For Next Year

I know that Easter has past, but I just had to share this cute garland I finished, based on this pattern. I had a great time using up little scraps/selvages and arranging them to create these darling spring time shapes. I used Osnaburg linen for the back ground.

 I'm pretty partial to this little bunny. Especially that little white dot of a tail and wee little bow. 

I also love the carrot, such a fun little shape and color combinations!

The egg was the simplest to make. I added a bit of trim to the bottom of each piece and some ribbon to hang them. Not sure I love the ribbon, it's a bit on the bright side, but oh well.

And finally a little chick. Stitching around the shapes and border went really quick and was fun, I think it helped that I didn't worry too much about the stitches being perfect.

So, Happy Easter (next year)!

Happy Easter {Basket}

Whipped up this darling Easter basket, from a paper grocery sack, with the help of this tutorial. I made mine bigger than the tutorial (8x8 bottom and 4 strips around the sides) to fit a few more eggs.

An action shot.

Mostly she just wanted to eat the candy.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter.

Ruffly Table Runner & Fabric Eggs

Remember when I won this awesome prize? Well I finally finished my table runner. Actually I had the table runner done that first weekend after I got my fabric, but I wanted to add some trim to finish it off, and then family came into town, things got busy and only just had the to finish it yesterday.
Close up on the trim. I love how it turned out and love how it looks on my dresser (I'm hoping it will help motivate me to keep my dresser clean- we'll see). If you want to make one here is the tutorial. I only did a couple things different- for the ruffles, instead of folding the fabric in half I hemmed the edge, my machine just couldn't handle the bulk of ruffling the fabric double layered. And I added the trim.

This tutorial for fabric eggs has been on my to-do list for ages, and I can't figure out why I waited so long to make them. They weren't hard and came together pretty quickly (except that I didn't have any fiber-fil, not having all my supplies seems to be a reoccurring theme for me).

I think they are cute, but I can't decide if they look like eggs. What do you think? If I make more I think it would be cool to make them monochromatic, but still scrappy, ie. 4 different green fabrics for one egg.

Paper Piecing #1

Here is my first attempt at paper piecing, and I'm moderately pleased with the outcome. I used this tutorial. Things that I have learned about paper piecing:
-Using scraps is great, just make sure that your scrap more than covers the shape.
-Before beginning ensure that you have enough of your background fabric.
-Regular printer paper works just fine.
-It's an addicting process!
Not perfect, but not bad for my first try. I can't wait to do more, I'm just not sure what I will do with the finished blocks. Maybe nothing. Oh and if I do another one with this pattern I think it would be really fun to do the triangles in white and the back ground piecing scrappy- sort of crazy quilt like.

PurdueAvenue

A lovely package was delivered to my door this morning, loaded with sewing lovelies. My friend Erin recently co-launched a creative blog, PurdueAvenue. And a couple weeks ago they had a giveaway, and well, I won!

The prize included everything to make a darling ruffled table runner (tutorial here)- canvas and muslin fabric, thread, pins, a measuring tape and...

a ruffler foot! I didn't even know that such a thing existed! I'm pretty excited and want to ruffling everything!

First up on my ruffling check list is a replica of this table runner. Head over and check out the fabulous things on PurdueAvenue.

Getting My Selvage Fix

My box of selvages was overflowing so I sat down and busted out a stack of spider web blocks. These blocks are the epitome of my selvage obsession. This project has been going on for 2 years now, and I've only made half the blocks I want to eventually make!

It's intense sewing, just ask my back- completely destroyed (at least for the next couple of days). Oodles of selvages, small seams, trimming and paper ripping.

When all those triangles come together they create fabulous spiderwebs. Very visually interesting if you ask me.

Eventually I hope to have enough to make a queen size quilt for my guest room. But I'm estimating that is still another 2 years away, and when I finish the blocks I'll still have to sew them all together and get it quilted, because I really don't want to quilt this myself.

All told I figure it will be a 5 year project, and I'm ok with that because it is an enjoyable diversion to pull out in between other projects. And a good selvage fix.

It's Been Awhile

I'll blame it on mojo, or the lack there of. I was really motivated and worked long and hard on two projects and they both were complete disasters. Which really put a damper on my crafting mood. Instead I've been doing a big of reading, which was entertaining as I avoided and eventually eased my way back into the sewing room.
First items on the docket was a baby gift set for a lovely friend of mine. Her little one is due to arrive in just a few days and I wanted to be certain that these were done in time.
This bib was a lot of work, but I loved doing it. The ironic thing is I pieced those zig-zags and then a few days later bought fabric that looks almost exactly the same! But I won't call it wasted time, just an exercise in micro-piecing.
I used burp rags more than anything else when Kennedy was born and recently I found this pattern and I really wanted to try it out. I love that it is contoured. Both burp rags and bib are back in white flannel.
Oh, and I'm in love with these little elephants, they are so adorable.