Summer Sewing

Even though it doesn't feel much like summer (yet), I have done a little bit of Summer Sewing.

My little girl loves to wear dresses, and so I finally decided to try making one for her. I had a copy of Absolutely A-Line by Wendi Gratz waiting for me to get over my fear of zippers and facings find just the right fabric. This wonderful large-scale print from IKEA fit the bill.

See the blue Bandaid on her chin? Monkey Bars: 1, G: 0.

I tackled just one fear in making this dress - the zipper. Which looks pretty great considering it's my first time installing a zipper in a garment. I chickened out and opted for the pattern option that doesn't have a facing; rather, it uses bias binding to finish the arm holes (and hem). I love how the black and white ginghamy check works here (I used the same fabric to bind the Rainbow I Spy quilt). Buoyed by my zipper success, I will tackle the facing in due course.

The dress ended up a touch long. G's tall for her age (gets that from Dad) so I cut out the pattern using the length for the next size up. But she was In A Mood when it came time to hem the dress, so I just sort of held it up to her and guesstimated. Since the fabric is a home-dec weight, I figure she can grow over the summer and wear it well into the Fall and Winter. I hope.

I'm happily linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, and entering this project into the Clothing category for Ellison Lane's Summer Sewing Contest when the linky time happens (June 10-17).

Friday Felicities

Today's felicity is....FUN!

I've been having fun making a dress for my little Miss G, making progress on the memory quilt (photos of both to come when our weather starts cooperating).

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild is doing a pouch swap with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild - talk about fun! I've got two partners because there are nearly twice as many PMQG participants as VMQG swappers. One of my partners, I've figured out. The other has encouraged me to do a bit of experimenting, and I'm loving it so far:

I have hesitated to make an inspiration mosaic for my partner(s) because I don't want them to feel too boxed in when they're thinking about what to make, particularly since there's not much that doesn't work for me, other than Civil War calico prints. Having said that, here are a few pouches and other things that I'm enjoying right now:

Click on the image to go to Flickr - all the links are there.

So that's what's been keeping me busy lately. Have a great weekend!

Habitat Pillow Covers

Yippeee! I'm so pleased to have these all done. I think I say that about all my projects - what can I say? I get bored very easily so pushing through and seeing projects to the end makes me incredibly happy.

I started these pillow covers during Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's Habitat Challenge in late Summer of 2011, and around the same time, promised them to my sister for using on her brand-new dark brown leather couches (hence the choice of background colour). Not quite a year later, they're all done. Here's a collage* featuring them all, front and back:

*new feature in PicMonkey - I think I prefer Big Huge Labs' Mosaic Maker because I don't have to settle for a square arrangement.

There are two main themes in the designs - strips and wonky stars. I settled on two quilting designs, and used both for each theme. Aurifil 28wt in dark brown (5024) was my thread of choice.

Radiating lines from bottom corners

Random diagonal lines

Radiating

Random

The pillow covers finished at about 18" square. The backs used up nearly all my Habitat scraps plus a variety of browns from my stash. They also feature flaps to cover the zippers. I loosely followed this tutorial but basically worked out my own method which creates a flap with the fabric used for the top half of the pillow back. 

Rather than batting I once again used Pellon Fusible Fleece (TP971F Fusible Thermolam Plus) - it is wonderful for pillow tops.

True story: I only have one 20" pillow form, so I had to remove the Crane Star cover and dress it up 4 different times to snap the photos on my upper deck (I love our view best when there's still some snow on the mountains).

I'll be delightedly linking up this finish to Sew Happy Geek's Manic Monday, and Fabric Tuesday as well (buttons/links in sidebar). 

SMS Giveaway Winner/Friday Felicities

Wow! I am thrilled with the response to my giveaway! 538 eligible entries - that is wonderful (my Felicity for today, in fact)!

Without further ado, I present the winning comment number as determined by Random.org:

And who had lucky comment #37? Why, that's Shannon! Look for an email from me shortly, Shannon.

Thanks again to all who entered, and especially to those who decided to become followers. I really appreciate it, particularly since it wasn't a requirement of the giveaway so it makes me really happy to know you're here because you want to be. Another Felicity!

Note: a number entries in the giveaway were from "no-reply" commenters. If you do a lot of commenting on blogs and never hear back, or have never, ever won a giveaway and you enter a lot, you might want to double-check whether people can get in touch with you via your blogger profile. Here's more on the topic, including some lovely illustrated steps for making your email public in your Blogger profile. I know that some people choose to keep their email private, preferring instead for bloggers to come over to their own blogs to comment, which is totally fair. The problem is when no-reply commenters *don't* have a blog - then there is absolutely no way to contact them in case they've won giveaways! It makes me sad to think people spent their precious time entering all kinds of giveaways without realizing they're never going to win because the host of the giveaway can't contact them!

SMS Giveaway Day!

Welcome to Giveaway Day!

There are many wonderful blogs giving away all kinds of things so let's get right down to business, shall we?

Up for grabs, one FQ bundle containing 9 Fat Quarters from Darlene Zimmerman's Hints of Prints collection for Robert Kaufman fabrics.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post - that's it. Nice and simple. I'll use the Random Number Generator (random.org) to choose one winner. If your commenter profile does not include your email address, please be sure to leave it in your comment so that I can get in touch with you.

Other details:
- the giveaway is open til May 25th at 5 p.m. PST. Any comments that inadvertently get left after 5 p.m. but before I close off the contest will not be included in the draw.
- winner will be notified by email by May 27th. If your commenter profile does not include your email address, please be sure to leave it in your comment so that I can get in touch with you.
- I am happy to mail these FQs anywhere in the world, but because of the cost of shipping, I will break down the bundle and pack it so it's flatter.

Thanks for swinging by and good luck - other giveaways here here at Sew Mama Sew!

Giveaway closed! Thank you so much for your interest. Winner announced here.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Hello and welcome! I hope you're enjoying the Bloggers' Quilt Festival - a wonderful collection of beautiful quilts from all over the world!

I'm sharing my most recent finish for this BQF, Rainbow I Spy. It is a quilt for my 4-year-old daughter since she's outgrown the Hungry Caterpillar quilt I made her a couple of years ago.



I wanted this quilt to be fun, but able to grow with her a bit. I do like the idea of I Spy quilts but all those novelty prints can sometimes run the risk of being too young-feeling after a while.

Beginning with 6½" I Spy charms grouped by colour (including black/white), I double-framed them with strips in matching and complementary colours. Then, I arranged the blocks in ROYGBV order, inserting the black & white/white & black blocks before the R and between the Y and G. I'm really pleased with the outcome.

 

And so is my daughter, who hasn't let me take it off her bed long enough to stitch on the label.

I'd say it was a success!

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of the Festival.

Friday Felicities - Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day

My Felicity today is a (scheduled) GIVEAWAY!

Have you participated in Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day? It's a twice-yearly event hosted at Sew, Mama, Sew where bloggers give away handmade items, crafting + sewing supplies, and all kinds of other goodies. Hundreds of blogs participate so not only can you discover new blogs, you can have some changes to win fun stuff while you're at it! If you're a blogger, it's an opportunity for people to discover what you're up to in your little corner of the interwebs.

On Monday, May 21st, I'll be giving away this bundle of sweet fabrics from the Hints of Prints line by Darlene Zimmerman - there are 9 FQs in it.

So be sure to come on by here on May 21st to try your luck at winning! (Edit: Go here for the giveaway post.)

In the meantime, have a great (long if you're in Canada) weekend!

WIP Wednesday

I barely stitched at all this week because I was busy resting on my laurels for finishing the Rainbow I Spy. That seems to happen to me a lot - taking time off after a big finish.

Made Progress

I was also procrastinating on sewing together the 81 squares (but who's counting?) of my final Habitat pillow cover. But tackle it I did, and it came together quite quickly and easily (the common hallmark of jobs one is avoiding for fear of their being too hard). So easily, in fact, that I didn't have to use a single pin for the entire thing! Only a couple of corners are slightly mismatched and not so much so that I wanted to unsew. (Say that 3 times fast!).

All 4 pillow covers are pieced, and since those photos were taken, they've been fused onto squares of Pellon Fusible Fleece, all ready for quilting inspiration to hit. Any ideas? I'm thinking the shattered glass/random diagonals that I did here, but using dark brown thread:

No Progress

Meantime, the rest of my projects sit, alone and lonely. Yearning for my love and attention. Soon, my dears. Soon.

Heather R memory quilt
Charity Quilt
Stacked Strips (new this report - I think it's a bonafide project)
New Wave
Kaleidoscope
Bee quilt (Jewel Squares)
Bee quilt (Circle of Geese)

This Week's Stats
Completed Projects - 0
New Projects - 1 (upgraded Stacked Strips' status to actual project)
Currently In Progress - 8

Linking up as usual with Lee and Monika.

Friday Felicities

Today I want to celebrate the happiness that friends bring to my life.

While I am a homebody who craves solitary time, I do love spending time with friends, and last weekend I had a veritable bonanza of friend-time!

On Saturday, Nikki, The Girl Who Quilts, was in town and we got together for lunch. As often happens when bloggy friends get together in person for the first time, we greeted each other like long-time chums and - this is not an exaggeration - we didn't stop talking from the moment I picked her up until the moment I dropped her off three hours later. And as if her delightful company weren't enough, Nikki bestowed some lovely and thoughtful gifts on me. First, a beautiful pillow made with a technique from Jacquie and Katie's book Quilting Modern. I adore it! 

Apologies for the lousy picture. The brighter one didn't show off the awesome quilting.

The back features raindrops in honour of Vancouver.

As is that weren't enough, she gave me some cool Frixion pens - one of which is a highlighter! Thank you, Nikki! 

And then on Sunday, my little family attended the dedication of a friend's little boy to his church. Quite a few of my friends attend this church, and it was lovely to see them. An after-church impromptu brunch at our place with another family whose little boy is just a few months younger than G capped off a truly felicitous weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms reading this, and since I know mine swings by here every now and again, Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you! Thanks for teaching me how to sew! xoxo

Fusible Thread Mini-tutorial

I'm not sure which came first, the tutorial on using fusible thread to secure your binding prior to stitching it down, or my seeing some for $2.99 at Vancouver's sewing emporium/destination for Hallowe'en costume supplies, Dressew. This fantastic blog post has many photos to give you a great idea of what it's like in there (a ricrac lover's paradise, for one).

Regardless, I'm so happy I decided to give it a try, because having the binding basted down prior to stitching makes the stitching (by hand or machine) go more quickly. There's no need for binding clips or pins - all you need to do is stitch.

Here's what mine looks like, but there are other brands as well:

You wind it on your bobbin just like regular thread. I did notice on my machine that as the bobbin is being wound, the bobbin winding slows down as time goes on, and stops eventually even though my foot is on the foot pedal. I'm pretty sure it's because of the friction caused by this synthetic thread as it goes through the bobbin winder parts on my machine. It doesn't seem to happen until the bobbin is about half-wound so it's not a huge deal (for me).

As you can see, the thread itself is quite shiny and slippery, and it pools on the thread spool pretty easily. Sitting the spool on the machine's upright thread spool holder as opposed to its sideways one solved that problem for me.

Following the tutorial I linked to above will maximize adherence of your folded-over binding if that is something that's important to you. Or you can do what I did and combine the step of stay-stitching your quilt's edges prior to trimming, and applying the fusible thread by using it in the bobbin when you stay-stitch. This makes the fusing a little less robust, but it was enough to secure the binding so that I could machine-stitch it down on the quilt's front and catch the binding on the back most of the time (corners were a bit difficult because of their bulk).

Whatever you choose to do, don't rely on the fusible thread to keep a quilt's binding in place forever - it's just for basting. In fact, you can even "un-fuse" the thread by reheating it with an iron - it basically melts the thread away. For that reason, I would not recommend using it in the bobbin thread when attaching your binding (as the package suggests), and you will want to stitch the binding down by hand or machine.

I hope this little "tutorial" helped!