kitchen table sewing

i got in some sewing today: a new case for my ipad.  i've had this beautiful echino fabric for quite a while,  and this seemed like a perfect project for it! may i just say thank you to the people of japan for making such great fabric! if you haven't used echino before, it's a lovely, heavy linen fabric and there are really cool patterns.

i wanted a pocket to carry my headphones, and i lined it with quilt batting, polyester because it seemed loftier than cotton. i used a little piece of elastic to loop around the button. i wish i had put the button a bit lower, but i really don't feel like taking the whole thing apart to fix it, so that's that!

feels like spring out there...but don't be fooled!

happy hump day!

birthday sewing and "derek"

my niece's birthday was this week, so i decided to make her a book bag out of some of my favorite echino fabric. i swear, the japanese make some of the best fabrics(in fact when i made this link i saw a few there that i might just have to get, you know, because i need more fabric...)

that little chipmunk stuffed animal is so adorable. sometimes don't you just wish you were 7 years old again so you could have these super cute things and not seem weird?

have any of you seen ricky gervais' new series "derek"?? i LOVE it-in fact i can't even express how much i love it! you can watch it on netflix instant watch, and i hope you will because it is one of the most hilarious and heartwarming shows i have ever seen, but with a bit of a bite to it that saves it from being overly sweet.
HIGHLY recommended!!

happy monday to you all!!!!!

ten

i love making these blocks!

x and + update

 blocks 3,4 and 5! i have made great strides on my SECRET PROJECT, so now i can make more of  these x and + squares. i am getting over the "clown quilt" worry and am enjoying the arbitrariness of this project. just no rhyme or reason to these squares. so fun! 

there is a very cool breeze coming in the window. i need a little sweater!! yay!! my favorite weather!!

happy hump day!

 

dumb in dummerston

on sunday we took a road trip to dummerston, vermont where there was a vintage camper rally going on. we went to it last year and there were so many cool old campers. i was excited to get some great pictures!  so we drive into the campground, which is looking suspiciously empty, only to find out that everybody had left around noon time and we were there at 2:00!!!!! so disappointing, but we did see this cute little coleman camper that looks like it could fit in your back pocket.

so we did some exploring and stopped at this covered bridge in dummerston where lots of folks were cooling off in the river. we also got some cheese  at the grafton village cheese shop-seriously delicious !

i have, however, smartened up a bit in the quilting department. i originally found a great tutorial for the x and + quilt here. it's a great tutorial, but the blocks are only 7 1/2" square. at that rate i would never finish the quilt! so in the middle of the night the other night i started figuring in my head how to make it bigger and got up and wrote all of the measurements down, rather proud of myself and my mad math skills! the next day i made a paper mock-up, thankfully, because my figuring was complete bull$*&#! was i dreaming or what?!

so i have since found this 
which yields a 13" square. that's more like it! hopefully after i make a few more blocks i'll have this out of my system for a while so i can return to my secret project, which i should be working on!!

happy hump day!

new skirts at g. willikers!

 

i spent yesterday afternoon making a few skirts for  g. williker's . 

these skirts are easy and fun to wear, no matter the season. they are so cute over jeans or just alone with sandals! i started making skirts for my niece when she was about two years old, and she still wears them now at 6 1/2.  they just go from maxi to mini!

if you're in the portsmouth area, check them out!

swooning

i started a secret project yesterday! 

i am giving a sneak preview here but will have to leave it at this for a while, so as not to give it away!

meanwhile we are all quietly suffering through this god-awful heatwave and looking forward to a forecast for this week of  *say it isn't so* more hot days and thundershowers. y-a-y. the black raspberries are gearing up, so that's a good thing, and the garden is enormous!

happy sunday to you all!

fabric giveaway!!!

this was a sewing weekend! i've had a couple of projects in my head for a while now to make for my niece and my little friend olive. finally i felt like doing it! you know how sometimes you just do not feel like sewing(or knitting or crocheting)? i'm glad it's back!

i am not the best sewer in the world, so i like the patterns that say "sewing for dummies" and " fast and easy".  and i have to say i was scratching my head at times with the "easy" one. "understitching"??? what the heck is that? i ended up just topstitching instead, and that was fine...

i was given that leopard (ocelot?) fabric by a nice woman who comes into the bakery. it's really nice, hand-printed, but i just didn't know what i'd ever use it for. but then i thought it was kind of lily pulitzer-ish and might make a nice simple dress. i like how it came out, and i think it's perfect for a 6-year-old!

i was also happy with the top. i've made that pattern several times, often with some cursing involved, but this time went very smoothly! i'd just say that if you make it, add to the length. i added 4" which seems about right (on the 4-year-old size).

i have about a yard of the leopard fabric left and if anybody wants it, leave your name here(or on facebook ) and i will send it to you!! i will draw a name from the comments TOMORROW(that's TUESDAY), and mail it off to you!

(i am using all of the restraint i have not to complain about the heat, thank you very much!)

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!**

whew!

yesterday i finished the quilt top!!! it is made up of 4" squares, 400 of them, 20 squares x 20 squares, measuring 80" x 80". i started the quilting today, and that is going to take TIME!!

boy, that closeup sure shows my wobbly seams, and there are plenty of places where my points don't line up. fortunately for me these things don't bother me in the least! basically, "sewed together" is what i shoot for!

i really hope i finish this before the summer is over. better go get quilting!

sewing marathon

the other day i came across this, and have been more than slightly obsessed with this quilt (and this blog!) ever since. i've been lying awake at night thinking about making a "low volume" quilt. that's special quilt language for a quilt made up of all pale and neutral colors. so wednesday i came up with this:

and started doing this:

we went to see steve earle last night, and i knew we would be getting home late, so i took today off and had a sewing marathon! my goal was to finish sewing up half of the top, and i did it!

great music on the turntable as i sewed!

great music last night!

60's/70's quilt finished!

it's done! i think after 10 years of use, washing and fading it will be perfect.

violet definitely likes it-meow!