Getting Bibby With It

I spent the week working on figuring out the labour time for my bibs.  Which meant lots and lots of cutting.  I worked it assembly style, first cutting the denim, then the cotton and appliques.  I'm hoping to have 36 finished up, photographed and ready to blog come Wednesday.

I also finished up the pink and grey chevron quilt that has been up on my design wall for a few weeks.  I'm looking forward to snapping some pictures of it in use by my adorable neighbour baby :).

Here's hoping you all had a wonderfully productive week.

Weekly wrap up

I had 8 things on my to do list this week.  It's now Saturday night at 9pm and when I hit publish I will have achieved 5 of them.  Not too shabby with one more day left to be productive!

I pieced together this baby quilt using the tutorial at Crazy Mom Quilts .  It's not quite as long as I would like and I don't have enough pink fabric in this value range.  So instead of cutting off some of the pink when I square it up, I plan on adding more grey at the top and bottom.  That way I gain a few inches and get to show all of the pretty pink fabric :)

I also spent a lot of time at my machine quilting the bunting quilt.  It's my first time quilting a full size quilt and only my second time doing FMQ.  I'm happy with how it's turning out although it's very obvious to me that I have much to learn when it comes to free motion quilting.  It's on track to be finished tomorrow before my kids return from a camping trip with Nanny and Gampy :)

I hope you had a wonderful week
Leigh Anne

May Small Projects Wrap Up

Well May changed direction for me LOL.  Instead of knocking out a ton of small projects I ended up focusing on some pretty big projects.  I finished the front and back for two full size quilts.  And I decided that my energies really need to be focused on filling my etsy shop.

But I did finish up two more projects that were on my list.

I made a fabric book slings for Alexis' room in main fabric from her puff quilt.  I added an appliqued A and hung it at her height.  It seems she is a fan :)

I also gave our coffee table an overhaul.  I love the shape but the color doesn't work in our new home and the paint was chipping and scratched.  I gave it a light sanding followed by a bazillion coats of green spray paint.  I didn't realize until I had used up an entire can that I picked up the super light mist stuff.  I printed out a chevron template from Sunset magazine , followed their directions and sprayed over top with a light grey spray paint.

I had a few issues with the process.  The thumb tacks they suggest using left permanent holes in the wood :(  And while I was doing a top coat of lacquer spray (I have two young children who regularly use this table for eating.  It needed to clean easy!)  a gust of wind send dust over the top leaving streaks of the lightest red tint.  It's not visible in the pictures but I see it every time I look at it :(  Overall, it's still a vast improvement and I'm glad I tackled it.

Moving forward, the plan for June is to go full steam on filling my Etsy shop.  But I would also love to finish up the two quilts I have ready for quilting.  I am planning on updating at least once a week on here so expect some pretty pictures :)

WIP Wednesday

A couple of pictures of my main priorities this week.

Sorry for such a crappy picture.  My basement studio does NOT get the greatest light at 8pm LOL. I'm still trucking along with my minimal sparkle punch quilt.  I'm really liking how it's coming together and now that I am focusing on it, it's going fairly quickly.  The green is Kona Chartreuse and will be the backing.

I've finished another row of triangles for my bunting quilt.  I also ordered the backing fabric.  I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that it will look as good in person as on my computer screen.  Since both of these are going faster that I had originally though, my goal is to finish both tops by Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Small project #2

This small project has taken much longer than I ever thought it would LOL.  A simple painting consisting of a solid background with small stripes at the top and bottom.  Unfortunately the paint took forever to dry and the background needed 3 coats!  Then one of the stripe paints ran under the tape and I had to touch up along the edges.

Add in work, kids, and a weekend out of town and this small project took me over a week to complete.  But now it's done and I love what it adds to our living room.  On to the next!

Shopping Frustration

I only really started sewing as a hobby when I was pregnant with my second child.  Prior to that I would do the occasional toss cushion or roman shade but not for enjoyment.  While making the internet rounds during my pregnancy I found so many amazing little things you could make for babies and young kids and I started to want to do it for fun.

So I went to the local fabric store and tried to find fabric like I was seeing online.  But there was nothing so I bought what looked the best or what was on clearance.  And that was ok for a while.

But I kept seeing awesome looking projects online and I wanted those amazing fabrics.  Unfortunately I am really a tactile person.  I love feeling the drape of a fabric and seeing the intensity and shade of a color in person.  So I resisted ordering online.  My first online order was only about a year ago.  I needed some "boy" fabrics and there was NOTHING local.  When I opened that package I was blown away.  There was no comparing the quality of that fabric to what I could source locally. 

So now I do the majority of my fabric purchasing online.  Only the basics (batting, lining, notions) are purchased locally along with the odd fabric that tickles my fancy.  And that sounds great except that shipping to Canada (and even within Canada) is stupid expensive.  So I try not to order unless I can spend more than $50 to get a decent amount.  And I still am sometimes surprised by the color of a fabric in person vs online.

There really isn't another option for me until I open my own fabric store :)  So I will continue to cross my fingers and pay crazy shipping to get the pretty patterns online.

Small Progress

My house is filled with sickness today.  I seem to be the only one well but of course I am definitely affected.  My oldest called me to pick her up from school at 10:30.  Before the call I was able to make some small progress on two big projects.

I'm making an extremely minimal sparkle quilt (tutorial at Oh, Fransson!  )  I managed to make two stars today.  This will end up as a snuggle blanket for the sofa.

I'm also working on a snuggly couch blanket for a friend that is going through a tough time right now.  She pinned a quilt by A Few Scraps and I'm doing my best to make something similar.  Unfortunately I don't have an Accuquilt Go! cutter so I had to cut all the triangles by hand and now I'm piecing the strips.  Slow but steady :)

I spent the afternoon doing some canvas painting for a few of my small projects.

While I did that, Ella was feeling better and decided to make a Mother's Day gift for her Grandma.  It's sure to be a hit!

Small stuff

Lots of little projects completed at my place this weekend as I worked on completing an order for a local artisan's boutique.  I've been putting together a whole collection of these simple quilted patchwork cushions.  All the colors of the rainbow :)

I also finished up 6 bibs (3 girl and 3 boy).  They are quick and easy projects but I love how fun they are.  And the fact that they are reversible is awesome.  Each one is backed with a fabric that matches the decal on the front.

I also finally forced myself to start cleaning up my "sewing room".  Technically it's not really a room, just a chunk of our unfinished basement.  My wonderful husband built me a shelving unit like the 5x5 Expedit and I needed to fill it.  Once I got going I just couldn't stop and ended up clearing out the whole space.  Which means we are finally completely unpacked.  Not bad since we only moved in September LOL.

Thanks for coming by and Happy Sewing!

Small Project #1

Technically this wasn't on my list yesterday but I'm gonna count it anyway ;)  It was mostly done and I just had to attach the binding today.  A patchwork blanket for a friend's new baby boy!

It is made almost completely with Anne Kelle's Remix for Robert Kaufman and backed in white minky. 

If anyone is interested in something similar they can find the etsy listing here.

Oh and if anyone out there could tell me how and where to attach a button on my blog I would love to do that :)

Small Project Sew Along

Way back in November I showed you pile of pretty fabric squares.  But you never saw the finished project,  even though I finished it fairly quickly.  So here it is :)

A puff quilt for my baby girl who turned 2 in April  It finishes at 36" x 36" and each square finishes at 3 1/2 inches.  Given that it was my first attempt doing anything more complicated that a single layer blanket I'm pretty thrilled with how it turned out.

It's backed with a white minky and I handtied the two layers at a dozen different corners so they stay together but don't affect the texture of the minky.  I was worried that the ties would come undone but I am happy to say that 5 months later they are all solidly intact.

A few weeks ago I decided it really was time to put something (anything) on the wall above her crib.  So I quickly put together a bunting that has most of the blanket fabrics in it.

Now on to the Sew Along!  AmandaJean over at Crazy Mom Quilts is hosting a Small Project Sew Along for the month of May.  Right away I got excited because my list of small projects is quite large at the moment and I would love to tackle a bunch this month.  A lot of them are not sewing related but I thought it would be fun to see how many I could finish in May.  I'll blog them all here and just link up the sewing projects to the sew along.

Without further ado, here is my list.

1. You are my Sunshine canvas
2. Fabric Sling Bookshelf
3. A pillow for the sofa in the living room (maybe something like this)
4. Finish the mirror for our bedroom
5. Jelly roll floor pillow
6. Tutu handprint art
7. Paint the coffee table
8. Artwork for the entrance
9.Table runner

For Adrianna

Several weeks ago one of my online Mommy friends emailed me about making a blanket for her yet-to-be-born daughter. I jumped at the chance :) Her only request was that it be girly, funky and modern.

 I used October Afternoon's Fly a Kite fabric as the jumping off point and added in a variety of fabrics in yellow, pink, green and blue that coordinated. It's backed with a fuchsia minky and bound with a patchwork of all the pink fabrics in the quilt. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and so is my friend!

 Just for fun, I also made a bunting to match the blanket. I hope that Adrianna loves this blanket for years to come.