Improv Flower Block

There has still been plenty of sewing and general craftiness around here this summer, just not much bloggin' about it. I think that's the case for a lot bloggers out there, especially if they have kids home on school break. Summertime is just not meant to be spent inside at a sewing machine (or a computer!).

I've got several hand piecing and embroidery projects going right now- perfect for traveling or lawn chair-sitting while the kids are in the sprinkler. But the progress on those projects is slow and I haven't felt much like sharing.

However, this weekend was rainy and a bit chilly and my sewing machine was crying out for use, so I whipped up this little improv flower to get back on the sewing wagon.



It's mostly fused appliqué, but there are a few pieced bits—the background, the yellow circle of the flower, and one of the leaves. It was fun to pull out the scrap bin and go nuts. Geez did I make a mess of my sewing room in the process!



I think those two little leaves are my favorite part. I could make a whole quilt of funky little leaves like that!

Modern Meadow Pillow

When I saw the announcement for the Modern Mini Challenge a couple of weeks ago, it was just the motivation I needed to finish my Modern Meadow pillow!



I decided to take some photos sans pillow because you can see the quilting better when it's not stuffed. And the quilting is my favorite part of this pillow! I just love the texture all these straight lines create.

The quilting plan for this quilt evolved over time. A couple months ago, it looked like this:



It started with vertical lines in the pieced sections, but I wasn't quite happy with it because I was going for wonky uneven spacing between the lines, but it just looked sloppy (to me anyway). I soldiered on though. I stitched the angles in the negative spaces on the sides, which I loved the look of. But then the project sat for a looong time and I didn't know where to go next.

The "wonky" lines continued to bother me, so I bit the bullet and pulled out the seam ripper a few days ago. This gave me the opportunity to continue the angles into the pieced panel and I love the results!



And here it is with the pillow. While working on this project, I always pictured it vertically but with the pillow insert I'm thinking it might work better with the strips running horizontally. What do think- portrait or landscape pillow?



Check out all the wonderful mini entries over at Ellison Lane!

Ukulele Gig Bag

My husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this weekend. We agreed that an overnight trip to one of our favorite cities would be our gift to each other, but I still wanted to make something for him. In the last couple of years he's become quite the collector of ukuleles (he's always been musical and has played guitar since he was a kid). So I made him a gig bag to fit his soprano ukuleles.



I made the pattern myself, and for winging it, I'm really happy with how it turned out! Longest zipper I've ever installed-- 48"!



It's got durable duck cloth on the outside and soft flannel on the inside, with a layer of batting in between. My daughter was with me when I bought the fabric and she insisted we find red fabric because "it's daddy's favorite color!!".



I quilted the three layers together and then cut out my pattern pieces. The inside seams are bound with double-fold bias tape.



And a little label on the inside to commemorate the occasion :)

Beautiful Belle Handbag

I treated myself to a new spring bag by sewing up the Beautiful Belle Handbag by Amy Butler.



I had been holding on to a few half yard cuts of Washi for a while. If you've ever read my blog before you'll see a fabric hoarding trend here. I rarely, if ever, buy a fabric and immediately use it.

I didn't follow the pattern for any of the insides of the bag. The large divided pockets it called for didn't seem all that useful. So I made a zip pocket on one side and a couple of open gusseted pockets on the other. It's hard to get good photos of the inside of a bag once it's sewn, so I snapped a couple quick shots before I sewed the lining together.





Unfortunately, the cell phone pocket called for in the pattern is too small for my phone (even though I did a quick test measurement and thought it would!). I stitched it on, found it too small, ripped it off and reworked it (using the same piece of fabric) by changing the way I pleated it. Technically it fits now, but it takes quite a bit of fiddling with it to get the phone in, so most of the time I end up just tossing my phone in with all my other junk. It is a nice pocket for my sunglasses though!

I also added a magnetic snap closure to the bag. So glad I did because otherwise the bag would flop wide open every time I set it down.



I also made myself a matching fabric envelope (using this tutorial, with a size adjustment) for my coupons.

KCW: Ruffle Dress

I've had this ruffle fabric in my stash for quite a while, and KCW was the push I needed to put it to use (I think I said that with the flannel jammie pants earlier this week too!).



I was inspired by this dress I pinned months ago.



It definitely took me longer than 20 minutes. I'm far too OCD to whip out a dress made of such fussy fabric that quickly. I had to take my time pinning the sides so that ruffles all lined up nicely. I think I did a pretty good job!



Since I was using this stretchy fabric, I tried a stretch stitch on my machine I never used before. It worked fabulously with this fabric!



I love that she still gets so excited for new clothes made by mommy!



And one more, just 'cause she's so darn cute....

WIP Wednesday - 4/23/13

This week I've been working on finishing up my quilt for the BlockBase Sew Along.



The top is a bit busy, but all those bright colors just make me so happy! My blocks are two different sizes- 10" and 5". Sewing the blocks at different sizes makes a sampler-type quilt a bit more fun to work on. And it can give you more interesting options for the final layout too!

Here's my favorite block from the bunch:



I'll be starting a new sew along over on the Do You EQ blog next week called the EQ7 Summer Drawing Series. If you have EQ7, and are interested in drawing your own blocks, I'd love for you to join us!

Kids Clothes Week: A First!

I've never participated in Kids Clothing Week before, so I thought I'd give it a go this time around! I didn't even realize it was KCW until I saw a post on Sunday, so I'm not going into this week terribly prepared. Patterns have not been cut out in advance. No fabric was been washed and pressed with projects in mind. I'm kinda wingin' it here, so I'm starting out with something simple: flannel jammie pants.



I bought this flannel months ago (ya know, back when it made sense to be making flannel pajamas), so I'm glad KCW gave me the little push I needed to actually get sewing. I've made her pants like this a few times before, but I did change it up a bit and added a little ruffle to the cuffs.



K was quite excited for the new pants. She asked if they were ready yet about a million times this evening, and luckily I got them done just in time for bed.