Overboard?

I am sure when my son's daycare asked us to write our child's name on their towel for water activities they meant with a marker on the tag. But where is the fun in that? A very quick project with double sided fusible web and appliqué stitching. Yeah for summer and running through the sprinkler!

I am in love...

Lately most of the sewing I have done has not been working out well. It has been incredibly frustrating that nothing I have tried has turned out the way I had hoped. That has helped make my newest attempt, which I loved immediately in its own right, even more exciting. I have been working on a quilt for a  friend's newest arrival. While I have made a handful of quilts, the have been mostly basic strip quilts that I have finished either by hand tying them or simply stitching along the seams of the strips. Inspired by a pile of quilts that I need to make (that correspond with a slew of new babies born this spring) I decided it was as good a time as any to try free motion quilting.  I was anxious to try something new, but given just how much time I have spent admiring so many of the gorgeous quilts on-line that someone else had made, i.e. like this one....

it just had to be tried. The above mermaid quilt is from a quilting blog I love reading, Oh, Fransson. I poured over her tutorial on free-motion quilting several times and finally decided to give it a go. Practice makes perfect so I took a few scraps from the current quilt top and from my stash and gave it a try. Below is my practice scrap front and back. It was much easier and less intimidating than I had thought. I have already started working on the actual quilt and I just love how it is turning out. More pictures to come. I have a feeling I am hooked!

My (not helpful) sewing assistant

I didn't let this last all that long, but his intentions were good.

LPH's Art Bag

I just loved 2 little hooligans' tutorial that she posted on making a Tote Bag awhile back. It got me thinking that it could be the perfect bag for my friend LPH's new art room/studio in her house. So 1st step was to find the perfect fabric. I absolutely love Heather Ross's fabric designs. When searching for some of her out of print fabrics on Etsy I came across the Mendocino collection and knew it would be perfect.  The trick was going to be how to including as many of the prints as I could without it being too over the top. I also used this bag as an opportunity to use some new sewing gadgets I had purchased. First up was making my own bias tape. 

I cut out strips on the bias and used the above gadget and an iron and suddenly custom bias tape. This was the easiest of the "new" techniques I tried.  Next up was figuring out how to use one of my new feet, a bias binder foot. It took a bit to figure it all out, but very worth it. Not once prior to using this foot was I able to get bias trim on anything successfully sewing both sides. Using this foot you can not only get it perfect on both sides, but also only sew it once instead of the usual two passes.  I can't believe I ever sewed bias tape without this foot- it makes it SO much easier!

 

The tutorial was easy to follow, and the rest of the bag went together pretty easy. I made a simple pencil case to go with it. I was able to incorporate more prints by using different fabrics for the pocket interiors

I loved how it all turned out in the end. The perfect items to hold the first of the Roaring Lion labels.  Happy creating LPH!

Label Conscious

   It is my first "Roaring Lion" label to be put into an item!!! The reveal of what I made will have to wait, as the recipient hasn't gotten her gift yet.

Upcoming excitement

It would be no exaggeration to say that I love picking out the fabric for a project just as much, if not more, than the actual project. I have a whole collection of new fabric that has arrived this week which means a whole collection of new projects to complete. Here is just a sampling of my newest fabrics......

Coat Rehab

I have had this navy coat forever and have kept it around because I have a sentimental attachment to it. But do you notice the ridiculous velcro blocks instead of buttons? I have not worn the coat for several years for this reason. Recently I came across the coat in my closet and had an idea. I thought if I could rip off the velcro I would then be able to put buttons in their place. I could resurrect it just in time to wear it this spring. I searched on-line and in fabric stores and just could not find the buttons I had envisioned. I was looking for something that would be able to complement the yellow piping in the pockets. I finally decided I could only find what I wanted if I made them myself.  I used these to make my own fabric buttons. For the fabric I used scraps I pulled from my stash, since I would not need that much material. I followed the simple instructions included in the kit, and in about 5 minutes, with no sewing involved, the buttons came out just like I wanted.

Next step was making the button holes. The buttons, at 1 1/2" were larger than the button hole foot on my sewing machine. Not to be deterred, I thought if I could some how piece two button holes together I would have a large enough opening. The first attempt at my "solution" did not show much promise.

But, having just bought myself a titanium seam ripper, I was prepared to painstakingly rip the whole thing out and start again. The second time went much better and  produced what I had envisioned in my mind.

I repeated the "double" button holes four times, being careful that the two holes slightly overlapped. I did this so that when I opened up the button hole I could rip through the seam in the middle and maintain the integrity of entire button hole. After sewing on the buttons.. MAGIC... I have a brand new coat

with, if I must say, some really cool buttons