WIP Wednesday

What a week! My daughter became ill with that cold that has been travelling around and then the rest of us got it. No surprise there when you get a wet hand stuck in your mouth unexpectedly. Add a hospital trip for an eye swollen completely shut, a trip to the 'baby doctor' for a swollen belly, then an allergic reaction to the meds for said swollen eye (no surprise there), a ton of snuggling, and you have the last couple of days pretty much covered. Needless to say there wasn't a ton of sewing going on. However, I did manage to finish my daughters new sleep sack complete with zippers and snaps.

My brother's quilt hasn't progressed any further. But I did manage to try thread sketching for the first time prior to getting sick. I'm not 100% happy with the center of the poppy, but it's my own fault for not stopping and looking at an actual picture before stitching it. I used 2 layers of stabilizer since I knew I'd be putting so much thread in the center area.

I'm behind in following along with Leah Day's FMQ along. I don't want to just FMQ a sample piece, so I have to keep stopping and getting something I'm working on prepped to use. I get that a LOT of people are afraid of messing up their masterpiece. I've just decided that I know it's isn't going to be perfect and I don't want the waste of just doing practice. Not that the other way of thinking is wrong, it just isn't what works for me. 

I did manage to get half of my sister-in-laws table runner quilted during one really, really short nap. Thank you to the makers of Benadryl for putting sorbitol in the children's version of their medication, my daughter is hyped up and can't really sleep. 

Now a warning to everyone out there learning to FMQ. I'm really, really thankful that I wear glasses. Not quite sure what I did (probably had something to do with forgetting to switch needles), but I ended up shattering a needle and a very small piece landed in the corner of my eye. After a couple minutes of flushing my eye out, the problem was solved. However, I'm certain that if I wasn't wearing my glasses, a trip to the emergency room would have been necessary for me. I personally recommend wearing glasses while learning to FMQ on your own. Then again, I truly am one of those people who is an accident waiting to happen.

And last but not least. . . our daugher is turning one in a couple of weeks. Yay! Allergy testing can finally happen.  :oD  I'm super excited about this! I decided it would be nice to have a birthday banner made from outgrown sleepers and some scrap hot pink interlock. I used one of my new AccuQuilt dies to cut the triangles. I'm still trying to decide between ribbon or cotton binding as what I'll sew the triangles to. But I better decide soon, her birthday isn't going to wait for me to make up my mind.

Check out what everyone else is working on here:

and here:

WIP Wednesday

I still can't bring myself to do a full tally on what I'm working on. . . I have a strong feeling that the list is a little bit insane, so I'm avoiding that knowledge. I'm also avoiding starting a couple projects that are calling my name until I finish a couple things. 


I did some FMQ this past week and blogged about it on the post before this one, so I'm not going to talk about it here. But I realize that I have some other WIP progress I haven't shared here yet.


I have the quilting design for my Asian Bargello prepped.   :oD  The picture is the process I use for tracking out large scale designs on really, really cloudy dark days.

I'm super excited to get quilting this, but I really need to finish off my last couple Christmas gifts first. (Our TV isn't a plasma, it's glass so for those of you having a heart attack seeing this, it's OKAY. No TVs are being harmed in the making of my quilt.)


Speaking of which, this table runner for my sister-in-law is ready for quilting.

Don't mind Bella. She thinks the camera loves her and therefore she should be in all photos taken. I swear she sees the camera come out and comes running. It's quite comical to see. It's also the reason that I don't press prior to photo taking. I'd have been seriously annoyed if I had pressed it and then cat paws wrinkled it up again.


Then of course, My red piece. I thought M-R's idea of exploring colour this year was a great idea. To read more about it go here http://www.quiltmatters.blogspot.com/2012/01/colour-my-world-colour-your-world.html.  I don't know that I'll get a chance to follow along every month, but there is no harm in trying. This is where the piece is at right now. 

I still have to thread paint it, and I probably should have read a little bit more about the technique I was planning on using. I should have used something to control the bleeding. But it was a lot of fun and I think it will make a cute cover of a book or pencil case, or something.


Check out what other's in Canada are doing here:



And the linky party on Lee's WIP Wednesday here:



PS. I'm using flickr to upload my pics instead of blogger for the first time. It's sooooo much easier. Why didn't I try this before?

WIP Wednesday (mostly)

It's official! I'm back to work. Monday was my first day after being off for a full year. It's a bit of a shock to the system, but my daughter is taking it like a champ. . . and I get the most amazing hugs when I get home and see her. Not that I don't get hugs from her all day long when I'm home with her, but these are different hugs. The kind that come with the biggest smile you've ever seen and really have a way of warming the heart.


Now back to all things fabric. Do you remember when Lee of Freshly Pieced posted about her lego play mat? (If not, you can read about it here.)

Photo belongs to Lee of Freshly Pieced.
This is not my work, just the inspiration for what I am working on.

Well, I fell in love with the idea, but realized right away that I just didn't have the necessary skills with the rotary cutter to cut the angle pieces accurately. There was no way I was going to use scissors to cut it all. And I really didn't want to order a custom die that I may only use a few times (although I do have a lot of ideas how pieces like that could be used to make a reproduction of a quilt from the Infinity Quilt Show that was in New York some time ago).


Well, I want to make similar bags for my daughter, but with a lot less time invested. Anything that makes cleaning up and organizing easier is a good thing in my mind when little children are involved. But at the same time, I want my sewing time to be for me and what makes my creative juices flow.


So, I made an easy-peesy method out of knit fabric! It's my go to fabric when I don't want to deal with fraying edges.


I started by using a ruler as a compass to make a quarter circle.

Then after folding the fabric in quarters and cutting out the 1/4 circle

Then I cut holes spaced equally apart.

And then ran a matching ribbon through the holes, long enough to stay in while the 'play-mat' is laid out.

Now I plan on cutting out some funky flowers out of some knit fabric and stitching them to the outer edge. I was annoyed with the fact that it's really difficult to find a variety of 100% cotton knit fabrics. And then it dawned on me, clothing that my daughter wore out and isn't good enough to sell at a Mom-to-Mom sale is the perfect source for making flowers!

So my next step is to chop this up.

I'm also working on a blanket for a little new arrival, but I didn't do the letters on the blanket in a knit and they've already started to fray! No wonder I love my knit fabrics! Because the letters didn't start to fray until after I had put in the last stitch on the binding and now I need to cut out the woven cotton print without ruining it. :o(

What is everyone else up to? Check it out here:

and here:

WIP Wednesday

This week has been all about embroidery.


I finished embroidering this:

And I've been working on learning how to use an embroidery machine (thanks Mom!) and digitize my own graphics. A lot of the celtic/norse knotwork I see out there isn't what I want, so. . . I'll make my own. It's fun too!


I also finished my Dad's laptop bag.

I had a lot of fun making it. My Dad drives all day long and his laptops are constantly being vibrated and can be in and out of the cold sometimes. Since "this grade of felt is suitable for vibration absorption, resistance to abrasion and wear" (from www.thefeltstore.com) I'm hoping that this helps reduce the wear and tear on his laptops for him. 

Now, back to digitizing this file so I'll be ready to make my equilateral triangle quilt soon:

Check out what other Canadians are working on at The Needle and Thread Network. Hopefully Lee's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced is back soon. Check out what everyone has been up to here: 

WIP Wednesday

I can't tell if I'm in a turkey coma (we decided to pretend we were American on the weekend and had a thanksgiving dinner with some loved ones we missed the first time around), or if maybe I'm tired because my daughter has 7 swollen gums and is little miss cranky pants today. Who can blame her? If I had 7 swollen gums (5 of which are back teeth), I'd be a little miss cranky pants too!

But on the bright side, I've been sewing a little when I'm able. My husband is really great and understands my need to do something creative for at least a few minutes every day for some sanity. I've made great progress on my Mom's, my sister's, and my in-law's Christmas gifts. Now if my Dad would stay away from his laptop long enough for my Mom to take measurements, I'd be a little closer to having more than half the Christmas gifts I'm making this year well on their way to completion.

I have a finish, albeit a really simple one. It is one of the bags we'll be using to 'wrap' Christmas gifts this year, rather than dealing with wrapping paper and tape. A) It's great for the environment; and B) It's great for the lazy mother that tires easily of wrapping gifts (a.k.a., ME). And who doesn't love that little robin holding on to a letter for Santa with a little bit of gold sparkle to it?



Next, I was just messing around with some HSTs. I needed to add a HST listing to AccurateCuts' etsy store and needed pictures to do so. I ended up piecing the HSTs just because I could and knew I wouldn't have to trim them to square them up after. :o) 

Not quite sure what I'll make out of the square though. I don't have more of the fabric, the rest is being used in my TSX quilt that is sitting in a pile in a deep dark corner of my sewing nook not to be resurected until maybe February, or more realisticly April.

Anyone out there making charity quilts that could use a 12 1/2" square (as pictured above) for a charity quilt? I'd be happy to donate it.

WIP Wednesday -- Stroller Blanket

If I had to describe sewing in one word, I would chose "empowering".

When I am using something and I don't like how it functions, or I can't find what I want in a fabric I like, I know I can make it. That is an amazing feeling for me.

This week's post is a prime example of that. I am tired of picking the blanket from the stroller off of the ground. It doesn't matter what ingenious way I try to wrap it around her legs, it will come off. She doesn't seem to care that I've wrapped it around her legs to keep her warm. It's like she thinks it's the "let's pull every book off the shelf" game. Fun for her, not so much for mom.

So, I'm in the process of making a warm sac for strollering. We walk just about everywhere, and this just seems like something I can't live without. Why I can't buy this in stores I don't understand. But it is okay, because I'll just make it if you don't want to sell it to me you baby product marketers out there.  :oP

So without further ado, here's my stroller sac (so far)!

I've used a really soft and cuddly flannel on both the inside and the outside with two layers of my go-to batting (Warm and Natural). I had some fun with my new sewing machine and played around with my choice of stitches on the quilting.

 And to make sure I don't infringe on the safety features of the stroller, I added an extra large buttonhole on the back to allow the safety strap to go through.

I still have to finish off the top and I'm thinking of putting in some short ties with snaps to connect to the stroller. Haven't quite decide if I want to use a piece of matching solid for that or if I'll just continue with the same fabric.

WIP Wednesday--A completion? Maybe not

I'm really, really happy that I decided to go with the prairie points on this pillow for my niece, I think they are really cute and set off the 3D pinwheels nicely. 

With my AccuQuilt Studio I was able to cut out the triangles needed for HSTs, but I sewed them on their two short seams to make my prairie points. Not your typical method, but the results are really nice looking. That is until you get to sewing the layers of fabric around the edges of this pillow. . . 

Don't mind my daughter's bum in the bottom left corner. I was going to just crop her out,
but the smiling jack-o-lantern makes me smile, so I decided to leave it.

I have a little issue on one of my corners. Do I tear it all out and fight with my machine over the multiple layers again? (I don't get my new machine until the end of November) Do I tear it out and wait for the new machine which does a better job on multiple layers to fix it? Or, do I accept that it's not perfect and my niece is young enough that she's going to love it even with a botched corner? I do have a lot of other Christmas sewing to get on with and can't hold everything off for the better machine. . .


I have soooo much more I want to share with you all, but alas it is mostly secret Christmas sewing going on right now. I wouldn't want people to see what they are getting in advance on here so you are missing out for the time being. 

WIP Wednesday, a quilt show, and my new love--the Horizon 7700

Guess what? I can free-motion quilt! And not only can I do it, but I'm actually pretty good. Now this might sound like bragging, and it probably is, but. . . I've been really, really intimidated about trying to do this. And yet at the same time, I've been annoyed with myself for not trying outside of one REALLY BAD try on my current machine. I'm been feeling like my creativity has been limited. I have all these great ideas about quilting for my quilts, and I want to be the one to do it. Anyway, back to the point. . . 

Friday, my husband took the day off work and after taking care of some administrative things, the rest of the day was a Tammy day. After lunch at Ikea, we headed to Triangle Sewing Centre in Guelph and I tested out the Janome Horizon 7700. Wowzer, this machine is not only beautiful, but is very talented and intelligent too! Sorry honey, I think I'm in love.  :oP  Just check out these stitches!

I definitely put the machine through it's paces. I brought some difficult fabrics with me. One of which was a really gauzy and stretchy knit fabric and I didn't bring any stabilizer. On the first pass it wasn't too happy, but with a couple adjustments on settings and with a different foot (that comes standard with the machine) it totally did it (happily too) and with only two layers of fabric! I tried out a couple pieces of the four-way stretch fabric I made a couple infinity dresses out of this summer on auto tension and there was zero waving of the fabric. And to boot, the machine has a stitch for stretch fabrics that is very close to a straight stitch, but has the stretch and strength of a zig-zag. I knew I'd be happier sewing on a machine where I would have things like the ability to change the stitch width and length, needle down, a bigger harp, and the ability to use a walking foot. But WOW, WOW, WOW. It was hard walking out of the store without the machine, but alas I must complete my comparison shopping and save a bit more money first.

But that wasn't it for Friday. . . we just had enough time to pop over to the next city and see the Grand National Quilt Show 2011. The pictures on the site don't do the quilts justice. They were truly works of art. I wish I had of had more than 30 minutes to view them, but I am just happy I had a chance to go. Definitely I plan on returning to see next year's show. I really enjoyed seeing Anna Hergert's piece called Global Warming - Benefit or Peril. I loved how the quilt could be adjusted and have a totally different look.

Image belongs to Anna Hergert

Image belongs to Anna Hergert

Now it's time to talk about what I'm working on. I haven't accomplished a ton of sewing, but I did get some 3D pin wheels pieced. I'm making a pillow cover for my niece, now I just have to put the back on.

I started out with some more of the HSTs my Mom gave me and sewed them together to make the tradition square you'd start with for 3D pin wheels. 

I then needed to square them up, so I cheated and used my AccuQuilt Studio and a 3 1/2" strip die to square them.

They just look so much nicer after they get the nice clean "I've just been cut" edges.

From there, I cut out some charm squares in Kona Turquoise and pieced them together.

I've also started to piece a stacked coin quilt in red and white with some lovely fat quarters I got back in April. I had a few minutes this morning and managed to get all the strips cut before my daughter woke up. I love it when she sleeps in until 9am! I didn't get a chance to grab any photos though. Next week.

I'm also planning on finishing the Brown Bear quilt I started a while ago. It won't be long until that baby makes it's way into the world. I better get cracking. Now where did I put those letters I've already cut that need to be appliqued. Hmmmm....

Check out what everyone else is working on here:

WIP Wednesday

Did you miss me? Probably not ;o)


On top of my husband working insane hours, we all got sick. We also started to move my sewing space. I've now upgraded from a 4' x 2' closet to a 4' x 11' space in the bedroom. I still managed to fit some sewing in, but just wasn't up to blogging. After all, I sew for sanity.


I finished my Asian bargello quilt top! I plan on quilting this by machine once I have a machine that can handle it. I still plan on quilting a really big koi fish so it may be a while before this gets quilted. I haven't tried free motion quilting before. . . so it may be a little bit until I'm good enough to quilt this. I looked into having someone else long-arm quilt it for me and they wanted over $200 +shipping! Ouch! I think it can wait for me.

I also made my daughter a cloth book this week. After my daughter was found sticking a library book in her mouth, I decided it's time to increase her library with some books that can be chewed on. 

Now most would go to the store and buy some, but they are ALL polyester! Ewww. I'm sorry, I know some think I'm going overboard on this, but I really don't want her putting polyester in her mouth. That stuff has nasty chemicals that you can't wash out and end up in her little body. I just can't do it. So, we're making them. My Mom sent a really cute one that she embroidered for her. And I'm working on a couple designs that I'll get printed by spoonflower.com. 

What has everyone else been working on? Check it out here:

WIP Wednesday on Friday again--machine pieced cathedral windows

Did I finish my place-mats? Nope. Did I start something new? Yeap. Oh well, it's all good. I have a couple finishes (yay!)


This week I started and finished the Tinkerbell skirt for my niece and it's ready to hit the postal system and make it's way halfway across our great country. I used Dana of Made's simple skirt tutorial.

I made some peacock feather earrings and blogged about it here.


I also got a little bit further with my machine pieced cathedral window quilt. It was started in a course my Mom and I took together. Do you want to see it so far? You might want sunglasses for this one!

I machine pieced it, but I'm hand stitching the 'windows'. You definitely could machine stitch those, but I'm not that talented with my machine (yet). Plus, I find it kind of relaxing to sit and sew by hand. Maybe not an entire queen sized quilt any time soon, but for a pillow cover I think it is just right. When this is finished, it will probably be a Christmas gift for someone. After all it is made with some of my prized Kona cottons.

Now for the exciting part! I plan on taking the concept of this pattern and making it my own. I think I've figured out how to do a diamond cathedral window quilt, mostly by machine! You tell me, how cool do you think that would be? Maybe not this week though. . . the sewing is piling up and my six month old daughter has some nasty eczema that she keeps trying to scratch and may be getting her 5th tooth. Poor little thing!

Still in the works:

* Brown Bear, Brown Bear quilt. I still need to get embroidery needles for my machine (and some thread) so I can satin stitch around the letters in the border.

* My Asian bargello quilt. Didn't touch this at all this week

* Some clothing alterations for my husband and I. This needs to move up the list. I'm breastfeeding and the pounds are just falling off. . . and so are my pants!

* Felt circle curtains. I still need to get a piece of doweling to hang them from.

* My machine pieced cathedral window piece from the quilting course my Mom and I took as her  Mother's Day gift.