Nom nom nom nom!

A custom project for a friend of mine. I'm slowly getting better at designing plushies and they can be a lot of fun to make. I hope my friend likes these, because I think Steve was disappointed to see them go.

Custom Project, March 2012

Back in March I was working on another commissioned project, a custom heart ornament. It was to be a surprise for the recipients in May, so I didn't post anything ahead of time lest someone found out about it too early. Then things got in the way (actually spring got in the way, to be exact) and I'm just now posting pictures for this one. I won't say much about it other than the symbols have a distinct meaning for the recipients. This is a keepsake, a memento, something that the giver hopes will inspire the recipients for the rest of their lives.



This is the first time that I've dyed wool a certain color rather than rummage through my stock in the hopes that I might have the exact shade of "lemon yellow" requested by a customer. I used Rit dye and it was very, very easy to dye all the pieces I needed in a stock pot on the top of the stove.

Too easy, in fact, and now I find myself looking at other pieces of wool and wondering what it might look like after a bath in cactus green, bamboo, or tangerine tango. Hmmm.....

Baby Shower Gifts

I attended a baby shower this past weekend for a friend of ours who is expecting a baby girl this summer. Miraculously I had a stash of flannel material just waiting to be used in a crib sized rag quilt. This is the second rag quilt I've made, and it was even easier than the first time around. Rag quilts come together very quickly, especially the smaller sized throws. I cut the squares for this on a Sunday, sewed the x-blocks on a Monday, and finished sewing and clipping the edges of the blocks by Wednesday.

This is the front with the actual ragging. When my daughter was about 9 months old, she could spend an hour playing with loose threads and tags. I'm hoping this new little girl will also find all that ragging equally fascinating.







Here's the back of the quilt. The seams look like a traditional quilt from this side. I'm pleased to see that I'm getting better at making all those rows and points more precise now.

About the only drawback to making a rag quilt is the vast quantity of linty threads that you find on everything after you've washed it. I washed and dried this one twice and it was still shedding threads. That should let up by the time it's washed a time or two more. And with a baby, that may be in the first week of actual use.

I had plenty of flannel material left over to make a couple of taggie burp cloths. These are a great portable size that can do double duty as a snuggie in a car seat. I make the tag loops big enough that little fingers won't get caught in them, but small enough that a little hand won't get caught either.

And some leftover x-blocks that didn't make it into the quilt were made into simple squares that could be used as wipes, washcloths, or whatever. (I told the dad-to-be to use these to wash his car when the baby no longer needs them.)










And finally I decorated a couple of onesies with some appliqued fabric scraps.

I'm amazed that I completed this entire project completely with materials on hand and didn't need to purchase anything. (For once!)

Patty's Pillow

Remember that sneak peek I gave you last week of a work in progress? The one I wanted to finish the following day?

Ha. That was clearly an optimistic deadline for this particular project, which was meant for a friend who is getting married next month. This weekend we hosted a brunch in her honor. Three 4 year olds, a one year old, a second grader, and seven adults. It was chaos, but in a good way. My only regret is that I wasn't able to finish my gift for the bride-to-be before everyone arrived. No matter, in the end I completed it Saturday afternoon and wrapped it up to take to the bachelorette party that night. And then I promptly forgot it and left it on the coffee table at our house. Sigh.



But I was really thrilled to receive the wedding invitation in the mail last Friday. The couple chose a lovely combination of colors that included plum, purple, and pistachio. Much like the colors I picked out for the bride's pillow before I even knew what her color scheme might be. Booyah!

Anyhoo, I'll just take it with us to her wedding.

Shop Update, March 8, 2012

I made some felted heart ornaments from the Fair Isle patterned wool leftover from my patchwork rug.



These would make beautiful decorations for a nursery!

Lately it seems like I've been doing everything other than quilting. After my venture into free motion machine quilting went awry in February, I've been focused on reorganizing my sewing area and supplies. The quilt lab is now in prepped and ready to go, so just maybe I can finish that last quilt and finally start a new one.

Work in Progress, March 7, 2012

A sneak peek at something I'm working on and hope to finish by tomorrow.

Shop Update, March 1, 2012

I just added a pretty throw rug made from felted wool squares to my Etsy store. It's made from a felted wool blanket and several felted wool sweaters in spring colors. 





It makes me think of Easter, and now I have a craving for Peeps and chocolate bunnies.