Not Quite Vintage

count em... yep, 7 quilt blocks

Hello there, it is me again. I finally found a little time to get some crafting done over the past week. It was more like I finally made time for crafting than found extra time… you know? I wont bore you with my it has been so busy at work lately whining, instead I will just show you three months (yes I just admitted to being multiple months behind) of quilt blocks for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee.

 

First up is the Cathedral Window block for Sandy. This one was a bit tricky. I was really careful but things still seemed to come out a bit wonky. I really hope it matches up with the others and I didn’t hold up Sandy’s process too much by being dreadfully late.

 

Second are Michelle's half-square triangle blocks. I love half-square triangles – my month of the bee was a simple block of half-square triangles made out of menswear shirts. The combination of pink and orange was so lovely, so cheery. I would never have put those colors together on my own and I am so glad Michelle introduced me to the combination – I have a feeling it will start popping up in my stash.

 

Last are Katie, our fair quilting bee organizer’s vintage sheet blocks inspired by Oh Frannson’s Mod Quilt Sampler Quilt Along. I really loved the fabrics – that blue, lilac and green combination in the sheet was divine. I had a lot of fun putting these together – great fabrics and simple blocks patterns.

 

It really did feel good to be back sewing. I always forget how much I love it while on a break only to find it a wonderful way to spend an evening or an afternoon totally immersed in the sewing and happily unconcerned with the stressors of life. Yep, need to remember to MAKE more time for sewing or really any form of creativity when times are hectic.

I love tea towels, don't you?

If you have been visiting for a while, you might remember that I teased you with some secret holiday crafting work-in-progress photos way back in December 2008. I couldn't share more than some close ups at that point and now I can finally share the details with you.

The project I teased you with is now part of the book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel published by Lark Books. 

It is funny to think that my original idea submission was over a year and a half ago and the instructions were complete a year ago. I am so glad to the book is finally out and I can share with you. Two of the almost thirty projects in the book are mine: a hanging towel for the kitchen that was inspired by my Gram's crochet topped towel and a hanging clothespin holder.

If you get a chance to take a look at the book, you wont be let down - you will find patterns from some of your favorite crafters including one of my faves, African Kelli. Plus, the project instruction drawings are really quite nice - I love how the illustrations reflect the pattern of the fabrics the projects were made in.

 

If you happen to make any of the projects from the book, let me know. I would love to see pictures :)

a buggy little baby gift

Last weekend I attended my friend Leslie's baby shower and you know a baby shower means... not just a handmade present, but a tiny handmade present. What fun.

Once I found out Leslie and John were having a little boy, Jack, I knew I had the perfect little boy flannel fabric in my stash. Pair that with some cozy fleece and a crisp white onesie and out comes a perfect little baby gift - a bordered blanket and an embroidered onesie. 

I traced the cute little bugs on the flannel to create the design for the onesie. I started off thinking the pattern was going to be easy and quick - I had forgotten about all the little legs on the little buggies. Even though the embroidery took a long time to complete (about two evenings while watching tv), I was really happy with how it turned out.

For the blanket, I loosely followed the Patchwork Trimmed Baby Blanket from Weekend Sewing - I just omitted the patchwork part and used strips of flannel to make the border. It was simple and quick to make.

All in all the only supplies I had to purchase was a yard of fleece - everything else I had on hand. Since I am in budget mode, this gift was really good for my pocketbook and I think the time and love I put into the gift make up for how little I actually spent. I kept with the theme of using what I have with the wrapping - an Amazon box, plain white craft paper and flannel and fleece scraps.

 

I can't wait till Jack is born, I think I may have more ideas for that soft buggy flannel fabric. 

My apologies for the poor lighting in the pictures - we haven't seen the sun in St. Lou for a few weeks now!

anna crochet hat for moi

After all the holiday crafting I thought it might be nice to relax on the sofa and crochet a little something for myself. First I had to find a pattern that I loved. One that didn't frighten me and that would use up some of my yarn stash.

I started my search on Ravelry and found the Anna Hat pattern. I hadn't thought about purchasing a pattern - I really love free patterns (doesn't everyone?) - but when I saw photos of the Anna Hat and its reasonable price I clicked on over to Etsy to buy The Anna Hat by CrocheTrend.

I used some mid blue Soft Yarn I had in my stash and really love the color. It just fits. Snug is probably good for a hat and I bet it will stretch a bit as I wear it. The pattern was really quite easy to crochet - the instructions were clear and well written. Overall, it probably took me about three hours to crochet while watching TV at the same time.

Only snag I ran across was that my crochet needle didn't fit through the button holes. Luckily I had some embroidery thread almost the same color as my yarn. It did the trick. I also tacked down the corner of the flap to keep it from rolling up.

BTW, if there are any iPhone users out there, I took these photos with ShakeItPhoto. It makes Polaroid inspired photos right on your phone. I absolutely love the effect. If my skin could look that clear and glowy in every photo. Guess I will have to keep using the app.

warm and cozy Christmas scarves

Merry belated Christmas all - I am finally getting around to posting some of the holiday goodies I crafted for my family this year. In my family, pretty darn big family, everyone gets gifts. My Momma never believed in picking names, she wanted to watch every one open each and every present they got. At times I was more wrapped up in trying to figure out how I was going to buy/afford to buy presents than the wonderful Christmas spirit she believed in. I get it now, but didn't always. So, when I started crafting gifts for my family it was more out of necessity than desire and now it is seems everyone looks forward to finding out what I decided to make for them, so even if I wanted to take a year off from my handmade Christmas, I can't :)

Remember when I said my pretty darn big family? Well, that means a lot of handmade gifts. I have found that it is easier to make one thing for everyone than make different gifts (at least in sets, like variations of one thing for sister, another for nieces, another for nephews etc.). Its just easier to juggle. This year I settled in on fleece scarves. For those of you who have been reading for a while you might remember all the fleece I bought on major sale the day after Christmas last year - this is what I bought it for. That said having the forethought to know what I was making since last Christmas didn't mean I wasn't scrambling around this month trying to finish them.

I personalized each scarf with a monogram (goodness, I was actually surprised all the guys liked theirs - or at least they faked it well) and the girls got a bit of coordinating fabric trim on the edges. Best part about the edges was all the fabric came from my stash. Yay. They turned out warm and cozy - I still have one to finish up for myself.

In the photos, you see an orange suitcase. This is one of my favorite gifts I received (more on the others later). It was from my friend Renee (the one I made the apron for). And I LOVE it. It is pristine inside and was accompanied by some vintage Christmas glassware and some plastic letter. I wonder what will end up making its home inside?

cup half full apron for Renee

Today I celebrated Christmas with one of my dearest girlfriends. We have been friends for almost 12 years now and it is one of those rare friendships where you feel safe and confident at all times, where you can not see each other for a while and feel like no time has passed when you get together. Life has been crazy for us lately and it was so nice to make time for each other and just have a girls day. We had lunch, shopped for makeup at Ulta and sat in Starbucks enjoying coffee and hot chocolate. It was perfect.

Earlier this week I finished up her Christmas present - a cup half full apron from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams To Me. I purchased this fabric (Morning Call from Hoodie's Collection for Quilting) last winter because I knew Renee would love it - love the roosters. I really like how it turned out - roostery, but not over the top. She loved it.

Can I tell you a story about this apron. I finished it Thursday and needed to get the marks I traced onto the fabric so I would place the pockets in the right place. I grabbed the stain remover from the counter by the washing machine and sprayed... until I realized it was it was bleach clean up spray. Seriously. I threw it into the washer right away and washed it on cold. It looked okay but the darn chalk marks were still there, so this time I made sure I had the stain remover and sprayed away and washed again. They came out and the apron looked pretty good. After it dried I could tell very faintly on the pockets that some of the yellow was a bit lighter than the rest, but it really looked a bit more vintage than wrong. So I ironed it and wrapped it for Renee. Whew, present saved!

I did tell her the story and we laughed about it together. Stuff like this seems to happen to me all the time.

holiday mantel

It is beginning to look a little like Christmas around here! Just a little - actually just the mantel, but that is a step in the right direction. Last night I was able to finish my crochet star garland and I am in love with it! 

Tonight when I got home from work I pulled out my favorite pencil Santas and some thumb tacks and went right to work. Now that I look at the pictures I realize that the garland is uneven, but oh well :) Most everything else typically lives on the mantel and to make things a bit more festive, I added some red and green ornaments to my green McCoy planters. The fireplace screen and tools were my grandparent's. I cherish them (actually I cherish everything of theirs that was passed down to me). They never get used, my fireplace is gas and I really don't like using it and wish the previous owners hadn't converted it.

 

This weekend I hope to do more holiday decorating - two trees actually, one at my house and one at Pop's. Lots of decorating to do... and lots of crafting to finish too.

Thanks to The Royal Sisters for the wonderful Grandma Twinkle tutorial. If you haven't checked out the tutorial yet, you should and there is a Flickr group too. The instructions are incredibly simple and addictive. I have actually memorized the pattern and hope I get a chance to make some more - I am thinking of making ornaments out of them and use them when wrapping presents.

warm bread for a cold and busy weekend

What is a girl to do on a cold Saturday morning when she has extra ripe banana's sitting on the counter and there is a waffle shortage going on? Make banana bread of course. I pulled out Momma's old fashioned recipe - it isn't at all healthy, but extra yummy. It is one of those tastes you always remember and other renditions just don't hit quite the spot even though they are just as good and surely more healthy.

I had enough ingredients for three batches and it made eight nice sized mini loaves. Enough for Pops and I to enjoy and even have a few loaves to share and a couple to freeze. Mmmm.

After the banana bread making I spent a few hours at work. Yes, I just said I spent time at work on Saturday. Crazy. I am not used to being this busy (a big implementation happening over the next two months), but I am and on top of it all I have jury duty this coming week. Not perfect timing for work, but I am actually looking forward to the change of pace and a little time to read my book. Is that wrong? Saturday also included some shopping and a few hours spent with my Pop's. He even grilled for me in the below freezing chill. 

Today I have been crafting up a Christmas gift storm. By the time I shut off the sewing machine for the evening, it was too dark to take pics. None are finished yet, but I am making progress - yay! I will share pictures as I complete them.

I also started crocheting together my stars. I thought ten would be enough for my mantel, but I guess I attached them too close together and need to make four more. If I succeed at completing a couple tonight, maybe I will have garland to decorate my mantel with by Wednesday.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Have you been Christmas crafting too?

three tree block

My November block for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee is complete and in the mail just one day late... that is pretty good considering the month of November went by like a crazy, busy blur.

I am so glad I decided to take the time to work on this today. You know how after a really hectic day it is just so easy to sit on the sofa a veg for the evening? That is what I really wanted to do today, but there was this little twinge inside that said "do something creative tonight, it will make you feel better." That little twinge was right - I feel relaxed and accomplished... and now I am going to sit on the sofa and veg after I finish this post.

November's block is for Darci. She requested a Tree block for an unofficial Christmas Tree quilt. She supplied lots of lovely green and red fabrics - none of which were actually Christmas themed fabrics, but all together you definitely get the holiday feel from them. I had so much fun making this block. I love sewing tiny pieces/strips of fabric together so I I pieces two string trees, one tall and skinny and one short and stocky. In between I had fun with a few triangles. I think this is one of my fabric blocks I have made for the bee. I hope Darci likes it.

Check out some of the other cool trees in the Pieced Together Quilting Bee - they are all lots of fun.

This block has me wanting to find time to make lots of fun Christmas crafts and decorations. I am not sure if I will get to lots, but hopefully I will fit in a few in the next couple weeks. Up first is the crochet start garland I started a week or so ago. I have 8 stars done, just a few to go before I can string them together and decorate the mantel.

twinkle twinkle granny chic

I am taking a page from Attic24 today - she posted some amazing inspiration today and I just have to share. If you haven't checked out Lucy's blog yet, you really should - tons of lovely crochet and color inspiration!!

Today she posted some lovely granny chic photos she found in a Flickr group called aptly Granny Chic. I am so in love with this collection of photos. Loads of crocheted potholders, pillows, throws and more mixed with lifestyle photos that mix the old and new together. This style reminds me so much of my friend Renee and I inspire to add more vintage to my home. Actually, I have a lot of vintage pieces from my Gram and that I have collected over the years, I just need to display more of them (adding to my to do list... for after the Holidays).

In her post, Lucy also linked to a fun crochet star tutorial on The Royal Sisters blog. I was so inspired that I grabbed some cotton yarn and my crochet hook moments after I got home from work. The stars are so quick and easy to crochet and I have visions of crocheted star garland hanging from the mantel or a tree full of crochet stars at Christmas. I chose a white, red and robins egg blue color scheme. I thought it might look slightly Christmas-y without being red and green Christmas-y. After the fact I looked through my mail and saw that it matched the December issue of Living. Guess I have good taste - hehe :)