Monday, April 29, 2013

Coming Soon!


 
This is all the sneek peek I can give you for now. So sorry.
But the real deal will be worth the wait. :o)
 
HAPPY SEWING!

Monday, April 22, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I can't believe my baby is 8! 
 

 
This girl definitely keeps us on our toes.

 
She can be so sweet and loving one minute
and turn on a dime to be the complete opposite.

 
She is so very creative. I can't wait to see what her life brings.

 
Its hard to believe that just a few short years ago she was this cute curly haired girl.
 
 
I love you Paris!!!
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Star light Star bright...

I've been sewing some Improv Stars lately. I LOVE this block! It goes together so quick and easy and the best part is that you don't have to worry about lining up those points. ;o)
 
 
I can't remember if I've ever really played with batiks before. Most of the quilts I've seen with them haven't really been my style. But then I saw these and decided to give them a chance.

Guess what!? I much like working with batiks. Especially these ones with their fun, bright colors. And the designs- they're so fresh and new.
 
 
I haven't quilted a quilt in a long time. I really need to find more time to sew and quilt for fun. :o)
When I started to put this quilt together I decided I wanted to quilt it. I echoed inside each of the stars criss-crossing the center. The quilting is very "organic" because of the wonkiness of each star but it adds character. I matched thread to each star so I wasn't able to get a pic that showed it well. I quilted a "broken glass" motif in the white space. It looks amazing!

 
My favorite part of this quilt is going to come as a shocker to those of you that know me--- the BINDING!!!  I know! It's like "who are you and what have you done with the Crazy Old Lady!?"
Halfway through the quilting I got an idea and decided to follow through with it.
 
 
Do you see it? I pieced together strips of the batik fabrics for the binding to mimic the rainbow flow of the stars.
I! LOVE! IT!
 


Monday, April 15, 2013

Stripey Charms

I spent all afternoon yesterday sorting and stacking stripey charms for my Etsy shop. 
I can't wait to have my market sewing out of the way so I can sew together my quilt top.
 

I have 2 sizes listed. Large charms have 57 stripey fabrics and Small charms have 30. I collected, cut and stacked tons of stripey fabrics so each pack would have NO REPEATS!!


When these are gone- they're GONE! I won't be cutting any more. Get them while they're HOT!  :o)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Seeing Stripes

 
 

 
All those stripes are so fun. It always surprises me when something that is relatively simple catches my eye. And I wonder, why is that? A project doesn't have to be intricate and detailed to be beautiful and fun. Although another project of hers seen HERE sure fits that profile.
 
Anyway, I've been collecting stripes for a while now so I can make my own stripey quilt.

 
I can't wait! ......except I'm going to have to. Market is right around the corner and you know what that means. ;o)
 
I ordered most of these stripes online where the minimum cut is 1/2 yard. You can guess that I have more than enough fabric to make a stripey quilt.
 
Question: how many of you would be interested in buying a stripey charm pack from my Etsy shop?

If there's enough interest I think I'll cut up my extras and list them. :o)

Monday, April 1, 2013

Improv Easter Skirt

 
When I was a little girl I remember getting a new dress every spring for Easter. As I've grown up I've used that tradition as an excuse to go shopping and get something new. :o)
Last month I posted about a gorgeous bundle of voile that I had ordered.
Instead of buying something new this year I decided that I wanted to make a long flowy skirt with all of this beautiful voile.
 
I didn't use a pattern (i can't follow a clothing pattern to save my life!) and just started cutting- hence the "Improv". I cut wedge shaped (large dresden plate) pieces from each cut of fabric. Most of the fabric I had was in 1/4 or 1/3 yard cuts. Then I just started sewing them together. I don't have a serger or anything so I topstitched each seam to help minimize fraying.

 
I needed to do a little adjusting around the waist so I added darts in each panel. I made a lining from solid pink voile and attached an elastic waistband. I hemmed the bottom on Saturday afternoon. It's a little on the long side (I'll probably shorten it at some point) but I made it work. :o) I

 
I paired it with a dark coral t-shirt and an aqua cardi. You can't see my cute shoes but I wore these from Old Navy. All together it was super cute and very comfy.
(the hubs took this picture of me and #thegirl = blurry :o)
 
And now I have a cute new skirt to wear!