One of Everything bag

I don't know why it took me so long, but a year after getting Seams to Me for Christmas, I finally dove in and made some projects. The first thing I made was the storage box (which I've realized I never took any pictures of but will try to at some point in the near future), and the second thing I made was the One of Everything bag. I really like the shape of this bag, and the fact that the inside is deceptively roomy. It came together incredibly well, and I've been using it for a few weeks now with no complaints, though more than a few compliments!

The one thing I didn't like about the bag was the braided handle, so I used a trick I learned from an Atkinson bag instead to make round, batting-filled handles. These turned out great and are nice and comfy, too! I also omitted the dangly side things because, honestly, I didn't really like them. And I think the bag has enough going on without them.

Another hippo

I went a little crazy a few months ago and cut out fabric for four hippos. In early January I finally finished the last of them--this one, which I call Bijoux hippo after the Heather Bailey fabric it's made of. When I was cutting and making these hippos, I saved this one for last because I thought it would be my favorite. And yet, now that it's done, I think I like this one the best. Huh.

It might be because of the eyes? They look a little...surprised to me. I triple-stacked them, which may have been the problem? I think it's that white button that throws it off, but maybe that's just me.

Not sure what will happen with this guy. Right now he's just hanging out in the sewing room with repro hippo, possibly waiting for a good home?

Tethered Threads: December

I'm a bit behind in my non-Christmas posting, so this is a little catch-up. In my Tethered Threads quilting bee, Kathy had requested light, bright, scrappy, zakka-style blocks. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do; I started making hexagons on Christmas night. But I'm happy with what I came up with.

This block came first. The hexes are pieced into the block because I didn't want to appliqué them. Of course, I probably could've appliquéd them more quickly; I think I spent 13 hours making these hexagons! Still, I like the way that this turned out. I actually added all of the green fabric on the right because nothing that Kathy sent had enough to piece on the side and make all of those half-hexagons.

For this block I wanted to mix the fabrics up a bit more, really let that red pop, and let that flower Heather Bailey fabric sing. Not sure if I fully achieved the zakka style, but I think these blocks are fairly close.

Gifted: Quilt for my husband

And finally, the last of the Christmas 2009 gifts! And possibly the best, too: a lap-sized quilt for my husband! I'm sure you other crafters know how difficult it is to surprise your spouse with a handmade gift. It's not that it would be impossible for me--in the past I've shut myself into the sewing room and told him not to come in--but then he knows that I'm making him something, even if he doesn't know what. So I planned ahead, big time: this entire quilt was made in July, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when Rob was gone all evening teaching a night class.

The pattern is my go-to one: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs. The fabrics are all Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, except for the skinny border, which I think is a Dimple. As usual, the quilt came together really quickly. And those Free Spirit fabrics? So soft!

The quilting design actually took the longest--a good 8 hours! I think it took me a lot less to hand-stitch the binding on. For the quilting I chose to mimic the plaid of the rest of the quilt and pull in all of the colors. I drew a grid 5" apart and then quilted it with brown thread. Then I switched to green and quilted lines 1/4" away from the brown on each side, then orange, then blue. I stopped at the brown inner border and did one full line of quilting in the outer border so I would have squares at the corners. Even though it took a LONG time, I really like the effect. It's subtle, but it pulls in all the colors and adds a great texture.

The result? I completely surprised Rob on Christmas Eve with a handmade quilt that he (and Iris) totally loves. Sweet.

Christmas swap

In addition to all the crafting I did for others, I did some for a swap with my arty friend Hilary (who you may remember me swapping with back here). Before the holidays, she came to me with the best idea: If she bought a yard of Spoonflower math fabric, would I make things out of it for her math professor boyfriend? How could I say no?!? I'd been dying to get my hands on some Spoonflower for a while, and Hilary is just the best, so having more of her art in my possession is always my goal.

So, what did I make? The original plan was to make him a tie, but once the fabric arrived Hilary and I both agreed that the scale of the formulas was such that it would not work out. Instead, I made the following:

• Laptop sleeve following this tutorial
• One of my many hippos
• Wrist cuff following instructions from Seams to Me
• Coffee cozy following this tutorial
• and bonus: flower brooch from this tutorial

So, how was it? The tutorials were all really great. I especially fell in love with Anna Maria's loop-de-loop technique for making the button loops on the wrist cuff. The one thing that was not so great? The Spoonflower fabric! (I know, right?!) I have been wanting to love this fabric ever since I heard about Spoonflower. I know they used to print their quilting-weight cottons on white Kona cotton fabric. This other stuff has a nicer hand for sure, and a smaller weave, but was really difficult for me to stitch through. My machine hated it and kept skipping stitches, no matter how many times I cleaned and rethreaded the machine. I tried every needle I had and finally landed on one that worked well fairly consistently: My metallic thread quilting needle. Odd, no? But it did topstitch really well.

I'm still waiting for my exchange from Hilary, which will be some sort of painting. I left it up to her and told her it's not a rush at all, so I'm not anxious about it. I know how crazy we all get around the holidays! I'm still recovering. Now I'm almost caught up with my Christmas crafting blogging. Just one more big reveal and we can move on to the more mundane day-to-day crafting. I'm kind of looking forward to that. Aren't you?

Gifted: Scarves for everyone!

As I usually do, this year I chose one handmade gift and then proceeded to make a dozen of it to give out to pretty much everyone. This year? Quilted scarves!

These are fantastic for a number of reasons: 1) mega stash-busting! including batting and quilting thread! 2) patchwork = they go with everything 3) who doesn't need a scarf? 4) lined with flannel = a quilt around your neck! What's cozier than that?!

No, really, I love these. I made the first one as a prototype and then kept it for myself. I have a fairly lengthy daily commute on public transportation, and you would not believe how many compliments I've gotten! So, to all you people who I gifted scarves to, I hope you're getting the same compliments!

There's been such interest in these around my LQS that I may be doing up a little tutorial and teaching a class (!!) Really, though, they are so easy. I just pieced and quilted my fabric onto the batting at the same time. So, put down piece 1, quilt a line or two through it, put down piece 2 on top of piece 1, right sides together, sew the seam and sew through the batting at the same time, fold down piece 2, etc. Then I re-trimmed the batting/patchwork, placed it face down on the flannel, stitched around (leaving an opening), trimmed corners, turned right-side out, pressed pressed pressed, topstitched. Done!

I used a couple of half-full spools of quilting thread and was happy to be done with those. I can never tell how far I can get with a spool like that, so I'm often reluctant to start using it on a large-ish project. These were perfect, and piecing with the quilting thread didn't make any difference, just added a little color.

So, the picture above shows most of what I made to give away for Christmas. Most. There's still a bit more, so stay tuned...

Gifted: Yoga bag for Mom

Still catching up on holiday gifting posts... Seriously, I have at least a few more! I guess that just goes to show how busy I was then and still am? Anyway, for Christmas I made my mom this quilt, but I also made her this yoga bag. It was a special request and doesn't have a pattern. It's modeled after one owned by another woman in my mom's yoga class. My mom has done her fair share of sewing and knew exactly what pictures to take and what measurements to give me so I could rub off this design. By all accounts (hers and those of her yoga classmates), the resemblance is uncanny.

The bag is different from most yoga bags because it is roomier. The bottom circle is about 6" across, but the bag is much wider and is pleated in order to fit nicely at the base. That way there is room in the bag for yoga blocks, water bottle, etc. etc. I used all fabric I had on hand to whip this up and it really didn't take that long. If I were to do it again there are some things I'd change, but not much. Glad you like it, Mom!