For the Love of Sewing (the super secret surprise unveiling)

My grandmother taught me how to sew with old pillowcases and barbie dress patterns. Ever since then I have had a love affair with needle and thread. One of the reasons I sew is because I get to make things for the people that I love. I made this quilt for a dear friend of mine, just because she likes butterflies, and just because she is the best friend a gal could ever have. I had this quilt idea in my head for years but could not find the right vintage butterfly quilt blocks. One day the perfect vintage quilt top magically appeared on ebay and I made her butterfly quilt dream a reality.

The butterflies are vintage hand appliqued quilt blocks and the border fabric is also vintage. The striped squares are reproduction prints that replaced plain muslin squares on the original quilt top. The sewing was not so great and the plain muslin squares were stained so I took the whole top apart, washed it and put it back together again with some new fabric.

Here is a shot of the back where I pieced together some Kona cotton and leftover fabric from the front. I think my measurements were off or I was working on this late night because how I originally planned it and how it turned out are totally different. I was sweating there for a minute wondering if I had enough fabric to finish the back but it all worked out in the end.
I love these labels. I ordered then from Fancyweaver. I know it's not a USA based company but the price was right, they were easy to work with and the labels look great. They are end fold labels but just long enough I can unfold them and tuck it into a corner of a quilt.

Here is another one of my hand embroidered quilt labels.

On a side note these pictures were taken in my grandmothers back yard, the backyard of the same house I learned to sew in. She has two perfect trees that I stretched a piece of rope between to take quilt pictures. I say I but you would not catch my butt climbing a ladder up that tree. Its my husband that does all the heavy lifting while I stand safely on the ground directing.

So tell me, why do you sew?

Presto Pesto

I made pesto this weekend. A ton of it. Well maybe not a ton, but 7 half pint jars of it, and considering how many basil leaves that took I am calling it a ton. Just look at all that lovely green goodness. I planted 4 basil plants this year and had no idea just how much they would grow. Since I am trying to make a more concerted effort to know where my food comes from and eat less processed I decided to make pesto and freeze it for use all winter. I already have another huge batch which I froze in ice cube trays then popped out into a freezer bag. This batch went into wide mouth canning jars. I am trying really hard to reduce my dependence on plastic baggies. I feel horrible every time I throw one of those little buggers in the trash or recycling bin. Hopefully it will turn out well and the jars will not crack. They are freezer safe, so says Ball, and I did not fill them all the way to the top, so we shall see.

I could eat buckets of this stuff, on pizza or just plain ole whole wheat pasta. Maybe next year I will try my hand at real canning. I would love to can some big juicy Maryland summer tomatoes to use year round. Each step I take to eat better and reduce what we throw away just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Corners of my Home

I always see on blogs where people post beautiful images of the lovely little corners of their homes...big comfy reading chairs...children's art centers...pretty kitchen jars...you get the drift. I was feeling a little sarcastic when I took this picture yesterday and thought I would share with you a corner of my home. Behold my kitchen table corner. Isn't it lovely. Let me break it down for you. Thats a purse I never use anymore way in the back because all I carry around with me these days is a diaper bag, breast pump and work laptop. There is a really ugly rug under the table. I cant remember why I even bought that. I mean who puts a rug under a kitchen table. Its just kinda gross. Throw in a stroller, car seat, bumbo and miscellanious toys and you have one hot mess. Cut me a little slack. Its only my second week back to work from maternity leave and my husband is out of town. All excuses aside it generally always looks like this.

Now here is another corner. An empty one at that. Waiting for the perfect crap catcher/storage device to house all the junk on my kitchen table. Im looking for something like this but am too scared to even enquire how many dollar bills it will set me back. Maybe something will present itself if I ever get the time for a much needed day of thrifting.

What do the corners of your home look like? Are they anywhere near as bad as this?

Fabric in Unexpected Places

I found some great fabric the last two weeks in unexpected places. The bottom two came from an antique store in Galesville, MD. I always mean to stop there after lunch at my uncles restaurant but never seem to. Shameless plug here: my uncles restaurant has the most wonderful view, the restaurant is on a pier and the food is terrific. Stop by for crabs if you are ever in Maryland. Anyway my niece was in town and the antique store happened to be open after we had lunch. I found this funky pink and green floral upholstery fabric and a vintage cotton with a kitchen herb print. That upholstery fabric is just calling out to be a foot stool in Lenora's room. The other fabric is this amazing cotton/silk blend I found at Joann fabrics. I am usually not a fan of their apparel fabrics as they are mostly synthetic but this stuff is great. It's buttery soft and drapes nicely. I can't wait to make a breezy summer shirt from it.

Just for kicks here is a shot of my hot mess of a backyard. We live in a town home so there is not much space for gardening, especially since our entire yard is a deck. This year we planted tons of herbs in planter boxes. That is my basil in the back after I made the mother load of pesto last night to freeze for the winter. There are peppers hiding behind the bench and in the front is mint. The dill did not fare so well but I think that is partly due to the heat and my friends dog peed on it. Burnt right up. Note to self, do not leave large dogs on deck unattended.

Sew Deer To Me

This time next week I will be back at work, sitting at a desk, wishing I was home with baby Lenora. I am trying not to have a major mental breakdown. To keep those nasty work thoughts at bay I made this little dress. The fabrics are Jay Mccarroll prints for Free Spirit. I love the little pink dear and mushrooms.

On a side note Jay critiqued my senior fashion collection at Phila U. Maybe one day I will share those pictures (not of Jay, but of the collection).

The pattern is Butterick 3846 bought at Joann's at the recent pattern sale. I liked it so much I purchased both sizes. I wanted the dress to be reversible so instead of hand-stitching the openings closed I top stitched the entire dress.

I swear there is an easier way to stitch and flip this baby right side out. Its not complicated at all to make but sewing the side seams is weird to me. Maybe if you left the opening at the bottom hem, instead of the side seams it might be easier. I am going to play around with it on the next dress. I have a feeling there are many more of these to come for Lenora.

Sewing Pitfalls

I have always said my sewing room is off limits to imposed cleaning requirements. When the mood strikes I may tidy, sweep, or de-fuzz. Creativity must be allowed to happen regardless of the mess. It is no pigsty but I have been known to throw my threads and bits of fabric on the floor when I am in a sewing groove. It just happens. Lets not talk about the quilting pins scattered throughout the house and pushed into the arms of the couch. There is a needle in there somewhere I have not been able to find yet. However when you let creativity just happen, this happens....

This is the wheel to my rolly chair. I slide all over the basement, from the computer to the iron to the sewing machine, picking up all those threads I have been known to throw on the floor.

And this is my husband picking the thread out of the wheels cursing my no imposed cleaning rule. What can you do?

Practical Sewing

Not a whole lot of "fun" sewing going on lately. I have been working on practical things, like sewing buttons back on pants and making burp rags from dishcloths. Nothing even remotely interesting enough to share a picture of.

I thought I would share a project I completed a while back. This is a t-shirt quilt I made for my uncle. I was cranking these out at a steady pace for a while there. They are relatively easy to make and create quite and impact if there is a theme or all the shirts are similar colors. My uncles is made out of his Harley t-shirts and this quilt barely made a dent in his stash. Since they were all black I use the traditional Harley orange to frame them with a flame fabric for the corner blocks. The key to these quilts in interfacing. You need a lot of it but if you don't back each of the squares that knit jersey will go buck wild on you.

A close up of the quilting. I send my quilts out to Michele Mueller in Fremont, Nebraska for quilting when they are too big to fit in my machine. She is amazing and it helps to have a long haul truck driving father in law to do all my shipping.

Here is a shot of the back. I found the best black and white motorcycle fabric and used it in panels for the back. On a side note you can see the legs of the ladder in the left of the picture. Robert is hiding behind the tree so I could get a good shot. What a nice husband was he to climb up there and hang my larger quilts so I could get some pictures outside.

Another hand embroidered quilt label. I love doing these. Its nice to have a small project to work on while you are waiting somewhere or watching TV in the evenings.

Hope you enjoyed this little past project.