testing

I spent the last few days finishing up my postage stamp quilt.  This has been on my quilting bucket list for a while and I can definitely see myself making another.  It took some time to piece all of the little squares (they are 2" finished), but I did them a little here and there and now and it felt like it went pretty fast.   I decided to make this quilt after buying Sunday Morning quilts .  Eventually I would like to make most of the quilts in the book and I didn't really need the book to make this one since it is pretty simple, but just seeing the quilt in the book inspired me to make it now. My plan was alternate to darker and lighter value squares, but more importantly I just wanted to use up the scraps that I had so this was more successful in some areas than others. My kids really like that they can find pieces of their quilts in this one and I think it will get a lot of use.  The backing is Folksy Flannel which is AMAZING.  Everything should be printed on that flannel

My Mom has been here visiting for the past week which means my sewing machine was sitting on a shelf.  Last night my husband saw that my machine was out again and he told me that he was glad because I'm happier when I'm sewing.  I think that's true. It did give me time to do some hand quilting on my Maple Leaf Rag quilt which has been sadly sitting in the corner for the past couple months. I have now hand quilted all of the octagon shapes, I just need to do the half octagons around the edge of the quilt and the kite shapes.  So yeah, that's still a lot, but it felt good to make some progress. And now that my machine is back out I finished putting these postage stamp blocks together.  It turned out a little crazy, but it is bright and HUGE which are always two good quilt qualities in my opinion :) Even though I haven't been doing much sewing lately I have been still adding things to my mental list of things-I-need-to-make so I am excited to get to work on some new pr

My Mom has been in town visiting so I haven't had much time for sewing, but I did find a little to put together my July Lucky Stars Block. I feel a little meh about my fabric choices on this one, but I think it will match up with the other blocks well.  I am planning on adding more blues in the future so I think that will help. July's block was pretty easy to put together and once again I made the 6.5" block.  At the end of the year I am planning on making a wall hanging with the finished blocks.  

Head over to the Moda Bake shop to check out my new tutorial using Sweetwater's Road 15 fabric.  I LOVE this line, there are so many great prints. This quilt is destined for my son's big boy bed and I think he might like it :)

Have you ever seen a fabric print that you thought you couldn't live without?  There are plenty of prints and collections that I really, really want, but a couple weeks ago I was scrolling through blogs on my phone and saw this post .  I had to have that teal print. photo from the Nani Iro Online Store I have never used double gauze, but I remembered this post and this post and decided that I needed some yardage for a quilt back. I had a difficult time tracking the print down, but I finally found it on Fabricworm (they are sold out, but it is available here ).  The fabric arrived last week and did not disappoint.  It is so soft and bright and I am in love with it. This photo does not do it justice at all. Now I just need to decide what to do with it!  Have you ever had a print that you couldn't live without!

Maybe. 

I have been wanting to try April Rhodes' Staple Dress pattern since it first came out, but the only clothes that I have sewn have been for my daughter so I was a little intimidated.  I was also nervous about this pattern because I am quite tall (5'10"), my chest is on the larger side, and I am not as thin as I once was. I used a voile print from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line.  It was a little slippery to work with, but it makes a nice light dress.  Though it does wrinkle quite a bit and is a little sheer. Issues I had while making the pattern: I bought the PDF version of the pattern which takes FOREVER to assemble.   The neck facing and armhole facing are both made up of 3 paper pieces and I accidentally switched 2 of the pieces which made my neck facing too short and my armhole facing too long.  I was really confused until I figured out what I had done wrong. The only change I made was to add 6 inches to the length.  I am tall and I like to wear dresses and

I decided yesterday that I needed to make a Staple Dress .  We are going to a summer party for my husband's office this weekend and as usual I don't want to wear anything that I already own. I haven't shirred the dress, added the facing to the arms, or hemmed it yet, but taping all of the pattern pieces together took me a lot longer than I had anticipated so this is as far as I got last night.  I can't decide if I'm going to love it or hate it or if it is something I will be able to wear to a casual work party.  We will see. My postage stamp scrap quilt has been sitting on the back burner but it is ready to be finished up.  I just have to join the blocks. Last week I pulled out these fabrics for a new quilt and I am excited to narrow these down and get started.  I am thinking of making a chevron quilt but I'm not sure.   Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

I promise I am still working on projects and I will share some soon, but for now I have my July do. Good Stitches blocks finished up.   Caitlin asked for 12.5" churn dash blocks made with solid black for the center shape and low volume prints for the background. I am currently working on some quilting and I had a rare experience yesterday where I had 2 problems with my machine while I was quilting. Oh the horror.  However, I am really into the idea of being able to clean and repair problems with my own machine and with the help of the amazing Janome yahoo group (lots of knowledgeable ladies out there) I was able to fix both problems pretty quickly.   The thread cutter was acting up which was a minor fix, but I ended up having a needle break when I sewed over a bulky seam and it caused a knick on thing that holds the bobbin case in my machine.  The bobbin case made a horrible scraping noise when it moved. With the help of my son's rattlesnake magnifying glass and an emory boa