A month of quilting

I'll admit I was kind of shocked when I realized the last time I posted here on MOM was April 16th.  How does time slip by so fast?!  In case you have forgotten, I am carrying my second set of twins.  I'm well into the second trimester, and I'm using every ounce of excess energy I can spare, whenever it's reasonable, to make things.  I know my days spent in the sewing garage are numbered.  I'm trying to make the most of it while I can.

First up was a baby present.

As it turns out, I am not the only one who is preparing for a baby.  This free pattern is thanks to Elizabeth from Oh Fransson!  It is super simple to piece together, benefitting from pre-cut squares in a charm pack.  I had two charm packs of this sweet Moda fabric called "Reunion", so I was able to extend the pattern a little bit making this quilt a more useful, larger size.  

It is sashed with an uber-soft shot cotton from Robert Kauffman.  Though when I walked into the quilt shop for sashing, I was heading for the Kona solids, I couldn't make it passed these newly arrived shot cottons.  They are so soft, and their colors are so enticing!

The Kona made it on the back.  Along with the remainder of the shot cotton, and the remainder of the halved charm squares pieced together in a long row.

An all over stippling with my darning foot, and the quilting truly was done in record time.  I debated about the binding, as I always do.  In the end, I had charm squares left over, and I could not bare to set them aside to languish in the stash piles!  I likewise sewed them all together, and then sliced my long row in half, lengthwise.  This gave me two perfect 2.5 inch wide stripes of pieced fabric that I could use for my double fold binding.

After a single cycle through the washer and dryer, this quilt crinkled up just as I was hoping it would!  Delightful.  It's a great pattern.  So easy!  If you are using fabric that you love, the whole process is that much more enjoyable!

Since making this baby quilt was actually fun, I decided I had more quilting in me.  Long ago I spotted and pinned Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Patchwork Prism Quilt.  Though she offered it as a free pattern, the size alone made it seem out of reach.

Source: annamariahorner.blogspot.com via Annee on Pinterest

I don't know what changed my mind, but when I saw there was going to be a Quilt-Along for this pattern over on the Sweet Diesel Design blog, I decided that in fact the Patchwork Prism Quilt was within my grasp.  Of course, I consulted my Sew Sister Liz first.  She was adamant that I could do it.  I don't know why she has so much faith in me.  But somehow knowing that Liz believed I could do it was enough to make me jump in.  Liz sent me tons of her AMH scraps. I raided my stash piles and scrap bin, ordered a few fat quarters here and there, and before I knew it, I was cutting the quilt out: 

And laying it out on my make shift design wall:

And then suddenly, I was sewing it all together.  Piece, by piece, row, by row, for a few days in a row. And then late two nights ago I saw I had only one last row to piece, and five more rows to sew together to be done!!  

I honestly feel like this will be the last majorly indulgent sewing project I take on before I give birth at the end of summer.  I have lots of little things here and there that will get made between now and Labor Day (literally), but this will be the last one that was just for me.  Though at times during this processes I'll admit that I wondered if it was worth it... Now, when I see it all sewn together, I am convinced that it is.  This will be a quilt that will be treasured by my whole family for years to come.  

Hopefully I can see it through to the end.  There is lots of bending and squatting when putting together a quilt sandwich.  I am not very good at bending and squatting anymore.  But one day, late at night, I'll see that if I just work for one more hour, my quilt will be completely done.  And that will be an amazing feeling!  

PJs and Peek-A-Boos

Life has been busy here on West Coast MOM.  My husband turned 40, and we celebrated with a little vacation.  Re-entry to normal life after going out of town always sets me back a couple of days.  I've sewn since I last posted, but I just haven't had the time to take pictures and form coherent thoughts to put in a blog post.  Hopefully this blog post isn't the worst one I've done.  It's certainly not the best.

As promised I finally got pictures of the last thing I made for the KCWC.  I always feel badly when I present Grace with a new dress or skirt or whatever.  It's much easier to come up with things to sew for little girls, so George gets left out a little bit.  Everything in this post was for my big boy.  Now he totally knows I love him.

I whipped out some pajamas on the last day of the clothing week challenge.  I just took a PJ pant pattern I've used to make him some PJ pants recently, and then shortened them.  Easy.

I then had the bright light blue shirt sitting in my sewing room.  I found it on sale at Target for like $3.  I couldn't pass it up.  It's probably not my favorite color for a little boy, but for a PJ shirt it's perfect.  I added some arrows to the shirt matching it to the arrows on the fabric I used for the PJ pants.

George loves his new night clothes.  Can you tell??

Next I hosted Sewing Circle at MOM West Coast HQ's this week.  Unfortunately lots of girls weren't able to make it.  However, two good things out of a small crowd 1) more treats for those that did come, and 2) I got to sew.  I made a Mother's Day present and then I made a Peek-A-Boo Bag.

I pinned the Peek-A-Boo Bag a week or sew ago, and my friend Kimmy B. aka Kim (creator of Pin This Not That where she reveals if pins from Pinterest are really as great as people say they are) commented that she wanted to make a bag too.  Sew away we went making Peek-A-Boo Bags.

The tutorial comes from Make It Perfect.  I discovered Make It Perfect when I first started sewing 3 1/2 years ago.  I own her Pinny 2 pattern.  It's a good one, and I've always liked her style.  The Peek-A-Boo bags are the perfect bag for a little boy like my George who likes to just carry stuff around.  I also think this bag would make a cute gift or addition to a gift for a toddler or little one.

That's all for tonight.  I'm not sure what's next for me in the sewing room.  I did get a dress pattern for Grace that I was all excited about before I left town, but my passion for the project has died a little.  I also thought I was going to make a quilt, but again I'm not sure it's what I'm dying to sew next.  As soon as I get it all figured out, I'll be sure to keep you posted!

If you have any good ideas, send them my way!  What should I sew next??

Reversible Lazy Day Skirt

More Kid Clothes Week Challenge clothes for you!  I actually have one more outfit (pajamas), but George got sent to bed early tonight, so a photo shoot wasn't an option.  Hopefully tomorrow night will go better. 

 

Tonight I'm sharing a Lazy Day Skirt that I made for Grace that's reversible.  Reversible is my new favorite thing apparently.  I'm also dabbling in the print mixing that's currently a big fashion trend.  Jane and Ruby gave me the idea with their print mixing fashion statement.

Grace particularly liked this outfit because I told her it was cool and not cute.

Some time I'll share how I made this skirt reversible.  It's not hard, and it's like getting two skirts for the work of one.  I also finished this off by putting some rick rack in the hem.

The flower side probably didn't need the rick rack, but I thought it would add to the cute yellow chevron print on the opposite side.

What pattern should I mix with the Chevron?!

Grace thought a mani/pedi would dress the outfit up even more, so I gave her one in exchange for the cute pictures before school.  Not a bad deal?!

Okay, one last KCWC post tomorrow hopefully!

Marissa Dress

I really got into the Kid's Clothes Week Challenge this week.  I almost think it was better that I stumbled upon it instead of anticipating it for weeks.  I wasn't planning on sewing every day, but I did, and I'm so glad.  

As promised the Sunday day dress known as the Marissa Dress.  Annee has sewn this one a couple of times.  Every time she spotlights it, I've thought it looks like it will take forever and is probably pretty hard.  Surprisingly this dress didn't take me forever and wasn't that hard.  I can't believe I put off sewing it for so long.  

You'll see more of these for Grace for sure.  She loved it as much as I did.  I love the fitted bodice on this dress.  The pattern was so well written that while it may look tricky and complicated the bodice came together much easier then I expected.

I also love the full skirt.

And Grace just loved everything about it.  In fact these pictures were taken several hours after church.  She just didn't want to get out of the dress.  It's feminine and comfortable.

It's the perfect dress to look fancy for church in, but then to come home and run in the backyard in. 

I can't sing enough praises to this pattern nor could I stop taking pictures.  Grace was fed up with me by the end.  I could have taken a dozen more pictures, but I think you get a feel for the dress.  Or should I post more of it tomorrow??

Not really.  Tomorrow I'll show you the two other things I made this weekend for the KCWC.  Grace got another article of clothing, and then I felt badly for George, so he too got a little something.  Once I get pictures I'll be sure to share.  Now I can't decide if my sewing room is going to get a break because I sewed so much last week, or if this challenge will help me start chipping away at my mental sewing "Things To Sew" list.  I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge

I had no intention of taking on Elsie Marley's Kid's Clothes Week Challenge this week.  In fact, I didn't even know it was this week until Monday which was day 1 (or was it day 2).  However, I've been dying to make a Marissa dress for Grace, and I've been lacking some motivation.  I love a good challenge though, so this week was just what I needed.

Now I bet you're thinking I'd be spotlighting the Marissa dress in this post after that introduction.  Wrong. It's a Sunday dress, sew I'll take pictures of Grace in it on Sunday to share.

What I'm really sharing are my Knot Shorts that I took on yesterday.  

It's funny how when you are in the  middle of making something, for me it was the Marissa dress, all these other ideas just come to you of things to make, sew, cook.  Creativity is addictive and has a mind blowing domino effect.  I just don't have enough time for everything!

But, I'm off topic.  Back to the Knot Shorts.  Annee had an Epic KCWC last year, and she took them on, but gave us the hot tip of making sure that our patterns had a front and back piece to them.  Check.  I did that.  I then decided that since I've sewn sew many Quick Change Trousers that are fully reversible, that I would make these shorts for Grace fully reversible.

Just know when you decide to change a pattern or transfer a technique from one pattern to another it's going to make your head hurt.  At midnight I gave up because my brain couldn't figure out how to make the fully reversible Knot Shorts work.

Then at 3 a.m. for a middle of the feeding for Baby Hank I started going over it again and again how to make it work.  I figured it out, but I wasn't going to head to the sewing room then, but hoped and silently prayed I'd remember in a few short (pun intended) hours when I woke up for the day.

Baby Hank woke me up at 6 a.m., and while he played with mega blocks, I got some quality time with my seam ripper.  And by school time, I dropped her off in her new Knot Shorts.  These probably aren't the fabric of my dreams, but it's what I had on hand.  And for a kindergartener, I decided it was perfectly acceptable to wear the crazy loud shorts to school.  Seeing as Grace didn't know a pair of shorts before today and warm temperatures are upon us, I can promise more Knot Shorts are in our future.

I added a heart to the back side of zig zag side of the shorts, so Grace would know that I made these with love and also sew there was no confusion between the front and back of the shorts.

If I find some extra time (ha!) in my days, I'll put together a tutorial on how to make the shorts reversible.  It might have to wait though because I have another dress I'm hoping to sew quickly before the KCWC is over.  It will require a pattern from JoAnn's.  Let's hope my JoAnn's can come through for me!!

Over and out.

Easy Zipper Pouch

After I made my circle pouch a couple weeks ago, I was a little sad that I couldn't put more into the small pouch.  Most of the time I leave my house I need my keys, phone, and driver's license.  Oh, and some money or credit card is very handy as well.  I have purses, but I just think they are too big to haul around when I really only need a couple of items.

Then I had a friend's birthday come up and I wanted to make her something, but I only had one night to sew something.  A year ago I would have made her a darn quilt because that's how I rolled back then, but these days I'm lucky to even have a thought about sewing something for someone else let alone actually make something!

Source: cinderberrystitches.typepad.com via Liz on Pinterest

I then remembered this pouch I pinned on Pinterest.  I labeled it "easy zipper pouch" so I thought I could easily make it in a night.  To make it a little fancier, but not to complicate it too much, I had the idea to combine the easy zipper pouch tutorial with the circle pouch tutorial.  I did this because I wanted my friend's pouch to be lined, and I think the added batting gives it more weight and makes it feel more substantial.  In the end I was totally pleased with it, and only sad that I didn't have one for myself.

I used all the measurements for the fabric from the easy zipper pouch.  In addition to the main fabric pieces that the tutorial calls for, I cut lining pieces and batting pieces.  Then I followed the instructions from the circle pouch tutorial to assemble everything.  Hope that's not too confusing.

I've had fabric matched and sitting on my dryer waiting for me to make myself an easy zipper pouch for a while.  Today during nap time and rest time I decided to skip showering to sew.  I think I made the right decision!

Now I have my very own easy zipper pouch that can carry my phone, keys, I.D., and credit card/money.  It could also carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer which I was sad I didn't throw in my pouch this afternoon while I was out running errands with my kiddos.  Their hands are always so grimy to me.

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, I'm thinking these easy zipper pouches would make nice teacher gifts.  I'll get on that.  Or since their *easy*, I know I can procrastinate until the night before. 

Next on the sewing horizon for me is hopefully a quilt.  Did you get caught up in the re-release of the Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy??  I did, and now I need to do something with all the fat quarters I have.  I'm just not sure I'm up to the task of a quilt yet.  I'll be sure to keep you posted!

30 Minute Wreath

Sew, as you can tell from my lack of post last week, I was not up to the challenge of posting every day like Annee did the week before.  I'm sure no one really noticed, and Annee wasn't mad at all.  It wasn't that I didn't have things to share, but rather I was swimming in birthday prep for my big 4 year old.  There wasn't a lot of sewing involved for preparing for the party, but I did manage to whip out a monogrammed shirt for all George's friends who came to celebrate.

Also, all week long I had my Birthday Balloon Wreath adorning the front door, so all those who came to visit would know that they needed to wish someone a happy birthday.  Technically I could leave the Birthday Balloon Wreath up until August, because we have birthdays every month until then, but I need a break from celebrating.

Source: sharandandrew.blogspot.com via Liz on Pinterest

Two (maybe 3) week ago, I whipped this fast 30 Minute Wreath up in the Laundry Room.  I found the above wreath on Pinterest.  At first I thought the fabric on the wreath was black and white polka dot, but turns out it's navy blue not black.  I had black and white on hand, and I think my wreath turned out just as cute.

There is no sewing involved, and I'm not kidding when I say it took me 30 minutes.  Probably if you have no crafting experience at all it might take you an hour.

I just cut 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric and wrapped it around my 16 inch straw wreath (DON'T take off the plastic on the wreath) using straight pins to keep the fabric in place.

Once the wreath was wrapped I used my trusty glue gun to make a felt bow.  I thought I used a tutorial to make my bow, but I'm not sure what one I used.  Maybe I'll come up with a how-to and post one later.  It only takes 3 pieces of felt and two shots/lines of hot glue.  Seriously simple.

There you go. Another wreath.  Because I'm really lacking in wreath decor at MoM West Coast!