You down with HST?

Since it's a short month, it's a good thing I've gotten a jump on making the HSTs for my February project. They're all sewn and pressed, and now they just have to be trimmed. Trimming is my least favorite task, and trimming all 720 of these squares is going to be miserable.

Hopefully, I'll be done with the trimming soon, and then I can move onto more fun tasks. I can't wait to see how these squares come together to make two 14"X14" pillow shams and two 60"X60" throw quilts. These, plus a set of six placemats, are promised to a friend who got married back in November. Hopefully, they'll look so amazing that she'll forgive me for sending it three months late.

The colors are great, and I think the leftovers might be just right for a unisex baby quilt that I'm planning.

Ruffling it in the wilderness.

This is about as close as I'm willing to get to an outdoor activity - making adorable little play tents. My girls were invited to a birthday party for a friend who is turning three. I thought she might like a little tent made from this tutorial. Since she's a little princess, I thought I'd make it a little more feminine than the brown and green one that I made at Christmas. I used a pink and white fabric with woodland creatures, and added some eyelet lace around the doorway.

Don't worry, I'm not a cheapskate trying to foist my crafts onto people - I also bought her a gift.

January project completed: Love is fan art and obscene pillows (NSFW)

 

When I was in high school, there was a period of a few months when I had two jobs: a day job at a grocery store bakery, and an overnight job stocking shelves at WalMart. Now, having a little baby and two older kids on a daytime school schedule, I feel like I'm working two shifts again. Once the kids go to bed, then I get started on my nighttime shift, hanging out with my wakeful baby and puttering around the house. So with the many hours I get to sew, it's little surprise that I actually finished a project on time. Early, even. Granted, it's not a quilt, but it's a project.

For my January project, I decided to make a Valentine's Day gift/fan art for one of my favorite podcasters and relationship advice columnists, Dan Savage. I've heard every episode of his show "Savage Love", and have read all the columns I can get my hands on. Even as a straight, monogamous, vanilla woman, I get value from the advice he dispenses. I think if I had started listening to him much earlier, I might have been able to avoid some of the pain I took away from past relationships.

Every year, Dan gives the same advice for Valentine's Day: "Fuck First." What he means is that if you're going out with your significant other on Valentine's Day and plan to have sex, have sex before you go out to dinner. That way, you can get a later reservation. You can enjoy the sex more, not being full on food and alcohol and tired from a night out. And you can enjoy dinner more, with all the expectations out of the way.

 

I decided to express this thought on a lacy throw pillow in Valentine's Day colors. I started by tracing the letters on freezer paper. Then I ironed the paper in place.

 

Next, I sewed right over the paper using my machine's smallest stitch, which made it easy to pull the paper off. 

After the letters were in place, I used free-motion quilting to fill in the rest of the space on the front panel. To make the letters extra puffy, I used two layers of batting. I think next time I do this, I'll only use one layer, and make the quilting a little less dense. The front ended up a little too stiff for my taste.

The back panel was much softer and less stiff. I only used one layer of batting and a simple quilting pattern of horizontal lines 1/4" apart. The back also has a hot-pink zipper down the center. I finished it off with a border of eyelet lace and stuffed it with an 18" pillow form.

I tried a few new things this month - sending fan art to a celebrity is definitely a first for me. Certainly, making a project where the main thought is an obscenity is a new thing for me - not that I'm above a swear or two. I think the juxtaposition of a cuss word on a quilted good, much less a floofy pillow, is hilarious. I've never used just one fabric and let the quilting be the focus. This is my first time finishing a pillow with a zipper. I tried a new product, Aurifil thread - previously, I had just used whatever old quilting thread I'd found at JoAnn. I'd like to keep on using it - lots of quilt blogs I've read swear by it. Finally, the technique of making the letters was a new one for me. Usually, if I want to make letters on a quilt, I'd use applique. But I'm liking this so much, and I'm such a huge fan of words on quilts, this might become my signature. Definitely expect more of that in the future.

 
So this gift is done and ready to be mailed to Dan Savage!

Goals for 2013

I started my quilting journey in January of 2011, and my goal for that year was to create one quilt a month. That resolution worked out pretty well - I made at least 12 quilted projects, so it averaged out to one a month. For 2012, I continued this challenge, and added another element: my goal was to work only with my existing stash and not buy any additional fabric. I didn't do quite as well with my goal this year - I got really overwhelmed with the new baby and really dropped the ball on creating new projects. Also, I just gave up on avoiding fabric shops and bought whatever my heart desired.

This year, I am continuing and adding onto my 2011 and 2012 goals: in 2013, I will create at least one quilted project per month, using mostly stash fabric (and hopefully, these many projects will significantly lessen my stash, since I'm having a problem with storage.) I'm going to allow for my monthly output to include not only quilts, but also throw pillows, garments, and other sewing projects. In addition, each month, I will try something new. "Something new" can be a specific quilting technique, like paper piecing, sewing curves, or using an interesting tool. Or "something new" can be a more general sewing experience - I'd like to take a class, if I could ever get my schedule to work out. I'd like to make some quilted fan art to send to my favorite podcasters. I'd also like to make a quilt to give to a charity quilt drive - I feel like I saw lots of requests in 2012 for quilts for victims of natural disasters, and I'd like to have a few twin-size quilts on hand to send in when I hear of another drive.

I've already got lots of ideas circulating in my head - hopefully, I can see lots of them become reality in 2013. Happy New Year!

Hey, baby, you come here often?

 Geez, I haven't blogged for a couple of months. In my defense, I was hugely pregnant...

...and that works as an excuse for a multitude of sins.

I still did a little bit of sewing and crafting during my blogging hiatus. I made full-size quilts in blue and gray for two little boys who were going to be step-brothers. I got this photo of my delicious stack of new fabric...

But I didn't photograph the final product. My camera was out of batteries, and I couldn't find the charger. But it's not my fault, I was pregnant. See, great excuse.

I attempted to tackle the ongoing mess in the kids' playroom. I made an over-the-door Barbie-holding caddy, which is basically like a shoe organizer, with slightly larger pockets. Now we can get 30 fashion dolls up off the floor. Plus, it temporarily satisfied my craving to make something scrappy in rainbow colors. Watch out for that in the coming year, because I guarantee there will be an entire quilt made with rainbow scraps.

Unfortunately, since this photo was taken, the caddy has taken some abuse and held some weight, and the holes I put in for the grommets are starting to rip. So I need to do some repair work. I think I'll fix the holes and then nail it to the wall.

I decorated the nursery, which involved some sewing, painting, gluing, nailing, and stapling...

Then, on November 18, my darling little squalling hellmouth was born.

Normally, I wouldn't put pictures of my babies on the internet, but pics or it didn't happen, right? All babies look the same anyway.

It's taken a little over a month, but I've passed an important post-baby milestone. No, no, I haven't lost any baby weight (like, any). But I did start and finish a sewing project!

I followed this tutorial to make a tiny play tent, then accessorized it with a sleeping bag and pillow.

It's wrapped up and under the tree for my little four-year-old, who still hasn't noticed that her green dog is missing.

It feels like a huge accomplishment to actually get something done. I tried to make a little tree skirt for the mini Christmas tree in the kids' bedroom, but that project never bore fruit.

So, end of the year wrap up. The Barbie organizer, as well as the play tent and sleeping bag, were from stash, but I think you can tell from when I said "delicious stack of new fabric" that I haven't been very virtuous about my no-new-fabric challenge. It was like a diet: I did really well at the beginning of the year, and then just binged more and more as the year went on, always with new excuses. I'm a walking Kathy cartoon, except with quilter's cotton instead of chocolates. Ack, indeed. I'll do better next year - with fabric, with blogging, and hopefully also with my diet. Hey, these 60 pounds aren't going to lose themselves.

Sewing for Orphans donation project

I decided to contribute to the "Sewing for Orphans" project. Teresa Coates, who was running the drive, was asking for messenger bags, pencil bags, shorts, dresses, and cloth diapers for the kids at the Tam Ky orphanage in Vietnam. She originally blogged about it back in August, but I came to it a little late. I wish I could have done more, but she needs all donations by September 30th. I was still able to whip up 12 zippered pencil bags.

This was the first batch, using this tutorial. They came together pretty quickly, and I liked that it used a 9-inch zipper, which is a standard size that was easy to find. I also got to use up a few scraps of bias tape.

The second batch was made from this tutorial. 

The tutorial involved some applique, but I didn't do any of that. It also called for batting to give the applique some structure, but I didn't end up using any.

The pouch made from cow fabric was my favorite. I almost kept it. But now that I've got the skills, maybe I'll make another one for myself.

Making 12 zippered pouches was great practice with using zippers. Every one of them is lined with a coordinated fabric, so it used up some small cuts of fabric. And since they're meant for kids, I was able to finish off some novelty fabrics that I had no other plans for.

And of course, my favorite part was packing everything up and saying goodbye to it! Glad to have finished another project from stash.

August quilt: gnome pinwheel quilt top

I finished a quilt top, almost on schedule! 

 

I have binding and backing fabrics in mind already, so the quilting should go quickly. Once I get around to it.

 

I made a similar quilt for Christmas last year and thought I'd try it again. The Christmas quilt was made from 100 squares. Cutting out pinwheels shrinks the quilt a lot, and I was hoping for a larger quilt this time.
 

 The quilt started out like this, a 68"X68" quilt top, made up of 196 brightly colored 5"X5" squares with a 3" border around the edges. The color scheme is pretty obvious, but I also tried to pick any matching prints I had with gnomes, mushrooms, and woodland creatures.

I used the "Lil' Twister" tool, which is a Lucite square with an angled cross printed on it that helps to cut out the pinwheel squares.

The finished top shrunk down to 46"X58", even with the addition of the Michael Miller gnome panel. It's a nice size for a baby quilt.

I'm going to try to sell this quilt on eBay, along with listing the diaper bag that I blogged about last time. If they sell, great. College money for the new baby. And if they don't, I can use them for the baby.

Finishing off the quilt might have to take a back burner for about a week - we bought tickets to "Trick or Treat in the Heat", which is a charity fundraising Halloween event that takes place in early September. I have a cow costume to sew for my younger daughter, who has wanted to be a cow since last Halloween. Plus, I thought up the perfect costume for a pregnant lady. It's the only costume on Earth where the fatter, puffier, sweatier, and more out of breath I get, the better it looks. If I can manage to pull it together in the next week, it'll be genius.