as cozy as spring

Handmade Christmas Gift #1

I showed this to my sister this morning, so I can post it here now.  It's a little doll quilt for my niece who is, objectively speaking, off the charts cute.  This quilt was made from the tiniest of scraps I collected over the past few years and that makes it all the more special (in my humble opinion). 

 The scraps were so loved that even if I had only a tiny, odd shaped portion remaining, I couldn't part with it.  The pink and red polka dot strip in particular - a fat quarter my daughter chose one day - the thin strip is all I had remaining and I'm so glad it found a home amongst the squares.

I love, love, love it and I hope that doesn't sound terribly conceited.  I hope it ends up safely in England and doesn't get "lost in the mail" or worse "return to sender".  Wouldn't that be dreadful? :)

Handmade gifts still to go:

• A knit vest for my son and a knit cardigan or cape for my daughter.  I promised myself I wasn't going to start a Mrs. Weasley handknits for Christmas tradition, but my resistance has faded.
• Another doll quilt
• Several doll dresses
• A doll itself for my little girl, after much angst over corporate vs. handmade I am opting for handmade (for now - I reserve the right to change my mind every few minutes and agonize over the decision to the only friend who will grudgingly listen to my dithering.  If she would only return my phone calls...)
• A Nutcracker bag for opening night (yes, she made it) (!!!!!)
• Anything else I can squeeze in!

My husband is off this weekend, yay, and has taken the children to the grocery store so I need to get sewing (and quilting bee, friends, you are on the sewing list too!  I will catch up, I will, I will....)

Keeping Warm

I picked up Simplicity 6846 last summer, thinking I would make one of the dresses.  The coat caught my eye earlier this month and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I really felt it was way beyond my sewing abilities, but I followed the directions very carefully and a week later...

 

Done!  It's made out of corduroy and fully lined (my addition, the pattern doesn't call for lining it but really, how could you not?)  It's the perfect weight and warmth for autumn and early winter in Texas. 

 

We made our own little fabric covered buttons which might be the most fun I've ever had.  

I would definitely make this again (next year in a pretty olive green!).  The hardest part was taking a good photo because my daughter hates modeling and it's been raining for two months.  So, with that in mind, anyone who mentions that my baseboards could stand a good scrubbing will be banned from commenting. ;)  Focus on the coat. 

Snippets Quilt (and a giveaway!)

My Summer 2009 quilt.  It's made from the American Jane 'Snippets' line and was my (sniff, sniff) very last order from Bee Square Fabrics.  It was a challenge to put this all together because it's quite vivid and I wanted to get away from pairing everything with white.  So simple squares it was, reminding me (a bit) of colors reflecting on the water.

We broke it in yesterday at my parents' home way out in the middle of nowhere.  My mother hosted a barbecue to celebrate my sister's brief visit to Texas.  Several family members were caught in a sudden downpour in the middle of the hay field and had to run for cover under the front porch.  We sat there and watched the rain pour down, everyone amazed that such a storm could happen in July.  It eventually became too windy to watch from the porch and my soaking wet daughter curled up on the couch and warmed herself in this very quilt.  And I will remember that every time I see it now.

I have some Snippets snippets (ha, ha!) leftover and would love them to go to a grateful home.  Leave a comment here if you would like to enhance your stash.  I'll chose a random winner Monday morning, let's say 9:00AM.

Spring Ruffle Top

Did you all see this tutorial?   I made this version over the weekend.  The pattern is easy enough, but it took me most of Saturday to finish.  Alas, the children occasionally need food and water.  As we were still quarantined, I used only what I had on hand, meaning My Folklore makes another appearance here at 'as cozy as spring'.  The fit is so perfect that it was actually a bit snug to get over her shoulders, but it was worth the tugging because it is so cute on.  It's also very light and breezy, perfect for a Texas summer.  

Warm weather pillows

I found a scrap bag at the fabric shop last week and oh, it was delicious.  Not enough for a quilt, but enough for some badly needed outdoor pillows.

Figuring out the placement of the interlocking whirlygiggles took a good bit of time but the assembly itself was easy.

I quilted them differently and hands down, I like the stippled version much better.  I knew my husband would hate these and resigned myself to hiding them somewhere before 6:00 every evening.  But alas, he surprised me with a bored, "Oh yeah.  They're sort of whimsical or something.  Whatever."  I'll take, "or something" and "whatever" over passionate dislike any day.  So now they are on the couch.

And they do a great job of cheering up our gigantically boring, traditionally decorated living room.

That issue of Classical Teacher wasn't a prop, but did you read it yet?  It came in the mail yesterday.  There's a great article on teaching History.  

And I'm off!  It's my one day this week to prepare for that thing coming up this weekend (we're speaking in clever codes here today), preparation which has been entirely ignored up to this point.  Happy Wednesday!

as bright as spring

I was sitting in my backyard last week and noticed the rich green grass emerging from dormancy.  My first thought was that I needed to make a quit bright enough to coordinate with all the pretty spring colors.  The next day we were the unhappy victims of a very cold front but alas, it left me plenty of time to sew.  I didn't want anything fussy because I have sewn three fussy quilts since August and I had no desire to match seams and corners and all of that nonsense.  I was inspired by the Summer Breeze quilt in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts and the stack of Park Slope I ordered last month.  24 hours later...

Really!  Only 24 hours!  And that included an episode of highly cranky cookie making with the children (surely my 8 year old won't drop a bowl of eggs on the floor.  Wrong.) and sleep and everything.  

The prints aren't exactly my style but I like the way they work together.  And they are all so cheerful we are finding it impossible not to smile when we lie on it or under it.  As far as the "design" - I just cut pieces 9.5 inches by whatever and pieced them in columns.  Sew each column together whilst laughing joyfully that nothing has to match up.  Free motion quilted in my signature style which would be "Jenn is in need of a stitch regulator".  I pieced the binding as well because I had nothing on hand that would coordinate.  The only short cut I took was machine stitching the binding, which bugs me and all but I wanted a functional quilt more than a polished quilt so it just wasn't worth the wear on my hands.  I'm very pleased with the whole look.  And because this was so easy I will feel even more comfortable letting the children trample on it with their muddy shoes.

I am definitely going to make this again.  

We brought it out for tea time this afternoon - a day that fits the description 'as cozy as spring' if any ever did.  Our hollies are blooming and so very sweet smelling.  They are absolutely covered in honey bees which I hope will translate into plenty of berries for the robins next winter.  I alternated between knitting and reading back issues of Martha that a friend gave me.  

And now I must go and fix dinner - the children seem to request it every single night.  And the kitchen floor has so much dirt tracked in that I think I could sprinkle seeds in it and have a garden right by the backdoor.  Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!

Little Girl Dress

We finished reading Milly-Molly-Mandy a week or so ago.  I love the dresses in those older books - the pink and white striped frock or the braids and socks that B is for Betsy wore.  I realized the days of my daughter wearing sweet little girl dresses won't last forever.  So here it is, Butterick B4176.  It's tres facile!  I did have a bit of trouble getting the pleats just right at the top (meaning that they were torn out oh maybe three times)  

The fabric was chosen on a memorable trip to the shop.  We couldn't find anything we both liked - she has developed these opinions - can you imagine?  We ended up choosing this chocolate brown print with tiny pink, green, and blue dots.  Very classic and pretty.  I finished it off with a very small daisy trim around the neck and hem.  Not at all modern, but just what we wanted.  The fit is perfect and it is a pattern I am sure to use again, I say, eyeing 2 yards of pretty pink floral fabric sitting next to me.

The photo doesn't really show the sewing details but I don't suppose it needs to.  She was tired of me taking photos of her and just wanted to twirl and play in her little girl dress.  So I let her.

Spring Quilt

Happy Birthday Dawn (seven months late).  

Whew!  This one took forever.  I bought the fabric back in July and as soon as I saw it, I knew my friend Dawn would love it.  We disagree on a lot of things (she likes Twilight, I like Coldplay) but our love of gardening has provided the basis for an eleven year long friendship.  This fabric is sort of woodsy but in a sweet and girly kind of way.

Sewing details: The brown fabric is from the My Folklore collection, purchased at Bee Square Fabrics over the summer.  I don't think this particular print is available anymore but there are some great other prints in that line.  The white and pink print is Henry Glass - Tiny Tots, I think.  I can't find that anywhere online. Hourglass blocks and lots of them.  

I machine quilted this and it's not my best work (my attempts to keep the stitch in the ditch might make one wonder if I were drinking at the time) (I wasn't).  I think I'm just going to have to commit to hand quilting because it's the only look I really love.  

Obligatory awkward quilt photo (the colors are so much better in real life - very earthy and springy, just like Dawn):

Finished size 50 * 60 which is by far my favorite size for a quilt.  

And Dawn, because I know there's a chance that you will cuddle in this quilt whilst reading Twilight, I just want you to know, I was singing "In My Place" the entire time I hand stitched the binding.  Ha.

Next up in the sewing queue, spring bags.  I am thinking about a quilted bag for my portable knitting projects.  Are these not the prettiest springtime prints?

Park Slope, from Bee Square (again).  I know I've mentioned it before, but this is my number one place to buy fabric because she offers great prints and excellent customer service.

Scalloped apron for a sweet little girl

Assuming I can get some rest this afternoon and stand without swaying, we'll be going to the birthday party of Lucy's very first friend.  I whipped up a little Christmas apron for her.  I wish I could write something charming about it instead of just posting photos, but my son was up all night itching and the house is covered in silk threads and there is gingerbread dough ground into my kitchen floor and I still have a dress to hem and did I mention the house is trashed?  So here's the apron.  Bye.

It's reversible.  

Awful photos.  House trashed.  Threads.  everywhere.

Sugarplums, dancing, etc.

Karen kept telling me not to panic so I didn't until last night.  Because Christmas is two weeks away.  But Monday starts our last week of extracurricular activities which means all the teacher's gifts need to be ready then.  And all remaining online orders need to be placed very very soon.  And my daughter's First Communion is NEXT WEEK. 

The dress is slowly coming together.  I spent the day getting to know the wonders of silk with my mother.  For anyone who might care:  It's not as bad as I thought it would be.  It frays something awful around the edges and we spent probably 40% of our work time staring at the pattern pieces wondering if this was the top side or this was the top side.  Which was particularly fun as we are doing french seams throughout and led to conversations like this:

"Mom, I go right side to right side, right?"

"No wrong side to wrong side."  

"But we're doing it backwards first"

"That is backwards.  Backwards backwards."

"So wrong side to wrong side first."

"Yes."

"Which side is the wrong side?"

And I would stare and her and she would stare back at me while we slowly catch up to ourselves and there.  My head spins.  In defense of my mother she kept telling me to mark my pieces but I kept ignoring her until I reached a trouble spot and then I would beg for her to bail me out.  And this proves that I will always be her child and she will always be my mother.

Fortunately she is a wonderful seamstress.  I would not attempt this without her assistance.  And her embroidery machine which oh!  Wait until you see.   Hopefully in a week.  Eek!

And on top of all this I went from zero handmade gifts to all handmade gifts last week.  This really has been the most delightful part of Advent for me, time crunch aside.  And fret not, those in my family who are really hoping not to get a tea cozy, I'll stash a proper store bought something in there as well.