it's summer here

We've been having some gorgeous weather lately and I've been getting my hands dirty in the garden, mowing the lawn, sitting outside with D while she plays in her pool. Today she was running under the sprinkler with an umbrella.  We also recently got a buggy board for the stroller and we're back to walking again.  D is 3 and not fond of long walks.  I'm 30 and I am fond of long walks.  The solution was the buggy board.  Now D can stand and roll along with K and the stroller while I push all that weight and walk to my hearts content.

I've also had a few dress orders come through, so between all the summer fun, I've still been playing with fabric.

And I'm still sewing for the two bees I'm in.  This block I just finished today.

I sure hope I never have to make a block like that again.  It looks neat, but it took me forever to make and it took more thinking on my part than I think it should have.

I also made another block for the hexy bee, but I totally forgot to take a picture of it.

This is my Simply Solids reward.  

I got all the members to make a large triangle from small triangles.  They each got a random bunch of colours and had to randomly piece them together.  

By the end of it, one member seems to have disappeared and so no block from her.

I came with a solution to fill the hole though.  First I was going to just use a single solid, but after playing around a bit, I went with three colours in each other.

I love how this turned out. 

Right now it's between lap and twin size.  Now I'm debating adding a border or not.  If I do, I will probably do a solid... Dark gray maybe.

pts10 finished!

I finished it, and just on time too, as the deadline to mail is Monday. 

I really challenged myself with this pillow.

Drafting a paper pieced patter.

Setting a circle into a square.

Putting a pillow together in a new to me way.  The zipper is on the bottom so this is a double sided pillow.  I followed this tutorial for a Zippered Pillow Cover from Make It and Love It.

Doing some random piecing - completely new for me!

And after all that, I hope my partner will love it as much as I do!

swaps and a gift

I sent this pillow cover out this week along with a little cathedral window pin cushion.  I also added scraps to this package, but didn't take a picture

.

My partner was silent as a church mouse and so I was a little nervous to send it.  Also, sadly and maybe badly to say, a little less enthusiastic to send it.  A swap is so much funner when you have a chatty or even slightly chatty partner.

And I do have a partner like that in the Pillow Talk {Swap}.  After stalking her, knowing she likes Catherineholm and low volume, I've put this together.  Not sure what background to go with yet.  I have a good week to decide before I commit.

all yellows...

grays and yellows...

I also finished up this hexy butterfly for the Get Your Hex On bee. 

 

To top off my good week, I got a super surprise in the mail.  Remember I got 'published'?  Well, Sew Sisters, despite sending me fabric to play with in the first place and then letting me keep what I'd made, sent me a Thank You gift for writing up a tutorial for them!

They were absolutely generous and sent me a 1/2 yard bundle of Kona solids and a charm pack of Summersville Spring by Lucie Summers.

I sense a quilt coming!

it's the weather

Haven't been blogging much... you can blame that on the beautiful weather we've been having.  I've been outside watering my flowers and planting some of my garden.  We even spent the afternoon outside on Monday and played in the pool!  

Anyway, here's a blog post... who knows when the next one will come!

I spent weeks making a tutorial for this pillow and an a few days it's posted and a giveaway is won.

 

ps. love the table top my husband made for me!  I sure do.

I never realized how much work goes into making tutorials.  I will never take tutorials for granted again.  

Right now, I'm working on a pillow cover for The Pillow Talk {Swap}.  I was having a bit of trouble choosing what to make for my partner as she likes low volume fabrics and I still don't have much of an idea of what constitutes low volume.  

My partner also seems to like stars and Dresden plates, but there is no way I'm going to tackle a Dresden plate now. For some odd reason, they kind of scare me.

Instead, I chose something different.  Much different.  I stalked my partner and found she likes the Catherineholm lotus design.  

After much searching, I couldn't find a pattern for sewing it up.  So I made a paper pieced pattern using a free download program called Quilt Assistant.  It's not exactly symmetrical, but you can't tell from looking at it.

Just have two left to make and then I have a whole.  Then I have to find a way to make the blue round and then I will square it off with some, what I think are, low volume prints. Just hope she likes the graphic design of this pillow.  Wish me luck!

I'm also busy finishing off some orders for dresses.  Here's a Maxi Dress with a double ruffle.  Little D is a size 4, and she's modelling a size 3 here, so it's a bit short.  She also insisted on holding these silk flowers she found.

 

And you know what?  After I spent some time designing this dress and figuring out measurements, Violette Threads comes out with a similar pattern. 

Only differences are the flutter straps and their bodice is squares whereas mine is rounded.  

Great minds think alike I guess.

Last thing.
If you are Canadian and you're interested in swapping fat eighths with some other Canadians, I started a Flickr group for us called F8 Swap Canadian Edition. It's the first swap I've organized, but since it's not large, only 8 swappers to a group, I think it might be a good place to start. 
Wanna join us?

published!

A little nervous and a little excited - the first tutorial I've ever written has been posted over at Sew Sisters.

Go check it out and enter to win a FQ bundle of the blues I used to make the Tangram pillow.

simply solids - triangles

As I've mentioned before, I'm the leader of the month of May for the Simply Solids Bee.  I was playing around with a bunch of ideas for blocks to make, and I always seemed to come back to triangles.  Not half-square triangles, but isosceles triangles.  

I looked around for tutorials for my group to follow, but all triangle quilt tutorials used strips of triangles sewn together.  That doesn't really work for a bee where members have to make blocks.

So, members, here is what I'd like to you do for me this month.  It's a bit large, but there is no complicated piecing.

I sent out 25 pre-cut triangles to every member of my group.  (I used a paper template to cut these out and it took me a good two evenings to cut all them all!).

Randomly arrange the triangles into a triangle - please be completely random and as much as you tend to put things in patterns (something I always seem to do), please don't.

Now we're going to sew the bottom row together in groups of three.

Take two triangles and line them up against the side that will be sewn together, point to point, and sew with a scant 1/4" seam. 

Open it up and sew on the next triangle.

I am going to press the seam allowances towards the outer triangles, so to make sure I get the second triangle on right, I finger press the seam allowance down and match up the points of the unsewn triangle to the sewn ones.

Press the seam allowances to the outer triangles.

To sew together groups of three, match up the sides that will be sewn together.

Here's a trick I use to make sure I get my points just right.  Hold the pressed seam allowance in the opposite direction and match the unsewn point to the sewn points.

Let go of the seam allowance and you have the perfect pointy bit sticking out over top.  Pin in place and sew.

Press the seam allowance as shown.

Sometimes, you might have to trim.  Just measure up 1/4" from the point and trim off the excess.  This will help to get perfect points. Not that all my points are absolutely perfect, but I try.

When sewing together rows of triangles, I always match up the points by peeking between the two layers and pinning where the points should match.  You may have to ease the fabric together between pins - that's okay.  In fact, in making my 'block' I did a lot of easing.

Here's to rows sewn together. 

Then just continue until you have all the pieces together in one large triangle

I hope this little explanation is clear enough, but if you have any questions, please ask!

april/may

I am super busy right now!

1. I have Spring Market on May 3rd that I am busy prepping for.

That means making some pillow cases, dresses, and organizing my stock.

2. I have to finish my Get Your Hex On block for April yet - it kinda got a little forgotten about.

3. I am queen bee for May in the Simply Solids Bee, so I have to get my butt in gear with organizing and cutting and I may have to write up a quick and short tutorial for my blocks.

4. I have to finalize a guest post for May.

5. I finished the large swap item for Sew Sew Modern, but I have absolutely no clue what to make for a small item.  My partner is so so quiet, I wonder if she even exists!

6. And most importantly of all, I have to spend time with my kiddies.  D loves to go biking every day and she doesn't just go for a quick ride and then quit - she loves biking so much she'll go for an hour!  Good exercise for me though as that means I also take an hour long walk.