Number 2 - Baby Hat

I am missing two things for a successful picture of a baby hat - natural light, and a baby head to model. You get the idea with the lamp though, right? Haha! I can't believe I didn't even have a stuffed animal in the house!

This hat is truly adorable, even the hubby admits. I was nervous about working with knit fabric but it didn't turn out to be that difficult. I purchased an interlock knit, which I think helped. You can read about knits here. The part to be careful of is that you are not stretching them as you sew, but it isn't that difficult.
The hardest part of this little hat was sewing the ears. I guess I have never really tried sewing sharply rounded pieces because I had a lot of difficulty getting a smooth curve. Maybe I am just still getting used to my machine, but either way, the ears turned out a bit wonky, but they are cute. As far as applique, the fusable web is definitely the way to go here because the stiffness helps the ears stand up.
If you have noticed that it is still only December 29th and I have completed two out of three of my projects for January you are wondering the same thing I am... am I going to be done with this by June?

The Project

Sometime this year I bought a book at Joanne Fabrics, to feed my pattern-book buying habit. Unlike other books I have bought in the past, the more I looked at this book the more I liked everything in it! There are literally only one or two patterns that I am not crazy about, and everything else I think so so darn cute I just want to make them all.
So my sewing-book buying habit... I have a similar problem with cookbooks.... I love to buy them, then I make one or two patterns, and the book sits on the shelf forever.
There is something about choosing a project to work on, choosing a pattern that I find difficult. I have a hard time just opening a book and saying, I'll make this one first, and the rest later. I feel like I have to decide on the perfect pattern because I don't want to loose interest. But once you have made the best pattern the the book and eliminated all the others in the process, well, it kind of makes me not want to make all the others as much as I did before. So, inspired by a favorite movie of mine "Julie and Julia" I thought, I'll just take this book from which I love almost every pattern, and start from the beginning and sew my way through! Yay!

So the book is Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy. This is my new machine (<3, <3, <3, see my last post about how I love my new machine). And there behind the book is the first project, the baby booties! Now there are 25 projects in this book and they are all quite easy... so given that fact the I have a full time job and a lot of being lazy to do... this will not be an all consuming project, just a fun thing to do. I have decided to make two patterns a month, and will probably still work on the fifteen other things that are always lying around wanting to be finished.

Project Number 1: The Baby Booties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These booties turned out to be much harder that I anticipated - they are very small and hard to maneuver on the machine. A couple things I would note on the pattern. When you sew the straps, you have to sew them at 1/4 seam or you won't be able turn it right side out, so ignore the 1/2 inch seam instruction in that part. Also, I think the lining is a little too large for the bootie. It just doesn't seem to fit, there is too much fabric! I would in the future maybe use the smaller size, and a 1/4 inch seam allowance, or something to allow for this. Also, I would plan on making three booties, one to mess up on and two to wear :) These look adorable, but I'm not honestly sure they would be wearable..... but not bad for the first project!

"I'm in Love, I'm in Love, and I don't care who knows it!!"

I am the proud owner of a real grown up sewing machine.....
When I was making my registry for my wedding I thought to myself, "every household should have a sewing machine." Just a simple one to fix things and make homemade curtains on. I had a little sewing experience, but not much. When I moved to Edwards (aka, middle-of-nowhere), CA with my darling husband, and began searching fruitlessly for a job (and I'm a nurse, yeah, go figure) I got re-interested in sewing and made a few little kit quilts and the aforementioned curtains.
It wasn't until I took a class at the local quilt shop that I knew that there was anything wrong with my sewing machine. I shouldn't say wrong, but different. The instructor said, "lower your speed on the machine" and I asked "how?" and she said "oh.... your machine doesn't do that." My machine also has five stitches, maybe six if you count a straight stitch moved over to the right. I purchased attachments and had my husband make a table to extend the surface, and made some pretty beautiful things on this little "kiddy machine" as I have taken to affectionately calling it.
Here is a treasury of sorts of things I have made on this machine, some of which were already featured on this blog.

Sigh... well farewell little Singer Prelude... you have served me well. I can't say that I am that sad to see you go though, as you also gave me much trouble in the process. What is going to happen to said Singer? I thought about selling him at the Thrift shop but then thought someday I may want to tech my children to sew and it might be nice to have a little machine that I am not worried about them breaking. Plus it was my first machine and I do feel a little sentimental towards it.
But on to bigger and better things!
The story of my new sewing machine begins with my friend E in the apron photo. She wanted to learn to sew so I taught her on good old singer to make an apron. Then she started a quilt and I have her hooked. She wanted to buy a machine so I was looking up some machines and found the Brother CS6000i and just sent it to her as a suggestion - it had lots of nice features, looked to be a good machine and was a great price. She bought it and set it up and I was in love! I had sewing machine envy! I kept looking around to see if there was anything better out there, but for the price, this is the best machine in it's class, it gets great reviews and is honestly, just wonderful to use!
So begins a new era of me and my sewing machine which my husband purchased for me this Christmas. I am starting a Julie and Julia-esque project for this year... but more on that in a later post.

Handmade Christmas Gifts (or, frantic sewing followed by overpriced overnight shipping)

Story of my life - I get a good idea for a handmade Christmas gift, I plan and start it way in advance, then loose interest because let's face it - there are two more months until Christmas.  Then four days before Christmas I am frantically stitching away in my living room where I have temporarily set up camp despite having a perfectly good and much bigger sewing room right across the hall, but it sadly lacks a TV and DVD player which is really the only thing that can keep me glued to my sewing machine for close to 400 four inch blocks of piecing. Although I am discovering that podcasts (for sewing I like "radiolab" and "this american life") are quite good as well.
anyway, my point in all of this rambling is that I have made the largest quilt I have ever attempted, and probably the largest I will ever attempt. And yes, it is a gift that needs to make it from Edwards, CA to New Hampshire by Christmas Eve.
Sadly, it has been raining here for days and the sky remains gray and cloudy which does not make for very good pictures, but I will do my best to capture this quilt.

 

Maybe it's all the hard work I put into it, but I love this quilt. The fabric is Martinique by Moda. The pattern is my own, it's basically just 4 inch squares, 18 by 21 with a 7 inch border. 

Usually I just zigzag stitch the binding on, but since this quilt is special I handstitched the binding, which took forever. 

But the hardest part about this quilt was packing it up into a box and spending $70 to overnight ship it to my sister to get there in time for Christmas. *sigh* 

Merry Christmas!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season to finish the projects I started last year!
This one is a quilt I had made thinking it would be a good small project to practice my free-hand machine quilting. Then I decided that skill was better left to the more talented set, and I just had a quilt top lying around waiting to become a quilt. 

It looks a little nicer in the picture than in actual life. Hm... 
It's basically made up of a few cheap Christmas fabrics from Joann's, and really the finished product is not half bad looking, however it does not compare to the Moda quilt kit that I made all new this year- and actually finished way before Christmas (shocking!)

Am I right? This is a Kate Spain fabric line (or maybe it is her pattern? I'm not sure) 12 days of Christmas. The kit came with a panel to cut all the little number blocks from, but the center is appliques. I did a little experimenting with the applique, a little zig-zag stitch, a little straight stitch, some hand-sewing blanket stitch, a little of everything really. The one thing I don't like is that the only way I knew how to do machine applique is by applying an iron-on fusable web, but this really makes the fabric so stiff. I later discovered you can just use basting spray, or a starching method I just read about on piece n quilt (thanks!). Oh well, next time. The quilt is still absolutely wonderful. It is 59x59 which is just about the perfect size, big enough to cover you on the couch, but not so big that it feels like it takes over your living-room.

Now the only question left is how many Christmas quilts does one household need? I think maybe one more... call me crazy, it's just that I have one more idea floating around in my head....

My first tutorial

In my craft blog reading I had somewhere picked up on the phrase "quilt as you go." I had no idea what this meant, but I assumed it must be an answer the the problem of trying to shove a full size quilt under the arm of my tiny almost toy-like singer. I set out searching the internet and book stores for this method that would make my life simpler, and was sadly disappointed with the results of my search. I found enough through various websites to figure out how the method was done, but I wished there was a good easy to read, pretty reference to recommend when I write about my next quilt. Instead I will have to make one.

This method works best with quilts composed of blocks (as opposed to strips or applique) but basically, you just have to be able to break the quilt down into smaller segments. In hindsight, I could have sewn four of my blocks together and then did the quilting so I would have fewer seams to hand sew. Anyway, start with a bock of your choice:

I am using a 12 inch log cabin block made with Moda Bliss jelly rolls, which I heart greatly.
Cut a piece of batting and a piece of fabric also 12inches square or the size of your block. This method gives you the option of using different colored fabrics for the backing of each block, making it a double sided quilt, patchwork blocks on one side, 12in blocks on the other.

I am just using an off-white sheet, my most economical way of backing a quilt. Make a sandwich of your three pieces and pin.
Quilt as desired. I used a walking foot and did a simple geometric tracing of the log cabin blocks, but this would also be a good opportunity to try out some free-hand quilting in a smaller, more manageable space.

Be sure that your quilting stays about 1/2in away from all sides, as you will have to sew 1/4in seams around all of the sides still. Repeat with another block, or all of the blocks for your quilt. The beauty of this method is you can mix up the steps! I recommend doing two blocks before you decide if you like the method.

Next, take two completed blocks, pin back the batting and backing fabric on the edge where the two will connect.
Then lay them on the table/floor next to each other the way they should appear in the quilt. Fold one over the other, faces together.

Then pin the two tops together, and sew a 1/4in seam to sew the quilt tops only together. Open seam and press open.

Take the two pieces of batting and split it apart as shown. Don't be scared... just rip it a little...

Cut the bottom half of one of the pieces of batting off, and the top half of the other side, then layer them to form a layer of batting that is the same thickness as the one layer in the rest of the quilt. (This is hard to explain without using 50 pictures. You could skip this step but there will be a bump in the overlap, or try cutting them so they just meet in the middle, but I'm not sure if they would bunch up when you wash the quilt... )
Next step, lay one side of the backing flat against the batting, on the other side, fold over and press a 1/4 inch  from the edge. Pin to the other side of the backing like so:

Then hand sew the seam however is most comfortable for you.




I did it like this:

When it is finished it looks like this:

Now you just repeat the process 35 times.... easy! ;)
I haven't decided if I like this process yet, but I'll do this quilt at least and see how it goes. Pictures of the completed quilt to come....
I have this dream that when I have kids, the day they graduate to a big kid bed I will give them a quilt that I made for them.  And they will love it.... and not think that I am lame at all. In my dreams my children always think I'm awesome. Yup.

Aprons with E

My new sewing student is so talented... she whipped up this apron in one afternoon. And it was her first big project, every stitch sewn herself on my little machine.
No.... the apples are not upside down... that is your imagination.

Love

Opened my mailbox and fell in love today.
With this quilt.

Unfortunately, this quilt costs $330.
Trying to justify spending that much money on a quilt, I told myself, I don't know how to make that kind of quilt. It looks really difficult.

But then I saw these tutorials:
From Hyena in Petticoats
From the Sometimes Cafter

They made it look easy. I'm still a bit confused, but I think I just have to try it.
I have too many projects going now! It's feast or famine here when it comes to sewing!

In the works

A few things I am working on:

Loving this bliss fabric:

Thinking about quilting as I go - square by square, which I have never done before. We will see...

I hope my kids turn out this cute...

Someone is just going to have to have a baby boy cute enough for these Oliver + S shorts....

and this onesie...

Like I said.... someone should start working on that. Some one other than me. 

Something new coming from my sewing room...

So a few new things, a quilt and a baby dress, let's start with the quilt.

This is from a pattern by Thimble Blossoms called "Sweet Cheeks".  The fabric is just a nice mix of patterns I found at Joann's. I'm in love with the backing of little white dots on green cotton.

    It's hard to tell from my terrible photography, but the stripes are done in "soft edge applique" and the circles/flowers are traditional fusible web applique with a combination of machine and hand stitching around the borders. I wasn't sure I was going to like the soft edge applique which is basically just leaving the edges raw and fraying, but once the loose threads were pulled off and the quilt was washed, it looked so nice, I loved the effect. I quilted it with randomly spaced straight lines with a walking foot on my machine, avoiding the soft edges of the appliques, so as not to interfere with the nice fraying. I love this quilt, but it was for a friend's sweet baby, so I packed it up and off it went to the PO.
    Next project, Oliver + S pattern Ice Cream Dress.

 This was probably a bit advanced for me, as my clothing sewing experience is limited, but you have to start somewhere, and it should definitely be on something you love. All this dress needs is a two year old to wear it! I'm loving making kids clothes though and this will probably be the first of many because they are so small it's not much commitment, and they use all the wonderful fabrics that I have bought one yard of, just hoping to make something because it was so pretty (the paisley is one of said fabrics, the green was left over from my apron, which I should post a picture of, and also happens to be organic - bonus!) This might be one of the cutest things I've ever made...

This brings me to a quandry that often bothers me. I love to make things for people, but they never seem to have the same appreciation for them that I do because they didn't work hard to produce it. I am always afraid my treasured creations will end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere with a giant chocolate stain or worse strained peas or something all over them. I think by the time I have children I will have to just learn that kids will ruin things and if I want to make them nice clothes, I can't just expect them to sit quietly and not mess them up. Kids are dirty... 'nuff said.

Knitting

I learned to knit in college and spent many a good hour or two knitting and talking with roommate and friends. It's important to know yourself and your own limitations when you take up a craft, and as far as knitting is concerned, mine are as follows:
1. I will not knit scarves. Do not ask me to knit a scarf, I will not do it.  (this is primarily due to the inverse relationship between the required length of the scarf and my attention span.)
2. It takes a great deal of will-power to start the second sock. I do love knitting them, but finishing one is so satisfying, it's hard to start all over.
3. Varied patterns are always better than 22 inches of garter stitch. The simpler the pattern looks the more boring to knit.
Well anyway those are a few of my discoveries related to knitting. Another great discovery if you want to start knitting is www.knittinghelp.com which is full of videos and is where I learned almost everything I know about knitting.
I took a long break from knitting for a while because I wasn't making anything that I actually liked or used and it became frustrating. Probably also because I don't have a baby but my greatest knitting successes have been baby sweaters.  Don't ask me why, I think it's just because they are small and come together quickly, and they are so darn cute! I've picked up my needles again and  I'm working on a sweater now, it's about 25% finished. Who knows if it will ever be completely done, but if it is, a picture will be posted.

Starting from the middle

Having no idea how to start this blog, here are a few of the enjoyable projects that have occupied my time over the last year.

Not counting a baby quilt covered in bears on skateboards that I made when I was 10 for my little brother, this was my first attempt at quilting, a new-found favorite pastime. This was made from a kit I found at Joanne's.

This next quilt was a gift for my sister-in-law, one of those gifts that is hard to part with, I loved it so much. I used an inexpensive white sheet as the basic fabric which was cost effective and it wrinkled and puckered oh so nicely!

I got the basic idea from a pattern online but mostly I just made it up as I went. I will have to find the name of the fabric collection I used, I can't remember it right now. I am currently using the scraps from this quilt in another gift, which involves my first attempts at applique and no pattern whatsoever.... we will see how it turns out.