Do not look if you are prone to seizures - Psychedelic Quilt top!

For the first quilt I made out of this book, I chose the "Strip the Willow" quilt. I was able to finish the top this weekend, it worked out to be a pretty quick project. Maybe a total of 4 hours including the cutting and "fixing". I'm not the fastest strip sewer and I tend to stop and cut and press a lot to keep myself interested.



My only beef about the pattern is that it says you only need 4 WOF strips for each of the two sashings. This would ASS-ume that they are 44" wide. My fabric was only 42". Yeah, so, I had to trim the wider outer sashing by a 1/2" on each side to make it long enough. Other than that the pattern was well written and clear. It was a pretty simple one.



The thing is, the quilt came out CRAZY. I sort of realized this early on, but couldn't make myself stop sewing once I started. I'm always afraid that I'll never use the fabric again, since it's been cut once and I'd have to find just the right project for it.



It's loud, and might push you into a seizure if you stare at it too long, but I think I like it! Have you ever started a quilt, not been thrilled with your color choice or pattern, and just kept sewing??

Quick Project to Soothe my Ego

After my Cosmo Bag tragedy, I needed a quick, "easy" project to soothe my ego. I've had this book for some time now, and decided to try to use things from my stash to make a quick, smaller sized quilt.



It's interesting, you'd think that if all the quilts were made with strips, they'd all be pretty easy and not have tons of cutting, but that's just not the case. There are a few pretty complicated ones, so I went with this amended sort of rail fence pattern.



Like I mentioned in my last post, I decided to use a "design roll" that I got of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Thankfully, even though it was just 28 Strips, that was ok, because this book is about getting TWO quilts from one 40 strip jelly roll. PHEW! I tell ya', if I started another project and messed it up right out of the box, there would be some serious, sailor-like cursing going on.


I haven't sewn the rows together yet, but these are the blocks.



It's gonna be LOUD and sort of crazy quilt looking with all of these colors. I can't wait to get the rows done and see how they look.

One of my last winter weekends

I don't know where you all live, but here in CT it has been a strange, not-very-winter-like-winter. This was probably the last weekend for local skiing. Unless you go up north (VT or NH) it won't be cold enough to make snow, or keep what they did make...so we tried to enjoy it.

This is my step-son, who is a PERPETUAL teaser, chops buster and all around prankster extraordinaire. Lucky for me, Rob gave me this great photo opp. I NEVER get to pull one over on him, and he had no idea.



The best part though was, that he had a great sense of humor about it, and we both had a really good laugh.



I also have spent some time this winter making home made dog treats, and I think I've perfected this one recipe. I know how to alter it so that the texture is consistent and I can actually easily make these little disk shapes. I got the recipe here.



My daughter had her second horse riding show this morning, and she made such HUGE improvements, she actually took one blue ribbon home today. She was ecstatic.



And the tiny little bit of sewing I did manage to sneak in, was a strip based quilt that I started out of a Kaffe Fassett design roll I got on sale somewhere. Of course, I didn't realize that design roll means 28 strips, not 40. Thankfully though, I had enough to make the quilt. Once I get the top done, I'll blog about the book and the pattern.



Now off to watch the Oscars and eat popcorn. Not bad at all for a non-winter-like weeekend.

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.

Christmas Jammies - and it's only mid-January!

I love the idea of making special pajamas for Christmas Eve. So when Melanie (Above All Fabric) offered kits last year I jumped on them. They used Carla Crim's (aka The Scientific Seamstress) super easy pattern for Easy Fit Pants and the fabrics were flannel and super cute.

Of course the fabric sat on my cutting table for a good 3 months, but I finally made the pants. Thankfully the kids don't seem to care that Christmas has come and gone.




I made two pair in an hour. Not a bad return for your time!

WELCOME 2012 - Tula Pink "Field Study"

Happy New Year everyone! I've had a wonderful 10 days off from work and it's going to be tough to get back into the swing of things tomorrow.

I am thrilled that I can start the year off with a blog post of a FINISHED UFO so soon. Both of the kids had friends over today so I got time by myself to sew and finish up this quilt top.

It's Tula Pink's Field Study pattern.

A few quick observations...I actually seem to cut smaller pieces much more exactly than I do large pieces. These blocks are 12 1/2" and my squares were not so square.

The pattern was well written, clear, and I LOVE that it's color on glossy paper. I'm rough with patterns and this will last well, and I will certainly be able to use it again. It went together quickly, when I actually WORKED on it.

(Clearly, one of my goals for 2012 needs to be improved picture taking!!)


This is the first quilt that I made entirely from my own stash. It was actually really satisfying to buy the pattern and "shop" on my shelves for what I was looking for.



I also am hopeful that this size quilt will be good practice for my very so-so quilting skills. I'll be sure to post when it's all made up. I truly love how it came out, so I'm motivated to get it done.

Do you make up entire tops from your stash?