Taking the Plunge

I'm cheap. A tightwad on a good day, but cheap when it all comes down to it. At least when it comes to spending for myself. I don't like to spend extra money, even on really little things. Movies? No way, too expensive! That pair of shoes that I'm in love with? Not practical, I'll never wear them. If there's a deal to be found, I'll find it. I pride myself on consistently feeding myself weekly in under 40 dollars.

But when I see fabric that I looovvveee, I'm sunk. No project in mind? Who cares?! I just spend he equivalent in my grocery budget on fabric. On 2 yards total of fabric. Two half yards from one shop plus shipping, and one yard from another shop plus shipping. It's 'spensive fabric. Nope, not Liberty of London. You can still find that. Far Far Away II by Heather Ross.

I've had my eye on this fabric since it came out, but I could never justify the cost since it is rather expensive. But I just found out I'm having another niece or nephew, and another sib has resumed trying. And I already have a boy quilt planned out. So, I got two of those FFA2 prints on sale. Score, good job Meg. Way to continue in your tightwad ways.

And then, all of a sudden, I was searching for Roses in Dusk (my absolute favorite of the line), and I couldn't find it anywhere! Not at any of my primary shops, not at any of my secondary shops. I was a mad woman. Frantic. I had to have this print. The collection I have in my head just would NOT be complete without this print! This print is what attracted me to the line in the first place. What do you mean it's sold out everywhere?! Someone must have it! WHERE IS IT?!

I found it, though. At a tiny little etsy shop. I found it. And I paid 18 dollars for 1 yard of it (shipping inclusive). I've never paid that much for one piece of fabric before. And dammit, I'm okay with it. Because even if neither couple has a girl, I know there'll be more to come. If there's one thing my world could use a little bit more of, it's babies.

Although I'm having trouble with the fact that I just spent 40 dollars. But I worked overtime this week (50 hours for the win), so I'm pretty sure I'll get over it.

Crafty Christmas

Student teaching, while great in some ways, is not so great on the money front. As in, it doesn't pay anything.

As such, this Christmas is going to be a crafty Christmas! Luckily, I already had my brother and sister-in-law's presents bought (they're hard to make things for). And while my mom would be super happy to get something homemade, I really wanted to get her something specific. I'm not going to mention it here in case she reads, but it's great and she's going to love it.

L, my 1.5 year old nephew, loves cars. His third word, after Mama and Dada, was car. And so, I made him a Matchbox Roll from an old pair of jeans, a fat quarter of Patty Young's Flora & Fauna Dandelion in Lime, and some scraps. The road is black duck cloth from G's curtains, and yellow scraps are from my scrap bag. The tie is a sweatshirt hood string from an old sweatshirt that I don't wear anymore.

My step-sister K is extraordinarily hard to buy for. Her lifestyle is that if there's anything she wants, she'll just buy for herself. She loves entertaining and cooking; she's very modern, though, so most handmade items don't really fit her style. I've been thinking for a long time, and I decided that she'd really enjoy cloth napkins for when she entertains. I had a spare yard of Tula Pink's Hushabye Dragonfly in Aqua lying around, so I cut it into four squares that measured 18" x 18". The finished napkins are about 17" squared with the seam allowance, and it's quite time consuming doing it by hand, but I'm really quite happy with how they're turning out!


You can't really see the hems that well, but I swear they look good.

Remember How I'm Still Here?

Because I am.

Student teaching is really starting to get crazy. Performances are starting, lots and lots of rehearsals, and the little tiny bit of cash that I worked for all summer is now an even tinier bit of cash (why is life so darn expensive? someone please explain this to me).

Which means an after-school/ weekend job for me. Because being a full-time teacher who doesn't get paid apparently doesn't pay the bills. So, if I'm not really around a whole lot in the near future, please remember, it's not because I'm not here. I am. I just probably don't have a whole lot to talk about in my sewing world. Hopefully that changes, but I'm not holding my breath.



In other news, I have made some headway in my Little Folks quilt. I also bought some awesome fabrics because I have an addiction to buying really cute bits of fabric that are only 10 bucks a yard (with shipping!), so really, it's a bargain.

Also, an addiction.

All Quiet on the Sewing Front

Sorry there haven't been posts as of late. Subbing has kept me busy, and a healthy fear of cutting into and then sewing together my precious Little Folks fabric has kept me away from my machine.

I did start sewing together some rows of LF a few days ago. My machine promptly then decided to stop working (I think the needle threader hates me, as do all of the tension settings). While part of me is super disappointed, there's another part of me that would just rather be handsewing it all anyway. I'm much better at it, I get much less frustrated, and I think that the product lasts longer when properly stitched by hand (I'm going to research this soon, for proof of my theory). But then I remember that there are 118 blocks to that quilt. And I'm not so sure I'd like to tackle something like that. We'll see. I might take the machine in first to see how much it'd be to repair it.


One adventure I have partaken in! I want to have a pieced backing for this quilt, so I cut out (too many) 2.5" squares. Because of the overflow of those squares, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. I started a paper-pieced hexagon pillow that will match my beauteous quilt.

The hexagons are all basted and pieced; I just have to determine what size pillow this will be, and the general construction of the thing. I lurve the LF fabric all together; seriously, this square could not be any cuter. Pictures soooooooon.

Sneakery Peakery

I Won... Again!

Hooray!!! There was a lovely giveaway at My Three Sons that I entered, and won!

Angela was super sweet! I'm getting (about) a Fat Quarter of each fabric, and I'm so excited!! I'm in love with the goldfish fabric. And the dandelion fabric. Both of them (but I'm really partial to the goldfish fabric). I think it'll be perfect to use in a project for Logan (project undetermined at this point, but I may be thrust into action upon seeing it in person).

I'm so excited. Thank you Angela for this wonderful giveaway!!

A Sneak Peek

So, mostly days at college are way too busy to do any sewing. Also, I'm too poor to buy more fabric for a project. And I have absolutely no room to do anything. BUT.

I did win those FQs of California Dreamin. And I do have a plan for them. And now I even have a little recipient. So, tonight, I got motivated (slash I didn't want to do that paper that's staring me in the face).

Here's a sneak peek of things to come...



In other news, I have final thoughts on P&K's quilt. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it so right I can't even stand it. Throw to twin sized quilt, quilted by me, with high quality fabrics. If all of these small projects have taught me anything, it's that I'm not at a high enough skill level to tackle a job of this importance, and I'm not really in a place financially where I can get the kind of fabric quality that I'm looking for. So, for now, I'll have to wait on it. Maybe for their first anniversary, or for a Christmas present. We'll see.

Buttercup Bag!

It's done! I made it and it's pretty and I like it.

It's a little small for an everyday purse, but as a concert purse? Win.

Break's Done

My spring break is now effectively over. Well, I have today. But that's it. I think I did pretty well on my list.

1. The two curtains for G are all done, AND I even made him another one for the other side of the basement. They fit perfectly, and I think he is really happy with them.
2. I got my dress all finished up. I can't wait for summertime when I can wear it!
3. I have everything I need for the Buttercup Bag. Even though I didn't get it finished, I can blame that on not being able to print out the pattern, and at least now that I'm at school, I'm capable of having it done.
4. I planned out entirely the California Dreamin quilt. Mostly I'll be using the Morning colors, but there will be some Afternoon colors (confession: Afternoon is my favorite of the two, and I can't bear to part with 2 of the quarters). Since it'll be mostly pink, it's going to be a little girl's quilt. Now all I need to find is someone with a little girl.
5. I have rethought and reworked P&K's quilt. More on that to come.
   

I WON!

I WON A FABRIC GIVEAWAY AND OH BOY AM I EXCITED!!!!!!

I won a fat-quarter SET of Jenean Morrison's California Dreaming fabric, which is the very first fabric that I found online that I fell head over heels in love with. Oh man oh man oh man!! That's 4 yards of fabric!!! Beautiful FREE FABRIC!


I already have a plan for it. It's going to be SO GOOD! Mhm it is.

More Fabric for P&K

Just purchased this BEAUTIFUL FABRIC for P&K's quilt from an Etsy store called Whipstitch. I had previously bought some fabric there, and the experience was kind of so-so (10+ days of waiting for the fabric to arrive, plus a misunderstanding regarding the order). Long story short, I ended up leaving a polite, but honest review. I ended up pressing the negative button by accident; I meant to leave a neutral review, but had a headache and was trying not to look at the screen for very long.

The lady felt so badly that I had left a negative review that she offered to refund my shipping costs! I refused this offer, since I'm about 80% positive that the reason the fabric isn't here is the freak weather in the south right now that is shutting down federal buildings (including mail), and explained that hadn't meant to leave a bad review! I changed my listing to be positive, since she had been so accommodating for me. She was still bummed that I had only had a so-so experience, so she ended up giving me store credit!

And so, I bought this fabric for P&K's quilt:

It's from Tula Pink's line Hushabye, called Dragonfly in Aqua. I left the picture bigger so you could see the pretty design in it! It will be perfect in this quilt, I think. And I bought a WHOLE YARD OF IT! How much did I pay for a yard of this beauteous DESIGNER fabric? 2 bucks, plus shipping. Thank you Deb!

New Approach

Two fabrics I ordered for P&K's quilt came in today (the floral print, from Amy Butler's Love collection, and the dandelion print). And look a bit different in person than they did online. I guess that's the problem with buying over the internet, through pictures. Both are beautiful fabrics. I love them individually, and will NOT have a problem finding something to use them in. But together? Not so much.

The Love print I got just isn't going to work for a boy's quilt. I really like the dandelions, but they're a bit brighter than I had thought they would be. Think less mustard-y colored. I'll make it work. As far as I know now, I'm still going to be using the dandelion's in Patrick's quilt. We'll see how the other fabrics work in with them. I just wish this brightness didn't make me timid to buy the Dogwood print; in the pictures, they go together perfectly. But I don't think this bright green will match the muted olive very well.

I think I'm just going to start over. Use the four-square fabric as a jumping point, and just go from that. But in person. I'll go to Joann's and just look for fabrics that are along the lines of the original quilt. Not an exact copy, of course, but probably similar. She already knows I'm doing it anyway :)

P&K Quilt

So, the other quilt that I have in mind is going to be a wedding present for my big brother. I already have the top planned, and I am working on getting the fabrics coordinated and bought. I asked my soon-to-be SIL what her favorite colors were, and this is the response I got:

fav colors huh? I love soft yellows, dark purples. I like blues but in smaller quantities. Def lighter shades of blues and teals than the dark shades. I like green a whole bunch as well as hot pinks and I guess it's obvious I like red hehe.

So, I've been working on getting fabrics that are manly enough to put in a quilt for my brother, but that fit those boundaries. I've decided to focus on green, with some purples, yellows, and blues. I'm having a hard time with the blues; everything I like has LOTS of blue in it, or has a beautiful dark blue color.

Here's what I have already ordered so far:













Here's what else I want to order:

I need about 4-5 more fabrics, if I stick with two of the above. I'm thinking the middle and the third; the middle is a more manly print, and I'm basically just in love with the elegance of the third (hey Mom, it's named Dogwood, and have it in a BEAUTIFUL blue that I almost bought to use for you later). The only problem I'm having is that it's alot of floral prints so far (do the dandelions count as floral?)

Here's the link for what I'm planning to do with these fabrics, give or take a bit. It's from Cluck. Cluck. Sew.

Thoughts?

Little Folks Quilt

I have some big ideas. As I said, I have two quilts in the planning stages. For both, I already have a top planned and am working on acquiring the fabric, little by little. One is for me, one isn't.

Since the one that isn't for me is going to be the one I'm working on the most in the next couple of months (maybe it'll be faster than that... we'll see), I thought I'd tell you about the one I'm going to be making for myself. Eventually.

When Anna Maria Horner came out with her Little Folks line, I fell in love. I was brand new in the virtual sewing community and I fell in love with her use of color and pattern, especially in the Midnight colorway. And so, I decided that I would like to make a quilt for myself from her cotton voiles, as a memory of my first steps towards being a *real* quilter.

Here's what the Midnight colorway looks like:


I know. It's amazing. I already have two half-yard cuts that I got on sale, and a plan for my quilt top. It's going to be very simple, just normal blocks, quilted diagonally. I think I'm going to do the back in an interesting way, but I need to think about it a little more, first.

Ok Mom, what do you think? Like the colors and prints? Obviously I won't be getting the all fabrics for a while yet, but I like the idea of the plan.