Quilt pattern tester

Sneaky sneaky me, I worked up a whole quilt top without speaking a word about it :)

In March I tested out a new pattern by Melissa @ Sew BitterSweet Designs

 Eyes Crossed Spied 

I worked my version up with a FQ Bundle of Scoot by Riley Blake 

I love the pattern it self, very beginner friendly, once everything is cut and labeled and laid out it sewed up super duper fast.

 I now know if I would have colored in my pattern page (as suggested in the pattern) my top would have come out with the color spreed everywhere. Instead I labeled my fabrics and skipped coloring, lesson learned.

Dec Goal-Finished!

I'm DONE! I finished! I set out a goal and actually got it done! All 3 dresses are complete :)
ALYoF Dec Goal Link Up

Dec Goal~ check in

These dresses are moving right along....

 2 completely done and one half way.

Dec Goal should be meet this month!
Follow along Here or Here

Framed Fairies

Just a few days ago my friend Melissa @ Sew BitterSweet Designs launched her new pattern All Framed Up and I jumped at it. 

I fell in love with this when she debuted it as a block and was hoping she'd make a quilt pattern out of it.

For my quilt I used fabrics from my stash.

Alphabet Fairies. Flower Fairies by Michael
Miller, the green was left over from another project from last fall, the background fabric with dandelions is a piece of Japanese cotton my mom brought back for me, the back is a natural cream.

This took me a few nights to work on but it went together quickly.

 I played a bit by adding in the corner pieces to the back as well as trying out different quilting stitches my machine offers. For the binding I used my backing a tutorial Melissa offers.

I am so happy with MY quilt! 

Yes MINE, this lovely lady with take center stage on my couch.

If you ever make anything that Melissa offers stop on by the Sew BitterSweet Designs Flickr group, I'd love to see your creations.

Crib Quilt

Just finished this cute little quilt, its small but perfect for a car seat/stroller/crib topper. 

Pattern is Sleepy Jean Crib Quilt

 

I worked it up in Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda

 I followed a couple great tutorials for this little guy

Melissa @ SewBitterSweetDesigns showed how to bind a quilt with its backing

 and a neat way on how to label your quilt on its binding

November project

Over at Hopeful Threads this month we were sewing stockings of cheer to collect and give to children's hospitals. Below I'm showing a few, I did sew up a total of 8 all going to be collected here on the west coast.
The bottom stocking in blue and white hexs was actually a block from SewBitterSweetDesigns that I played with and converted into the following.

Remember September

My first go at one of the ereader covers thats being collected for Remember September is the following Kindle cover. I followed this tutorial and tweaked it to my liking /stash.

I pulled out 3 coordinating fabrics I had, cut 2.5in by WOF and placed out 5 strips to be used.

I also QAYG (quilt as you go) so that the inside was also quilted and its a plus that it helped with the time of project start to finish.  Under an hour.

On the plus side, I got to work on the proper way to bind, maybe after a few more of these I'll try it out on a quilt.

Now I gave a Pillowcase a shot too, my Mac was being occupied by my little Miss watching Pocahontas (I actually started it, she came to watch with me :-P )

So I didn't have a tut or pattern available, I improvised, I pulled out a clean standard pillowcase I owned and made one by looking and measuring it, I was a few inches short of the WaterLily print so my top border is a few inches wider than most.

Remember September...Sew Along

Over at SewBitterSweetDesigns & HopefulThreads, they have gotten together and came up with a project for this month.

 Remember Service Men & Women, Creating a Handmade Holiday 

to those serving overseas this coming Holiday Season. 

They are linking and providing tutorials and patterns for Pillowcases and eReader cases (of all shapes and sizes) on blogs, shops, even Pintrest.

I will be contributing to this project, as a Military Family, Hubby is Active Duty Army, my father and grandfather both served along with a few uncles. I feel very close to this cause, I lost count how many Holidays my husband has missed in his 13 yrs of service.

Just typing this up I have chills, I can't even imagine what its like to be away from family and friends, while on a deployment, during the Holidays.

Check out the projects and if you can sew up a few things, theres a Flickr group to post to, all would love to see your finished items.

Heres some great FREE tuts and patterns

Here are some measurements HopefulThreads posted:

Here are dimensions for some popular e-readers. If you can, it would be super great if you labeled whichever style you sew your cover for if specific.

More details about this September Monthly Project on the blog here, http://hopefulthreads.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-monthly-project-announcement.html

blackberry playbook is 5" x 7.5" and is 3/8" wide

Kindle Fire and it is 7.5" x 4.7" x .45" (thickness)

Kindle: 6.5 x 4.5 x 0.34 inches

Kindle Touch: 6.8 x 4.7 x 0.40 inches

Kindle Touch 3g: 6.8 x 4.7 x 0.40 inches

Nook Simple Touch: 6.5" x 5.0" x 0.47"

Nook Color: 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.48"

Nook Tablet: 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.48"

Kindle DX: 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"

Sony: 6.61 x 4.68 x 0.38 inches

Nook 1st Ed: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches  

Kobo: 7.2 × 4.7 × 0.4 in

Kobo Touch: 6.5 × 4.5 × 0.4 in

iPad :First Generation = 9.56×7.47×0.528 in (243×190×13.4 mm) 

Second Generation = 9.5×7.31×0.346 in (240×186×8.8 mm) 

Third Generation (newest) = 9.5×7.31×0.37 in (240×186×9.4 mm)

Please feel free to add others! Thanks for all your help!!!

Twirling Around

My first big quilt was completed a few weeks back. Pattern is Twirling Around (a layer cake quilt) by Sew BitterSweet Designs. This worked up super quick and I'm so very pleased with its outcome.

More in-depth progress post to come soon