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.

Elephant Quilts Finished

Late Thursday night I finished these quilts for a colleague at work who is having twins.

 

 

 

I'm very happy with how they turned out! I put a rush on to finish them in time to give them to another friend who is attending the shower, which is today.

 

I solved my border problems too. I quilted around the panel and quilted straight lines, using my walking foot and a washable marker to make the lines. In the corners of the quilt I got a checkerboard effect - this idea came to me right before I fell asleep on Wednesday night.

 

The binding is 100% put on by machine, which I've never done before. I found a tutorial online and away I went. Considering it was getting pretty near to my bedtime and I was pretty tired, the binding went really well. I'd definitely do it again like that.

 

I'm happy to have these finished - working on my Dear Jane often makes me feel like I don't finish  much but these make me feel like I've actually finished something.

 

My next project is pillow covers for a friend. The fabric is in the washer as we speak.

 



Twins Quilts Update

I am crazy busy at work these days and so my sewing time is limited and precious. I'm also on a self-inflicted deadline for these quilts - the baby shower is on Saturday and I'm a long way from finished.

I outlined all the full elephants - sorry, no pictures cause they don't show up - and that went okay. Now I'm stuck on the borders. I looked through my books and sketched out some possibilities but didn't love any of them.

I decided on interlocking circles, marked the quilt, and sewed away.

And, I'm not happy with my results: my circles are wobbly and uneven and look really sloppy and I don't like it. So, I ripped it all out. I think I'm going to do a rambling, purposefully uneven, bubble design. I want something quick and where I don't have to do too much marking.

Any other border suggestions? The border are 5" wide in total, but I only want about a 4" wide design.

My self-inflicted deadline likely won't be met at this point (since I'm not invited to the shower so have to be finished by work time Friday morning) so I may give up for this week. I'll have to see how tomorrow goes.

Expecting Twins...

...and thank goodness it's not me. The only thing I'm expecting is for June to finish and July and August to start!

A woman I work with is expecting twins and she doesn't know the gender. I picked up this little cutie on a recent outing. There are 2 of them but only one fits on the design board.

It's dark outside, so the picture looks a little faded. The elephants are grey and the border a light grey polka dot. Both tops will be the same but I got slightly different backings - both grey flannel but different shades and dots.

I'll post more closeups once I get started quilting - maybe tomorrow night!

I'm linking up to PatchworkTimes to see what everyone else is up to.

Cutie Crib Shoes and Dear Jane Update

Today was Dear Jane class for this month. I finished a total of 4 blocks - twice as many as I did last month, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

The class took a vote over email this past week and the results were released today. We are extending the class to June of 2014. That sounds really, really far away - but, it comes with a bonus! The number of blocks we have to complete per month is dropped considerably. Fantastic! Over the summer I'll catch up on what I'm behind in and will be able to sew other things too, since I'll only have to finish 5 blocks per month, rather than 10. I have to sew the first 4 rows together over the summer and need to do 12 blocks to get that done. Then I should only be behind by about 30 blocks.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Today I finished off some crib shoes for a colleague. The baby (a boy) was born in mid-April. This colleague and I share the same first name, so we've always had a bit of a connection.

They look kinda orange in this light, but really they are red, with mustard coloured monkeys on them. The inside is the same colour as the monkeys. They are cute as can be and man, babies have small feet! They are sized 3-6 months, so they should fit the little fella just fine. The pattern is by Sweat Pea Patterns  who had a sale on awhile ago and I bought a bunch of different varieties of crib shoes.

My  next projects are all practical ones: throw cushions and an ottoman cover for a friend and new drapes for me. I need to get my machine serviced soon too, so will have to plan that date out carefully - usually I do it when it coincides with a bunch of marking, when I don't have time to sew anyway.

Design Wall Monday

Today was a beautiful day! Especially since it's Victoria Day and I didn't have to go to work. I got some more gardening done and did some sewing.

G9

This block was kinda tricky, even though it doesn't look that bad. I'm going to lose my points on my HSTs when I sew it into the quilt - not sure how that happened.

This is what my design wall looks like:

May 20

And I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

I'm also working on some very cute crib shoes, using a pattern I bought on Etsy. I've hit a snag with a confusing measurement so I emailed the pattern creator and am waiting to hear back. More on those another day.