A Little More Progress

It's really hot here - so hot that I don't feel like doing anything, including sewing (sad).

I worked a little more on the quilt for my niece and here's the bit I did today:

butterfly and flowers that are added to...

this one for a complete block

and some tulips cause that's what K asked for

It's still cool in my sewing room so I'd keep going except I have to get the oil changed in my car before it runs dry.

Design Wall Monday

Here's my progress to date on my niece's quilt:

I'm linking up to Patchworktimes - check out what everyone else is making.

Animal Update

I've had a very productive day! (and I'm tired to prove it).  I did my painting on the main floor - photos to follow when the new drapes are finished.

Then I worked on my niece's quilt. Here's what I got finished:

Use your imagination to fill in the arms, legs, paws, etc. for the animals. I won't sew that until all the applique squares are prepared, then I do as much of one colour as I can. I would have done more but I ran out of Lite Steam-a-seam 2 - I'll pick some up tomorrow.

My whole design wall looks like this:

Progress on the plans

Last week I made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish on summer vacation. Here's my progress to date...

Right now my main floor family room looks like this

because I've prepping to paint the back wall. Right now it's a lovely shade of peach, soon to be replaced by "vintage linen" to match the other walls. And new drapes will be sewn by me to grace the space.

To keep the family room company, I did this to the sewing room floor tonight

I'm working on the quilt for my niece. So far, here's my progress

There will be 15 blocks with pictures in them. They'll look better once I've stitched around and added details - the top left is an elephant with a zebra below - and a hippo below that. My friend C will be supplying the dark grey fabric for the hippo (I had to google "what colour is a hippo" to be sure they are dark grey). The hearts actually look like hearts right now. I've been thinking about ways to add details to the pictures with thread cause I'm dying to try thread painting but I'm a little intimidated by it.

I've Made Some Plans...

I am notorious in my family for leaving things to the last minute and under-estimating the amount of time it will take me to make something. I have learned to live with it and plan accordingly.

Not to disappoint myself (nor not live up to my reputation) I have way more things I'd like to accomplish this summer vacation than I have summer vacation time - by about 2 months likely. Nevertheless, I've persevered, planned, and made lists of all the things I want to accomplish. We'll see how far I get and I'll keep you updated on my progress (or lack there of - but I will be optimistic).

One of the projects I want to make is a quilt for my littlest niece - K. She is 3 1/2 and awesome. When her older sister turned 2 I decided to make her a quilt - I finished by the time she was 3 1/2 I think.

I've planned out K's and it looks like this:

The picture is pretty dark but you get the idea. Each block is 12" finished with a 2" and 6" outer border. The colours are light and dark purple, green, and a pink mix fun floral.

This is the quilt I made my oldest niece - the idea is more clear here.

I've gathered most of the pictures I need. Now I just need to get started. Wish me luck!

First day of summer vacation

I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted and therefore sewed! School has been finishing up and it's been absolutely crazy.

Yesterday work finished and I took the free evening to finish sewing a project I've been working on this month.

Today I delivered an ottoman cover to my very dear friend - it matches the 2 pillows I sewed earlier this month. He said it's great so I'm happy.

To make it I took apart the original cover and used it as a pattern. I hit very few snags and it didn't take long to sew up at all.

Stress Sewing

Usually sewing releases my stress and helps me relax. Today was no exception. Things are incredibly stressful at work right now and so tonight I decided to work on a cushion I'm making for a friend. It turned out okay - I think the cover is a bit big for the filler cushion but will see what my friend thinks - he's a guy and may or may not care about that.

The filler is feather so I wasn't sure how it would fill the cover. I phoned the store where I bought it and they said to make it the same size as the actual inside form. I made it 1" shorter all around with the seam allowance, and am glad I did. In hindsight, I would cut the outside even smaller so that the inside fills the entire cover, especially into the corners.

This fabric also unravels like crazy so that was a bit tricky. After I sewed I serged most of the edges - will serge around the other one before I sew it together.

I also made the piping and this pillow also has a zipper. I found a decent tutorial online and it went along okay. The fabric is really bulky so the zipper is a little uneven in places, but I don't think my friend will notice, especially if I don't tell him.