Father's Day

As soon as I saw this design, I knew I had to make it for my dad, who lovingly introduced me to John Lennon (and the Beatles) early in my life. I stitched it on some beautiful lightweight denim and made a pillow as a Father's Day gift for his new music studio, which is a really impressive space! Peace.

"Imagine all the people sharing all the world..."

NB: This is Secret Gift Thing #2 (#3 on my list of goals for the Q2 Finish-along).

Color book

I just found some photos on my boy's computer, accidentally downloaded there from my camera card. These are from a little color book I made for a sweet little girl's birthday. The pattern was in the 101 Patchwork Projects magazine that I've gotten a whole lot of mileage from. For such a simple concept though, this project made a grand mess, since I needed to get out every. single. color. bin of fabric in my closet.

I started with a strip of gray gridlines from my Best. Day. Ever! jelly roll to cross stitch a simple title. I didn't want to use a lot of words, though, so this was the only one.

Colors birthday book

I didn't have any trouble with the first few pages:

Colors birthday book: PINK

Orange is particularly a snap for me:

Colors birthday book: RED and ORANGE

This is my favorite 2-page spread, so citrusy and cheerful:

Colors birthday book: YELLOW and GREEN 

I had to really dig for these ones. I have a lot of blue fabrics, because I never use them, and they just don't all seem to go together. (I think it's time for a major purge of this bin.) Tardis courtesy of my husband's shirt scraps (a Spoonflower splurge); swan courtesy of my mom's birthday purse scraps.

Colors birthday book: AQUA and BLUE 

The purples are fun; I tend to use these up as soon as I find them, but I have lots of little treasured scraps around. I especially love the chair!

Colors birthday book: PURPLE

Matroyshka dolls and two purses

Teaching is back in session, so in my bits of time I've been piecing large backs for the shamefully expansive collection of unfinished tops in the upstairs closet, and working my way through lots of tiny little bits and bobs that have been rearing their heads from the depths of my crafting chambers. I've also started setting up a storefront, using the BigCartel website instead of Etsy. We'll see how that goes. Presumably people can use their credit cards right at the secure site, instead of just PayPal. I have one item listed for now, but I'll get some more photos taken eventually for additional items. (So keep me in mind if you need a handcrafted hygge-inducing gift for somebody in your life!!)

I realized that I never shared the photos of my other Christmas gifts. Maybe the cutest little thing I've ever made, I sent a set of nesting Matroyshka dolls to my sweet baby cousin. (Pattern by Dolls and Daydreams.) These little pysanky-like prints have been hanging around for awhile, and they were  perfect for the Russian dolls. Word on the street is that Little Miss Cousin is enjoying them quite a bit -- her mom sent me the sweetest pictures of her putting them to bed. Hugs and kisses to her!!!

Nesting Matroyshka family

Matroyshka family

Mama Matroyshka

Big Sister Matroyshka

Baby Matroyshka

My mom asked if I could make her a few small purses, one for the non-Christmas part of winter, and one for fall. I knew there was a reason I acquired this pretty winter village fat quarter!! I made my trusty Tube Pocket Purse (pattern by Wonder Woman Quilts), with a beaded snowflake for the flap.

Mom's "winter" purse (front)

Mom's "winter" purse (back)

I took a little risk and picked some funky modern fabrics for the autumn purse, but Mom said she loves them so Risk=Reward and all is well! This pattern is the Barbados bag (by Pink Sand Beach Designs) and it went together really well. Bonus: I learned a new technique for top zippers!

Mom's "autumn" purse (front)

Mom's "autumn" purse (back)

Next time, I'll post photos of the final page I made for my art group's color challenge, and then photos of the pages that I received for my own orange hexagon book.

Gifts!

Some bits of holiday sewing from this year:

Back in June, I found some really great ocean fabrics at the shop on Sanibel Island. I sewed a few gifts for my husband's aunt and uncle, who so graciously hosted our family at their beautiful home there. For his aunt, I used a pretty seashell print to make a tree skirt:

Beachy tree skirt!

I added some watery and sandy coordinates and meander quilted all over it. Pattern is Over Under by Swirly Girls Design.

And for his uncle, my tried-and-true shirt pattern!

Nautical shirt!

 I was particularly pleased with the alignment of the pocket:

Merry Christmas, Mary and Jim!!

Happy Retirement!

Last month my father finally retired, so the family got together for a (mostly) surprise party last weekend. I'm so glad that he now has the time to putter around doing whatever he wants with his time. In honor of his retirement, my mom asked me to make him a Pittsburgh Pirates t-shirt quilt, so I did a little figurin' and measurin' and slicin' and stitchin', and this is what I came up with. This black city fabric has been hanging around forever, and I'm happy I still had it for this project; the gold also has a much fainter city map print. The borders around the t-shirts were very simple, but I liked the skyline effect that showed up. The quilt was a big hit at his party. Some of the shiftier guests -- aunts and uncles and the like -- were eyeing it up as they headed for their cars (just kidding!). Congratulations and thanks for all of your years of hard work, Dad!

Dad's Pirates quilt

Back of Dad's Pirates quilt, inspected by Stella

Label of Dad's Pirates quilt

Another happy birthday!

I have been fooling around with the Hex N More ruler making braids out of the half-hex shapes, and I realized that GIANT half hexes would be fun to do as a single full-spectrum run. And thus the idea was born to make a growth chart for someone special who just turned One this week! I have the cutest alphabet panel that I used to make the hexagons (thanks to Lynn's suggestion!) with her name. I quilted a very tight meander in the background, around the name lettering, and simple echo lines in each half-hex using a matching thread for each. At this point, once the "squinching in" was complete, I very carefully marked the inch lines one foot at a time, and stitched them with 12-wt Sulky thread, switching colors to match the colors of the number hexagons, which I then appliqued OVER the background quilting. I left some stiff interfacing in the numbers, so they wouldn't collapse into the meander lines behind them. From a technical perspective, the only thing I would do differently if I made another one of these is to use 30 half hexes instead of only 28. There's kind of a large open space at the top. But from a regular person perspective, I absolutely love how this came out!! You could mark the heights either with a fabric marker like a Micron pen or a Crayola, OR you could embroider them on with some plain old DMC floss. Happy birthday, Phoebe!!

Detail of the top. Also, I am experimenting with copyright watermarking.

Quilted growth chart!

I also sent Phoebe her very own tote. Little kids -- girls and boys alike -- really like putting things in bags.

Underwater basketweaving

In addition to the Pirates bag that I made for her, I also tried something new for my mom's birthday this year: weaving. I had posted a link on my Facebook page to a fabric basket tutorial, which Mom then saw and said that she would like one in orange and blue, so I took a swing at it. I felt like I could have used four or five more hands, but eventually I think I wrangled the strips into a fairly nice little project. I won't say when her real birthday is, or how old she is (Hint: it is now significantly less than my own age!), but Happy Birthday to my mother!

Woven fabric basket, stuffed with corks to show how much wine we have consumed  

Inside the Woven Fabric Basket: Beyond the Corks

Pirates quilted bag

Happy (early!) birthday to my mom, who asked me to make a bag that she can take next week when she goes to Florida to see a Pittsburgh Pirates spring training game.

This is the fourth or fifth time I've used this bag pattern, so I worked on it in fits and starts instead of following each step completely and in order. This resulted in a nearly finished bag with straps that were two inches different in length AND a front pocket that was not sewn down the center. At what was supposed to be the great unveiling moment, I had to remove the top zipper and topstitching, unstitch the handle, pull it out and trim it, then put that whole section back together. THEN I had to rip out the whole bottom seam (INCLUDING the boxed corners!), fix the front pocket seam, then reassemble the whole dang thing. That oughta teach me to pay closer attention. But I bet it won't...

I used some handy "improve your blog photos" tips this time (Always take photos in natural light! Arrange your items in a scene!). And hey, what do you know, they worked!

Look at this naturally lit, black-and-gold (and Luscious Lips) scene!

I love the "raised ridges" effect of using a twin needle for the quilting.

Travel bag!

My mom is turning An Important Number soon, and the surprise behind Door #1 was a TRIP TO HAWAII!!! She sent me some fabric leftover from a skirt that she made, with a request for a matching bag. I have made this pattern three times now, and I still like it. The only minor modification to the pattern is that I added a line of stitching across the front where the bottom folds under, because I lose little things (like coins) into the fold space in that front zipper pocket.

I thought the little touch of Laurel Burch butterflies made a nice contrast with the bright tropical stripes.

I did a little free-motion quilting on the back (and the front panel, although it's mostly hidden by the pockets).

Happy (early) birthday, Mom! I'll get this in the mail as soon as I make a shirt for my dad...that fabric is scheduled for pre-washing tomorrow, and I'll probably sew it up by this weekend.

Congratulations to Melissa and Brian!

A little gift for my neighbor's super-adorable new son.

"Once Upon a Time" story quilt pattern by Fun Quilts (Weeks & Ringle).

Still loving that orange peel motif, which works out easily on a pattern like with a regular grid structure.

Wedding gifts

Some things I made earlier this year for the bridal shower and wedding of my husband's cousin. They had a really beautiful wedding day, with everything decorated in warm shades of coral and ivory, and elegant seashell motifs on the invitations, place cards, etc. -- tres chic. Congratulations to the new D'Ambrosi family!

Her tableware was graphite and raspberry, so I made the table runner to coordinate.

 

Scrapbook cover, made with free-form piecing and some pretty seashell charms. I even put a vinyl CD sleeve inside the back cover.

From the Chocolate Covered Cherries pattern.  I did the alternating feathered-heart and feathered-circle quilting with my embroidery machine using Sulky Blendables in Mocha Mauve.