It's a mystery PART deux!

So Jan was the only one that commented. . .So I am going to tease some more!

Here is what I got done tonight. . .

 Here is what the strips/strings ended up looking like once I sewed them on the foundation paper (in this case not only was I reusing old fabric, I was reusing an old phone book! and then some val*pak coupons ;) )

 Then I cut them down.  4"x6 inches. . .Getting any ideas of what I am making?

And just in case you heard foundation and strings and thought I was making a string quilt, I am here to tell you I am not. . .But I did make one last fall. . .and here ^^ is a picture of it.  It was all made of scraps or fabric that I already had and needed to do something with!

Of course it's not finished :p It's just a top, that needs a bottom. . .it will get there some day ;)

Well I need to get to bed!! It's getting late for me!

It's a mystery!

So I WANTED to post this last night. . .But my internet was being SLOOOOW, it's still being kind of slow with Netflix this afternoon too :/ I might have to pop in a DVD instead for the time being!

But my post!

We just moved, and I was unpacking my "sewing area".  I no longer have a room, but half of the living room.  NOT that I am complaining! It's MUCH MUCH bigger than my last sewing room, and maybe bigger than my first sewing room?  But it's not a room, it's more an area. . .I do have a view of our big screen from my sewing area.

I unpacked a few things, my sewing room has always been the first thing that has been unpacked! It's the most important right?!

So I wanted to work on something but not everything is unpacked, so I couldn't just pull out one of my projects. . .

So I decided to start something, and you get some "hints" of what it is.  When I have some more done I will post the link, but I am going to be a tease for now!

On to the important stuff!! PICTURES!!

So here are two pictures of my sewing area ^^ on one side you can see my machine, computer, and some other random stuff (bottom pic) on the other you can see boxes and boxes and boxes, and my desk, which is where I will probably put our printer.  I am not 100% sure how I am going to do the rest of it (as is evident by the machine in the middle of the room :p)

And here is the mystery stuff ;) Any ideas on what you think it is?  I will tell you they are strips from my strip scrap box (that sounds weird!) But that is all I am saying ;)

Way back machine

Well we have fully moved, in that all of our "junk" is in one place now.  Now it's time to unpack, and once my sewing room is "up and running" then I will post pictures of it.  For now though it's time to take a trip into the "way back machine".

We're going to go "way back" to my first quilt, and some of my high school sewing projects.

I posted a while ago about how I got started sewing, so hopefully this is the pictorial about how I got started ;)

 This is my first quilt.  It is similar to my grandma's quilt in that it has some old Tee-shirts.  Some were her shirts, one was grandpa's. . .

 most of the time it sits in a bag, which I know goes against everything I said about quilts I give people. . .but it's special to me. . .and SO not straight as you can see by this pic :p It's hard to explain. . .I am sure once we have kids it will be a good blanket to throw on the floor under the baby.  It's filled with pretty thick batting.

 These are some pajama's I made.  I STILL wear them!! I love them!

These were just some cute pjs.  I still have them, but don't wear them as often.

Smallish update

So Jan (or sewgirl to me ;) ) asked if I had been doing any sewing recently.  And truth be told I haven't had enough time to do much.  The projects I am working on right now really need a little more time than a little time after school. 

Plus we are moving, so I need to be packing!! Today will probably be my last day to sew until we get all moved in :( I have gotten some stuff done, seen some fabric that was in a box and found so many things I want to do with it!!

Here is some thing I have had since 2005, I bought it, and started it for a friend (I had) who loves animal print.  We aren't friends anymore and I want to get rid of it!  So I will finish it up and sell it on etsy!

 This is Pepé helping me lay it out to make sure I did it right!

 Isn't he such a good helper!! and SO darn cute!

And here they both are! my little trouble makers!

Speaking of etsy, I have been buying satin binding (that was only .50c/yard) at Jo-Ann's.  I only bought a few yards, so the blankets aren't very big, but they would work for a small child or as a doll blanket.

My etsy shop

This little blanket is 18" x 18", the pink side is cotton and the back is fleece.  As a side note, the pink fabric was actually a sheet I bought when I lived in France!  My first host family was a little crazy and said that I needed to supply my own sheets!  needless to say I didn't live there long, but couldn't give up this HUGE piece of fabric!

I LOVED the spongebob Satin binding!!

I have another fleece with satin binding blanket to sew, and a bunch of other binding, but I am thinking those will have to wait until after we move.

I also have another project I will be starting once we move.  It's for my grandma.  She has these thelwell shirts a very good friend of her made for her, and they had been sitting in a box in her basement.  So we talked about making it into a wall hanging for her.  I will post pictures as I get working on it.  ALSO I have a tee-shirt quilt for my sister and my husband to get done.  I think I will have the room/time/space to do that once we move also!  My sisters would be great if I could get it done before I see her again!

I think that's all that I have gotten done lately.  OH! I did buy some fabrics the last time I went into Jo-Ann'

BUT it was all remnants! which are SO my weakness!! I can get such a selection of fabrics and for so cheap!

I hope you are having a happy weekend!

Selling!!

I had mentioned that I was going to sell some of my baby quilts, and I have finally put some up on etsy.com!

sewcute330 etsy shop

(I also have a button on my side bar where you can click to get to my etsy shop!)

There is the dino blanket and the doggie blanket!

Thanks for checking it out!

My grandma's quilt

I have pictures of my first quilt I made, but not with me at the moment (I am on Grandma's computer).  So I will post those someday.

And don't expect this many posts from me in the future ;) Although if I were to post about projects that I have done, but not posted here, well I could be posting pictures for a while :)

But today is dedicated to my grandma.

My grandma and I have been good buddies for as long as I can remember.  One summer I spent the summer with her, going to daycamp, and back with my mom on the weekends. I loved it!  I could probably write a book about the things that my grandma and I have done together.  We used to spend days together, where we would run errands together, going to lunch, and maybe getting me a "treat" at Borders.

When I really started sewing and would stay with her, I would use her antique Singer sewing machine, that actually belonged to my great-grandma.  It's a wonderful machine.  It will be mine someday :)

So onto Grandma's quilt.  I actually made most of it on her machine.  Some of it I did in school, I had originally wanted to do a G in the middle, but changed my mind on the design.  I also sewed it by rows (which I think it quite obvious ;) ), this was before I knew what a rotary cutter/blade/mat etc were, so I bought what I believe is called a charm pack, and just cut on the folds.  So they weren't all the same size, especially when you add in all the other fabrics I used.  When I started sewing I didn't have a lot of money, so I asked Grandma for old clothes, and I cut those up, and there are some of her shirts in this quilt, but also some of my grandpa's.

This quilt also includes the only cross stitch thing I have ever finished.  Basically a quilt label, but in the middle front. To finish the quilt I tied it with embroidery floss (with the help of my sister Jenny).  Grandma has loved and used this quilt a lot since I gave it to her, and that is the highest compliment to me.

I don't make quilts so they can sit in a box, or so they can sit up to be looked at, they are meant to be used!

So without anymore rambling, here are pictures!

 Here is grandma holding the quilt.  The plaid pieces are from my grandpa's old shirts.  And the floral are from some shirts that grandma gave me.  I picked out the "navajo" fabric because it's something that has interested grandma.  And truth be told I cannot tell you why I chose to use blue and whites.  It might just have been because of the navajo fabrics I found.

Here is a close up of the cross stitch.  I gave this to her 10 years ago!

And a post about my grandma wouldn't be complete without a picture of her! Love you mostest!

Finished work!

I was reading through some older entries, and although I post pictures of the project as I go along, I don't always get a final project picture posted!  So these are some finished projects pictures.

 So these are Becca while she was sewing (her first time!)

 And here she is with her finished quilt.  You can tell it's not HUGE, but it should be nice for watching TV or something.

 Here is the quilt I did for (one of) my husband's grandmas.  I added a small border around it.  And the back is fleece (I will get a picture of that soon.  We picked out a black and white design.

 this is one of my favorite pictures.  I love seeing the surprise on her face!

And here she is with the finished quilt.

So those are a few things that I have finished and not shared with y'all!

Well off to lunch with my grandma!  Maybe I will post pictures of HER quilt (the first one I made for someone else - ohh! wayback machine might be coming out with pictures of old projects!)

Changed my layout

Ok so this really doesn't have anything to do with sewing, but I changed my layout.  What do you think?  What do you like? What do you not like?

Thanks for your opinions!

*edit*

I am sorry but due to not wanting crazies here, you must log in to comment.  If you come from LJ you should be able to use your OpenID log in.  And it shouldn't take much to sign up and comment.  Sorry if it's annoying! it's just one way I can kind of make sure I don't have spam comments and such

I don't know where this sewing bug came from!

 Those two quilts ^ are actually ones I made last summer, quilted them, just never put the binding on, why? I don't know!! So I finally did that.  I am probably going to put them on etsy (later this week).

 This is the quilt I showed the squares of last week!  Saturday night I watched fireproof and got just about the entire top done!  I was right about the fabrics going together nicely!

 Then I was thinking about what I would put on the back of it. . .I didn't know if I would have something that would fit.  Then I remembered that I had some fleece that had purple & green. . .and even though it doesn't look like it in the picture, it goes quite nicely with it.  I need to quilt them, I am going to go with a diagonal stitching, through the flannel.  Do you think I should make them criss cross? or will one set be ok?  I care more about looks than function for that quilting.

And here is the values quilt coming together!! It doesn't look like it, but it's quite small.  And I think I am going to make it square, so I will be adding some more rows to the bottom and top.  It also needs to have some more rows added to make it bigger. . .

So that's what I got finished on Saturday/Sunday. . .I am not sure how much I will be able to post in the coming future. . .Wednesday I am visiting family, and then next week I start training for my new job!  So it's going to be some busy days for me, I am not sure if I will have a lot of time to sew let alone post!

I hope you all have a GREAT Monday!

Busy. . .

Well our internet went out yesterday, so that finally gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get some work done! Well that and the fact that I am going back to Iowa next week, and some of this NEEDED to be done before I go!The first thing is Becca's quilt. Becca is my best friends' 10 year old daughter, but Becca & I are also good buddies. I have known her since she was 2 months old! We share a love of Shrek, or well we used to. When I babysat for her we used to watch Shrek. I have taken her to see each of the sequels in theatres!
I let her go through all my fabric (which actually isn't as much as it used to be, I have been using a lot of it!) and pick out whatever fabrics she wanted. . .She ended up picking out about 20 fabrics, and I helped her slim it down, and showed her which ones went together and such.
Then we talked about size, and pattern, and I cut up the squares and she sewed it. It was her first time sewing! She didn't sew all of it, but did quite a bit.She chose this nice velour type fabric for her backing. I did the binding with a fabric that she REALLY liked and had originally wanted as a border, but changed her mind. (you can see that Minnie approves of the quilt!)It's not actually THAT big :/ So someday I will make her one that is bigger! I don't know why I haven't made her a quilt. . .probably because I haven't had a design that has just POPPED yet. . .I am not a machine :p I am bound by my imagination :pNow this quilt was a block exchange I was involved in. The swirly pieces (which are called snail's trail) I actually made randomly, and then thought they would fit nicely. I think they do work well! I have one more block I have to make to even them up.These are blocks that I use as enders and leaders (when I chain stitch). I have already made one top with some of them. We will see what these turn into :pThis is a pile of 4" squares made from the left overs of Becca's quilt back and my log cabin backing. I am thinking about sticking them with a flannel and making a little blanket.The colors in the picture didn't actually turn out that great. It's a pinkish/purple. And I think it compliments the blue and purple nicely.Now this is a pile of cloth wipes that I started. . .and then my serger broke :/ I have started doing the turn and stitch, but it takes so much more time! So we shall see how much longer I stick with that :p

I went to a sewing center here in town today, and they do serger repairs. It would be probably $80, which we won't be able to swing for a bit, but it's good to know, and to have it so close!

So what are you working on?

It's been a while. . .

I am sorry it's been so long since I have posted!! Things have been pretty busy!! First we went to Kentucky for ichthus, then back to Iowa to visit my family, then I had a friends daughter, then Ohio for Spirit song, and now I am finally back home!!

I sure am ready to be sewing again!! And I think I will get some stuff churned out this weekend.

Here is some stuff I have done since the last time I posted!So I haven't done much on the pinwheel quilt (that is for an exchange. I don't have enough of the middle border fabric to use on the outside :/ so I think I am going to have to go with a different fabric :(

I have also been working on a values quilt. which I posted a quickie picture of the pile of 4" squares that I had. They have been made into a lot of HSTs (half square triangles), lights & darks! And then they are going to go together, kind of a diamond style. Here is a layout I have so far (but it won't stay like that!) it's easy to change. I think I am going to make it into a baby quilt (or two!)Then before we went to ichthus, I finally finished something I have been working on since last summer. I call it a festival blanket!! It is made of bandanna's that I used to wear in high school/college.
That's all I have done (I think). I have to help finish Becca's quilt. She designed it all herself, and even helped sew a little bit of it!! Sadly we didn't get it finished before she left :(

so this weekend my goal is to finish Becca's quilt, finish Scott's grandma's quilt, and make a wetbag for my friend. And maybe get my sewing room cleaned up a little bit!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Why Do You Quilt?

I started sewing in High school, although it's always been something that interests me. I remember being a young child and watching my mom make me clothes (on the same machine I use today!)

I took sewing in 7th grade, and then the summer after that I used to sew a lot of little pillows and things. But it was High school that really got me interested. I took a sewing class. I started making clothes, then I started making a quilt for myself, and one for my grandma. And since I started college I have been making quilts for those around me.

Sewing day 2

Ok so this isn't EXACTLY my second day sewing, but it's close enough ;) I got a lot done in my quilt exchange, and found about five other projects I want to start ;)So I realize the above blocks are almost identical, but the one on top originally was going to have some more HSTs, but I decided to just leave it. . .I don't like this one as much as the one I did for my pinwheel quilt (above)BUT I like this one BETTER than my block I did similar to this.
I accidentally forgot to make this one bigger (since it's only 3 blocks across instead of 4) so I added a little border.

I am up to 12 blocks, I want to make 16, but the white for the border I am almost done with it :/ I have plenty of the others left. I just hope it's enough to make the last four blocks!

I have been working on my maverick stars some more, I am still not sure what I will do with them, they are too big for sashing, and I don't like them put together, so I thought about adding a sashing, or doing them as a nine block. We'll see!