It's December 1st and I'm already done

Not with Christmas, of course. What I'm done with is making stuff. Yay!

Okay well that's not exactly true. I still have to sew my niece's quilt, and to quilt my son's quilt, but I'm not counting quilting stuff. I'm counting all the little fiddly things I've been working on for the last few weeks. I've decided to post a few of them here--mostly anonymously of course. :)

An apron for my middle son, Xander. A few months ago my oldest son got a Star Wars apron from my mom in the mail, which left Xander feeling a little left out. They both like helping me bake, so I figured I would make him one. At first I was frustrated with fabric choices--it seems like all "boy" fabric is geared toward babyish stuff. I mean okay, zoo prints are cute but no self-respecting kindergartner is going to sashay around the kitchen wearing hedgies or elephants. So then I thought, A HA! The perfect opportunity to buy some Echino fabric, which is prohibitively expensive and something I would normally not buy. But I couldn't pass up this chance. I was so happy when I got it and realized it was sort of a linen-like canvas, perfect for holding up to kitchen messiness.

My oldest LOVES to draw, particularly with markers. He's pretty fastidious about keeping his markers all together, too--he's had this set since April and he still has all the colors except black. Anyway, he also loves rainbows so I thought it would be cool to make him a holder for his markers using fabrics from my scrap bin to match the colors. It worked out really well, I was pretty proud. I only had to buy a few pieces of purple fabric since that seems to be the only color I never quilt with.

A sketchbook cover I sewed for...somebody. I actually started with another one which was a disaster. Does anyone else do this when coming up with a pattern yourself? The first one is like this giant pain in the butt that takes forever and turns out very "iffy", and that helps you figure out exactly how NOT to do it the second time around? Yeah. This one took me like a half hour. The first one (not picture here for prides sake) took almost three hours. Ugh. Anyway, this one came out good. Here's the back:

I also made several of these gathered clutches from Noodlehead's Tutorial. I love the way they came out! I made two more for some friend's birthdays. They are pretty easy to make and perfect for carrying a few things around in. I think next time I'll sew a little loop handle on one end for convenience. 

I made some homemade mulling spices. I love me some mulled cider. I figured I could give a few jars away to like-minded mulled cider lovers. I used a combination of allspice berries, cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange rinds, and vanilla beans. Mmmmmm.

Well the other things I made would be dead giveaways for who they're for, so I'm calling it a day. Hope you're all as excited for Christmas as I am!

Crazy Quilt Week

Tweet Quilt

 It's been nuts around here the last week. I've quilted and bound my three WIP's, got two quilts in the mail from some wonderful women, and my friend Jenn dropped off one she made while visiting her mom down here. Awesomeness.

Happy Dots

Owly Squares.

Linda's little yellow quilt--thanks again Linda!!!

Jenn's Big Brown Square. Grazie.

Toni's Baby Space quilt. It's flannel and so soft!!

Anyway, with the ones my neighbor is making I've got a growing stack here--about 23 all told. We'll still need more, so if anyone wants to try their hand at a simple crib sized quilt PLEASE let me know.

Scrappy Sunrise Quilt

I actually finished this a few days ago. Isn't it pretty? It makes me smile. This is not going to be a Swaziland quilt, though. First of all because it came out HUGE. It's bigger than a twin, or at least wider. Second of all, because I want it. Bad. Ha ha. We'll see what happens. I always say, "This one's for me!" and then I give it to someone else.

Here's the back, because I have obsessive/compulsive disorder when it comes to arranging colors by a gradient, and repeating patterns. Plus it just made me laugh while I was doing it.

Here it is all pretty and folded up. :) You can see the loopy quilting stitch I did, and the pretty binding. I used Heather Bailey's "Wash Day Ticking" which I think I finally just ran out of after using it in a zillion projects. Kinda made me sad. I love that fabric.

I've got two more Swaziland quilts ready to be quilted, just waiting for batting. Dooodeedoo...thumb twiddling ensues...

the everything but the kitchen sink quilt

That's what I decided to call this quilt, since, y'know, a name is a really important thing for a quilt to have. And Steve was already taken, soooo... Originally I was calling it the "stash-buster" quilt, but that was a total misnomer since my stash is not even remotely busted, in fact it's way bigger. Ha ha.  Anyway, I really liked the way it turned out, and this was my first time doing random scraps for binding, which I think goes well with the randomness of the quilt.

Mostly I'm just excited to be done. My stack o' unfinished projects is steadily dwindling, and that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Plus is frees up some room so I can start some more unfinished projects. Exciting!!

busy little bee

so i've been busy lately. too busy for pictures, really, and my lack of good camera or picture taking skills does not really inspire me to get out there and do it even when i should. but today i forced myself to come out of my quilting cave and snap some pics of my finished stuff. the above is one of two identical quilts, identical because they were once conjoined twins in the form of a duvet cover that i never got around to finishing. i figured they could undergo surgery and become individuals for the cause. i tried to do some more, um, organic quilting lines and it came out organic all right. and by organic i mean messy and not straight at all. but i sort of like it that way.

then i finished the red and aqua cross quilt. yay!

the new wave quilt, all sewed and bound. note to self--seven year old boys don't make the greatest quilt-holders-for-the-purposes-of-picture-taking.

on top of the general insanity, i've also been purging/reorganizing/cleaning my "studio" (ha ha), and one of my self-imposed tasks was to sort out my horrible overcrowded crumpled up scrap bin. i've sort of tossed any reasonably sized scrap willy nilly into this plastic bin for, um, over a year, and it was getting out of control. so being sort of type A, i had to take out every piece, lay it flat, and then organize them into color groups. then they went into ziplocs.

i felt like i had to MAKE something with them to justify their continued presence in my house, so i started working on this baby, and i think that i'm going to end up keeping this one. i just love the bright colors against the light gray kona, and the arrangement. not to mention it pleases me no end to make a whole quilt out of stuff leftover from other quilts. you should see the back--it's a miniature of the front and it makes me giggle. i can't find the picture of it though and i am too lazy to go take another. you'll have to use your imagination until i finish it and get inspired to wield a camera again.

hope you're all having a wonderful day. i certainly enjoyed the sunshine from behind my sewing machine. i kinda wish i'd gone outside earlier, but i was in conquer mode and the urge to finish cannot be laid aside for the pleasures of baking in the sun. ha.

blood, thread, and tears

15+ yards of fabric, 3 weeks of cutting and sewing

100 straight pins, 1000 meters of thread, 49 squares,

 one trashcan full of scraps and trimmings, an unspecified but embarrassing amount of money, and one partially severed finger later

and you get this:

i hope they like it.

teepees and cookies

i was feeling creative again today, so i decided to try my hand at making a hooter hider, or as my brother likes to call them, a titty teepee. i picked up some pretty orange fabric (i love orange), some corset boning, and a packet of D rings and was on my way.



it was actually much easier than i thought. and it turned out well i think.



i also decided to make a little pocket on the inside corner to put boobie pads in, and i made it out of soft flannel so i could also use it to wipe the baby's face when he gets all milky. which he does pretty often. he's a messy eater. anyway, i liked the way it came out.



in my spurt of domesticity i also made some ridiculously rich cookies. dutch cocoa added to chocolate chip cookie recipe, plus half the butter replaced with peanut butter. i swear these things are so sweet i could only eat one. the kids sure liked them, though. they're outside right now running off some of the energy before they go into a diabetic coma.

old friends and new faces

a few months back i posted some ideas for future projects here. well, in a brief attempt to break free from diapering/nursing robot mode, i've finally gotten around to finish one of them--the orimono pillow from anthropologie. i saw this awhile ago in the store and fell in love (as much as one can with a pillow), just not with the price. Eighty dollars is considerably more than i'm willing to pay for a pillow. i'm just sayin'. so i bought some cotton canvas and a pack of fat quarters that had colors i liked, the appliqued the leaves onto the front. it took forever, which is why instead of two pillows for my couch i now have one pillow for my chair. and i'm not likely to make another after all that hassle. still, i like the way it turned out. looks pretty close to the real thing, don't you think?




since my newest little addition so enjoys screaming his head off, i decided to try making a sling to carry him in. i get pretty tense carrying a baby around all day, and i loved the idea of having my hands free, but i was apprehensive about the sling itself. i tried making a maya wrap for my oldest when he was a baby, and i hated that thing. i could never get him to sit right in it, and there was so much fabric that i was constantly hot. and we don't need to be hotter in florida. so it was with trepidation i set out to make a simpler sling with some leftover amy butler fabric i had. well, i'm pleased to say it turned out great, and i love it! it's not too hot, and he sits nice and snuggly inside it. he fell asleep as soon as i put him in, and that's saying something.



aww...look at the little pookie.

more necklaces

tree of life revisited

a sgraffito version of my original painting.



you can see the original here: tree of life

mini jayne

ilya liked his papa's jayne hat so much, he asked for one, too. i had plenty of yarn left over, so i was happy to oblige. like father, like son!





xander felt left out, so...

foxy

apparently my son thinks i look like a fox in this hat.

great beads of fire

this is one of my faves so far. the pictures don't do the center bead justice--it changes from deep red to bright orange as you look at it.

more beadwork!

i'm a machine, baby.

felted "statchel"

this is my stash-buster satchel, aka: "statchel". oh boy, am i clever or what? yeah...don't answer that.

so...i wanted something small and unobtrusive, yet bright and obnoxious. i also had the inexplicable urge to felt.. i had half-skeins of the lamb's pride bulky in oranges and reds left over from art's jayne hat, and a tiny little ball of the pink malabrigo left over from the jester hat. so i grabbed the leftovers and some size 13 needles and knit away. well, except the strap--for that i just crocheted a big long chain. add a little hot water, sew on a button, and i got me a fun little sunrise-inspired statchel just big enough to hold my wallet, keys, and cell phone. perfecto!