Are you Purging?

If you haven't heard yet, you need to head over to Stitched In Color.  Rachel has done a beautiful thing.  You see, realizing that we all have unloved fabrics cluttering up our sewing spaces she has started a purge-a-long to put those unloved fabrics to use, thereby giving us all permission to start new projects.  I don't know about you, but I definitely need a good enabler in my life  ;)

Here are my purge projects, in no particular order:

1.  these formerly abandoned HSTs are nearly a quilt top now {just need borders}



2.  this is a giant star that I made with some seriously unloved fabrics that were given to me.



3.  these unloveds are going to be a donation quilt - I have a few more squares to cut before I start sewing.  but I'm not telling what I'm making just yet :)



4. A charm pack of Amy Butler Dots has been hanging around in my stash for too long unused.  I'm not sure what this project is destined for yet, but the top is nearly done.  More details to follow :)  {yes, I'm being secretive today}



5.  I keep the trimmings from quilt backs after quilting.  this pile has been hanging around waiting for me to separate the fabric from the batting for awhile.  because the batting strips were so skinny, I tossed them.  I have more small bits of batting than I can reasonably expect to use anytime soon.  {Those will need to be sorted out later}

before...


after...


that's it for me for now.  what about you, are you purging?

Q3 Finish-a-long Goals

my camera jumped ship and left me high and dry with no way to take any lovely new pictures for you, so I'm going to do my best to put together my list with old photos.  It shouldn't be too hard since most of these things have been 'in progress' for a ridiculous amount of time :)

1.

the penguin quilt is actually a finished top now, and I have the backing.  Just need to baste, quilt, and bind.

2.

I'm putting the cracker quilt on here just for fun.  It is highly unlikely that I'll completely finish it this quarter, but maybe the top will get done.

3.

Dragonfly Sashiko needs to become a finished something-or-other

4.

i'm still hand stitching the binding on my going coastal quilt, and it really needs to be done.  No, it doesn't take this long to hand stitch binding, I've just been lazy ;)

5.

I need to make a Mondo bag

6.

this top still needs to be quilted

7.

these HSTs are much farther along than this now, but still need some work.  almost to the baste and quilt stage, though.

That is all I'm going to put on my list.  I have other things in the works, but since my camera has been missing I don't have pictures of any of my recent work.  {Grrr...}

wearing patchwork makes me happy!

After procrastinating finishing the hem for so long it's silly, my patchwork skirt is now done! :)

is hanging a skirt in a tree sillier than picnicing pillows?  I think perhaps it is.  and you know what?  I like taking silly pictures :)

I bought the fabric from Joanns probably three years ago, it was a pre-made patchwork so making my skirt was actually very simple.  The pattern was Flirting the Issue by AMH.  Another yard and a half out of my stash! :)

linking up to Quilt Story, show and tell tuesday

Let's play pretend!

let's pretend that pillows picnicking in the back yard is a normal thing, ok?




why are my pillows picnining in the backyard with new pillowcases on you ask?




because the lighting is better outside, of course  :)




of all the silly things I've done to get decent lighting in photos, this feels like the silliest.

what about you?  what odd or silly things have you done for blog photos?



these three pillowcases, plus one other I made awhile ago, make four {aren't I good at math?}  to be donated to charity.  Now I just need to find a place to donate them to :)

linking up to TGIFF, submarine sunday, Quilt Story, show and tell tuesday

Friday Sashiko Finish

I finished stitching my dragonfly sashiko,




now I need to make it up into a finished something-or-other.  probably a pillow :)

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and show and tell tuesday

I messed up big

ok, so I was working on my cracker quilt.  I have eleventy-billion five inch squares that need to be cut on the diagonal so the resulting triangles can be sewn to the rectangle units I've already pieced.  

Everything was going fine, until my rotary cutter got a mind of it's own and veered off away from the ruler.

I had precisely enough blue plaid five inch squares to make my quilt.  The fabric is an OOP '30s print from Connecting Threads.  

The panic hit a split second before the little voice in my head you're always saying it's ok to substitute something from your stash.  no need to madly search out a source of a fabric match.  introducing another fabric to the quilt just adds interest.

so I went and had a look through my stash.  and found a half yard of the blue plaid I forgot I had.

tomorrow I will cut a five inch square of fabric from my stash.  no panicked searching for more of an OOP fabric.  and all is right in my little quilty world again  :)

dragonfly sashiko progress

thanks to the many doctor appointments and sports events I have been to for my boys, I am nearly done stitching the dragonfly sashiko.  {I take it with me most places we go}

soon I will need to have a rummage through my stash and decide what this will be sewn up into.

linking up to show & tell Tuesday, WIP Wednesday,

suit coat upcycled to General's uniform

Recently, my three boys participated in a Living Timeline for school.  They each chose a historical figure, dressed as that person, and gave a short speech about their life.  18 kids or so were in the living timeline.  Oldest to youngest, my boys were Thomas Edison, Harry Houdini, and General Stonewall Jackson.

Since Edison and Houdini mostly wore dark suits, those costumes were easily taken care of.




For the General's uniform, I thrifted a grey men's suit coat to upcycle.  I shortened the sleeves and body.  The coat had gold buttons on it to begin with, so I removed them and saved them to use later.




I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of craft felt in half and sew the pieces end to end.  Then I sewed the yellow felt to the underside of the up-turned color.  Once I rearranged the gold buttons the coat looked like this:

Four of the buttons fell off during rehearsal, so I sewed on replacements, and another fell off during the performance.  I guess I need more work on my button sewing technique :)

I loved this opportunity to sew for one of my sons  :)

However, this project has made it painfully obvious that outside of piecing a quilt, my sewing skills are all but nonexistent.  I would like to change that, so I can sew more things for my family.  Perhaps even conquer my fear of sewing clothing  :)

i'm linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday, whoop whoop friday