making, learning & sharing a crafty life
We’re in the middle of our Holiday fabric sale! Perfect time to get supplies for your gift making and stash building. Practically all the fabric in the shop is included, with just a few exceptions (Outfoxed, Curio & Putting on the Ritz). Even these new adorable arrivals are on sale!
This was a fast quilt top to make. Really fast. I kinda love it.
I cut out all the pieces for it in less than an hour and a half. The main reason for this was that I actually had the exact size rulers that you need, a 6.5″ square and a 12.5″ square. If you can, make sure you have these rulers! They are handy to have in general but seriously made the cutting for this a breeze.
I sewed up all the blocks in one night. It was actually pretty fun and incredibly satisfying.
PLUS! I used a trick that Katrina taught me to save the triangle off cuts and create easy half square triangles (HSTs). You simply draw yourself an extra sewing line that is 1/2″ over from your first sewing line. Sew both lines and then cut in the middle. You get your main block and a ‘free’ HST. By doing this I made 72 HSTs that are about 5.5″ and there was ZERO waste. This will all make sense if you get the pattern. I’ll be using these extra blocks to create something for the back of the quilt.
All in all, the quilt top took me less than 2 days. Whoo!
My goal right now is to finish as many quilting projects as possible before the end of the year. I’ve been making good progress and I’m close to finishing three quilts!! Somehow, I started pondering a new pattern and before I knew it, I had picked fabric and started working on it. When inspiration hits in sewing, I like to run with it and see what happens.
This is another Christmas gift and I’m really hopeful that it will actually be done in time. The pattern is Tula Pink’s Field Study quilt. I’ve chosen to do the Medium size (72″ x 72″). What I like about this pattern is that I think it is perfect for a guy and it’s very simple to make.
The fabrics are Tula Pink ‘Prince Charming’ Aqua Snail, Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Brown Vine, Basic Grey ‘Curio’ Aqua Grunge, Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Hunter Green Jewel, Michael D’Amore ‘Wordplay’ Espresso Text and Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Yellow Hedgehogs.
I am actually almost done the quilt top. It took me one day to get the blocks cut and sewn! I’ll take some photos and show you what I’ve got so far this week.
I am often guilty of starting up my holiday gift making quite late in the game. Usually on Christmas eve I’m up late rushing some final stitches on projects.
Last week I made my first holiday gift of the year. Not bad, it’s the middle of November. The shopping tote is my own design and I’ve made it so many times now. It’s such a useful bag to have around. (and it’s reversible!) I used a lovely yellow floral Japanese linen/cotton fabric for the outside and a pink ’1001 Peeps’ fabric for the lining. When I picked out the fabrics, I knew exactly who the bag would be for. I’ll be sending it off to NYC really soon so that it arrives before Christmas.
Now to get organized with the rest of my holiday making!
I’ve admired everything Wiksten for so long and finally I ordered her two sewing patterns a couple months ago. So far, I’ve just made the tank top (twice!), but I’ll be making the Tova as soon as possible. I’ve had a crush on that shirt for ages.
The tank pattern is awesome. Jenny’s patterns are hand drawn and incredibly well designed. You don’t even need a serger for this project, since it is sewn with french seams and bias finished hems. Genius.
I am MOST proud of the pocket on the tank. I PERFECTLY matched the pattern on the fabric so that you can barely even see that the pocket is there. Small details like that make me so happy.
With winter approaching, I’ll be wearing it layered with cozy cardigans.
It doesn’t at all seem unreasonable to me that I might need a rainbow of colours in this tank. It’s clearly a wardrobe essential.
You can order Jenny’s sewing patterns and clothing from her online shop here.
I was thinking about herringbone the other day and wanted to see what it would look like in patchwork. I’m going to try some more, but I’m liking this idea a lot! This version is very random, but perhaps more organized and with high contrast fabrics, next time? This block is still a work in progress. We’ll see where it goes next.
I very rarely plan much when I sew improv patchwork. I know that some people will draw sketches beforehand. But I really like to just see what happens. Sometimes when I set out to create something specific, something totally different will happen. Like the last block, for instance. That was not even close to what I was trying to do, but sometimes you just have to listen to what the fabric tells you to do. There are so many happy surprises with improv.
p.s. Look for my improv patchwork class coming in January. (!!!!!)
Summer seems like a dream, but I’ve been meaning to tell you about three rainy days of sewing bliss I had at Jacqueline‘s cottage at the middle of August.
In a nutshell : 5 girls, 2 dogs, 4 Berninas, 2 irons, 14 rulers, 7 pairs of scissors, 5 rotary cutters, lots of good food and sewing from morning til night.
See all the photos here. Next summer can’t come soon enough.
I can’t stop thinking about the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt. Several months ago, Angela & Amanda started a quilt-a-long for it and it seems like everybody has joined it. I have been trying to resist since I have so many projects on the go already and was feeling intimidated by it.
But everyday, I have been seeing blocks like this and this and this and especially this. Now I’m so jealous and I’ve decided that I’m going to start this project in January. New year, new project! In the meantime, I’m going to finish up some lingering quilting projects. It’s a win-win situation.
Any friends out there thinking of joining in? There’s lots of great info and support in the existing group on Flickr. Toronto peeps, we could meet up at Quilt Sunday every month to compare notes and cheer each other on. If you’re somewhere else, let’s share photos and blog posts with each other. All you need is a copy of the book to get going. (We have LOTS of copies of the book at the workroom!)
There are 111 blocks in this quilt. It’s a big commitment, but you certainly don’t need to do all of the blocks. There are versions of the quilt with as little as 50 blocks. The online quilt along is aiming for 2 blocks every week, but I’m just using this is a guideline. Life is busy and some weeks I might not make any blocks and other weeks, I might make four.
Can we do this together? Wanna join the Farmer’s Wife movement with me?
p.s. I’m already obsessing about fabric choices. (Best!)
Stylish Dress Book 2 : available at the workroom
Liberty of London : Ebs
What can I say, I love this pattern. This is version #3. Version #1 & #2 get tons of use and I was feeling like I should add another version into the rotation. The only change I made was to add side seam pockets to this version.
This Liberty of London print is called ‘Ebs’. This soft colour palette is so incredible and the print looks like it was coloured in with pencil crayon. It has been sitting in my stash for way too long. I’m pretty happy it’s now hanging on my closet and joining me on adventures like the Sewing Summit.
I love this dress so much!
I have been holding onto a couple metres of Jay McCarroll’s Purple Drop Cloth fabric from his Habitat collection. I knew it would make a really special dress once I found the right pattern. I saw this Cynthia Rowley pattern online and when I couldn’t find it here in Toronto, Amanda picked up a copy for me and mailed it to me. It was very easy to follow and I love that I can also make a separate skirt or top using the same pattern. I’m keeping my eye out for a skirt fabric to use next. The pockets in the skirt are brilliant.
I wore this dress on our first day of classes at the Sewing Summit. We had a long break after lunch before our afternoon classes started, so Katherine, Amanda and I went to our room to hang out and relax. Of course, I noticed how lovely the light was in our room and promptly started moving furniture around to take photos of this dress, my new fabric, Amanda’s mini quilts, etc. If you ever wondered what the other side of my camera looks like, Amanda caught me in action here. I get pretty resourceful when taking photos. I stacked boxes of cookies to make a ‘tripod’ on our last day to get these group photos.
The prints from Habitat really seem to suit clothing. This drop cloth fabric is GENIUS. I made a skirt from the Grey Multi Coloured Polka Dot Habitat fabric a few months ago that I adore and I’m REALLY wishing I had more than a metre of the grey Birch fabric. What was I thinking?! Perhaps I can squeak out a tiny tank top from it.
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