seen this cover in all it's, um, 'glory'.

 That's it for swaps for me this year as I should be getting ready for the baby's arrival.
Only 10 more weeks!

a shirt for D

I made a shirt. For little D. She wasn't as excited about this shirt as she was about the dress I made for her. I think she likes dresses better. 

Lucky for her, I know that she cannot only have dresses, but she needs some tops to go with her jeans and skirts, which she also loves.

 D has a shirt that I love, but it is too small, so I tried to copy the style for this one.  It's a pretty close copy, the main difference being that there are less pin tucks on the front of this one and I didn't add bias tape and buttons on the cuffs.

I used some fabric I'd been hoarding for who knows how long, knowing again that I wanted to make something for D with it.  It's from Amy Butler's Love collection, Water Bouquet in Midnight.  

I love the deep colours.

Since I had no pattern for the shirt, I just mashed together a collared button up pattern with my own modifications - the pin tucks, no collar, long sleeves, button placket (which worked waaaay better than on the dress), and slits on the bottom sides.

For some added shape, I also put a bit of elastic in a casing and sewed to the inside of the back. 

D reluctantly tried the shirt on for me, so I think it fits good, but she wasn't cooperating very well and refused to stand.  Thus the wall pictures.

Anyone getting sick of my wall?

I hope this shirt does fit as good as I think because we have family pics this afternoon and I'd love for her to wear this.  With her blond hair and the fall backdrop, I think it would look good.

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?