Thursday, April 26, 2012

Table Top Swap

Bubble Napkins for Amy This past month I've participated in a new swap called the Table Top swap which is a spin-off swap from the Potholder Pass and led by the fantabulous (yes that's a word!) Amy Friend (during quiet time).

Since we use cloth napkins almost exclusively, I thought it would be a fun swap to participate in. I've made napkins before, so I figured why not, how hard can it be?? {Dramatic foreshadowing}... queue the spooky music...all was not well.... more on that later.

As it turns out my swap partner was also the swap mama, so I had to keep all photos under wraps until she received her package so that it would be a surprise since she knew very well who was sending her the napkins.  So here they are:
Table Top Swap napkins for Amy


I thought that these captured her 'style' pretty well.  I hope so!
Table Top Swap napkins for Amy
The edging is composed of paper-pieced octagons on both sides sandwiching the lecien cotton linen in the middle which makes them reversible.  I think they turned out great if I do say so myself.  
Table Top Swap Napkins for Amy
Now for the drama....As it turns out this month-long endeavor was just fraught with disaster. First my paper pieces were lost in the mail.  Really lost. They still haven't arrived, but thankfully the lovely people at paper pieces just sent me out a new package.

Meanwhile, waiting for the mail, I was getting a bit nervous about the whole project being so late, so I started on a 2nd set of napkins with crochet edgings inspired by Synnoeve Kristiansen Dyresen's (fellow Table Top Swapper) lovely post hereBubble Napkins for AmySo I was working on both projects intermittently.   Then various other things happened, after ironing my pieced and sewn together strips of octagons the first 2 complete sets of edgings just opened up.  Like a flower after the rain, they just refused to keep their shape! Ugh, so disappointing after all those hours of careful piecing.  I was about chuck the entire thing in the bin and just go with the crochet napkins which were all done at this point.  But I really liked my original idea and I'm not one to be swayed so easily. I have ironed paper pieced things before and usually they hold their shape beautifully, so I began to suspect my iron was the culprit. After a good nights sleep I decided to try again.

This time the ironed pieces held and were nicely sandwiched and sewn onto the linen piece. Since the first one turned out pretty well, I decided to proceed knowing full well that this was now going to take me the better part of the day and, as it turns out, also the night. But by midnight all 4 napkins were done.

But, of course there is more.  Only 3 napkins seemed to be in residence.  The mysterious 4th napkin had gone missing! Oh no!  How can this happen?  I searched high and low and it was not to be found! UGH  Ok this was actually all on the mail day and as it was nearing midnight, I decided that clearer and calmer heads would prevail the next day.  I was spent! exhausted! I had reached my limit!  I haven't mentioned that I was battling some kind of cold bug through all this.

The next morning, I decided to search the car, where said missing napkin had last been spotted and did finally find it (hallelujah!) wedged between the seat and the door.  Phew!! After that I decided to use the crochet/consolation prize napkins as padding to keep the bonus chocolate safe! and sent the entire package off to Amy!   I sure hope she likes them!

If you read all that, you deserve a prize!  I think we all deserve a tall drink after going through that sewing drama.

Now off to rest some more, before the next swap if they ever let me back into another swap that is!
Table Top Swap napkins for Amy
Happy Sewing!


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Idollyic Round 2

Woot!!! Celebration is in order. I'm a round 1 finalist!! How cool is that? You can go here to vote for your 3 favs. Please go vote even if you don't vote for me - there are lots of great fabric sets and the winner will receive his/her fabrics and that FQ set will be made available for sale at Sew Mama Sew! How fun! But if you do want to help me out, I'm #8 ;)

Sew,Mama,Sew! #FatQuarterIdol Sweet Child of Mine

 Meanwhile, here is my submission for round 2 - "Meet me at the Picnic" is the theme. Sew Mama Sew! #FatQuarterIdol Meet me at the Picnic
This weeks board inspired by warm summer days outside, 4th July picnics and the upcoming London olympics – so it’s all Red, White and Blue
 It's like virtual sewing! I love it!


Happy sewing!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Stitch


Stitch (not a Disney character) is the name of my block submission for the Sew Out Loud quilt-along block contest. 

After sewing along with this QAL for the last couple of months, I’ve learned a lot about paper piecing. Of course I’m like 4 blocks behind at this point, but the blocks have all been stellar and just awe-inspiring in their ingenuity and uniqueness not to mention humor! All sew-alongs should be this fun.  The sew-along includes a final 12th block designed by one of the members picked from this contest.  So this is my submission.  

Stitch
 Let me just tell you that if you think foundation piecing is hard, wait until you try to design a foundation pieced block.  It’s a lot trickier than it looks.  This final block is actually my 3rd try. My first try was not working out at all, so I redesigned and came up with this block which then needed to be further refined and voila you have the final block. 

Go check out the other submissions if you like – they are all stunning.  The winner will have their block made available as part of the sew-along.  I plan to publish this foundation block pattern myself on the blog  in the next few weeks if not sooner.  I am working on the e-version of the drawing right now, so stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Idol Time

Well now, here's a little bit of fun:


Brilliant idea SMS - the American Idol of the sewing/crafting world and a contest after my own heart! I love it!

A marriage of Pinterest and Sew Mama Sew.  Get all the deets here and see how you can enter.

Along this weeks theme of Sweet Child of Mine ~ Here's my little collage of goodies - keep your fingers crossed that I make it into the finals, a stack of fat quarters and endless fame and a record contract is at stake. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating that last part a bit.

Sew,Mama,Sew! #FatQuarterIdol Sweet Child of Mine

I had so much fun making this collection, I decided to try another one - strictly for fun ~


Posh Baby Quilt Palette 

I think I might turn this into a weekly habit - such a blast!

Happy Sewing! 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Pouches galore

ETD ~ The cell phone wristlet pattern is now available. Just click through the link on the top right-hand side of this page to purchase it. Thanks so much for your interest.

Where does the time go? March is always a crazy month for our family with spring break, birthdays and ski season. Here it's come and gone and I haven't even had a chance to tell you about the latest SWAPeroos I'm sewing for.

First up is the Pretty {little} Pouch swap (P{l}PS)which I have joined before. My pouches are all done and off in the mail to my partner. Hopefully they will arrive soon. Since my partner likes scrappy designs and pastel-ish colors I decided on this pink-inspired color palette. I just love this Domestic Bliss line from Liz Scott which is saying something because sewing is about as close to Domestic Bliss as i'll ever get. Other aspects of domesticity not withstanding.

This fabric is so vibrant and girly and seemed appropriate for my partner. I knew I wanted to do a scrappy star, so I made an 8-pointed paper pieced star out of selvages and then appliqued that to the linen pouch. The pouch needed some more interest so I added the wavy curve along the front, also scrappy-pieced. Add in some hand stitching and you have a finished pouch!
Well, hmmm, it seems to be missing something. Somehow that didn’t really seem like enough, so I added a little cell phone pouch to coordinate. I must confess I needed to make a cell phone pouch as a gift for a friend, so I used my P{l}PS partner’s extra as a prototype.
P{l}PS extra...
Needs some tweeking to get it just right for my friend, but it turned out pretty well for a first pass. The patterns are self-drafted and I do plan to make them available soon so stay tuned. I know I always say that and don't always deliver, so keep me honest peeps! Swap project A completed. Now onto the next one…

Happy Sewing!