Mendocino Picnic Blanket

I finished the top this morning. It is one big square (7x7) up of 10" blocks. I am hoping to get it finished soon so we can start using it. I have been debating between the two Laurie Smith fabrics, pictured below, for the backing. I finally decided on the orange mosaic fabric and now I am not sure if I will have enough. I may have exactly enough if I don't have any cutting errors. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Thank you Sheila, Christina, and Sarah for all of your input and spare squares, it was most appreciated :)

Thank you to the man in brown

I love it when the UPS man comes. He always brings great things :)

I spent some of my birthday money on these goodies. All fabrics were bought with an intended purpose.

From left to right:

plum fabric binding for my Mendocino picnic blanket (yet to be made)

Plaid fabric 1/2 yard for the skirt pattern(bottom trim) on far left, 1/2 yard for binding for my meadowsweet quilt (yet to be made)

Amy Butler floral to be used with new skirt pattern (either main piece or trim)

Octopi print 1 yard for main part of skirt pattern, 1 yard to go towards backing of the picnic blanket.

Hopefully I will get three different skirts made for spring/summer with these new fabrics and ones from my stash. And before my next birthday I hope to have both the picnic blanket and meadowsweet quilt done.

everything was purchased at fabric.com

Thank you to all the wonderful birthday wishes and gifts. They made my birthday extra special.

Sale Alert

Look at what I came across today....

Mendocino by Heather Ross $3.95 a yard

https://www.fabric.com/national-quilt-day-sale-mendocino-collection.aspx

Painting Problems

First off let me apologize for the pictures and the wordy post. The lighting in the bathroom is terrible (there is no natural light at all). Not only does this make for awful pictures but it is frustrating to paint.

The paint color never ends up being what you think it will. This will be the third paint job in this bathroom since we bought the house 5 years ago. The first time we painted it I was hoping for a whitewash with a hint of blue. It ended up being to blue for me (see above photo-paint is inside the fixture) and we repainted it when I got a new shower curtain. The green that was on the wall did not go with the Gold Fish shower curtain at all. We picked out a "whitewash" earth brown/grey/blue paint that we thought looked good in the bathroom lighting (blueish color around fixture). I swear it was the exact blue color as the first time we painted it. How is that even possible?? It was an entirely different paint line.

Needless to say I was not very happy. We took the paint back to the store (third trip to Home Depot that day) and asked them to help me change the color. I was happy with the whitish color they got it to, but who knows what it would have looked like in the bathroom and Brett didn't want white. So he picked out another swatch. A dark brown/grey. Very pretty but a bit dark for the bathroom. We went with it, they added the other colors to our already mixed paint. I left HD with a mind full of wishful thinking and a belly full of doubt.

We put the new paint up, mainly Brett did, I was not feeling well. And then decided it was the lighting the was ruining the paint so we went in search of a new fixture and ended up with new light bulbs. They made a big difference in the paint color.

Do I love it??  I don't know yet but I do love it compared to the ice blue color :) Has it left me scared to repaint the kitchen? Yes.

Towel Rug

  I used only scraps I had including the super soft velour terry cloth. I didn't use steam-a-seam on here (big surprise, I know) I didn't want it to loose any of the softness. So I just stitched the circles down with an appliqué stitch and embroidery floss, I figure if it doesn't hold up I will sew it with the machine. I got the idea from this book...

Brett got it for me for Valentines Day. Well I wanted it and didn't want to feel guilty about it so I told him he got it for me :) I was ordering other stuff from Amazon so I figured I may as well get with the free shipping. I got it without ever seeing it in person. There are some great ideas in it but I was hoping for more tips on how to clean vintage fabrics so you could reuse them.

The books Towel Rug: it used a towel for the entire backside. I decided since my piece of towel was new and super soft I would just put trim around it to finish it off.

(I hope it's okay I showed the picture from the book)

I have yet to but it in the bathroom as we are still waiting for the paint to dry. For now Colin is enjoying it as a play mat. 

01/28/2010

  

I finished a quick project this morning. I covered at $2.50 cork board from Target with some cute apple fabric. And last night I finished the Heather Ross Gold fish project I have been working on for a few days. Hopefully I will get a picture of it this weekend. I need to repaint the bathroom first ;)

Colin's Upgraded Hat

I bought this hat at Joann's for $1. It is just a basic, cheap, navy blue stretchy knit hat. I think the added Heather Ross Gnome fabric makes it 100x more adorable. Especially when I see Colin wearing it. The hat is plenty big and will last for a long time, which made me feel less guilty about using this adorable fabric on it :)

I used a light weight Steam-A-Seam adhesive and I also stitched it on the hat. This gnome wont be going anywhere on his own :)

My Heather Ross Collection is now complete

Now I need to get started on my quilt, I just need to decide on a pattern. Any suggestions?

Huck Finn Pants Take 2

I made Christina’s  son, Brice, a pair of Huck Finn pants just like Colin’s. Well almost. I made a few tweaks since Brice is a little bit smaller then Colin. I used the same 12 month pattern pieces. I just used a French seam on the outside seam of each pant leg. And I used Colin’s waist measurement for the elastic length, no additional inches added or the button that the pattern calls for. I also increased the hem on each pant cuff.

The pants look like shorts in the photo due to how they were hung on the hanger but I assure you they are longer then they appear. Brice was kind enough to try them on for me yesterday and I think they fit really well. But I a wasn’t smart enough to take a picture. Oh well.

I also made a coordinating t-shirt for Brice with appliquéd number 1 for his first birthday. I used steam-a-seam to adhere it and then I used the zig-zag stitch and stitched all the way around it. This appliqué should hold up to many washes.

And of course I had to add a tag so Christina could tell which side was the back and I thought it was only appropriate to use some monkey ribbon I have. She calls Brice her little monkey :)

Now I just need to make Colin a matching t-shirt and we can take there photos together. I am sure they will think we are dorks when they look back at the photos someday.

Fabric-is from Heather Ross’ line Lightening bugs and Other Mysteries I think it is just called orange stripe.

As a side note I would just like to say I still had difficulties with the topstitching of the pant leg seams. Most of them silly but irritating, like running out of bobbin thread and not realizing it until I thought I was finished with the seam. I was really nervous about making these for Brice. I look up to and admire Christina’s beautiful craftsmanship. I didn’t want them to look anything less then amazing. Hahaha, so not realistic :o)

xo,

E

Weekend Sewing

This will project #3 completed from Heather Ross’ Weekend Sewing book. I love the book! I feel in love with it when I first saw the project preview pictures on Melanie Falick Books blog before the book was even released.

I made two of the yard sale skirts for my mom. I added an extra panel on both even after using the size large pattern. And I added a button hole in the waistband so we could slip one of the ties through it, I think it really helped the skirt lay better. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of them.  Hopefully I can catch my mom wearing them someday.

Project #3 was the Head scarf, this went to my mom as part of her Mother’s Day gift (I made right before we went to see her). I made it out of left over fabric from on of her wrap skirts. I even had to piece the fabric together to get the right size rectangles. I used a French seam, that way there wouldn’t be any fraying. You can’t even see the seam due to how I placed the pleats on the head band. Yippee! I love when everything works out.

I love it! I am defiantly going to have to make one for myself. I cut 1.5 inches off of the elastic that it calls for, making it a really secure fit. Headbands always fall off of me, I have a big head.

 

xo,

E

Sale Alert

My good friend Sarah and fellow fabric addict sent me this wonderful link this morning and a text message to make sure I got it :)

If you like Heather Ross fabrics and the Katie Jump Rope collection head on over to here. They have some starting at $3.49 a yard!

Happy Sunday!

and

Happy Easter!

xo,

E

p.s. I will post about last nights quilt along a little later today ;)