Swoon Block

I have officially made one block as part of the swoon-along.

I don't think these are going to get done on a regular basis, but 8 more to go!

Swoon-Along

I'm joining the swoon-along started by Katy over at I'm a ginger monkey! I bought the pattern last summer and decided to use some Art Gallery fabric I bought at sample spree in October. I wasn't really wanting to have many fabric repeats, so I added in some additional Art Gallery prints from other lines and a couple of solids. 

The Swoon-along goal is one block a week. So far, I have one cut out. That counts, right? It's taking a little longer for me to do the cutting. Rachael from Stitched in Color said when she made the quilt, there was lot of wasted fabric the way the flying geese were pieces. I made a couple pieces to gauge the finished size and borrowed my mom's flying geese ruler and am trying to cut them out this way. I'm going to sew this block up first to make sure all my measurements are correct. I don't trust myself that much :). I'll try to post as I get the blocks done. I think I'm going to put the finished product in my guest bedroom.

The Man Quilt

My husband had been mentioning for years a while that he would like his own quilt, you know, one that's not all "girly." Earlier this summer I started scouring fabric sites (since I usually don't do that) looking for fabric for him. I ended up going with a black/gray/white theme and ordered fabrics that either I thought he would like, or that reminded me of him in some way.

I intended to make it for his Christmas gift, but I just got it cut out this weekend! Better late than never, right? I'm shooting for his birthday now. Surely I'll have it done by May. I saw this quilt and liked the simple patchwork pattern. I stole one of my mom's Turning Twenty books just in case, too. I didn't want the blocks as large as those, so I just made up my own measurements for them. The finished blocks will be 11" square. Here's a sneak peak of some of the fabrics.

All my pieces cut out.

And here's a finished block.

So far it's coming together quickly! I have the 8" squares sewn to the smaller rectangles! I'm hoping that I can get it together and quilted while I am using my mom's borrowed machine. She has a walking foot and I don't :)

Christmas

I still forgot to take pictures of all the gifts I made for Christmas, and there weren't even that many!

My mother-in-law requested a bag to carry her lunch/snacks to work with special requests for water bottle pockets. This was a make it up as I went along bag. I used aspects from a few patterns that I had made before, but altered the size, since she didn't want it really big.

The exterior is from Art Gallery Fabrics, purchased from my mom's store, Lilliesthimble.com. The purple for the handle is from a Moda line, Grand Finale. The interior is one of my favorite parts!



I used a laminated cotton from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom line. I purchased it from citycraftonline.com, but they don't sell laminates online. You can also find it from a couple places on etsy. I hadn't ever sewn with laminates before, but it wasn't too bad. I had read a suggestion to put tape over the bottom of the presser foot to keep it from sticking to the fabric, which I did. I tried at first to not use pins, so it wouldn't leave holes. Eventually I gave up on this, but I don't think it was noticeable. I also made a matching gathered clutch using the pattern from Anna at Noodlehead.

I went ahead and added the interior card pockets, also.

I also made one for my mom and sister. There was a notebook cover that went along with my sister's, but I don't have a picture of those :(  Here is my mom's.

And the inside....







Everyone loved their gifts! All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas and some much-needed extended time off. :) I hope yours was amazing as well!

My family Christmas morning!



New fun stuff

Gifts aren't really a big deal in either of our families... we all love to give, but I know I love buying the little things I know someone loves more than buying some huge, extravagant gift. My big gift from my parents was Electric Quilt 7.

This is one of those things I never really thought about getting or even wanting... mainly due to price. I would never have bought it for myself. I've gotten to play with it a little. I drew up the quilt I am making my husband, just to see it together. I'm also playing around with a few other designs that I can hopefully make this year. It has some very cool features and block patterns. Very fun.

On a trip to Barnes and Noble this week, I also got this with a gift card I was given for graduation last year.

It's also available on Amazon. I actually paid more with my gift card than I would have ordering it on there, but I needed to use it and I don't have to wait for it to get here (like I'll even open it for a few months...). I've really been wanting to learn how to embroider to add labels, or just something special to quilts and other projects. I don't think this is her beginning book, but I liked the patterns in it more.

I'm also using my Christmas cash to get my sewing machine cleaned. It's only been 3 years... that's not too long, right? Maybe that's why she's be mad at me. Hopefully she'll be home later this week! She'll then be taking another trip to my sisters for her to use . Meanwhile, I have my Mom's machine to hold me over!

Parisville

I love this line. It may be one of my all-time faves. I bought a fat quarter bundle of this last December as a graduation present to myself. I gradually acquired other pieces, but was terrified to cut into them. Do you have that problem? The fabric is just so pretty, it makes me sad to cut into it. Especially when you'll be losing some of the pattern, like you do in this.

Anyways, I finally bit the bullet and did a simple patchwork of 6" (finished) squares.

When I put it together, it was still a little smaller than I wanted, so I added a Bella Ivory and scrappy border and binding. I bought larger pieces of my two favorite prints to use on the back, and pieced the remainder on the back.

I finished the backing and top back in June. I was going to attempt to quilt it on my machine, but had some major problems. Once again, my wonderful mother came through and offered to quilt it for me. I got it back from her in August or September (she lives about 5 hours away), but just finished hand-stitching the binding. I don't like how my machine binding turns out and I don't mind having something to work on while I'm watching TV. I found a tutorial for a ladder stitch for binding and it really went much faster... after I already had half of the binding done.