April 28, 2013

Outdoor fun!

We had to get outdoors with all this great weather we are having here in the DC area.
My family took a trip to Ikea (my fav!) and got some new patio furniture. When we stopped in on the fabric section I knew I had to get some of the navy gingham for a table cloth. Once I got home I set to work.
An hour later I had this!
I totally went in blind on this one. Wasn't sure my construction method was going to work out, but luckily it was perfect. I was nervous since I wanted to add the zipper to accommodate the umbrella in the middle of the table. It was actually super easy. I'm definitely going to make another one and I might even make a tutorial out of it so you guys can see how simple this really was.
Have you guys been inspired by the weather lately?




April 21, 2013

Bow ties

An old friend of mine is throwing her little girl a Tutu & Bow Tie party. How fun is that?
I offered my sewing services and am making the bow ties for the little men attending.
Love the Reiley Blake fabric my friend chose.
Now to try the tester out on my son to see if it's ready to mass produce :)

April 17, 2013

Baby Quilt

A good friend of my husband (and now mine) is having a baby girl in the next month. This past weekend was the baby shower and I knew I had to sew something up for them. What better than a quilt!?
Their nursery is all bright pink with chevron and polka dots (super cute!)
Having a toddler I don't have a ton of time, so I went with a very modern and minimal design. A bold zigzag on the front and a bold stripe on the back. I did something new to me with the quilting. I echoed the lines of the zigzag, but varied the space in between them. As the zigzags were further from the pink bold pieced zigzag the further apart the quilting lines became. I wasn't too sure how it would turn out, but I am totally digging it.
The black and white binding was just my way to add a bit of pizazz to the otherwise simple color scheme of the quilt.
Hope Baby Francesca enjoys snuggling up to her quilt!

*my nephew is modeling with the quilt in the pictures... He's a big fan of quilts! He played with it for at least 20 min. Makes me happy when quilts are loved!



English Paper Piecing

So I'm diving in an another English Paper Piecing project (epp). If you haven't tried epp I highly recommend it! You use a paper base the shape you wish to use, wrap fabric around it and baste it in place. do this numerous times and then you connect your shapes together to form a design.
I started this one on the plane to QuiltCon without really knowing what it would turn into. After many diamonds basted I started playing around with quilt designs in my head.
This is the design that won :)

Sorry for the weird picture... The quilt is just laying on a bunch of stuff in my studio when I snapped this pic :)

Next is the actual quilting. Still playing around with some options... Though I'm pretty sure I want to use some form of straight line quilting.
If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment. I would appreciate some insight :)

Some sewing

I put down the crochet a moment to sew a little something for a friend.

I love this bag! It's from the book "Sew What You Like: the Easiest, Prettiest Projects Ever" by Tanya Whelan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307586731)
It's quick and easy (as the title of the book says) to sew up and not to mention very convenient. It's the perfect size and shape.



April 2, 2013

Crochet craze...

I am really into crocheting lately. I think I like it because it is easily portable. When I have to run around after my little man it's easy to put down quickly and pick right back up.
I picked up a few yards of t-shirt fabric and started cutting strips to make my "yarn". One I had it all cut I started crocheting with my incredibly big hook.
I totally love how its turning out... The only problem is I ran out of "yarn". Lets hope there is still the same color at the fabric store.