Friday Night Sew-In A Success! February 20, 2010

I had been very excited about the Friday Night Sew-In (any excuse, right?) but I almost didn’t make it!  My husband was playing a benefit for Haiti tonight, which left me free to spend the entire night in front of my machine without guilt.  I tucked the kids in bed, put on my favorite pjs, and started laying out the supplies.  And then the baby was crying.  Fresh diaper and I’m back to sewing.  Then the baby woke up again.  Grrrr…. doesn’t he know mommy wants to sew?  So we end up watching television until he falls asleep.  I repeated this process a total of four times.  But somehow I actually managed to get a bit done.  The two holiday wall hangings I started from scratch and now they just need to be quilted.  The flower wall hanging was already pieced but I finished most of the needle turn applique.  I can’t believe how much I actually got accomplished.  And now I have two more projects crossed off my list and can buy more guilt free!

The Tree Is Up! December 4, 2009

I may not have much prepared for Christmas, but we did finally get the tree up.  The kids had a great time decorating it.  Eli now runs into the living room every chance he gets and points to the tree and says “whoa”.  He keeps playing with the ornaments but he is doing better than I thought.  Now if I could only keep the cats away from it.

Sneak Peek! November 18, 2009

Here’s the quilt I am currently working on.  I had to take a break to answer the phone so I decided to snap a picture for you guys.  This quilt has been a bit of a nightmare from start to (almost) finish.  Between machine malfunctions, broken needles, and a desperate search for matching thread, I am ready to just be done already.  At least this quilt will be doing double duty.  Not only is it my half of an entry for a contest, it is also my youngest son’s Christmas present.  I am thankful he is so small and I can work on it whenever I want.  Lorelei is also getting a quilt for Christmas but I will have to work on hers in secret.

12 Days of Christmas November 9, 2009

Jownby over at A Tisket, A Tasket is doing the 12 Days of Christmas.  So much fun!  Today is day four so you have plenty of time to catch up or head over for an idea or two!

Easy Peasy Oven Mitt Tutorial November 8, 2009

I started out with this oven mitt and this fabric:

Yea, I know, the oven mitt is totally gross.  I swear I wash it but after 10 years or so it has lost what little charm it may ever have had.  It is time for something new and fresh.

STEP ONE:

Take and old oven mitt and turn it inside out (it lies flatter this way).  Trace the shape onto which ever type of paper you have available.  I prefer freezer paper.

STEP TWO:

Cut fabrics large enough to cut out two of your oven mitt shape (front and back).  You need three layers.  Main fabric, Insul Bright (or 100% cotton batting), and your lining fabric.  Make a quilt sandwich and baste together using safety pins or your method of choice.

STEP THREE:

Quilt your fabric sandwich.  I lowered my feed dogs and used a free-motion quilting foot to quilt around the larger  print.  You could also use a walking foot and simply quilt a grid.

STEP FOUR:

Cut out your oven mitt.  Make sure that you cut one front and one back (cut a back by simply flipping your paper template over and cutting a reverse image).

STEP FIVE:

With right sides together, stitch along top and sides of your mitt.  You may use a straight stitch for this if you like but you will need to still zigzag stitch the bottom of the two side seams for added strength.

STEP SIX:

At this point you could fold over the ends (around the wrist) and topstitch and call it done.  I decided I wanted it a bit more decorative so I just turned it right side out and bound it using the single fold binding method used for quilting.  I cut my binding strip 1 1/2″ wide.

 

 

 

 

STEP SEVEN:  Bake, gift, or just enjoy!     ***Matching hot pad to come tomorrow-ish.****

Mission Accomplished July 13, 2009

Okay, not really, but I did try.  Between the kids, the husband, and premier night on HBO, I just didn’t get that much done on Sunday.  And I felt like heck all morning.  I did get all of my blocks arranged and partially sewn and I’m saying a not so silent prayer that the cats don’t knock the whole lot off onto the floor.  I really don’t want to have to figure out how to arrange them again.  Once more, this is Moda’s Figgy Pudding line which I am in love with.  Something about blue and red gets my quilting motor running.  I’m still deciding on the color of the sashing tho.  My heart says blue but my head says red will be more timeless.  And who wants to sew a new quilt every Christmas?  Oh, wait.  I want to.  But I’d rather like to keep on displaying the old ones.  Anyway, these are the first four blocks.

Passing on the addiction July 11, 2009

My daughter Lorelei is seven years old.  She’s been begging to learn to sew so we went to Joann’s  so that she could pick out some fabric for her first project.  She found a cute pink print with owls and Christmas trees.  Apparently I’m not the only one in the house already thinking about Christmas!  We decided to make a pillow.  Isn’t that everyone’s first sewing project?  Here’s a few picks of my gorgeous girl (I’m her mom, I’m allowed to be biased) at work.

Christmas in July

Can you believe it is already July?  Every time I start to contemplate Christmas presents and decorations, I tell myself that Christmas is too far away to worry about.  Well, it is officially time to start worrying.  The Christmas fabrics are out (who isn’t in love with Moda’s Figgy Pudding?) and it is time to get started!  

My first project this year is going to be this simple pattern from Pieces From My Heart using Moda’s Crazy Eight.  You can buy the pattern and fabric here.  My sister and I are going to do this together.

 Anyone else?