the jelly bean quilt

A friend of mine is having her third baby in just a couple months and I am so excited for her. They will be welcoming their third girl into the world and I knew right away that I wanted to make her a quilt. I have never actually gifted any of my quilts though and was a little nervous about quality control for a gift. I chose a rainbow design, heavy on the pinks and bound in that great seed fabric from the Flea Market Fancy line by Denyse Schmidt. The back is all grey solid.

The quilt is only about 40"x50" so it came together in just a few short hours. The next day I got it all ready to quilt and totally forgot to tape the back down when I pinned it! Didn't even cross my mind for some reason. Probably because I quilt pillows a lot and I don't have to worry about that. So as could be expected there was some shifting, not a ton but some on the back where the fabric just didn't lay perfectly flat as I was quilting. I turned it over to check about 1/2 way through and was not happy!! It was too far along to rip all those stitches out, I don't have the patience for that. I finished the quilt anyway to see how it would turn out and threw it in the wash so it could get nice and soft and fluffy. That really hid a lot of the mistakes thankfully. I decided it was gift worthy. The funny part is that when I was wrapping the quilt, my 4 year old was with me and I said, "Well, it's not perfect but I think it looks nice and hope she will like it. Besides nothing in life is perfect anyway." She looks at me and replied, "that's true Mom, except for jelly beans because they are pretty much perfect!"

So this is the jelly bean quilt for a sweet little baby soon to greet us all :)

pink quilt: all done!

The pink plus quilt top is back from the long arm quilter and I have gotten the binding on! My little girl got to sleep under it for the first time the other night. No coming into my room in the middle of the night saying she is cold, so I would say that's a good start! I love the bubble pattern I chose for this quilt and once it was all washed and dried, it got so soft and just perfect!

Now everyone has a mama made quilt and I can move on to plans for a throw quilt for the couch. I have been spying this pattern from Amy Butler to try next. The backing of this quilt was made with Amy's new line Soul Blossoms.

Hope your weekend gets off to a great start. We are celebrating my oldest's birthday. Makes a mama feel old watching her boy turn 11. So proud of the young man he is becoming!

"that's a lot of pink" quilt top

That is what my husband said when he came into the room and saw this quilt going up on the design wall- "wow, that's a lot of pink!" But it's for a 4 year old girl who only likes pink, of course it's a lot! I used 3 1/2" squares (300 of them) to make this plus quilt design. I threw in a few shades of purple and then some of my favorite prints from my stash. There is a lot of nice subtle variation that makes the crosses pop I think. And once it is quilted, it should really look better. This quilt was totally inspired by this quilt, made by Film in the Fridge that I saw online a few months back. Isn't that pretty? Love her quilts!

This is the first time I used a design wall to help me with a quilt. Simply hang a large piece of flannel on the wall ( I used a sheet) and all your blocks will stick like magic. I left it up there for several weeks while I worked on the quilt top. No more setting it all up on the floor and having to clean it up, just to put it all back down again later.

Quilt top measures 45"x60", good size for a little one. I had 20 rows of 15 squares. I have sent this off to Back Porch Quilters and should get it back soon. I knew it would take too long and it is so cold here these days, I wanted it done quick!! I will post pictures as soon as I get it back.

Happy Monday!

back to school dress

A poolside sewing tutorial from my dear friend Heather taught me how to make this oh so sweet and simple pillow case style dress. I used the unicorn print from Heather Ross's Far Far Away line and the coordinating orange floral for the bow. I sewed this for Kate before her first day of preschool this week. Got to go back to school in style, right? I just wish I had tried this pattern at the beginning of summer. Hope your end of summer or back to school season is going well.

Happy Weekend!

little goodies

My youngest turns 4 in a few days. So amazing, so fast it is going. We had a little party to celebrate and it was a good opportunity to get me out of my sewing/blogging slump! Little goodie bags made from all of my favorite polka dot fabric stash. I filled them with crayons, lollipops and little homemade coloring books. Lots of fun and worth the time. Loving Handmade, especially for our most special memories. Hope your summer was great, sent the kids off to school this morning and getting back into the swing of things!

works in progress

I have been sewing a bit the past few days after I bought some really nice linen from Sew Mama Sew. It is a nice heavy weight that would be good for home dec. projects. I have been wanting a new bag for a while and decided to use the linen to make a patchwork tote with some of my favorite fabrics. It is still in progress b/c the handles are too long and the whole bag is kind of huge so I am not totally done...yet. But on to the linen, which I love the look of in sewing projects. I practiced some sketching with thread (for lack of a better name) on linen with fabric scraps. It is fun to do and the possibilities are endless. Simply, iron on your fabric that is backed with fusible interfacing to the linen in the shape you want. Using your darning foot, you stitch the outline of the shape as you would with a marker or pen. I like the whimsical look of going around a few times and using a dark brown or black thread looks best. Now these are just rough examples but I have a fabric canvas idea brewing in my head that could look pretty cool. Here are some more ideas from flickr of what you could dream up: here and here.My 3 year old is sick today so sewing will slow a bit! She is listening to a book on tape right now which has been one of my best parenting finds since my oldest was little. Great in the car or in the house, they love it! Have a great day!

pillow swap 3 : modern simplicity :

The pillow swap that I have mentioned in the past is hosting sign-ups right now over on flickr. If you are interested in joining this fun group of sewists and getting a pillow in return, head on over and sign yourself up quick! And don't worry you will have lots of time to make your creation. I think they don't have to go out until the beginning of June. I have participated twice over the past year and have really enjoyed the group, the discussions and the pillwos I have received from other members. Will have to share those pictures here soon! This picture is the mosaic I made for my partner to see my style so they can get to "know" me a bit before they start. The top picture is the pillow I sent out for the last swap to my partner.
Are you in?

the pillow swap 2

Last year sometime I participated in a pillow swap group over on flickr. There was a small group of sewers with very similar tastes and we did a blind swap for pillows. This year the little group has really grown and I was happy to sign up because it's lots of fun and I love a surprise! This is my pillow that I completed and will be sending out to my secret pal this week. This pillow got me back into sewing after my back surgery and it was a great project to warm my machine up again. I just hope she loves it!
I used lots of varying prints in blues and turquoise then stippled it and added a binding. It measures 20"x20"- big! If you are over on flickr and want to join a swap, I encourage you to try it. There are lots of different ones to try and everyone is sew nice! You can go see the other pillow creations in the group here.

::over the weekend::

There was lots of this...

And even a bunch of this too...(more on that tomorrow!) Hope your weekend was warm and cozy with the ones you love.

lovely fabrics and a giveaway too!

(Playground Palette)

Recently I bought a little bit of Anna Maria Horner's new line called Little Folks. It is made out of voile which is just so lovely and light weight. Kind of like the lawn cotton from Liberty of London. When you are lying around healing from back surgery, it can be very dangerous not to buy a ton of fabric while surfing the web! There is not much else to do! But I was good and just got 3 fat quarters thinking I would make a scarf. Has not happened yet, but it will!

I ordered from Harts Fabric and was very pleased with their prices, customer service and fast shipping. Today they are having a giveaway on their blog for a free yard from the Little Folks line! So go check it out here and sign up to win!

As for me, I am s.l.o.w.l.y healing from surgery and getting better each day. I am dying to be able to sew again and have stashed a million new project ideas in my head! The body knows what it is doing but sometimes the mind gets impatient waiting! See you soon. Hope you have a great day!

:corners of my home:

I created 2 pillows last month to sell at our holiday craft shows. I was pretty happy that they did not sell because they work just perfectly on my new couch! To make these pillows, I sewed a large panel of different widths of some of my favorite greens that were cut in strips. I also included some solids from the Amy Butler collection. Her solids are really nice and come in a beautiful variety of colors. I then took my large piece of sewn strips and made a sandwich with some natural cotton batting and solid cotton for the backing. I stipple quilted the whole thing. Then, I cut this into two squares: one measures 20"x20" and the other is 16"x16". I thought I would like to add a bit of applique to one and chose this bird template, found here. Easy enough to cut out and stitch on. Finished them both by sewing the backs for the pillow and voila!

I enjoy using quilting in small projects like this that still keep a simple, modern design. I am lately becoming green obsessed and these pillow add that touch of color that our sofa needed!

handmade holidays show

Here is a sneak peek of some of the fun things Olliekate will be selling at our 2nd annual craft show. Along with many other talented women and crafters we will be hosting a handmade holidays show for our friends and community. I am really excited and looking forward to the start of the holiday season. Lots to do, lots to do! (can you see all the packing boxes in the background? We are moving right before the show!)
The monster hat is made by my olliekate partner Rebecca. This one is Kate's but you can get one for your little monster at the show and the key fobs were whipped up by me so you may never lose your keys again!

time is flying by

I'm still here, I swear and time is moving as quickly as the leaves are falling around here! The blog has taken a back seat as we are preparing to move in a couple weeks and busy with all that entails. A reminder though if you are in Asheville and interested in coming to our fall craft show~ send me an email and I will get the info out to you. It will be Nov. 15th.

Here are some shots for my sewing friends of a pillow I just finished out of the Anna Maria Horner good folks line for another flickr swap. Because I like a lot on my plate I guess! And our recent trip to the corn maze too. Hope your fall is off to a beautiful start...

embroidery

Recently I got an email from a sweet woman named Tasha who invited me to join a flickr group for embroidery. I wrote her back to say, that I didn't know how to embroider and had never really tried, so I didn't think I would be a good person for a hand stitched theme. Ever since I have been sewing, I have always said: I don't sew by hand. Truth is, I never really tried. When I put the binding on my first quilt, it felt so wonderful! Well anyway, Tasha was sweet enough to take my response as a chance to open me up to embroidery. She has the cutest little shop over at etsy that sells embroidery patterns. She sent me a pattern for a cute little dress along with some pointers and directions to get started. I like a good challenge and agreed to give it a go!And you know what? I really liked sewing by hand! It was relaxing and rewarding and a nice change from being on my machine. Now, I included my example below and I know it is full of mistakes: like stitch length for one! But remember I am a beginner but now I want to give her other patterns a try to make this cute dress series for my little girl's room!

So thank you Tasha for introducing me to a new hobby and your wonderful shop and blog. If you would like to check it out you can follow the links below. Here's to trying something new!

A Little Sweetness: find lots of sweet patterns and more
Tasha's Blog : for more embroidery inspiration

loving

Look how adorable this little burlap bucket is! I am loving it. Wondering what those initials stand for? Work In Progress, to hold all your unfinished projects and bring them along to work on. It is from this etsy seller: Maya*Made. And she sells her patterns here. May just have to be a little birthday present for myself coming up soon! So clever, love to see what others create, don't you? And that certainly reminds me of all the works in progress I have accumulating around here! Hope your week is off to a creative start!

And these adorable examples of what you can do with the pattern found over on flickr!

sewing in good company

Can you stand yet another picture of a quilted pillow! But, yes here they are. I had the fun opportunity to spend the weekend with my closest girlfriends...sewing! I made another round of pillows for our Olliekate November Handmade Holidays show. We had so much fun sharing all of our sewing ideas, I am always inspired by these women. I took my first real try at a string quilt method using this tutorial. It was pretty labor intensive but the effect is cool and once quilted I think it will make a neat pillow. I can't imagine making a whole quilt like it at this point though! Too bad the weekend couldn't last longer. Thanks for the fun time girls!

heather ross quilt

My Heather Ross mini quilt is all done, even bound! I love how it turned out and had this idea floating in my head for some time and happy to see it completed. Too many unfinished sewing ideas are swimming around up there! I decided to just quilt it randomly all over and like how it contrasts with all the straight lines. This quilt is for a swap that I am involved with and will be sent off to my partner. I wasn't sure how I would like to do a swap, but it was pretty fun! Just hope she likes it. You can check out some of the other quilts over here, or if you are feeling adventurous you can sign up for the next quilt swap. We also added a little something extra and I made this pin cushion in my favorite flower print from Heather Ross and one of my key fobs to go along too! Hope you are having a good day!

weekend sewing

I somehow managed to get a bit of sewing done this weekend. That is in between putting our house on the market, cleaning, and feeling kind of nuts..oh and 2 soccer games as well. I guess the motivation got to me or the stress and I escaped to my machine for a little while!
We are gearing up for our 2nd annual Handmade Holidays craft fair in November. I am planning on making several of these quilted pillows and here is number 1! I am really happy how it turned out and would love to keep it, but I guess I better try to sell it first! It measures 18"x18" and features lots of my favorite and several out of print fabrics in pinks and greens. I used the softest bamboo batting for the quilting. So I am started now on a boy version and will see what comes next. Hope your weekend was productive or ultimately lazy...whatever you needed!

clothesline quilt

Having to trudge to our basement to do the laundry inspired this little mini quilt for me! I hung it on the door and it makes me just a wee bit less grumpy towards the piles of laundry waiting below. This was so fun to make and at just 10" x 15", it was pretty fast too!

Hope your laundry isn't piling up as well! Have a good day!

swap group Etsy treasury

swap group Etsy treasury
Originally uploaded by janssendesigns

Look who made it into an etsy Treasury! It's Oscar with some fun creations from other etsy sellers and fabric swappers! Yay for Oscar!