Plus Quilt

I had so much fun making this quilt!  I think it took about 20 hours, after work and on the weekends.  My most favorite part about this quilt is all the straight lines!  In all my (five) years of sewing, I never thought I'd be able to quilt a straight line, much less LINE UP SEAMS!

I love this fabric, I love this color combo!  I have some left over, so I might make a pillow cover or something.

The baby model was borrowed from some friends of mine.  I made this quilt for them before baby was born, and even from the pictures you can tell it's wonky, without even folding it up.  They love it anyway.

I just wanted to borrow the baby and take a few pictures.  The dad is an amazing photographer and started clicking away!  The baby was a GEM.  Most babies love me.  Okay, ALL babies love me.  But this one?  Cries when she sees me.  I've learned that I have to ignore her and let her come to me.

She loved this blanket.  We threw it on the living room floor, and she just had a ball playing with it.  Loved wrapping herself in it, and being the star of the show.

We joked that she was a diva and demanded only WHITE M&Ms.  Where is my EVIAN!  I WAS PROMISED EVIAN!

She was a doll.  Perfect and lovely and sleepy toward the end, which worked out well for the parents.

Oh!  OMG.  It's for sale.  I'm really nervous, but excited for it to go to a good home! It's gone to a wonderful home :)

Etsy only allows you FIVE pictures!  Five!  How do you pick your favorite?  So I picked five, but here are the rest, because I can't help it.  If you love the photography, let me know.  I know a guy ;)

Music listened to while making this quilt:  Cake, Grouplove, Vampire Weekend, Coldplay, The Cure, The Flaming Lips.

Mom

I've been thinking about you a lot these days. I mean, I think about you every day. Some days more than others, and sometimes so very very much.

I'm sewing! I'm a sewing machine (ha). We never shared this hobby, but I totally get it now.

I loved that you loved to sew. I loved how lost you got in it, the music, the whistling. I remember your mug of ginger ale you kept on the corner of the sewing table.  It burned my nose, those bubbles.

Sewing makes me feel close to you. Some days it hurts. Mostly it comforts.

I'm making a red riding hood cape! I have the outer part finished. I ironed it. The seams are raw and it needs a lining. I put it on a hanger and memories flooded back.

I remember seeing partially finished clothes on hangers...darts and seams and lines and pins...and I wanted to wear them so bad! But they weren't finished. We didn't care. We loved them and wanted them now. 

The dresses you made us. The quilts. We loved them so much. Did you know that? I'm sure you did. I didn't realize how much love you poured into each project. Did you get giddy when a new pattern worked for you?

I remember many naps under unfinished quilts. Just the quilt top was finished. You'd bring it out to show us and we'd beg you to let us have it.

"But I have to finish it!"

I get it now, Mom.

Green with envy

I am SO in love with Noodlehead's patterns.  I recently made a Super Tote for a cousin to take to a baby shower.  From those pictures, a friend in Washington State asked me to make her a schoolbag!  

I've been sending pictures to friends and updating the progress on  facebook.  I'm going to have to get more of this fabric because EVERYONE wanted it!  "Is it spoken for?"  "Did someone by that yet?"  "I want it can I have it?"

For the diaper bag, I used quilting cotton along with several different types of interface, to make it feel solid.  I didn't think I would need much interface with this bag since it's made with decor weight fabric.  While giving it a sturdy feel, the decor weight...weighed it down!  

I can proudly say this bag stands on her own.  Quickly sending to Washington before it conveniently gets lost!

these pleats!  kill me every time.

Back of the bag with my label.

Holy Seams, Batman

[What's this?  Two posts in one week?]

I love these organizer baskets. Noodlehead makes the best, easiest patterns to follow.  I have another pattern of hers, a bag, that I need to start, but I haven't decided on the fabric! 

These baskets are my favorite to give as gifts.  So far I've only given them as baby shower gifts, but I'm finishing one up right now to give to a friend to organize her knitting crocheting needlework yarn stuff.

This one I actually made for a friend's baby shower.  But I loved the color combination so much, I had to make another.

Check out the lined.  Up.  Seams!

Papyrus

Below is the basket I made for a friend.  Years ago she posted a "Pay it Forward" where you made something for the first three or five people who commented on your post.  I was one of those people!  She made me a makeup bag!  I love it so much and use it all the time!  So I posted a Pay it Forward and she signed up.  And then... I .... didn't .... make... anything.

I finally got around to making her something.  I wanted to wait until my sewing skills had developed and I was able to make her something that she would love as much as I loved the makeup bag she made me.  (wow, that was pretty good.)

I hope she enjoys it!

narrow pockets for storing needles. I put random stuff in the pockets as an example.

larger pockets on the other side.