The Road Trip Ends (Finally!)

Posted on April 5, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

I am beyond thrilled to finally have finished this quilt. For awhile there, I was convinced I would never finish it. The process was long. Though only a twin sized, this is the largest quilt I have quilted on my home machine and I was using this project to learn free motion quilting, so I was definitely taking baby steps toward the finish.

Since this is the quilt from my Road Trip Quilt Along, each block represents a state, so I quilted the state names below each block (can you see it?).

This is one of my favorite quilted blocks. I love the look of the flowers and half flowers, and I feel like I was finally getting a grasp on free motion quilting by the time I quilted this block, so it looks nice and even as well.

The back is pieced and includes a lot of my scraps from working on the Quilt Along blocks, as well as a couple of rejected blocks.

I did a nice back and forth loop on the border (inspired by Amylouwho on instagram) with flowers in the corner. I love the stripe-y yellow and gray binding.

I am so proud of this quilt and the fact that I used it to learn free motion quilting. It’s reassuring to see my physical progress. I definitely need lots more practice, but you can see how far I’ve come. Below, you can see some pebbling I did in one of the first blocks I quilted on the left, and on the right, the same pattern in one of my later blocks.

This quilt has taken residence in the living room, and in addition to a quilt, it has already been an elevator, the ocean, a hideout, and an animal home. I am sure it will be well-loved by our family!

More fun finishes from the quilting world at Crazy Mom Quilts and Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday.

A lovely year of finishes: for Brian

Posted on April 4, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

I have been meaning to play along with A Lovely Year of Finishes, and here we are, ~~month #3~~ month #4 (I really did write month #3 first. shit. where has the time gone?!) of 2013 and this is my first goal post (that’s goal setting blog post, not the goal post from the end zone). Though, if one finishes a goal for the month, it’s kind of like a touchdown, isn’t it? I’ll go with yes!

I started a quilt for Brian ages ago. I wanted to be finished with it before baby girl #3 arrived. Well, she’s here, so that didn’t happen! I wanted to be finished before Brian moved into his new house. He moved in this week, so that didn’t happen either.

However, the top is finished. And so is the back. And the whole quilt sandwich is off visiting a friend with a long arm who has offered to quilt it for me. So, assuming I get the quilt back in time my ~~March~~ APRIL! (I did it again) goal is to bind it and mail it off to Brian.

The question remains: to hand sew the binding or to machine sew the binding? What do you think??

Nancy Drew Blog Hop: Library Tote Tutorial + Giveaway

Posted on March 7, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

Despite the fact that I have known about this hop for months, March was suddenly upon me and a note in my inbox reminded me that March 7th was my day on the Nancy Drew Get a Clue blog hop.

Luckily, I had already designed my project and the paper pieced pattern I would use. And luckily, my husband is on spring break and could entertain our girls for a few hours today while I completed the project.

It seems that some of the other blog hop stops from yesterday were similarly inspired by the books featuring Nancy Drew to create a bag for books, but I do hope to give you a unique spin.

The fabric I ordered from Nancy Drew Get a Clue by Moda included a book cover panel and a charm pack of 42 5-inch squares. I also picked up some text fabrics because I thought those would play nicely with the whole book theme.

Make a Nancy Drew Library Tote

Supplies:

*Front and back panel of the tote: (2) rectangles, 14.5 x 18.5 inches. My panels are pieced, so some additional step are required. I’ll explain below.
*Lining: (2) rectangles, 14.5 x 18.5 inches. Do not use quilting weight cotton. We want this bag to hold books and we want it to last. The structure of the bag comes from the lining in this case, so use something heavy: denim, canvas, heavy twill, etc.
*Handles: (2) pieces of 1-inch wide webbing, 22 inches long.
*Basic sewing supplies.

Make the pieced front and back panel

Begin with a book cover from the fabric panel. This is cut to 10.5 x 14.5 inches.

For the opposite side, I made a paper pieced book with text fabric and solids that coordinated with the Nancy Drew fabric. Come back next week and I will show the tutorial for the paper pieced book and give you the PDF pattern to make your own!

Select 14 of the charms and cut them in quarters to makes 56 2.5-inch squares.

Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew the 2.5-inch square together in strips of 7. You will have eight strips. Attach these strips along the edges of your front and back panel pieces.

You now have the front and back of your library tote. Each panel measures 14.5 x 18.5 inches.

Place the two pieces right sides together. Now that we are constructing the bag, rather than piecing, increase your seam allowance to 1/2 inch. Beginning at the top of the bag, begin sewing along one side. Back stitch 4-5 stitches and continue stitching along one side. Stop 1/2 inch from the bottom of the bag, leave the needle down, lift the presser foot, and turn the bag a quarter turn to stitch along the bottom of the bag. Repeat, stitching up the other side and back stitching when you reach the top edge of the bag.

At each bottom corner of the bag, mark 3/4 inch in from the side seam and 3/4 inch up from the bottom seam.

Pull the front and back panels away from each other and align the bottom seam with the side seam.

Sew across the corner of the bag along the line you just drew. Add another line of stitching about 1/8th inch further down. Trim off excess fabric.

While your bag is still inside out, fold the top edge 1/2 inch toward the wrong side and press.

Turn the bag right side out.

Make the lining

Remember, you will be using (2) rectangles 14.5 x 18.5 inches of a heavy weight fabric. I I used denim for this project.

Find the center of the wrong side of each lining piece. Mark a 1 inch line 2.5-3.5 inches from the center and 2 inches below the top edge of the lining.

If using synthetic webbing, seal the edges by quickly passing a match along the edge. Align your webbing pieces with the lines you just drew and pin in place. Be sure your webbing does not get twisted!

Attach the straps to the wrong side of the lining using an x-box. This will ensure your straps will stand up to hauling books around and will not rip from the bag.

Place your two lining pieces right sides together and sew along each side and the bottom with 1/2 inch seam allowance, as you did with the outside panels. Remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitches.

Again, at each bottom corner, mark 3/4 inch in from the side seam and 3/4 inch up from the bottom seam. Pull the front and back away from each other to line up the bottom seam with the side seam. Sew along the line you drew to create the boxed bottom of the bag.

Fold the top edge toward the wrong side and press. If you are using synthetic webbing do not touch the iron to the webbing!!

Assemble the bag

Slip the lining into the outside of the bag with wrong sides together.

Align the top edge of the lining with the top edge of the outside of the bag and pin in place.

Edge stitch very close to the top edge of the bag. Repeat a second line of stitching about 1/8 inch below the first.

Finished!

Giveaway

Do you want to win this super cool, super sturdy library tote? Just leave me a comment and let me know what sort of handmade bags you would be inclined to buy.

For another chance to win, be a follower of this blog, or become a follower and let me know in another comment.

For a third chance to win, Like Sewing by Moonlight on Facebook and leave a comment saying that you do.

Giveaway will close Friday, March 15th at 9PM EDT.

Don’t forget to come back next week for the paper pieced book pattern!

Go check out the other stops on the Nancy Drew blog hop today!

Simple Sew

Sewing By Moonlight (you are here!)

Beaquilter

Pat Sloan’s Place

A Stitch In Time

Judith Handmade Treasures

Gingersnaps Fabrics and Quilts

Judy At That Other Blog

Fabric-ating

Melinda Quilts Etc

Sewing Room Clean Up Along: The BEFORE

Posted on February 15, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

Okay, friends, I’m about to show you the before photos of my sewing room in all their embarrassing glory. Yikes! Please don’t think less of me when you see this disaster.

As I mentioned in my last post, it’s time to clean up the sewing room, and I want you to clean up yours along with me. I do love working in a nice, tidy space, but I admit, my creativity tends to explode all over the room and destroy the tidiness. Regularly. Yes, “explosive creativity” is what I’m going with here.

Prepare yourself. Here is your grand tour.

Here we are standing in the doorway of the room. Look left and you can see the wall that holds shelves of most fabric and supplies. Next to that is my cutting table (which is actually too low for cutting). Notice that it is currently covered in randomness, which makes it rather difficult to cut anything. Hmm. One lonely mini on the wall. And a small shelf with bottom weight fabrics (plus more randomness) and other sewing/craft supplies above.

Moving clockwise around the room. To the right of the window is my sewing table. Notice the absence of the sewing machine. Hmm, kind of difficult to sew without a sewing machine right? A friend borrowed it a week ago and the state of this room is so appalling that I haven’t even bothered to put it back yet!

Moving on. Ironing board. Suffering from the same “covered in stuff” affliction as the cutting table. Same outcome of “kind of difficult to iron anything.”

And finally, looking back toward the door at the shelves. These have already been tidied just a touch.

Some details. Scrap bin with a mini quilt ready to be put on the wall. Seriously, I love this mini, and I received it 5 weeks ago. I LOVE it, and it deserves more respect than hanging out of my scrap bin. There’s also a race bag that’s been there since December.

Shoe shelf. Empty. On its side. Why?

That (presently unusable) cutting table with a small (completely disorganized) bookshelf below.

Pin board. Some paper with notes for projects that have been completed, random templates for quilt blocks, etc.

I’ve been intending to jump in and clean up this room since the beginning of the year, but here we are, mid-February, and I haven’t done it yet. Now is the time! My sewing mojo has been at an abysmally low level all year, and that makes me really, really sad. My sewing time is usually my happy time, but I just haven’t been inspired.

I was motivated by Amy, who last week posted a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #sewingroomcleanupalong20122013. That was just the reminder I needed. These unpleasent tasks are always easier if we do them together, right?

Let’s Clean Up Our Creative Spaces Together!

Go, take some before photos of your sewing/craft space. Write a blog post or post to Flickr and share with the link-up below. If you use Instagram, tag them with #sewingroomcleanupalong20122013. You are not alone (“explosive creativity”, remember?).

On Monday, February 25th, I will show you my “after” photos and invite you to share yours as well. We can pat each other on the back and work, newly inspired, in our (temporarily for me, I’m sure) tidy spaces!

You have one week and two weekends, so knock it all out in one day, or do it a little at a time. But before you sit down to sew this week, first do a few minutes of cleaning up, putting away, or reorganizing.

After the clean up post is here.

Sewing Room Clean Up Along

Posted on February 12, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

My husband came home from dorm duty (we live at a boarding school) at 11:30 last night. I was in my sewing room, up to my eyeballs (possibly deeper) in disaster.

“What are you doing?” he asked me.

“Looking for something.”

“Um … did you find it?”

“It’s my sewing mojo. It’s in here, somewhere,” I said. “If I dig deep enough, I know I will find it. I think it’s buried.”

My sew-jo disappeared somewhere around the beginning of the year. It has made a few brief reappearances, but it’s still a little lackluster. This bums me out because my sewing time is usually such a welcome respite for me. The kids are in bed, the house is quiet, it’s just me, some music, and the hum of my machine. I cherish those hours. Or I did. And the worst part is, I have some projects that I actually want to work on. I do. I’m just feeling rather uninspired.

When I first posted about my lack of sewing inspiration back in January, I suspected what I really needed to do was to clean and reorganize my sewing space. Yeah, that hasn’t happened yet.

But now it shall!

I want you to have a nice, clean, organized space to work in as well, so join me in a Sewing and Craft Space Clean Up!

I might be a bit embarrassed about that first photo of my disaster of a creative space, but I know there are others like me out there. A few have shared your craft room disasters under the Instagram hashtag #honestcraftroom. And now, I want to see photos of your CLEAN #honestcraftroom!

So, this Friday, February 15, I will open a linky and we can all share those embarrassing “before” photos of our creative space. And then the clean-up begins. Maybe you can dive in and have your space all tidied up in one day. Perhaps you only have a few minutes each day. Regardless, before you sit down to sew next week, I encourage to take a few minutes and fold up a few of those fabrics from that project you finished last month, or put all your WiPs in one spot, or clean off your ironing board so you can actually use it!

If you are on Instagram or Twitter, we’ll share our progress with the hashtag that Amy first started using #sewingroomcleanupalong20122013. You will have 10 days to get your space in order! On Monday, February 25, there will be another link-up to share our “after” photos. Cleaning is really NOT a good time, but if we are all in it together, perhaps it won’t be such a daunting chore (misery loves company, right?)!

I’ve made a little bit of progress already … here’s that corner of my sewing room now (not yet “after”).

I’ve got a long way to go; will you join me? Okay, see you Friday!

January Fresh Sewing Day

Posted on February 1, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

Ack! It’s February! I saw my husband flipping the calendar and had a mini panic attack. “It’s already February!” Him (sarcastically): “Yes, that usually comes after January.” Me: “That means we are having a baby next month!”

As far as things on the sewing front: they were slow, to say the least, in January. Nothing like a new month to remind you what you didn’t do last month. Blah. I spent the early part of the month in a serious no sewing loss of sewing mojo. It has only returned to a moderate level. I’m fairly certain that a major clean and reorganization of my sewing room would help, but I’m sort of dreading that task!

I did manage a few sewing projects, though. As well as some sewing related projects that were exclusively digital.

I’ve got all the blocks planned out for the Road Trip Quilt Along this summer. I think they will make a nice little sampler quilt!

I made my first printable PDF for a quilt block. This one is to go with my tutorial for the Spiderweb quilt block.

I finally finished the top of the quilt from the free form robin I participated in last year. I can’t wait to finish this one!

I have a few more blocks for Brian’s quilt finished. I really need to get this put together!

And I wrote a tutorial for a pretty little checkbook cover.

I also have finished bee blocks that will go in the mail today and have been practicing free motion quilting by working on quilting my Road Trip Quilt Along Sampler quilt from last summer.

So, that’s it. No real finishes per say. Leaves me something to strive for I guess.

Best of 2012

Posted on January 6, 2013 by sewingbymoonlight

It was just a year ago that I started this little blog. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t really moved forward much since then, but then I look back at all I did accomplish, and I’m definitely satisfied. As reminder to myself, I thought I’d post my favorite projects from each month of this last year.

January 2012

I jumped on board with a pin cushion swap and decided to write a tutorial for a pin cushion caddy. It was one of the first posts on Sewing by Moonlight, and it is still regularly visited.

February 2012

In February, I made an addition to Karen’s starter block in the Be Free Bees free form robin that was an idea had been holding in my head for some time. It was a technique I had seen on a wall hanging in a quilt shop that involved 3-dimentional pieces of fabric sewn in to create the effect of water. I was thrilled to finally have the perfect project to try it out. Karen's Wisconsin block + Round 1 additions

March 2012

In looking through my March project posts, I’m finding several that I’m pleased with. I posted my first quilt block tutorial, for a partially paper pieced (say that 5 times fast) block I called Sunset Squared.

I tried New York Beauty blocks and made them small, 5-1/2 inches, to add to Nichol’s quilt, which I had that month for the Be Free Bees.

New York Beauty blocks: favorite corner of addition for Nichol

My daughter still loves the ruffle skirt I made, and she happens to be wearing it today! (She looks so much older than she did in the photos from that post, just 9 months ago!)

Ruffle skirt

April 2012

With winter over, I finally finished my winter table runner. Go figure. Now matter, though, I’ve been using it this year, and I love it! It’s great to have a seasonal decoration that I don’t have to put away after Christmas is over!

Half square triangle winter table runner with snowflake appliqué

May 2012

Hmm, seems May was another good month for projects I loved. I was a guest poster at A Girl in Paradise with my Rainbow Double Staircase baby quilt. In that post, I said I loved this quilt so much that it almost made me want to have another baby. That “almost” has become a reality and Girl #3 is due at the end of March!

Rainbow double staircase baby quilt

A friend requested a mei tai from a Michael Miller giraffe garden print, and I added an appliqué of one of the giraffes to the sleeping hood. So cute!

Giraffe appliqué mei tai with gray canvas straps

June 2012

June was actually a pretty productive month, especially considering I was gone for the entirety of the month. I posted my first tutorial (Virginia) for the Road Trip Quilt Along (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tutorial for the QAL were also posted in June).

Road Trip Quilt Along: Virginia

The mei tai I made for my friend Emily is one of my favorites. The reverse makes me just as happy as the “front” side. I think it’s the turquoise straps. They were her request, but they look awesome!

At my sister’s wedding, my mom and I presented her with a quilt we had been working on together for the better part of a year. It was made of 121 6-inch blocks from The Civil War Love Letter Quilt book.

Civil War Love Letter Quilt

July 2012

For the second month in a row, my family was on the road. We did a lot of camping and moving about, and thus, there was not a lot of sewing happening. I did manage to continue posting the tutorials for the Road Trip Quilt Along, including South Dakota, which gave me some trouble in the construction, but I really loved it when finished.

South Dakota quilt block

August 2012

My daughter was going to be starting her first season of soccer, and she needed a little bag to carry her shoes and water bottle. I wrote a tutorial for a little sports cinch sac that I made for her. Her favorite color is green, so the green soccer monkey fabric was just perfect!

tutorial_kid-sports-bag

September 2012

Even though I had never attempted hand embroidery before, I joined an embroidery hoop swap through Bee a {Modern} Swapper and finished my first hoopie! I love how it turned out, and my partner was happy too!

Split hexagon embroidery hoop

The “queen bee” for this month requested house blocks and I’m still giggling that I made a yurt quilt block!

yurt quilt block

October 2012

The Sewing by Moonlight Etsy shop opened in October! The shop is languishing a bit at the moment, but one of my 2013 goals is to get it in shape and increase my inventory.

Etsy-header

I also tried English paper piecing for the first time and made a large rose star wall hanging, with the colors and design inspired by a photo I took at Glacier National Park.

Glacier inspired rose star

November 2012

A mei tai is a project that requires a significant time investment, so a month in which I finished three mei tais means I managed to carve out some great sewing time that month! I also finally completed the quilt top from the Road Trip Quilt Along (now if I could just finish the quilting!).

Road Trip Quilt Along quilt

Two new quilt block tutorials were posted in November: one was an update on the spider web quilt block and the other was a hexagon block I designed inspired by the triangles I tried in English paper piecing.

December 2012

For the last couple weeks of the year, I sort of dropped off the face of the blogosphere. We were out of town and there was just no sewing happening, not to mention, limited internet time. I’m not complaining: we had a great trip to visit both mine and my husband’s families in the midwest. Earlier in the month, though, I finally finished a mini quilt for a swap. What a saga that was. I ended up keeping it for myself, I had invested so much time and tears into it.

Since I kept that one, I had to make a new one to send off in the swap, and I’m just as pleased with my second attempt, and the design of a tree in the sunset.

Tree in the Sunset mini quilt

Now to see what 2013 will bring! There is some amazing bloggy inspiration from the past year at the Fresh Sewing Day link up if you want more!

button_fresh sewing day

SMS Giveaway Day: WINNER posted!

Posted on December 3, 2012 by sewingbymoonlight

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway! The winner have been chosen!

It’s Giveaway Day (Week)!

Welcome to Sewing by Moonlight. If you’d like to know more about the woman behind the blog, feel free to click over to my About section.

I wrote two tutorials for quilt blocks in the past month, which might interest you.

Multiples of 3 is a block inspired by the 3-parted equilateral triangles often seen in English paper piecing, but this one is machine pieced. The spider web block is an update on the great tutorial by Heather at House of a la Mode. This one finishes at 12.5 inches, and I show you how to make a template for the center so you will have less fabric waste.

The Giveaway

I have two prizes to giveaway today.

I opened my Sewing by Moonlight Etsy shop 6 weeks ago. It’s going poorly thus far, to be honest, but this is the bag that was my inspiration to begin selling handmade items. The first one I made was a library bag for my 3-year-old daughter, so she could carry her books without the bag dragging on the ground. Then I realized it was also the perfect size to tuck under my arm and use as a project bag, or everyday bag.

It’s a great bag because it’s lined with heavyweight fabric so it can hold books and things without falling apart and it has a cute little zippered pocket to hold your phone, keys, and small items (or a library card!).

If handmade bags aren’t your thing, and you’d rather have some fabric to do your own thing, how about this great little fat quarter bundle? You get some of this totally cute Posie print from Flea Market Fancy and 3 co-ordinating Kona solids. Gotta have some solids.

How to Enter

Leave a comment: I clearly need some help with selling my handmade items. Tell me: what handmade items do you purchase OR what sort of handmade bag would you buy (clutch, purse, diaper bag, tote, snack bag, messenger bag, etc.). OR if you have experience selling handmade, give me your best tip.

Let me know if you prefer the bag or the fabric or either.

I’m attempting to be more interactive in Social Media, so for a second entry, Like Sewing by Moonlight on Facebook.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, go forth and enter giveaways! Good luck!

Sunday Stash: Texting while sewing

Posted on December 2, 2012 by sewingbymoonlight

I LOVE that this bundle is called “Texting while sewing,” and I love how perfect it is for this little set of text fabrics. I joined the Nancy Drew blog hop (now postponed until March) and this is just what I needed for my project.

The assignment for the blog hop is to use the soon-to-be-released Nancy Drew fabric in any capacity. The project I’m planning will use the panel that is six of the Nancy Drew book cover. I thought it would be perfect to combine with text fabrics.

Since I don’t currently have any text fabric, I went looking at Etsy and found the “Texting while sewing” bundle on Sew Me A Song.

I love them and I can’t wait to use them in my top secret mystery Nancy Drew project!

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday!

Posted on November 22, 2012 by sewingbymoonlight

Welcome to Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday on Sewing by Moonlight.

My name is Em and I have far too much on my mind. Sewing is my release! I just recently opened my Etsy store (with all of 6 items) and now have a Facebook page. I would be delighted if you came by to Like Sewing by Moonlight on Facebook!

This week, I had hoped to show you this little mini, all quilted and bound, since last week it was all quilted (one would think I could accomplish 96 linear inches of binding in one week).
But, alas! Horror of horrors! There was an attack by a tiny, marker-weilding terrorist and this happened:
So instead of binding this lovely mini this week, I spent a lot of time trying to (as of yet, unsuccessfully) remove dry erase marker from white fabric. (insert sobbing)

I did give you a sneak peek last week at a quilt I was ambitious about finishing this week, but life happened, and quilting did not. However, I finished the back of the quilt, and the quilt sandwich is completed, so that is definitely significant in my book! I’m going to quilt this myself, and I’m admittedly a bit nervous about it. This is a bed-sized quilt (72 x 90) and it will be the largest thing I’ve quilted on my home machine. I would appreciate any words of encouragement you care to offer on that front!

This is the Road Trip Quilt Along quilt, which came together as a result of the 16 weeks of Road Trip Quilt Along tutorials I posted this summer and early fall.

I added the strip pieced sections to the top and bottom of the quilt because I wanted it to be rectangular rather than square. And then two borders finished it off.

I am trying to decide if I should attempt to add the name of the state each block represents in the quilting so I don’t forget. That’s Virginia, in the upper left corner, the block I completed first on the Road Trip Quilt Along. Right below it is South Dakota, which gave me some trouble the first time I attempted it, but turned out to be one of my favorite blocks.

The back of the quilt is mostly Kona coal, but I pieced the back with extra fabric from the blocks and few blocks that were rejected or redone.

There are two Pennsylvania blocks here, one deconstructed and rearranged, and the other that I just decided to redo because I didn’t love it. You can also see my first attempt at the interior of that South Dakota block, which turned out too small.

I’d love to see what you’ve been up to this week! If you’re in the U.S. did you accomplish stuffing yourself with turkey today? I did, but just a little because I wanted to save room to stuff myself with PIE!

Sewing by Moonlight

Fabric and thread when the kids are in bed

Category Archives: Link-ups and special events