The Summer of Sewing Smaller Stuff?

 I've made three quilts lately which were queen-sized or larger, so I think I am going to declare the next couple of months The Summer of Sewing Smaller Stuff ... smaller as in smaller quilts, like lap-size maybe, perhaps a pillow, perhaps (gasp!) a wall hanging ... we'll see.  I thought I'd show some of the things that are on my list of sewing to-dos. 

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Above are my selvage countdown squares.  As you can see I have a big pile.  My original idea for these now seems a little boring, so new possibilities are brewing ...

 And I do have another selvage idea that doesn't involve the squares above but goes in a different direction entirely ... I'm so excited about this one!!!  And I am definitely telling myself that it doesn't have to be something life-sized like the Selvage Snowman.  Smaller is good.  Repeat after me.  Smaller is good.  Smaller is good.

 Then of course there are my I-Spy hexies, which are my travelling project.

 And my vintage sheet obsession continues with this new quilt I just started ...

 Speaking of vintage, check out this vintage pillowcase I found the other day!  Cutest ever!!!  So these bears will quickly be made into something.  Pillows are small right?

 I Spy Planet Hexy still needs to be quilted.  It is kind of more medium than small, and I can't decide if I should send it out for quilting or do it myself.  I really want to do it myself, but I will have to get a walking foot.  Up until now I have just used the regular foot on the machine, but I would want to be really careful with this cool quilt ...

And finally on the topic of small, my daughter is small.  (Although don't tell her that, she is a BIG GIRL now, since she's four and everything).  I am looking forward to a summer of T-ball for her, 3 pitch for my son, lots of fun with family, friends, the pool, parks, picnics and lots of summer travel ...

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Plus there is one more thing.  Although I don't mention it here much, what I do with most of my time is write.  (Here's a smidge about me, the "writer" on my literary agent's website) I am within days of finishing the first draft of my second novel.  My first novel, called The Town That Drowned is coming out in September.  I have lots of fun stuff falling into place for the summer and fall for book promotion.  I have been getting some exciting news from my publicist about literary festivals, book tour stops and book signings.  I can't wait to share more information with everyone as the novel moves closer to release. 

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I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.  I really appreciate everyone who takes a few minutes of their summer to stop in here and hang out with me for a bit!

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I'm linking up with W.I.P. Wednesday.  Cheers,  Riel

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Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

Pillowcase Dress Redux: Fab Four Hexy Style

 I made Tess another pillowcase dress and I think I did a much better job this time.  The armholes aren't nearly as huge as last time.

 I used the Fabulous Four fabric that I had left from making her birthday quilt and room deco.  I also added four hexies as a last-second detail.

 I'm so glad I thought to put those hexagons there as they were the first thing she noticed -- "It has hexies!" (Yes, both my kids know all the cool quilting lingo.)

It's a good fit and looks super cute on.  Now if it would only quit raining here and warm up (I had the heat on in the house the other day) then maybe she'll have a chance to wear it.  Cheers,  Riel

Purr-fect Pillowcases

For Valentine's Day I made pillowcases for my son and daughter. I found some fabulous cat fabric that I knew they would get a laugh out of. My kids love cats. We don't have a cat because my husband is allergic, but my parents have a nice black cat called Shakey that my kids like to claim partial ownership of.

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My daughter's pillowcase is above.

And my son's.
Here's a close-up of the fabric. It's pretty cute and funny. It's like a Cat Gossip magazine. It uses lots of very current references too. See "Kitty GaGa" and "Catty Perry" and of course "Dear Tabby." My daughter is too young to get the jokes, but she loves all the cat pictures and the fact that it is pink! It has a large repeat and there are lots of other funny things as well.
This fabric is a newspaper spoof. My son likes it and he can read well, so I told him if he can't fall asleep, just to read his pillowcase.
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They are both Timeless Treasures fabrics. In case you are interested, I bought mine on Etsy here and here, but it is a new fabric so it should certainly be available other places too.
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Thanks for stopping by!

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And for some linky fun ...

I Heart Selvage Quilting: Progress

I've made a bit more progress on my latest selvage quilt. This is the center section. I would say it's currently about 45 inches square. I am slowly working along on it. As much as I enjoy the challenge and creativity involved in selvage quilting, there is definitely some tedium involved. As in, the tedious sewing of all those lattice strips. I LOVE the result, but it took a little while for sure.
Here's a close up of some of the latticing. That Amy Butler Love selvage is perfect. I am fortunate to have several more to use. (They were sent to me)
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I decided to put the lattice sections on to make it look like an old-fashioned Valentine.

For a laugh, I thought I'd show the back of the lattice section. As you can see I'm not keeping up on trimming all my threads like I am supposed to be doing. Also, I want to point out a little bit of poor planning (or I guess, creative afterthought?) on my part. See the seams under the latticing? I put the lattice on after I had pieced together the whole heart. It would have been better to just make the lattice on plain fabric then piece it in after. Oh well, such is the peril/fun of making the design up as I go.
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Speaking of design, I have decided that this is going to be a quilt for our local quilt show in the fall. I really want to be sure to participate as I am a member of the guild now. Well, this year's theme is Serendipity. It is a very wide-open challenging theme. But anyway, I am thinking Love-Serendipity-Family as my interpretation and that is the direction I am going in with this quilt. It will still take a while to make, and I will still be going on it after Valentine's Day, but at least when it's done I will have a show quilt. I am very early on this, but I am expecting a wonderful, exciting year that will get busier and busier as it goes on, so it will be good to get this done to quilt top form. Then of course quilting ... ????

Here are some little 3 inch squares I have ready for elsewhere in the quilt.
Here's a long shot. Thanks so much to everyone who suggested I put up a design wall. Mine is just a piece of fabric that a friend gave me (I'm not even sure what it is, it seems like some sort of jersey knit stuff). It's cool though, as long as the quilting fabric isn't too big or heavy it just clings to the "wall" without even pinning.

And finally, the other night a friend and I had a little SNIC (Sewing Night in Canada, ha!). She wanted to make a pillowcase so I made one too. I made this little Valentine's one for my daughter's bed.

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Happy Weekend!

Secrets Revealed!

Pretty tantalising blog post title, eh? Definitely National Enquirer style. No, I haven't discovered a way to magically erase wrinkles, I'm just going to show the pillowcases I made as Christmas gifts. But if you're not too disappointed, since you're here, why not have a peek?
Some little musical mice and dancing elves. My son picked out this fabric.
This one was for my Dad. It is my favourite. My parents like birds.

A pair with guitars.

For a little guy in kindergarten.

My Mom's pillowcase. A couple of birds got beheaded in the cuff. Oh well.

I made three of this version, for my son and two nephews who like space. The main fabric is Supernova by RJR Fabrics and it is a 2010 fabric. The trim fabric is an out-of-print fabric called Rocket Scientist. I really like how these ones turned out.

For a little guy who plays soccer and likes green.

Just a little space fabric on this one.

For my husband. I also made him a quilt for Christmas which I will try to get photographed and show before the New Year. (Since it is my last official quilt of 2010) The quilt was my biggest sewing secret! And it really was a total surprise for him.

These old Santas jumped onto my daughter's Christmas quilt for a quick picture before it went on her bed on Christmas Eve.

And, just for fun, here's a pic of our Elf on the Shelf. He's a vintage elf from my collection of old Christmas decorations. We had a lot of fun watching him move around our house.

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Happy Sewing!

Selvage Trimmed Pillowcase

Okay, admittedly I have selvages on the brain ... I was just minding my own business this morning planning to make more pillowcases for Christmas gifts, when the idea of trimming one with a selvage strip -- as the piping or accent fabric -- popped into my head. Of course I had to try it and I love the result!
The selvage says "Love!" ... I mean come on, and it has a soft shaggy edge?! Perfect. This little pillowcase is for my three-year-old daughter. I showed her the selvage strip this morning (she loves the soft edge) and I said I'd have her pillowcase done by the time she came home from preschool. So I've been true to my word. The pillowcase took maybe a half hour tops, french seams and all.

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The only problem I had was with the home decor weight selvage. I really wanted that word "Love" that's on the selvage, and it turned out wonderfully, but I did break a needle doing the last pass on the french seam over the place where the selvage and cuff met. It was too thick. Now back to our regularly scheduled program -- that is selvage-free pillowcases for Christmas gifts. I have a whole pile to make. Should be fun! Happy Sewing!

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Also, welcome to my new followers. Thanks for joining in! And the giveaway answers about Santa's middle name are totally cracking me up!!!!!

How Bazaar!

 This morning I stopped at a church bazaar after we went for a family "Breakfast with Santa" which was a fundraiser for a local charity.  (I couldn't convince the kids to get a pic with Santa, oh well.)  Anyway, I did find some goodies at the bazaar ... such as these fabulous vintage nine patches!  I really like the funky fabric in them.

 There are 35 blocks all hand done.  They are quite uneven and are a variety of sizes, but they really look great all together.  I am thinking of a plan ...

 I had to laugh -- the needle was still left in one.

 I also got a big piece of vintage flannel.  It will be for pillowcases.  The flannel was in a bag for $2.00 -- with a bunch of other fabric miscellany.

And then check out this quilt top!  It was a total surprise.  I paid $2.00 for the bag that had the nine patch blocks in it, and then when I got out to the van and looked at the rest of the things in the bag, this was folded underneath.  It's all hand done and about twin size!

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On a kind of unrelated note ... when we were watching TV last night, a commercial came on promoting scratch and win tickets as stocking stuffers.  The top prize was $125 000.  My five-year-old son turned to me and said that I should buy some tickets. I said oh, no I didn't need any.  His response:  "Well with $125 000 you could buy lots of fabric!"
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Happy Weekend!

'Monogrammed' Pillowcase

I've mentioned here before that this year I'm making pillowcases as Christmas gifts. Well, the completed count is at a grand total of 2. I just finished the one above yesterday. I wanted to personalise it, but I calmed down a little from my previous and too fancy design and I still ended up with something I'm really happy with.
It's 'monogrammed' as you can see. I asked my son what the 'M' might stand for and he said Mommy ;-) ... the actual 'M' who this pillowcase is going to is my niece Molly.

Music is a big part of my brother's (Molly's Dad) life, so I thought this fabric would be just perfect. It's an older out-of-print Alexander Henry fabric. The pink fabric is a Moda fabric called Love. The turquoise dots are Sherri Berry.

And the letter is from this panel from the out-of-print Peas and Carrots line by American Jane for Moda. I was fortunate to pick this up recently at a local flea market when a lady was having a fabric sale.
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I'm participating in Fabric Tuesday. Just click here if you'd like to see lots more lovely items made from fabric by other bloggers!
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Thanks for stopping by!

Pillowcase Prototype

First off, I am really enjoying reading the comments on my Giveaway post about hand making Christmas gifts. Many of you have mentioned giving pillowcases which I think is a fabulous idea ... leading me to Exhibit A: The pillowcase above. It will be a gift for a family member. I'm about 99% sure she doesn't read this blog, but just in case I'm not giving a name.

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Anyway, to make my pillowcase, I used a store-bought pillowcase as a guide. My goal was to make it as fancy (gaudy?) as possible, while not doing anything out of my skill range or making it too fancy to use and wash frequently. So, this is the result. I dressed it up by using four fabrics, two piping rows, variegated thread and some decorative stitching.

The two rows of piping.

The decorative stitching. It is on the edge of the cuff.

So ... I am really happy with this. But there was definitely a learning curve involved.

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Lessons learned in no particular order ...

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If you are using French seams (this was my first attempt), take that into account and cut everything a smidgen bigger as more fabric disappears into that double seam than you are used to.

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Two rows of piping looks super-cool, but it is also super-bulky at the seams. My sewing foot seemed to travel up a little mountain to get over this area and I went back and over it a few times to be sure everything was sturdy.

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Decorative stitches are annoying, actually-like- capital -A-Annoying, to pick out. Especially flowers. If you leave plain white thread in your bobbin and only use the nice variegated thread for the top, then your finished stitch line has a pretty side and a plain white side. Be SURE when you attach the cuff with the decorative stitches, that the pretty side is up. (I thought I had double checked, but oh well.)

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Make the iron your friend. I pressed this constantly to keep everything straight and even and it really helped. It all matches nicely and lays flat.

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If you use a store-bought pillowcase as a guide to freestyle the pattern like I did, make your pillowcase a little longer to really hide the pillow. Longer is better and somehow seems more deluxe.

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So, now that this practice prototype is done, I think the other ones will go faster.

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Happy Stitching!