2014 Finish #2. Scrappy Trip Along - This one's only a year old!

All quilted and finally bound, this is my second finish for 2014 (it was actually done last weekend, so I'm counting this as two for January).

This is my scrappy trip along from last spring.  It was THE hot thing then, and I climbed right on the band wagon.  This year it's the economy block along...which I'm sure I'll be starting soon.  Red Pepper Quilts has a tutorial that I just love.  I just can't help myself.

Kate Spain "Central Park" fabric for the top

The binding is bright and cheerful, which is my go-go for 2014.  Go loud or go home.  It's called Beatnik Blur and it's an older Michael Miller fabric.  Lord knows where I got it.

I HEART this binding

And the backing is lime moon dots by Amy Butler.  This was the first fabric that I ever bought 5 yards of.  

MMMMM polka dots

My favorite part of this pattern is that by arranging the blocks differently you can get a diamond like I did, zig zags, chevrons...it's so versatile.  And if you look on either Pinterest or Flickr there's whole groups of Scrappy Trip Along examples.  

Redemption! Amy Butler Origami Bags

After the Cosmo Bag debacle I bravely decided to try another pattern in Amy Butler's Style Stitches book.  I had to redeem myself, and I had a gift to make for a friend.  I used some of Violet Craft's Peacock Lane and some of my hoarded Tula Pink Neptune.  Loving the pink and black together, very 80's feeling.

My pictures are a funny color, it was actually really sunny outside, but these are the bags I made.

I made the "mini" size and the "medium" size.  The bags I use the most are one for pencils and eyeliners and such and the other to hold all of my other makeup.  I was very happy with the sizes I chose.

I used more of the upcycled sheets I got on Etsy for the insides.  They open up nice and wide, and I like to use light colors on the inside of bags so you can see what's inside.  I found that if you use dark colors it's hard to find stuff at the bottom of the bags.

I am SUPER happy with the way these came out.  The patterns were very well written, with lots of pictures that were helpful.  These I would agree, were "Easy".  I would guess they took me about 2 1/2 hours to make, including cutting time.

Not sure if I should laugh, or cry

I had four days off in a row. I was determined to finish my Cosmo bag. I had made such good progress and I felt like I could finish it if I focused. And focus I did. I put it all together, but I still need a button, I didn't have a 2 1/2" one, but figured I take a picture to blog about it anyway.



And as I went to make my bag look as much like the cover as I could, I realized that my handles.looked.funny. That's right, I sewed the handles on completely the wrong way. This might actually be funny, if I hadn't already made, oh, 2-3 other HUGE mistakes. (Look at the funky curve on the front of my bag vs. the bag on the cover of the book).



I didn't attach the side pockets when I put the outer bag together...they are still on my cutting table. As are the other two interior pockets. Still on my sewing table. The pattern was very good, it was clear, it had plenty of steps. I just didn't really follow them very well.

This is what Amy calls an "easy" pattern. Sweet Baby Jesus. What are the Expert patterns like??

This experience was very humbling. I thought "they're big pieces, the directions are only 14 steps, how hard can it be?" Of course, that doesn't even begin to contemplate that I used my gorgeous Echo fabric and now it's gone (insert sobbing here).


But I am an eternal optimist...and so here is what I am taking away from this massive blow to my sewing ego...

1). It's got a huge inside, that looks wonderful and can hold a lot of stuff.



2.) It is still very usable, although not a polished as the one in the book. I will absolutely carry this bag this summer and proudly say "yes, I made it".

3.) If I ever get up the guts to make another one, I'll know exactly how to make it next time.

What's the worst sewing mess you've ever made with a pattern?

Doing the boring stuff - Cosmo Bag Part #1 (oh, and home made dog treats)

I bought Amy Butler's Style Stitches at Joann fabrics for half price at the end of last winter. I've spent all this time looking at the beautiful bags and wondering when I would have the courage to try one. At my Heather Ross weekend, I bought some Echo by Lotta Jansdotter at Purl Soho to make a Cosmo Bag, but then I got sidetracked by the blouse that never was.

So, since I had a three day weekend, I decided to dive in. WHEW! Was that a lot of cutting to do! Every piece needing a matching piece of fusible interfacing. Then I had to actually FUSE them. That's taken all of my sewing time this weekend...but now, my pleats are pinned and I'm read to start sewing.

It looks like it might be pretty freakin' gorgeous when I'm done! (Sorry for the cruddy iPhone picture). The orange will be the lining. LOVE IT.



I also took a detour from sewing to make our puppies some peanut butter treats. THEY LOVE THEM. And I got the recipe here at Dog Treat Recipes dot org. I chose this one because I had the stuff on hand. There are so many other recipe sites, I'm sure I'll try others.

Fall Quilt Market 2010 - My Whirlwind Version

Last weekend I went to QuiltMarket for the second time. It was a completely different trip from my first Quiltmarket this spring in Minneapolis. Last time, I went to meet people, get the lay of the land, and experience what exactly this whole “Market” thing is about. The intention was that when I came back in the fall, to pitch my fabric line, I wouldn’t be so intimidated. Oh. Well. So much for that.

Ever since my trip in May, I’ve been working on my fabric line. I’d been compiling a book of “inspiration” long before that. I ended up with five designs in three colorways that I was happy with. Ones that I felt were strong enough to be presented. I had loads of other designs that I had started on, that were either unfinished, or “unworthy”.

I had the guide from the Minneapolis market, so I reached out to a number of companies to make appointments to show my work. After all was said and done, I had four set appointments and a few “stop bys”.

I met with the Art Directors of companies, and got some great, solid feedback. There were shortcomings in my line, which were universally pointed out by all of the companies. The positive in that, is that because the feedback was so consistent, I know exactly what I need to do to fix it. The negative part was that I had to hear “we need more than this” so many times in a row.

My path ahead is quite clear. I know exactly what I need to do. Three of the four Art Directors clearly said, make the changes and come back to me. That’s a heck of a lot better than “take this junk out of my booth and don’t ever come back here”.

One of my big goals is to blog about my sewing adventures, at a minimum of once a week. My goal for 2011 is twice a week. I hope you’ll all hold me to it.

Until then, here are the few measly pictures I took of quilt market between my appointments:

My roomie and pattern designer, fabric designer, all around sewing guru extraordinaire Bari’s amazing first booth ever



AMAZING and so Bari...loved it.

A bad blurry shot of the amazing Amy Butler’s booth, with her raincoat (I already have this pattern; I’m waiting to find just the right laminate to make it in).


And a really great quilt in Tula Pink’s booth with modern graphic alphabet letters.

This Week's Projects

This whole BOM thing is working out pretty nicely. I can usually get them done in about 45 minutes or so and I really feel like I accomplished something. Here is this month's block. I was really happy with how my points came out, until I saw what they looked like in the photo! I tried doing all of the light points first this time, just to try something new. It seemed to help with those points, but then, some of the others seemed more off as a result. Hmmmm.



My second quick project for the long weekend was this ADORABLE bag, in the Fall 2010 issue of Quilts & More magazine. The pattern is by Monica Solorio-Snow, also known as Happy Zombie. She is amazingly talented, and this quick bag is one example.





In the magazine they're shown with "treats" for Halloween, but I made mine with something else in mind. I used some Amy Butler Love for the main body and some Oliver & S City Weekend for the coordinating bottom and inside (one of my spring Quiltmarket Sample Spree scores!).



It is the perfect size and shape to hold a gift card with a little bit of tissue sticking out. I'm going to make a whole bunch of these for teacher gifts for the holidays to put coffee gift cards in. I'll probably make some for the friends and family too. They go together super quickly, about 35 minutes for my first one (bet I'll be a lot faster now too) and they are like instant gratification. I also used some vintage grosgrain ribbon from my stash. What's better than that?



I'm trying to work on a last round of edits for my designs that I'm taking to Quiltmarket at the end of the month. I can't wait to share how that goes.

Amy Butler Placemats in Lotus

Wow...these made up super quickly and easily. The pattern is from Amy Butler's book "In Stitches". I bought the Lotus fabric from Above All Fabric, a wonderful online fabric store. The owner Melanie offers super quick shipping, an amazing selection and top notch customer service.





I love when I actually make the projects out of the MANY books I own.