Finish It Up Friday

Hi All!  Remember me?  Probably not, seeing as how I seem to disappear from here for weeks (ok, in this case months) at a time.  Oops!  I seem to be favoring Instagram lately, it's just so easy and convenient (@flipflopsandquiltblocks if you want to follow along on my adventures in sewing- and some kitty pics for good measure).  I have been in the sewing room though so I thought I would pop in and share what I have been working on.

With Baby Girl due to make her appearance in less than 10 weeks (eek!!) I figured it was time to get going on her nursery.  I fell in love with a floral wallpaper from Anthropologie so the color scheme for the nursery is based around that- shades of pink and mint green.  And yes, the photo below does not show the wallpaper.  Chances are good that we will only be in this home for a few more months and it is a rental, so there is no way I was wasting Anthro wallpaper here.  It will go in her real room when we get our own, real home.  Nesting did take over the beginning of January though and I had a sudden NEED to build the crib.  So with that came a few sewing projects.

First up on the list of needed items was a crib skirt-

 

I used a solid mint for the main part of the skirt and then a tonal mint printed ruffle peeking out the bottom.

As any good 21st Century sewer, I took to Pinterest before making the crib skirt and found this awesome idea of how to attach it to the crib-

 

Ribbon!  Meaning that when I lower the mattress as Baby Girl grows, I can just adjust the crib skirt instead of having it puddle on the ground or having to make a new one.

The sides of the crib turned out to be a little trickier than the front-

 

Though it may be hard to see in the photo, there is a bar that attaches to the side of the crib to support the mattress, so that messed with my plans on how to attach the skirt to the crib- I couldn't put a tie there as the bar was in the way.  And if I tied something to the bar, it might work now but it wouldn't when I lower the mattress.  Sure, I could have left it as it was, let's face it, I would probably have been the only one to notice the gap... but my OCD tendencies would not let me leave well enough alone like that.

 

Instead I attached a piece of velcro to the bar (as seen in the previous photo) and then made a small, 3" wide panel and attached it to the bar.  And yes, I even made a little ruffle to go on that piece :)  And by "that piece" I mean "those four pieces" as each short side of the crib had two bars that I had to do this to.  Yes, even the bars in the back got the treatment.  Again, I refer back to my OCD tendencies.  Figure I might as well give into them now, from what I hear babies/toddlers/kids/teenagers are all messy and will test my OCD-ness in the coming years!

Linking up to CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday!

 

Finish It Up Friday

Continuing on my Fall sewing kick-

Meet my newest pillow!  This little guy was started two or three years ago as part of a Fall themed applique quilt I was going to make.  I believe he was copied from clip art in an old Facebook game, (fluff)Friends.  I never did make the quilt (obviously).  One of the other blocks, a trio of pumpkins, I made into a pillow last year.  I started doing the same with this block then too, but there was a whole heck of a lot of blanket stitching to secure all those parts onto the scarecrow and I got bored last year and stopped.  I found the block again a few days ago and decided this was the year to finally finish it up.  Once I had the scarecrow (which of course took no time at all) done I grabbed some scraps for the border. 

 

The backing is a fabric I picked up at Joanns on sale last winter.  I intended for it to be the backing of my pumpkin quilt, but it turns out I had already bought (better) fabric to back that quilt- but the colors were perfect for this little scarecrow.  I love when that works out.

 

 



Typically when I make a pillow I do an envelope back, but I never really like it.  I think I do something wrong because the fit is always too tight and the envelope part bulges and I always worry the fabric is going to giveway.  In this case, I made a pillow that was not a standard size so an envelope back was not an option anyway because there was no pillow form that would fit in it.  Invisible zipper to the rescue.  This was my first time sewing one.  It came out ok, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the end with the stopper to be invisible.  I couldn't get the teeth of the zipper to flatten down enough by the stopper for me to sew it well.  I used a this tutorial from Craftiness Is Not Optional.  Does anyone have any tips for invisible zippers or know of any other good tutorials?

Fun Fact: the stuffing for this pillow was taken out of airline travel pillows.  When my husband was traveling a lot for work he would often get upgraded to first class and I quickly informed him that the pillows he was given needed to find their way home to go.  Free pillow forms/stuffing, yes please!  I now have a cabinet full of airline pillows- it got to the point where I had to tell him to stop bringing them home.

Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday and Fabric Tuesday at QuiltStory.

Sweet Southern Sewing

Sweet tea is a Southern staple, but what's a girl to do when restaurants do not have the appropriate sweetener?

 

 

Further proof that I am turning into my grandmother, I now carry Sweet n Low around in my purse for just such occasions.  I still have a long way to go before I am at her level (she also has honey, tea bags, hard candies...and pretty much anything else you could need), but I am getting there. 

DISCLAIMER: I am a Florida Belle, not a true Southern Belle.  Yes I like my tea sweet, but actual "sweet tea" that restaurants serve is too sweet.  So I order unsweet (blasphemy!) and add my own sweetener.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at QuiltStory.

Oh My Gosh!

I made a shirt... like an actual shirt... one that can be (and was) worn in public... and I wasn't laughed at for wearing it and it didn't fall apart!  I call that a (major)  Sewing Success!

This is from a Simplicity pattern (1614) and I made version D.

The navy piping on the front is 1/2 single fold bias tape, not sure I would use it again- boy that is narrow!  It looks good on the tank, but it was a pain to sew on.  Of course, I didn't sew it on the "right" way and instead chose to sandwich the fabric between the bias tape and sew/top stitch all at once, so that could have something to do with it being a pain to sew.  I was trying to catch fabric in the tape but I couldn't see the fabric because it was in the tape- so on the front neckline I did have some spots that didn't get caught and I had to undo it and sew it again.  I did get the entire back caught on the first try though. 

 

I don't really know why they had me do the bias the way they did on the back, it is behind the straps which seems weird.  Then again, I'm not sure how else you would attach the straps to the bottom piece without the stitching showing if you did the straps after the bias tape. 

The shoulder seams are definitely not done the way the pattern said.  I could not for the life of me figure out what they wanted me to do and my front straps were wider than my back neck piece anyway, so I kind of fudged it.  It works, but that part does look ever-so-slightly homemade (and not in a good way), but I think I am the only one who notices. 

I'm pretty excited to have made my first piece of real clothing (as opposed to the poodle skirt I made for a costume party a few months back).  This is something I will actually wear again!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday over at CrazyMomQuilts.

WIP Wednesday

My newest WIP/Challenge-

Yes, that would be a shirt!  Ok, so a tank (I didn't want to mess with sleeves on my first attempt at sewing a garment).  I still need to add the bias binding to the shoulder seams and back, sew the shoulder seams and hem, and then serger my seams.

I did opt for a pattern with a fun little back detail.  I couldn't make this completely easy on myself :)  And turning those little straps took way longer than I care to admit. 

I learned quite a lot about (garment) patterns this week.

#1. The back of the pattern lists all of the sizes.... the front tells you want sizes are actually in the pattern you are buying.  Not to name names, but someone might not have realized that and bought a size 12-18 pattern...and is a pattern size 4. 

#2. Muslins are a really good idea!  I am usually one for avoid extra work and contemplated skipping this step and just diving right in, but since I was working with a limited amount of fabric (and bought a 10 yard bolt of muslin at Joanns for $17) I decided to do a muslin first.  So glad I did!  Apparently I can't measure myself worth a darn and thought I was a size 8... turns out I am a 4.  I thought an 8 seemed awfully big, but you always hear about patterns running small (I am an X Small/0 when I buy tops), so I just figured they run really small.  Apparently not quite that small.

#3. You cannot mix the front of one shirt with the back of another, even if they are in the same pattern package... at least not in this case.  Those four little straps were not what I was planning on, there was another back on another top that was a back V neck with a strap across the top of the V.  But I wanted this front because it was all in one piece and I didn't want to cut up my chevrons.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday (shhh.. don't mention I am a day late on that one :)

Frenzy of Finishes

I didn't realize how much I had accomplished this week until I sat down to write this post.  Suddenly I am feeling very productive! 

My finishes, in no particular order:

#1. QuiltStory's Lucky Stars QAL Quilt Top

 

I was so excited to be sewing the last seam on this yesterday, I ironed the top, stuck it up on my design wall, stepped back ...and realized there were supposed to be borders.  So today I took it down and added the borders. 

 

Do borders take you forever to put on too?  I have realized that I do not like sewing long seams and I will procrastinate like crazy when it comes to doing them.  We are talking 2 full episodes of The West Wing for me to cut, iron, and sew on these four strips of fabric.  Sad I know.

 

 

#2. Lilly Pulitzer Pin Cushion

 

I enjoyed making pineapple pin cushion so much last week that I decided some fun pin cushion sewing was needed after finishing the above quilt top.  This little guy was whipped up in no time (seriously, less time that it took me to add those borders).  The Lilly Pulitzer fabrics are actually a belt/sash that I had.  I just sewed it up like a jellyroll race quilt, folded it in half, sewed up the sides and there we go.  It is filled it with the crushed walnut shells again, since I have quite a large bag of them now. 

#3. Cat Carrier ID Tags

 

And from the world of totally random things I think of to sew, I introduce you to luggage/ID tags for my cats' carriers!  Can you say #crazycatlady?  In all fairness there was a little bit of logic, I had to take my cat to the vet earlier in the week and he stayed for a few hours.  I left his carrier and they put a sticky label on it with his name and my contact information.  It seemed like a good idea to have that info on there, but obviously a much cuter solution was needed :)

 

 

A little bit of coordinating fabric (more thought that I care to admit was given to finding appropriate fabrics for this project), some stabilizer, a tiny piece of Velcro, a piece of paper with the address information and "laminated" with clear shipping tape, and this little ID tag was born.  And yes, I excitedly showed them off to my husband the second he got home.  He was very supportive and said "oooohhhh" and had a big smile on his face, and didn't tease me once about making them.  #heisakeeper





WIP Wednesday

 

Time to bite the bullet and get working on this today.  All the blocks are done, they just need to be sewn into a quilt top- but I had some trouble with those patch blocks and they might not be the exact right size, so I am kind of dreading putting all this together and hoping it goes well.  Lots of chocolate may be needed while working on this :) 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

All Pins Welcome

I decided I wanted to just sew for fun the other day and was scrolling through my Pinterest boards for some inspiration when this little guy jumped out at me- http://pinterest.com/pin/207024914093204928/

For those who don't know, in the South the pineapple is a welcome sign.  You see them all over town-welcome mats, address plaques, mailboxes, lights on homes, door knockers, ... you get the idea.  Charleston even has a fountain in their town park that is shaped like a pineapple. 

Suddenly that humble pin become a MUST MAKE. 

I have never tried Y seams so I made a few adjustments to the leaves.  I really like the way it came out- especially considering it was all free pieced.  Maybe it's the bright colors, or getting to use up some scraps, or the challenge of figuring out how to make it, or maybe the satisfaction of accomplishing this little guy.  Either way, this little pineapple makes me SO HAPPY!

 

I'm not really sure why I chose to make it so small.  The colors don't really work with my house so making it bigger for a pillow or wall  hanging didn't appeal to me (guess I don't want to welcome people into my home, lol).  I knew I couldn't toss it into the pile of random don't-know-what-to-do-with blocks, it was too cute for that!  But a girl can always use another pincushion, right? ;)

 

 

Now, me being me, I couldn't just sew a back on and leave it at that.  Oh no, I needed to punch it up a bit with some ric rac trim around the edges.  I'm SO glad I did, I think it added just the right POP to this little project.  I smile every time I see it! 

 

Oh, and to anyone who has been desperately searching for crushed walnut shells at their local pet store for 2+ years *cough* me *cough* I finally figured out what I was doing wrong.  Turns out that Petco (or at least, my Petco) does not consider it reptile bedding like I had always heard and instead had it over with the bird bedding.  Now I have a nice big bag...and plans for many more pincushions! 

 

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday

and

Fabric Tuesday

Finish It Up Friday

For a while there I thought I wouldn't have a finish today- which actually made me really sad!  Turns out I love linking up to Finish It Up Friday (or maybe I just love getting comments :) 

My Lucky Stars QAL blocks are giving me a hard time right now, I used a generous 1/4" seam for some rows and a scant 1/4" seam for others, so now when I go to join them the seams/corners don't match up.  #perfectionistproblems 

I decided the best approach was to step away for a bit, but I really wanted to sew something!  Enter Cheryl's Just One Slab project.  I dug though my tiny scrap basket and managed to pull out enough pinks for this project.  Seriously, I have a tiny scrap basket, this was the only slab I could make because I don't have enough scraps in other colors for these big 15.5" blocks.  Yikes, I could probably get asked to quit linking up to Amanda Jean's blog by admitting this :)

Anyway, here was the start of my block.  This slab sewing stuff is fun, but it required a little more thought than I expected.  My type A personality had a hard time with the randomness and really wanted to make a log cabin block.

 

 

And... my finished block!

 

 

Now here is a silly question for everyone- how the heck do you send blocks?  Don't they get all wrinkly in the mail?  I'm guessing I could put it between two pieces of cardboard to send, but this is a 15.5" block so I feel like the enveloped and postage to do that could really add up.  Any ideas? 

 

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

Cause and Effect

I finished my first hexie project- a zip pouch to put my hexies in.  Amazing how one thing leads to another :)

 



I have tried zip pouches in the past, but not with very much luck. This one came out cute, but I think there is still room for improvement. I wish the zipper was straight across the top and the corners up there didn't turn in, especially since that happened after I followed a tutorial I found on Pinterest telling me how to avoid it. #pinterestfail

 

On the bottom of the bag I use a contrasting fabric- kind of on purpose and kind of not.  I wasn't thinking about needing extra fabric to box the bottom so I had not cut the right size pieces of the green (and had already sewn on the hexies, so I needed to use that piece).  So I grabbed the gray polka dot fabric and planned on having some of it show on the sides, but after I boxes the bottom it exactly covered the bottom.  Couldn't do that again if I tried, and I think it ended up being even cuter that way.

 

 

 

And in another great cause-and-effect example, I made a matching needlebook to put in the hexie pouch. 

 

So the way it went- hexies -> zip pouch -> needlebook.  Story of my life!  Same thing happens when I do chores or run errands, and people wonder what I do during the day.  One simple task always leads to 7 more!





Baby Gift Part II

I showed you the baby bibs I made last week, but I wanted to add a little more to the gift so I made matching burp cloths.

Just a layer of fabric, an inside layer of terry cloth, and a back layer of chenille.  Why oh why did Joanns stop carrying chenille??  I had one piece left so I was able to make these, but now I'm out.  Any suggestions on what else I could back a burp cloth with?  Or should I suck it up and order some chenille online (in which case, any good online sources I should know about?)?

Delivering these gifts to the soon-to-be mommy and daddy tomorrow night!  I hope they like them!

Baby Bibs and a new (to me) Quilt Shop

Oh Google maps, how I love you.  I was playing on there last night (you know, as one does when they are bored with all their iPhone games) and I searched my area for 'Brother Sewing'.  Low and behold a (new to me) quilt shop popped up about 20 miles away!  The Sewing Garrett.  Their website wasn't much, but it had photos of their Brother accessory wall and what did I spot- the two things I have been looking for!  A walking foot for my machine and a new embroidery hoop for my machine that has three places to connect it to the machine.  So instead of unhooping and rehooping my fabric, I can just hoop a big piece and then scootch the frame down as I need to.  I still have to stitch within my 4x4 size, but at least I can leave the fabric hooped if I have a bigger design that I want to do (I just have to split it into threes).  I may have stunk at explaining that.  I'll try again in another post when I actually use it.

I did use the walking foot this afternoon though.  One of my best friends from high school and his wife are expecting their first child this fall and my husband and I are going out to visit them next week- and Southern girls never show up empty handed.

Behold, the beginnings of their gift!  Homemade bibs for their soon-to-be little one.  The fabric on the right was just too perfect- Pat loves cars, planes, and skydiving (hoping he gives that one up now that he is going to be a daddy!)

 

I had made bibs before when I found out Angie was expecting baby Sam, but of course I found a tutorial on Pinterest that I wasn't smart enough to actually pin.  "I'll just search again the next time I need it"  #famouslastwords  Thankfully I mentioned how I made it on my other, family website.  Just two pieces of fabric with terrycloth sandwiched in between. 

 

 

For these I decided to put denim on the backs, mostly so the two bibs would kind of tie together.

 

On the left here is a finished bib (except for the Velcro closure which still needs to be sewn on) and on the right is the fabric before being sewn.  It always surprises me how much the bibs shrink after sewing, flipping, and top stitching.  Turning those ends right-side-out was not easy!  Thankfully I found a chopstick in my kitchen drawer to help.  I had never tried that trick before, but it was really helpful.  So much so that the chopstick now lives in my sewing room :)



Teacher Tote and Catch Up

Hello all!  I can't believe people are still peeking on this site (though not many, and it might just be Kim :) when I haven't posted in so long.  It wasn't an intended break- I even posted once from my honeymoon and was going to post more- but the iPad did not like Blogspot and it wouldn't scroll so it was making things too hard.  Then I got back and there was all the welcome back chores- presents to unwrap, laundry to do, cats to pick up,... but I did managed to get in some sewing.

With less than 24 hours to spare, I finished up the tote for the Kindergarten teacher I work with.  It turned our really cute, but also really big!  It is a modified version of the Sewing Circle Tote from Oh Fransson!

 

See, big bag!

 (and why are the photos from my real camera not as good as my iPhone pics??)

 

As I had planned, I had each of the kids put their thumbprints on the gray background fabric and then I turned them into the feet for a sheep with the child's name on it.

Inside the bag I used a fabric I made on Spoonflower.  I had each of the kids write their name with a black marker on a white piece of paper and then I took a photo, edited it, and then uploaded it to the site.  I worried when got my order confirmation it would not arrive in time and I emailed them right away to see if they could upgrade my shipping- instead they found my order and had it sent out the next day.  It arrived two days later.  Awesome customer service! 

The print did end up getting pretty chopped up, but I think I have each child's name somewhere in their- though some are hidden in the pockets.  The pockets were supposed to be the same print, but it is possible I ordered the fabric before I ordered the pattern...and therefore ordered 1/2 yard less than I needed.  Here's hoping that the kids don't get too upset about that tomorrow.  And here is hoping the teacher likes it :)

 

 

 

Easter Basket Refashion

What do you do when you are having a Spring wedding and the florist wants to charge you $25 each for baskets for your flower girls?  Hit the Easter clearance sale at Joanns of course!  Some fabric, some ribbon, and an hour with my machine and I had two cute baskets for $15 total.

 

 

I took the lining out of one of the baskets to make a pattern. 

 

 

And grabbed my new favorite sewing notion- my Clover Wonder Clips- to assist me in holding the sides and bottom together.  Thank you to those that talked me into them :)  They were much easier to use than pins.  Also, why can I sew a circle like this with no problem, but Applecore and Drunkard's Path blocks intimidate me?  Isn't it essentially the same skill?  Sewing a curve?  ...

I used ribbon as an accent on the liners (just for fun, not because I forgot to make a casing or anything....)  I'm so happy with how these little baskets turned out.  Much cheaper than the ones from the florist and I got to play in my sewing room- win win!  A before pic of the basket can be found on the previous post here, if anyone is curious.

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

 

One down (right), One to go (left)

Teacher Tote

As a kid I have fond memories of working on a class gift for my teacher.  The roommom would come in and we would get pulled one by one out into the hallway to work on something special to give our teacher for Christmas or at the end of the year.  So I was shocked this past Christmas to find out that the school I volunteer at does not have roommoms (I help out in one of the kindergarten classrooms, and no I do not have kids yet, my neighbor got me involved at the school and I am loving helping out with the little kids).  I don't know if this is a sign of the times or just a sign of the area we live in, but I decided right then and there that I would help the kids make an end of the year gift for their teacher.

The teacher's favorite animals are sheep and goats, and since I can't draw a goat I decided to do something with sheep :)  I sketched out this little guy and used it to make a template.

Helpful hint- if you don't have any card stock lying around, a file folder works too :)

I used white fleece for the sheep's fur and black cotton for the face.  As you might have noticed, I did not make feet for the sheep.  I wanted the kids to be able to personalize their sheep a little so I bought some fabric paint and decided to let the kids make their fingerprints into the sheeps' feet.

Here is the example I made.  I used my pointer finger to make the feet, I figured that was closer in size to a kindergartners thumb :)  I had bought a fabric marker and was going to have the kids write their name on their sheep, but when I tried the marker mixed with the fleece just didn't work out and there was no way the kids could have written anything even halfway legible on such a small piece of fabric (I couldn't even do it).  Embroidery machine to the rescue!  I kind of like it better since it will look more uniform, but I would have liked the kids to be able to write their name- its so cute at that age with backward letters and such.  Instead I think I am going to have them write their names on a piece of white paper for me with a black marker and I am going to see if I can create some fabric on Spoonflower with their names- I think it would be a cute lining to the bag.  Oh, yes!  This is going to turn into a tote bag, I probably should have mentioned that.

(please excuse the icky cutting mat, basting spray+a cheap Walmart cutting mat + 4 years= ickiness)

See, there is my little sketch.  I love it!  I really (really, really!) hope it turns out as well in reality as it does in my head!  Very possible I will be more excited to give this to the teacher than the kids are.  I will make an excellent roommom one day (or certainly an enthusiastic one :) 

Simply Scraps

Another reason I love the Lil Twister tool- in addition to those easy to make pinwheels I get these awesome little square scraps too!  Though it does require me to be super careful when cutting the pinwheels so these squares make it through without any extra snips (not an easy task since I only have one rotary cutter, and it is not a small one).  

 

 

These fabrics were just too fun to toss straight into the scrap bin, so with a little piecing...

 

the addition of a border...

and a little quilting...

 

I soon had a bright, cheerful little pillow top!  As much as I love this fabric, I will admit I had an ulterior motive for whipping this up last night- my serger was due to arrive today and I knew I would need a project so I could play with it right away :)  I used the serger (more on it in a later post) to finish off the seams for the pillow.  I like the look of a nicely stuffed pillow, but it often means I pop seams trying to get my pillow forms in and out of my covers, I'm hoping that the serged seams can hold up against my abuse.

 

I love this happy, summery pillow and smile every time I see it on the couch.  Our Florida winter wasn't too bad this year and we are expected to be back in the 80s this weekend- but even so this Florida Belle is ready for summer!  Perhaps if I decorate for the season it will bring on that warm weather a little faster? 

 

Going to try and link up to Finish It Up Friday over at CrazyMomQuilts (never linked to another blog before, anyone's guess if I can make this work).