Library Bag

Summertime is here! At our house, this means Daddy is home everyday with the kids while Mommy is at work. I try to encourage activities other than TV watching and playing on the computer. The family has decided that this summer, every Tuesday is library day. They went every once in a while last summer, but my daughter can really read this summer, so we want it to be a more regular activity. To get her excited about it, she definitely needed a library bag!

Of course it's princesses. What else could it be?

She picked this shiny, silky hot pink fabric for the inside. This came from a scrap grab bag I got at the fabric store for $1.

I didn't use a pattern and pretty much made it up as I went. The bag is pretty large (since lots of kid's books are oversized). I used a decorative stitch on the handles, because she loves to "pick a stitch" on my machine. I think she was pretty happy with how it turned out!

"Now can I take a silly one?"

Skill Builder

If you aren't interested in the Quilt Along from yesterday, how about this one? A skill building quilt along. I'm going to try to participate because I don't know alot of the things that she's going to be teaching. Paper piecing and needle-turn applique don't work in my head. I don't really know why, but I want to learn. There are going to be enough block for a queen sized quilt, so even if I don't make them all, I'll still have a smaller quilt when the series finishes! Now I'm off to look for fabric!

Clover & Violet Embroidery 101: Stitch and Quilt Along

The best part of Giveaway Day to me is all of the new blogs I discover. I don't follow just to win something. I only follow the blogs that look interesting to me. Clover & Violet is a new one for me. AND they are starting a stitch and quilt along. I love th Birdie Stitches and thought it would be fun to start another one. The Clover and Violet only needs 9 fat quarters and 3/4 yrd of a white/off white solid. For about $32 you can order the exact fabric/thread they are using (there's a coupon on the link above and a link to the store). If you wanted to pick your own fabrics, I bet you could get close to $15 for the finished top. I think this will be a great opportunity to learn/relearn embroidery and combine it with quilting. I hope you'll participate!

Here is some of the fabric I'm auditioning. I like most of it, but I still need on or 2 more, depending on which ones I leave out. Opinions, please!

Tea Party!

I've been a follower of Mollie at Wild Olive for a while now, and I love her site. This week she is hosting a Tea Party, and I decided to participate. Go visit her for som photography tips (which I obviously need!), a recipe, even a cute little tea pot and tea cup embroidery pattern.

Wild Olive always makes me think of my grandmother because she was the one who taught me how to embroider. She used to do it, and when I spent the night at her house, she taught me. I loved going to her house all the time. For a while she lived down the road from us, so we were there almost everyday. Once I got older I would spend days and days at her house in the summer. I would always have her call my mom to ask if I could stay longer, because I knew my mom would always tell her yes! We would spend the days reading, swimming in the creek behind her house, playing badmitton, coloring, playing card games. I loved it at her house.
When I got married, she gave me a "hope chest" as she called it of things she had embroidered for my new home...pillowcases, table runners, dish towels. I still have a few of the pieces that we use all the time.

I decided to post about my grandma for the tea party because of this embroidery connection and also because of the Alice theme. When I stayed at her house, we watched a TV movie of Alice in Wonderland. I can remember it scaring me to death. It was playing at the pediatric dentist's office on the same morning that Mollie posted about the Tea Party! I took that as a sign that I needed to participate!

Mollie has created the cutest Alice character embroidery pattern, which I bought last week. I thought that a little Mad Hatter would be perfect for a tea party.

Here he is all finished up. I LOVE the way his hair turned out!

Now if you would like to win him, just leave me a comment telling me something that your grandmother taught you. Isn't that the best part of a tea party...sitting and sharing with friends? If you didn't have that kind of relationship with your grandmother, how about your grandfather? No, a movie that scared you as a little kid? I will pick a winner on Monday and put this little Mad Hatter in the mail then. A Very Merry Unbirthday to You!

Giveaway Day!

The giveaway is closed! I will be emailing the winner this morning! Thanks for all the visits and a few new followers!

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Last time around I didn't really know what Giveaway Day was, but I do now! I didn't win anything last time, but I discovered a bunch of great blogs that I still follow. I didn't want to miss the chance to participate this time! I'm going to give away 2 things. First,


The Pleated Purse.

The outside is duckcloth and the inside is broadcloth. It is approximately 14 inches wide and 12 inches long. It's a very room purse. I carried another one I made, and it was the perfect size.

There are divided pockets on each side.

I'm also giving away this yarn. It was supposed to be for scarves for my kids, one boy and one girl. My daughter loves stuff like that. However, my skills are a little bit lacking, and I couldn't use this. Maybe you can.

I will randomly chose two winners on the evening of the 25th. I will ship internationally. I would love to have more followers, but I hate those kind of giveaways. Just leave an interesting comment...what would you make, what you've won before, what you had for dinner. I have a number in my head and if I get that many followers, I'll also give away some fabric. Please be sure that your email is available in your profile or leave it in your comment.
Definitely go check out the rest of the giveaways at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Second Saturday Sewing: Blogging FAIL

I had such good intentions about taking great pictures of the latest Second Saturday Sewing. I was so excited about sharing our hard work with the blog world, but alas, I failed. I took ONE picture the whole day. I made pincushions for the treat basket. (Last month it held bags with a fat quarter, some embroidery floss, some basting pins, and some other little sewing notions.) I really liked my pincushions and made sure to take a good picture of them:

That was the end of my photography. Luckily my daughter took a few for your viewing pleasure:
My fabric and sewing supplies ready to get started.

Who doesn't look fabulous when a 5 year old takes a sneak picture of them while they are in the middle of a project?!?

Concentrating again.

Christy is so excited to be here!

We really did have a good time again. We didn't make a whole lot of sewing progress. We needed another ironing board for this particular project. We also spent almost an hour trying to get a sewing machine fixed (another fail!). We all got about half of a bag done. Next month we are meeting a weekend earlier, I think. We all have a project to work on now. I think CAR is going to blog about it Thursday. Be sure to go visit her too!

I am really happy that we are going this. It's so nice to know that I'm going to have the chance to get together with some of my best friends every month. It's also nice to have several friends interesting in sewing now; common interests are always good. It's also been a very satisfying experience to share what I know and to be able to get feedback and tips from my friends who have learned things on their own. (Number your pieces with a washable marker and you don't have to spend nearly as much time trying to remember which piece goes where. Thanks, CAR!) Heather said something like, "Even though I haven't really made anything yet, I feel like I've learned alot." That is my hope for all of us, that we learn new things. Thanks for coming again, friends. See you next time.

WIP Wednesday 05/18/2011

Wednesday again! I'm actually very excited about my main work in progress this week. I've been sewing away on the plus quilt I started last week. I finished cutting all of the squares on Saturday night.

On Sunday night I stayed up WAY too late sewing the first 10 of 20 rows together.

After I took this picture last night, I finished sewing the last 10 rows together. They are just in strips right now, but maybe after tonight it will be a finished top. I'm not really sure how big this is going to be, but it is very large when it's all layed out on my living room floor. Depending on how big it ends up when the top is all together, I may add a border to make it big enough for my queen bed. I love it so far!

I've also been working on my Jamie Dress. It's almost finished. I need to finish up the straps and decide how long I want it to be. I think I like it. No picture, but hopefully next week!

I also started my pleated apple purse. Blog about that tomorrow!

I hope you've been checking out some of the other links on Freshly Pieced. I'm inspired every week visiting around.

Preparing for Second Saturday Sewing

If you are interested in following us from the beginning, check out this post!

We are doing our second Second Saturday Sewing this weekend. I'm very excited. I love hanging out with these wonderful women and I like to sew, so it's the best of both worlds! Last time we worked on baby quilts. I haven't finished mine, but I plan on working on it a little bit before Saturday. A couple of us are going to work on getting them finished, but we're going to also start the next project! This is the fabric I chose:


We are going to make this purse. I've made it twice before and am pretty excited to make it again. It's a very satisfying project! Please check back next week to see how they turn out!

Work in Progress Wednesday 05/11/2011

This week I've been working on my dress. If you walked into my sewing area and picked up that pile (hidden amongst the many other piles!), you could probably figure out it is a dress. I'm on the adding the zipper part, so I've slowed down. To be quite honest, I'm scared that I'm going to mess it up. I really like the way it's turning out so far, but the zipper scares me. I'm going to conquer it though!

I did start cutting the squares for a Plus quilt. I think I've done 7 of 20 fat quarters. The rest are pressed and ready to go!


I also finally finished this little project:

I used the Cuckoo! embroidery pattern from Wild Olive. If you haven't been to her blog, you should definitely check it out. She makes the cutest things and her patterns are very nice. I don't love how this looks on the wall, but I'm planning a makeover for the office/sewing room/play area/junk room in my head. It won't be long before that project happens, hopefully!

This weekend is Second Saturday Sewing. Look for some more posts about that! Be sure to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced to see what other work is in progress!

Finished at last!

I finished the zigzag quilt! I love it. So far it's the best thing I've made, I think. When I washed it, nothing came apart. I'll have to measure it, but it's a nice sized lap quilt. Not quite long enough for a nap. I used Punctuation by American Jane charm packs and I'm not sure about the name of the blue. I used red for the binding.


I quilted it in straight lines going with the zigzags. It's the first quilt I've used the walking foot with and it makes a huge difference! Not a single bunched up spot!

The bacck is my favorite part. I used leftover HST from the top and 2 of my favorite prints from the Punctuation collection. I love the rainbow zigzag!

It feels good to finish a project that I really like.

WIP Wednesday 04/27/2011

It's been very busy at our house and there's been little time for sewing. I have started the Jamie Dress. I've never really made myself clothes, but after seeing a sew along of this dress, I decided to try! I have all of the pieces cut and the bodice sewn together. It has a zipper, which I'm a little intimidated by, but so far so good!


Since we've been not at home, I've been knitting. It's so easy to throw a small project into my purse/diaper bag to work on in the car or while we're just sitting around somewhere. I made two of these little cloths after seen them somewhere on the internet. Sorry I can't remember where. I think they will be good for face washing. I don't love the way the colors ended up, but I do like how they feel.

I can only knit and purl. I don't know how to yarn over or anything other than straight rows. It's really limiting my projects! I think I'm going to just have to sit down and watch some online videos to learn something new. This is all purling.

My next new project is going to be a Plus Quilt. I'm had a pile of these 30's reproduction fabric that I ordered months ago that I think will end up being really cute. I have 30 fat quarter and this only takes 20, so I'll still have a small pile!

I still haven't put the binding on my zigzag quilt or done any more work on the charm quilt.

If you don't have anything you are working on, you should just hop over to Grosgrain. It's free pattern month. There's some really cute stuff!

Be sure to visit Freshly Pieced to see everyone else's WIPs!

Birdie Stitches April Block

I'm skipping Work in Progress Wednesday this week, because I haven't made much progress on anything I've been working on. I cut out pieces to a dress that is going to end up being too small, so I got stalled there. I have the fabric to finish the two quilts I'm working on, but I haven't done any sewing on them. I did finish my April Birdie Stitches block. It may be my favorite one so far. I really like the Easter Eggs.

I made another Easter egg project with Lily, but I don't have pictures to show it yet. She was super excited to help, which made it worth it. I love it when we can do stuff together like that.

WIP Wednesday 04/13/2011

Wednesday's sure do come quick these day! It seems like I was just updating what I was working on! This cute little Cuckoo! from Wild Olive is hopefully going to turn into an actual clock for my sewing room this weekend. We'll see how I do. If that doesn't work, it's going to be a pillow maybe. I really like it.

This is my newest work in progress. It's the charm quilt from my Second Saturday Sewing (which you can read about below!). I'm going today to get the border and the backing for it. I'm torn about what color to pick because I don't really know what I'm going to do with this when it's finished. Maybe a light green....

I still haven't finished my zigzag quilt. That whole running out of thread thing just put that project right in park. I've been trying not to think of new projects until I finish some of the older ones, but that's not really going too well! I ordered a pattern for the Jamie Dress by SisBoom today. I've never really made clothes that were actually worn, so I'm going to give it a try. I have a skirt that should have turned out really cute, but no...EPIC FAIL. Maybe I'll start a link up of Friday Fails!I have a couple of those projects!

I also still need to finish my Birdie Stitches block for April. I don't really have a lot of plans for the weekend other than a lunch on Saturday, so maybe I'll have lots of time to work on finishes this weekend. Be sure to check out what everyone else is working on at Freshly Pieced!

Second Saturday Sewing: The Beginning!

As I mentioned previously, several of my friends and I have decided to get together once a month and make stuff. We are all talented in different areas and are able to help each other learn new things. We decided to start with a charm baby quilt, like this one on Diary of a Quilter. About 8 of my good friends are going to try to participate (and anyone else I know in real life is welcome too!), but only 5 of us were able to make it this Saturday. Everyone brought their fabric and a sewing machine if they had one. Sometimes life gets in the way of even the best plans and only 3 of us started a baby quilt. SDJ decided to make a buttercup bag at the last minute. Good thing I'm turning into a sewing hoarder and had everything she needed!

CAR hard at work.

SDJ is a careful measurer! H did a great job of helping, even though she didn't actually get to make anything. Next time!

Me reading the directions for the Buttercup bag. My daughter had a ball taking terrible pictures of us. Everyone else should be thankful I skipped posting those! We started around 10:30ish. We had sandwiches for lunch and an impromptu birthday celebration of cupcakes and Cheesy Chicken Rotel. By 4, we had 3 mostly finished quilt tops. We just need to add borders. This is mine. I wasn't sure I was going to like it when I got started, but I really do. We decided to offset the blocks to make it more interesting (and to keep from having to carefully match up seams!

CAR has only used the sewing machine a couple of times. This is her top before ironing. I love the bright colors.

My dear friend MMP had never used a sewing machine before. After she figured out how to slow it down a little, she did a great job. I think her quilt for her nephew is going to turn out great, especially for a first project.

SDJ's Buttercup Bag, modeled her by our delightful photographer.

I think for our first time getting together, it worked out pretty well. I think I picked an overly ambitious project, but everyone rose to the occasion! I think we are going to make a Pleated Purse next time and/or finish up our quilts. Here are my suggestions:

1. Start early. Plan to stay for the day. It's going to take longer than you think.

2. Set your expectations low. If it turns out well, great. If it doesn't, you're not disappointed.

3. Have food readily available. It was nice to just grab a sandwich when I got hungry. We didn't have to stop to go get lunch, and we could take a break when we got to a good stopping point.

4. Leave the kids at home. They are fun to have around for a while, but they sure slow down productitivy (and girl talk!!). I will say that one day I hope that my daughter remembers doing things with mommy and her friends, and I hope that she develops an interest in creating things, so thanks to everyone for being sweet to her. She made a little girl out of the scraps that were left behind.

5. Show up. Even if you don't have everything you need, or if you have to bring your kids, or you have to leave early or come late. Just show up. You'll be glad you did. There is something to be said for gathering with people who love you. It feeds the spirit.

I think it was a success and I can't wait to do it again.