Vintage Quilt Part 1

Last night I pieced the first set of blocks in the first color combination. I really like how it is turning out! The vintage fabric is kind of tricky to sew with - it is thinner than the quilting fabric and it is kind of soft/slippery so it gets crooked really easily. It also stretches more. But, i think it is totally worth it because I really like how this quilt is coming together.

I made one change to the quilt along directions. For the log cabin blocks I cut the strips a little longer and then trimmed after I had sewn them. In my other quilt my inaccurate cutting made that block really tricky.

New Quilt Along Fabric!!!

Since I can't keep working on my quilt until my Mom gets back from vacation I decided I might as well just start a new one! This one is vintage linens and patterned quilting solids. I have been collecting the linens (pillowcases) for awhile and I ordered two more from etsy (best website of all time). I even had most of the fabric, I stopped by the Quilt Tree and picked up three fat quarters and I am all set! I can't wait to get started. Although, I now have to decide between sewing and watching Twilight. A tough decision, we will see what I choose :)

Quilt Along

My Mom and I are participating in a quilt along put on by one of my favorite craft blogs, Oh, Fransson! I have made several quilts before but I have never followed any directions or a pattern and I never had any idea what I was doing. I just kind of made it up as I went along. And I am terrible at following directions. So this is really different for me! Mom has never made a quilt before, but she is really good at following directions. So this is a challenge for both of us!

I decided to try and use some fabric I had in my stash, instead of buying all new fabric. I thought it might make Aaron happy :) Tragically, I have not stopped buying fabric, so I don't think it made a difference. But, I am happy to use these cute 30's inspired prints I got last year for Mother's Day. I did have to buy more to get the 12 different fabrics I needed for the pattern, but these are the ones I had:


The cutting directions were amazingly precise and efficient. Which is the opposite of how I usually do it which is likely in the most backwards and wasteful way possible. It was very hard for me to follow the cutting instructions and I messed up several times (and cut my finger once and had to start over because I got blood on my fabric) but I managed to get it all cut out in two evenings and I didn't run out of fabric! Success! There are 12 different patters matched up into 6 pairs. Oh, Fransson! had a great idea to organize all the different pieces of fabric using a labled grid on cardstock. Very handy because there were quite a few different pieces:


Mom got all her fabrics cut out and we got together last Saturday to start sewing. I had my craft room set up so we could both sew together. It worked so good! We also had both girls in with us, Avery playing on the floor and Ella doing her own crafts. It was really really fun!!!

Even though she had never quilted before Mom did a great job!

I didn't do so bad myself :)

The worst part about quilting is the endless ironing! I wished we had two irons because we had to take turns. Next time we get together I think we will have two going to make it faster. Although we did use the waiting time to play with cute babies, so it wasn't all bad :)


Here is my set of Block 1:

Mom's set of Block 1 - I am wildly jealous of her fabrics, we had so much fun picking them out at the fabric store! I think the colors are beautiful and the tree fabric is definitely my favorite, I am going to have to pick some of that up for me!

There were only directions for blocks 1 and 2, but we were on a roll so we decided to keep going and we sewed 1, 2, 3, and 4!

Mom's blocks:

My blocks (I don't know why the angle is so weird here):


Now Mom is in Hawaii and I am in Alaska. It is going to be hard to keep from finishing up the piecing while she is gone. I might have to start a new project to cheer me up. Sewing is not as good as the beach, but it is better than nothing!!!

I'm Back!!!

I finally have my craft room finished and now I am going to get serious about crafting and posting on this blog. I also (clearly) need to get serious about improving my photography skills. But until that happens, I will just post my terrible pictures and hope the cuteness of my projects makes up for it :)

Tonight I decided to make a case for my Ipod. After I briefly lost it in a fever and cold medicine induced stupor, I thought it might be easier to keep track of if it was covered in adorable hedgehogs!

I thought it would be really easy to make up, and I was right, although there was one mishap in sizing. I apparently did not consider seam allowances (a frequent mistake of mine) but the too small case turned out to EXACTLY fit my camera! So it was a happy accident and not a tragic waste of cute and much prized Japanese hedgehog fabric. To be honest, I am surprised I even used it, that is how much I love it.

Paper Cutting

I did a few paper cutting projects. The pattern came from Mail Order #8 from one of my favorite craft blogs - Angry Chicken.



It is a fun and pretty fast project. I did another one but Ella inadvertently ripped it in half in her excitement to show it to Daddy! I am thinking about getting a book and trying some more complex patterns.

Valentines Craft Collaboration

Ella and I are craft buddies! We can make things together! It is fantastic and I hope she always will go along with my crafty plans. I asked Ella if she wanted to buy Valentines for her day care buddies at the store or if she wanted to make them with Mommy and she said "make em wif Mommy" so we did. I picked up some watercolor paints and paper and we had our first ever painting attempt. It was wildly successful and only a little messy!


I think the final results are pretty cool. With Ella directing me, I used glitter glue to make squiggly lines on the paintings and used two heart stamps and red ink to further embellish. Then I cut out heart shapes and glued them onto cards.


Of course the picture quality is less than great, but trust me, they are awesome!

Joining the Club

I have decided to finally join the craft blog club. I got all my sewing and craft stuff out after Christmas and had a chance to actually use it. It was great! I made up a pattern for a little patchwork clutch purse and put it together Friday night. I think it is cute, although I wish the binding was a little narrower and maybe on the bias - gingham bias tape is infinitely cuter than regular gingham binding. But all in all I think it looks cute.


The lining and some of the outside patchwork is my favorite raindrop fabric that I bought online. I have been saving it - like I save all my favorite fabric - but I decided to use it. Maybe if I use it all up Aaron won't complain so much when I buy more fabric!


I have made a few other little things lately - I will have to take some pictures to post.