Piece O Cake!!

So I've been eyeing the Zaaka Along 2.0 for a while - reading everyone else's posts about it, etc., and thinking to myself "oh gosh, I can't make every project out of the whole book - I don't have time!"

Then I thought to myself, "Self, that's silly! You don't HAVE to do all of them - just do some!" So, without further ado, here's the Piece O Cake Shopping Bag!

I'd recently made three of the Lunch Bags from Ayumi's blog, so I thought the construction would be pretty similiar. I was surprised to find out that this was even easier! Significantly easier, in my opinion. I was thrilled!

Having three children and a husband with a substantial appetite, I can't remember the last time I shopped using a basket at a store, so I altered the pattern slightly, as I desired slightly different functionality. (Who am I kidding, I can never leave a pattern or recipe alone; I'm always tweaking! Not twerking, tweaking. That's a whole 'nother can of worms.)

My tweaks included:
- I made the straps out of microsuede instead of using webbing.
- I had a stash of three coordinating home dec fabrics (two prints and a solid) leftover from a diaper bag long ago, so I didn't do the patchwork pocket, but rather used a stripe.
- I rolled the top of the pocket over to show the solid interior - I thought it needed a punch to stand out.
- I made the lining 1 1/2" shorter, as Krista recommended, and it worked out perfectly. (So did her tip of making the dots on the bottom piece!)
- I also made each lining piece a 1/2" narrower - to help the lining sit a bit easier.  It worked!  I think I'll do that one again!
- The top cover and the sides of the interior are made out of an old sheet that actually coordinated really well!
- I wanted the base to have a bit more substance, so I added fusible fleece to a piece of home dec fabric and used that for the lining base. I'm thrilled with the way this turned out - it's exactly the "heft" to the fabric I wanted.
- I didn't need the gigantically poofy sides, so I just made them 9" wide and didn't pleat them.
- Before I sewed the lining and outside together, I sewed the seam allowances of their bases together to make the lining stay put. I'd never done this before. I will never skip this step again - it makes a HUGE difference.

I've gotten so used to using interfacing and cotton fabric on bags that I'd forgotten what a lovely feel home dec fabric has. The bag is slouchy but not shapeless - it's perfect - so comfortable! And the microsuede straps? Oh my gosh, they're a dream - so easy on the shoulder and in the hand! I sewed this all from my stash so I wouldn't care too much if I didn't like the bag, but now I'm dreaming up opportunities to use it!

Doctor Who Stitch Along

So...  I had these brilliant plans to stitch along for the whole Doctor Who Stitch Along...  but it just didn't happen.  Oh well.

But then... then I saw a post about the Design Invitational.  Design your own!?  Awesome.  I thought I could make enough time to do one pattern - I'm not really an embroiderer yet, so please pardon my amateur stitching.

So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce to you.....

DR. RIVER SONG.

Here's the pattern...

Quarter 3: Finish -A- Long

Well I have been woefully absent on the whole "finish-a-long" thing...  Life's just gotten in the way of sewing lately, but I'm starting to get back in the swing of things.

Here's my list for Quarter Three:

1. Modern Scrappy Bits Swap (mail by 8/1)
I'll be making a set of coasters for my partner!

2. Triple Zip Swap (mail by 8/17)
Make a triple zip - my partner gave me no direction, so I get to be really creative!

3. Simple Sweet Scrappy Swap (mail by 8/26)
I have to make a wristlet pouch for my partner.

4. Sewing Room Swap (mail by 9/1)
This one involves two finishes - a small project and a big project.  Haven't decided yet what to do!

5. Laura's Quilt (wedding on 10/5)
This quilt just needs to be bound.

6. Wendy's Quilt
It's still a stack of fat quarters right now - dreaming big here, but I'd love to have it done by the end of September!

7. Set of placemats
This isn't critical, but I'd love to have a set or two of placemats for our table.

8. Schoolroom Quilt #1
This needs to be basted, quilted and bound.

9. Schoolroom Quilt #2
I need to finish the top, then baste, quilt and bind.

Absent much?

Sorry.  Life's been busy.

I finally got downstairs to do a bit of sewing just for me today, and it felt GREAT.  I didn't do much, but it was something that had been intimidating me for ages, and I finally got it done.  I'm making two quilts for the schoolroom, because a layer cake cut into 4 HSTs makes a LOT of squares...  :)  They're 6 3/4" square, which would result in a 12.5" finished square, which is an odd size.  I wanted to do a square-in-square block with my Cuzco accent fabric to be the same size as a finished square, but I couldn't quite squeak out the center squares out of the two fat quarters that I have.  How I was going to figure this out just took months for me to settle on the final decision.  But it got made!  I'm off the fence!

I decided to trim the HSTs down to 6 1/2" which would put me at a 12" square, and then I was able to get the 9" squares out of the fat quarter that would end up being the center of the square-on-square accent blocks.

Totally confusing to anyone who's not a quilter, but I hope that made sense to someone!

I had just been dreading cutting into my hoarded Cuzco fat quarters until I got this figured out - but I just did it.  Not only did I get the Cuzco cut, I actually got all six square-in-squares sewn and pressed.  The way naptimes have gone lately, this basically constitues a minor miracle!  Isn't that Cuzco just so incredibly vibrant?

I need to post later about all the FABULOUS swaps I've been in, and the ones that are coming up!

Library Bags

My brother and sister-in-law live about 15 minutes away, and since we have three little girls and they have five little girls, I will pause for a moment to allow you to imagine the good times, giggles and shrieking that occurs on a very regular basis.

...pause...

There - if that didn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what would.

Every year for my nieces' birthdays, I pick a theme for presents for them all.  The oldest will turn 9 this summer (9!? How is that possible?), so they're still at the stage where fair is more important than customized.  Therefore, they all get the same thing.  Last year, it was stuffed horses...  This year, it's a custom library bag with a book and some trinkets inside.

I bought a couple yards of the main fabric as a backing for the schoolroom quilt - but the colors are much too subdued to stand up to the ROYGBIV-ness.  It was just sitting there in my craft room, when suddenly, one day, the Fat Quarter Shop put the entire line of fabric (Homeschool) on 50% off.  Well then.  That made it easy!  My girls and I picked out a 1/2 yd of fabric in five of the coordinating prints, and planned out library tote bags!  I think these girls are at the library even more than mine, if that's even possible.

R, the March girl, already has hers, and I heard today that C, the April girl, was expressing great angst over her lack of a personalized library bag.  Hold tight, C, you'll get yours on Saturday!

On the other hand, M has to wait until July, B has to wait until August and S has to wait until October! At least she's the baby, so she won't care.

I'm also excited about the book that's in C's bag - Crafty Chloe!  This will be absolutely perfect for C.  And no, her name's not Chloe.  That would be even more perfect, I suppose, but it's still pretty darn awesome.

Random funny story: the library actually called me between the taking of those two photos.  Turned out I returned a movie today without the disc.  Oops.

(P.S.  This constitutes a FINISH for the 2013 Finish-A-Long second quarter!  That's a link to my list of hopeful finishes...)

Dressed Up Bricks

My beautiful little six-month-old daughter prompted me to snatch up some Dress Up Days by Riley Blake before she was born.  I made this brick quilt, and made three of the dolls - one in each color.  The three dolls were sitting on the pile of presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning... so much fun!  We named them Faith, Hope and Charity.  The other two are well-loved, but the baby, absolutely loves hers.  It's such an easy toy to grab and suck...  it's the only one that she won't drop in order to eat.

The quilt is backed with mostly Hello Luscious Succulent Grunge (I really love that fabric!) but has some improv piecing of celery and purple.  It's bound in purple.  Huh.  I should get a pic of the back - it was my first improv work, and I really love it!

Here's a couple pictures of her enjoying Charity on her quilt...

Finish-A-Long, 2nd Quarter

Ok - I didn't join in the first quarter, but I have a pile of WIPs that need to get cranked out this quarter...  More than I like to have sitting around!  I was going to post a list in my craft room, just so I can see them all in one spot, but I thought that was too old-school.  And I am, well, a technology addict...  so here they are, blogged:

1. The Laura
The other two quilts turned out so nicely - the top is finished, I just need to baste, quilt and bind...  Here's the binding, top, backing.

2. The First Schoolroom Quilt
This top is finished - again, "just" baste, quilt and bind.

3. The Second Schoolroom Quilt
I don't know if we'll really use both in the schoolroom - maybe one will be given away, who knows, but this one is in pieces.  Finish the top, baste, quilt and bind.

4. The Birthday Bags
Each year, for my nieces on my side, I pick a birthday present theme and give them all the same thing.  Last year, it was stuffed horses.  This year, it's a customized library bag (complete with a new book inside and some little trinkets).  The March girly already has hers, but the April, July, August and October girls are in pieces...  that will be so lovely to have those in the gift closet, ready to go.

5. Catch up on the Sugar Block Club
Okay, I admit it.  I am so stinking intimidated by paper piecing.  I know that tons of people just love it, and that if I just try it, it probably won't be too bad.  But I allowed myself to get derailed in February because of the paper piecing.  I have to say, though, opening this box and getting a look at all those completely gorgeous fabrics made me itch to jump back in.

Other projects to do this quarter, but that haven't actually been started so they don't count towards the FAL:

6. Friendship Bag Swap
This swap on Flickr looked so cool the first round that I jumped in to join the second round.  Everyone makes a version of the exact same bag and fills it with goodies for their partner.  That's due by May 6th (if I'm shipping internationally).

7. Fabric Basket Swap
This one's similar - make a fabric basket and include some goodies.  That's due May 15th.

The Pretty Little Pouch Swap just opened after I signed up for these two - and since it's due May 13th, I just can't imagine trying to get quality work done and racing to finish three swaps simultaneously, especially with a wedding and whatnot in the first week of May.  Bummer!  Guess I'll have to wait for Round 8 on that one.

8. Sort charms for girls' bed quilts
I won a contest at Southern Fabric recently which allowed me to go ahead and get the remaining charms I needed for the girls' quilts!  As I'm making three quilts, each of which needs 280 charms, I need 840.  Do you know how many that is!  Sheesh!  But with the 231 I just got from them, I'm done.  Phew.  But now comes the "oh but I want that one" debate...  I have to make sure that my "the universe revolves around me because I'm the oldest" six year old doesn't win every debate.

9. Cut and prep my Noteworthy quilt
This one's just for me.  I absolutely adore Noteworthy, and used my Christmas money to get as much of it as I possibly could.  LOL.  I'm planning an hourglass quilt, where each square is a charm and a solid (one of three solids: blue, mustard and gray).  The red stripe is for the binding, and there's two blue prints in there just for me.  There's an orange print at the bottom for backing.

10.  Plan two different projects
I've won both these stacks lately - I've been on a lucky streak! - and need to figure out what to do with them.  Doesn't that second stack just glow?  I thought that was a great photo to end this pic-heavy post with!