Another Quilt

I finished my sisters string quilt 2 days before Christmas. I was really under the wire with this one. I love how it turned out. I split the blocks up with sashing to make it a little less busy and binded it with orange and red dots from Amy Butler's Lotus fabric. I quilted it with some straight line quilting with my brand new walking foot. I don't know how I lived without this. I couldn't believe how easy it was and how smooth the back of the quilt was. I pieced the quilt back with 4 extra blocks I had and more Kona Snow and some Kona Medium Gray.

I think I really have the quilting bug right now. I am finishing up 2 pillows for my mom for this weekend and already have 2 more scrap quilts I'm dying to start. My BF also asked me to make him one in solids. I have been wanting to do a solid one for a while but don't really know how I want to go about this one.



I also have a few bags to list in my shop whenever I find a good chunck of time to take pictures. I really hate that part of it. My photography skills suck but I keep working at it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

One Down....

It's been a long time since I have posted any new projects. I have been really busy sewing. There's a ton of new wallets and pouches in the shop now with new bags to come as soon as I find time to take the pictures.

I have finished my brother's girlfriends quilt. I posted the quilt top a while back. It has been just waiting for me to make the back and quilt it. I finished it in about 6 hours. I really like it. I messed up when I was measuring the back so there is a lot of random piecing but I really like it. I am getting a lot better at free motion quilting too, but can still use some practice. She really likes pink so I made a simple coin quilt with all my pink scraps. I hope she likes it because it may be really hard for me to give it away.

I still have to quilt my sister's which I'm hoping to start tonight. I just got my walking foot in the mail and am excited to do some straight line quilting. I really like the look of it but I have no idea how I'm going to do it on the scrappy string quilt.




BTW...If anyone has any tips on how to photograph quilts, I could really use them.

3X6 Bee Blocks

My creation
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

I have finished my blocks for the 3X6 mini bee on Flickr. I'm kind of sad about it. They were a lot of fun to do and the next round doesn't start until January. I should be glad they're done, I have a lot of work to do. I am just finishing up my bag for the bag swap, have my xmas present quilts to quilt and am thinking of doing a craft show in December so I need to make stock. Here are the blocks that I made for my group.

New Exciting Books

I bought two new books today.
One is Amy Butler's Style Stitches, 12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags. I have been waiting for my local bookstore to get this since it was released. Today was finally the day. I only had a chance to glance through it briefly before going to work. I'm very excited about this. Why? I don't really know because I normally hate bag patterns and always design my own. I think it's the pink cover. I just signed up for the bag swap at Sew Mama Sew, so I'm thinking I'll try one of these great bags for my swap pattern.
The Second one is Dare To Be Square Quiting by Boo Davis. Again, I have only briefly flipped through this book but already love it. I don't think I've made it a secret that I love straight lines and a clean modern look. I still have to make my moms Christmas gift quilt so maybe I'll try one of these.
Does anyone else have any new or old favourite sewing books they'd like to share?

Cupcakes

I realized I write mostly about sewing but I do a lot of other things as well. Baking is one of them. I love to bake and I do it quite often. I just made 4 dozen cupcakes for my nieces 3rd birthday party. This was a lot of fun. I sure love pink frosting!

Messenger Bag....And This One's Mine!

Messenger Bag
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

This is my new favourite bag and I'm keeping this one. I rarely keep any that I make. It's not that I don't want to, but usually someone else wants them more. This one is made with 15oz Organic canvas and lined in one of my favourite Erin McMorris prints from Park Slope. I am still debating about making these for the shop. The organic fabric is really expensive but it feels really great and durable.

String Quilt

I have finished the top and back of my first quilt. I have moved on to my sister's quilt. I wanted to make it really scrappy and a little crazy, which suits my sister. I used this tutorial from Film In The Fridges' blog, which I read daily. I am addicted. This is so much fun. I am doing 5 1/2" blocks then sewing 4 together to make a large block. These sew together very quickly but I still have quite a few left to make. I am going to put sashing around each large block instead of sewing all the blocks together. I wanted to break up the pattern a little bit. I can't wait to see the finished top on this one. This is not going to help my scrap hoarding though. Instead of throwing out the little strips like I used to, I now realize you can use even the smallest pieces for these blocks.


I have also decided to redo the block I showed in my last post. It is going to be a pillow and I have decided the blocks not matching up really bother me a lot. I will show the pillow and hopefully the finished quilt top when I can get a decent picture of it.

Sewing through the heat wave

It is sooooo hot. I am not a summer person. Anyone who knows me, knows this. I like cool weather and I even like snow. So it probably goes without saying, I am not doing very well in this humidity.

I decided to try sewing this quilt square the other night when I couldn't sleep. The tutorial is from Little Miss Shabby and it's the stash buster block. I actually really liked that it was a lot of 1.5" squares. It let me use my very small pieces of fabric that I couldn't throw out. My first attempt was a little wonky. I think I may have had a few squares that weren't cut exactly the right size so they don't line up as they should. I still like it though. I am going to make this square into a pillow to go with the pink coin quilt I am currently working on for an xmas present. Although it is a little time consuming, I am thinking of using this block to make my sisters quilt which will be a true scrap quilt.
(If you look at the corners, you can see where the squares didn't line up)

Planning Ahead

So I might be a little ambitious. I have decided to make 4 different quilts for xmas presents this year. Not only that, I am going to try to make them out of my very large collection of scraps. I have already started one for my brother's girlfriend. By start I mean I have cut out (for hours) pieces for a coin quilt. I have also cut a couple hundred 1.5" squares to do a matching pillow. Her favourite colour is pink and I have a lot of pink so that's why I started with this one. I'm just waiting for my solid colour which I had to order. The only other one which is somewhat planned in my head is my sister's which I think is going to be a true scrap quilt with a little bit of everything.

I have learned a couple of things from my quilting in the last couple of years. One is that I really like really simple designs and I also prefer straight line quilting. I still am going to practice some more free motion quilting but I think my stuff is nicer when I do what I like to do.

Here are my scraps cut up and ready to go for quilt one.

Park Slope Wristlets

I mentioned these briefly in my last post. These were for a 13 yr old's birthday party. The birthday party was at a spa where the bday girl and 2 friends got manicures, pedicures and age appropriate makeup. How fun! These were used for the loot bags. I used a good chunk of my Erin McMorris Park Slope fabric. I was happy with how these turned out. So bright and cheerful and of course I can't do a wristlet without a removable yo-yo pin.

Custom Orders

I have been working on some custom orders lately so I have been a little to busy to do much of anything else. Here is one I just finished for bridesmaids gifts. They are double pleat totes with Amy Butlers Optic Blossom Linen. I really love this fabric. It's also the colours of the wedding. How pretty and clean is that?

I'm also working on some wristlet/cosmetic bags for a preteen birthday party. These are almost done and quite cute.

New Bags

I have been making some new bags but as usual, I am very slow in posting them. I wonder if this is because I secretly want to keep them for myself. This is the everyday messenger bag. It's a little smaller than most of my bags but big enough to fit all of the daily essentials. I love the simplicity and the pleated corners that give it depth. I only have one in the shop right now but there will be more coming.......eventually.

Finished Baby Quilt

I finished this quilt quite a while ago but couldn't seem to find the time to take pictures. It was really easy and I really like how it turned out even though I wasn't crazy about it at the beginning. I was originally going to back it in solid brown, then I came across this dot fabric in my stash that matched perfectly. I free motion quilted it and actually had a harder time with the smaller quilt than my queen size quilt. I will be making more of these for sure. I already have a lap size one in mind with just random scraps, for my couch. I have one problem now and that is that I won't be seeing the person I made it for anytime in the near future so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. A giveaway perhaps? I will have to think about it for a bit.
Here are some pictures, sorry they're not very good. If anyone has any ideas on how to take pictures of quilts in a small apartment, feel free to let me know.

Quilt Top

I have finished the baby quilt top. It came together very fast. This is the kind of quilting I like! I think it took me longer to cut out the blocks. Here's a not very good picture of the top. It turned out a lot cuter than I expected it too. Now I'm going to have a problem giving it away. The back will be a polka dot fabric that matched these fabrics very well. I will show you that in the finished product.

Work in Progress

I should really be working on some bags and wallets for my shop but I felt like doing something different today. I cut out charm squares to make a baby quilt for a girl I work with. I am using Michael Miller fabrics and this tutorial from Oh ,Fransson! who in my opinion makes some of the best modern quilts I have seen. It looks like a fast and easy quilt for a baby which is good since I am still working on my quilting skills. She is having a boy and I am using mostly blue but had to add some of the purple in due to a shortage of fabric. I think it still works for a boy.

New In Shop

I have been sewing. Really I have. It might not seem like it since I haven't been listing much. I just really hate taking pictures and editing them. I would rather just keep sewing. Here are a couple of new bags I've just added to my shop. I know I always say this but these are my favourite so far.

New Dress

I bought a new sewing book a few months ago called Chic and Simple Sewing but haven't gotten around to making anything out of it. I really don't like to make clothes very much. I always find that nothing fits right no matter how much you try. The sizing really annoys me as well. I normally wear a 4-6 but find I have to make around a 10-12 in regular patterns. Anyway, I was bored the other night and decided to make the back to school dress. The pattern was really easy to follow and I sewed the dress in only a couple of hours including the cutting. I used a purple twill fabric because I wanted a heavier dress in a solid colour. I was really happy how it turned out. The only change I made was to the pockets. I wasn't crazy about the plain and somewhat big pockets that the pattern called for so I fooled around until I came up with ones I liked. The dress is wearable now but I think I'm going to take the bottom half of the dress in a bit and maybe take up the hem a little. Overall, I was very happy with how it turned out. I will definitely be making more from this book.

Plans for 2010

I did this last year in place of resolutions and it worked fairly well, so I've decided to try it again. I have taken what seems to be a very long break from both blogging and my Etsy shop. This was mainly due to a sudden move that took longer than I anticipated and before I knew it, the holidays were here. I have still been sewing but it has mainly been items for my new, fabulous (I think) apartment and holiday gifts. So here is a list I have been somewhat been forming in my head of things I need to do to get back on track. I will probably will add some and take some away but I hope that blogging on it will help keep me on track.
1. Finishing organizing my new sewing room/closet so it is more functional.
2. Post the new bags and pouches I have already sewn in my shop.
3. Work out a sewing schedule that works with my full-time job schedule to better utilize my
time.
4. Finish the new bag design that has been in my head for a couple of months that I haven't had
time to try out and write.
5. Try and blog at least 3 times a week.
6. Try to list or renew new items in my shop daily.
7. On a personal note try to get back to running at least 4 times a week. This gives me the
energy and motivation I need to get through my busy days.

Please feel free to add any tips you have to manage your time and keep organized. They are always greatly appreciated.