WIP Wednesday: Fussy Cut Hexagons

If you had asked me a year ago about sewing together hexagons by hand, I would have laughed... or used some colorful language. Probably both.

Except little hexagons are actually adorable. And fussy cut hexagons are even more adorable. And what a perfectly non-boring way to use scraps... and cutting them up is easy with, say, a Sizzix die-cutter. I mean they practically make themselves, right? Right?

It really is the perfect project for sewing on the go. Two weekends hosting old friends and then a wonderful weekend at a "summer camp themed wedding" took me away from my sewing machine, but my trusty little English paper piecing kit was able to come right along with me. Stitching during a long car ride? Yes. Paper piecing by the lake? Double yes.

In all honesty I started this project months ago, but I've never blogged about it. My plan is to make a coordinating pillow for my Good Fortune Quilt and Rainbow Window Pillow. It sure is slow going, but I am making progress. The only problem? It looks great, until I zoom out and see how much more I have left to do!

Ah well.  Slow and steady, right?

Linking up with WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced ... because this one is sure to be in progress for quite some time!

Toddler Survival Kits AKA Quilt-As-You-Go Pouches

When I made these quilt-as-you-go panels I wasn't sure what I would turn them in to.  Now that they are finished I've decided to make them into little "Toddler Survival Kits" for Baby Bee's teachers. I'll be stuffing them with  sunscreen, hand sanitizer, tissues, and of course, chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

I had a lot of fun making these, especially fussy cutting the little critters to peek out here and there. And as much as I was dreading the zippers, they really weren't so bad. I especially love the "zip ends" technique I found here from Sew Sweetness. The little zip ends keep things neat and tidy and give the bags a more professional look. See how cute they are?

A few notes on the specs, mostly for my own memory. These little guys started as square 8.5 inch panels, and I finished them by adding box corners to the bottom around the 1 3/4 inch mark. Why those measurements? Because they were handy on my rulers. Heh. 

I have to admit that I'm particularly in love with the red and aqua one. Like, so much so that I'm planning a larger quilted tote in the same color scheme... which conveniently doubled as an excuse to add more Aneela Hoey to my stash. I call that a win-win :)

Cannot Escape the Plush

I've been on a fabric diet, and I can't seem to stop making softies. Not that I'm complaining, but I swear this sudden deluge of fluff was unplanned. I promise to get back to quilting soon. I have my first all-solids quilt planned and can't wait to start!

But, back to this little foal (donkey? mule?)... My original inspiration came following the news of Moore's devastating tornadoes. I had really hoped to find him a home there, with a little boy or girl who might appreciate the comfort. Try as I might though, I couldn't find anyone who was able to find him a home -- which is completely understandable. Handmade toys are a bit of a niche thing. As it turns out, hospitals generally won't take stuffed animals either because of the infestation risk. Ah well, lesson learned.

At any rate, on the face of it, this seemed like a pretty easy project. The pattern came from Jill Hamor's book Storybook Toys Sew 16 Projects from Once Upon a Time Dolls, Puppets, Softies and More . (As an aside, if you haven't checked out her blog,  you should. The eye candy is amazing). The horse is my favorite project in the book. I just love his vintage look. In fact, I loved this horse so much that I decided to make a very similar horse in royal purple (Jill's was navy blue).

Well, as it turns out, I'm still a bit of a novice at toy-making.  I really struggled with this pattern, and there are quite a few imperfections in this guy. For example, you need to hand stitch the head gusset around the muzzle first (as seen in the top right picture in the mosaic) because that curve is a little too intense for a sewing machine to handle on its own. Not to mention the fact that I was also fighting the mane and ears that were tucked inside.  

Well, I'm too impatient for that kind of artistry. His crooked head just goes to prove that, ha! Luckily for me, his crookedness translated into "aw, the horse is tilting his head." Phew :)

I also decided (a little too boldly!) to modify the pattern and give him three dimensional feet (it calls for the legs to come together as a two-dimensional seam). I used some of the techniques outlined in Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction to draft his foot pads. You can see my template in the bottom right photo above (it's the light blue circle). Man, those little hooves were fiddly! The footpads were small and required sewing through 5-7 layers of wool in places. Not easy, but I'm glad I made my way through it... though only somewhat successfully. One of his hooves came out tiny and stunted, see it up there? He's been affectionately dubbed Nemo ever since. 

Nemo's legs are stuffed with cotton batting scraps to give him enough structure to stand on his own. The rest of him is stuffed with squishy wool. I'm happy to report that the firm stuffing job went a long way in correcting his stunted hoof. His mane is wool yarn, and his hooves are 100% wool felt. Nemo's saddle was made from Kate Spain's Good Fortune collection for Moda. His saddle includes a metal snap (new trick for me!), so it can come on and off as needed. 

As for his fate? My mom insisted on taking Nemo herself, so he's going to make a not-so-surprise-birthday-present for her tomorrow. I know he'll be loved there, and I'm pretty sure that she will take good care of him :)

And now I'm going to swear off curved seams and 3D construction for awhile. For real this time!

Boston You're My Home

 

I've spent a lot of time reflecting, but I still don't have the right words to talk about what happened in Boston this April. Marathon Monday has always been a joyous holiday in Boston, and now some part of that has been changed forever. More humbling still is the fact that any other year, or even just a different time of day, and it could have been me or any number of my friends and family standing at the finish line.

My heart breaks for the lives lost and it aches for those whose lives have been changed forever. But for me it's important that I fill the heartache with goodness and love -- and refuse to reward evil with fear and hatred.  In these situations it is especially healing to make and give, and that's what I spent the majority of the day doing. It was cathartic and ever so therapeutic. Appropriately, this is the first block that I designed entirely myself -- this one is straight from the heart.

I am so thankful to the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild and Amy Friend for organizing this lovely tribute. I cannot wait to see the flags hanging proudly at the MFA.

Humbled

This blog started as an outlet for my stitchy-side -- a quiet little place to store my thoughts and progress.  It was also an attempt to spare my friends and family from my inane quilting chatter. But I never really thought that *people* would read it!

And then a crazy thing happened. I came home from work, got dinner started, and decided to check my email... and there was an email from Kate Spain! She had seen a picture of my Good Fortune Quilt on Flickr and asked if she could use it in her upcoming newsletter. I am such a huge fan of hers and was completely star-struck.  I managed to pull myself together enough to (of course!) say yes, and the newsletter went out today (if you're not signed up, you should be!). Words cannot even describe how honored I am! Hearing from her and picking up some new readers was (and is!) an enormous encouragement. Thank you!!

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do a little sewing while I float around on cloud nine. :)

Throw Pillow Completion!

Realization of the day: I am an adult who spends a lot of her free time playing with rainbows. Not sure what that says about me, but I sure am happy about this throw pillow!

Other than a fat quarter for the backing and a few dollars worth of cording for the trim I had almost all the materials on hand. I pieced the top using only scraps, some of them impossibly small castoffs from squaring up my Good Fortune Quilt. The patchwork is a combination of 3 inch squares and 1.25 inch strips, for a final 20x20 pillow. I had a lot of fun auditioning scraps to achieve a gradual color change from purple to green. And to make the little windows of color pop I decided to keep the quilting very simple -- just a little straight line quilting around each "window pane".

This was my first pillow, and my first time using piping. I can see how these could become dangerously addictive, especially since I still have two unused pillow forms hanging around! 

First Big Finish!

Admittedly it took a little longer than I hoped, but my Good Fortune Quilt is officially complete! This is my first large-sized quilt, measuring 63 x 72 or a generous throw size. I finished it late last night, and pulled it out of the dryer early this morning. My mini-me hasn't stopped cuddling it; I think she's almost as happy as I am! And a huge thank you  Fresh Lemon Quilts for the great pattern!

I'm going to put together a coordinating throw pillow or two to match (I still have an embarrassing amount of scraps from this project!), and then I'll begin plotting my next big quilt. I splurged on a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Salt Water which should arrive in a few days. If I can overcome my fabric hoarding instincts I'll be cutting into it very soon.

Lessons Learned

I hit a snafu with the binding...I realized *way* too late that I hadn't squared up the quilt very well and there were a few places where the binding "missed" the quilt top. It took me four days to rip out some 6,000 stitches (!!), but now that it's done I'm glad that I took the time to re-do it. Also, instead of doing the back by hand I followed Red Pepper Quilt's machine binding tutorial. It's a little tricky, but I finally got the technique down in the end. The result is super sturdy -- with two cats, a dog and a toddler this quilt will be no stranger to the washing machine :)

Machine Binding - Red Pepper Quilt's Style

WIP: Good Fortune Quilt

I started working on my first large quilt shortly after I gave into enormous temptation treated myself to a new sewing machine. Previous to that magical day, I had been using a Singer from college. While it was a fine little starter machine, it was pathetically unfit for accurate piecing and free motion quilting. The day my Janome came home, not only did the quality of my sewing improve, but so did the speed! I had no idea what I was missing!

Scrappy zigzag backing in progress

I've been steadily working on this quilt through a series of other projects, but it's really beginning to come together! I started with a layer cake of Kate Spain's "Good Fortune" and coordinating solids, and then added additional prints from my stash. I followed the pattern for the Lemon Squares from Fresh Lemons Quilts, and choose to highlight the purple, green, and aqua colorways in Good Fortune. If I did it again, I think I would use more of the aqua. Oh well, live and learn.

For the backing I decided to do a scrappy zigzag. It took FOREVER to piece it out of 2.5 inch squares, but I really love the outcome. I think I actually love the back more than the front!

I choose a largish stippling for the quilting. I'm still not perfect at it, but my free motion skills are definitely improving... I just need to find a way to stop obsessing over every little mistake I make!

I hope to finish quilting it tonight, and maybe bind it over the weekend. I haven't been able to commit to a fabric for the binding. I'm torn between a turquoise argyle, a dark purple floral from Good Fortune, and a multi-colored fabric that's heavy on the orange. Maybe it will speak to me once it's finished being quilted!