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.

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...

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.

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.