Sunday, November 8, 2009

Work In Progress, still...

I've been very neglectful of my craft blog, and crafting in general, recently. Somewhere along the way I've lost some motivation to sew. But I recently rearranged my living room so that my sewing machine can be set up all the time and not be in the middle of the room, so I'm hoping that will help me be better about working on projects when I have some free time. Amanda came over last weekend for a craft day and that helped too. She knitted and I sewed and I actually got some things done. And she was good about pushing me to work on this quilt for my mother that I started back when I was living in Sunapee last winter. Mom picked out the fabric when I was still living with her in Maine and I promised her I would make a queen sized quilt for her bed. The size of the quilt is a bit daunting for me, which I think is part of why I haven't been wanting to work on it. But when I laid it out the other day when Amanda was here, I realized that it really isn't that bad. Yes, it is big and it is going to get bigger, but I think it is going to be beautiful when it's all finished and I know Mom will love it. I'd say about about 60% done with the top now, so it's coming along. I'll keep you posted as to the progress and definitely post a photo when I've finished piecing the top.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

I've Been Tagged

My friend Amanda over at Sevin Stitches recently tagged me to tell you six random things about myself that I haven't shared on this blog. Between this blog and Notes From A Not So International Life I've share quite a lot of information about myself, but I've been thinking about this post for a few days, racking my brain for new tidbits, and this is what I came up with:

1. I don't like cooked fruit - no apples, or blueberries, or cherries, or anything. I can handle cooked strawberries, but that is it. This hatred of cooked fruit means I don't like apple pie, apple crisp, apple fritters or anything else involving cooked apples that everyone else in the world seems to love so much. The words "un-American" often come up when I mention how much I dislike apple pie - it is a label I'm prepared to bear.

2. I could watch "The West Wing" on DVD over and over, and over and over again. It is my favorite show and no matter how often I watch it, it never gets old. I just finished watching the entire series (7 seasons) for what might the billionth time and I'm considering starting to watch it all over again fairly soon. I think the show is incredibly smart and witty, plus if I could combine Sam Seaborn and Josh Lyman, I'd have my dream guy.

3. Speaking of "The West Wing", I think part of why I love it is so much is that it appeals to the part of me that was a political science major my first year in college. Yep, at 17 years old I had aspirations of becoming a politician. I still find politics and public policy interesting (though I do think it is more a love of history than politics, and probably always has been), but halfway through my freshman year of college I realized it just wasn't the right track for me. By that time, I was hanging out with all the music kids at Holy Cross and taking more music classes than political science classes, so I knew it was time to make the change. My mom tells me that she had known all along that I would eventually go into music education - it was just a matter of me figuring it out on my own.

4. I can read the same book multiple times and not be bored with it. I know a lot of people who can't go back to a book and read it again months or years after they have first read it. I'm not like that at all. One of the best things about moving into my new apartment was that I had the space for all my books that had been living in Sarah and Reg's garage for the past 5 years. I loved unpacking them - it was like being reunited with old friends. I think part of the reason why I can return to a book again and again is that I read really quickly and once I've finished the book, it is kind of out of my head. I can't tell you all the details of the plot and recount the book once I've finished reading it - I remember the general ideas and whether I liked it or not. This means that I can come back to it months or years later and it is fresh again. I guess the good thing about this is that it saves me money on always buying new books!

5. I have no desire to own my own house anytime soon, which is very unlike pretty much everyone else I know. I like living in apartments, especially now that I have a big one, and not having to worry about all the details and hassles of home ownership. My biggest dream is to buy a house on Georges Pond, Maine, where I spent summers growing up, and have it as a summer home to retreat to at the end of the school year. I'd be completely fine with owning a summer house, but I have no desire to own a year round home. I think my ideal life would be an apartment in Berlin for the winter and a house on Georges Pond for the summer. Sounds pretty nice, don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed my random facts! Now I get to tag some blogs to do their own lists. Play along if you'd like - I'd love to see what your facts are!

1. Julie over at Los Lemleys. Julie and John taught with me in Peru and are now living, teaching, and raising their son in Japan. I love reading Julie's blog and keeping up with their lives.

2. Cindy at Just Alaska. She is a former student of mine from Manchester who has a beautifully written blog sharing her life as a newlywed, lower 48 transplant now living in Juneau, Alaska.

3. Amy at Making The World A More Creative Place. Amy and I went to high school together and she keeps a blog about her life in Florida and all of her exciting travel adventures with her husband.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Finished

I finished this quilt and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It doesn't look much different from the last picture I posted of it, but I did add light blue ties and finished hand sewing the binding.

Hand sewing the binding was time consuming, but I think it worked out pretty well. I'm going to try it on my next quilt too and see if I can get it to look even better. I think it is probably a better way to bind my quilts than to try to machine sew them, at least until I learn how to actually do machine quilting.

I really need to find a quilting class to take...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

VW buses

I am completely in love with this Heather Ross VW bus fabric. It is very hard to find, but I managed to snatch up nearly 2 yards of it from various places on ebay. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I have some ideas... Until then, I'm just going to admire it in all its cuteness.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

W.I.P.

Here is my latest work in progress. The fabric is flannel and I really like it. I love the idea of trying fun new patterns, but lately I've been very content with simple blocks, particularly larger blocks.

The biggest challenge of this quilt is the binding. I decided to hand sew it and it is taking forever! And I'm pretty terrible at hand sewing. I've realized that I really love making quilt tops and I, of course, love the finished product, but doing the binding and the batting is kind of a pain. I think I maybe just need to learn how to do binding better. Any suggestions??

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Finished

I've been working on this quilt for a while and finally got it finished today. I spent a cold, rainy morning watching Ted Kennedy's funeral and happily sewing. I don't know what took me so long with this one, but I seem to like to make quilt tops, then put them away and take forever to get them actually finished. I think part of it is that I'm not very good at doing the binding, so I don't like to do that part. I need to figure out how to do binding for real - at this point I just make it up as I go along.

I'm really happy with the back of this quilt too. I love all the fabric and think it looks really good together. I have no idea how big the quilt is - definitely not big enough for a bed, but will be a good quilt for the couch. I think I'll be using it tonight - it is chilly!!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Work In Progress

My friend Amanda makes posts on "W.I.P. Wednesday" on her blog and I love seeing what she is working on. While I have plenty of projects in progress, I don't usually make enough actual progress to blog about it every week. I was considering waiting to show this quilt until it is completely finished, but I love it to much to wait.

I love this fabric! It was a complete fluke to put it all together, but I think it is great.


I'm still trying to decide how to finish off the quilt. I want to truly quilt it, but I don't really know how to machine quilt yet. I could always tie it off, but I'm hoping to find some time to practice machine quilting so I can finish this one.

The back is all blue with a strip down the middle of the fabric from the front. Isn't it cute?

Curtains

I made my first set of curtains! These are hanging in my bedroom and I'm really happy with them. When the sun comes through them they make my room look a little like "The House of the Rising Sun", but I think they turned out nice.

My next project is going to be curtains, or at least valances, for the living room. I'm also working on a couple of quilts and I have a project in mind for a friend's upcoming birthday. I wish I had more time to sew, but I'm doing my best to squeeze in some sewing time between working at camp and getting ready for school.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Gift

I made this great bag as a gift for Christine, the chorus teacher in Newport. She has been such a good friend and colleague to me the past 6 months and I wanted to make her something I knew she would love. I went to my super fun, random fabric store in Claremont and found this great flowered print. My friend Mary and I had a sewing evening last week and I was able to complete the entire project in just a couple of hours. I'm really pleased with how it came out and Christine loves it!

My sewing machine has been packed away for the last few days as I completed my move to Concord. I'm hoping to get it out again soon and start working again on my many projects, but I'm going to DC for a wedding at the end of the week and I start working at camp on Tuesday, so my free time is going to be pretty limited. I really hope I can squeeze in a little sewing sometime soon - I'm having withdrawals!

Friday, June 5, 2009

quilts, or soon-to-be quilts

I have been slowly, very slowly, working on my 9 Patchtastic Quilt. I love how the patches look, they are just very time-consuming to make. Slowly, but surely, I'll have them completed. I'm excited to see what the quilt will look like when it is all put together. I'm hoping to use it on the guest bed in my new apartment. And I want to try actually quilting it, as opposed to tying it, so that will be the big challenge. I think I need to practice on some smaller things first.

As you can see from the sidebar, I follow a lot of crafting blogs these days. I love seeing what everyone is making and I find them very inspiring. Quilting on Turtle Hill
was giving away a free quilt top and guess what, I got it!!! I never win things like this, so I was pretty excited. It arrived in the mail yesterday and I have it laid out on the floor, just to admire it. I need to add the batting, backing and binding to finish it off, but then I will have a beautiful quilt. I think the colors are kind of random together, but I like how bright and colorful it is and I think it is really beautiful. Thanks Cathy!!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Doorstop

Yes, I have a ton of different projects going right now, none of them close to completion, but this one is very practical and I'm hoping to start, and finish, it soon. I want to make this super fun doorstop using this pattern I found at Oh, Fransson! The door between the bathroom and the 2nd bedroom in my new apartment doesn't stay open on it's own, so this seems like the perfect, cute solution. I'll post a photo once I get it made.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Ongoing Projects

I've been really good about starting sewing projects recently, but pretty horrible about actually finishing them. I have two lap-sized quilt tops that are finished - I just need to add the batting, the backing and binding, and decide whether I want to attempt to really quilt them or just tie them off like I normally do. I also saw a pattern for a quilt that I couldn't resist trying: 9 Patchtastic Quilt. I ordered some charm packs and was wondering what I really wanted to do with them, so I was happy to come across this pattern. I'll take some pictures of the squares (during the day when there is decent light) and post them soon.

Other projects I have in the works or am thinking of starting soon:
* Laptop sleeve for Mom - I finally found a pattern instead of having to try to figure it out myself
* A cover for my sewing machine - it didn't come with a cover so I got some great lightweight canvas a while ago and have been meaning to make a cover. I think it will be a quick project, if I can finally get it started.
* Covers for the chair cushions - again, I bought the fabric ages ago and have been looking at it, knowing I need to make them. I'm getting ready to move to my new apartment next month, so it would be nice to have them finished in time for that.
* Mom's quilt - I'm still slowly but surely working on this quilt. It is going to be big and it still feels overwhelming at times. I've almost run out of space to be able to lay it out on my living room floor, so I may have to wait until I move to my new apartment where I'll have more space to lay it out.
* Flannel quilt - I got some great flannel fabric on sale this past week and I want to make what I hope will be a quick, easy quilt with it. I figured it would be good to take to camp.

Sounds like plenty to keep me busy...

Another Baby Quilt

I can finally post about this baby quilt because it has arrived to it's intended recipient. Well, it's nearly there - the baby isn't due until October. My friend Andrea and her fiance Andy are having a baby and I couldn't resist making this quilt and sending it down to Andrea in Argentina. This picture doesn't really do it justice (I always seem to finish my quilts at night and take pictures of them when there is no natural light coming into my apartment), but the fabric is very cute and Andrea and Andy loved the quilt.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

New Books

I got a couple of new books at Borders today and I know I am going to love them. I had looked at this "Material Obsessions" one before and, since I had a coupon for Borders and I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, I decided I could treat myself to it. There are some great patterns for quilts that I can't wait to try, including the one on the cover.

The Japanese quilt book was a random purchase, but I used it this afternoon with my fun 1930s fabric and I love it already! It shows a bunch of different blocks you can make and ways to combine them together. I used the first block in the book for my fabric this afternoon and I'm really happy with it. I can't wait to use this book more!

Weekend Work

I've been slowly working on the quilt for Mom. I really love the fabric, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the size of the project. The squares are 5 inches and I have to sew rows that are 21 squares long, so it seems like it takes forever. The total quilt will be 21-25 rows and I've only sewed 5 rows, so it is going to take a while. I'm happy to be making this for Mom, but I might have bitten off more than I can chew with a queen sized quilt. I just need to stay motivated with it and I know it will be beautiful when it is done.

I should have been working on Mom's quilt this afternoon, but I was drawn to the new fabric I got this weekend. My friend Mary took me to a discount fabric place in Claremont and I got some beautiful fabric. I was especially drawn to this 1930s inspired fabric and I couldn't resist buying a yard each of a couple of different fabrics, knowing they would look great all together.

Monday, April 20, 2009

New Fabric

Mom and I went to JoAnn Fabrics yesterday and they were having a HUGE sale, so I couldn't resist picking up a bunch of new fabric for upcoming projects.

Mom wants a computer case and she loved this fabric, so I'm going to attempt to make one, which is good because I already purchased some other fabric that I want to use for a case for myself. I'll try hers first and see how it works!

My friend is having a baby and I couldn't resist this cute fabric. I love making baby quilts - they come together so quickly and are so fun to make!

For her birthday/Mother's Day, I told Mom I would make her a quilt and she could choose this fabric. This is what she chose and I think it is going to be really nice. I love the paisley fabric and the others are a nice complement to it.

This fabric was another whim purchase, but I have some projects in mind for it. My sewing machine didn't come with a cover, so I am going to make a slip cover for it out of the pink fabric (it is a home decor fabric, so it is a little bit thicker than regular cotton and I think it will work well for what I have in mind). The brown and green are going to be a gift, so stay tuned to see what they evolve into.

Fat quarters were only 99 cents, so it seemed silly not to buy one of each fabric I liked. Here they are all laid out. I don't know what they'll become, but I love the possibilities...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

New Bag

All the things I've made lately have been gifts for others, which is definitely part of the fun, but I decided it was to make a bag for myself. I've been eying this fabric for a long time, but wasn't sure what to make with it, so I wouldn't let myself buy it. Amanda and I were in JoAnn's a few weeks ago (on the day that I figured out how to make bags) and she convinced me to finally buy this fabric. The lining is made out of the striped fabric you see on the handles. I think this fabric made a great bag and I'm excited to use it.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Bags

Here is a bag that I made for Megan. It was super easy to put together and I'm happy with how it came out, though the handles were a little tricky. In my head I knew how to do the handles correctly, but I could seem to make them work. I've got it now, so the next bags are going to be fine.

I love the lining of Megan's bag. I thought the dog print was perfect for her since she is Ralphie's mommy.

This was the first bag I attempted to make and the pattern was a little confusing. I made it on one of Amanda and I's craft days and she agreed that the pattern was not the easiest to figure out. I love the fabric and the size of the bag and I was excited to give it to Sarah for her birthday.

The lining of this is fun too and I love how it went with the outer fabric. The lining didn't come exactly how I wanted it to, but it is still cute. I gave it to Sarah yesterday and she thought it was great!

How It Came To Be...

I decided that my newfound love of sewing and quilting merits a new blog to chronicle my projects. I've spent the last few weeks looking at other crafty blogs and being very inspired by the things people are creating. Even though I am just a beginner, I hope this will become a lifelong hobby/obsession for me and I'll soon be creating lots of beautiful things.

I never anticipated that I would be a crafty person and it still seems kind of strange to me, and everyone who knows me, that this is something I love to do. Both my grandmothers were incredibly crafty and created beautiful things for their families and for local craft fairs. I remember learning to cross stitch with my Mimi when I was younger, but it never really stuck with me. I've always loved and appreciated beautiful quilts and a long time ago I realized I would never be able to afford all the ones I'd like, so I guess it seems pretty logical to make them myself instead. The spring before I moved to Germany I got it in my head that I was ready to learn to sew, so my friend Stacey (an incredibly crafty woman) patiently taught me how use a sewing machine and put together a basic patchwork quilt. I loved the fabric I bought, but the project was pretty big and it never got finished. I did manage to finish backing and binding a quilt top, which was a special project. I had found this quilt top when we were cleaning out my grandparents house after they had passed away. The quilt top was completely finished, but needed to be backed and bound. Stacey helped me with this project and I happily took my new/old quilt with me to Germany, where it kept me warm for two years in Berlin.

I took a hiatus from sewing for the four years I lived overseas, but this fall when I was back home and living in Maine with my mom, I became inspired again. I decided that a quilt would be a wonderful gift for Christel, Stacey's daughter and my goddaughter. I knew Stacey would appreciate it very much and I hoped Christel would treasure it as she got older. I loved picking out the fabric and putting the quilt together. It was a big project, but it came out great and I was very pleased with the results. I was using my mom's machine at the time, but once I finished the quilt, I knew I wanted to continue sewing, so when my brother called asking what I wanted for Christmas, it was a no brainer.

It took me a couple of months to get my sewing machine out of the box and set up in my new apartment in Sunapee, but now that it is, it hasn't been idle very often. My latest projects have been a baby quilt, a quilt for Jean for the hospital, and lots of bags (big surprise!) and I'm gearing up for an attempt at a queen-sized quilt using a pattern other than patchwork, which has been my standard up until now.

I'll post pictures of my latest projects soon.
 

Crafty Camper | Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial License | Dandy Dandilion Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates