Feeling and being disconnected...

I'm going to keep my whining to a minimum. We were without power for 3 days last week. Thankfully we had some wonderful family members who took us in so we could stay warm. We are still without cable/internet. That's 6 days.  So I've actually brought my laptop to work so I can get this post up during my lunch break and hopefully get a little more connected! :)

I'm participating in the Sew Kind of Wonderful Mod Olives QAL. I picked up this little ruler in Florida. I had been considering buying it for a while so when I actually saw it in person I figured it was time. Since this is the first time using the ruler, I decided to do all my color 'olives' at first. One because I'm impatient, but also because I didn't want whatever color I start with, say blue, to be the roughest for points matching and such.

What's funny is all the "solids" I'm using were also picked up randomly during the same trip! They had a bunch of Kaffe Shot Cottons and I just picked a few that appealed to me.  the "background" is I believe a Chambray? I forget what it was, but I just loved the look of it. It's hard to capture in photos, the bottom left olive is actually purple! All the prints were already in my stash.

So you can see my points aren't fantastic, but it does seem to get lost a bit in the busy-ness of the quilt.

And tell me I'm not the only one with multiple projects floating at the same time. Here's my economy blockalong.

And I've got a Chopsticks going too.

It's hard to decide what to work on first!!

New Things

I'm feeling myself come out of my 2012 funk and I'm starting to contemplate joining the Scrappy Trip Along. I'm sure you have see this around the internet.


I definitely have enough strips!

Problem is they are all different sizes and I really don't want to sort them. Maybe a project for the preschooler!? And I can't decide if I really want a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt or if I'm just drinking the kool-aid. Maybe I should do a strip quilt or a postage stamp. Whatever I decide, the strips need to be made into a quilt this year! What about you, what is your favorite use for strips?



I have been very busy working on some things I can show you soon! It will get much more fun around here soon, I promise!

Dresden top finished

Last week I finished my Dresden quilt top for the Scrappy Plate Club. I found that I can sometimes do more hand sewing than machine sewing. You know, while sitting in front of the TV as the toddler watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

I was a little lazy with my picture taking. It's been raining and raining here so I didn't have too many outdoor options. So maybe we'll just consider these shots preview of the finished top!

At one point I had considered raspberry sashing. But once the blocks were all done, I realized the raspberry was brighter than the color I used in the plates. I had a bunch of Kona Ash on hand so I used that.

I'm glad I did, I really like the ash and navy. I think it gives it a more classic look.  I may still use the raspberry as binding? Not sure yet. I still have a lot of scraps in this color that might be nice to use up as binding too.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks.

Now I just need to decide how to quilt this one. My budget for long-arm work is temporarily suspended as hubby was laid off. So I have to come up with something I can do myself. Any ideas? I've never quilted something with applique!

Slow down? Not yet...

With the baby on the way, the plan was to clear my plate of my current WIP's and then slow down. But I'm finding it hard to do. Despite the fact that I have less time to sew already, I keep finding another project that I want to start!

I've joined in with Rachel at Stitched in Color for her Scrap Attack Quilt a long. I love this idea because you can make any design you want, just use up your scraps!

I have my string x quilt that I started last year with some controlled scrappiness.

And I started my scrappy hourglass quilt. When I laid these out for a photo I was surprised to see how many I already have!

Then through Denise's blog, I found Bunny Hill Designs Dresden Plate Quilt along. Also another scrap buster (though I haven't pulled my fabrics yet, I may not use scraps but instead just use stash). I've loved Dresden's and having someone hold my hand while I make one - fantastic!

I'm really trying not to join any other quilt alongs. I have my eye on a few swaps so I need to keep some free time right!? What have you joined this year?

Joining a QAL and I had a lucky streak

I'm really excited about a new Quilt-along starting July 1 at The Plaid Scottie. She's going to help everyone do the Double Wedding Ring!!  This has been on my to-do list probably since before I started quilting. How so? My grandmother made one entirely out of embroidered squares and I loved it. I hope to get my hands on it to photograph it, but I don't know if she gave it away yet.  When she was making it she said she was going to let us all fight over it when she was gone. LOL - love my nana!! At any rate, I love this pattern and I'm excited to get some help doing it.

Kaelin has all the information here to get you started if you want to join us! And that above picture is her gorgeous version.

Here's my initial fabric pull. I need to thin this out a bit though, I have too many fabrics pulled.

I'm thinking maybe less green and more aqua.

I'm also debating how crazy to get. The frogs in this print would fit perfectly in the medallion section in between the rings. But that might just be a little too busy? Maybe I'll do one that way for a pillow? Otherwise I'm thinking a dark solid - maybe Kona Pepper or Charcoal? What do you think?

And on a different note, I have to give a shout out to Amanda at A Crafty Fox. She's been hosting a bunch of giveaways lately and I was lucky enough to win 2 of them!!

First I won this adorable petit-four of Circa 1934...

And then a few weeks later I won some of her LouLouThi scraps!

I haven't figured out what to do with either, for the moment I'm just drooling on them. ;)  In addition to the great giveaways, she has some cool projects like this pillow, this quilt,  and this bag. If you are looking for a cool new blog to follow, go check her out.

Sew Along Results

As you know, I've been doing the Jamie Dress Sew Along with Sara at Sew Sweetness. I wanted to give a pattern review and show my results. So - I'll start by saying the pattern is excellent. It's written so well and the photos are fantastic in showing every step of the way. If you've been thinking of doing clothing for yourself I'm sure the whole line of patterns is written just as well.

My problems came when I tried to modify things without knowing what the heck I was doing. My first issue was that I chose a light colored fabric and it needed some type of lining in the skirt. The bodice is lined so no problems there. I should have just left the skirt alone and bought a slip! 

Instead I tried to line it and gather it with the lining and the top fabric.  This resulted in a lot of thickness around the waist. My husband told me I looked like a Victorian woman with a bustle! Translation - "yes, that dress makes your butt look big".

While I was struggling with what to do from here, I saw Kim,  member of the flickr group post her version - a tunic. I love it! I don't wear dresses much so this was a perfect idea for me.

Again, I had no idea what I was doing. I ripped out all the lining and chopped some of the fabric off the sides of the skirt to reduce the amount of gathers. But, I forgot to factor in my hips! Here are my results.
Since this is a fashion don't, I was going to put black bars over my face, instead I decided to leave the camera there!

 See that pooch? It's too tight at the bottom and doesn't flow nicely. Creates it's own muffin top. Here's a better view.

EEEKKK!!


Anyone know how to fix that?

At any rate, the pattern is great, it was easy to follow. It was my own silliness that caused this mess. I believe I'm done with this shirt. Although I might re-claim the fabric for quilting.

Do you know how to sew clothing?

Do you want to learn? Sara over at Sew Sweetness is hosting a sew-along.  I know how to sew clothing, but I've never done something for myself (kids clothing is way easier). This is a great opportunity to learn or just have your hand held. She's picked this cute little dress and is giving a pattern discount if you join the group.

This is the fabric I've chosen (Mosaic in Cream by Patricia Bravo). I'm hoping the print is large enough that it doesn't get swallowed by all the pleats and gathers.
If you are interested in learning, come join us!

A little excitment and a little help

I had a little exciting package arrive yesterday. I can't really say I designed my own fabric, but I did do my own labels!

Nothing too fancy, but I'm happy with them. And I loved using Spoonflower. I used this tutorial to make them. Yeah, I'm linking you to Julie again. What can I say, she's got a great blog. She did all the math for the labels in that tutorial and if you are like me, that's the scary part. If you've ever wanted to do your own fabric labels, go check it out.
Now on to the help part. I could use a little help with my Supernova quilt along fabrics. This is what her finished quilt looked like:

Here is my first pull and as usual I've got too much and am having a hard time narrowing it down. What can I say - I love it all! I am definitely seeing a couple odd fabrics in here that would need to be removed though.

So the first problem is that I've only got 8 fabric stacks there and you are supposed to have 9. My thoughts:

1. repeat the beginning red/orange block (since this seems dominated by cool right now)
2. do a white to gray block and put it in the center.

or....
Since I do have a lot more cool than warm. Scrap this and do all all cool colors. Blue/green/purple. Somehow I have a ton of them.

Would love to hear what you think. For now, my daughter and I are off for a day of toddler fun.