Saturday, April 27, 2013

Happy Scrappy Quilt Binding

Wow! Thanks to everyone for your feedback re: the bird's eye!! I was overwhelmed with the responses. :)  You're the best!!  



This week was so crazy busy.. a couple of appointments, a field trip to the zoo with my son and 94 other kindergartners from his school.. but I did manage to get my MIL's "for the birds" quilt top backing, get it layered and  quilted, and today I am finally working on the binding.  




Plan to have it done just in time for the Blog Hop ( my day is on Friday, May 10th) and to give to my MIL when she comes to stay at our house while I am gone to Quilt Market.




The binding is turning out to be super scrappy since I decided to make it out of the leftover strips of different widths that I didn't use in the quilt top after I sewed them all together.










After cutting it out, it took nearly a whole spray bottle of water to press it, with all of those seams.  



I really do need a new ironing board cover!  Anyway, I really like how the scrappy binding is going to look, and I'm happy to be making use of the leftover fabrics.

















I just love how binding looks when it's freshly made and all rolled up.


















And I love the Madrona Road texty fabric.  I worked a little bit of it into the quilt top.  Without even knowing that someone in the story on the fabric has a sidekick named "Buster". lol  My hub actually noticed it.  Another personal note to the quilt.  











Only a couple of weeks until the big reveal at the hop, so for now I will keep plugging along on the binding.. if I could only stop breaking needles along the way. UGH!  I only have one left, and if it breaks, I won't be able to finish until after a trip to the store.  Fingers crossed.  Here is where it lies right now..












I will leave you with one more picture of yummy rolled up binding.  It's actually not too bulky considering all of the seams.  


Hope you're having a great weekend!

xoxo
Monday, April 22, 2013

Opinions and Feedback Please!

I've been sewing like crazy today on my MIL's quilt that I'm making for her, and finishing in time for the "It's for the Birds" blog hop. 

I finally worked out the design of the quilt top after changing my mind a few times, and it includes this appliqued bird which I quilted on with a layer of batting underneath it.  

So my question is this.. should I give the bird an eye?

Here he is without an eye..



There's a little strip of batting under the branches, too.  The bird is made out of "crumbs" left over from another part of the quilt.

So I got out my grandmother's buttons..



and started searching through.. ended up dumping them out so I could see better, and look what I found?  



.an old bra clasp.. lots of button groups that were sewn together with string.. some on their original cards, and a wooden crochet hook..


They used to save everything!!  I really miss my grandma!  Anyway, I narrowed it down to a few choices..

bigger matching button

brown earthy colored button(excuse the white pin holding them on)

big white funky flowery button

more on the green side, flatter button

weird shaped metal button


..or just no button..?


Do you have a preference?  I can't decide yet.. Open to opinions! What do you think?

Someone asked me what kind of linen this was.. it's Robert Kauffman Quilter's Linen in straw dot.  It's been great to sew with.. I hadn't ever used linen before.  I like it!

I basically have the top all done, and the binding prepped, but this is all I'm going to show for now until the blog hop, b/c I need some help deciding.  Feedback on the bird appreciated!  I just need to get the backing fabric.  And decide whether I'm going to use a button or not for the eye before I quilt it.

I'd better run now.. dental appointment in the a.m. Ugh.  I have a near phobia of sharp dental things in my mouth so it will NOT be fun.. maybe I'll have some opinions to read here when I get out of there! Thanks for dropping by!!

xoxo


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Lolita the Owl went to a very loving home...

..and she looks to be having a great time and being taken very good care of.. on top of being very well loved by this little cutie that turned one last month.


Her mom gave me permission to share the photo.  It makes me smile. :)

Hope you're having a great weekend!
xoxo


I love a squishy package..

The linen is here! So happy with the look and feel of it.  And the spots. :)  I have never quilted with linen before.. it's so beautiful in look and feel, I'm a little afraid to cut into it.  I think my MIL will love it.  I can't show you much of what I've been sewing for her yet but here's a pic of the fabrics..



I may become a linen lover after this!

And a little side project.. I was playing around with making a blog button and couldn't get the code to work.  I had previously used some code I copied from a blog tutorial but for some reason could NOT get it to work this time.  After several tries, I found the easiest site ever that generates the code for you so all you have to do is copy and paste.

It's called Grab My Button Code Generator.  So easy and fun.  You just need the URL of your stored image that you're using, your blog URL and your blog name.  Here is the button I was playing around with.. and the grab box version is in the top left of my side bar. If you try that site, let me know how it works for you.  It really is super easy. :)



Also have been doodling a design on some graph paper.  But not a lot of sewing got done this week.. turned out to be a busy week, and is looking to be a busy weekend as well.  I think I'll be able to work on my MIL's quilt top a little today, though.. fingers crossed.

Happy Saturday and Happy Sewing!

xoxo

p.s. I added a quilt to my Favorite Quilts page.. it's London 2012 by Nanette over at Freda's Hive.  Click on the tab at the top and have a look.  It's one of my favorites of ALL.TIME.  So amazing.  Thanks for letting me post it there, Nanette!!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Super Quick WIP Post..

..because I have been burning the midnight oil too much lately, and it's starting to catch up to me.  Plus, it seems, life has been full of appointments lately, and things that need done, on top of having a houseguest this week.  Albeit a very laid back, wonderful houseguest.. I just always stress about the cleaning, what to cook for dinner, are they having a good time.. that sort of thing.. so.. need more sleep!

Onto the WIPs.  Have added a block to my BOM collection..












..another one with the white/green dots background.  This one was the Riley Blake BOM April block.




I wish I had chosen a different fabric for the large yellow floral triangles, but oh well.. another live and learn moment. :)

And.. since I finished the owl so soon, and decided I had time to make something else for the blog hop in May, my MIL's quilt top has now been started.  Out of these fabrics..


..that I had been saving for her actually.. minus the weird brown one, plus a few others.  This is just the motivation I need to finally make her something.  I don't know how many months it has been since she asked me to. :/  But it WILL get done now. :)  And hopefully it turns out.. winging it without a pattern, but based loosely on the AMH feather block pattern.  LOOSELY being the key word there. :)  Here's another in progress photo..




If you look closely, there's a crossword fabric in there.. and some dots.  She loves dots and always has a book of crosswords out when we visit. :)

That's all I can show you of that one for now.  Just waiting for the background fabric to arrive so I can keep going and finish it for the hop!

Off to catch a few winks. Hope you're having a great week.

xoxo
Kelli


Friday, April 12, 2013

Meet Lolita the Owl :)




Remember when I was going back and forth between making a stuffed owl, or a bird themed quilt for the "It's for the Birds" blog hop coming up in May at Sew We Quilt?

Well, I went ahead with the owl, finished her, and gifted her and in the meantime started a bird themed quilt top for my MIL. So I decided to share the quilt for the blog hop and just show you Lolita the Owl already! I just can't bear to keep posting sneak peeks of her.

So without dragging it out any further, meet Lolita the Owl!



Oh wait! That was another sneak peek picture. Here she is.  All of her! Hanging out in the bushes. :)



I love all of the Mary Engelbreit fabrics in the Friends and Flowers line.  These were the FQ's leftover from when I made Swoon last year. And I still have more FQ's left.  That was a huge FQ pack. There might be some more Mary Engelbreit owls in the future.

She was made with the Olive the Owl pattern by Freddie's Friends using the largest size.




Although she looked too sassy to me to be named Olive. :) She had to get a new name. She even has a sassy tail..




And cute little feet..



The pattern was so easy to work with, and the instructions were clear and simple.  You basically sew her all together leaving small openings for the various stuffed parts.. so here is flat Lolita, before the stuffing..





All of the seams are raw edge, so the sewing goes so quickly..the hardest part is sewing the openings closed after you've stuffed the different areas. Hard to sew a raw edge seam on the machine on something stuffed, so you have to be careful not to over stuff her.. which I think I did actually. 



Here is a pic of flat Lolita with only her beak, feathers, and wings stuffed.



She was so much fun to make, and the little one year old sweetie that received her gave her a big hug and a smile when she saw her. Even though the owl was almost as big as she was. ha! 

I'm tempted to try one of the smaller versions next. They would be perfect for smaller babies or baby showers even.  And wouldn't the feathers be cool if they were done in Chevrons?  So many possibilities! I think the pattern only calls for three fabrics?  But I used about eight or so and mixed and matched them.

The whole thing is just fabric and stuffing, no buttons or hard edges, so it's totally kid safe and would make a great little softie or pillow. It's even washable! Another bonus. :) If you come across the pattern, it's definitely worth a try! Happy Weekend!

**UPDATE: I wrote on Mary Engelbreit's FB page wall telling her how much I loved her fabrics and tacked on a little pic of Lolita and she answered and said, "SO ridiculously cute, Kelli! I love it!" Oh my goodness, my spirit is typing right now b/c my body is in the floor b/c I.JUST.DIED. Mary Engelbreit thinks something that I made is cute! Squeal! Okay.. I'll stop acting like a 12 year old girl now and start acting like an adult again. haha Thanks for tolerating my excitement. :)**





















Thanks for stopping in to meet Lolita.  Hoot! Hoot! Back to working on my MIL's quilt top. :)

xoxo






Links: Sew Crafty Angel, A Crafty Soiree, Fireflies and JellyBeans, Show & Tell, Things I've done Thursday, TGIFF, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Keep Calm, Do Something Crafty, Craftionary, PinMe, Farm Girl Friday, Six Sisters'Stuff, LAFF, Sew & Tell Saturday, The Weekend Creative, Think Pink Sunday, Not Baaad Sunday,  Submarine Sunday Sew Darn Crafty, Super Handmade Sunday, Made with Love, Sundae Scoop, A Round Tuit, Craftastic Monday, Monday Funday, Creative Blog Hop, Anything Goes Quilt-n-Sew, Craft-o-Maniac, The Weekly Creative, Make it Pretty Monday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, Linky Tuesday, Handmade Tuesdays, From Dream to Reality, What's it Wednesday
Saturday, April 6, 2013

Sugar Block Club Fun

More FPP for this month's Sugar Block Club BOM.  hmm.  I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it after I nearly lopped my finger off with my rotary cutter doing Feb.'s FPP block.

But this one went together so easily!  I may become a fan of FPP yet.




Never have I had such success with matching points.  They aren't perfect still, but as close as I've ever gotten to it. :)

I was getting really tired of the yellow background that I chose at the start, and there wasn't any yellow in either of these Summer Song prints anyway, so I used some of the leftover dots that I used for the background of Swoon, and again for the half diamonds in the Rainy Days quilt top. Light green dots are showing up in everything lately. I'm even thinking they might make a good backing for the Rainy Days top.

Which one of these is not like the others? ;) It might stand out but I'm so sick of yellow right now. I really like how it turned out. Now I wish I'd used the dots on all of them.








The colors seem more crisp against the white, but oh well..live and learn.

Other than that, Lolita the Owl (had to rename her, as she needed a name that went along with her sassiness, and Olive isn't a very sassy name) is finally done and is going to go to a sweet little one year old girl tomorrow.  Can't wait to share her during the blog hop, but until then, here's another sneaky peek. :)




I don't want to give too much away!

Have also been designing things for Beth's market booth.  Things like a display ladder made from pvc pipes that can be taken apart and travel there easily. Posters to hang in the booth, and buttons to be passed out, and blog cards. Here are the ones I did for Beth, they were really easy to do over at Vistaprint. If she has any leftover from market, she can pass them out at lectures and classes.




Been having fun with all kinds of quilty AND non-quilty creativity. :)

Hope you're all having a great weekend. Buster is taking it easy this weekend.. and kind of giving me the stink-eye for interrupting his nap.



Don't forget to enter my giveaway sponsored by Winter Creek Cloth for a $15 gift cert.
  

It is on until Tuesday, the 9th. Thanks for dropping in!

xoxo



Linked up to: Super Handmade Sunday, Anything Goes @Stitch by Stitch, BOMS Away, A Round Tuit, more the merrier monday, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday
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