Sewn in Red

Three months into blogging and I've already broken my promise to write once a week!  But it's not entirely my fault, the universe seems to have been out to get me the last two weeks! A combination of work and illness have kept me away from my sewing machine and my lovely projects. First, I had two of my teammates at work leave for a week long conference.  We're in the middle of a giant redesign and we are the only three people responsible for design implementation support (technical talk for telling the developers and analysts what it's all supposed to look like).  Most of my working hours were spent answering emails and talking to developers.  I would leave to eat dinner only to return back to work when no one was around to bother me so I could actually get stuff done! Then, all that stress resulted in me getting sick and feeling terrible and incapable of doing anything more than binge-watching Netflix from the couch. Once I was finally able to get some work ...

Last week I was over at St. Louis Folk Victorian and she started talking about Quilty Bucket Lists.   The Tilted Quilt has dedicated the Month of march to " the quilts that we all have on our lifetime to-do list...that made you say 'Some day, I want to make that quilt'."   She's hosting a blog hop over the next few weeks and having some more experienced quilters talk about their own bucket list. The whole idea of this is to build up some motivation to try and tackle at least one of your bucket list quilts this year.  And reading this first week of posts has already been an inspiration.  Hearing experienced quilters talk about how they can still, after all the time they've been behind their sewing machines, be intimidated by projects is refreshing to hear. Quilting used to be on my life long bucket list. But like with any to-do list I seem to make, crossing something off just means I've added at least 10 more other things to my list!  So without fu...

I finished my Stripe Diamond top last night and it looks so good! I did something new with the borders this time: I mitered the corners. When I first started sewing I made some self-binding receiving blankets for my niece that had mitered corners, but I have never tried it before with a quilt border. Google and YouTube turned up some really good resources on mitered corners but I ended up referring to the tutorial by Riley Blake during the process.  However I wasn't brave enough to try pre-cutting the miter corner before sewing on my pieces.   I really like how this border works with the diamond pieces. It helps the patterns stand out a little more from the colors, and really makes the whole thing pop. This quilt is truly starting to get the kid vibe I was going for and I can't wait to start quilting it up! On an interesting side note I had something incredibly lucky happen to my while I was sewing on the borders. I have this bad habit of never checkin...

I have been busy this last week! I finally dove head first right into sewing up the first of two baby quilts for my mom. And it almost feels like I literally dove right in! Fabric covered every inch of flat surface area in my apartment and by the end of the night my pants and t-shirt were covered in little bits of fabric and thread.  Wednesday night was a mad woman's night of sewing and cutting and sorting all to the background sounds of Say Anything and   Pretty in Pink.   Thursday was just as busy only this time I had Breakfast Club  and 16 Candles  playing in the background.  I have no idea why I decided the theme to my week was 80's hits but I enjoyed it thoroughly! I enjoyed all of this work immensely! Being able to just go peddle to the metal with a project is exhilarating and the product of my efforts has been a wonder to watch come together.  I am in love with how this quilt is coming together! However, all of this love came to g...

This week has been pretty light on sewing but heavy on planning. I was able to finish two of the four drawstring bags for my mom that have been sitting on my to-do list. I used the easy  Lined Draw String Pouch pattern by In Color Order and made two DVD size bags. This size is available on the pdf pattern she has for sale. I chose colors my mother would like, and focused on a polka dot look since that is her absolute favorite pattern.  These two turned out really cute and I like the brightness of the colors.  However I think I'll go with some darker colors the next two bags.  This will add some contrast to the bunch and help Mom remember which bag holds what. For the planning part I've already decided the sort of layout I want to accomplish with each of the upcoming baby quilts.  The will be a strip diamond quilt with the help of the Missouri Star Quilt Co. Tutorial. It's an older video of theirs, but it still has their quick and easy charm. ...

Thursday night I completed my partner's bag! As you can tell from last post I was so excited I couldn't wait for a legitimate post to show it off! It's gorgeous is it not? I am in love with how it turned out! (I am also getting better at this whole taking pictures with your phone thing.) Putting this bag together was a lot of fun and I'm super glad I did a test round.  It made me more confident about what I was doing and I got to tweak a little here and there. The second attempt at the vinyl went way better than the first attempt. This fabric is gorgeous and I hope my partner loves it as much as I do! I'm always afraid when I cut into fabric that I love, especially when I only have enough for the project at hand.  Luckily everything turned out perfectly and came together quite nicely. I love when I get a chance to work with a line of fabric because everything goes together so nicely. It is fun to pull from your fabric stash and see wha...

With tomorrow being the send off date I finished just in time! It turned out so pretty I couldn't wait to share it! More pictures to come soon!

I finished my first Lunch Bag!!  It's so cute! I may or may not have done a little happy-dance upon it's completion! The last few steps were extremely easy and for the first time ever all of my layers came out even.  Usually when sewing inside and outside pieces together, one of them is slightly longer than the other so I get a little fold over in my fabric. But this time everything came out nice and neat.  I even managed to get all my centers lined up and pretty much on point!  Needless to say I showed that part off to some of my crafty friends. This bag is so cute and so fun! It's the perfect size for my day-to-day lunch and I even foresee it holding a few crafting supplies for future craft dates.  I know a knitting friend of mine looked at the drawstring top and vinyl interior and thought it to be perfect for holding some yarn. Action shot of my wonderful lunch bag at work! Like all good projects, I learned some lessons for what to do ne...

First up from my to-do list: lunch bags! I ordered fabric for my partner and grabbed some from my current stash to make my own bag. As a rule, I always try to make something first for myself if I intend to give it as a gift. This way I can figure out how to handle any issues I run into and make note of what I'd like to change.  Plus practice makes perfect. When I started pulling out fabric I had a "staring into the fridge" moment. You know when you're hungry and you're looking in a fridge or pantry full of food but don't see anything to eat? That's how I felt with my fabric spread all around me. Eventually some pieces started to jump out at me and it came together quickly from there. However I decided that the problem I was having originated from a lack of solid colored fabric in my stash.  Guess this means I'll have to go buy more fabric :) For my bag I settled on a blue on white geometric pattern as the main fabric for the bag with a solid ...