Spring 2019 catch up

So much has been going on sewing-wise, but I haven't found the time to blog about it.  Life seems to be a bit of a blur right about now.  And then, the further behind I've gotten in updates, the more daunting the task has become to catch up.  I'll try to dive right in and journal about some of what I've been doing for the past few months....

I've been chipping away at some of my eternal projects.  These are things that don't necessarily have a fully flushed out plan, but are a way to use up scraps and keep me entertained with something different in between bigger projects.

Diamond Log Cabin

I've finished up all the center blocks and decided to make the next ring more orange than yellow.  I have about 6 of them in progress.  I think each block has 18? pieces.  They are tedious for sure!

Wild and Goosey

Also tedious!  I swear I have more than this completed, but I don't seem to have a picture.

Scrappy Log Cabins

These are fun!  I'm taking bigger strips and sewing wonky style.  The scrap pile really doesn't seem to shrink, despite my best efforts.  I think I'll keep making these until I have at least a twin sized quilt.  Each block will finish 12"

Corduroy Totes

I was given 5 yards of red corduroy and 5 yards of black--that's a LOT of corduroy!! Several years ago made a version of a little J. Crew tote bag I had for years and thought that would be a good use for this fabric. With one width of fabric cut, I can make 3 bags. There is enough fabric to make 30 bags!!! That is a lofty goal and I will likely get bored with making these before too long. Lutherdale is having a 'Tiny Treasures' tent at their auction and all items are $25 or less. I thought this might be a good thing to sell there? They did turn out super cute, if I do say so myself! =)

Zippy Pouches

The last thing I'll share today are a few zippy pouches I whipped together a few weeks ago.  The last one is from a hunk of leftover corduroy.

I'll share more about my quilty progress in separate posts.  I have lots of good stuff, including finishes!!

xoxo,
Kristin

ps
Linking up with: Oh Scrap! and Let's Bee Sewcial

Hello 2019!!

Happy New Year!

Winter is in full swing in Madison as of New Year's Eve.  We had a pretty good snow storm for most of yesterday afternoon and evening.  It coated the trees with a beautiful heavy, wet snow.

I wish I could be in my sewing room and enjoy the calm outside the windows, but alas, today is my holiday to work. I can at least fit some blogging in during my downtime!

Recently, I've picked back up something I started 1 year ago.  I'm calling it Black X-String --> for now.  This is the 'group project' I'm leading with my Lutherdale January Quilters.  We meet for 5 days every January and work on our own projects.  Two years ago, I thought-- why don't we do something together that we can donate to their August Auction?  Lutherdale gives so much to us, why not give back?  This pattern has always intrigued me, so I roped in all my fellow sewists to help out.  We had about 50 (?) blocks at the end of retreat.  I've sewn about another 15-ish.  The plan is to make it 8 x 10 and have it quilted before this year's retreat... in 15 days!!  Can I do it?  I sure hope so!

Also under my needle this week is my Scrap Happy Sampler.  I wanted to finish the top by today and I got mighty close.  I worked on it at Late Night Sew Night at Blue Bar Quilts and finished my troublesome spinny square block.  It now fits into the spot to which it belongs.  It needed 4 extra rings, so I'm calling this block "So Extra".  

The borders are ready to go on.  I did one at Late Night and decided this would be easier to do with my set in table.  Less wrestling and more support under the weight of the top.  I'm so close!! Can't wait!

And now for the big winner of my first ever give away......drum roll please....AMY!  Amy is a friend from Mad Mod Quilt Guild and a co-hostess with the mostest of Late Night Sew Night.  I did a bit of 'promoting' of my blog at this month's get together.  Here is the grand prize:

And look at my cool new letter board thingy!  What fun! Santa brought it  (and by Santa, I mean I picked it up at TJ Maxx while shopping)  😜

One last thing to share before signing off... I made another pincushion with Amanda Jean/Crazy Mom Quilt's pattern.  She is 'retiring' from her blog and the pattern writing business.  Her style really inspired me and I made all kinds of projects based off her patterns and tutorials.  I will miss her beautiful creations.  

xoxo,

Kristin

ps

Linking up with: Oh Scrap! and Let's Bee Sewcial

Steamy Saturday Sewing

This weekend was stormy, but only during nighttime hours. Saturday was very hot and muggy and just perfect weather to stay indoors!  I finished the sashing on the strawberry quilt and only have some borders to add before it is ready to be quilted. Woo-hoo!  In other strawberry news, I picked the first strawberry from my garden-- it is super tiny, but oh, so adorable!

I started on a semi-secret zippy pouch.  Actually, I started on a pincushion, but it was turning out too big, so it magically transformed into a zippy pouch! =O  If only I had more free time to sew.  Despite ignoring the housework that needed to be done, I did not have enough time yesterday to finish this. =/

xoxo

Kristin

Stormy Saturday Sewing

Yesterday was a windy, stormy day and it was perfect weather to stay inside and sew!  Unfortunately, before I could start on anything, I needed clean!  My sewing room was a mess!  I tidied for a while and the room is functional again.  I could probably clean and organize for a full day to get it where it needs to be, but I wanted to create!!

The first thing I worked on was re-grouping on an old, old, old project.  It's Goodnight Irene.  This has been a leader ender project for me since the beginning of time.  Well, Ok, February 2014.  I've been making the 4 patches for much longer than that, but in 2014, I started turning them into this pattern.  The end is in sight!  The number of completed blocks is growing and the number of blank 'X' blocks is dwindling.  I prepped a bunch of this to be handy as leader enders and freshened up my supply of 2" squares (they get stale, you know!).

Next up was to make another zippy earbud case to gift to a co-worker.  She did a random act of kindness for me and I have been wanting to surprise her with this as a small thank you.

After that, I pulled out the Strawberries that I started at the Lutherdale Gala weekend.  The blocks were all complete, but the sashing and borders weren't yet cut.  So cut them I did! And sash them!  By the time I got to the longer pieces, the natural light was fading and I didn't feel up to cutting and measuring them.  One thing I would like to do for my sewing room is improve the lighting-- especially at my cutting table.  

The last thing for me was to start another 'Little Lady'.  Doesn't this navy make the most adorable dress!!??!!

All in all, this was a very fun day!  Oh-- and I got my toes done, too.  They match my strawberry quilt!!

I need more stormy Saturdays!! 

xoxo

Kristin

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Sew Fresh Quilts

Zippity Doo Dah!

I haven't had a lot of free time to sew lately, but I have managed to work on a few zippy pouches.  I do have that new 100 pack of 9" zippers!!

For the first time ever, I joined an online swap.  These type of things make me a bit nervous.  I want to make something F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. and I worry that I won't get things done in time for the swap.  One of my friends mentioned they were joining a zippy pouch swap and I thought--hmmmm, that is something I feel comfortable with.  The coordinator is Heather Valentine and she has a website, "Scrappy Girls Club", along with a Facebook group.  To join, we fill out a form with what types of colors we like or dislike, our sewing skill level and whether or not we want to swap within the US or internationally.

My partner is from Texas and likes Reds/Blacks/Oranges/Browns/Greens/Yellows (pretty much everything but blues!!).  I wanted to try something new, so I scoured Pinterest and the interwebs and came up with all kinds of inspiration.

The first thing I made was a vinyl front medium sized pouch.  Several years ago, I did a few things with vinyl and found it to be difficult-- but, that was the time before clover clips existed!!  What a difference those make!!!  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, but the machine stitched binding was tricky (It's not perfect), so this will stay with me!

Next up was a cutie pie pouch with a bow.  The process to make this was ---painful---.  I followed a free online tutorial and it was not good.  =(  I love the style and creativity of this pouch, but it was so frustrating to follow along, that I was rather crabby by the time I completed it.  After giving myself some distance, I came around and thought it was totes adorbs.  So much that I gave it to Heather for her birthday! =)

Well-- I'm 2 pouches in and I don't have anything for my swap partner! Back to the drawing board!  I found this pattern at the Polka Dot Chair.  The original size was 8 x 12 and that was a bit bigger that I was interested in, so I scaled it down to 6 x 9 (I think?).  It turned out fantastic and I sent it off to my partner, along with some goodies!

All in all, this was a fun swap to join and I might try another one someday!  I'm wondering how many of the 100 zips I've used so far? =)

xoxox

Kristin

Fannie's Fleece Jacket

 Yesterday I made the cutest little fleece jacket for my furbaby, Fannie.  She has zero need for a jacket.  She loves the snow and doesn't mind the cold at all.  Her favorite thing to do is to make snow angels by rolling around and when she is done with that, she eats the snow.  Kind of crazy!!  We have had another difficult cold snap this week.  The wind chill factors were well below zero for our walks. I'm hoping that spring weather is not too far away!!  But in the meantime, she can look adorable when I take her to daycare! =)

The pattern is from Simplicity.  The title said "It's so easy" and it was!!! I might be tempted to make a few more.

In other sewing news-- I made another zippy pouch.  This one is from Lazy Girl Designs, the Sweetpea Pods.  The pattern was well written, but I'm not totally in love with it.  It's ok.  Maybe I'll keep my clover clips in it? 

xoxo

Kristin

Zippy!

A few years ago I developed a small obsession with making zipper pouches and other zippy accessories.  I bought a bundle of zippers from ZipIt on Etsy and made all kinds of gifts.  My supply was starting to run low, so I placed another order this week.  They had 9" zippers on sale, so i bought an assortment of 100 for $30!  Woo-hoo!!!  Let the frenzy begin!! =O

Two weeks ago, I bought the pattern Sweetpea Pod from Lazy Girl Designs and was hoping to use my new zips to make some of these cute pouches--- Ooops!  I really should have read the pattern before placing my order!!  I need a 16" zipper to make the pattern and you use half of the zipper and it folds around both sides.  =(  Perhaps I need to place another order from ZipIt?

Yesterday, I tried a tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar for a patchwork triangle zippy case.  I used 2" squares that were already cut for my leader/ender project and made the pouch a bit bigger than the pattern.  I like it, but I am already planning on making another and changing the dimensions.  I think making it rectangular will be a bit more functional.  After finishing this, I found that they have a Pencil Case tutorial, too.  Maybe that will be my next project?  Or another earbud case?

In addition to the zippy pouch, yesterday I made a '1 hour basket'.  This is my second one and because the tutorial includes time in the title, I had to time myself to see how close I was to 1 hour.  1:28!  That isn't bad in my book.  Once I made a 1 hour girl's skirt and I think it took me 6 hours!!

Can't wait to get back in my sewing room and create more goodies!

xoxo
Kristin

Linking up with Molli Sparkles and Sew Fresh Quilts -  Let's Bee Social

Slow Stitching + Stash Enhancement

It's bitter cold in Wisconsin today.  I hate frigid weather (the wind chill factor was -26 F this morning!!-- yuck!), but I love that it is making for a quiet urgent care clinic.  I work x-ray every Sunday at urgent care and it's usually crazy busy.  Quiet shifts are something to relish!!  I brought my EPP hexies with me and am able to get some slow stitches in. =)

I don't have a plan for these.  They are just scraps that I wanted to put to use.  I'm thinking (but not sure) about ringing each one with grey hexies and creating a mini?  I don't know!  I've appliqued a few onto pincushions.  Maybe I can add them to totes or zippy pouches?  In the meantime, I'm focusing on the process.

My big Lutherdale Retreat is coming up this week.  I don't have my project list fully figured out yet.  Maybe I will start 'Hillside Houses' by Pretty Little Quilts?  Just in case, I put in a big order of Moda Bella Solids! I have a lot of cool blues, greens and purples, but was lacking in the warmer tones. The yellows are remarkably similar-- I didn't have my color card handy when I ordered. =( Whatever isn't used in this quilt will be a nice addition to my stash!

I've been wanting to make a few scissors cozies from SOTAK's pattern.  Last Saturday, I finished one and hope to make a few more at retreat.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.