Embroidery

I stopped by Broadbent's last month and blew the rest of a gift certificate I had received last Christmas--it took me over an hour to decide which two yards fabrics I wanted.  Yes, going to the fabric shop is like a good spa treatment.  I purposefully kept that gift certificate in my bag all year to comfort myself.  Just the promise of being able to go to the quilt shop and browse alone...quietly...un-rushed...brought me peace of mind all year long.



I picked up a couple of Sherbet Pips (by Aneela Hoey) fat quarters and used some of them to create a little scene (?) on Keira's pink tee shirt.  I had to cover an ink stain she happened to get on it the first day she wore it (!).  I used-what's it called-that double sided interfacing stuff you use for appliqués...Heat Bond (from Wal Mart)...(I'm trying to stop my addiction to the "PRC's distribution leg," but it's hard.)



on the way out the door to school



Comfortstitching is Aneela Hoey's blog.  It was on my blogroll a couple of years ago.  I don't know why I took it off, but since then, Aneela Hoey's designed I think 3 fabric lines, all with similar playful themes.  I like the colors she uses, and her hand-sketched  fabric, some of which are based on her embroidery characters.  So much fabric that is bloating (my favorite 2011 word) the fabric market out there is quickly-tweaked digital manipulation.  Although I do enjoy a lot of the 'digitized' fabrics out there, it's relieving to see fabric that's still designed à la main.  Oh, I'll shut my modern fabric design-wannabe-critic mouth now.

A couple of Aneela's pdf embroidery patterns I'd like to try...



Aneela's shop

Some cool embroidery books to check out:

It's Finished!

I started my second ever quilt in October to cover a guest bed before my sis and mom were to show in Nov.  I hadn't finished it by the time they arrived.  While I worked on it, my little sister showed interest in it.  I had told her that I would make her a bedspread down the road once I got a little more quilt practice in, and this was my first time machine quilting, so it was going to have a lot of mistakes, but she said that this one was it!  She insisted that she loved the fabrics I was using, so I obliged.  I sent it off in a large flat rate USPS box the other day...

Laurie Wisbrun Tufted Tweets fabrics - love!

For the machine quilting, I tried to use up an assortment of Guttermann colored thread
that I had on hand, including beige, navy, gray, and white...all on one quilt (is that a faux pas?)

I like that you can't see the messy quilting on this one

red is a Kaffe Fassett that I really like

thanks to a blog reader who traded some of this Thimbleberries 3's Company with me

Echino scrap on the left, Alexander Henry on the right





Anthology fabrics

a reproduction, Regency III by Judie Rothermel - an all-time favorite fabric

the dotted embossed fabric is made by Diamond Textiles, would like to use some of this in black

Timber fabrics

I did my best at machine quilting (ok, I got lazy after a few hours!), but the fact that
some of the shapes look more like private parts than puzzle pieces did keep me entertained!

I really like this Timber fabric



back, using a linen blend tablecloth I got at a yard sale (paisley) and lavender Wally fabric



all folded and ready to ship to Hawaii

Ikea Love


I have a beige Ikea sheet I bought a few years back for a dollar or two that I am still getting use out of...

Bibs out of scraps

 

Skirt for Kalei (2.5 years old).  Here, I just used the elastic that was already
in the fitted sheet to make a skirt...pulling it tighter, of course, and adding some
Denyse Schmidt County Fair dots at the bottom.  Took half an hour, if that.

Kahea is now almost 6 months old. I love him.

The binding is the Ikea sheet here : ). 

Kimono top (pattern from Habitual)

No Ikea here, but a gift for a Hawaiian baby boy - Anthology fabrics + black minkee

Simplicity 2863 & A Quilt in the Making

Simplicity 2863

This two-piece (front and back) pattern was a cinch to sew.  Since I used striped jersey, I wanted to match up the stripes along the side seams, so cutting took a little longer than I expected.  I used the dress (below, left) view, without the elasticized waist.  Highly recommend this pattern for knits, esp if you want a cheap, easy top.  I just love boatnecks, so I think I will wear this summer top into the Winter.

Random Quilt

Forty-eight 12"x12" blocks to make a bedspread quilt for one of our guest room twin beds.  My mom and sis are coming in a couple of days so I have a deadline.  As of this moment, I've finished the quilt top and back and must make the sandwich, machine quilt, and bind it (ugh).  This will be my first time machine quilting. 

Here are some process photos (click on them for a description of the fabrics):

I wanted to use scraps for this quilt, as well as stash-bust, so I did a combination of 12"x12" plain blocks as well as sewn blocks.  (Does that even make sense?)  The sewn blocks were kind of impromptu, without planning, I just sort of cut and measured till it reached 12" on each side.  It was fun, but time consuming.  I started this quilt a month ago.  My husband is happy to have the dining room table back.

More to come when it's done.  Happy sleeping!