I have been busy, really!

That's right.  I have been keeping busy.  That is why I haven't blogged in a while.

I have been doing pretty well at my part-time job, so I rewarded myself with a new machine - a serger!  Meet Sergio.  He is a Babylock Eclipse DX with jet air threading.  So it is easy to thread - just put the end of the thread in a hole and push a button and poof!  The thread shoots through all that it needs to so it is foolproof.  Trust me, this is important.  Threading a serger is a real bear.  I use a lot of HBO words when I have to thread the lesser sergers.

So, the first thing I did was make Sergio a cool cover so he won't get all dusty in between projects.  It needed to be badass because I think that sergers are pretty badass machines.

 One of the first projects I made with Sergio are these really cute gift bags.  Cuz the holidays are coming before we know it and having things to put gifts in is important.  They go together quickly and give your gift an extra special touch.

 Meanwhile, I had been working on this quilt for a long time.  It's called Salsa and Cheddar, designed by Debbie at The Little Shop in Haddonfield, NJ.  It is finished now and I got to put it on a long arm to quilt, which was fun!  I did my best to do a design that had chili peppers in it.  They looked like a three year old drew them, but I did it!  I like the way it turned out.

 This is a bigass bag that I made for my best friend.  She already wore out one version of this bag and it was time for a new one. 

 This is a small portion of my flannel stash.  I decided to put my serger to some good use and make us some flannel pillow cases.  I never seem to have enough pillow cases, so these will come in handy.  I know, it is a hodge podge of colors, but frankly, I don't care about my bed being matchy matchy.  These colors happen to be in the quilts we have, so they will work fine.

This is a bigass load of linen(like) fabric.  Most of it is destined to become a couple of table cloths.  My coworker gave me the idea that having a plain table cloth and putting table runners on the table is a really nice way to change up your table dressing.  I am in the process of also making two different table runners.  Hopefully they will be done by the holidays when we have our big open house.

So, I still have a lot of work to do!



Keep on the good work!
Until next time,
One Little Birdie

Only 5 months until Christmas!

Well, it is mid August.  I know that it seems early, but it is about now that I start getting anxious about the holidays.  Because i prefer to make most of the gifts that we give, it means I need to plan and start prepping pretty early.

First comes inspiration - what to make?  It feels like we have made almost everything for everyone at this point.  But I got the idea of doing stockings for most folks and filling them with cute stuff.  Browsing Pinterest, I wanted ideas of what to put inside the stockings that would not just be junk.  I am always open to ideas to be more earth friendly too.  I came across this great idea for reusable snack bags at this blog.  The pattern is great and easy.  My variation, however, it to line the bags with fused recycled grocery bags.  It makes a kind of fabric and can be wiped off easily.

This are the first results and I must say that I am very pleased.  I think they could be put into the washer to clean, but I would air dry them instead of the dryer.   I wish I had white Velcro on hand, but I used what was in my stash.  I am going to use these bags myself and make more for others - sort of customize them.  I think people will like them.

Skulls on Top!

Hi everyone!  I recently did a black and white quilt challange with BadAss Quilters Society.  I decided to make two table toppers.  I purchased a special bundle of skully fabrics.  I had to use all of them, plus any black and white I had, but no color.

Here is how they turned out.  They just need binding.  I will likely do a solid black binding.

Thanks for stopping by!

One Little Birdie

Scrappy fun and the winter blues

I don't know about you, but this brutally cold winter is really getting to me.  I have been in a real funk creatively, both in the kitchen and the studio.  You would think I would be cooking and sewing my guts out.  Maybe I need more sunlight or something.

Anyway, I have been sewing and my challange is to work strictly from my stash.  I have been intrigued by the notion of a scrap quilt for quite a while.  I spent two days sorting and cutting all of my scraps into uniform sizes to do this.  I found a pattern that I liked.  It seems that it needed a constant background in order to please me.  I had purchased a bolt of muslin a while ago and so I decided to use that as the constant.

So, I decided on a Bonnie Hunter scrap quilt pattern I found on Pinterest.  Most people paper pieced this, but I just took my 2 x 3 inch scraps and strung them together.  Muslin triangles on each side.

Here are the blocks all squared up and ready to be put into rows.

Here some are on the design wall.  I decided I didn't need to plan this one out as mich as I usually do.  Just trust the scrappiness!

Here is the top, all finished!  Well, I need to swap around that one small section of the border that's going the wrong direction, but other than that...  Can't have the birdies flying upside down now, can we?

I even pieced the backing for this one from flannel scraps.  It isn't the most beautiful back in the world, but it works in the spirit of scrappiness and will be nice feeling when it's used.  This quilt is actually big enough for our bed!  Most of my projects tend to run smaller.

Now I need to sandwich this one and get it ready for quilting.  And this is the part where I always get stumped... How to quilt this...  I think something more complicated in the muslin areas is in order.  Leave the scrappy area pretty much alone.  What do you think?  Something will come to me, I am sure.

Until then, ciao!

One Little Birdie

Manly Sewing

As I mused in the last post, sewing for men I find quite difficult.  Fabric seems to have an inherent feminine quality.  Coming up with gifts for the men in my life proves more difficult every holiday season.

This year. we decided to make homemade dry rubs, ketchup, sauces, and such.  We want to make a gift basket out of something useful, like a salad bowl, and I thought I would make kitchen towels and potholders to go with it all.

So, for the manly chefs in my life, manly fabric is needed.  I have had these waiting for a project.  I just loved the moustashe fabric and the shirtings were perfect.  Now, onto the potholders.  I need to get some heat resistant batting to be sure that the potholders are useful.

I hope they like them.

Until next time,
One Little Birdie

Design and Paranoia

So, I realized that there was one friend I had not made a quilt for yet.  It's a guy, and I think designing quilts for guys is hard because I feel that most quilts are inherently feminine.  I know he is a batik kind of guy, so I thought that a neutral to bring the batiks together would work, hoping that the lighter batiks wouldn't come off as girly.  I had a good collection of 6 inch batik squares, so I went with that and used the gray in the same way.  I really like how it is coming together and it is easy to piece.  The top is actually done now, so all I need to is sandwich and I can begin to quilt.

I will probably stew over quilting design for a while.  I always do.  Need to get inspired on that to get started.

In the mean time, I also realized I had not made my nieces quilts.  so I need to get busy on designing something for them!  It being July, I have enough time to do those before the holidays.

The girls share my love for the lullaby, Little Birdie in a Tree, as their mother (my sister) sang it to them as children.  In fact, they too have tattoos based on the song.  So I am going to try and design quilts with that song in mind.  They each like bold colors, which I think will add fun and excitement to the quilts.

I love designing with specific people in mind.  Trying to capture their personality in the design is a challenge I really get into.

Now, we have a new puppy in our house.  A puppy, a 12 week old puppy.  trying to accomplish things and concentrate with a puppy biting at your heels and getting into things and house training is, well, interesting.  I have to take her outside at least every 30 to 45 minutes.  I need to keep her entertained so she chews on appropriate things.  And, I need to make sure that I do not step on her accidentally.  Keeps us all on our toes! 

My sewing studio is on the second floor and Chai is one mobile puppy!  She is currently asleep on the sofa downstairs, so I need to check on her every few minutes.  A quite puppy is a very suspicious thing, let me tell you.  I have become one paranoid puppy mommy.  I need to remember to check on her and not get lost in my work too much.  Thank goodness, for now she is young enough to sleep quite a bit, as long as she also gets some exercise.

Genny, our other dog, is six years old and, frankly, a pretty lazy dog.  She has to be on her toes too and a bit paranoid herself with the puppy around.  She has been extremely patient.  Right now, she is currently doing her best imitation of an area rug on my studio floor.  A difficult hurdle when walking around when one needs to avoid an 80 pound lump.  She is just happy that a puppy is not chewing on her ears.

Well, I had better take advantage of the quite to get something accomplished!

Until next time

A Modern Spin

Trying a more modern feel with these crocheted necklaces.