Partial Pillowcases

Here's the pillowcases, cut and labeled in their bags waiting to be sewn together. I was able to sew the cuffs on all 6 and the sides on 4 of them. I really like how these ones come together with just a few seams. I'm going to take some more pictures of these and even try to write up how I made them, these are super easy with 3 seams to completion and all of my primary kids were raving over how much they loved theirs.

Ties, again

With 3 boys, it is an almost certain fact that I am working on or planning a new tie at any given time. They get to earn some of them from fun fabrics, they get a new one for birthdays and special occasions. This time though, one is for a birthday (the thomas one) and one is because the oldest just outgrew his other ties (the planets). The pattern I like to use is the Boys Ties from Patchwork Kids on youcanmakethis.com It is easy to layout and understand and in 5 seams, you're done! How easy is that? The hardest part for me is keeping the kids away from the iron.

Fabric Quiet Book

I got this fabric last year, because I loved the imagery of the penguin family, but I didn't have the time to finish it last year. These fabric books are so easy and fun to make.

Turtle Update

Somehow last week, this quilt got wet, and not just a slightly damp, it was wet. I had to lay it out to dry before I could get back to quilting it. Here's a shot of most of the quilt and then then the kids decided that it made a really great tent, as long as there was only one of them underneath it at a time.

Swing Skirt

Here's my finished skirt. I really liked how this came together and the length to it. I only cut my strips in half and then didn't shorten them at all and on me it is floor length, which helps when it is absolutely freezing outside. Once again, I used this pattern: Summer Swing Skirt and I will definitely be making it in some other color/fabric lines. I'll be taking some more pictures soon, when my daughter and I wear them together.

Headbands

So you saw that cute little headband my daughter was wearing in the last post? She really wanted one with red on it, but for some weird reason, my machine would not sew with the red thread. But I'll tell you how I made it.

Remember those extra strips I had after finished the 2 skirts and the quilt? I just took one of those 2 1/2 inches by 45 inches strips and folded in half so it looked like it was 1 1/4 inches wide.
Then stitch across the short ends and stick a safety pin in the end. Stitch down the length, but don't forget to leave about a 2 inch opening halfway down for turning it inside out. Once it's stitched, turn it right-side out through the opening. You can iron it flat if you like at this step, but I just top-stitched along the side where my seam was and then turned it around and did a top-stitch on the other side where the fold was. Then if you want to add some contrast or coordinating threads, check out your decorative stitches on your sewing machine. I did one that looked kind of like a branch with brown thread on white fabric for mine. The stitch looked like one of the prints that was in my skirt. Stitch that all the way down the center.

To wear, just put in place around the head, like a headband and tie at the nape of the neck under your hear. I found that for my shoulder-blade length hair, the ends were just shorter than my hair. My 4 year old daughter has curly hair that when wet and mostly straight goes halfway down her back and there was enough to tie a bow either in the back under her hair or in the front without the ends being in her face. She wanted to look like mommy though, and knotted in the back the ends were longer than her hair.

This project is simple enough for anyone to do and if you have an extra strip or two, can totally help accessorize an outfit, which my cutie insists on.

Twirl Skirts and headbands

This is probably one of my new all time favorite patterns (I think it's one of hers too!) Once again the Moda Bake Shop to the rescue, the Strip-Pieced Pleated Skirt, but this one I gathered to match mine (which I've not had a chance to take pictures of yet). I also had some extra strips to use in whipping up some cute headbands (more info on those later)

Turtle Quilt

I started this quilt last March for my totally awesome guy. I had found a pattern in a quilting magazine and adapted it for "grown-ups" (it was originally a little kid quilt with bright colors and simple sashing with wide borders and only 8 squares). I had gotten the fabrics a while back and had them sitting and waiting for me to take the time to do something with them. Well, March was our anniversary, so my gift to him was my time to make this for him. With some tweaking and a lot of patience, it ended up being a queen size quilt. I put flannel on the back and tried to choose batiks that looked watery. Every one of the 25 turtles is completely different, I used about 20 fabrics in shades of blue, green and purple and even the backgrounds of every turtle was 5 different shades of blue Now I'm at the hard part: trying to quilt what feels like a behemoth of a quilt. I wanted something different for the quilting and turned to my most favorite embroidery web page: Embroidery Library. They have designs specifically for quilting with your embroidery machine. I wanted the quilting to be in the turtle shells and maybe the sashing. I decided on different flowers and stipple quilting shapes to have each shell be different. But I cannot find the design I have in mind for the sashing pieces. My pieces are 5 inches by 12 inches. My idea is to put some wavy lines emulating seaweed there, but no one has a quilting design for that. I'll probably end up either hand quilting that or trying to do some free-hand embroidery to get that effect. But in the meantime, my quilt has the inner squares quilted and only 9 of the outer squares need to be done. Here's some shots of the quilt while being quilted:








We were just so tired after all of this, it was definitely naptime

Update on my Weekend

I got very sidetracked every time I sat down to do anything computer related and then had some connection/mouse issues that involved several restarts and now I can't find my camera.

Let's see, on Friday I had my skirt tiers ready to be ironed. Then since that had to wait, I finished a skirt for my niece and got together all the stuff for a morning of sewing at my Church building. The skirt I made was from the "Urban Couture" from Basic Grey, another jelly roll I got from Stitch Steals. I enjoyed this skirt pattern, from the Moda Bakeshop, that from one jelly roll I made 3 skirts with a few strips left over for some applique embroideries on some t-shirts to match for the little girls they are for. Here's the pattern for that: Strip-pieced Skirt.

On Saturday I spent the morning with my embroidery machine quilting one of those quilts I told you about before. It came out to be a queen size quilt, which I don't have the space here to spread out to hoop it. I ended up embroidering out 5 designs and then working on something else for a little while and then going back to the quilt. By doing this I was able to get a lot of stuff cut out and labeled and ready for me to sit down and sew this week. I organize my projects by cutting everything out and then putting it in a ziploc baggie with a label that says what the project is, who it's for, what size it is, the pattern I used, and if I need anything else to go with it. This way, if I know I have just a half hour, I can glance at my projects and see which one can be done in that time or if there is a more involved project, if there is a step I can work on for a little bit. It also means that all my stuff is labeled and I know that everything is in one place for each project so it's easier to see what I need to get and they can be kept all in one place without taking up as much space.

Also on Saturday, I ironed my skirt tiers and sewed them together and did all of the gathers and everything. It's done, but I think I might be adding some top-stitching to the tiers. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow of that project. My daughter thinks my next project should be her skirt to match mine.

Yesterday, my wonderful husband got home from church and decided that he couldn't find his nice warm pajama pants that I made for him for last year. So, yep, I finished up his pajama pants and he got to wear them. Since I had that stuff out I also finished up another pair of pajama pants for my second son. These were easy as I had gotten them started last year, but had never finished them because I had a baby the week before Christmas and just didn't get back to them. Fortunately they still fit the intended recipients and I still have some of that fabric left over for my other son and maybe even the baby. My oldest son got his of this fabric done last year before the baby was born because he needed them for a Polar Express pajama party at school that happened the day after baby came. But since they were done a year ago and he's been growing majorly in the last year, think several inches, the flannel has worn through and faded. I need to locate/draft another one piece pant pattern for those, but another day like last Saturday and I should have this quilt quilted and the rest of everything cut out and labeled.

So this weekend I was able to cross 4 things off of my list and was able to get more organized. Let's see if I can keep up with my fairly good start.

Supernova!

This is one of the quilts I pieced recently. I drew up the design a couple of years ago and when I saw this fabric I knew that I wanted to use it for this pattern. I wanted to use the fabric with as little cutting into it as possible to feature the prints.



The first thing to do is to get some layer cakes and jelly rolls in the fabric line you like. I got 3 layer cakes and 2 jelly rolls and I made this quilt, a skirt for me and a skirt for my daughter and I still have some squares and strips left over. But if you want to just make this quilt, I think you can do it with 1 jelly roll set and 2 layer cakes. If you make it 3 blocks by 4 blocks, it comes out 68 inches by 90 inches. You can also make it 2 blocks by 3 blocks, 46 inches by 68 inches.


Set the jelly rolls aside until later. Then separate out the lights and darks and decide which you want to be the points of your stars. I spent a few days staring at the fabric before I finally decided on what colors went were. I really liked the scrappy look I ended up with.

Next cut all the squares in half and then in half again, so out of your 10 inch squares you get (4) 5 inch squares. On your light squares, mark from the points across. I used my quarter inch thin ruler to mark both sides. Do this on all of the light squares. I decided on 3 sets of blocks that had 4 blocks each and then used pins to keep the fabrics together for all of the next steps.


Put your light and dark fabrics for the points right sides together and match the points. Sew on all of the lines you just marked.



Here's my squares with both lines sewn:


Next cut them in half:



Don't forget to keep your piles separate. I wanted it to look scrappy, but if your looking for a more cohesive look it doesn't matter

Then press them open:



Measure your triangle squares and trim them down to 4 1/2 inches, I was just giving a slight trim to these squares



Then trim all of the rest of the solid squares, they went from 5 inches to 4 1/2 inches.




Next layout your full blocks. I did it this way so I could make sure that the same prints didn't end up next to each other.




Now sew your rows together and stack them together again.



Then press the seams in one direction for one row and then in the opposite direction for the next row. That way you can nest the seams together in the next step.




Now you get to sew the strips together to make your block, which by now measures 20 inches by 20 inches.


Lay your blocks out on the floor and see how they look. I ended up rearranging a couple of times, because I felt that the red ended being too dominate one way and then the prints were too close together another.

Remember those jelly rolls we had at the beginning? Now you get to use them. Pick out 16 strips. Now cut them in half. I decided I liked the darker ones around the outer edge of mine and since my edges of my squares were mostly lighter colors I liked it that way. Now lay your strips in between your blocks. Play around with the colors and where they end up. Take a picture. I did this so that when I was sewing it together I could see where everything was going to go. Now sew the strips to the blocks, I did it by sewing the columns first (going from the top to the bottom of the first set of strip then block then strip) and then sewing the columns together. Now you have a complete top. You can use the extra jelly roll strips for your binding (here's a tutorial on that: Binding with jelly rolls)



I pieced this quilt in about a week. Doing one step a night and taking my time, especially since I really only have time to sew in the evenings when the kids are supposed to be falling asleep. I haven't found the backing yet for mine and I'm still deciding on how I want to quilt it. I hope you feel inspired and also remember that not everything has to be done in one day. Short, small steps can make the long journey easier to handle and before you know it, you'll have finished.

Pictures, pictures everywhere

As promised some pictures of my progress.

Here's the stack of school bags for the Humanitarian projects:



The first tier of my skirt, I really like the colors in this fabric line


Here's the strips laid out for the second tier, ready to be sewn



Here's the second tier already sewn together awaiting some time with my iron


Here's the bottom tier awaiting time and thread to be sewn together



I plan on trying to finish it up, if I can get some space for ironing, but that might wait until tomorrow's sewing day at the Church building.

Pictures soon

I promise, there will be some pictures soon. But my kids decided yesterday that we were going to take advantage of Daddy being around and we spent the whole day doing stuff with Daddy. I did get most of the skirt second tier laid out and in order. Yesterday, I was also able to go to the store and found two shirts, one for me and one for my girl that match the "Fruitcake" fabric. Wow, that girl is growing too fast, I had to go over to a different section of the store to find hers. I've also found the perfect applique embroidery for my shirt to match my skirt and I'm excited to get to work on it soon. My goal for today is to finish with laying out the fabrics and then get it sewn together and hopefully complete today. But it is laundry day today so we'll see how that goes.

Sewing, daily sewing. . .

Even if it weren't the season to be getting gifts ready and to be thinking of others, I would still be sewing a little bit every day. It does help calm me down since the fabric and thread go in the direction I tell it to and it can't talk back to me or yell at me.
I finished the school bags completely yesterday afternoon and went to our activity and turned them in. But by the end of the day, I was still itching to work on something else. I started my skirt that I'm making with a fabric line called "Fruitcake" that I had gotten several layer cakes and jelly rolls (at a great price at this really great web page called Stitch Steals, they have a "steal" a day, an item at a really great price ). For those interested a layer cake is a stack of fabric that has 42 pieces that are 10" square. A jelly roll is a roll of fabric that has 40 strips of fabric that are 2 1/2" by 45".
Here's the sample page for the "Fruitcake" line:
Fruitcake by Basic Grey

With the fabric I received I pieced a quilt that came out to be about a full size (68" x 90"). There will be further on this quilt later since I did take pictures as I worked on it and it is my own design and scheme. I also had enough fabric for a couple of other projects. Some will come up later, but the one I started working on last night was for myself.

But before I get to that let me tell you about a totally awesome web page that I found.
Moda Bake Shop is amazing. You can search for projects that use layer cakes and jelly rolls, or just charm packs or just start looking at the type of project you want to make. So, after spending almost all day browsing through their copious listings of projects I decided on this one:
Summer Swing Skirt
I absolutely love this type of skirt. And I have enough fabric to make it without the prints of snowmen and ornaments (they went into the quilt) but this skirt could feasibly be worn year round, at least in the winter time, for the fabrics I'm using. Last night I sat down and started the first layer. I like a more comfy, roomy skirt, so I used 6 squares for the top layer. I cut my second layer fabrics in half and started laying them out, that's 60 half strips. Then my eyes started to close on their own and I decided to stop for the night.
I'd like to maybe get the second layer finished today, but in reality I'll probably get the strips laid out in order and then start to sew them.

On the First Day . . .

So I start out this month with some sewing, not for me, but as a service project. My branch Relief Society set the goal of making 12 Humanitarian school kits and 12 Humanitarian newborn kits. The only problem with that is that I was the only one who knew how to sew. That's 12 blankets and 12 school bags. Most of the fabric was donated, but it still takes time to make them, especially if they are to be done by the end of the year. Kudos to my mom who sent us 12 sets of booties to put in the newborn kits (especially since the sisters here looked at me like I was crazy for suggesting we make them ourselves). My goal was to try to finish them all by tonight's activity where we will be assembling all we have gotten for these kits and see where we need to get more stuff. So yesterday I sat down and sewed some more of the handles for the bags. As of right now, I need to sew together one more set of handles and then sew 11 sets of handles onto their bags and sew the velcro closure on.
You may be thinking "wait, she said she had blankets too, what about those?" The blankets were fortunately able to be passed on to another sister that moved in to our branch a few months back and also sews a little bit and was willing to help out. Yeah!
Today and yesterday's sewing was for service and I'm still gathering some of the items needed to assemble some of the other projects-patterns and fabrics and notions and things. So hopefully tomorrow I can finally start crossing some things off of my list.

Here's a link to the kits we are assembling:
Make Humanitarian Kits

An Update of Sorts

I know that I've not been able to post much here and on my other blog about our family, but I have been thinking about it and trying to take lots of pictures. I'm going to try something new this year. I've made a list of all of the gifts that I'm making this year and my goal for this year is to work on a gift a day. Some will be kind of difficult and will require maybe two days depending on how willing the kids are to let me get stuff done. I also want to take my time so that I don't completely neglect my home and let it become a disaster area. I do have two quilts that the tops are done (one quilt took me several months to piece and the other took me 4 days to piece), one is even basted with batting and backing, that I want to finish for presents, so there will be some days where that is what I"m working on. I figure that if I can do at least one project a day, I shall be done by December 1. So if you would like to follow along with me, come and craft for Christmas. I will try to post a picture every day, some of them with links to the online patterns I'm using and some with the instructions I've come up with or my variations. Here's to the first day of November and my start of cleaning my house so I can get to my creative nook this afternoon for quiet time.

December 2009 projects

Christmas Tradition is new pajamas. Knut's were worn for their Polar Express party at school.


Cyrus and mommy got matching pajamas for coming home in.


Nevan got a new pair of overall's for his birthday day.

I bought this fabric last year after Christmas and finally got to make the apron for the holidays, it's called "Nordic Snowmen". But Nevan thinks it's better for hide-n-go-seek.

November 2009 Projects

For our Christmas Cards this year, I made vests and a dress for Keileigh out of some great silk. the vests got snowflakes embroidered in the front and Keileigh's dress got a seperate tie, so we could swap out the tie later it we wanted.








This is one of Keileigh's nightgowns that I was supposed to have one to match, but I didn't finish it before we moved last year and it's still waiting to be finished.

October 2009 projects

Go here to see most of the previous summer's projects:

http://alittleinsanity.blogspot.com/2009/10/sewing-projects_29.html


I did make Keieligh's jacket to match the boys, but I can't find any pictures, so I guess I better take some pictures of that too.

For Halloween, Keileigh got a new tutu for a fairy costume because the fairies didn't come to turn her blue dress pink. (Ok, why are all the disney princesses dressed in pink? don't they like any other colors?) This is the only picture I have of it, but we also at that time took a ton of pictures to create our own ABC book.

Craft Stuff

I'm trying to post all of my projects on here, that way at least I have motivation to take pictures before giving them away and maybe also give some ideas on projects for other people. Don't worry, for those of you that asked how I made Keileigh's dresses last year, I was waiting until this summer to put together some pictures of how to do it since they are more of a summer play dress. I am almost always in the middle of something crafty, sewing, quilting, or crocheting, as I have found that usually it helps me to relax to work with something that almost always does what I say to do the first time and can't talk back to me.

Keileigh's Tea Time Quilt

Keileigh picked these fabrics a while ago and this design set came out just recently from one of my favorite digitizers, Cindy of Julia's Needle Designs. I used the fat quarters cut into fourths for the front and then cut up two pairs of old work pants that had been given to Nolan, but that didn't fit him. I started the quilt on a Wednesday and then finished it on Friday night, would have been done sooner, but I was having major thread issues with it breaking and then running out of that particular color or even running out of white thread completely at one point in time.