4 Months?!?!?!

Wow!!  I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post!!!!  I really got swept up in getting ready for a craft show at the end of November and getting my Etsy store up and running.  Once that was all done, the Etsy store took off and I was swamped with orders throughout the month of December.  Really left not much time to sleep, let alone do much else.  Lol.  I've made a decision that I need to re-allocate time and bring back the stuff that I want to do as well as have time for the things I need to do.  I'm not making promises, but my goal is to start really blogging a lot more.  I forgot how much I enjoyed it and really miss posting!  I know I don't have many readers, but hopefully there will be more in 2016 :)

Now, with the holidays done and life returning to "normal," I've decided to take the month of January to get caught up on some personal projects, finish up all the Christmas gifts I didn't get a chance to do, and allow myself to "reset" a bit.

It's been a busy and productive first week of January!  I started the year off with working on some belated Christmas gifts.... particularly the one for my mom.  I felt terrible about not being able to give her more than a mere 2-piece set of embroidered towels due to lack of time.  I actually had purchased a kit for placemats from Keepsake Quilting months ago with the intent of giving them to my mom as her handmade gift for Christmas.  Alas, ran out of time.  Once I cleaned up the disaster my craft room had become, I got to work.  Love how they turned out and they only took me an evening to do :)

May I present... .my first completed project for 2016!!

Unfortunately, the kit is no longer available from Keepsake Quiliting, but I did manage to find it from a shop called Auntie Chris Quilt Fabrics.

Once the placemats were done, I couldn't wait to get started on the next project.  I've got a bunch of friends whom we don't traditionally exchange gifts with for Christmas, but this year they brought us gifts so I really wanted to return the generosity.  I racked my brain for ideas and remember seeing a great tutorial by Melanie Ham on YouTube a while back for some panel pillow covers with a zipper closure that I thought would be good gifts and be relatively easy to do.  I had a bunch of pillow forms in my stash that I originally intended on using for hexi pillow covers, however things got in the way and as of today, still haven't had time to do.  I did a little stash diving and found some fabrics that were going to work perfectly and then got to work.

First up was a pillow for my gal-pal who is a total bacon fanatic.  She'd put bacon on her bacon if that was possible.  Lol.  I had picked up this fabric from Fabric.com a while back as one of those "I just need $4 to get to free shipping" kind of things, figuring I'd find something to use it on.  Once I found the design on Etsy, I knew it was a match made in heaven.  Lol.  Here are the details...

Bacon Zippered Pillow Case

Started: January 4, 2016
Completed: January 5, 2016
Fabric: Timeless Treasures Bacon Black from Fabric.com
Batting: Warm & White scraps from stash
Embroidery Design: "Either You Love Bacon or You're Wrong" by ChicEmbroidery on Etsy
Pillow Form: 16" x 16" Pillow Form -  Fairfield Poly-Fil Soft Touch Square Pillow
Zipper: 18" Black Zipper from Wawak

I'm not going to see my gal-pal until the 24th of this month, so for right now it's wrapped and waiting.  Can't wait to see the look on her face!  If only there was a way to make it bacon scented... it would really be awesome!

I had so much fun doing that pillow that I couldn't wait to make another.  Next up was a pillow for Hubby.  It's been a while since I had made him anything other than a keychain, so I figured it was about due.  Ha ha ha.  Hubby is a HUGE Doctor Who fan, so while perusing Etsy for some cool embroidery designs, I stumbled on this one from a shop called TedandFriends.  They've got some really cool "geeky" designs!  Once I found the design, it was off to figure out the fabric.  Again, I turned to Fabric.com and found some Fox and Houndstooth Bowties fabric by Robert Kauffman.  Unfortunately, they were out of stock and the other colorway (blue and teal) just wouldn't work. After scouring the internet, I found some yardage from another Etsy store called Texas Susannie's.  Ordered right away and got it days later!  Great customer service!! Once the first pillow was done, I wasted no time in getting this one started!

I'm really not happy with all the puckering in these two pillows in the embroidery, however I've been doing some research and think I might have found a solution.  Will be trying some new things on the next one and see if that helps, but in the meantime... Hubby was ecstatic with his gift!  Here are the details...

Bowties Are Cool Zippered Pillow Case

Started: January 6, 2016
Completed: January 8, 2016
Fabric: Fox and The Houndstooth Bowties Black by Robert Kauffman from Fabric.com
Batting: Warm & White scraps from stash
Embroidery Design: "Bowties Are Cool" by TedandFriends on Etsy
Pillow Form: 16" x 16" Pillow Form -  Fairfield Poly-Fil Soft Touch Square Pillow
Zipper: 18" Black Zipper from Wawak

Feels so great to actually be getting back to my "roots" and doing a little sewing and quilting!  I didn't realize just how much I missed it until I started doing these.  I just bought a bunch of fabrics and have embroidery designs picked out for more, most likely going to be listed in my Etsy shop for sale.   Also have the stuff together to make a couple more as belated gifts, so most likely I'll be working to get those done here over the next few days.

I've got a couple more personal projects that I would like to work on over the upcoming weeks, and can't wait to get started!  It really kinda feels weird that I'm not under pressure, stressed, and sleep-deprived with trying to get stuff done for shop and show deadlines.  This little "reset" I'm doing is really helping and making me happy.  Don't get me wrong, the shop is still up and I have a couple of shows this year, but I figured that I can start prepping inventory come next month or so and spend some time just being creative instead of being an assembly line :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Saturday, and don't worry..... I'll be back and more frequently (I hope) with all kinds of fun updates!!

Linking up with Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

Show-Off Saturday: Yet ANOTHER Bag!

I know, I know... I think I have an addiction!  I made yet another Bionic Gear bag.  However, this one wasn't my choice, it was a request by my mom.  She loved her bag so much that she wanted one to give to my uncle's wife for her birthday.  She was just going to give her the one I made her (and pay me for it) and then keep the sewing-themed one that I made for her.  Told her that was silly, and of course I could make another one for her.

Went "stash diving" and found an awesome FQ bundle I had gotten from Fort Worth Fabric Studio a little while back.

This was one of their "Friday Bunches" a few weeks back and think it was called "Silent Movie."  Loved the black and white prints together... so fun!

I used the chalkboard fabric for the outside and then bits and pieces of the rest of the bundle for the inside pockets.

Bag Exterior

Bag Interior

I'm SO glad I ordered a million zippers from Wawak the last time they had a huge sale!  Honestly thought I went overboard and bought way too many (close to 200 total!), but now I'm seeing how quickly the stash is going down with every bag I make :-)  May have to keep an eye out for another sale soon!

I also FINALLY have my "top secret" project finished and should be able to share soon!  Just need to get it to the recipient before I do, seeing as though I don't know if he/she reads my blog or not.  Don't want to ruin a surprise.

Trying to decide what project is next on the list... I've got so many, I don't know which one to choose!  No more secret projects (I think) or projects with upcoming deadlines, so it may be time I finally made something for myself.  We'll have to see ;-)

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday!

Linking up with Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

Actually Making Progress!

It's been what feels like years since I've actually quilted!  Between all the shirts and vests, and then the Bionic Gear Bag... Hubby's poor "Family Guy" quilt has been on a back burner.  I think the side projects were partially to blame, but also my indecisiveness on the quilting was also a major factor.  I think I was over-thinking the process and making it out to be more difficult than it needed to be.... resulting in it sitting for the past 6 weeks or so.

So... this weekend I was determined to get it done.  I pulled it off the shelf, dusted it off, and got to work.

Just simple straight-line stitching in the smaller blocks and rectangles, then some diagonal lines in a couple of the larger rectangles.  Then it was time to tackle the 12" square blocks and the 8" square blocks.  Didn't want to do something too crazy or intricate, but they definitely needed something.

On the 12" blocks, I just used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a star shape out of cardstock that was about 8" x 8", traced it on the block, and then used my FMQ foot.  They're far from perfect, but they look OK.

Then, for the 8" blocks, I used my loopy swirls stencil and just did some FMQ in the block.  Again, far from perfect, but doesn't look terrible.

It's now about 95% done with the binding attached and just needing the hand-stitching done.  Add to that a quilt label (which I still have to make), and it'll be ready to go.  Figures... I am finally going to finish it and we have officially entered Spring here in NE Ohio with temps in the 50s.

Linking up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, Fabric Tuesday at A Quilt Story, and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Also linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday and Sew Fresh Quilts' Let's Bee Social

Linking back to Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and I Quilt Thursdays at Pretty Bobbins.

Flash Sewing Weekend - August 8th

Phew!  Finally Friday!!!  This has been a long week.  Work has been nuts, lots of stuff to do, and still not feeling 100% so I've been crashing pretty much as soon as I get home from work.  I have managed to get some sewing in this week :-)  I finished up the "inner quilt" of my Lattice Quilt last night and it's ready for borders. 

I kinda had an "oh crap!" moment last weekend while finishing up the last couple of rows.  I pulled out the pattern and was reviewing the steps.... apparently I should have read thru the entire thing before starting.  I didn't realize there was an inner border using the same fabric as the lattice pieces.  Whoops!  If I had read that before I started cutting, I would have been a little more cautious with my cutting and made sure to leave extra honey bun strips for the border.  I didn't :-(  I did have pieces leftover.. but they were just that... pieces!  All were about 11" long.  Now, after calming myself down, I came to the conclusion that I could do one of three things...

1. Skip that inner border and go straight to the outer border - decided against it because I didn't think it would look "finished" if I would have done that.
2. Order more fabric - didn't want to have to do that if I could avoid it.  This isn't fabric I could get from JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby and it would definitely have to be ordered.  I could get it at Missouri Star, but unfortunately they are a little backed up in shipping due to their warehouse move a few weeks ago and I didn't want to have to wait two weeks to get it.
3. Piece all the leftovers together to create the border

When all was said and done, I ultimately chose option #3.  I started sewing those 11" strips together for each side and figured as long as it was consistent thru the entire border it might look OK.   I managed to get the top and bottom done last night, but still need to do the sides.  That's what's on my agenda for tonight.  If things go as planned, I should be able to get it basted and started quilting by the end of the weekend.  I originally had this one "scheduled" for completion August 31st, so if I can get it all done over the next week or so... I'll be a bit ahead of schedule.

Also on my agenda for this weekend is to start working on a shirt that was requested by Hubby.  A couple of weekends ago, the one where I got "Rosie," Hubby and I made a pit-stop at JoAnn's so I could pick up a few accessories for my new machine.  While walking around the store, he picked up a bolt of some fabric out of the licensed section and brought it over.  All he did was hold it up and ask "What can you make me with this?"

Naturally, I was quick to rack my brain for ideas.  It's not quite the greatest print for a quilt, but I immediately thought it would work for a button down shirt. 

McCall's Pattern - M2149

I had made one of these shirts for my dad for Christmas a few years ago and had bought the pattern and some other fabric to make Hubby one as well, just never got around to it.  I already had the pattern so all I had to do was grab some interfacing and some buttons and I would be ready to go.  Hubby has never asked me specifically to make him anything, and after a day of torturing him with craft stores and driving all over Ohio... I was happy to oblige. 

I have the original fabric I bought him years ago to make a shirt with, plus this fabric and some music note fabric I found all to make him shirts out of.  I just need to get to cracking on it!  It'll all need pre-washed so I'm going to zip the edges thru my serger tonight and get it washed.  Thinking I'll have the pieces cut out for the first one sometime tomorrow (we have a short wedding reception to go to in the afternoon) and then have it ready for him to wear by Monday!

It's going to be a busy, busy sewing weekend!  I'm armed with plenty of snacks and beverages, a loaded iPod full of audiobooks, and a nice new machine to play with!  Can't wait to get started tonight!!

Hope everyone is having a Fabulous Friday!