Quick Update

Howdy strangers...feels like it's been a while since I've posted anything! It's been pretty busy around here, we've been cleaning out the house preparing for and having a yard sale, working on some projects around the house and all that fun stuff, but I have managed to squeeze a little sewing in here and there.  I have been a bad little blogger and not taken too many pictures of stuff as it's been in progress, so please forgive me, but here is what I do have to show for myself!!

Firstly, I finished the top to my first baby quilt (ok, I actually finished this about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to sharing it...)

I figured out why I was having trouble with my layout...it's called "Jess can't add", lol. It ended up working out pretty much as I had planned thankfully. Now I've just got to decide how to quilt it...I want to make it fun, but also simple and something that will wind up nice and soft.  I'm thinking making some zig zags in the big strips, and maybe some fun little shapes in the little squares? Hm. We shall see...right now it's sitting patiently all folded up on my sewing table waiting for it's turn to be finished. 

Next I've been working on my Retro Flowers quilt...It's coming along nicely, I am a wee bit behind schedule on the QAL, but I think I'll be able to catch up. I've got 3 blocks done so far, 6 more to go. Then I have to decide on the sashing...

I've also been working on my project for my mini-swap with Rebecca, my Modern She Made swap, and my blocks for this months do.Good Stitches...these three are this week's priorities and will hopefully be if not finished then at least pretty far along by the end of the week.  It's been hard to devote a lot of time to sewing during the week...by the time I get home from work and get everything around the house down, my feet are starting to get pretty swollen and since I've yet to figure out a way to comfortably put my feet up while sewing, I've had to keep my sewing sessions pretty short lately which is REALLY slowing me down! Ugh! 

Anyway, back to work for me while I still have the energy.  Hope you all had a great weekend!!

W.I.P. Wednesday: A Week of Firsts

So this week I've put my daring pants on and have jumped into a few new things:

Firstly, Rebecca at Sew Festive Handmade has been trying to convince me of the fun-ness of swaps...I am a bit hesitant to join one, so I've been picking her brain on these, asking her all kinds of crazy questions to try to make up my mind.  Well, she is super, and not only answered all my questions, but also offered to do a mini swap with just to two of us so I could get a feel for swapping! With a bit of trepidation, I agreed, and made my first inspiration mosaic. I am going to make her a pouch, and she is going to make me a mini. I've already started playing with a few ideas, one is a new-to-me technique and I am really digging it so far but it needs some adjustments before I settle on it. I cannot preview it since I don't want to ruin the surprise for her, but I think it's going to turn out pretty fun!

I was going to see how our mini-swap went before joining a regular swap, but then I saw this: Modern She Made Swap.  I told my self I better not, since I have a few projects on the horizon that I'd actually like to get done, but then decided to just jump in...because by the time I finish all this other stuff, I probably will be about to pop and will not want to join one then.  So now's as good a time as any....right?! I'm still a little nervous, but hopefully it will be fun and I will not totally suck at it. If you are interested, I believe there is still space!

Ok, so on to the actual sewing...I've been talking about my Retro Flowers quilt for a while now (which is my FIRST quilt!), and wouldn't you know it, Bianca at Sweet Diesel Designs and Megan of City Stitches went and decided to start a Quilt-A-Long for Retro Flowers! This was obviously a sign, so I've joined in on that too...my first QAL!! I've gotten started with just my first block this week to see how I could manage the curves.  Turns out, not too shabby!

I did mess this one up a little...apparently I cut wrong when squaring so this did not line up. I do not know why I still pieced the two halves together, because now that's just even more seam ripping for me if I want to fix it...ugh.  Oh well, happy to say the rest went fairly well and I'm ready to move forward with the rest of them. I'm only doing 9 blocks, so hopefully it won't take me too long...

Check this out, I'm even chain piecing the curves like a pro!! Haha

I've also started on my FIRST baby quilt!! I bought a bunch of fabric with no real plan in mind to make just a small quilt that can be used to play with on the floor or cuddle with in the rocking chair...my friend Sarah at Habibti At Home has also just made her baby it's first quilt, and I was really inspired by it and knew I wanted to do something fun and simple like she did.  I almost flat out stole her design, but settled on something a little different.  I've got two layouts I need to choose from:

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Layout A

Layout B

Yeah I know, not much difference...Layout A would have sashing in between each of the 6 inch blocks, while Layout B would have sashing only at the ends of the rows of 6 inch blocks.  I was not planning on any sashing on those rows originally, but due to some measuring errors I'm having to adjust a bit (the long strip of the owls should have been cut to be 42" long, but I cut in the wrong direction and they wound be being about 34"...ugh). I think I'm leaning towards B just to keep it simple...thoughts or other ideas??? Another thought I had was to just add in the 6th 6 inch block on each row as originally planned, and it will just be cut off a bit...hm. 

Anyway, I'm really excited about all these firsts! I'm just hoping I can stick with it all and get everything done. So what have you all got going on this week? Anyone else joining this swap or QAL??

Today I'm linking up with W.I.P Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday..

Something about that new stack of fabric with the prospect of making some new exciting things really gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get some progress made on some other stuff, 'cause these last few days I've been a bit sew crazy, trying to get as much done as possible in the little time I have to work on it...

First up, I started and finished my blocks for this month's do.Good Stitches. This month was led by Jess @ SewCraftyJess, and she chose the Japanese x and + blocks.  I was a bit scared of these at first, but once I looked at the tutorial and started them, they were so stinkin easy!! I can see why these have been really popular...

We had free reign on color, and she said "the more vibrant, the better"...but I think I got a little TOO vibrant on my first one?  I don't know, I'm not really big on scrapiness, so it bothered me not to have any kind of cohesion...it started to grow on me a bit after a while, but I did decide to tone down my second one just a tad. 

Next up is some progress on my Curves projects! I finally got my pot holders and Rainbow Road runner quilted, and I'm just waiting for some more time to bind them.  I also tried out two of the other projects, both of which have been epic failures! One is fixable, I just got super frustrated and didn't want to look at it anymore, the other I totally scrapped...good thing I was using scraps for that one so no tears shed on lost fabric...apparently advanced improv curves are not my friend!

    

  

FINALLY I got to start on my Retro Flowers quilt! I happened to win a set of templates from the lovely Jill @ Made On Mainstreet and they came in today so as soon as I opened the package I ran back to my sewing room and got to cutting!  It was suggested to me that Lou Lou Thi might not have been the best choice to use for this due to the larger prints as they will get a little lost which unfortunately I did not even think about when choosing this, but I decided to try out my first block with one of the larger prints to see how it works...I had to fussy cut alot which stinks, but I think it will work.

I've got some big plans to get started on, but this weekend is my birthday and my parents are coming to town so I will probably not get much done for a few days, BUT I am super excited about what I've got planned!!

Anything exciting going on in your neck of the woods?? I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Busy as a Bee

It's WIP Wednesday and I actually have some stuff to share..WOO! I've been making pretty good progress sewing lately (by my standards, anyway) and even though I've got a small handful of things going on, I feel like I've been in a pretty good groove of making progress on each of them. 

First off, I made my do.Good Stitches February Bee Blocks this weekend. This month was led by the lovely Sarah of Sarah Stitched and she chose the Triangle Play block, found here at Sew, Mama, Sew!  We were given free reign on colors which both excited me and stressed me out a tad, too many decisions! This block looked alot easier going into it...my first block involved LOTS of "reverse sewing" and a few choice words. I just could not get my points to match up or rows to line up straight.

I did finally manage to finish it and it turned out decent, but I ran out of white so couldn't finish my second right away (which honesly was probably for the best at that point...) In the meantime, it was suggested to me to try starching my pieces before sewing them together.  I've never used starch before but was planning on getting some anyway for my curves projects so I decided to give it a go and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Lets just say starch is my new BFF. It made a world of difference! Not only did the second one wind up looking better, but it made it a much more pleasant experience...

Looking at this picture, I just realized that I think because I had to skimp so much with the seem allowance to get my points to line up in the first one, the triangles seem to be a bit bigger than the ones in the second one...huh...well, they are off in the mail already so hopefully it won't be noticeable in the final quilt.

This week I've also gotten some work done on some curves projects:

Rainbow Road table runner: This has been pretty fun to make.  I usually do not do solids, and I usually do not do total improv, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it! Okay okay so it's not really that daring, but it was a stretch for me and I'm glad I did it because what's the point in learning something new if you're not going to step outside your comfort zone?  The directions call for this to be squared off then bound, but I really like the curvy edges, and like I said I'm "throwing caution to the wind" so I'm going to attempt to bind it curvy...

Drunkards Path potholders: These were actually alot easier than I expected.  Rachel gave us directions to try to do these both with pins and without.  The without pins method was kind of blowing my mind so I did the first set with pins but then decided "aw what the heck, let's get crazy" and gave no pinning a go, and what do you know? It was not scarey at all!  I did the rest without which made these really quick to make.

I've also gotten to work on the next bag I had planned. This was supposed to be a Christmas present, which of course didn't happen, so I was going to try to make it for her birthday instead.  Her birthday is the 12th so I *should* make it in time, barring any unforeseen pattern issues/massive mistakes/laziness...yeah, we'll see...Anyway, notice anything about this one?? Yup...I *finally* learned from my mistakes and labeled the pieces! Aw, my mom would be so proud....

In addition to this stuff I've also got a few things sitting on my table waiting for their turn to be cut.. 

-Curves Projects: Orange Peel block, Slices floor mat, O'Christmas Tree mini and Retro Flowers quilt

-Modern Mini Challenge: I'm really hoping to enter this but need to decide quick. I've got a few ideas rattling around, but none have fully hatched yet so I'm not really sure if it'll happen in time.

So, what have you got going on?? How do find a groove to keep multiple things going on at once? Or are you a project monogamist and like to finish one thing before starting another?

Finished Curves Projects!

I am so proud to say that I FINISHED the two projects I did for this weeks curves projects! I had a lot of fun making these and it was a nice way to ease into sewing curves.  The first project was baby bibs (how perfect!)

I tried to find gender neutral prints since I do not know whether I'm having a boy or a girl yet and wound up with these two..how cute are those frogs??  These were quick and simple-I definitely plan to make a bunch more of these later.

The second project I chose to do was a clam shell pillow.  This was a bit more time consuming, but I still got it finished in one day and it was good to practice slightly tighter curves.

For sure the most time consuming part was cutting and piecing all these little guys together.  I basically had to do it one at a time, which is not how I like to roll, but the pins were getting in the way if I tried to pin a whole row at once. 

Here it is all finished.  I like to make my own pillow forms as I have plenty of pillows to recover and don't want to spend $15 to buy a pre-made one, so I canibalize an old pillow and use an old sheet or pillow case to make whatever size form I need.  This one I think I over stuffed a little bit (which unfortunately led to ripping the zipper a little bit..gr...) so I might redo the form later on, but for now it works and looks quite cute in my living room! I used the same scraps on this that I used to make my Quilted Pillow and Piped Pillow.  This also had an invisible zipper which I've never done before (using this great tutorial), and all in all it wasn't that hard.  I don't think I sewed close enough to the coils so it's not quite "invisible", but oh well, it works.  I've done regular zippers before, and I think this was a little bit easier and didn't take as long so I'll probably try it again. 

I must say that today was the most productive sewing day I've had in quite some time... Usually my weekends are mixed with house keeping, running errands and doing stuff with the hubby so I don't have but a few hours to sew at a time. This weeked however, I got all my cleaning and errands done on Saturday and hubby went out hunting with a friend for most of the day so I was able to spend pretty much the whole day sewing--something I don't think I've ever gotten to do. It was so nice and relaxing and very satisfying to finish a few things instead of just adding to the WIP pile.  I also got some work done on a paper piecing project that I'll show in a few days that I'm quite excited about! Hope your weekend was as relaxing and productive as mine! :)

Curvy Introduction

To those of you stopping over from the Curves Class, welcome! I'm Jessica and this is my little corner where I share some of my adventures in crafting and sewing. I am SO excited to be participating in this class to get to learn some new skills and hopefully meet some new friends along the way!  I will take Rachel's queue and take this time to tell a little about myself and my sewing journey. I'm not so much a story teller as I am a babbler, so I appologize in advance, but I hope you can bare with me!

I am 27 years old, married and pregnant with our first child right now (though we DO have one furry child!).  I have only been sewing just under a year now and LOVE it.  Before I discovered sewing, I was never a very crafty type person, I always *wanted* to be crafty but just never found anything that stuck...(for instance, I've learned to crochet two separate times, each time with the intent to make my newphew a baby blanket...this started before he was born and he is now 3-1/2 with a 1-1/2 year old brother, neither of whom have crocheted blankets from their aunt...)  Now, my very dear friend has always been quite the opposite of me and is VERY crafty. We lived together during college for 2 years and I always envied her crafty projects, but it wasn't until she had a baby and sewed ALL of her baby bedding and decor last year that I even considered sewing.  When I saw what she was able to do with a sewing machine, I really felt inspired to learn to sew to be able to create things like that myself.  I was nervous to get into it at first, given my poor history with sticking to things and all, but my husband was very supportive and convinced me to give it a go.  I got my first machine, sewed up a really simple pillow, and fell in love!  Since then I've really enjoyed learning different techniques and finding inspiration all over the web through so many wonderful bloggers.  The Curves class will be my first actual sewing class..up until now I've been more "self-taught", reading books and following tutorials to figure out what works.  The only curves I've really done have been in patterns for things like purses, but I don't have much of a concept of how to apply them to "flat" pieces (does that make sense?? sorry...it does in my head at least..) so I'm really excited to learn this technique to help broaden my horizons! Also, I've never made a full quilt, so this class is going to kill two birds with one stone!

Here are a few of my past projects:

Appliqued onsies for my friend's baby (the one who inspired me to sew!)

Quilted pillow, this was my first attempt at any kind of piecing, and I still love how it turned out

"Hip Quiver"..my hubby is in to archery, and wanted me to make this for him. I'm especially proud of this one because I had no pattern to go off of, I made my own by looking at one like this that his friend had bought

Quilted Thanksgiving wall hanging...blogged here

Amy Butler "Blossom Bag". I am obsessed with Amy Butler patterns for some reason...see here, here and here for a few others

Well, that about sums me up.  Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to make yourself comfy and stay for a while, I'd love to meet some new friends and get to see what everyone is up to with the Curves Class!