swaps and a gift

I sent this pillow cover out this week along with a little cathedral window pin cushion.  I also added scraps to this package, but didn't take a picture

.

My partner was silent as a church mouse and so I was a little nervous to send it.  Also, sadly and maybe badly to say, a little less enthusiastic to send it.  A swap is so much funner when you have a chatty or even slightly chatty partner.

And I do have a partner like that in the Pillow Talk {Swap}.  After stalking her, knowing she likes Catherineholm and low volume, I've put this together.  Not sure what background to go with yet.  I have a good week to decide before I commit.

all yellows...

grays and yellows...

I also finished up this hexy butterfly for the Get Your Hex On bee. 

 

To top off my good week, I got a super surprise in the mail.  Remember I got 'published'?  Well, Sew Sisters, despite sending me fabric to play with in the first place and then letting me keep what I'd made, sent me a Thank You gift for writing up a tutorial for them!

They were absolutely generous and sent me a 1/2 yard bundle of Kona solids and a charm pack of Summersville Spring by Lucie Summers.

I sense a quilt coming!

it's the weather

Haven't been blogging much... you can blame that on the beautiful weather we've been having.  I've been outside watering my flowers and planting some of my garden.  We even spent the afternoon outside on Monday and played in the pool!  

Anyway, here's a blog post... who knows when the next one will come!

I spent weeks making a tutorial for this pillow and an a few days it's posted and a giveaway is won.

 

ps. love the table top my husband made for me!  I sure do.

I never realized how much work goes into making tutorials.  I will never take tutorials for granted again.  

Right now, I'm working on a pillow cover for The Pillow Talk {Swap}.  I was having a bit of trouble choosing what to make for my partner as she likes low volume fabrics and I still don't have much of an idea of what constitutes low volume.  

My partner also seems to like stars and Dresden plates, but there is no way I'm going to tackle a Dresden plate now. For some odd reason, they kind of scare me.

Instead, I chose something different.  Much different.  I stalked my partner and found she likes the Catherineholm lotus design.  

After much searching, I couldn't find a pattern for sewing it up.  So I made a paper pieced pattern using a free download program called Quilt Assistant.  It's not exactly symmetrical, but you can't tell from looking at it.

Just have two left to make and then I have a whole.  Then I have to find a way to make the blue round and then I will square it off with some, what I think are, low volume prints. Just hope she likes the graphic design of this pillow.  Wish me luck!

I'm also busy finishing off some orders for dresses.  Here's a Maxi Dress with a double ruffle.  Little D is a size 4, and she's modelling a size 3 here, so it's a bit short.  She also insisted on holding these silk flowers she found.

 

And you know what?  After I spent some time designing this dress and figuring out measurements, Violette Threads comes out with a similar pattern. 

Only differences are the flutter straps and their bodice is squares whereas mine is rounded.  

Great minds think alike I guess.

Last thing.
If you are Canadian and you're interested in swapping fat eighths with some other Canadians, I started a Flickr group for us called F8 Swap Canadian Edition. It's the first swap I've organized, but since it's not large, only 8 swappers to a group, I think it might be a good place to start. 
Wanna join us?

published!

A little nervous and a little excited - the first tutorial I've ever written has been posted over at Sew Sisters.

Go check it out and enter to win a FQ bundle of the blues I used to make the Tangram pillow.

simply solids - triangles

As I've mentioned before, I'm the leader of the month of May for the Simply Solids Bee.  I was playing around with a bunch of ideas for blocks to make, and I always seemed to come back to triangles.  Not half-square triangles, but isosceles triangles.  

I looked around for tutorials for my group to follow, but all triangle quilt tutorials used strips of triangles sewn together.  That doesn't really work for a bee where members have to make blocks.

So, members, here is what I'd like to you do for me this month.  It's a bit large, but there is no complicated piecing.

I sent out 25 pre-cut triangles to every member of my group.  (I used a paper template to cut these out and it took me a good two evenings to cut all them all!).

Randomly arrange the triangles into a triangle - please be completely random and as much as you tend to put things in patterns (something I always seem to do), please don't.

Now we're going to sew the bottom row together in groups of three.

Take two triangles and line them up against the side that will be sewn together, point to point, and sew with a scant 1/4" seam. 

Open it up and sew on the next triangle.

I am going to press the seam allowances towards the outer triangles, so to make sure I get the second triangle on right, I finger press the seam allowance down and match up the points of the unsewn triangle to the sewn ones.

Press the seam allowances to the outer triangles.

To sew together groups of three, match up the sides that will be sewn together.

Here's a trick I use to make sure I get my points just right.  Hold the pressed seam allowance in the opposite direction and match the unsewn point to the sewn points.

Let go of the seam allowance and you have the perfect pointy bit sticking out over top.  Pin in place and sew.

Press the seam allowance as shown.

Sometimes, you might have to trim.  Just measure up 1/4" from the point and trim off the excess.  This will help to get perfect points. Not that all my points are absolutely perfect, but I try.

When sewing together rows of triangles, I always match up the points by peeking between the two layers and pinning where the points should match.  You may have to ease the fabric together between pins - that's okay.  In fact, in making my 'block' I did a lot of easing.

Here's to rows sewn together. 

Then just continue until you have all the pieces together in one large triangle

I hope this little explanation is clear enough, but if you have any questions, please ask!

april/may

I am super busy right now!

1. I have Spring Market on May 3rd that I am busy prepping for.

That means making some pillow cases, dresses, and organizing my stock.

2. I have to finish my Get Your Hex On block for April yet - it kinda got a little forgotten about.

3. I am queen bee for May in the Simply Solids Bee, so I have to get my butt in gear with organizing and cutting and I may have to write up a quick and short tutorial for my blocks.

4. I have to finalize a guest post for May.

5. I finished the large swap item for Sew Sew Modern, but I have absolutely no clue what to make for a small item.  My partner is so so quiet, I wonder if she even exists!

6. And most importantly of all, I have to spend time with my kiddies.  D loves to go biking every day and she doesn't just go for a quick ride and then quit - she loves biking so much she'll go for an hour!  Good exercise for me though as that means I also take an hour long walk.

finishes and a wip

I'm busy sewing this and that, but I really haven't finished much so far. Ack! 

I've mostly been sewing up dresses for my upcoming Spring Market, and trying to stay on top of other commitments. The last bee block I showed should have been mailed, but it's still sitting on my ironing board. It's and April block though, so I do have some time yet, but I like to get those things finished! 

 I've also been catching up (is it really catching up if you're not behind) on the Skill Builder blocks.

There is a 'glaring' mistake in my Woven Chevron block and I didn't notice it until the next mornign when I hung it up to take a photo of it.  Needless to say, I ripped it apart and fixed it.  I just couldn't leave it!

I'm so proud of my matching points in this block.  

Talking about matching points, I took on another project with points.  This project will be a pillow cover

This project will be a pillow cover for my Sew Sew Modern partner.  I took a black and white photo because my partner was pretty colour specific.  All that piecing though!  I've used Rachel's idea, and instead of hand piecing these, I've been machine piecing them.  Still a lot of work though - and now on her blog she has posted her finished quilt!  That's a lot of piecing.  Not sure I'd ever take that on.

I really am doing something

I've revised my maxi dress pattern and this is the new version with a ruffle.

 

It's kind of hard to take a photo of this dress, and it really doesn't do well on a hanger.  But the skirt is fuller, the straps are a little shorter and I love the rufflle!

Next month, May, is my turn to be Queen bee in the Simply Solids Swap.  So I'm auditioning some colours.

  

I'm planning a triangle quilt.

  

 Really not sure yet.

I did just finish April's block though.

 

Our Queen chose stash busting, and because I'm not truly a fan of erratic scrappy-ness, I stuck with four colours.  Hope she loves it!