I is for Ivan

I is for Ivan

My nephew, Ivan, is turning one in a matter of days. His party is this weekend, and I am doing my best to finish quilt before we celebrate.

"I" detail

I had been waiting for one of the local quilt shops to get "Bella", the most recent line by Lotta Jandotter, in. A quilting buddy, who works at The Quilt Company, let me know some of the line had arrived last week, which led to an impromptu fabric binder. The print used as a part of the "I" is called "Lind."

Makes me think of buildings and blocks

When designing quilts for babies and toddlers I tend to go simple and bold. I don't enjoy over-complicating my quilts, and I think simple and bold is more appealing to babies' developing eyes. Tomorrow I start quilting. I will be using the same print for the backing fabric.

PGH MQG

More proof I have been working:
1. I have been helping create the Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild
2. My blocks for the QuiltCon quilt block challenge

I promise! I promise! I have been working!!!

Red/White/Black WIP

It may not look like much, but it is something. Reorganizing my stash the other weekend I was reminded I had these great red, white, and black fabrics. As soon as I got a little free time I quickly cut out some rectangles and am currently piecing this all together. All 144 pieces have been chained together. When I get a little more time I will finishing sewing together all of the rows. This soon-to-be quilt doesn't have a home, but I certainly know several families with babies on the way.

I'm also currently finishing cutting out a quilt for my cousin, Shelly, who is having her first baby at the beginning of September. I will post photos soon. Great colors- grey, yellow, and white.

Quilts Beyond Borders has also been keeping me busy. A lot of quilts and tops are being delivered at my house, and we have several kits we need to get out to longarm quilters to meet the demands for quilts going overseas. We are also about to begin remodeling our kitchen, which has required extensive prep work.

And, lastly, because I don't have enough going on in this life- I am currently co-founding the Pittsburgh chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.

A Gift for Ezra's First Birthday

A friend of mine I quilt with on Monday nights has two children. The youngest, Ezra, was born eight days after Samuel. For Ezra's first birthday I made him a pair of pants.

Two cut out pant legs for sized 6-12 months

Pants sewn together

Sliding in the elastic for the waistband

Cuff detail

The finished product with roll-able cuffs.

Courtney, Ezra's mum, loves Japanese fabric... Well, she loves pretty much everything Japanese craft, so I made the pants out of some scrap Japanese fabric I had left over from making a skirt for our friend, Amy, in Austin. Baby pants are pretty easy to make. I have a feeling I will be making more in the future for other friends and family members having babies.

Sew, while working on the community quilt...

Monday night at our regular weekly quilting and crafty meet-up I managed to sew my left index finger.

Yes, the needle went all the way through my finger.

I hadn't completely disengaged the backstitch on my machine by letting the needle go forward. As a computerized machine it couldn't have possibly known and was just doing "its job." I was moving the quilt to the next square for quilting. When I dropped the walking foot into place the needle jumped and went right through my finger. My foot was no where near the foot controller.

Fortunately there were some very calm souls present who helped me think through how to get the needle out of my finger and keep me from freaking out. It hurt like the dickens and felt pretty gross as the needle and eventually threads were pulled out. Another fortunately blessing was the lack of blood. That actually would have done me in for the night.

Today my finger is really sore and red. Typing is a bit of a challenge, but other than that I think I will live. There is always going to be more sewing projects, and needles through the finger are part of the process. Right???

Free-motion Sam

I am currently prepping for Sam's first birthday. The above is an embroidery I made using free-motion and Paper Solvy. The image was taken from a recent photo taken on our patio on one of the first Spring-like days. The embroidery was first used for Sam's birthday invitation, and eventually I will add more to it. It will likely end up on a wall featuring various photos of Sam. Once the picture is complete I will share on the blog.

I'm also making a birthday banner for the special occasion. We aren't going overboard for the festivities, but feel like we should continue hand-making things in all aspects of Sam's wonderful life. I never need an excuse to make things, but he is certainly worth it!

A stitch in dye: Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design

Looks to be another book I need to add to my wish list.
Many thanks to the incredible Malka Dubrovsky for bringing it to my attention with her blog.

a stitch in dye: Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design: Yoohoo! Remember me? I haven't been in this space for a couple weeks, but I thought I'd pop beck here today to tell you about a fabulous new...

Circus Quilt for Baby Stella

Quilt Detail

One of the girls from the book club I attend is having a baby girl any day now. She told me the nursery theme was circus with orange as the main color. This is what I fashioned together for her.

Completed crib-sized quilt

She seemed to really like the quilt, and the color choices I made were apparently spot-on. Her quilt is one of several baby quilts I will be making in 2012. The next baby quilt will feature the colors gray, yellow, and white. I'm also currently contemplating making a wedding quilt for another friend of mine. That will be a first.

Sam to help display the size of the quilt.

Sam makes a great model. I love that little man.
Til the next adventure- pillows...

Fabric WIPs

Circles WIP

I have finally started working with dye again after the baby-related hiatus. (Dye powders and  little ones do not mix.) My inspiration partially comes from knowing I will be attending a 2 day shibori workshop the last two weekends of March. The workshop, taught by Amber Coppings is hosted by the Fiber Arts Guild of Pittsburgh, which I recently joined as a member.

Squares WIP

The second inspiration comes from my long-term desire to fill my fabric stash with less commercial fabrics. I'm actually about to dump a load of PFD white cotton in the wash to get ready for a few more runs of color. The green and orange dyes are calling my name today for some reason.

Both of the above pictures fabrics are works in progress. Each have been dyed a shade of red, resisted with soy wax and over-dyed with another shade of red, and discharged. I'm currently contemplating adding another color or doing some embroidery work. Only time will tell...

Another Baby Quilt

"Modern Circus" Baby Quilt WIP

A wonderful woman in the monthly book club I attend, Bookish Babes of Pixburgh, is having a baby in March. Unable to attend her baby shower I still wanted to make something to help celebrate welcoming her first child into the world. Next week the book club is getting together so I am spending today and part of the weekend finishing the quilting and binding.

I contacted her when I learned of the shower to find out if she minded me making something and if she and her husband had selected colors or a theme. She told me there was a lot of orange in the nursery and in the end it ended up having a sort of circus theme. Inspired I selected a variety of bright solids and began piecing them together. The above is the quilt as a work-in-progress (WIP). Once it is completed I will post detailed pictures.

Project: Christmas Gifts

Screen Printed Flour Sack Towels

 For the last several years I have been making Christmas gifts for friends and family. This year due to some time constraints we decided to screen print most of our gifts and limit the amount of sewing time. This ended up being a good decision because my foot controlled died a week and a half before we left to visit family out of state. Making the screens still took a lot of time, but the actually printing was over in a matter of minutes.

Queen Anne's Lace

 We have been inspired by so many things since our move to Pittsburgh. This Fall I marveled at how beautiful Pittsburgh becomes as the leaves change colors. It reminded me of the time I lived in Canada. Ah... seasons. We designed the images for our screens based on some of the Fall foliage that stood out to us while we were traveling and walking all over the city. Looking out our window was also pretty inspiring due to the beautiful view of the park across the street. I took pictures of various leaves, sketched, and collected samples as they fell from trees.

Japanese Maple Leaves from the Yard

 We were able to complete three handmade screens using acrylic paint. My next challenge with these screens is layering the design with detailed accents. Ginko leaves have these fine lines that fan out to the ends of each leaf. I imagine lawn creatures using them as fans or shade when the sun is high.

Ginko Leaves from Our Yard

We heard our nephews were getting a kitchen for Christmas. They love to "make" food when they play together. Just the other day Sebastian was opening a candy store and made me soup out of blocks. I thought it would be fun to make them some play food they could use while playing in their kitchen.

Felt Bacon Strips

Se

Sushi Roll

 It seams like we rarely have a weekend breakfast without bacon; therefore, the boys needed to have bacon, too. Although the boys are young, 2 and 4, they have incredibly cultivated palettes. I think it is great they both enjoy eating sushi. The sushi was a little experimental, but I was happy with the results- especially the "mock-i". The place mats were an extra-special touch contributed by The Architect.

Different view of the sushi roll

Tuna "Mock-i"

Tuna "Mock-i"

We also made a couple of turkey legs just for fun. It was an opportunity for The Architect to practice sewing. That was a lot of fun. He did well, which makes me hopeful for our next sewing project- his new messenger bag.

Turkey Leg