The Wedding Quilt #1

My brother, Ryan married his fiancee wife last month in St. Joseph, Michigan. Needless to say, it was beautiful. Sweetie and I drove to Michigan the week before the wedding to have some vacation time. The little bro had rented a beach house for family so we didn't have to worry about accommodations, which was so nice!

The Beach House

We spent several days on Lake Michigan, which was just out our front door and did wine tasting, beach time and sight-seeing!

Silver Beach Lighthouse

For a wedding present, I created a quilt for the couple.

3 stripe rail fence quilt

A better view of the pattern

Using a "rail fence" pattern, i strip pieced 3 1/2" strips of white on black, eggplant purple and black on white. I cut 9 1/2" squares and set them in a zig-zag pattern down the quilt. I had 4 different black on whites so each zig-zag is one print. I added 5" borders in the purple.

I had 1/2 yard cuts of each white print. One print comprises each zig-zag.

The label was also a bit of a challenge. I originally wanted it embroidered but I don't have an embroidery machine and was quickly running out of time. I found an idea where you printed on fabric so I created a design and had sweetie print it on a piece of background fabric. The ink wasn't very dark so sweetie went over the printing with a fine tip fabric marker. Fortunately, my quilter ran out of bobbin thread with 6" in the corner left to quilt, giving me the perfect place for the label. I bordered the label in a bit of left over purple and sewed it into the corner of the quilt, then I bound the quilt using the black fabric in the fence rails.

I'm happy to say that my brother and new sister-in-law really liked their quilt and now it's getting good use in their new home. That's what makes it all worthwhile.

I have several weddings coming up so there will be more! Stay tuned!

Christmas Sewing Projects!

This year Sweetheart and I decided that we were going to try to shop small business or local business for Christmas. Part of this included our Christmas sewing where we tried to buy fabrics from local sellers too. Once we broke down and ended up at JoAnn's and once at Hancock but overall we did pretty well.
This was the year of the tablet/e-reader cases for me and we made costumes for the niece and nephew. Suffice to say this is mostly a photo brag post with links to the other bright folks I used for inspiration. Without further ado:

The first gift was a TARDIS iPad case for a gift exchange. The iPad case went to Alaska where it is much loved.  This case is envelope style with blue fleece and a black felt lining and felt accent pieces. I hand embroidered the "Police Box" strip and around the white windows. Velcro tape keeps it closed. I didn't have a pattern to use for this one, just the dimensions of an iPad and a bit of math. Honestly, without a walking foot, I don't know that I'd ever do this in fleece again. It was very bulky for my regular machine. I've found some better tutorials (like this one from "Dog Under My Desk") that I would scale up in cotton with interfacing instead. I tested the fit on my friends iPad. The fleece came from Addadi's fabrics in Overland Park, everything else came from my stash.

This kindle fire case belongs to my younger brother's girlfriend. My brother told me that his girlfriend loved her Kindle fire so I made her a case and stuffed it with a gift card. My main tutorial was from Clover and Violet with the corner directions to hold the kindle in coming from I'm Feelin' Crafty. This was a challenge because I slipped plastic canvas in the two sides and not the "spine" portion. As I was binding, my machine would hit the plastic canvas and curse at me by skipping stitches. I also never got a clear picture of how to do the closure around the binding so I created a button hole in the binding and threaded my closure loop through the button hole. The green inner fabric came from Fabric Recycles, the rest came from my stash.

Max got a new Christmas collar, mostly because I had the pieces and was procrastinating doing other things. The lining is a soft gold color to complement the gold threads in the collar. Fabric and collar "D" ring came from Fabric Recycles, buckle and parachute buckle came from Hancock Fabrics.

My brothers got my mom a kindle for Christmas this year so I made her a cover. I used the same process and methods as I did for my brother's girlfriend but I used a bit of fabric from my stash and, after playing on a scrap for a long time, had my first adventure in free motion quilting. I broke two needles before getting a larger one and read lots of blog posts on the subject. This was a thicker fabric and had a layer of batting between the two cover fabrics so it was sturdy enough to not need stiffeners. Free motion quilting was an interesting experience but I'm glad I tried it. Mom really liked the cover so that's all that matters! Fabric and notions were from my stash.

For our niece, Sweetheart and I decided she would like an apron and chef's hat.  I created this apron with an oilcloth body and seersucker bias binding, both of which I got at (guess where?) Fabric Recycles. The seersucker was a pain in the rear to work with but so worth it for the overall look. The dimensions for the apron came from SupaFine and I just deducted the seam allowances since I didn't line the apron. I used the bias tape to finish all the raw edges.  I also added elastic to the neck strap thanks to a great idea at Sew Liberated. Sweetheart made the chef's hat, which you can see here.

Sweetheart made a tool belt and cape for our nephew too! You can find her sewing adventures on her blog. That's it! After several late nights and plenty of time with a seam ripper, I'm not sewing any more this year! Good thing it's almost next year, right?

Box Cutter Bias Tape Blues

I love pinterest, not only because it shows me things I hadn't thought of, but because it often presents me with a new way of doing the things I've always done.

Case in point-bias tape. I hadn't used bias tape much but when I did I used the store bought boring kind.

Enter pinterest and all the nifty ways to make pretty bias tape out of your favorite fabrics and put a good use to some scraps. I had some blue paisley I wanted to use but I don't have a handy dandy bias tape maker so I found a tutorial that used a box knife without the blade to fold the fabric.

There are several tutorials on making bias tape for how to cut the strips and sew them together so I'm not going to give you the easy bits.  This is to show you the how the box cutter method works so hopefully you don't have to have the same frustrations I did and can have awesome custom bias tape!

A very full update...

So it's been awhile. I know, I know, bad blogger! The end of May and all of June were pretty busy in the ranch so here's an update.

Chicago for vacation was awesome! We stayed with my little brother, acted like tourists and had a generally fantastic relaxing vaca. I could definitely see living there if the need arose. I also loved public transportation and not having to drive everywhere and search for parking. Max even got a souvenir.

June included Shakespeare in the Park with a great group of friends, wine, fruit, cheese and crackers.

Shakes in the Park, "Midsummer's Night's Dream"

Later in the month we did Pippi Longstocking with the niece and nephew at Union Station. The kids had a great time. Our niece loved the show and our nephew loved the backstage tour. Afterward we got to play with robotics at Maker Faire in the main hall.

Last week was a blur and included a Royals game on Tuesday Night. Our tickets were pretty high up but you can't argue with free. Plus we had a great view of the entire stadium and the Royals won!

1st Inning View

We had dinner guests on Thursday and Friday nights. Thursday night I did awesome crockpot ribs I found on Pinterest, pasta salad and corn on the cob with friends bringing oreo fluff for desert. 

Friday night included steaks, scalloped potatoes, broccolli, wine, wine, key lime pie, appetizers and DQ ice cream cake. Did I mention wine? Then it was off to the bar for a bit with one of the friends for a drag show.

Saturday we went to Sweetheart's sister's wedding near St. Joseph. It was very nice but we were exhausted. Sweetheart did the music and I wrangled the nieces and nephews to some degree. I also took some time out to use a gift certificate I'd won at a silent auction to grab some new sewing machine toys at a shop in St. Joe.

Open foot, zipper foot, leather needles,
quilting ruler and fat quarter of fabric for Max.

Now it's time to take this girl to bed. Never fear, I have new projects in the works! I know you want them but be patient. Something awesome is coming soon. What fabulous projects are you working on?

Little Make-Up bag

Yes, I'm posting this in the middle of the night. Tonight I decided I'd sew something off Pinterest instead of actually getting ready for our trip next week to Chicago. Procrastination should be my middle name this weekend. I decided on the "No Guts Boxie Pouch", which was a free pattern on Craftsy. (You do have to have or get a Craftsy account to download this pattern.)
Sweetheart was at the bar working her weekend gig and I usually do some sort of project on Friday nights. Tonight was no exception. I'd love to tell you I whipped this out in an hour or so but alas, I logged some serious time with the seam ripper. All the mistakes were my own but still had to be fixed. So, without further ado...my new make-up bag!

No Guts Boxy Pouch

The bag is about 7.5" deep by 4" tall and 6" wide which makes it perfect for packing toiletries for a weeks vacation. Try this bag, it's super forgiving and looks adorable. The instructions are really well done though it does take a bit of maneuvering at the end. People will think you spent a ton for it and all it really takes is a fat quarter of fabric or so for the outer shell and for the lining and a zipper. Tomorrow I have plans to make Sweetheart one out of blue and white paisley fabric to prolong the procrastination of getting ready to travel and I'm hoping my mistakes tonight will translate into faster work time tomorrow. Happy sewing!

Sunday Stylebook-Sewing Room Ideas

We have a perfectly good bedroom devoted to a litter box and cat food. It's sad really and I've been on a kick to use the space and things we have. I'd really like a sewing room where I could iron without fear of marring the kitchen table and have space to really spread out. I've decided I can use the cat's room for this so I've been thinking of color schemes and ways to organize/decorate it. I think I've decided on a color scheme.

I acquired this fabric from a friend of a friend and I love the lime and orange but I don't have  enough of it to do curtains and I think I want something a little more formal. Here's my inspiration plan.