Sister's Outfit

No, I do not have a sister, but the girl I made the raincoat and hat for her American Doll that I posted about a few days ago, has a sister.  Now, she has an Itty Bitty baby, which is the baby version of the American Doll.  When she saw her sister's outfit, she, of course, wanted one for her baby.  So, I had to do some pattern alterations (which the measurements of the two dolls can be found on-line) of the American Doll pattern and came up with this:

By, the way, her favorite colors are purple and turquoise.  Lucky for me, I had some leftovers from a swim bag I made of these colors!

Warmest...

Merry CHRISTmas

2013 FQS Designer Mystery Club BOM - Block 7

Yep, I received block 7 in the mail last week and cut it out that night.  I just got around to sewing it up today.

Each month I am please with the blocks that are rolling out in this club.

Now back to the sewing room for some more UFO BOM stuff.  

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Trio of Pillowcases

As you have read in a prior post, we have three little ones in our lives, and this will be our first Christmas with them.  It has been a long time since we have had little ones around the Christmas tree.  My husband and I are reining ourselves in, making sure we don't go overboard, so we kept it simple and got them one gift on their list.  But I wanted to do something other than wrapping paper, because one of the gifts would be awkward to wrap.  So I remembered that pillowcases have been used to wrap these type of bulky gifts.

So, I made a trio of pillowcases that will serve two purposes.  First to be used as their wrapping for their presents, and second, for use as a pillowcase that will be special to each one of them.

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New Venture - Doll Clothes

I have had the privilege of three little ones come into our lives this season.  Long story, but a great reunion with a quasi adopted son and his family.  Two little girls and one little boy.  Well, it has been a long, long time since I have had little ones in my life.  Years.  Probably at least 25 years.  A long time.  

I have no clue of what is all the rage in children's toys.  It's been years remember.  So when these two little girls show up with their dolls, I had to ask about them.  Well, they have what is called the "American Girl" doll.  There is a whole culture surrounding these dolls.  They have their own stores, with wardrobe selections, tea rooms, birthday rooms, and on and on...

Anyway, I didn't want to get caught up in the culture and the price tag that goes along with such fanfare, so I did some searching on the internet, and found some retired patterns for this doll, and decided to make a couple of outfits for their dolls.

Here is my first attempt at making doll clothes.  I haven't done this since I was a small girl.  Remember I only have sons, so not doll related stuff while they were growing up.

This is a rain coat and had, made out of PUL from Free Spirit.  Doll clothes are not as easy as one would think, as the space to work with is small, like easing in sleeves, turning a hat brim, making a collar and turning it with crisp corners, and on...

But, all in all, I think it came out pretty darn cute!

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Next Block

I cut out the next block(s) for month 7 from the Civil War Tribute BOM that I have doing as part of my UFO BOM's I am working on this year.  Month 7 is requiring eight of the same block, all 12" square.  This picture is all of the pieces cut out.

What is different this month is, the pieces are cut out using 1/16", instead of 1/4" measurements.  Most of you who quilt, know that all of the quilt rulers are marked using the 1/4" measurement.  Some have little, tiny, black marks for 1/8" measurements, but not 1/16" measurements.  So, I had to spend some careful time cutting out the pieces.

Below is a picture of the finished block, and remember I have to make 8 of  it.  The reason the measurements are different than normal is the pattern makers kept it historical to the block from the Civil War era.  Included in the pattern, is a modified block using 1/4" measurement, but the block looks so different.  I pondered for awhile on which direction to go in making these blocks, and finally concluded that I wanted to keep it as original and historical.  Yeah, we'll see how that works for me.....

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Lining Knitted Scarves

Well, I made it through the Thanksgiving Holiday, and picked up some supplies for future items in my ETSY shop on Black Friday.  But now it is really getting cold outside, and I am ready to start spending lots of time in my sewing room.

One of the things that I have had on my to do list for some time now is to get a lining put on a couple of my knitted scarves.

I had bought some fairly expensive yarn,  about two skeins of each color, so about the only thing I could do was to knit a couple of scarves.  But, after knitting them up they rolled up like this and not very functional.  I spent much time blocking them (on my ironing board) and they still curled up.  I then saw somewhere on Pinterest, that someone had lined their scarf with some cotton fabric.  Genius!



So, I measured out the fabric, and took my handy wonder clips and put the them together.





I used a long running basting stitch on my sewing machine to attach the fabric to the knitted scarf.

This one was more difficult to make neat and tidy, as the ends of the scarf flared out, causing the fabric to ruffle a little bit.

All in all, I think they look so much nicer, and will add a different flare to the look of the knitted scarf!!

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My Latest Commissioned Order

Remember when I said I would like to get to quilting my UFO #2 project, but it would have to wait because I received a new commissioned order?  Well, I finished the order today.  It was for two of my mini hipster bags made using the colligate fabric of the Nebraska Huskers.

This is the front view of the first one.  The client wanted the big polkadots as a coordinating print to make it kinda retro for the person receiving the gift.  Cute, huh?

Here is the back view, showing the open pocket.  I have always made a mini key fob to go with these mini hipsters, as there is just enough fabric left over to make one, which is better than just having a small scrap laying around.

This one was for a younger recipient, so I used black as a coordinating print with a matching red zipper.

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UFO BOM Progress

After completing my current year's BOM, I worked on the two UFO BOM's I am trying to get done this year.

First up is block 7 for the BOM called Land of  Lincoln Sampler.  The name of this block is Lincoln's Platform.

Next is month 6  from the BOM called A Civil War Tribute  This month calls for four of these 12" blocks.  I have two done, and two more to  complete.

I want to get these done, so I can move onto getting some quilting done on the last wall hanging I completed, and maybe one of the bigger quilt tops I have stored in a cubby.  But, fortunatly I have to work the quilting in between a custom order I just received!  Yipee!

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FQS Mystery Designer BOM #6

Block 6 came in the mail when I was still working on the Browning Bag, and today was the first time I could spend some time on my regular quilty stuff.  A little more complicated than the previous blocks, but I like the illusion of a moving triple pin wheel!

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Browning Bag Done

YEEEESSSSS! I am done with this labor intensive bag.  Whew.  The following are pictures of the completed bag at all angles.  For complete details about the bag, here is a link directly to the listing on Etsy here.

Front View



Back View

Top View

Inside view of the back of the bag divided pocket.

Inside view of the zippered pocket on the front side of the bag.

The pattern is called "Olivia" by Chris W. Designs.  A link to her blog can be found here.

Browning Bag Update

This is really slooooooow going. There are over 80 pieces (including interfacing) to this bag, and more hardware than I have usedbefore. It all takes time and lots of attention to details.  I am on my third afternoon / evening working on this bag.  It's not that I am not enjoying the proccess and the outcome, I just don't think I could charge enough to cover the time spent on sewing it all together  even the hardware costs add more of a cost than on some of my other bags that I sell.  Hopefully, I cand be done within the next day.

Front view

Bback view

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Working on Something New

I am working on a new bag, that I might or might not put in my ETSY shop.  Here is a peek at the front and back of the bag.  I just got started on it, and it is going to take a long time to complete.  I'll keep you posted of progress as I go along, only because I won't have much else to blog about.

Front side

Back side

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Just the Top

Here is a picture of the top of the UFO project #2.  I will have to work on getting it quilted next week, but I wanted to show you that after you get all the parts together it makes for a perfect summer wall hanging in the kitchen.  If you didn't guess what the third part was, it is a watermelon and a slice of the watermelon.  Cute, huh?

The borders make it feel like summer too!

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UFO Project #2 3rd and Last Part

Final part of this wall hanging.  I am going to let you guess what this part represents.  Given the other two parts, I have faith you will be able to figure it out!



Now it is time for borders and getting it ready for quilting.

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UFO Project #2 Second Part

Ok, squint again, this part is supposed to be canning jars. Trust me, it will take on the look it is supposed to be, when the wall hanging is completed!

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UFO Project #2

I blogged a post a couple of weeks ago after I had just finished UFO Project #1, that I had the next UFO project picked out.  I worked on about a third of it and this is the result.  Does it look like a row of corn on the cob?  Try squinting and maybe it will be so?  If not, it will when I get the whole project done.

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UFO BOM progress

Well, this last week was slow going in the sewing room. Mostly because of some health issues, but I got to feeling better by Thursday, so to keep it simple, I worked on all of the UFO BOMs.

First up is block six of Land of Lincoln Sampler called "Farm Friendliness".

Next up is  Month 5 of the Tribute to the Civil War blocks.  This month called for (4) 12" blocks .  Here is a full view of the block made up.

And here is a pic of all four of the blocks done.

Then, last but not least, I added the sixth row on my civil war color way Farmer's Wife quilt.  There are a total of 15 rows all sewn on the diagional.  This is a side view of it hanging on my door.  When all the rows are done it will be a queen sized quilt!

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FQS Mystery Designer BOM #5

Here is block 5 done for this BOM.

If you would like to see the prior months blocks, just click on the on the tag Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM 2013 at the end of this post.  Apparently to use this blogger program limits the space you can use, and pictures take up a lot of space, so instead of adding the past pictures of the blocks for this BOM, i'll just have to refer you to prior posts.  Bummer!

Leftover Table Runner Project D.O.N.E. Done!

Yipee!  We are done! Done! Done!  I will be the first to admit that I am not the speedy sewer/quilter there is out there, but this one has taken the prize for one stretched out project reaching the finish line.

And, even after quilting, some of the wonkiness is still there.  (Sigh).  So, I am going to wash it and then do a really good steam press on it and wash my hands from it.  I probably should have scrapped this as soon as I made the first block of triangles, but I didn't and I made the commitment to my self that I am not leaving unfinished projects laying around.  It would have been easy to just bundle the unfinished project up and put in in a bag or bin and tell yourself, "I will come back and get to that later".  Nope, that's not what my new mantra is all about, especially since I am no longer working outside of the home.

So here are the finished pictures.  The first one here is the runner folded in half.  I didn't take the time to totally unfold it for the pictures, mostly to save face on all the wonkiness going on with this thing called a table runner.

Close up picture of the one corner of the quilt and it shows the cross-hatch quilting I did.  This is probably my most favorite way to quilt, as it is straight line quilting (no special changes on the sewing machine itself or the feet), and it usually is just following the lines of stitching the block together.  Going around the border I just straight stitched at one inch intervals.

Another close-up of the cross hatch quilting.

Cute view of it folded up.  Too bad that it looks the best this way rather than laid out on the table.  (Snicker)

This picture is a view of the backing I used, which is the same as the last border on the front.  I got really lucky, as I didn't have enough of any of the scraps left over from the big quilt to do a backing, so I spent a couple of late nights surfing the web, and found matching fabric.  It was posted as scraps left over from a long arm quilter and only cost me $3.50, including postage to get the backing.  Half of the fun is the hunt for the right material to complete the project and make it look like you had it all from the beginning

And, last, but not least, here is a close up of a corner to show the binding, which matches the red in the quilt top.

Now that it is done, I am feeling pretty good about sticking it out and completing this project.  It shows now that I can do a little designing and have the self discipline to follow through with something I started.

By the way, if anyone is interested in this design, leave me a comment with your e-mail address, and I will send you the graph paper sketches I did in the planning of this table runner.

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A Peek at the Leftover Project

This leftover project has taken more time than I really wanted to commit.  My original thought was, "Here is a stack of leftover triangles, I should be able to whip up something really quick!"  (Snicker)  Yeah, right!

Using leftover little triangles causes fitting issues, as they are the off cast of the correct fitting flying geese and each leftover triangle may or may not be the same size as the other cut off triangles.

So, there is a little wonky fitting, including a little tuck here and there.  But overall, I think it is going to come out rather nicely using up all the leftovers from the big quilt.

I am hoping to quilt it and bind it this afternoon and evening.  

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Dress forms

It is no secret that I like and have a small collection of dress forms.  Some have been found in re-sale shops, and some are new found in various retail outlets.  I have them displayed in several places throughout my sewing room. 

Here are a few standing in my window sill, all lined up in a row.

This one is hanging on my back wall.

These two wire framed pink ones are found on top of my fabric shelves.

This one is a pretty one in a chiffon flowing dress, and it's pink!

Yesterday, we were at a factory outlet discount store and look what I found!!!  Yep, another dress form, and this one comes with it's own little matching purse.  Cute, huh?

My collection would be much bigger, but for some odd reason, dress forms in any fashion (wire, clothed, jewelry holder) are usually quite expensive.  Most of mine bought in a retail store have been on sale at at least 75% off.  The lowest price on the small ones start at around $30 and if they are over 12" high they hover around $100.

I feel fortunate enough to have the collection currently residing in my sewing room.

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Sewing Buddy

I'm not sure what is is about cats, quilts, and sewing rooms, but they seem to be one of the most posted items out in blog land.  I am no exception!

Here is my helper today...

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