Craft-A-Little

I haven’t finished quilt #2 yet.  But I am all about over committing.  So I have the top finished to the quilt for my best friend.  And the back fabric came in the mail from Cia’s Palette this weekend.  I am still trying to decide what I want for the binding.  And I need battting.  And I don’t know if I want to do a pieced back or not.  So I have decisions.

I have another friend who has recently gotten engaged and I wanted to make a quilt for them as well.  I started this one this last weekend. 

I kind of go back and forth about how I feel about it.  When I first started it, I was excited about it.  Then I started cutting and after a while I REALLY didn’t like it.  Then I started cutting the color outside blocks and came up with a system and started to like it a little.  Now, I have the quilt sewn into 8 strips (not in the picture- it is just blocks in the picture) and I am liking it a little.  Still not as much as my other 2, but they can’t all be my favorites, right?  As I am starting to like it more, I am still not sure that I like it for the person that I originally had in mind.  I guess I will see what it is like once it is done. 

Oh- and it was inspired by this quilt.

Here is the shirt that I have been working on for Little Helper.  It was pretty hard to make.  Well, hard for me, since it was my 2nd clthing item ever.  I think that it looks ok though.  Now I just need to remember to get some buttons.  And assemble the shorts before summer is over!

As I was making it, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it.  But I think that I do.  I think it is cute.  And I think that it will look cute with a pair of jeans this fall.  Or the green shorts that I am making this summer.  We will see…

Don’t tell my husband, but I have been doing lots of shopping lately.  Check it out-

Here is the Katie Jump Rope fabric that my sister and I purchased for the quilt we are going to make for our mom for Christmas.  We figure that we have “stolen” enough quilts that she has made over the years and we “owe” her.  Plus, she gave both of us our sewing machines for Christmas  last year. 

Fabric for a quilt for my mom

 When I was ordering that fabric, I came across this fabric in the same etsy shop and just couldn’t resist-

Heather Ross prints

Cia's Pallette Order

Spud and Chloe sweater

I also bought some  Blue Sky Alpaca yarn.  I seem to have lost the picture of the other 3 colors that I bought.  I bought 3 other colors to make a sweater for A.  I also bought some white to make some mice that are in a mobile in Susan B. Anderson’s Itty Bitty Nursery.  I also bought the brown and white yarn to make the Baby Bobbi Bear again.  I knit this bear a while ago- it was in my first 6 months or so of knitting- and I did a TERRIBLE job of it.  I really want to try again. So now I have yarn for it!

Blue Sky Alpaca Yarn

 I am getting quite a few projects lined up!  I am excited about them.  And I really like new yarn and new fabric!

My cousin Lorrin and I are working on quilts together.  I haven’t posted blocks in a while, so I thought I would share my latest.  I feel kind of bad because I told Lorrin that I was going to mail them last week.  And then I never got them in the mail.  And now I am in Hannibal, MO.  Not at home.  Until Thursday.  So- no mail (sorry Lorrin!)

So, in an effort to make up for my lack of mail, I am going to post pictures here- before Lorrin has seen them in person.  I usually like to keep her in suspense until she gets them in the mail, but I am going to make an exception this once!

This one didn’t turn out how I originally planned it.  I wanted to use the red and I wanted to use aqua, but I didn’t have enough of my first choice aquas and this is what I ended up with.  I don’t love it.  Actually, it is my least favorite of all of the ones that I have made.  Oh well.  They can’t all be my favorites!

I do, however, like this one quite a bit!

I bought some new fabric last weekend.  I had been planning on making this quilt for my best friend as a housewarming gift.  I wanted to use blue, yellow, and green but I didn’t already have a fabric stash to work on.   So I needed to go shopping.  It made me a little nervous because, to be honest, I am not awesome at matching colors and putting fabrics together.  Well, I at least lack confidence in this.  I need more practice!  I am lucky to have a husband that has a good eye for this stuff and he is willing to help me!  So he, Little Helper, and I made a trip to our local fabric store and picked out these fabrics:  (I already had a few of them on hand)

I ended up ordering some Katie Jump Rope- 2 blue for this project and a 6 others for another project- that I ended up adding to the mix.  Here is how we decided to order the fabric for the quilt.

Yellows to greens…

Greens to blues…

Light blues to dark blues…

Here is my layout of the strips after I sewed them together.  Now, I really thought that I took another picture of the whole completed quilt, but I am just not finding it right now.  And since I am in Hannibal, MO and my camera is not, I have to wait until I get home to find out!    So, here is what I have to share!

I really like how it is coming together.  Well, I guess the top has come together already.  Now I just have to choose a backing fabric and binding.  Any suggestions?

I made this quilt for me.  Yes, the first and only quilt that I have completed, and I selfishly made it for myself.  Apparently other people had other ideas. 

This was the view inside Little Helper’s crib just before I put her to bed tonight.  She insisted that I put this quilt in her bed before she would go to bed and go to sleep.  Do you think that I can make her another one that is smaller that she will accept as hers?  Or do I just have to make a new one for myself?  And if I do make another, so you think that it should be out of the same fabrics?  Or do you think that a new one will be ok.  It is funny watching her grow up and seeing her have preferences for things.  She also really likes her fairy princess pj’s. 

I have been working on an Oliver & S outfit for A lately.  I have the tunic complete, except for buttons and button holes.  But I haven’t bought buttons yet.  I need to put the shorts together before summer is over.  Not that we have really had summery weather for most of the summer…

I also went by my local quilt shop this weekend for some new fabric for a quilt that I am working on for my best friend.   I am still getting used to fabric shopping.  I am pretty good at yarn shopping now.  But being a new sewer, I still get pretty overwhelmed.  I really do like my local shop.  The owner is really sweet and they do carry some of the modern designer fabrics that I like.  But they don’t really carry all that many.  I really wish that they carried more, because I do prefer to shop in person, but I feel like I am forced to shop online because I don’t know where to shop in person.  Anyone out there know of any brick and mortar stores (other than Crafty Planet) in the Twin Cities area that carries these modern designer fabrics?  I know that Cia’s Palette is working on it- and they have a great selection.  I guess I may have to wait for them. 

Anyway, I am off to bed.  I will try to get up some of my fabric photos and the picture of the tunic that I made for Little Helper tomorrow.  I took those pictures on my fancy camera and my husband downloads those pictures on his computer since the memory stick slot in my computer is broken.