TGIAHW!!

That stands for "Thank God it's a holiday weekend!" for anyone that isn't totally overwhelmed with the start of school right now and didn't get the acronym.  I'm taking a Psychology class and Anatomy & Physiology this semester.  Which means spending most of the day twice a week at the community college almost an hour away from home.  School has started back for the kids, and the cheer team is super serious this year.  That means I have lots of extra projects, fundraisers, homework, and a lot of time spent in the car.

One of the most recent bouts of crash crafting was a new book bag for Shaley.  She told me she wanted me to make her one about a week before school began.

The coral fabric with the anchors was sent to me by fabric.com as an accident.  They let you keep the mix ups and send you the correction fabric for free.  It's her favorite color and she's currently infatuated with anchors so she's been begging for me to make something for her with it since it arrived.  The Anna Maria Horner Sinister Swarm is left over from a quilt backing and has made it into so many projects now that I've lost count.  The mint fabric was given to me by my grandmother from her stash.  The other fabrics are from my stash and I even had fusible interfacing left over from the last T-shirt quilt I made.  So this was essentially a free project.  However, it was quite labor intensive.  I didn't have a pattern, she just found a bag she liked on Pinterest and I did my best to knock it off.  I was sewing the flap on at 2 am the night before the first day of school.  Really, its not completely finished because the edges of the interior seams are raw and it still does not have any type of clasp.  But it's cute, usable, and she's happy with it.  The size is perfect for her books and a snack.  Plus, I can throw it in the washer when it gets dingy.

I finished the top of the Minnie Mouse quilt.

I still need to pull all those threads through from the satin stitching around the applique and tie them.  I finally used my ruffler foot, too.  I haven't even basted it yet, so I'm no where near ready for binding, but I really wanted to try out the new foot.  It took a lot of trial, error, and frustration, but after watching some youtube videos and playing around with it, I finally got it figure out.  A project requiring a small ruffle wouldn't be worth getting it out and installing it on my machine, but for quilt edging or anything else that has a lot of ruffles, it's definitely more efficient that gathering by hand.

I've been making bows for the cheer team again.  This year their theme seems to be bling and glitz.

I've seen similar rhinestone covered bows on etsy and specialty websites for around $20.00 each.  That would definitely be way above our means.  But, my friend used a product called diamond wrap to bling up everything for her wedding reception and its much cheaper than actual rhinestones or crystals.  I found a big roll of it on ebay for 17.99.  I used about 2/3 of it making 18 bows.  They are backed with grosgrain ribbon to make the bows a little more substantial.  Even with the bands, glue and zip ties holding them together, these still ran under 3.00 each to make.  There is even enough diamond wrap leftover to bedazzle the pink bows they will wear to games through October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, too.

And last but not least, this photo may look a little familiar.

No, I'm not recycling pictures.  I got a message on my facebook page from a lady who saw Sawyer's Chevron quilt on pinterest.  She found me on facebook and asked if I could make one for her baby that's also coming soon.  Of course I said yes!  She wants it backed in minky, but other than that its exactly the same.  Luckily I hadn't thrown out my sketch, I had all the measurements I needed handy and just checked my email account for the confirmation from the first time I ordered those fabrics to make sure I got a the same colors.  I have all the blocks cut out, but I have a lot of serious studying to do and a paper to write, so I may have Shaley press the blocks and mark them for me.  It's an easy task, but time consuming.  Chain piecing them will be a cinch, then.  I'm hoping to have the top finished and ready to baste by the end of the weekend.  It's looking like I'm not going to be spending Labor Day the way it's intended.  But that's OK, if I can get all my school work done over the weekend, crafting isn't really work, it's fun!

Have a great weekend!

A few things

I have some aprons ready to ship out.  I tried new method with the straps on this one.  I made sleeves on the ruffle apron for one long strap to run through so that the neckline is adjustable without having 2 sets of ties.  I also found some cute coordinating grosgrain ribbon, so I used that as as opposed to making my own.

My mother in law asked me to make a quilt for someone she knows that's doing a Minnie Mouse nursery.  The mouse head and bow are appliqued.  The name and year will be, too.  I still need to satin stitch around them, right now they are just ironed on with Heat'n'bond.  It's going to be really cute, I have red minky for the backing and plan to do ruffles around the edge.

Cheer season has already began, my classes start Monday, and my daughter's school starts Thursday, so I have started using a planner to keep track of everything.  Shaley had one that she hadn't used, so I decided to make a cover for it.  The peace signs and such on the front really weren't my style.

I used mostly scraps, notice the black polka dot is left over from the apron at the top of the post.  But I have some newsprint texty prints that I've been dying to use, so I cut just a smidgeon of each to incorporate into it.

Of course I had to use some Anna Maria Horner.  The big floral piece on the back is leftover from my kitchen balance.  I'm using a Kindle to download my school books and I ordered an orange case so it would be easy to find in a full bag.  I like to coordinate, so I trimmed my planner in orange, too.

Shaley is begging for a book bag made from a print she loves that we actually got for free because Fabric.com sent it as a mistake.  Their customer service is the best, if they send you the wrong thing they just let you keep it.  Of course as soon as I catch up I have 3 more new projects lined up.  Hopefully the planner will keep me organized as intended and I'll be back here soon with more fun stuff.

Baby Chevron Update

I received the sweetest Facebook message last week while we were on vacation.

Got the bedding today an I am IN LOVE!! Still have to get the trees/birds 

painted on the wall behind the crib, but otherwise we are ready for Sawyer! 

Cannot thank you enough, it's perfect!

 She included some photos of the room so I could see it all together.

I know she got her grey chevron crib sheet from Target.  She even found coordinating changing pad and  rocking chair cushions. 

This is one of the cutest nurseries I've seen, I love how modern it is.  Can't wait to see it once she's put on her finishing touches.

Baby Chevron Quilt Complete

I finally finished the layette set I have been working on for a friend.  I don't have a crib to display the bumper pads and skirt, but the Mommy-to-be has promised to send me a pic once she gets it set up in the nursery.  I definitely wanted to document the quilt though.  I never get tired of chevron.

I made it a bit larger than the standard crib quilt, hopefully he will get a few good years of use out of it.  The solids are all Kona Cotton.  I backed it with Michael Miller Backyard Party in grey.  Such a perfect fabric for a little boy.

I quilted along the diagonal lines of the chevron pattern with pale aqua thread.

I used a double binding of the Kona Robin Egg and the geometric print that was used for the bumper pads, Moda Ticklish Joking Around Explosive Orange.  I love to add a little detail when I can.  I always stitch my binding down by hand, it's like added a special little TLC to each project.  The process really makes such a difference in the transformation from work in progress to finished object.

I'm excited to start my next set, another friend wants one for their upcoming baby girl.  Everyone I know that's had a baby in the past 2 years have had boys.  I'm already researching ruffles and other methods of adding frilliness.

Chevron Top Finished

I had all of the HSTs put together for the baby quilt, so after pressing them I sat down in front of the TV Monday night to trim them all to 5 1/2" square while watching Defiance and Teen Wolf.  I'm not sure why science fiction and quilting go so well together, but it works for me.

I usually like to have something playing in the background on TV while I'm sewing, especially if I'm going to be ironing a lot since I can see the living room TV from my ironing board.  I got all the blocks together in rows then pressed the seams open before sewing those together.

I keep my sketch handy while I'm putting everything together and refer to it often.  It's really easy to turn something the wrong way or get rows out of order.  I got it all put together today and pressed the seams open again between the rows.

It started to rain just as I finished up, so I hung the top right in the window for a photo.  I love how it looks like stained glass since you can easily see the seams while its back lit.  This top is 8 blocks wide by 9 tall.  That works out to roughly 40" x 45".  Next step is basting and deciding how to do the quilting.

Prep Work

I've started working on the orange, grey, and blue crib set.  I'm using Medium Grey Kona for the cording on the bumper pads and for some of the piecing on the quilt.

I made sure to get the cording finished first.  I didn't want to accidentally use to much of the fabric on the quilt and end up having to order more, especially since fabric has to be bias cut for cording.

Then I did a rough sketch of the quilt design, deciding about how big it would be, and how many squares I needed to cut.

Those fabrics are Kona White, Kona Robin Egg and Kona Orange.  Lots of 6 inch squares.  I know typically 5 in squares are used since they are sold in charm packs, but I most often use a 6 inch quilting ruler. Six inches just seems like an easier size to work with to me.  I'll be chain piecing these into half-square triangles.  I've matched the pairs and marked the diagonal lines.  I've also cut the pieces for the crib skirt.  Once I get these blocks pieced, pressed, and trimmed it should all start coming together pretty quick.

A litte progress...

I finally got my craft room reorganized after having torn it apart in preparation for the booth we set up the weekend before last.  I ended up having to take the folding table I normally use as a work space, so for the past week you couldn't even walk in this room.  It's hard to visualize the room with these photos, half of it is used for storage and I can't actually take photos inside the room with my 50mm lens, other than tight detail shots, because the space is so small.  But look, you can see the carpet in the after photo!  And I actually made space and cleared the floor enough to run the vacuum!  I may have totally filled the bag with threads, lint, and fabric scraps.

There weren't many tourists at the festival, it was more locals than anything.  Not many of the art and craft type booths did very well.  I think the booths selling hot dogs and homemade ice cream made the most profit.  I made enough to cover my expenses and pay for our food for the day, gave out a few business cards, and we had fun so I'm calling it a success.  I'm going to wash all the items that didn't sell (they probably smell like hot dogs right now) then get them photographed and stock them in my Etsy store...hopefully this week.

Right now I have a ton of works in progress.  I took time today to box them all up separately so I don't lose, misplace, or misuse any supplies.  There is a very tall stack of those boxes currently on the card table.

Fabric for crib bedding, baby due in September.

The welting I ordered was about 5 times the size I actually need.  Seriously, its like the size of marine rope.  I finally found the right size in my local store, so making the piping for the bumper pads is up next To Do list.

Fabric for a few aprons.

The request was for a couple of grill aprons and a frilly red and black one.  I love polka dots; I think a ruffly apron just calls out for them.

My sister has requested one of the appliqued patchwork WV pillows to match her bed room.

Yellow and black is such a popular combination right now, I think I've finally used the last of some of these Joel Dewberry fabrics.  It's pretty amazing how far I stretched that fat quarter bundle.

A quilt in progress that's been on my design wall since spring break.

My aunt picked out a lattice design quilt from my Pinterest and we found a line of Michael Miller fabrics that match her bedroom.  The finished blocks will all have cream X's through them, which will make up the lattice.  Fabric.com ran out of the original fabric I ordered for the X's, but I got all of the 9 patches done while I was waiting for it to come in.  I've been pretty busy with orders the past few weeks, so its been at this point for a while.  I now have all the fabric I need; if we get a few more rainy days I may get caught up on everything else and back to this soon.

And then randomly one night I decided to bust into some of my vintage sheets.

My intention was to get a few small lap quilts done prior to the recent festival, but that was just a bit overly ambitious of me.  I'm dying to make something with these, I love vintage sheet projects.  But once you use them, you'll never find more of the fabric again, so I try not to be hasty.  A friend of mine who thrifts frequently has been hoarding some for me, so I think I may wait to see what she's found before I make any decisions.  I think have have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime. 

An Assembly of Aprons

I just finished a large order of aprons.  Four of them for a family, 2 to coordinate with the kitchen for Mom & daughter, and matching grill aprons for Dad & son.

The grill aprons are a new pattern.  It's a unisex apron, the straps run through a sleeve under the arm so that they are adjustable.  They can also easily be folded up and tied to make them shorter, so its a very versatile style.  I used a denim fabric with a herringbone weave and cotton ticking to give them a masculine feel.  The straps are the nylon type used on backpacks, so they should be super durable.

I adjusted all the measurements down to 2/3 for the child size.  I really like the fact that the neck is adjustable on these because of the sleeve, and it just requires one long strap.  I'm going to play around with the design a bit and see if I can't incorporate that feature into a more frilly version.

Also with the order, was a request for an apron in Breast Cancer Awareness fabric.  There's a whole line of those and they coordinate beautifully.  The fabric is a little pricey, but its for a great cause.

These projects were the first chance I had to use my new labels.  I feel super official now.

And as just a little teaser, here's a sneak peek of a project I'm currently finishing up.  I plan to finish hand stitching the binding down this weekend.

Have a great weekend, hope everyone enjoys their 3 days off!

New Blog, First Post!

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have realized the name of my crafts page has changed.

 I'm sure you've been on pins and needles (ha!) waiting to find out why.  Here's the story.  I've been tossing around the idea of starting an Etsy store for a while.  In order to market it properly and make the whole store, blog, Facebook thing less confusing, I was going to have to change the name of something.

First thing, when I googled Sew Much Fun, I found another store with the same name somewhere out there in internet land, so that was out.  There was already another seller with the same first and last name as me (I know, weird right? ) on Etsy so I had to get a little creative.  I came up with SO Handcrafted as a play on my initials.  I like the term "handcrafted" so that it doesn't lead you to believe I only offer sewn fabric goods.  I make all sorts of things and may decide to sell wreaths, bouquets, or other decor items.  My daughter has taken an interest in polymer clay and has become quite adept at sculpting all sorts of little things, so you may even see charms and key chains.

I've changed the Facebook name, started the new blog, ordered real fabric tags, and even printed a few business cards.  I started working on getting the Etsy shop open today.  I'm preparing to set up a booth at a local festival June 8th, so the shop won't actually be open for business until after that's done.  There's much more soon to come!