Zipper Tab Tutorial

For a long time, I've been frustrated with making end tabs for zippers. They never stay put before sewing, I can't use pins without bloodshed, and there's always some stray thread or corner sticking out. One day I was reading a post about not-so-fiddly Sew Together bag tabs, and I had a revelation. I tried it out. I posted that I'd figured out a new way to do zipper tabs on Instagram. And I promised a tutorial. That was ...some time ago. But I've sent the tutorial to a few friends, and with their successes, it's time to share it with everyone!

Download the PDF

The PDF is more detailed and has some optional bits to follow, such as how to customize the size of the tab. For those of you who are experienced, here's the good parts version, for a simple tab:

Please share by pointing others to this blog post, and not distributing the PDF. This way I can continue to improve the tutorial! Thanks :)

Summer on the Beach Quilt

May is my second month ever leading a quilt for the Love circle for do. Good Stitches! I've been staring at this block forever in Illustrator, trying to figure out how to "color" it. I'm not entirely convinced yet on this particular one... but I'm warming to it and I don't have any better ideas coming, ha! So, without further ado...

This is my "Summer Sunset on the Beach" initial plan. I started with the idea of citrusy colors paired with navy blue, and went looking for some color palettes... which then inspired the working name. :)

There's two simple blocks, to be set on point. Both blocks are 8" (finished), so perfect for those 2.5" squares and strip scraps!



Block A is anchored by rich blues and creamy-sandy neutrals, with pops of warm colors in the corners. The corner colors should be a mix of pale to medium greys (1-2 squares) and warm colors. A really desaturated light purple could also sneak into the grays. Try to keep the contrast reasonably strong — don't let the grey fade too much into the neutral, if you choose to place it there.

Block B is a simple square of medium watery hues framed by crisp white, so they stand out from the others, so Kona snow should be about as off-white as it gets. White-on-white prints would work.

I'll post a sample block set here after I stitch it up!

2016 Finish-A-Long

At last count, I have some 14 quilt tops in various degrees of planning and completion. Some of these are old enough to go to high school. Yes, I have a bad habit of starting and then...never finishing. It's high time I should get these finished! So what better motivation than prizes, right? So, here's a list of projects I should *really* try to finish.

Untitled #1: My first quilt for me

Oh, so long ago. This was my first quilt out of "quilt-shop quality" fabrics. It's pretty traditional, except I completely ignored the construction given in the pattern. It's even basted and ready to quilt, so should be an easy finish, right? I just have to decide on the quilting pattern.

do. Good Stitches quilt: Sticks and Stones

I joined the Love Circle last year and somehow felt brave enough to lead a quilt by mid-year. It makes sense, right? I love designing blocks...and then other people sew it for me. It's fantastic. I have the blocks in a big stack and I have a good idea of how to put it together.

Transparent Stars Runner

Something small. Top's done, backing chosen, just need the motivation to put it together. It'll be a cover for my cabinet of interfacing. Very glamorous end destination! I have plans to both machine and hand-quilt this one.

Super Mario baby quilt

Another one that's pieced with a backing made. Just needs basting and quilting. I started this before the baby was born and now he's uh, 1.5.

Hubby's bowtie quilt

And for kicks, I'll toss in should start working on finishing this bow-tie block quilt for the hubby. Who has to use a big piece of fleece to warm up in front of the TV. That's pretty pathetic, right? I have at least 80% of the blocks made, backing fabric earmarked, binding chosen.

Pattern testing for Wise Craft

I'll be testing a pillow-size version a new pattern for Blair!


Good thing there's no penalty for overlisting! This'll pretty much smash any quilt finishing records I have if I manage to complete it! I think I listed some low-hanging fruit, so hopefully there'll be at least 2 finishes!

Crawl faster, snail!

Whoops. I knew I hadn't written a blogpost in awhile, but maybe missing all of 2013 wasn't what I meant to do. I certainly made stuff!

Anyhow, in musing over my current crafting stuffs, I've decided that this will be the Year of Finishing. I want to have a whole new set of WIPs by the end of the year. Everything that's been started, but is not finished now, will be either finished (yay!) or tossed (scrap-binned or repurposed).

My other challenge-goal is to hit 50 finished objects (or BUST!!). I thought about just 25, but that seemed too easy. So, here goes!

Tutorial: Clean and Simple Changing Mat

I thought I'd share some instructions for a simple changing mat (finishes at approximately 18” x 26”). It took me under two hours, including taking pictures along the way. It's a great handmade baby shower gift, as it's not common to find in stores, plus it's quick to make.



I first made this changing mat two years ago before we set out to travel with our then 6 month old boy. He was quite the wriggler, so I wanted something big and simple to separate him from the vagaries of public changing tables. It’s a light load to carry to the bathroom for on-the-go changes, and the size will last from baby to pull-ups!

Time to make: about an hour to two hours

Materials:

fabric:
1/3 yd of quilting cotton
1/4 yd of coordinating solid
1/2 yd of fleece (flannel + or soft material alternates)

notions:
~12" of 1/4” wide elastic in a coordinating color

The Ever Kelly Playmat

So about a month and a half ago, I found this posting on the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild about a new-to-here fabric designer that needed samples made for Spring Quilt Market. She had some really cute prints, so I figured why not? Kelly and I chatted and planned over email. When her fabrics arrived, we finally met up over lunch and she literally loaded me up with fabric. Her pattern in hand, I set off to make her cute playmat (finished at about 50"x60").

(Photo by Kathy Mack, Pink Chalk Fabrics)

It reminds me of sandy beaches and cute island living. You can see her version of it in different fabrics in the patterns at the bottom. Given how adorable everything looks here, there should be no surprise that Kelly won a booth award, right? ;) Actually, no, most of the cuteness is elsewhere in the booth, starting with that green fuzzy thing in the bottom left corner.  You can see more of the Ever Kelly booth on her blog!

So, on my experience with making the thing: it was my first time doing fusible appliqué. I started out following her instructions (adapted from other techniques) and ended up doing my own version*. (I am typing out some notes on that, but unless you're making the pattern, or something very similar, it won't make any sense at all. :) )

And, believe it or not, this is only the third major piece that I have free motion quilted. The one prior was done in Dec 2010, so it had um, been awhile. (I did a lot of straight line, and small swap item "quilting" in 2011.)  But with a deadline looming, I managed to both "remember" FMQ, and try out three new quilting patterns, to boot. In fair disclosure, I had been practicing by doodling new patterns for weeks, so it wasn't entirely a cold-start. Also, I chose thread colors that disappeared into the fabric, so even if I screwed up (and I do have a number of ugly moments), it's not immediately noticeable. There is a long, stretched meander in the water, loopy daisies in the meadows, and square meanders and "loops" around the houses. I am pleased I "learned" how to do loopy meander. I tried and tried to do the casual loops on paper, but I kept getting myself in awkward corners. But on actual fabric, I had no problems at all. So if you can see the pattern, but can't quite draw it, you might try stitching it anyway. It could work!

I bias-connected the binding on this one. It would've been so much easier to do a straight-join at the end, but I thought I should "do it right" this time... it does make for a less bulky join, but oh, so much more finicky to make! The binding is part of the 4-in-1 print

The back I have yet to get pictures of, as the quilt literally left my hands as soon as it came off the machine. But it is backed in the turquoise houses, with a bit of basic piecing to "stretch" the width.

All said and done, this is an adorable line of fabric, with cute little details you don't notice until you sit down and get your hands busy playing. I'm really looking forward to making some of my own projects with all the extras Kelly gave me, so stay tuned!

In progress: the continued allure of solids...

Once you complete a project that's all solids, it's hard to go back. For me, at least. There's a... seduction in "perfectly" executed color blocking. Maybe it's that I can't quite visualize prints playing together before they're sewn together. Not with the same precision that I can "see" with solids. Or maybe, it's the comfort that if you run out of a solid, you can always get more. (It's only annoying to run out mid-project, as the dye lot will be slightly different.) Especially with manufacturers making limited runs for print collections these days, it's liberating to not have to plan for the best use of that piece of print. So yeah. Relationship with solids? Still falling. :)

So, okay, enough with the musing, onwards to two recent unfinished projects.

...a baby quilt-in-progress for a nautical nursery. Said baby L is only a few weeks old, and the quilt top is basted, so I'm actually doing okay!

(Bad camera phone shot)

This is yet-another-failed-attempt at a wholecloth quilt. I can't help it. There's always some little bit of piecing I want to do.  In this case, it was a stylized sailboat and a pair of gulls, because the sky looked a little lonely without them. Of course, I drew up an Illustrator file for the boat and layout, but ended up eyeball-piecing in the end. That said, now I need to make a paper-piecing pattern for it, because it is seriously cute!! The gulls were more improvised; I nearly scrapped my initial attempt, but realized I could salvage it, and I'm glad I did.

Originally, this was going to be a two-sided quilt, with this for the other side:

(Another bad camera phone shot)

...but the hubby pointed out it'd be entirely too busy, so I guess I'm saving the fish for another occasion. These torpedo fish aren't as cute as the sailboat.

I ended up converting the green-blue-white stripe I was going to use as a binding into a backing instead. I found I had just enough of a bold red and white stripe (that emphasizes the nautical idea!) to use for binding. I have this quilt all basted, my beginner FMQ skills are dusted off (more on that soon)... expect Quilt #4 soon!

(Speaking of dye lot differences, there are two different shades of Kona Royal in the above two quilt tops. It's hard to tell, but there if you look for it. Still annoying.)

Fabric used: Kona royal blue, grass green, candy blue, cornflower blue*, corn yellow, bits of some prints

* = only color not available at Joann's.

For the love of solids: the tale of a multitasking mini

For the Love of Solids (round 2) is the latest chapter in my saga of swap-fascination. I think I'm still holding back from being full-on addicted.

Design brief: My partner suggested a sewing machine cover or a mini quilt.  Her inspiration mosaic had greys and a muted yellow, though she also likes yellow-y greens and aqua.  Mostly, limited color schemes. No rainbows here. Got it.

Step 1: Initial design sketch.

In the meantime, I picked out fabric to go with the colors I mocked up. Yes, if you are wondering, those swatches are labelled. Ask me how! :)

My partner was pretty happy with all the designs, but favored the top two: diamonds from one, blocks of color in the second.

Step 2: Back to the drawing table ... i.e. dither needlessly about design.

I got stuck trying to decide which I liked best, and if I'd overworked the diamonds and colors idea, so asked for feedback again. Partner wasn't much help (She was happy with them all. Guess I couldn't lose.), but most of the swappers liked the top two.

Step 3: Order, and receive way more fabric than you needed.

Pile of fabric arrived. Mmm, yummy interlude. Note: Fabric Shack rocks for offering 1/8yd cuts.

So, even though I leaned towards the bottom design, I expanded on the top design to make into an open-style machine cover/wall hanging.  This means it had to look good "right side up", "upside down" and sufficiently interesting one third at a time.

Step 4: Get down to business.

A lot of Illustrator time later, I rounded dimensions to the nearest quarter-inch and started cutting fabric strips.  The positioning was approximate, I figured I'd do some eyeballing and trimming for good placement -- aka designed "block", improvisational construction. Easy peasy, right? Haha.

Step 5: Really get down to business.

For some reason the simple straight line seam matching (i.e. seam ripping and sewing and cursing and resewing) kicked my butt, but I kicked back harder. Barely. There were some interesting seam-sewing sequences, too. In the end, I learned three things to tell my future self:

1. Most important: semi-improvisational construction is totally overrated. Plan some. And then a little bit more. By this I don't mean improv blocks where you have a rough idea. Don't improv construction when you have a complete idea.
2. If you're not going to pin, sew the 2 cm around the seam that has to match first. Don't be lazy and think it will "be okay". Even if you have it matched up and it's nice and freshly ironed. It will shift and then you will have the entire length to rip apart. 
3. Also, if your quilt seems slightly poofy, it might be because you were off by 1/4" in the size of a piece. I tore out a seam in the middle of the entire finished top, and finger pressed to see where the real seam should be. I had to hand-baste before resewing that seam, but it was so worth it. Perfectly flat before the iron even came out.

See? Perfectly flat.

I left the edges raw because if I cropped it, it looks like my mockup drawing. (Also, it looks kinda cool and...edgy!) Which is good (yay, vision accomplished), but bad for showing that you did some actual work in the real world!  It's interesting how your eye looks past all those wobbly lines. For next time, I think I will start drawing the seam line to make sure those long skinny strips are sewn more perpendicular. Too much room for error.

I also decided, while piecing, on a full out transparency effect with all the blocks of color instead of just the narrow strips. And that the diamonds (if they show up) should be appliqued. If you've been keeping tabs, I ended up not using the candy green stack because it clashed so horribly with peridot. Still, I think peridot and aqua with coal is one of my new favorites. And buttercup is so sunny! Yarrow and curry go together amazingly well, too.

I did some consulting about quilting options, and settled on random squares in a medium grey thread with a few lines of colorful handstitching/quilting.  I mapped it out in Illustrator (of course) to make sure the quilting also looked good with the back.  I added some loops into the binding (medium gray) so my partner can loop the included straps (in azure) to dress up her machine, but will stay out of the way if she wants to hang it on the wall or stick it on the table. I know she's well capable of doing a little add-on to do that conversion.

Step 6: Fall over. Done!

And now, through the magic of Internet-sewing, the finish! Hopefully you made it this far. But really, this is more for me than it is for you. ;) There's a few things I know are not perfect, but if you don't see them, I'm not saying where they are!

Fabric used: Kona colors used, in rough order by decreasing amount: coal, medium gray, peridot, aqua, curry, azure, buttercup, bahama blue, cactus, yarrow, pond, ice frappe, snow. (It's a little disturbing that I can remember this without looking it up.)

Basket/Bag Tutorial, part 1

I am finally getting around to writing that darn tutorial. Part 1 of the boxed bottom bag/basket tutorial is up! It includes a handy dandy calculator to figure out what size fabric you need for your project.

Now, you too, can begin creating your own basket army.

Speedy snails are good luck

This may well be the fastest turnaround from receiving fabric in the mail, picking a project to do, finishing it, and then blogging about it!

I needed a bright and cheery pencil tray to bring some order to my really scattered desk at work.
I remembered Pink Penguin's organizer basket tutorial and figured I'd give it a go. Then.. fabric selection. I wanted to use up some "new" fabric before that heady first-love rush wore off. ;)  I just got  Kate Spain's Good Fortune (my first ever full-collection FQ set ever*!) One of the fan prints, which I liked much better in fabric than online, went perfectly with Essex linen in putty.  Once I made the match, there was no going back. 

The inside is quilted to some W&N batting with diagonal zig zags through the fan print. I tied the corners with perle cotton (size 8) and used the "leftover" for a loopy doodle through the Essex only.  Not sure if I'm going to keep it in or take it out. Maybe it needs a dragonfly. ;)

I think I have trouble with keeping exterior and interior the same size, because the baggy quilted inside sort of bugs me. I will probably do my trick of sewing lining to exterior next time... but for now, it's done and usable!

As an aside, one of my poor rulers (non quilting) suffered some damage. I managed to sew through it while I was quilting the inside! The machine thought it was just fine... so let that be a statement to how strong the Janome is: Soft plastic is no match!

--
(*Julie at the Intrepid Thread had some terrific pricing, so I splurged! I am still designing a quilt that will use all or most of the prints, but in the meantime...)

Squishing things into small packages, Part 2

This is the pouch that will make me sit out Pretty {little} Pouch Swap 4... worth it, though! I finished it so late I didn't get good shots (see here), but luckily, my partner did a beautiful photo shoot of it when she received it! All the pictures in this post are hers.   Tami does such beautiful work that it was seriously intimidating to sew for her.  I didn't want to just toss together a pouch she could do herself! Between that and the baby putting me to sleep every night I meant to work on said pouch, that's how I got delayed by a week! :P (Okay, I'm also a chronic procrastinator.)  I'm grateful she was patient!!

The front (photo by Lemon Tree Tales)

Anyway, I had a good time designing it. It was definitely one of those pouches that evolved as I was playing with the fabric. The embroidery on the front was inspired by the lining fabric (Leaves in blue from "Love Birds" by My Mind's Eye). I tried out adding some Japanese glass beads; it seemed easier and prettier than doing French knots. The white is perle cotton (sz 8) and the green and blue running stitches are three strands of embroidery floss.

The back (photo by Lemon Tree Tales)

I'm glad I got to put some of my Kyoto jelly-roll to use. There are two prints used because I honestly couldn't make up my mind.  I love how Kona eggplant plays off the turquoise in this color combo -- it's not one I would've thought of, but was suggested in her mosaic. Swaps are great for trying new things! I used Kona eggplant, celery green and hunter green for the accents, and celery green with the turquoise print for the inside. (I am stealing all her pictures...)

(photo by Lemon Tree Tales)

This dragonfly was a doodled after thought to balance out the composition, but I am so glad I put it in. :D  All in all, I think I will have to make a similar one in different colors for myself... though probably without the beading, but yes on the dragonfly!

My favorite part! (photo by Lemon Tree Tales)

So there it is! A pretty pouch in its new home. I'm so happy she liked it. :)

p.s. I may have joined another swap. I think this is a sign of addiction.

Squishing things into small boxes, Part 1

I really don't know why I keep signing up for pairs of swaps that are "due" within a week of each other. They're so tempting! I guess I like the deadline-imposed creativity.  But I think I am not so good with actually meeting the deadlines. Swap mamas, hide your eyes... of the four I've participated in: one was on time, two were a day late (but I sent Priority instead of First Class), and the last one, I feel bad sending it practically a week late, but I would rather late than half-assed. Cuz half-assed is just a waste of time and resources. Mostly it was a week of falling asleep with the baby (= no craft/anything time).

Anyway, no more of this self-incriminating blather; time to show off what I made and hastily stuffed into too-small a box (my shipping methods are perhaps a little inhumane ;) ) on their way to a new home.

My Sewn Spaces: Pincushions swap partner was the lovely Kylie (Flickr: Three Honeybees). She had an aesthetic I really appreciate, plus she was really proactive with comments, so easy to "stalk". Partner bliss!  I caught her swooning at someone's creation out of the new "Ruby" fabric line, and sneakily ordered a charm pack to play with. I saw Amy (During Quiet Time)'s tutorial for a cute armrest pincushion earlier and really wanted to try making one, so the two ideas fused together.

Funnily enough, right before I posted my montage, bluebirdluxe posted her creation from the same tutorial, from the same fabric line!! I think poor Kylie must've been hyperventilating at that point. ;)

I also got my first sewing machine injury while closing up the pincushion part. Reminder to self: Hands pass unwhacked by the sewing machine only when held low to the bed. :P I still have a cracked nail to show for it, but as bad as it looked, it didn't hurt. I also noticed later that one of my thread guides got bent, so apparently I gave back as much as I took.  Take that, machine!

That said, I had about a million ideas other that I didn't get to execute. I did get to embroider a cute bee for an bonus pinnie (not bad for a first time satin stitch, eh?) which actually got finished before the more elaborate pincushion.  I had the hardest time picking the coordinating prints for the front (aha, the orange you can't see is the Daisy print from "Now We're Goin' Places" by Monica Lee) and backing (from Ruby), but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Anyhow, Kylie also took some fantastically beautiful shots (including the one above!), so check it out in her Flickr photostream, She also has some other super-cute creations of hers, both in fabric and as cookies!

Swaps sent, and received!

Why is it that when one signs up for another round of swaps, that one ends up doing so with a sense of guilty pleasure? Maybe I'm just feeling guilty for not updating this blog.  I should add a badge for the  Sewn Spaces swap.... I admit it, I wanted a pincushion.  And Round 3 for the Pouch swap started, I've been so pouch obsessed lately, so of course I was in...

...so in conclusion, I better get the previous rounds blogged, right?

I received this embroidery-bliss package from suzettra in the Make Mine Modern Swap.  The hoop is hanging in my sewing room, and the size 5 pearl cotton has already made friends with my size 8 balls. The pouch is actually a lot more than it seems; there's an inside pocket and and outside double pocket on the other side! Perfect for on-the-go stitching. :)  And! 1001 Peeps! Good thing I stashed some of what I sent off, so now I have a pretty decent collection for that extra special project.  The blues are perfect. And cute little stationery cats!



I need to remember to finish sewing earlier so I can get decent shots of things before they are sent off... surely there must be a saying about a late-sewist and her finished items are quickly parted? This was a project plan that took a weird turn...

E was a very verbose partner! ;)  But also very easy-going, but still, you try to make them something that they will really really like, you know?  Anyway, I had started out with a red and purple palette of scraps that I had bought, and nothing about it really gelled for me. Seriously, I felt like I was on a client challenge on Project Runway or something, where the client's tastes felt wildly different from mine, so it took awhile to try to get into her head.  I ended up with the knitting project bag first (it's an enlarged lunchbox bag from Pink Penguin), as something I would like... that I hoped would overlap with her tastes as well.  And then, because I kept thinking it wasn't completely right for her, I made the knitting needle wrap too, in shades of red and black and silver, which isn't my first choice for colors, but is definitely something she loved. I wish I had gotten better pictures of the back, where I did some straight line stitching, spaced in a Fibonacci sequence. (It's surprisingly easy to sew with the seam guide!)



Previously... here's the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap: this is what I got from the lovely Kiza:



I think it's very fitting that her little flower detail in the stitching is what inspired me to put a little flower in my stitching as well! It fits my laptop on-the-go accessories perfectly. She's also right... that print fabric is amazingly silky soft.

And here's what I sent... I really had fun with the hand stitched embellishments. Hopefully I didn't over do it ;) Originally I had fusible fleece on the lining pieces, but piecing+linen+foundation muslin makes for a pretty sturdy outer, so I tore out the fusible. I guess the foundation muslin works as a sewn on interlining.





My favorite part is the overlapping diamonds... I had this design mocked up in Illustrator so I could figure out a fitting hand-stitched embeliishment. I was trying out mirrored zig zags to make diamonds, and accidentally made this pattern!  Happy (digital) accidents!



I sent along some coasters made from scraps... I was on a serious self-imposed challenge to use the fabric that I had picked out, AND try to use up scraps in a cute but different way. The turquoise was the lining for the pouch.





I love this shot, so I am including it, just because.

Stash-busting totes

On finishing the baskets, I realized I had way overbought the canvas/denim. I had roughly 1 1/4 yards left that I really didn't want to keep around.  So, tote bags for the wedding party it is!  I remembered seeing a post by D. I. Bride (in searching for inspiring tote "patterns" to copy) on sewing L.L. Bean type totes for her wedding guests, except I wanted to use accents of the basket lining fabric as well.

I picked out a thinnish brown twill from my stash (a remnant find at JoAnn's) that went really well with the blue print, measured a tote I got from an expo and came up with this:

It's not a very good glamour shot, but it shows off the features. The front center is a patch pocket framed by the straps on either side, the bottom-of-the-bag brown on the bottom, and bound on the top by the lining fabric. The base of the bag had its edges pressed under and topstitched onto the main body (canvas), and over the bottom ends of the straps. I didn't want the base of the bag to wear out, since the dark twill was thinner than the canvas.

For the straps, I cut a piece 2.5" wide by the width of fabric (surprisingly, 44") and folded both sides to the center and pressed. I then cut 1.5" wide strips from the lining fabric, and pressed the sides a scant 1/4" (i.e. as little as I could consistently make it without burning my fingertips). I didn't see the point of "lining" the straps when they were being sewn to the bag front, so I only lined the free part of the straps, roughly 24" (2 12" drops). Then I roughly centered the lining along the length, centered the print in the width, and stitched down both sides to get a nice border of the brown on both sides. The raw edges were sewn down onto the outside of the bag body.

So, I got to this point:

for three bags. I french seamed one bag (machine went through 6 layers of denim without blinking), boxed the bottom corners, and promptly ran out of time to finish all three before the bachelorette party. My fabulous new neighbor/friend/quilter/crafter extraordinaire was kind enough to serge the edges and finish the two other bags for me while I was out wining and dining the bride-to-be.  Serging is a much less bulky finish! (Which reminds me that I really need to get my serger serviced.)

I hope the wedding party girls liked them... mostly I'm just glad that 3/4 yd of fabric is out of my stash!! I have a couple more pieces that I'll probably make up into more totes; it's not really good for anything else.

Bears, butterflies, and baskets, oh my!

The last week of crafting time has been consumed with making some handmade touches to a dear friend's wedding.  Specifically, creating this basket army for her out of town guests:



I thought more structural baskets would be hard to take home, but little fabric totes can be easily squished into suitcases, and when not holding edible goodies, good for containing those nightstand random things you collect while travelling.

It was quite a process, going from this [Flutters (in Water) from Just Wing It! by MoMo]:



and this [JoAnn's 12 oz bull denim in natural]:



to this:



And this:



In making the straps, I learned this canvas material was... finicky. It curled whenever it came into contact with moisture, but wouldn't hold a pressing unless it was spritzed. No wonder the straps stretched out of shape! (You can't tell in the picture, but they curl and the lining fabric is creatively mashed flat by four lines of stitching.) I finally got smart at the end and pre-pressed the lining (which behaved beautifully) and the canvas separately, then sewed them together. Also, the blind hem foot is amazing for edge stitching, especially when your machine can change needle positions -- *wonder* *awe*) ... and I clearly deprived myself of standard machine features for far too long with my little 3/4 machine.

To this:



The lining is sewn to the outer canvas. I hate baggy shifty linings, and it's a good way to make them stay put, if you don't mind pressing top hems down before stitching them together. And, as I discovered, a good way to box two corners at once without drawing lines or pinning or anything.

And finally, ta da!  Finished baskets.  I made 22 in total.  



Mini tutorial/show-and-tell to come, when I can stomach making another basket. :)

Market Bag!

I am finally getting around to using my FQ/scrap pack of home dec fabrics.  This is a resized version of the Market Bag from Film in the Fridge. I've had the fabrics cut out forever, and finally got to finishing it off. I cut two "front" panels of the orchid print, then two "side" panels of the yellow print, sewed them into a tube and pseudo-flat-felled/topstitched the seam allowances to make it smooth.  The seam allowances on the bottom are 1/2" instead of 1/4" and I'm not sure if that was what made the last two seams of sewing the bottom on different, but I figured out a way that worked for me (and kept the bottom of the bag square). 



I really like the strap length (original length).  It makes it easy to sling the bag on your shoulder.

Fabric used: two prints from Joel Dewberry's Ginseng line, cream muslin for the lining

Crafted in 2010

This year's sewing (will supplement with photos when available):

Clothing:

• Three maternity T-shirts (New Look 6735) [May, June]
  
• One maternity skirt [May]
  
• Bren's baby Elvis costume for Halloween [Oct]
  

Quilting:

• Doll quilt for C [Feb]
• Baby lion quilt for Z [May-Dec]
• Chick-a-dee squares quilt for Bren [Dec]
  

Bags/Accessories/Other:

• Doll quilt, pillow and pillowcase [Feb]
• Moxy's Travel Bag [Apr]
• Jezze Prints no-interfacing tray [Apr]
• Yoga Mat Bag [Apr]
  
• Gwynne's Buttercup bag (and test bag) [May]
  
• Mail sack clone [Sep]
  
• Nursing cover for me [Aug]
• Pink Penguin Fabric Basket [Sep]
• Laptop sleeve [Nov]
  
• Nursing cover #2 for J [Nov]
• 3 decorated burp cloths from diapers for J [Nov]
  
• Changing pad for J [Nov-Dec]
  

Bren's Playquilt -- Quilt #2

The cobbler's son finally gets a shoe. Or in this case, a super-quick designed, slapped together quilt. Last minute, I decided to ditch the star-quilt top and do a version of Oh Fransson's Simple Modern Baby Quilt. I used the Chick-a-dee, Chick-a-doo quilt kit fabrics that I bought for Bren...in a quilt for him! (Amazing.) They didn't feel so precious anymore, so I figured I should use them up. I added the olive polka-dotted material, and didn't use the solids that were paired with the line the fat quarter pack included (but not in the quilt kit). I had the green from the lion quilt in there, too, but it took over the quilt. The plan was making the finished blocks 9", but ended up squaring the raw blocks to 9.25" which means finished at 8.75"... and the finished quilt is about 43" square. The back was originally just going to be the print plus the green split by a snow stripe, but the square motif looked so much better. The whole thing is bound in Kona Coal, with a little patch of the blue squares from the kit. After staring at it awhile, I realize I could've just used four prints in an appropriately spaced pattern, but oh well. Such is the price to pay for speed. Semi-random distribution of squares.

The front:

The back:

Speaking of speed, the timeline for this quilt:

Sunday (12/13): Agh, star quilt piecing is never going to last being used as a playmat. What fabric to use, aaahhh? Hm, maybe Chick-a-dee. Go shopping, find nothing particularly good (or to augment the Chick-a-dee) for a quilt. Gonna have to use the stash.

Monday: Huh, what pattern? Sketch out cutting diagrams for the Oh Fransson baby quilt. Will alternating the white with the patterns work out okay, since I don't have enough prints?

Tuesday: Looks like it. Start cutting like mad. Half of blocks pieced.

Wednesday: Still sewing like mad.... have most of blocks pieced. Now... position! Ugh. Sew most of front together.

Thursday: Leaving TOMORROW. Decide the quickest backing is not pretty enough. Cut new blocks for backing and sew in between packing. Cut binding. 11pm: baste on carpet. Not recommended, but is only open surface in house. 12am - 4am: quilt like mad. Also, not recommended. Take nap. 8am: wake up, reeeaallly quickly sew on binding, so can hand finish on vacation (which I did, five days later).

In the end, I did finish... through gross neglect of sleep before the trip. Also, don't recommend doing single-fold binding when both free ends aren't sewn to the quilt. But I didn't have to pre-iron it either. But the quilt is finished -- albeit, already in some need of repair. One of the block corners didn't have quite enough seam allowance (maybe I'll just sew over it a few more times) and some of the quilting thread broke. Still, I'm happy with it. Interestingly, it's gotten crinkly and soft before washing -- maybe my previous sandwiching was too good a job?

Baby Lion Quilt -- DONE!

Finally, my first completely done quilt. It is in the wash as I type. Third quilt-top pieced, first time free motion quilting, first time hand-finishing the binding.

It would have been significantly harder without my new machine. I was "running out of room" to move the quilt even with the Janome 6600p's much larger bed. I'm pretty sure I will learn to stuff increasingly larger quantities of fabric more efficiently in there.

I tested it earlier with B; he approves. It is a good playmat size. Plus, he can't quite get a good enough grasp on it to move it about, like the blankets.

I'm impatiently waiting for the quilt to cycle through the wash and dry process. I really want to see what this soft-and-crinkle transformation is like. And of course, hopefully all my binding off/tucking loose thread methods worked, so it doesn't fall apart in the wash!

Update: All dried and warm(ish) from the wash. It did crinkle! The batting is pretty much as before, fabric slightly more pliable (and crinkly). I expected maybe softer, but I suppose that will come with time. It is warmer than you'd expect. Also, nothing came apart, yay!

Things I have learned:

...pin-basting on my dining room table works well.
...you want a bigger backing on the quilt when FMQing because you need a way to maneuver the quilt at the very edge, not because your fabric might shift (it shouldn't, if you put enough pins in!).
...you probably want to pink the edges of the quilt when trimming it to size, as straight edges fray like mad from all the handling.
...while quilt clips may not work on hair, hair clips work just fine on a quilt (to hold binding down)
...hand finishing the binding invisibly really looks great. Also a great thing to do in front of the TV.