Week Ending November 28, 2021

Since this was the week of Thanksgiving, I had to use my time wisely. I needed to wrap up projects and put things away by Wednesday afternoon so I could do some cleaning and cooking before my mom and mother in law arrived early on Thursday. I pinned my 2020 quilt blocks to my design wall and put it in the garage. I needed to finish one very time sensitive task - binding the Stargazers quilt. My plan was to give it to my mother in law while she was here as I was pretty sure we wouldn't see her again before her birthday and likely not until after Christmas.  I decided to do a scrappy binding using some of the floral scraps from my quilt.

I think the scrappy binding was perfect and tied it all together.

After I was done binding, I had some free time. I cut out a pair of velvet pants from fabric sent to me by Minerva. I wanted to get it cut out before I started cleaning as I knew it was going to add to the mess of lint on my sewing room floor and wanted to get it vacuumed up before company arrived. I also took some time to make some new fall decor for the occasion. I topped two pumpkins with succulents. I love how they turned out. I plan to pull these in when the weather gets cooler. Once the pumpkins start to rot, I'll plant the succulents  in a pot. 

Before my mom left her home, she sent me a photo of the quilt I made her on her bed. This was a throw size quilt but was HUGE! This is it on her Queen size bed.

My mom and mother in law arrived on Thursday morning. I placed the quilt for my mother in law on the guest room bed for her to see as soon as she went in. She was shocked when I told her the quilt was for her. She absolutely loved it. My mom took this photo of her with it right after they arrived. 

My mom always comes with a project for us to do. When I visited her recently she asked me if I had a pattern for bowl cozies. I told her I did as I had made them before. So one of the first things she said to me when arriving was if I had my bowl cozy pattern handy. I did not, but looked for one online and found one from  Sew4Home. I liked that this pattern actually had a printable template. Many online only gave dimensions and instructions. I then pulled out my bins of fabric scraps and some batting scraps and we were able to get 10 made in no time. 

I also had some fun mail come in on Friday. I got beautiful tied dyed fabric from Renee at Ride or Dye. 

I also got a book from a fellow quilter from the #grantyourquiltywishes She had posted a few quilt books she no longer needed and I claimed this Debbie Mumm book. 

I also got fabric from Super Textiles. I had been eyeing this mod floral print since they first posted it. They were having a sale and I decided it was time to finally grab a few yards. When I saw only 6 remaining, I decided - what the heck, and bought all that was left. I also grabbed this mustard/chartreuse brushed french terry. The color is so hard to capture. It is a golden mustard but lean more towards a greenish shade but not quite a chartreuse. I'm thinking about making joggers with it.

I finished my week completing my 2020 quilt top and getting it quilted. I have the binding sewn  onto one side and just need to finish it to call it completed. I might be able to finish it before Sunday is over, but photos will have to wait. 

If you are in the giving  mood, please check out Ruthlessly Handmade's fundraiser for Isaiah 117 House. Many quilters contributed blocks to make these quilts and they are all just beautiful. The quilts will go to donors making a contribution of $5. Each $5 donation will be a chance to win a quilt of your choice. I contributed 2 blocks to this project and both of mine are in the Queen sized quilt. Donations will be accepted through December 3. 

Frannie B Quilt Co. Stargazers Quilt

When I signed up to test the Stargazers Quilt from Frannie B Quilt Co, I was only going to test the block and make a few blocks and put them aside to make a throw later on. It took me a very long time to pick fabrics for this pattern test. I love large scale prints and I worried that they wouldn't translate well to a sawtooth star block. I also had a mental block on what I'd use for a background. The pattern calls for variety of low volume prints totaling the appropriate yardage for the background. 

Well, I'm not much of a low volume print person. I thought, maybe I can use a bunch of different solid colors. Then thought that might be too busy and just look garish. I have accumulated a lot of fabric (especially smaller cuts) from other quilters and have been sorting the fabric by color.  I grabbed my white/cream bin and pulled some tone on tone prints that I liked together. They didn't quite come to a yard, so I grabbed a cream fabric with teal polka dots, a solid tan, and a cream fabric with pastel rainbows. I finally had my background. 

I then needed fabric for my stars. As I looked at my background fabric, I felt they had a very vintage feel. So I went with that vibe and pulled an assortment of vintage ditsy florals from my inherited scrap stash. I had so many to choose from and decided to go with the brighter colors. Some pieces were literally scraps and just big enough for the center square  or enough for the points for one star block. If you look close you will find there is one lone purple centered star. 

I cut all my fabrics and then picked enough to make two blocks. After making the two blocks, I thought to myself, I know someone that would probably love this quilt - my mother in law. I should probably make this for her and give it to her for her birthday/Christmas. Her birthday is in December - so might as well cover both. I told my husband my idea and he agreed. 

The hardest part of the Stargazers Quilt is making all the flying geese needed to make the sawtooth star blocks. Flying geese can be so tedious to make, but they look so good when done right. These were made one at a time versus the 4 at a time method. The 4 at a time method would be quicker, but I would not have been able to utilize all my scraps this way. Many of my pieces for the points came from skinny strips of fabric that were barely over 2 inches wide. 

Once all the stars were made, the rest went fairly quick. It did take me some time and thought to try to plan out the pieces to try to keep too many of the same background pieces from touching. I also tried to keep similar stars away from each other. I thought I did good until I saw the photo below. Do you see the two twin stars in close proximity? I'm probably the only one that notices it. 

Below can you spot the lone purple star?

I took my Stargazers Quilt to get quilted by the local longarm quilter that I use. I backed the quilt with a super plush double sided minky and the minky fibers got pulled to the front when it was quilted. So the stitching really stands out right now. I think a lot of that will wash out when I send it for a wash and dry cycle before I gift it.

Here's a look at the plush back. It's soft and fuzzy like a velour. It feels so good on the skin. 

Now I have the arduous task of binding this quilt. I made the throw size and it is on the smaller size for a throw at 48 inches wide by 63 inches long. I think it will be perfect for my mother in law as she likes a blanket to cover her legs when she rests in her recliner in the cooler months. 

Week Ending November 21, 2022

I got more done this week than planned. I told myself to focus on organizing and tidying my space. Even though I could have spent more time tidying, I was too tempted by projects and had to start on one. I'm super happy with improvements I made to my fabric storage this week.  I ordered some acrylic self dividers from Amazon and they are going to keep me from having a huge mess when I pull my fabric out. I tend to pull fabric off my shelf and play with different combinations when planning a quilt. These boards I use do a great job or keeping my fabrics up like little bolts, but like bolts, they do fall to one side as others are removed. Then it can be really hard to get the up straight again to put the unused fabric back. I got 12 dividers and haven't put all of them in yet. I'm debating on how many to put on each shelf.  

I also got new bins to store my smaller bits of fabric by color. I'm still in the process of getting these completely how I want. 

I got in lots of goodies from the #getyourquiltywishesgranted 

More wishes received 

More wishes received- I found my selection of purple fabrics was lacking and really needed these. 

So here's my project that I could not wait to get to.  It's my mask scrap and 2020 quilt. I started putting the pieces on my design wall while I listened in to a meeting at work.  This was as far as I got during the call. 

Once I was off, I got back to it and got it to this.  I made some tweaks after this to even out the spread of colors in the corners a bit. 

I posted a blog on my outfit below.

I used a black and white filter on my phones camera to determine which side is "light" and which is "dark".  

I got more wishes in the mail. I'm collecting video game fabrics to eventually make my son a quilt. 

Here's what my mask scrap 2020 quilt looked like at the end of the week.  It's slowly shrinking down as I sew the pieces together. The upper left quadrant was done - at least into 4 squares and the far bottom left column was done. 

I'm determined to get this quilt finished before the end of the year. Hopefully I'll have the top pieced by Thanksgiving. 

Sofiona Designs 3rd Anniversary Sale

My selfish apparel sewing has been very little the past 18 months. The  Pandemic has really changed how I work, dress, and what I do. I haven't worked in the office since March 2020. I've resorted to wearing mostly athlesiure wear. I would say athletic wear, but really I'm not all that athletic. I do more than work in my athlesiure wear - I do get in exercise throughout the day. It's been great and I've been able to lose some weight and inches. So when I was contacted by Sofiona Designs to see if I was interested in sewing a few of their patterns I said yes! I have been in need of better fitting clothes. I don't mind wearing baggy clothes, but I thought it would be nice to have just a few new pieces that were in my new size. 

I knew I wanted to make the  Miss Trail Joggers. I wanted a top to wear with them and decided the Miss Birch Sweater would be a great top that would be casual enough for my walks in the neighborhood, but still nice enough to wear with some nicer pants or jeans to work. I also thought a new pair of leggings may not be a bad idea either and picked out the Miss Tamarack Tights.

The Miss Birch is a super comfortable top. I am 5ft tall and did not make any height adjustments for the top. I would say it runs a little short and would advise to lengthen it if you are of average height. I made the size 8 based on my bust measurement.  My hips are a few sizes bigger and I probably should have sized up the bottom band so it was not as tight. The print is a cotton jersey and the black is a thermal (waffle) knit. The cotton jersey is not especially stretchy.  Overall the fit is good and  I would make minimal adjustments when making it again. 

The Miss Trail Joggers have a design that I have only seen on tights before. I made a size 16 based on what I think my hips are (I think I need a sewing friend to help me measure)  and my thigh measurement. I did size down the waist a tad, and used a smaller elastic for the waistband. I took out 2" from the length for my height. This seemed almost perfect. I would probably add back a half inch when making them again as I like my ankles covered when seated.

For my Miss Trail Joggers I used a textured athletic knit from Zenith & Quasar. It has a bit of an optical illusion effect as it looks black at an angle and teal when viewed straight on. 

The pockets on the Miss Trail Joggers are nice and large. However they are placed very forward on the leg and feels a bit awkward when I put my phone in the pocket. The pockets are not bagged and I attached them using a reverse coverstitch. I then did a reverse coverstitch on the other seams to give them a sporty look. 

The back pieces have shaping over the rear. I have an ample bum and found that I could have used an extra half inch added to the rise as the waistband dips a little bit at the back center seam. You can see it peeking out from under my top. 

The Miss Tamarak Tights have some fun colorblocking options, but I wanted to keep them simple and solid. I have found that I wear my solid colored leggings way more than my color blocked ones. Colorblocking is so fun, but I have a hard time picking out colors that look great together. 

I decided a while back to keep my wardrobe to a few main colors and doing so has really made getting dressed easier and less stressful. My two main colors are green and blue and I pull in pops of purple and yellow. These purple tights were really needed in my closet. I love the dark and rich color. These are made with an athletic knit from Zenith & Quasar. 

Here's a look at the simple color blocking I did from the pattern. I did a reverse coverstitch on the seams for a sporty look. 

Here's another view of the colorblocked design. I didn't wear my shoes in these photos because I realized after the first few photos that my shoes had gotten muddy on my walk to this spot. 

Sofiona Designs is celebrating their 3rd year anniversary. All patterns are on sale for 40% off. These are the only patterns I have tried from Sofiona, but they have many more. The drafting seems to be spot on and the  instructions were clear. I was able to get all three items made over 2 days. I cut them all out on one day and sewed all three up the next day - with time to spare. 

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Week Ending November 14, 2021

I was off work most of the week so I got a lot done!   I started the week off participating in the Get Your Quilty Wishes Granted on Instagram. It's so much fun to read through everyone's wishes and being able to grant a few wishes. Of course it's fun to have your wishes granted too. 

These were the wishes I granted that I mailed out. I posted a few fabrics I no longer needed and a few people wanted them - so off they went. I granted wishes for Liberty fabric scraps, some neurology themed fabric, fabric scraps for a postage stamp quilt, scraps for the doors on a tiny house quilt, some zippers, some OG cotton & steel I have had forever. I even connected with a local sewist and we will meetup for an exchange soon. 

I changed out my bed linens and put my Deltille Quilt on the bed. This is a pattern from Running Stitch Quilts. 

I  got all my pieces sorted into blocks for my Stargazers Quilt coming soon from Frannie B Quilt Co. 

Sofiona Designs contacted me on IG and asked if I'd be willing to sew up some of their patterns for their 3 year anniversary celebration. They are making a look book of their patterns to celebrate. I agreed and picked out 3 patterns. I got everything cut out and sewn. I'll be sharing these soon. 

I made the New Look pattern N6671 with fabric from Minerva (Link will take you to my profile where you can see all my posts). I'll be posting my blog post on their website in January. Here's a sneak peak of my make. The top has a split neckline with a button closure in the front. 

Since I was sewing buttons on necklines - I grabbed two tops I made years ago that were in need of a button. This is the Halla Patterns Sunny Day Top. I absolutely love this pattern. 

The Sunny Day has the option to have ties or buttons on the front, and can be left open and allow the yoke to flap open. If you use interfacing, the yoke tends to stay up - which I did, but over time the interfacing broke down and my yoke became floppy. since my lining wasn't the same fabric, one the top below, I didn't like it flapping open. I think they look nice with the button closure. 

I got all my sawtooth star  blocks made for the Stargazers Quilt. Smaug had to get in my photo.

I sorted my stars by color and then put them together into block units. I did my best to ensure each block of multiple stars had variety. My inspectors - Nia and Smaug - checked my work. 

I got fabric in from Minerva for 2 projects. One fabric is a beautiful floral velvet and the other is this fun cotton jersey with dinosaurs busting through. I got this to make my friend Rissa a top. 

I completed the Stargazers Quilt top! Nia thinks it is for her. It is not. My husband went with me to Jo-ann's and we picked out a very nice and plush minky for the backing. I'll drop if off to get quilted by the long armer this week.

I also bought a few things I needed to organize my fabric in my sewing room closet. I plan to spend the coming week getting it cleaned up and organized. I'll think about what I want to make with my velvet from Minerva and get started if I can think of something in the next few days.