Pack your bags for a Summer Road Trip Quilt Along

Posted on by
2

Confession: I’m really not sure what I’m getting myself into here.  This is the first time I’m jumping into the deep end and attempting to host a quilt along.  I’m a bit scared, to tell you the truth.

But hey!  I’m trying to be all official and stuff.  I made a blog button!  (Do you like it?)

You can grab yourself one for your blog from my sidebar over there.

And there’s a Road Trip Quilt Along Flickr group.  I’d love it if you would come over and join.

Here’s what’s going on.  This summer my family will be traveling through the country on an Epic Road Trip Adventure.  We’ll leave home in Virginia the beginning of June, head to my sister’s wedding in Illinois, travel to Montana where my husband will defend his Master’s thesis, stop off in Denver to visit some friends, and finally return home via my in-laws’ house in St. Louis.  Phew!  It’s exhausting just typing that!  In all, we’ll be driving a cross country loop through 16 different states.

I’ll have my new friend Trixie along for the ride and since each state in the United States has an associated quilt block (often more than one) I thought it might be fun to make a travel quilt with blocks representing the states we travel through.  Then I wondered if perhaps there were some other quilters out there who might like to join in the fun and I decided to start a quilt along.

So, I hope there are some other quilters out there who will quilt along with me!  Are you in?  (At the very least, maybe I can count on my mother?)

I’ve sketched out the blocks we’ll tackle on the journey.

The trip kicks off May 31st with Virginia and I will make my best attempt to post a block a week after that.  Here’s the schedule:

May 31st: Virginia
June 8th: Maryland
June 15th: Pennsylvania
June 22nd: Ohio
June 29th: Indiana
July 6th:  Illinois
July 13th: Iowa
July 20th: Minnesota
July 27th: South Dakota
August 3rd: Wyoming
August 10th: Montana
August 17th: Colorado
August 24th: Kansas
August 31st: Missouri
September 7th: Kentucky
September 14th: West Virginia

And then we’ve returned home to Virginia!

Mothers Day Mug Rugs

Posted on by
2

With now plan for Mothers Day, I suddenly had a stroke of brilliance (in my humble opinion) and decided to make quilted mug rugs for my mother and mother-in-law.

“What,” my husband asked, “is a mug rug?”

It’s a rug for your mug, obviously.  Ha!  Okay, think small placemat or large coaster.  It’s a pop of fun and color for your table large enough for your mug of coffee/tea/hot chocolate/vodka (just kidding) and a little snack (or a big pile of chocolate chips) to go along with it.

I used the scraps leftover from the rainbow double staircase baby quilt I’m working on.  This one has a rail fence design and random zig zag quilting.

The other one has two little wonky stars.  I kind of wish I had used white for the center of the stars as well to make them show up a little better, but I still love them as a more subtle design element.

I tried some free motion loops for the quilting on this one and learned (well, I already knew) and my free motion quilting really needs some work.  Wow.  The quilting is not terrible by any means, but it’s certainly not great, either.  I think I should do some more little projects like this to practice!

I raided my scrap bin for the back and binding and sent them off in the mail not quite in time for Mothers Day.

Meet the machines

Posted on by
2

Since this is a sewing blog, I figure it’s high time I introduce you to the sewing machine who does all the work around here.  Without her, I would be sunk.  Actually, her manual refers to her as a “sewing computer.”  We love each other dearly (most of the time) and make beautiful babies together (and by “babies,” I mean finished projects, of course!).

This is Victoria, so named for all the victorious sewing projects I anticipated we would conquer together (so far, so good on that front).  She goes by Tori and shares a birth week with my baby girl.  I distinctly remember walking into my local quilt shop/Bernina dealer with my mother, and my 5 day old baby snuggled in a wrap on my chest (just the baby was in the wrap, not my mother) and walking out with this machine sewing computer.  Sigh.

Tori is a Bernina 330.  I had been looking at purchasing a new sewing machine for well over a year, and after much research, I decided that a Bernina was the way to go.  I had actually planned to purchase a different machine, as this one was not available when I did my initial research.  As it turned out, though, the 330 was meant to come home with me.  For a trade off of fewer decorative stitches, which I don’t use that much anyway, I got some nice upgrades and a sweet deal in an introductory sale.  Thanks to the “Bank of Mom,” I also had an interest free loan (which now payed off, by the way).

Tori has been recently joined by a new baby sister.  

Her name, Beatrix, or Trixie for short, means “voyager,” and she was purchased specifically to be used during our travels this summer.  We are going to be gone for the better part of two months and I decided that Tori was too large, heavy, and expensive to be hauling all around the country.  I have some sewing bee commitments that I will have to maintain through the summer, not to mention, I’d like to keep posting on this little blog without a 2 month lapse, so I needed a solution for sewing away from home.  Trixie is my solution.

Trixie is a Janome Sew Mini and she is still sew new that I haven’t even sewn a stitch with her yet.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  She was somewhat of an impulse purchase; I only read a few online reviews before I purchased her on a sale from Hancock fabrics.  She is very basic.  She does a straight stitch and three widths of a zigzag stitch, she doesn’t have a light and is definitely not made to go through the rigorous work Tori does, like stitching the straps of a mei tai.  Still, she should be fine with a few layers of cotton, not to mention she is only about 5 pounds, so she will certainly be easy to pack around the country.

I’ll certainly miss Tori this summer, but I hope Trixie can fill my sewing needs while we’re away.

(by the way, anyone else name inanimate objects, like sewing machines, appliances, or cars?)

WIP Wednesday: short sewing week

Posted on by
Reply

My cousin stayed with us this week.  She flew in Thursday and Thursday night she hung out with me while we watched New Girl, drank tea, and sewed together some pieces for the little quilt I’m working on.

Friday and Saturday we were camping (wonderful!) and Sunday was recovering from our triathlon the day before, more New Girl and hanging with the cousin, but without the sewing this time.  This means that I only had half of my usual possible sewing days this week.  Still, I managed to get a few things done here and there.

1.  Three mei tais.  No progress.  

1a.  for Emily
1b.  for Kim
1c.  for Amanda

2.  Be Free Bees May quilt for Bernie.  No progress.  And, Bernie, it seems, has disappeared.  I’m actually a little bit concerned for her, even though I’ve never met her in real life.  We have a mailing deadline of the last day of the month, and Bernie didn’t send on her quilt at the end of April.  We haven’t seen her in our Flickr group since the middle of April, and she now has two of our group member’s projects in her possession: the one that was mailed to her (confirmed delivered May 3) and the one she should have mailed on.  I’m a little bit at a loss about what to do about this, since I’m technically the “group leader.”  I’ve tried looking up her phone number to no avail.  Any suggestions?

3.  Tote bags.  No progress.

4.  Gathered clutches.  Progress!  I told my friend Lorae ages and ages ago that I would make her a clutch.  I finished it this week, as well as another one for her mother.  Several others are cut out.  Yay.  

5.  Design and order woven labels.  No progress.  This should be an easy task.  I just need to DO IT already.  This week.

6.  Skill Builder Sampler blocks.  No progress.  But I’m adding another one.

6a.  Apple core block
6b.  Equilateral triangle block
6c.  Cactus flower block

7.  Double staircase rainbow quilt for A Girl in Paradise guest post.  Progress.  The rows for all nine blocks are complete and the borders are sewn together.

Back burner:
*Warm colors dresden plate: what to do with this?
*Rainbow/color wheel dresden wall hanging.

So, some progress, but no finishes.  The list remains the same.

1.  Three mei tais.

1a.  for Emily
1b.  for Kim
1c.  for Amanda

2.  Be Free Bees May quilt for Bernie.
3.  Tote bags
4.  Gathered clutches
5.  Design and order woven labels.
6.  Skill Builder Sampler blocks

6a.  Apple core block
6b.  Equilateral triangle block
6c.  Cactus flower block
6d.  Hexagon flower block

7.  Double staircase rainbow quilt for A Girl in Paradise guest post.

Back burner:
*Warm colors dresden plate: what to do with this?
*Rainbow/color wheel dresden wall hanging.

Quilt block for the librarian

Posted on by
1

Just as a botanist/quilter such as myself should have a tree quilt, it stands that a librarian/quilter should have a bookcase quilt.  Manda realized this and requested bookcase blocks from her hive members in Bee a {modern} swapper.  I’m not in Manda’s hive, however, she posted a thread requesting a one-for-one exchange.  So, I make her a bookcase block, she makes me a tree block.  Win-win.

While I thought I had measured correctly, I was wrong.  Boo hoo.  I added a strip of the background fabric to the top to compensate.

The books are various sizes and styles, made from my scrap bin, so this was nice scrap buster project.  The book on the left and the one on the right were once pants.  How’s that for up-cycling?!

This particular shelf of the bookcase is decorated with a flower vase that has two flower with disproportionately skinny stems.  Call it “creative license.”  A little wonder under and they were ready to go!  Perhaps I should have picked some flowers with fewer petals to go ’round, but they did turn out well.

Be Free Bees May addition + the process pledge

Posted on by
1

For the month of May in my Free Form Robin, I’m working on Bernie‘s quilt.

Unlike Thea’s quilt in April, when I really struggled to find some inspiration for my addition (never fear, I’m really happy with how it turned out), I had ideas about this one before I even had it in my hands.  I had seen photos of it in our Flickr group and had already begun thinking about what I could add.

This is how the project looked when it arrived at my door.

I wanted to mimic that horseshoe shape across the entire end of the piece, but face it in the opposite direction from the one that is already there.  And I wanted to incorporate something similar to that pieces star that Bernie used for her starter piece.

And here is where things get tricky.  If your eyes start to glaze over when I talk about geometry, just skip down past the next photo!  The original piece is an octagon, and thus the angles are 135°.  However, because of the way the additions were incorporated beyond the original octagon, it made the most sense to add a piece that had just 3 sides (rather than the 4 that would be 1/2 of the octagon).  This meant that the center point of my addition was not an equal distance from all the edges.  In order to fill the space in a manner that makes the points look cohesive, each point had to be individually measured and drawn.  Phew!

I started by drawing one half of my shape.  When I paper piece this, I will cut this portion into four segments.

I’ve already pulled fabric and labeled where each will go.  It like the quilting version of color-by-number but with fabric instead of colors!

The other side mirrors the first.  It was easier to do this than to individually draw each of the points on the other side.  I taped my original drawing to a window, face down, and then taped another pieces of freezer paper on top and traced.

Here is the quilt with my paper addition.

I know it’s tough to picture without the colors, but the whole quilt will look something like this when my addition is complete.

These are the fabrics I’m planning to use.  The background is Kona Ash, which is a very light gray.  Bernie had included some of her original white-on-white batik with the quilt, but it was put to good use in the previous addition, and I didn’t think there would be enough left for my purposes.  A solid white was too much of a start contrast, so I settled on this gray.  The others are all batiks to keep with the original fabrics, as well as the additions.  The green and yellow were included from the addition of the first horseshoe border and the others are mine that I already had.

I’m really looking forward to completing this.

Also, since I’ve already posted several times about the process I go through when creating, I decided it’s high time I take the process pledge!

I, Em, at Sewing by Moonlight, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear.   I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.

Works in Progress Wednesday

Posted on by
2

Time for an update on what we’ve done around here this week!  For more inspiration, head on over to Freshly Pieced to see what others have been working on.

Here’s the “to do” list from last week:

1.  Three mei tais.  No progress.  After finishing two mei tais last week, I put them aside for this past week.

2.  Be Free Bees May quilt for Bernie.  Some progress.  Actually, a lot of progress.  No actually sewing progress, but I’ve decided what I’m going to do, created a paper piecing template and pulled fabrics.  I hope to post about that process in the next day or two.
3.  Tote bags.  No progress.  I think I have a mental hurdle to get around in terms of producing things to sell.  Must do some self-analysis and figure this out.

4.  Gathered clutches.  Minimal progress.  I’m happy I made something happen here, but it’s hardly worth posting about.  I completed wrist straps for three clutches and added a pocket to the interior lining piece of two.
5.  Double staircase block in yellow-orange-green.  DONE!  

This finish actually surprises me as this block wasn’t really in the forefront of my mind.  However, Ann of A Girl in Paradise posted on Twitter that she was looking for people to share a quilt block tutorial for a series she’s doing on her blog called Building Blocks with Friends.  Since Double Staircase is an original, designed-by-me block and I have not yet published a tutorial, it was perfect for this series.  I believe my date to guest on her blog is Monday, May 28th.

But now I’ve added an item to The List because I want to finish a baby quilt made of this block using some of the color wheel charm squares before I send the tutorial to Ann.  It’s perfect, actually.  This is just the inspiration I need to put together my idea of combining Double Staircase with the rainbow charms.  In fact, I already mentioned that I wanted to do that.  Go look.  It’s right there in the 4th paragraph!
6.  Design and order woven labels.  No progress.

7.  Warm colors dresden plate: what to do with this?  No progress.
8.  Rainbow/color wheel dresden wall hanging.  No progress.

In fact, I’m officially moving those two dresden plates off The List to the back burner until something inspires me to create something with them.

9.  Skill Builder Sampler blocks

9a.  Apple core block
9b.  Equilateral triangle block

10.   Kim’s May blocks for Bee a {modern} swapper.  DONE!  I think I finished them the day after I posted The List last week and then put them in the mail.  Kim already has them.  I can’t wait to see the quilt she makes with her bee blocks!
11.  Bookcase block for Manda.  DONE!  So cute.  I really enjoyed making this block, and I’m tempted to do one more.
 And hey!  Here’s something that never happens: I added an item to the “to do” list and crossed it off within the week, so you never saw it here.  Imagine that!  Less than a week to conceptualize a project, create it, and finish it!  Wow!  I decided to make a couple last minute Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and mother-in-law.  I’ll tell you more after they’ve received them.

 Here’s what I’ve got on The List now:

1.  Three mei tais.

1a.  for Emily
1b.  for Kim
1c.  for Amanda

2.  Be Free Bees May quilt for Bernie.
3.  Tote bags
4.  Gathered clutches
5.  Design and order woven labels.
6.  Skill Builder Sampler blocks

6a.  Apple core block
6b.  Equilateral triangle block
6c.  Cactus flower block

7.  Double staircase rainbow baby quilt

Back burner:
*Warm colors dresden plate: what to do with this?
*Rainbow/color wheel dresden wall hanging.

Looks like my list got a lot shorter than it actually did, since I took those two items off that were not finishes, but rather just not priorities right now.

On being a better blogger

Posted on by
Reply

I started this blog in January, just four short months ago, as place to put all my sewing endeavors, projects, ideas, processes, et cetera, et cetera.  It’s sort of like a digital portfolio of my creative medium of choice.

Of course, if I just wanted a digital portfolio, I could simply document my projects photographically and save the digital files.  Part (a big part) of why I want to put my art online is the community aspect.  With a blog, I have the opportunity for interaction, conversation, sharing of ideas.  I don’t often get to sit in the same room and sew with friends in real life or ask someone in person what she thinks about a certain project or what direction I should go.  I want to be able to learn from those who have been doing this longer than me or who have a different perspective just as much as I would like to inspire and teach with my own projects, ideas and experience.

I was thrilled to have a real life sewing play date with Katie of swimbikequilt, Amy of amylouwhosews, and Kim of mygogolife.

That brings me to this: if I want to be part of a community, I need to have something valid/interesting/useful to contribute.  I want this blog to provide content that inspires.  Inspires someone to comment, “Hey, nice to see what you’ve been up to/great idea/lovely finish/better luck next time/did you think about x?”; inspires a project idea in someone else; inspires you to try something new, or a new take on something old.  In order to do that, this blog space needs to hold information that people actually want to read and comment on!

I’m pretty confident in my ability with a sewing machine.  As a writer/blogger?  Um … notsomuch!  I’m trying to be proactive about making my blog better, though; I signed up for an online class!

Content Brew is presented by Melissa, the author of MomComm, a blog about helping bloggers be better bloggers.  Who knew!  Anyway.  The course lasts 7 days and promises to give me lots of ideas about brainstorming new/interesting topics to write about in this space.  There’s going to be homework.  Imagine that!  It’s been awhile.

But since I’m thinking about it right now, I’m interested to know what you’re looking for on a blog like this.  What would you like to see me write about?  Do you want to read about projects I’ve finished?  The process I work through to complete a project?  Supplies and fabric I’m using?  Tutorials?  A look into what’s in the works in the sewing room?  Where I’m finding inspiration?    What else?

The welcome email for Content Brew is expected Friday; course starts Monday.  I’m looking forward to it, and I’ll let you know how it’s going next week.

So excited to share: my business cards!

Posted on by
2

Last week, a small heavy box arrived in the mail.  I didn’t immediately recognize the return address and I couldn’t remember what I had ordered that would come in such a package.

I opened it up before I even got home and was so excited to discover my business cards!  I know it seems like a small thing, and a business card is, literally, a small thing, but I feel like these tiny rectangles of card stock are just one step further down the path to becoming a “real” business.  We’re getting there.

There they are.  My logo.  My company.  My name on the card.

At the suggestion of my friend, Maddie, one side features my logo owl all on her own.  (Isn’t she cute?)
 The other side is the lovely shade of blue that the owl sports, along with all the pertinent information for an online business.   Want one?

Giraffeliqué mei tai

Posted on by
Reply

What, you may ask, is a giraffeliqué??  And my answer is this:

Giraffe.  Appliqué.  Get it?

This cute little guy resides on the sleeping hood of a mei tai, requested by my friend Hilary.  The main print is Michael Miller giraffe garden gray and the sleeping hood and reverse of the carrier are a white with little silver pinstripes.  The silver pinstripes look great with the gray canvas I used for the straps of this carrier.

I’m a little bit in love with this little giraffe, peeking up over the waist band.

Here is a better view of the Michael Miller Giraffe Garden print.

The body of the carrier has a double layer of top stitching and coordinates nicely with both the strap fabric and the pinstripes.  If you look closely, you can see the silver pinstripes are metallic and result in just a tiny bit of sparkle.

Hilary and her husband thought that all the bright colors in the giraffe print would be balanced nicely by solid white and I suggested they take a look at this pinstripe fabric, which they eventually selected.  It works well on the sleeping hood and gives a slightly more formal option for carrying a little one than those darling giraffes if the situation requires.