Steadily Sewing

This week I've actually gotten quite a bit of sewing done. I made this cute little ribbon blanket for Mikaela Sun/Mon. nights. I love how it turned out, but it just made me mad making it. I bought it back in April on the shop hop I went on. I bought it more for the pattern than anything, since I have some minkee charm squares I wanted to make something out of. I opened the kit only to realize the pattern was a FREE Moda Bake Shop pattern. I was a bit irrate, since I paid a lot for the kit and they made it look like the only way to get the pattern was to buy the kit and that it was their pattern. I won't be going back to that shop any time soon.

I had the note book cover pattern for a small notepad and decided to use my leftover Maxine fabric to make one. I think I bought the pattern in MN two years when Jen and I were in a shop. Jen got kicked out of the shop and we still laugh about what a rip the owner is. Anyway I made it up for the most part like the pattern said. Monday night I made up 2 of them.

Only I had to add some decorative stitching and top stitching to it.

Then I made another, this time using decorbond instead of steam a seam and topstitched again. I think this was a little too much, but the other one is so flimsy. I think one less layer of decor bond or eliminating the batting would have helped.


But I'm just not one to follow a pattern. Jen and I have that in common. We use the pattern as a guide and really do whatever we want with the knowledge we already have.

Tonight I made up a Runaround bag out of this cute wine fabric. I'm going to Quilts and Vines in a week and wanted a new purse for it.


I also made a wonder wallet.


I made some insulated wine bottle holders for the wine I plan to bring back. Again I changed the pattern to include insulbrite.


Last night I was having a hard time as it would have been my mom's 55th birthday. I just couldn't get in the groove to sew, but did make this bapron - baby apron. I think it's cute, but it doesn't quite fit Mikaela right. I need to make some tweaks.


Tonight I also made this changing pad to go with my Grab n Go diaper clutch. I love how it turned out and luckily mom had the perfect vinyl type material.

Mikaela is 28 weeks old!

Mikaela turned 28 weeks old on August 3rd. She's sitting up extremely well now. She was playing on Merry's quilt the other night and Missy decided she wanted to lay there too. Luckily they get along pretty well.

She was all ready for bed in this cute new pair of PJ's, but she wasn't ready to go to sleep.

She was all full of smiles for me. You can see her front two teeth.

July Quilting Accomplishments

July was a very productive month for me! I had two long weekends at home and actually got to do quite a bit of sewing/ quilting. I accomplished all the goals I set for myself as well!
Gaila's block for the friendship block swap was done the very end of June.

I made this wall hanging for Jody and Adam's Wedding gift. She requested sunflowers for her kitchen.

I also made this table runner for their table.

I finished the priest vestment, which was my mom's UFO of the month. Our priest loved it and said it's the first one that actually fit him.

Hubby is a lot shorter than our 7ft tall priest.

I quilted and bound this wall hanging for my dad.

I quilted up and bound this wall hanging, another of my mom's UFO's for myself.

I put borders on this fun novelty fabric and quilted it with minkee on the back. It also was bound this month.

I made this wall hanging for my co-worker Pat. It only took me a few hours start to finish. I think it took longer for the hand work.

I made mug rugs for my coworkers Shannon

Pat

and myself. I also made one for Karen, but didn't get a picture. I have 5 left to bind and gift.

I made a baby quilt for my friend Larissa's new baby, in 4 hours!

I made one for Lariann, her sister who is also having a girl and I was going to her baby shower.

I made this notebook cover for my MIL Leslie for her to use at work. I used the Maxine fabric scraps which fits her personality well.

I made this table runner for my friend Shannon from my leftover scraps of Bistro fabric.

I completed the goal of finishing a store sample. I made this Beach Balls Little quilt from LGD. I also quilted it and it will be bound when the fabric line comes into the store.

I worked on several UFO's. This was one of my mom's UFO's I finished the top and now it needs borders. It's the BQII pattern made with the Jim Shore Angels.

I completed both of my friendship blocks which was another goal. This was Colleen's block. I just love the contrast and my flying geese came out awesome thanks to the LGD Flying Geese ruler.

I made a little wallet for my friend Pat.

I also made one for her granddaughter who is staying with her for a bit.

I made Pat a cosmetic bag as well out of the Cats fabric I bought with her in mind.

I made this Grab and Go clutch out of some fat quarters I picked up at QC in Hill City.

I made Regina's block for the swap.

I worked on this UFO of Buggy Barn HST's and made these 4 blocks in the Moneik Bob Square Pants block from Lynne's blog. I just love them, but think I'll just make a wall hanging since they are so huge. The squares are 24".
 
I also worked on my Blush quilt blocks and started making a few of the hexi's.

I also worked on the Pink/Green flannel baby quilt HST's and have a plan for how to make them into a quilt. I just need to lay it out now. When I have the right baby to make it for, it will be made.
I also reorganized my sewing studio, including counting my rulers. I had 75, but have added about 7 more since then, so I'm up over 80 now. Later this month I'll show the ones I really use a lot!


So I accomplished every goal I set out to do this month and also made about 10 projects that weren't even on the radar. I feel like I accomplished so much! Several have asked how I get so much sewing time with a baby. Let me first say I have a wonderful hubby. He'll give her a bath and feed her at least every other night (we take turns), I get to spend at least one night out with my girls Jenn, Shonna, and Gaila sewing, he will watch her while he's watching TV or bring her down to the studio and she plays with toys while I sew. On the weekends my MIL loves to play with her for a while, so I usually get an afternoon or evening or both of sewing time in.  I also spend almost all my lunch hours cutting or sewing. I do almost all my cutting out of projects during lunch or hand sew binding down. I also sew a lot after Mikaela and Paul go to bed at 8 or 9. I'll stay up until 11 or midnight sewing.

I made a list of the projects I'm currently working on or have out to work on. I had 25 projects on it on Friday and I've finished 5 so far! A few of the others I should be able to knock out pretty quickly, but we'll see! So my goals for August include anything on the list, but I'll be working on a few specifically.
Wine bottle holders (2)
Runaround Bag/ Wonder Wallet
Dilly Dally Baby Quilt for Pat
3 Store Samples
Aunt Mae's Quilt
Cindy's Block
Mom's UFO - Jim Shore Quilt
My UFO - Buggy Barn Blocks/ Wall Hanging

I'll be heading for the Quilts and Vines Outdoor Quilt Show next weekend near Sioux Falls. I'm going with my college roommate and so am really looking forward to it. I've heard from Sara that she'll be there and hope to meet up with her. If there are any other bloggers out there who would like to meet up there, send me an email or leave a comment. I'd love to meet you! Mikaela and I will be shop hopping across the state Friday, hoping to stop in Chamberlain and Mitchell and maybe Dell Rapids on our way to SF.

Scrappy Sewing

This week I actually got a ton of sewing time in! I was off early and home from work two days this week, which just happened to give me an extra hour or two of sewing time. Friday night I'd had it! I had too much crap laying around and didn't have room on the ironing board to iron! I started cleaning and just kept going. I ended up cleaning off the shelves, reorganizing the drawers, and tidying up the book shelf. This is the area I sew in, the cutting mat/ironing board on the left. Rulers on the ledge, file shelves with current stuff, drawers with notions, and a book shelf with small odds and ends/ Jennifer Chiaverini books, and my quilting books. My machine and Janome table with 3 drawer tote to left on the center bottom. Quilt frame to the right.


I guess this is a brighter picture. I have this thread rack of pretty rayon threads. I don't use them, but they look pretty on the rack. The pink large tote has my "current" projects in it. I made a list of the projects I'm working on... I have 20 on the list! Some are just binding, others I'm working on slowly, and yet others I can get done quickly. It helped to make the list and be able to check stuff off.

After I was done cleaning, Mikaela was in bed, and I felt like doing some sewing. I had used my lunch hour and cut out a few projects. One of them was Regina's block for the block swap. I was able to quickly and easily make this block using the Flying Geese x4 by Lazy Girl Designs. I fell in love with the ruler, using it for both Colleen and Regina's blocks.

Friday night I layed out the pink/brown/cream Buggy Barn HST's I had made. I wasn't real happy with my layout and I just didn't know if I'd made a mistake trying to use up my scraps.  I emailed a few friends and Jacque suggested I didn't like it because of the scrappiness of it. I let it sit overnight and went back to it Sat. morning. I realized I needed the pink in the corners and to keep the diamond creams. I had to rework it a bit since I was short of some of the colors and I had to purchase another couple yards of the cream. Paul and I picked it up on Sat. and I was able to spend most of the afternoon/evening working on this thanks to Paul and his mom. They took Mikaela to the pet store and then fixed supper and watched her. I felt like I was in heaven getting a few hours of non interrupted sewing time. The squares were inspired by a post on Lily Quilts and I made the small block with my 2" Friendship swap HST's. The big ones are 3.5" HST's and the blocks are 24".


I'm still debating about putting them all together or making several small wall hangings. I think I'll do one big one with the 4 blocks and then make something else with the other leftover HST's. I love the secondary pattern this made.

Friday night when I couldn't get the scrappy blocks to work, I made some hexi blocks. I have them laying out ready to sew when I need some mindless sewing. I got 8 done in a matter of half an hour or so. These are Blush jellyroll blocks made into 60* triangles and sewn into hexi's. I don't have a pattern, so we'll see how big it gets.


Today I worked on a minkee/charm square ribbon blanket for Mikaela. I had purchased the kit for the pattern since I had some minkee squares I wanted to use and didn't want to figure it out on my own, though I knew I could have. I opened it up and the pattern is printed from Moda Bake Shop, but the way they packaged it, it appeared to be their own pattern! Oh boy was I hot. I just feel like they were trying to deceive me. I got the top sewn together, but didn't finish it because the Bachelorette was on. I ended up hand sewing the binding on my cowboys quilt and got it finished, so I didn't waste any sewing time!  It was nice to spend time with my family too since they watched it with me.
It's been a productive weekend and I look forward to another great week. July has provided me a lot of sewing time, so I'll have to write my review this week.