Sunday, February 20, 2011

Stash Enhancement Alert

If you are looking to expand your stash Suzie Q Quilts has some great options in their sale section!  I added to my stash of 12 Days of Christmas, found some must haves from Michael Miller's Mezzanine, and some Heather Bailey prints that I can't live without. 

I do love the Fab Shop Hop, but I always get into trouble!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Daisy Chain

I had my own little Friday night sewing session and I am a happy girl.  True confession time: I have never finished an actual quilt.  Mostly I have made applique blocks and a few pieced blocks, and lots of small sewing projects but when it comes to coordinating fabrics and picking a pattern, I stumble around and never accomplish anything.  I buy alot of fabric, but I've never committed to a quilt.  A while ago I bought a set of 5 inch fabric charms from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line in the blues, but its not a pre-made charm pack.  A seller on eBay (Material Girl Chic) groups about 8 different fabrics and you get 5 of each.  I love her kits!  I have the hardest time choosing which fabrics go together well, even from a single line, let alone a whole shop full of choices.  Her well designed kits make it super easy.



So I purchased the set of Daisy Chain in blues, and decided to start easy.  Since there were 5 of each pattern, I just lined them up on my design wall (aka flannel pinned to the wall) and decided to do white sashing.  Simple, pleasing to the eye, and hopefully not too much of a challenge for my first finished quilt.  Once I got the math figured out for the size I wanted, I realized that I needed 6 charms in some fabrics and had to shop.  Shucks, I had to shop. ;)  I picked out the fabrics that I needed for the extra charms, for an inner border, for the binding and for an interesting back.

I started chain piecing and I plugged away for a good hour or so, until I needed to rip out one seam.



I fixed my seam and quit for the night, with 5 of my 8 rows all ready for the next set of sashing.  I'm using white Moda muslin for the sashing because I have alot on hand. Can you tell which rows are sewn together? 



I can't wait till Sunday afternoon when I can go at it again!  

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Moda Snob and a new Dog Bed Slipcover

I am so happy that I finished a knitting project this past week just in time for the publisher's deadline.  It was weighing on me heavily, and I was avoiding other fun projects because I had to get that knitting finished and written up and tested.  Its been mailed & delivered, and now I'm free as a bird to craft to my hearts delight! 

Katie comes to work with me almost every day and of course in addition to her food & water bowls, she has a bed at the shop.  Ages ago I found this awesome dragonfly fabric and I made her a bed cover when I first opened my shop in late 2006.  That bed cover has seen better days - its travelled, been washed many many times and its past time for a new one. 

I woke up early this morning and decided today's project was for Katie!  I went to the fabric cupboard and looked ... and looked ... and looked at all the pretty quilting fabrics I have.  There's tons of Moda and Heather Bailey and Amy Butler.  And I looked at it all, and said to myself, "Moda?  On the DOG BED?"  Now, you'd have to know me to understand how insane that statement is.  Katie means everything to me.  My daily schedule is really all about her and she's one of my top priorities.  She travels with me, and I make people eat in the car so she doesn't have to stay locked up.  I'm that kind of dog-mom. 

But I found the line I wouldn't cross today - its the fabric line.  The quilting fabric line.  The sublimely smooth, soft to the touch, prettiest material in the world fabric line.  No Moda for the dog.  (Notice how when I talk about her in relation to fabric, she's "the dog" but when I talk about how I love her, she has a name?)

What can I tell you?  I'm a fabric snob.  No quilting fabrics for the dog bed.

I found this really cute lime, yellow and teal floral instead - its like a seersucker almost and just about the same coloring as Katie's old bed.  The teal is just about the color of my new shop logo, so it's perfect!  I measured twice, cut once, thought about a inserting a zipper and then got lazy and just did the ole whipstitch seam sewing. 



Then I spotted a scrap of the old dragonfly fabric and decided Katie's new floral pillow needed a dragonfly.  So I cut out a dragonfly and appliqued it to the dog bed.  When I say I appliqued it to the bed, I really mean it.  Obviously the best case scenario would have been to get it stitched on before I stuffed it & sewed the seam shut.  So as I was stitching, I often ended up going through more than just the two layers of fabric.  This dragonfly is staying put!


Cute, isn't it?  I took it to work today (did I just confess that I'm blogging at work? yup!) but she hasn't used it yet.  Silly pooch.  I wanted a shot for the blog!  She just doesn't understand my priorities.

It feels good to have another project crossed of my list of things I want to do.  Hope you are enjoying the weekend too!