sweatshop mode

No interesting sewing has been going on around here these last couple of weeks. I've been sweatshopping up a storm, though. My MIL asked for a few more reusable grocery bags (see my tutorial here), so I whipped up a couple using a vintage sheet. I love this print, but that dark gray doesn't really go with most other sheet prints, so it was perfect to use for a bigger project.

Unfortunately, after I was done, I loved them so much that I didn't want to give them away! I had a duvet cover that I'd bought specifically to make bags (my favorite way to go, because the front and back fabrics coordinate), so I cut that one up and made 6 more. I'll probably give 3 to my MIL, and keep the other 3 for a future gift.

And why not go crazy? I had this other sheet that I loved, but it wasn't really vintage enough for other projects, so I backed it with a solid peach sheet and made 6 more bags!

While I was making these, I walked my friend Quynh through the process, and she made a few bags of her own. Then she put her own creative twist on it, and turned a bunch of vintage sheet charm squares (that I'd given her for xmas!) into patchwork bags. They are so awesome!! She let me pick my favorite one to keep, and I chose this beautiful blue one. How sweet is that? I think it might be my favorite bag ever!

And my latest sweatshop project - going through the sheet stash, and cutting out yardage to send to my best addict/customer, Amanda. We have such a great thing going - I get to keep collecting prints, but my bins no longer overflow quite so much, and Amanda gets a steady supply of raw materials for her shop. Perfect!

I'm so crafty, I make...

Hair! Ha! I've been growing my hair out for a Locks of Love donation, and last week was the big day. So, in memory of Julie, and my aunt Georgeanna, and in honor of my friend Kelli and everybody else fighting cancer... I went from this:

to this! Big thanks to Hannah at Gretchen Scott Salon in Woodinville, WA, for a fantastic (and free!) haircut. I really love having shorter hair again.

Funny thing is, I hated (hated!) my red hair when I was growing up. If I had been given a chance to get a wig back then, I wonder if I would have said "hey, make mine blonde, please!". Oh well, I hope my donation helps make a kid happy, whether they already have red hair or just want to try it out for fun. :-)

back from vacation

We've been back from Texas for a few days now, but I'm still not back to normal. I felt like I was fighting some sort of flu the whole time we were there, and now I'm left feeling exhausted and spacey all the time. I hope it clears up soon - the quilt retreat is next weekend, and I've still got lots of prep to do!!

Here's a sure sign I've been on vacation...



A new stack of craft magazines! It's one of the few times I let myself splurge on magazines - who needs them when you have the internet, right? But on vacation... if I can't *be* crafting or reading blogs, at least I can be looking at crafty p*rn!

I'm happy to report that my stepmom loved her new patriotic table topper! I lucked out, and it was the perfect size for her dining room table. And sorry I'm way late, but the winner of the mini quilt kit is Elaine from Soggy Bottom Flats. Yay!

In more somber news, my friend Julie (who I made my first pink quilt for) passed away last weekend. I'm so sad she's gone from the world, and for all that she and her husband had to go through, especially in those last months. I'm grateful that I was able to give a little comfort with that quilt - Brian said Julie used it all the time. I stole this picture from her blog....

back from vacation

Ack - almost a month since my last post. I really did not mean to disappear like that! We went on vacation, and when we got back I just could not get my act together! I feel like I'm finally (sort of) back on track. Just in time to go on another vacation in a couple of weeks. Yipe.

Anyway, let me start back with a huge shout out to Amanda, who made some wonderful new dresses for Vada. I tried to get a good picture of the beautiful rainbow dress, but Vada was not cooperating that day. But do go check out the pictures on Amanda's blog - it really is fantastic! I thought the rainbow twirler would be Vada's favorite, but no - she fell in love with this sweet apron dress instead. Must be all that pink!



I love the little apron detail!



And it definitely meets the "twirly" requirement!



Thanks, Amanda!! Your sewing ROCKS!

I'll be back soon with some crafty stuff of my own. I've been sewing like crazy, and I've got lots to report....

a finish is a finish

I am WAY behind in my blogging (reading and writing), so I'll be playing catch up for a little while...

Let me start with this little Project Linus quilt I finished last week. And when I say finished, that's all I did! My friend Ahava was moving, and gave me a TON of scraps and miscellaneous sewing stuffs (how awesome, right?). Among the bits and pieces was this whole-cloth quilt UFO. It was already quilted, and just needed to be trimmed up and bound.



I was really excited that I finally got to use this fun fabric for the binding. It's some that I got from the cat lady estate sale, and I always thought it would make an awesome binding, but I've never had a quilt that was right for it. But this one was PERFECT - the colors were almost an exact match. Serendipity!



So here it is, all washed and ready to go. The back is flannel - so snuggly!

I love being able to turn someone else's UFO into a donation quilt. It's like a double bonus - a project is rescued, and a kid in need gets a quilt! If you have an old UFO in your closet that you know you'll likely never finish, why not donate it to your charity of choice? It will be one less thing on your "to do" list!

pink quilt #1 finished

I've finished the quilt for my friend and coworker, Julie, who is battling breast cancer. I will be giving it to her this Saturday, when I join our company's team for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. If anyone reading this feels inclined, you can donate here. (I hope that link works - let me know if not!). No pressure - just thought I'd throw it out there!

I hope she likes the quilt - I know I sure do! It's all vintage linens, including the gingham (a Pottery Barn sheet) and the backing, and it's so amazingly soft and cozy. And I even hand-sewed the binding - ha! Check out the scrappy binding and those perfect corners!

It's made with 6" squares - two each of 35 different prints. The final dimensions are about 55" x 77".

The quilting is pretty simple, just straight "edge stitching" along the seams, and then diagonals one way through the prints and the other way through the gingham.

Of course I had to sneak in a picture with miss cutie pie!

I still haven't figured out the label, but I'm leaning towards a John Muir quote that I saw recently on Bloom:

"Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

I just love it, and I like that there's nothing too overtly "get well! chin up!" about it. Just a feeling of serenity, I hope. I hope...

I've already started on another one of these, for my high school friend Kelli, who is fighting too. Cancer sucks.

purge party

First, a confession - I totally wimped out on the Fabric Stash Purge Party. I went as far as going through my stash of "old" fabrics (the non-quilting ones), and I culled out a whole bin of fabric to sell. But then I just ran out of time and energy, and could not see myself driving into Seattle three days in a row (Friday to drop off the stuff, Saturday to shop, Sunday to pick up anything that didn't sell). So, I'll just save the bin until October, and try again!

But I did go on Saturday, and dragged along my friend Ahava. Last time I only snapped a couple pics on my way out the door, but this time I asked and they were okay with pictures, so here's a full report...

First, there was one long row of all quilting cottons, everything from baggies of scraps to FQs to yards and more. The prices varied from about $1/yard to $4/yard. I didn't see much designer stuff, or any highly collectible fabrics, but I'm also not really an expert on that!



The other rows of fabrics were more cottons and vintage, then fashion fabrics (knits, woolens, synthetics, etc.). There were sections for holiday fabrics, fleece, flannel, home dec, batting, and bolts. At the very back were several sewing machines and sergers.





In the back, there were tables full of yarns, trims, beads, scrapbooking supplies...



and books, patterns, threads, and every other crafting product under the sun!



We were there at about 10:30, I think (they opened at 10), and it was not as busy as I thought it would be on the first day. I'd say the quilting cotton row was most popular, but it was not too crowded to shop, and everyone was well-behaved. ;-)

Here's my tiny bit of loot - $5 for 3 yards of pretty novelty prints. It was supposed to be 4 yards, as that top print was marked as 2 yards but was really only 1 (grrr....).

Oh, and I'm splitting this lovely piece of Kaffe Fassett with Ahava (6 yards for $18!). She posed with it to make it seem like that's the only purchase she made, but there were a few more items stacked at her feet! ;-)

what I've been working on...

I am so behind in blogging (along with so many other things, unfortunately!). I have 5 posts in draft form, and what feels like a gazillion projects in process! Here's just a sampling of what I've been working this past week or so...

First of all, I'm happy to report that my stash sale was a huge success! I went from this...



down to this!



I sold about 22 sets (mostly singles, but a couple doubles, and one triple!), which is about 450 FQs, or at least 120 yards of fabric. I'm happy, and my husband is *really* happy!! Thank you so much to everyone who bought a set! And special thanks to Michelle at craftydill and Angie at Dear Spring Green, who took some pretty pictures of their loot and blogged about it - I love that!! I'm excited that this worked out, and actually look forward to rebuilding my stash and doing it all over again! :-)

A side effect of all that stash management was getting my stacks of 6" squares all organized too. I cut squares for all the new prints I'd recently acquired, and sorted them by color (greens, blues/purples, yellows, orange/browns, pinks, and multicolors). Pretty!



I had a private swap of squares to put together (more on that in a later post), and wanted to make sure I had one of each. Can you guess how many are in the stack??



I think it was somewhere around 220! Holy cow!

And speaking of 6" squares... I have also been spending some time working through my novelty stash with my friend Quynh. She wants to make an I-Spy quilt for her sister's kids, so she's trading me her slave labor (ironing and cutting) for a set of squares. It's making me really want to get back on some more Project Linus quilts, but I simply must finish up some of my current projects before I can start anything new. But when I'm ready, it will be so nice to go straight to my now ginormous stash of novelty squares! It's hard to tell from the photo, but this stack is like 8" high!



Finally, I'm making progress on this quilt that I started back in January. Sadly, I recently found out that another friend of mine has had her breast cancer return (again. ug.). I'll be seeing this friend in a couple weeks, so I'm going to try to finish this one up for her, and make a second version for the other friend I originally intended this one for.

The more I work on it, the more I love it. It's so buttery soft and cozy. I hope it brings my friend some comfort and pleasure. And while I'm thinking about it - does anyone have any suggestions for what to write on the label? I can always just wimp out and stick to the facts, but does anyone have any suggestions for a quote or saying? Something kind or comforting or hopeful, or about friendship?

better late than never thanks!

I've got some catching up to do! Very late but very sincere thanks to sweet Marguerite of Adventures in Quilting and Sailing, who sent me this lovely little xmas package. It had some chocolate in it too, but between me and the kid, it didn't last long enough to take the picture!! I adore the dutch fabric, and can't wait to make something from it. I'm thinking something for my daughter.... And isn't that heart ornament wonderful?

Thanks again, Marguerite! And I hope you're feeling much better soon (poor girl is recovering from appendicitis surgery - ouch!).

Next up, I wanted to show off all the ornaments I got in the FreshlyBlended annual ornament swap on Swap-bot. I really love them all! It's hard to pick a favorite, but maybe it's the little felted seal at the bottom. And sadly, I think mine were pretty crummy in comparison. Next year I'll do better, I promise!