pictures and words

A mini quilt gift - for a book and a quilt lover.

 I started this project in January, and it's kind of fitting that I finish it in December.  

 Most of the little bits were gotten in scrap swaps and other random swaps.

Thanks to all of you who helped me with getting all different bits for this!

 More fabulous mail!  Another scrap + small handmade item swap.  My partner spoiled me and gave me a gorgeous pillow cover and well over a FQ worth of scraps!

My husband is having knee surgery in January to repair a torn ACL, and because he doesn't want to be bored and alone in the living room, we are moving the house around!  I was not excited at first, but then he talked about a real sewing corner for me and a new desk with shelves... then I got into it.  He's also building a new computer desk and two side tables.  

While he will be busy building, I will be busy hand sewing.  Putting the finishing touches on my Hexy MF top.  Still wobbling over the quilting part.  Katy's original quilt has all the flowers quilted individually with a different design... I'm not sure if the local quilter here can do that.  I looked up a few other hexagon quilts and thought that maybe, just maybe I can hand quilt it.  

Any tips for hand quilting before I get bogged down and never finish?

a bit of this

Did you know that today is Giveaway Day over at Sew Mama Sew?  There are 5 categories of giveaways - so many blogs and so much stuff being given away!  I participated last year, but opted out this year.  Instead of having a 'mass' giveaway, I am planning to have a follower giveaway within the next 2 months.  

Lucky you who follow me.

I actually had a very productive weekend.  Well, weekend is a bit of a stretch, it was more of a day.  Saturday.  I finished piecing together all the hexy flowers for the Hexy MF last week and on Saturday I crawled around on the floor with my 9 month pregnant belly basting the hexies to the quilt top fabric.  My husband kept looking over at me as I grunted and huffed and puffed my way up and down and around.  

But it's basted and I've already secured one side to the fabric!  At least the stitching part I can do while sitting.  

I might even get this quilt done this year!  

One question for you then - 

How would you quilt this?  

Hand quilt?  

Bring it to a quilter?  

Organic straight lines?  

Swirls of some sort?  

Really, I have no idea and could really use some suggestions.

On Flickr, I had posted a picture that I was ISO blue and purple scraps.  Some wonderful Flickr people helped me out and swapped with me for some of their scrap stash.  

This is what is becoming of those scraps. 

I'm making a feather quilt from Anna Maria Horner's pattern.

Originally, I had intended it to be for little D, but now I think she will be gifted the Hexy MF (hubby thinks it's too pink for our bed - I might agree from his point of view) and this might be a long-in-the-making quilt for us.  That means I will have to find a lot more scraps. 

Making feathers from scraps is a lot more time consuming than making them with strips.  I have to make each piece separately because most of the scraps are not long enough to piece together and then cut in bulk.
So far, I'm okay with that though.  I like the idea that no feather will be the same as another, and yet, they will all be blue and purple.
I was thinking of doing a gray stem and putting it all together with something like Kona Champagne. 

Or I'll just have to buy some fat eighths off Etsy along with some scrap packs... 

Or find some more people to swap with... 

Wanna swap with me?

pillows, a skirt, and a list

Is it really Wednesday today? I thought for some reason that it was Tuesday.  But Wednesday is a good day.  

My mom is moving into her new house next month and we're all excited for her.  She's been living in an old drafty house for the last bunch of years so this is a big step up for her. She's been busy choosing paint, light fixtures, flooring, curtains - all the fun stuff that comes with a new house.  

I thought her living room pillows needed an update as well, cuz, you know, they just won't match the 'new' anymore.  

So she and I went out to Fabricland last week and she picked out some fabrics for me to play with.  Her living room area is a cream colour with a rusty red/orange accent wall, so these fabrics fit perfectly.  She also didn't want complicated piecing or quilting on the covers, just simple stripes.  

First I did simple vertical stripes. 

Then I tried some angled stripes, but I think I like the vertical better.  I have three more covers to make and about three weeks left to do them in.  

I'll make it.  They'll get done since they're pretty simple and I can finish one up in an evening.

They will all have a hidden zipper closure on the back.  They are so easy to do I wish I had discovered earlier how to do the zipper thing for pillows.  It turns out way nicer than envelope style I think because with envelope style, sometimes the opening can gape just a little and it doesn't look as neat.  I followed this tutorial at Sew Mama Sew.

In the clothing department, I had an order for a skirt to finish up.  Just got it done this morning and I love how it turned out! 

It's the first time I made this pattern and I love it.  I might have to make it a regular in my shop, if there's enough interest.  

The pattern is the Aubrey Skirt from Sadie James Patterns on Etsy.  The only change I made was to the waistband.  Instead of measuring the waist and cutting the elastic for a personalized fit, I made it fully adjustable with buttonhole elastic.  For the rest, the pattern was super easy to follow and it only took me an evening and a morning to make.

For the next skirt though, I might use less than 40" widths worth of fabric as that makes it almost a little too full. 

I was also thinking the other night about what I all want to have finished before this baby comes.  

Ummm, my list is a little bigger than I thought!  Not bigger with stuff, just the stuff on it is big.

Just in case this one is a boy, I wanted to have a boy quilt done.  All I have right now is the fabric on a stack.  

I wanted to have the hexie playmat done, but it is being woefully ignored, for the past few months in fact.  I have a few hexies yet to piece on to the top and then I have to make a little 'quilt' out of it.

I want to have the Hexy MF top all pieced together.  I am almost done that, just have to put two more rows together and the hexy part is done.

And lastly, I wanted to have a toddler sized quilt for D finished so that her 'big' bed might be a little more attractive.  

At the rate I'm going, only the Hexy MF top will get done.  

*sigh*

No matter, I would rather the baby come a little sooner than get done all the things on my list.

Canadian Blogathon!

 

 Hello to all who are here via Blogathon Canada hosted by Sew Sisters Quilt Shop! 

I'm Deanna and I really still don't consider myself a quilter as I haven't finished one big quilt yet.  Almost, but not quite.

I don't know what to call myself then as I do play around with quilting and paper piecing and all that other quilty stuff.  I started with sewing clothes for my little girl and from there I discovered Flickr and well, that was the end of my 'lone' sewing!  I found so many inspiring quilters and soon became a blog follower and then a blogger.

So welcome to my little space.

It also happens to be Wednesday... but I have no new WIP's, only one big continuing one.

Hexy MF.

My carpet is not kid proof and little D got hold of chalk paint one day... hence the black smudge.

The bigger this top gets, the harder it gets to piece!  It takes up my whole lap and it a little difficult to manage when I have to match up sides without having them pull away.

And I know I said no more swaps until after the baby, but really, I can't not sew something!  And swaps are the perfect opportunity for me to make something I wouldn't normally make, like a mug rug.

This is for the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap - we have to swap a FQ's worth of modern scraps and a handmade item.

I stalked my partner and she had a bunch of mosaics made for other swaps so I think I figured out pretty good what to make for her.  

Now I have been a bit of a negligent blogger lately due to lack of activity and motivation, and that got me thinking about why I blog.  

If you are a blogger, why do you blog?  

I came to the conclusion that I do it for selfish reasons.  I want to have a place where I can occasionally get some feedback about the things I make.

If you are a blog follower, why?  

I follow blogs because I love to see what other people are up to and get new ideas and see styles that are similar but different from my own. 

So, I'm curious, what are your reasons for blogging or following?

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?

a colourful post

Okay, so here I am... on Wordpress... so please excuse if things don't look quite right.

I've been busy busy busy sewing dresses and tunics for my upcoming tradeshow in October and then I decided I needed a break from them.  So I got to work on a swap item!

I joined the Modernista Homemade swap this time around.  We have to make something for the kitchen and my partner asked for something pretty specific, so I won't share that part yet.  I have to wait for fabrics anyway before I can even post any progress or sneak peeks.  For the small item, I chose to make a bunting as that was also something she hinted at being able to find a place for.

Because the large item will be all prints with a neutral background, I thought to make the small item from all solids.  I really like this bunting and I think it looks pretty good on my own wall... Might have to make another!

I've also been plugging away at my Hexy MF project.  The last few nights I've pulled out my hexies and made at least one flower an evening.

Then yesterday I wasn't feeling very well, so I parked myself in my rocking chair and made a bunch more.

Now if only I could find the other finished flowers I made!  I put them away somewhere 'safe' but I can't for the life of me remember where that 'safe' place is!  I seem to have that problem more often lately.

That's why I try not to clean up my sewing space too too often.  I only end up losing stuff.

Today I also received some happy mail!

My pouch from my Pretty {little} Pouch Swap partner arrived!  Alisa from Making More With Less send me this beautiful gray, orange, and aqua pouch.  Big enough to hold my hand sewing and pretty enough to leave sitting around - I mean look at the bikes and the row of fancy stitching!

I was quite surprised to find out that my partner was the same person I sent to!  That's the second time that has happened to me - and both times have been super swaps.

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.

source

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!

source

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.

source

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. 

source

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!

hexies all around

I have decided on Hexie MF fabrics.  

Domestic Bliss was most popular in votes, and with my husband.   I usually don't ask my husband because his colour skills leave something to be desired, but this time, he swayed my mind.  I really like this line and am excited to be working with it.  

I was debating whether to also get the Modernology anyway and then decide when they showed up, but my fabric budget is simply not that big.  It's bigger when I am making things to sell, because then I at least make my cost back.  But just for fun stuff has a cost cap.

I only changed two things.

I took out the Mini Diamonds in Blue and Cream and replaced it with Out of Doors in Cream.  The diamonds didn't really seem to fit with the rest of my choices and I really liked the leaf print and wanted to include it.

I also went with Kona Charcoal instead of the Soho Charcoal.  It was cheaper.

The centres are Moda Bella Cheddar.

And did you know that it was impossible to get all these from one shop!!?  I had to order from 4 different Etsy sellers.  But they were all super friendly and super helpful.  

I love Etsy.

While I am waiting to start those hexies, I have been piecing these ones. 

I am squaring it off now because I am running out of hexies with kid identifiable images on them.  And really, 4 elephants is plenty.  LOTS of these fabrics came from my great swap partners and Flickr and Blogger friends.  

You guys rock.

Because so many of you were so generous, I want to return the favour.  

I will give one commenter a Domestic Bliss charm pack. 

All you have to do is answer this question:

What was your first job?

My first real job was working in a printing factory. It stank in there and I did not like it one bit.  My second job was in a bakery and I got to take home broken cookies.  I loved it!

Giveaway will end June 27.

*****Giveaway is now over.  Winner will be announced shortly!*****

some help please

This year I caught in on the fun and joined Craftaholics Handmade Gift Exchange.  This was the sixth exchange and there are two a year, one in the spring and one in the fall.  

This year Linda chose to use a site called Elfster to organize the swap.  Elfster blindly paired people up and then when you find out your partner, you can ask secret questions and look at their likes and their wishlist.  Some people don't seem to like or understand how Elfster works, but I thought it was great!  It was nice to be able to ask my secret partner questions about her style and likes.  That way I can put a gift together that I know is her style.

My partner collects owls and foxes, and I had some owl fabric left, so I made a reversible tote.  It turned out a little smaller than I hoped, but it is still a good size for when you don't need to take much along.

I had received some of the same owl fabric in a different colourway so I reverse appliqued an owl of the lighter colour on both sides of the bag.  I haven't done reverse applique before and I really like how it turned out.  I first interfaced the fabric I cut out of so that the edges wouldn't fray too badly.

My partner said she really liked colour so the reverse I chose a much brighter print from my stash. 

******

A quick interruption from our local elephant.

She used to be scared of this costume, but now she wears it weekly.  Even eats lunch with it on!

******

I am going to take a really big step.  I am joining a QAL.

I know!  What am I doing?  I'm not a quilter!

I make clothes and small quilty things, but I am not a quilter!

See, it's a big step.

I read over on Marian's blog about a QAL that Fat Quarterly is hosting.  Then I saw the quilt she was talking about and it was one I had pinned a while ago!  How could I resist!

The quilt is Hexie MF from Katy over at i'm a ginger monkey.

image from i'm a ginger monkey

I loved this quilt the moment I saw it, and now I have the opportunity to make it!  I am just a little excited to be making hexies all summer and then end up with this!

But now I have to pick fabrics.  I don't have a specific plan for this quilt, other than to make it, so my colour options are pretty open.  I headed over to the Fat Quarter Shop and Etsy to scope out some good fabrics and came up with three lines that I really like.  I want colours that will make the flowers pop from the background.  For all three lines I chose Soho Charcoal for the background.  I really wanted to find a crosshatch or sketch in charcoal, but there is none to be had, so this will work.

I need your help now.  Which of these three lines do you think will show off the pattern of the quilt best?

Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda Fabrics

Peachy Keen La Dee Da from Erin McMorris

Vogue Blue Modernology by Pat Bravo