The Rush

Ah, the high of a fresh project!  Do any of you get that great feeling when you start something new? 

That completely intoxicating emotion, part hope and part adrenaline rush, caused by beginning again, having a clean slate or a collection of new materials in front of me.  I practically tear up. 

This - THIS - could be the most beautiful and perfect thing of its kind that anyone has ever seen!  This could change the lives of millions!  Craft, elevated to art!  I could rule the world!

Or maybe I could, at least, finish in a timely manner?

Monday, Monday

After the wonderful weekend we just had, I can hardly BEAR to go back to the office. 

I'm sorry, that was just awful.  Blame my father, the King Of Puns.  He made me this way. 

This is a bear I made for a friend's baby shower.  I sewed it by hand, using this pattern and tutorial.  It was my first time sewing anything from a pattern, and I couldn't be happier.  The body is made of fleece from the remnant bin, and the patterned bits are quilting fabric, interfaced with medium weight interfacing.  It ended up bigger than I expected, more than 14" tall, but it is just the cutest thing ever.  I hope my friend's baby loves it to death.  I also made her a bunch of burp cloths because, well, you know.

What was the first thing you ever sewed from a pattern?  How did it work out for you?

First Quilt

Making quilts is a fascinating thing.  You take fabric, cut it up, and sew it into new fabric.  I have wanted to learn this skill for years, and the idea of having closets full of quilts made by me fills me with joy. 

Now, I have minimal sewing experience.  I took home ec. in 8th grade, and made a stuffed rabbit that I gave to a friend.  I cross-stitched for a while.  I've sewed a seam, and understand the basics, but more by reading than by doing.  But hey, I can learn anything, right?  We all can.  And now there is the magic that is the Interwebs, where directions to do any darn thing is right at my fingertips.  Intoxicating. 

So with this information, and this tutorial and this binding tutorial, I set out to make my very first quilt.  I planned to give it to a friend as a baby shower gift, so I had a definite deadline (which was good, since I can procrastinate forever).  I picked some fabrics in orange, turquoise and lime green, three colors that make me happy, and made a simple quilt top from 9" squares.  Excuse the sofa arm there in the bottom right corner.

I chose 9" squares because I was using fat quarters, so I could get 4 from one FQ.  Also, I wanted to be sure that if I turned out to hate quilting, I would still be likely to finish this quilt, and not toss it in the back of a closet and hope it disappeared.

I machine pieced the top, spray basted the sandwich, and backed it with cream flannel.  It was a surprisingly speedy process, and I was ready to quilt it.  I quilted it in the ditch, and then in an X across each square. 

I made a scrappy binding from the leftover quilt squares, and machine bound it.  Please excuse the awful lighting for these pictures.  I wanted to take them before I brought the quilt to my friend, and the sun hadn't come up yet. 

Aside from one mistake where I laid it out crooked and the backing didn't quite cover the whole back at one top corner, it all worked out very nicely.  With some messing around, I finally got everything covered, and sewed down tight.

Here it is, draped over my giant living room chair.  I didn't measure the final result, but I'm guessing it was maybe 45" by 40", give or take.

I even had some binding left over!  Which is great, because let me tell you, this is a color combo I will be using again!  Love it, love it, love it.

Here is a closer shot of the quilting.  I used cream thread. 

Goal for the future: take better pictures!

Fresh Start

Well, I'm back!  That was a much longer break than I intended.  Since October, I've gotten married, celebrated Christmas with a whole bunch of family and friends, finished up some projects, and started a whole lot more than I finished, and generally experienced the great slowdown that is winter in the midwest.

But spring is here!  In the spirit of new beginnings, I'm going to recommit to my blog.  I'm sure the three of you out there reading this will be happy to hear it.  In the next several days, I will show the projects I've worked on this winter, and start some new ones.

Right now, however, I am off to enjoy the apple blossoms, and hunt out tulips.