Simplicity S0215 and ASG fabric

 

I think this pattern is quickly becoming my favorite.  I had ordered some of the winning ASG fabric from www.myfabricdesigns.com and needed to make something with it to enter the ASG contest.  It had to be done by May 31.  It was not problem with this super easy pattern.  I started making it sleeveless but ended up being able to add short sleeves by using the unprinted fabric of on  the bottom of the sleeve.  In this way I was able to use most of the 1 yard cut of  Polyester Pongee Silk that was on a mark down.  The knit fabric was easier to work with than I thought it would be and is soft and drapes well.



Now I have a yard of cotton that needs to be made up before the 31st.
Sorry for the sidewise picture  but this is giving me a head ach today.  I'll try and fix it later

Flannel Baby Quilt

I made a flannel quilt for baby shower gift.  The small quilt is really soft, it was made entirely of flannel scraps most of which were given to me by my friend Laurie.  I was also able to use scraps for the batting so this was a green project. 

This is a quilt as you go type of project,  The top and back strips are layered together for each row leaving all the raw edges on the front of the quilt.  You then snip every 3/4 -1" along all the seams.  After the quilt is washed the edges will
"bloom"  which will add a nice texture for the baby.  I embroidered the babies name on the back in a matching vibrant blue.    Mom liked it and hopefully Roman will too.

Bones Never Lie - Audio Book review

Bones Never Lie by Kathy Reichs                     Read by Kathern Borowitz

Kathy Reichs has written 16 books featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

When I saw the name Temperance Brennan I immediately though this book would be about the TV person Bones.  It is and then again it isn't because the book character works both in Canada and South Carolina and she even watched an episode of Bones on TV. 

I enjoyed this book, and her portrayal of different personalities in different jurisdictions  struggling to work together to find a killer.

Christmas project - pipped pillow

 This is a pillow that I made for a client,  actually I made 6 of these pillows.    The pillows  have zipper openings on the bottom  which took a bit longer and is more difficult when using piping.   I was happy that the zippers were almost invisible but I focused on the stripe matching and zipper insertion so much that I didn't cut the fabric to avoid dog ears.  The client was however very happy with the look.


The stocking are small,  the white part is only about 1-1/2 tall by 4"  so I was not able to hoop them.  I embroidered the names on wool felt which embroidered beautifully.  I then cut around the names and sewed them on the stockings.  I did 40 stocking all together and  think they turned out really cute.

lots more stockings!



Indianapolis Humane Society review

I recently took my dog to the Humane Society for shots.    Since my employment ceased in July, and I had zoo book coupons for half price vaccinations,  I thought this would be a good way to save some money. 

I picked up my mother  and her dog and we went to the facility at   456 Holmes Ave.   This is first come first serve but there was only 2 dogs in front of us so our wait wasn't too long.  We had minimal paperwork to fill out,  I had printed and filled out mine the day before but my mother hadn't which was not an issue.  At our turn we went in together and both dogs were looked at, their ears, teeth, eyes  and weight checked as well as getting tested for heartworms.  My dog received her shots, minus the rabies ( had the 3 year vaccination the year before last) and  6 months of heartworm medication for $57.00.  My mothers dog need her rabies shot  and also received the 6 months of heartworm medication and since she did not have a coupon her cost was about $80.  We both were happy with the price and service received, the staff was knowledgeable and friendly,  we will make it a point to go back again next year.



This is Sarah,   a cocker spaniel that is  not pretty but has a good personality



This is Checkers,  she is cute and has a great personality

Both dogs are always happy!

McCalls 5714 or MP259

When I first saw the caterpillar fleece I thought it would make a cute jacket for my young niece but my daughter said she liked it and wanted a jacket from it.   I   actually made this earlier this year and entered it in our county fair (blue ribbon)  but hadn't taken pictures or blogged about it yet. 

When I started making this I saw why Lisa had fought with this pattern when she used version E for a 4H project. interfacing the front bands and  collar and the hand stitching  take a bit of time as well as working with the heaviness of multiple layers and gathered front are not as  easy as it would seem.

The instructions are ok,  but I did make a change of course.  The top half of both front pieces are both lined with the fashion fabric but not the upper back piece.  This means that you would need lots more hand stitching to make the inside neat. Why?  I cut an extra top back and due to fabric shortage  used a scrap to make the piece long enough.  This meant that even though I had to hand sew the entire inside top section of the jacket down, the inside arm openings  and shoulder and collar  sections look neat.















I could not find the snap I intended to use for the jacket  and didn't like any buttons I had on hand, so  I had to make an emergency run to  Hancock Fabrics to get a snap.  My Husband drove and I sewed it on while he drove back so I could get the jacket checked in at the open class on time.  Whew,   last minute all the way!  The judge said that the snap should have been put above the seam rather than at the middle like I have it.  I didn't change the snap placement  but it's good information to know for future projects

 All in all I am pleased with how this jacket turned out and how cute my daughter looks in it,

Me Made may 15

I, Darlene  of not enough time to create, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavor to wear at least one made or upcycled item of clothing a day each day for the duration of May 2015'

I participated in Me made May last year  but I got tired of taking pictures especially because most of my me made clothing has been around for quite a while.  I will try to post the me made items once a week and hopefully that will keep me from getting bored.

Simplicity 8300

This fleece jacket was given to me all already cut out so it was a really quick make and finished a project I had sitting around for over a year

The sewing is simple and the instructions clear.  The only part that requires any thinking is the zipper insertion and it wasn't difficult at all.  You might  note however, that the pattern description calls this an over sized pull over and that is certainty correct.  I sewed a size 14 and it fit me with room to spare.  The only change I made was to add a band with elastic to the bottom of each sleeve for a bit of extra length.  Even though this fit me, the style and pattern look horrible so I will be giving this to one of my nephews who hopefully will like wearing this better than I would.

Snowpeople & a Heart Pillow

 Snow people & a heart  made a cute and easy decorative pillow project

One of the projects on the get it done list was   the snow people pillow.  Laurie, had given me the black felt and the cut out snow people several years ago.  I had done some of the sewing on the snow people and then put it aside.  When I pulled the project back out I found some bits of felt and needle felted the hats and noses on then added some beads for eyes and added an embroidered smile.  I found one snowflake button in my stash and sewed it on the pillow but couldn't find any more.  I didn't think 1 flake was enough so I purchased a package of snow flakes for 1.97 from Walmart.    I may add some embroidery arms but maybe not.

When I finished my last red block I has some small  pieces of fabric from trimming the sub blocks.  I thought it would make a perfect heart but I didn't really have anywhere to put the heart.  I decided that the back of the snow people would be perfect as I love the high contrast of red and black.    I fused the little scraps adding just a bit of solid red wool to one side of paperback fusible web, cut the heart shape,  fused it to the pillow and just randomly stitched all over the heart both attaching the heart to the pillow and adding interest and some dimension to it at the same time.  Another fun,  quick project. 

Americana Quilt completed

I finished the Americana Quilt that my best friend Laurie gave me.  Laurie had pieced  the quilt top several years ago from  block of the month kits and I think she got tired of looking at it.  This was perfect for me to practice quilting on.

I purchased fabric for the back but didn't use it,  I ended up piecing what I already had here.  I would have liked to have had more of the star fabric in the middle but only had a small piece.  It did however work perfectly as a bridge between the other two fabrics.  . 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a little of the quilting.  I rented a long arm machine at Back Door Fabric & Quilts in Greenwood.  I think the price is reasonable at $15 per hour.  It took me 5-1/2 hours to quilt this.

When you put a quilt on the frame you have to cut the backing larger than the top all the way around to ensure that your backing is as large or larger than the front after quilting.   I cut the back a bit bigger than necessary but the trimmed off strips worked perfectly for the binding.

The binding was made from 3" strips folded in half sewn to the front and them flipped to the back and sewn down by hand.  Perfect job for a couple of long car rides and some television watching.  You can see how the backing fabrics, binding and front border all go together nicely.

This is one of the projects I listed earlier to be done and now it is!

Time to get it done

I love starting new projects but only like finishing them half as much.  Finishing them doesn't seem to be nearly as exciting.


Looking at the mess that my sewing room is  I think it is time to get serious and  either finish projects or pitch them.  I am not promising that I wont  start any new projects but I should finish an old project before starting a new one.  I picked out a few of the started projects I intend to get done next.  There are plenty more where these came from!

Quilt top  I made SEVERAL years ago that needs to be quilted

Quilt top was given to me by a friend, I quilted it and am now sewing the binding on



I have this already cut out for my daughter



This was given to me already cut out

I started this maybe 3 years ago.  It shouldn't take long to finish

I did get a couple of things done this week.  The red and white block is the last block in The Back Door Quilt shops 2013 First Saturday Block of the month.  Now I will have to get the setting blocks and borders together.

 The fabric to the right is the scrap from the flannel PJs I made for my fathers birthday.  I was afraid that they wouldn't fit because after I cut them out I realized I had used a woman's small rather than a mans small.  I went ahead and sewed them up  ( instead of leaving them on my sewing table)  and thought I would give them to my mom and make another pair for my dad.  I didn't have to worry, he said they fit fine and actually wanted the legs narrowed some.  I am going to make a personal pattern for each person I make PJ's for  then I won't have to worry about size or  length.  I think the time invested will pay off  saving me a lot of time and worry in the long run.


Darlene


Simplicity S0642

I really liked this pattern,  It was a quick make with no problems.  As always I made this at the last minute and didn't take much time for fitting.  I will defiantly make it again and spend a bit more time on fitting next time.

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 I lengthened the sleeves but should have made them either longer or a little shorter, I can see where I have stretched the sleeves out at the elbows. I used the wrong side of the   fabric to make this top because I wanted to mute the purple and soften the look a bit.  The Rayon fabric is very comfortable to wear but does wrinkle after wearing it all day.

 

 

 

 

Crazy Cricket

 

 

 

 The simple back neck opening is quick to make but I don't think it was necessary, the v neck allowed enough room to get on and off over my head.

New Look 6294 Fail

Unfortunately  this pattern  and fabric did not work well together

The pattern

The wadder

When I saw the fabric I liked the print, Grey, tan , black and cream.  I thought it would go with a lot of items I already own.

I modified the bust lowering the seam to allow for a mature figure and raised the neckline.   I really did not like the finished look.  I felt the angled seam line made me look droopy and I just wasn't happy with how  the center front. seams came together.  The pattern of the fabric is not an exact stripe or plaid, it has a sort of fluid look to it,  because of this pattern   the center front opening looks like I cut the fabric off center and that look is something that would bother me a lot if I were to wear this.

I previously made this pattern  out of a linen gauze  that I did like quite a bit  But the current version is a wadder.

old version

I am not sure when I will try this pattern again if ever.


Darlene

First Pieced quilt

This is the first pieced quilt I have completed.  I gave it to my daughter earlier this year but hadn't blogged about it.  It was a 2013 Buck a Block from a the Quilt shop the "Back Door Quilts and Fabrics"  in Greenwood Indiana.   I had a lot of fun making this from  thangles and the provided black and white fabric.   The shop had a sample done in the bright colors which I really liked so I make mine similar.  The blocks are 12",  the sashing between the blocks is 1-1/2 inch and 2-1/2" on the outside of the blocks The border is about 7".  That makes the finished quilt about 70 x 100 inches

I was really happy to find the border fabric which has the same colors as the pieced blocks.

 

 I took a long arm class with the Back Door and as part of the price, I received free rental time on the machine.


Here is a sample of how the quilting looks on both the front and the back.  I used grey thread top and bobbin.  I am really happy with how this turned out, it made a perfect and much loved Birthday gift.  I actually finished a project that I started and it was fun!

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    I  will be doing another quilt soon so I'll get more practice on the long arm.

Indianapolis Museam of Art

 January 2nd,  I went to the Museum of Art with  Laurie and Lisa, we had a great time.  First we did a bit of shopping downtown.  The parking was via meters that had a minimum charge of $1.50 then .25 per every 10 minutes.  I think this is expensive.  The Global Gift Store was fun and I couldn't resist a few things there.

The Owl is from Peru, the worry dolls are so cute and hopefully the salsa mix tastes good.  We then had our lunch at Bazbeaus Pizza which I recommend, it was fast, good and reasonably priced.

The parking was on the museum grounds and a reasonable $5.  per car, there was no charge to get in to see the main exhibits but there was a $15,  for the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit which we chose not to view.

This was one of my favorite pieces of art, it is made of clear bugle (tube)  beads.  I can't imagine how long it took to string them and then getting them to form as the artist wanted. 

 This beautiful view was much more interesting than the exhibit that was on my side of the glass.  If you look in the distance you can just make out the LOVE sign.

This was also one of my favorite modern art pieces. It looks like bacteria!

There were a couple of sound installations that I thought were kind of creepy  and then more floors of art including African, Asian, American and others.  We really didn't get to see everything so I plan on going back.

It was fun spending the day with one of my best friends and my daughter and a great way to start of the new year.