Oh the times

So lately I have been working on a lot of projects.  The reason that I have been able to do all this sewing is that I have been stuck at home due to a knee injury.  I have to say that it is super frustrating and I have turned to my love of sewing to get me through this tough time.

I am so very glad that I have this as my activity because I would probably be going crazy (well more so than I am already) if I didn't have this to keep my mind busy.  Normally in times of stress I turn to running and I have been known to just run for hours, loosing myself in thought and the sights, sounds, and smells of being in nature.  Since now I can not even walk the trails I once ran I sit and sew and think about what it will be like to run again.  Or what it would feel like to be in my boat again.

I have made it a mission of mine to donate a number of quilts this year and I would like to get some done while I am home.  I have a top completed for a quilt for Project Linus of NJ.  I also have strips cut for a quilt to donate to another organization.  I would also like to make one to donate to Basics Housing .  I figure that while I am home I should try to do something to help someone else.

Project Linus top, cell phone pic.  

So I just keep sewing, dreaming of running and boating.  Deciding what to do about my knee, what to do if I am told that I need to give up the sports I love.  At 30, I should not have to worry about this!

Modern Mini - in progress.  Lots of hand sewing to do
Sorry for the cell phone pic.

So I will work on my modern mini quilt and maybe when it is done I will be able to smile again.

A couple more mustaches

I made a couple mustache mug rugs yesterday.  I am calling it my "Barbershop Quartet"

They have musical notes and instruments on the mustaches.  I fused it to a white on white background and then zig-zag stitched around them.  Then quilted them on my machine.  

I used a geometric black and white print for the backing and the binding.  And added tabs, just in case they would be used as wall decorations rather than mug rugs.  They measure 10.5" x 5.5".

I think they turned out super cute!

Almost as cute at my Mustache Mini Quilt!

I am linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday!  I love to see all the creative projects that everyone makes!

Mustache Mini Quilt

So I have been playing around with little things lately because, well... I have the time and not much else to do.  I have been seeing so many items out there with mustaches on them and thought, hmmm that would make a fun min quilt.  So I looked around the internet and found a few mustache shapes I liked and drew them out.  I dug trough my scraps and found some mustache suitable fabrics.  I then dug into my desk and found an entire roll of heat and bond (score!).

I fused the scraps to the heat and bond, then traced out my mustaches and cut.  I then found the perfect background material.  I pressed the mustaches on to the background then zig-zag stitched around them.  I then made my quilt sandwich, using a nice small plaid for the back, and straight line quilted (making sure to not go over the mustaches).  Then binded it with the same material as the backing.










I added some tabs to the back to make it easy to hang.

I absolutely love how it turned out.  So much that I made some coasters too.

I put these all up on my etsy shop.

Oh Bunny

So a very close friend of mine is having a little baby, she is due in March.  This past weekend was her baby shower.  I was not able to make it because it was a far drive for my knee.  But since I was home I was able to make to make something special just for her and the baby.

When I was a baby, my Mom made me a special bunny.  She told me that she wanted to make me something special, that she didn't do for my sisters.  She told me it took a couple trials, but this is Bunny.  After 30 years his flannel is thin, but he still looks pretty good.  I love that he is flat and easy for a little one to hold and hug so I decided to make a bunny for her.  I put bunny on some brown paper and traced around him..


Now I have my bunny pattern.  When I traced it onto the fabric I traced about a quarter of an inch away and then cut about a quarter of an inch from that... I wanted to make sure to leave enough of a seem allowance.  I set my stitch length small and got to sewing.  I am proud to introduce Bunny 2...

Bunny 2 is made of a nice soft flannel, like Bunny 1 was, except he has polka dots.  He is stuffed with a nice soft polyfil and ready to be loved by the little baby.  Bunny 1 and Bunny 2 both have their faces stitched on and a nice heart on the chest.















I am very happy with how Bunny turned out.

So I couldn't just send one "buddy" (as my nephew would call it) for the baby.  So I remembered seeing an elephant tutorial on a site a while back (I can't remember where, oops).  That elephant was flat though so I thought... hmmm I can make that to be like a real elephant so I played around and came up with elephant.

I'll admit that this was the second one I made... the first one had some standing issues so I figured I would try again.  Elephant is made with 100% cotton and stuffed with polyfil.   The fabric has little raindrops on it and the ears are a polka dot.  His are also stitched on.

I even stitched a little tag I had that said PS I Love You into the seem.  And the tail is a loop to make it easy to carry when the little one can drag it around.









I am very happy with how Bunny and Ellie turned out.  I hope the make the little one very happy too... when he/she comes along, that is :)

I sent the package to her mom and was happy it arrived in time to make the shower.  I am sad I had to miss the shower, but I will make sure to visit as soon as I can.


I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story :)

Suddenly obsessed with hexies...

Ok so I have to say that I am suddenly obsessed with hexies.  I see the nuts at physical therapy everyday laying so nicely in a bin and think that would make an amazing quilt and through looking at all the quilts in my books and online I decided that I had to make some...

I found free hexagon graph paper at incompetech, printed some out on to a light card-stock, cute it out, and starting digging through my scraps.  I am guessing that if I want an entire quilt in these that I will need around a thousand of them.  So for now I am going to just play around and see what I come up with. I do have an idea for a super cute summer skirt and dress that will utilize them when it gets a little warmer.


So Sunday I went back to the Super Bolt Sale... I couldn't help myself.  They had a line of fabrics that I love in the sale room so I picked up a yard of 6 of the different prints, all retro inspired from the 30's and 40's.  So now I am up to 25 1/3 yards of fabric for the year... I think I have a fabric addiction.

So I have finished a couple little projects that I will write about soon.  I am working on my retro quilt and the solid table runner.  I have done nothing on the halloween quilt, my dress, my t-shirt quilt, or my Hawaiian quilt.  I fell like such a slacker looking at this, but I spend a lot of time at my machine.  Though, physical therapy takes up 4 hours of my day 3 times a week right now.

Oh well... it will all get done eventually.

 

Super Bolt Sale!

This weekend is the "Super Bolt Sale" at my LQS.  It opened at 10 am and so I was there at 10:15 and really surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot.  During the sale, the put a ton of fabrics in their classroom and each fabric is only $5 or $5.29 a yard.  And it is fabrics from all collections, including batiks!  Also, all of their end of bolt rolls are an additional 35% off.  So this is the time to pick up some fabrics for backings, but I was good.  I really limited myself because I am trying very hard to use stuff from my stash.

I picked up these six pieces of fabric.  Not too bad since there were so many to choose from.  I was really tempted with all of the end of bolt rolls, but I had a purpose and I (mostly) stuck to it.



The panel I just fell in love with.  I absolutely love aprons and this "Saucy Circle Apron" by Timeless Treasures Fabrics was too cute to pass up.  I am sure I can make one like it, but the retro style of the orange and yellow just made me smile.  I should have picked up a coordinating print to go with it to make it reversible.... hmmm.... another trip this weekend maybe.

The space print is called "Space: The New Frontier" by Benartex.  My 6 year old nephew has recently fallen in love with stars and planets.  (It probably helps that my sister, his other Aunt, bought him all space stuff for Christmas including a telescope) and so I figured I would combine it with the collection of space in my stash and make him a fun quilt.

The roll is an end of bolt piece, 1 1/3 yard of Kona cotton in a cream, almost off white color.  I am really trying to add some solids ( I have almost none!) to my stash and what better way then picking up a piece at a discount?

I have no idea what I will do with the batik piece, Timeless Tonga Teal.  I just loved the color and movement in it.  (I said I was almost good)

And the last two pieces I picked up for my backing of the retro quilt.  I grabbed a piece of the quilt and brought it with me to the sale.  I laid it on the table and stared at it and the fabrics.  I had a few people ask where the fabric was, thinking the quilt was a fabric panel.  I wanted 2.5 yards of each the pink and the blue, but the girl cut it wrong and I ended up with 2 yards of the pink and 2.5 of the blue.  There wasn't enough left of the pink to re cut it.  I think I will be able to make it work, I just have to change my idea a little (it will probably change about 10 times before I am done anyway)  I am hoping I will be able to get the quilt to full or queen size.  right now, it is not even twin.  I guess buying the backing is a push in the right direction to get back to it.

So overall, not too bad.  I restrained myself well and only added a little to my stash.

This year so far I have bought...
before today I would say about 10 yards of fabric.
Today I added 9 1/3 yards.

I have used from my stash this year... (an estimate in yards)
2.5 - Juliets quilt and shapes
1.5 - Valentine quilt
1 - Valentine pillow
.5 - taggy blankets (plus ribbon from my stash)
.25 taggy ball (plus ribbon from my stash)
.25 - fun little project to be talked about later
.25 - another fun little projects to be talked about later
.5 - two clutch purses
.25 - mini quilt for April
.25 - Caroline mini quilt

I have not bought any batting because I still have about 5 or so yards of warm and natural 100" wide left to use, nor have I bought any poly-fill.  I also have a good selection of interfacing to use up.

There may be some others in there, but I can't remember at the moment.  My goal is to use more from my stash then what I buy.

Valentine Quilt

So over the past 2 days I created this little Valentine quilt.  It measures 24" x 24".

I used a combination of straight lines and free motion quilting.  I was playing around with my scraps that I had left over from creating a little taggy block and came up with the squares for the quilt.  I backed it with cozy flannel.


I am still working on my Valentine table runner of solids.  I have it 30 inches long and decided to make it a little longer, so back to making more hst's.  (I have one more set to trim to 3 inches to continue).  I am also still working on my retro quilt and my Hawaiian quilt.  I also cut up a lot of t-shirts for a t-shirt quilt.  My Halloween quilt hasn't gotten far either.

Stats for 2012 so far...
Created:
2 baby quilts
2 mini quilts
4 taggy blankets
1 taggy block
1 quilted pillow

WIP:
retro quilt
Hawaiian quilt
Halloween quilt
pink dress
solids table runner

So not too bad for one month into the year.  I love that I have the time to create :)

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story :)