darn it

On January 16, 2010, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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Exciting news (for me)!  I finally took the plunge and bought a fancy-pants darning foot for my new sewing machine.  The whole reason I bought my newest machine was because I wanted to take up free motion embroidery, but I couldn’t get started until I had this foot.

It will arrive in the next few weeks and then the fun will begin.  The form of embroidery is so exciting to me, I hope I have some success with it.  I’ll be sure to share some of my pieces with you all.

For now I thought I’d share some of my favourite free-motion embroidery inspirations:

Girl Popcorn demo on Threadbanger

Pebble Quilt Demo

Boo Dilly’s free motion pieces

Ramonster

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wip: sew-along update

On January 16, 2010, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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Here are a shot of the project I was working on during IBTOY’s sew-along.  I’m planning on making it into a quilt block that will inspire and spawn a whole bunch of other blocks.

The embroidery reads “since always in your dreams.”  Does anyone know what thats from?

sew-along

On January 5, 2010, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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I’ve been looking for a fairly simple online craft-along type of event for some time now and I think I’ve finally found the one for me (and hopefully you)!

The other day when I was bumbling around the internet I found a posting about the Sew Sew Sewing Circle event hosted by I’ve Been Thinking of You (via Hand Embroidery Network).  It’s an international sewing circle and the first craft night will take place on Wednesday, January 13th from noon to midnight.  What I love about this is that the project is small, self-led and doesn’t have to be completed all in the same day.

Here are the rules (click for a much larger view):

Lots of fun could be had here, I’m kind of excited for this one!

Head on over to the I’ve Been Thinking of You blog or Facebook page for more information.

fp: diaper bag

On December 10, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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Lots and lots of sewing happening lately.  Most of it is Christmas related (therefore cannot yet be featured here quite yet); but this little piece here I made for myself.

If you’ve had a chance to look through Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter, you might recognize this diaper tote.  This book is wonderful – I can’t say enough good things about it!  If you’re a beginner sewer and/or are looking to make some baby things this book is exactly what you need.  There’s even an envelope full of pattern pieces (which I adore – I hate spending hours drafting patterns).

This yellow and pink number is actually the second diaper bag that I’ve made – I’ve yet to take some photos of the first (I’ll try and do that soon).  It’s super easy to whip up, definitely a nice rainy day/afternoon kind of project.  I even added a lining to class the whole thing up a little.

The cute pink print came from a FQ I found at Puces Pop a couple years ago.  I’m not sure of the designer, but I know it came from Reprot Depot.  Wonderful store for vintage-y reproduction fabrics, horrible store for your bank account (that’s not fair – I’m a total cheapskate).

I’ve also featured another Lotta project on my blog – you may recall my vintage fabric nursing pillow.

I offer my apologies for the poor picture quality and lack of originality.  I’m just way too tired to put much effort into these things right now.

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wip: log cabin picture quilt

On October 18, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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Why?  Why has it taken me so long to figure out how to piece a log cabin quilt block?  I’ve loved it for years and I’ve collected fabric scraps just as long.  But the day has finally come – I’ve figured it out and this pattern has been mastered.  It’s totally simple and such a great technique for beginning quilters.  You can only imagine how many more quilts will follow in a similar fashion.

Okay, you can probably tell that I’m pretty excited about this new skill.  I wanted to take a second to share my newest WIP and my first log cabin quilt.

I blew the budget on photo fabric because this is a very special project.  I scavenged my grandmother’s photo albums and selected 7 of my favourite snapshots.

This week I managed to print my fabric, cut my fabric strips and construct the quilt blocks.  Now I just have to find the perfect connecting fabric and I’m off to the races.  Have a look see at my progress so far!

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fp: deer pillow

On October 12, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
2

Sorry I’ve been such an absentee blogger lately.  I’ve been running in and out-of-town (meaning that I have varying degrees of access to a good internet connection).  The bright and shiny lining of this whole situation is that I’ve had lots of time to make things (Internet fixation?  No I wouldn’t say I suffer from anything like that).

Last week I finished up a little piece of embroidery I’d been working on.  A couple years ago I picked up Aunt Martha’s Baby Animals embroidery patterns, but I hadn’t sat down to work on them until now.  After finally finishing the piece I wasn’t too sure what to do with it, so I turned to everyone’s favourite standby – throw pillow.

The finished pillow is still a little wonky looking.  It needs to be used a bit to pack down the new filling then it should be looking normal.

The border fabric was found at one of my favourite thrift shops in Belleville.  I’m so glad I decided to hand wash the fabric beforehand because it bled like bananas.  I rinsed it again and again, so hopefully it’s all done with this colour shedding nonsense.

This lovely will be offered as a prize at a little baby shindig I’ll be co-hosting next month.  I’m hoping whoever picks her up will give her lots of love and a happy home.

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my latest obsession: dresden plate

On September 14, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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The Dresden Plate design has to be my absolute favourite thing in quilting right now.  I am truly and absolutely obsessed.

What I want is to create a quilt of my own, what I need is the energy to do so.  Imagining a project that could take weeks or months has always been a huge road block, and I think this is where my motivation is dying here.  But soon enough I will be off work and I’ll have a little free time to work on personal craft projects.

For now I just wanted to share some of my inspirations.  For more quilt inducing photos, check out the Dresden Plates in Quilting group on Flickr.

sunny hunny bread on block a day

dresden love story on comfortstitching

dresden plate tutorial on Sewn

Gregory’s dresden plate quilt on Flickr

rainbow dresden plate cushion on Craft in the City

dresden plate pillow cover on CarsonConverse

sparklygreenknickers doll quilt on Flickr

dresden plate on maryrocap

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fp: nursing pillow

On September 9, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
2

A couple weeks back I may have hinted heavily that I wanted the newest Lotta Jansdotter book “Simple Sewing for Baby.”  Well, birthdays have come and gone and I just so happen to now posses that wonderful book.

I have to say, I really, really like the projects and the patterns that are included in this volume.  I think the list is almost entirely packed with essentials not only for the new baby, but a growning toddler too.  I’ve already drawn a lot of inspiration from the tutorials Jansdotter has presented.

The first piece I wanted to show off is the nursing pillow.  A super simple design that only took about an hour to cut and sew the body pieces (but of course, that does not include the time it took to choose the actual fabrics).  What took me the longest was getting off my bum to go to the store to buy stuffing.

In the end, here she is in all her glory.  I hope she comes in handy.

wip: baby quilt

On September 8, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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Thought I’d share some quick shots of one of the many pieces I’ve been working on.  I’ve been hoarding quite a stash of vintage kids prints.  They’re one of the things that I have never been able to leave behind at thrift shops and yard sales.  Well, finally the time has come that I have the gusto to cut them up and make something new.

The front of the quilt is made entirely with vintage fabrics.  The backing is an adorable piece of fabric I picked up from the lovely people at Reprot Depot at last years Puces Pop.  As always I’ve used a a piece of flanelette sheet for the batting.

I just need to do a bit more machine quilting and add the final pieces of bias tape (super wide, super handmade).  I can’t wait to see it hanging over the edge of the crib.

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Baby Bags and Pee Tents

On January 23, 2009, in Uncategorized, by mygirlthursday
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I had a chance to escape great big Peterborough for a couple of days and I finally got down to some serious crafting. My little hideaway has one of the most handsome babies I know – so I wanted to make him a couple things to spit upon (not “up on” – I mean upon, this is a classy young gentleman here).

I pumped out a couple of baby sacks this afternoon.  Apparently they’re the latest in cool infant sleepwear.  Maybe not the latest, just the newest child related thing I know about.  Anyway, I digress. 

The first sack was a simple blue and brown mix.  It was meant to be all blue, but I did a terrible cut the first time around and ran out of fabric.  The zipper doesn’t look terribly fantastic – but this little man can’t use words to hurt my soul quite yet.

 

The second sleep bag has a wee bit more geeky style.  You see, this baby is the son of an alpha nerd (possibly, two alpha nerds – but I’m not trying to offend friends here).  I’ve had some vintage Star Wars sheets kicking around for a while, being saved for a project just like this.  Without further ado – here is the most geekish sleep sack in town.

 

 

The final baby related craft for today was a few little pee tents.  I’m not going to bother to discuss the finer points of pee tents – but basically it saves you from getting a face full of pee when you’re changing your son’s diaper.  

By the by, for all you squeamish readers, this tent is fresh as can be.  I promise – totally unused at the time of picture.

To view more photos of my work you can visit my Flickr page.

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