cleaning house

  I'm coming to grips with the fact that I am more of a fabric collector than fabric user...I love to look at it, buy it, bring it home and look at it some more.  But that means that for a while now things have been getting out of hand around here.  Too much STUFF.  My sewing room looks like a tornado came through all the time.  I am hoping that some serious organizing and even some destashing (gasp!) will make me feel like I can function in there again.  I've been going through my fabric collection, which I dearly love, and have pulled out some sweet little piles that I hope will find a happy home.  

Check out the destash listings in the shop if you are interested in building your own fabric stash...

pink and yellow zig zags on white linen

I've been wanting to make this quilt for a long time.  A new niece was the perfect excuse. 

 Somewhere a long time ago I saw a method for making zigzags by slitting a strip of fabric every other inch or so and then pressing the slits so it formed a zig zag...which means...no half square triangles! 

 Just some machine applique.  And lots and lots of straight line quilting.  

The white fabric is actually linen and I love the crinkly softness of it.  Hope my little niece does too!

This is not a very good payback for the pen roll but I made my mom a kindle case using this tutorial.

Fast, easy, fun. That's the name of the game around here.

THANK YOU

I'm slow posting this, but thank you to everyone who ordered from the shop over the last month.  Baby Joy was born on September 20 and lived for 5 1/2 glorious hours.  I was lucky enough to be able to meet her.  She was beautiful and brought so much joy to her family and many others.  I'm so glad I know them.  They are incredible examples of faith and love.  It was a sad day, but a happy one too, as they know they will be able to see her again.  This article brought me a lot of comfort in her passing.

Last week...

Thank you to everybody who has bought from the shop or donated directly over the last several weeks.  We've been able to raise quite a bit for the White family and I know they are so grateful.  Little Joy will be born next week and the shop will be open in her name until Saturday September 15.  If you've been thinking about donating or purchasing, there's never been a better time to go for it.  

I've had so much fun making things! Everything pictured above is still for sale in the shop...it's not just baby stuff. I've got notebooks and dishtowels and hot pads and hair thingies...  Seriously, those little scooters notebooks are maybe my favorite thing I've EVER MADE.  Grab a couple and keep yourself (and your friends!) making grocery lists in style.  Thanks again for all your support with this.

Sewing for Joy

This blog is 99% for completely personal gratification...just a place to keep track of projects...although I do love it when people visit!  But this time I am hoping that somebody is out there reading this...

I have a sweet friend who is expecting a little girl who will be born with anacephaly.  To meet her and learn more, visit her blog here.  I've been struggling to know how to help and just saw that there is a paypal account set up in Joy's name to help this good family with some of the costs associated with all the special medical care and the burial plots...any donations in any amount would be so appreciated.

I've been slowing the etsy shop way down but I've got big plans to pick up the pace again for a little while in hopes of raising some money for Baby Joy.  I'll be busy sewing for the rest of the week and will have some wonderful new handmade goodies to show when I reopen August 13.  All proceeds from the shop for the next month or so are going to go straight to the White family.  Thanks for anything you can do to contribute directly, or for taking the time to stock up on baby gifts...and other gifts... and help Joy at the same time.  See you August 13!

again...

I'm starting to feel like a factory making this quilt over and over but I really really like it...it's changed and evolved a tiny bit as I've run out of some fabrics and added new ones.  This is probably the last that will look a lot like this...hopefully it will go fast when I reopen shop August 13, going to a really good cause.

What's with all the boy babies, friends?

Tutorial?

I've never done a tutorial before and I'm not very good at it, but here's my first attempt. Go see how to make some webbing belts...

Another boy (quilt).


Mostly linen, some other neutrals, and navy, green, aqua and a touch of mustard. Green shot cotton on the back. Sprout, actually.


I love the quilting. I was tempted to cross hatch and just get 'er done but I'm so glad I invested a little more time for the straight (ish) line quilting.


Kid tested,approved, and off to Alaska.

A couple custom quilts for boys' bunk beds...


Gray back with yellow binding, orange back with orange binding.





And off they go.

More scrap love

Sometimes I get nervous that I will end up on Hoarders.


But when I get to wrap a little package with my pretty scraps it makes my pack ratty little heart go pitter pat.

Making progress...

...on some custom orders today.

The Lovely Beans

I've been meaning to make one of these forever...

And General Conference was the perfect time to do it.  I must say, I'm rather delighted with it. I'm not sure I can resist spray painting it turquoise though.  May have to make another...

Custom orders

Aqua, green and gray. Good call.

Quilts are like sandwiches...

They're so much better when someone else makes them for you.






My friend and I just had babies close together, again, and did a little quilt swap. I got the better end of the bargain. Thanks J.

Green squares

I've decided that green is my favorite neutral. Not a neutral, you say? Perhaps not by traditional standards but for some reason it's a color I feel comfortable with in so many contexts.



This is for a custom order I'm kind of excited about. Especially the helicopter.

dollies

I still can't believe I made these, it's so...not my style...I don't think I ever even had a doll when I was a kid. I take it back, I had a Cabbage Patch and I don't have a lot of memories with her except getting turpentine in her hair and turning it to plastic consistency. I was a My Little Pony girl all the way. BUT when I saw these Black Apple dolls I couldn't get it out of my head to make some for my nieces for Christmas. (One of them had to get in the mail asap so she's the only one with a face for the big photo shoot. Poor li'l yellow dress didn't even get her head sewn shut til after Christmas. That's 'cause MY daughter only loves her for her stuffing. Once she couldn't disembowel her she was no fun at all. Sigh.)

I think what I REALLY wanted was an excuse to make a bunch of these ticker tape quilts. Oh my that was fun. I have an appalling stash of fabric scraps that SHOULD HAVE BEEN THROWN AWAY long ago...but I started saving them and now I can't get rid of them...so I'm glad at least a few of them found a home.

Oh she looked sweet in a stocking Christmas morn.

Promises, promises

I know there is nobody out there who is really going to hold me to my promised increase in blog posts but I'm not doing a great job at what I started this blog for, which is: to keep track of projects. So without further ado, I give you some recent projects.


A baby. "What?! You made another one?" "Why yes, yes I did." I'm particularly proud of the cheeks.


Striped bathroom walls. "What?! MORE stripes?". "Why yes, I like stripes, almost as much as I like babies."




...and a quilt. And yes, I have made this quilt before, it was inspired by my friend who just had her FIFTH BOY. (She's a pioneer woman, that one.)

Maybe, just maybe, I will have some more projects photographed by the next time I sit down to feed a baby...

Preview of things to come...

It's odd to say but sometimes I like the garbage almost as much as the quilt...

Pen roll

There has actually been quite a bit of sewing going on around here, just not much blogging. Hopefully that will change now thanks to blogpress and instagram, and the fact that all top secret projects have now been safely gifted. Let's start with what was gifted to me! My mom made me this super fantabulous linen pen roll.


All these gorgeous pens are inspiring me to finally do a little journeling.


Mmmmmm.