Still all over the place..

I haven't been blogging so much. Because I've still got a lot of different irons in the fire when it comes to crafting/sewing, and I still am enamored by Instagram.

Now if you read my post here, you know that I'm a newbie to Instagram, and I am still in awe of it. I post a picture, and a fabric designer whose fabric I adore and whom (grammar police? I don't know to use "whom" or "who" here, so correct me if you know down in a comment..hee hee) I have never met can see it and like it and comment on it. Wha?? Amazing. It makes it a little more personal when I'm buying loads of their fabric. I'd still buy loads, but now I know what they look like. Ha ha.

And as a follow-up to the couple of sewing contests I joined, sadly I did not win. But alas, losing did not deter me from sewing. And the Bean got 4 dresses and a cute bag that she takes to preschool religiously.

Here are some pics of the dresses that she now can sport to church (and that I've already had to spray-and-wash because....she's 2):



She was such a good girl and really tried hard to do what I asked to take those pictures. 


I appliqued a little kite on the skirt of this one. The fabric line is called "Sommer" and is designed by Sarah Jane (and manufactured by Michael Miller Fabrics) in case anyone is interested.

Here is her second dress from the same fabric line:

I made that little belt too. It even has a vintage mother-of-pearl buckle that I ordered off of etsy. I really like this little retro style dress. Those mirrored swans are fun.

Then after the dress sewing contest, I started following all these quilt-people on Instagram, and so I joined a Block-of-the-Month group (Sarah Fielke's). I will be learning some new techniques with that group, so I am looking forward to that. Here is some needle-turn applique that I did on some of the blocks:

I am currently working on 3 quilts (intermittently), and I hope that at least one gets finished because I'm obviously all over the place!

And of course, life wouldn't be complete without some cookies. I wonder how many chocolate chips I go through a year? Or how much butter......Mmmmm....butter.

Alright, it's time to go pick up some kids and take them to piano lessons. Until next time!

I'm an All-over-the-place Crafter

I blame Instagram. And Pinterest. Now as usual, I'm late to the party. I always am. Instagram has been around forever, but it's only within the last few weeks that I've been using it. 

Like when iPods first came out, I stated: "That's dumb. Who needs to carry all their music around with them wherever they go?" Ahem...sooooo...yeah, look what iPods spurred on. It took me a few years after that before I finally succumbed and bought my iPod nano. I was later than my mother to that party. And yeah, I saw the use for it eventually. Now we're on to many iGadgets later.

I was late to the Facebook party too. And the Pinterest party. I'm still avoiding the Twitter party. And I also avoided the Instagram party...until I decided to enter that Nature Walk Sewing Contest (I mentioned in my last post).

To enter that contest, I had to use social media and use a hashtag and everything. Which meant I had to start using Instagram.

Easter Dress from Cottontail line from Hawthorne Threads

And that has spurred my desire to try a little bit of everything.

Because entering that contest opened up to me a world of people who sew/create for little girls. Boutique owners, talented seamstresses, fabric designers, fabric manufacturers, sewing pattern designers...are all part of their own world. And I feel like an alien peeking in. I have looked at images of all these adorable dresses, fabrics, and patterns and I think: "Hey, I could try that for awhile."

Vintage style dress I made from Straight Grain's Tinny dress pattern

So that's why in a matter of a few weeks, I will have made 4 dresses (2 more to come and add on Instagram before this ride is over) and a skirt for a two-year-old who doesn't need that many dresses....Because when I decide to do something, I go full throttle until I get burnt out. But not to worry when I get burnt out, because there are always more worlds to explore.

You can find the Easter dress pattern I used here: Made for Mermaids
and the vintage dress pattern I used here: Straight Grain

The Bean trying on dress, post-nap (after I finished it)

Sometimes I'm a voyeur of the quilting world. You can't call me a quilter, although I like to make quilts. But I'm not devoted solely to quilts, nor am I great at it. I like to make a stuffed rabbit one day, a doll the next, focus on some dresses for awhile, then quilts, then felt ornaments...and that's how it's going. You can't call me a seamstress, although I have recently been sewing up a storm of little girl clothes, because again, I'm not great at it, and it's not all I do.

So....ADD Crafter. That's what I am. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in this world.

Easter Bunny in the works (I'm actually working on the pattern after this: this one looks like a dog)

Twelve Days of Christmas Ornaments (designed by mmmcrafts): from goose a--layin' to partridge and the pear

And when I'm tired of creating stuff out of fabric and felt...I move on to the baking. I've got rolls rising as I type this. Mmmm. Because I finished a dress yesterday, and I'm taking a little break (and mostly was in the mood for rolls). But during nap time, watch out: I'll be making a doll for a friend's little girl. Because I'd rather do all of this than laundry. Or cleaning. Or organizing. And sometimes showering......

So there's a little insight into why this blog/me is all over the place. It's just my space to express something, and to avoid my responsibilities.

Cutting fabric up and sewing it back together

That's pretty much what I've been up to lately. I cut fabric pieces up. Then I sew them back together. Sounds like crazy-talk.

I made a bunch of ornaments in my etsy shop for Christmas and did some custom orders, and even though I feel like I didn't do that much, I got burnt out. So, I haven't made a single stuffed toy for the last few weeks.

Plus, we've had some nasty colds over here, and I stayed in bed for a good few days after Christmas. What did I do while living in my bed those few days? I read a lot of quilting blogs. And decided I wanted to make some quilts. Now....I currently have fabric for quite a few quilts. Whether or not they get done is another story...

I found my new favorite online fabric store called Hawthorn Threads. Here is the website:
http://www.hawthornethreads.com/.

They have so many cute fabrics. I couldn't resist buying some. So that's how my interest in quilting got re-piqued.

Right as I got re-interested in making some quilts, my niece decided that she wants some cute doll quilts to go along with a doll bed she is getting for her birthday (TODAY!) for her 18-inch doll. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to do some fun new piecing of a mini-quilt or two! The bed she is getting is actually a bunk bed, which means she needs two coordinating quilts.

So my sister (her mother)and I went to buy some fabric last night. Here is what she picked out:

It should make for some pretty cute quilts, right? I am going to make some variations of happy star blocks out of half-square triangles. So right now I have a bunch of 2-inch half-square triangles.

I'll take some pics when the quilts are all done and post them. The quilts will be made up of 6 blocks, with each block having 16 of those little half-square triangle dudes. I haven't decided if I'll hand-quilt (with large perle 12 cotton), or just do a straight stitch on my machine. We shall see.

I had been playing around earlier with some of my scraps, and here are just 4 possibilities for 6-inch quilt blocks made from these little guys.

these 4 blocks are just 6-inches square

 Earlier last week I made up quilt blocks for this crazy, wonky log cabin quilt. Sorry for the bad lighting. It was night.

Now that the blocks are pieced, I'm not sure I like it. I did a method where I could make 6 blocks at once. So the quilt top came together quickly. Then, I decided I wanted to "quilt-as-you-go," because my machine doesn't handle bulk/big quilts very well, and the QAYG method is something I have wanted to try. I chose to do the method where I put the backing on the quilt last, and so I am just quilting through the quilt top and batting right now.

I'm not sure I like it, which means I'm losing interest, which means: who knows when it will get completed. Here are a couple blocks I've quilted. I have done a combination of hand and machine-quilting. I decided I hate how my machine quilts, even with a walking foot, and using nice (expensive) threads, and testing out stitch lengths. So....now I've decided I want a new machine. These things snowball...

This block is just hand-quilted

this block has both hand-quilting and machine-quilting

Weirdly enough, I enjoy the process of hand-quilting much, much, much more than machine quilting. Much.

So that's what I've been up to.

Oh yeah, and I made this little guy for a baby shower where the recipient is naming their baby "Sparrow;" so that just begged for me to make a toy sparrow. So I guess I did make a stuffed toy after all. I lied. Forgive me.

I hand-embroidered his eyes, and his tummy. He's got a cute little tail sticking out the back too.

So Happy New Year everybody! Hope 2016 goes great!