day 11?

Today is day 11 of the quilt-a-long. Rut roh!!! I'm, uh, a little behind....

But, I'm hoping to have 2 completed projects to show you tomorrow!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my cuties...


After all, the blog is named after them!

pillowcase dress

This weekend I was able to get some sewing done. Not as much as I would have liked, but anything is better than nothing!

First up was this dress that I made for Lilah. I love this pattern (yes, I'm still so new to sewing I had to use one! haha!) because it finishes off the dress so nicely! The bias tape, the large hem on the bottom, etc.

I'm making the same dress above (different fabrics) for a girl that was in Noah's class this past year. I have the fabrics and am hoping to get all the fabric cut tonight!

Then I spent some time cutting fabric for my next quilt. Well, since I actually have 3 going at once right now I guess that's not very specific....It's a squares-within-squares quilt that I saw, and modified to be jelly roll/charm pack friendly. I'm making it as a thank-you for my midwife, so I only have three weeks to get it finished! Luckily, all my print cuts are made, and now I only have to cut the white fabric!

And today is day 7 of the 9-patch quilt along. Which means that if I do nothing more today, I only have 3 to catch up on. Unfortunately I have so many irons in the fire I think that is exactly what will happen!

fabric and yummm...

I recently bought some fabric scrap packs from Ashley over at Film in the Fridge. The pack she sent me was awesome!

A great amount of fabric for the money I spent, and they're all awesome pieces! I'm so excited to have some decent scraps to use! I'm thinking these may be a good start to a coin quilt!

I also noticed today that she posted she'll be putting some new ones together, so check them out!

I also follow along with Amy Karol's blog and she posted about this tea cake from Rustic Fruit Desserts the other day. O.M.G. Serious goodness. I made it for my boys (as I'm gluten-free and wasn't about to tinker with a recipe I had never even made!) and did try a piece myself. I don't have celiac - only gluten intolerant - so I will admit I cheat every few weeks as of late. It was so good - words cannot describe.

I noticed that someone posted in the comments that you can get this recipe through Gourmet.com's cookbook club, so I was able to get it that way. But seriously bought the book after eating it. It's that good!

day 1

Today is officially day 1 of the 9-patch quilt-a-long, so I made sure to get started!

I spent some time cutting squares this weekend. Not many, but certainly enough to get me started!

And today, I was able to get a few put together! We're only supposed to do one a day, but I'm certain there will be days I won't get to sew at all, so this way, hopefully I won't fall behind!

I'm using Arcaida by Moda. I love this line! I'm excited to see how this comes together!

Meanwhile, I have another quilt I'm using this fabric for that I need to start ASAP (I'm giving it as a gift to my midwife, and I see her again in about 3 weeks I think...), as well as a few dresses I've committed to finishing. I like having stuff to keep me busy. Sewing is such a great de-stresser for me!

changes

I had a babe that would not sleep Thursday during the day. At all.

At 3 weeks old, she had decided she wanted to be awake, look around, see the world. And I loved every minute of it! But with Noah it also kept me very occupied. But, that also meant that Thursday evening she slept...a LOT! So, with Derrick spending time with Noah, and Lilah sleeping the night away, I was actually able to sit down at the sewing machine!

I worked on her onesie, mostly because I had decided that if I didn't finish it soon, at the rate she's eating there's no way she'd fit into it. But as I worked on it more, I also started to wonder whether I'd be able to get it on her as it was! (fyi...I had decided the neckhole was too small, but was going to take care of that with snaps either on one of the straps or behind the neck).

Ultimately, I decided to scrap it. I just didn't make any of the holes quite large enough, and then trying to hem them that small was a total pain. And it's not like it's a whole loss - I will still use this fabrics as scraps for quilts! ;-)

So last night I spent time drawing out and cutting out the pieces, and today was able to finish this dress!

I love it! Noah had picked out the seahorse fabric and luckily I had enough to also do the dress (afabricoutlet on etsy - LOVE this shop! When I bought the fabric the yard was only 34", so she sent me that piece, PLUS two fat quarters of it, PLUS a freebie for the inconvenience. She rocks!).

This is the third dress I've made of that pattern. It's getting a little old, but I still love it! And I normally do the bodice and sleeves all one color so decided to change the sleeves up this time and I'm really glad I did. I think it turned out great!

Of course it's probably going to be quite large on her for a while. But I'm sure we'll be putting in on her soon anyway!

My new foot is here! So I'm also hoping that I can finish quilting this weekend. But Derrick really hurt his back this morning so I'm kind of on full-time kid duty, so we'll see!

Also, if anyone is up for a quilt-a-long I just joined Amanda Jean's 9-patch quilt-a-long (round 2). Check it out if you're interested! I have the perfect fabric picked out! I'm really excited about this one!

sneak peak...

of some new fabric for a future project!

standstill

I'd like to think I'm at a standstill because I'm waiting. Waiting for the fabric to come that will be the sashing of my next quilt. And waiting for the backing & binding fabric as well. Or waiting for my new foot to come so I can finish the quilting. But, truth is, I still have a binding I can start on for this quilt, a onesie that needs finishing and Noah's hat that needs finishing.

No...what I realize is that it's time I'm lacking. Free time. Or make that - kid-free time!

Like today. I had a brief moment of time that Lilah was asleep and Noah was willing to play downstairs while I worked - so I took advantage. Went downstairs...moved the quilt off my work table, laid out the binding fabric, and started cutting. Um, yeah. I was able to make ONE cut. And then I heard the squeaky cries over the monitor and went up to get her!

And I don't mind. Not one bit! She's three weeks old today. I know one day soon I'll miss this time, so I try to cherish every moment I can (well...maybe not the super-fussy-crying-for-an-hour-straight time!). But I am needing some crafting time...soon!

I only recently started sewing, but I really love it. And knitting I find incredibly meditative. I will often knit before bed, or while Noah rides his trike in the driveway while we wait for dad to get home from work. I seem to be fitting more of that in. But I have so many quilts I need/want to do! A thank you gift! Baby gifts! A wedding gift!

In time...

learning curve

So, here is my first quilt right after basting it. I spray-basted it, if that wasn't obvious, and thought it went really well.

That is, until today. I started maching quilting yesterday. And everything was going great! I was trying to do outline quilting (1/4" on either side of the seams) and when I quilted vertically it was all fine. But then when I turned the quilt and started quilting horizontally, that's when the trouble started. The fabric would bunch up and I would actually get the fabric bunched up over one of my vertical quilting lines, and it would get stitched down that way!

I'm thinking I have two issues. The first being that perhaps I didn't pull the batting and quilt top taut enough when I basted them (it has been suggested that perhaps I should consider pin basting, which I really, really don't like the idea of...), and also I think that I really need a walking foot. I'm currently only using a 1/4" piecing foot, but I need something that will help me to keep my layers fed evenly through the foot. And so that is now on it's way....

I still have quite a few lines to finish on this one. While I wait for the new foot to arrive, I will start cutting my binding strips and finish the onesie I started for Lilah and the hat I'm knitting for Noah. Maybe I'll even finish them before it gets here!

first post!

Well, as if I didn't have enough to keep me busy, here I go starting another blog! This one is dedicated solely to my crafting - sewing, knitting and quilting, and wherever that may take me! And since most of my lifestyle changes have been because of them, this blog is named after the two people that matter most to me (plus daddy of course!), as they are my inspiration and the reason I wanted to start sewing/knitting in the first place!

Who knows where this will take us!