I knew that!

6 months

November 9, 2009 at 2:00 am | In Sewing/Crafts | 2 Comments

Alice Honor, 4 months

August 27, 2009 at 12:38 am | In Sewing/Crafts | 5 Comments

Quarter Moon Bay for Doll Quilt Swap 4

August 29, 2008 at 9:39 pm | In Sewing/Crafts | 17 Comments

Yay, my doll quilt arrived in Colorado, and I can finally post about it. My partner is Wendy of Wee Toes and Noggins. She was a great swap mama in a previous round of the doll quilt swap, and I was thrilled to make something for her.

Wendy’d posted that she loved a certain quilt called Half Moon Bay by Lynn of Craftstew, another DQS alum. Well, I happened to have a charm pack of the exact fabric (April Cornell’s Sonnet collection by Moda from a year or two back), and – AND! – also the pattern she used. It’s the cover quilt from last summer’s Quilts and More mag, a design by Monica of Happy Zombie.

I shared a couple of sneaky e-mails with my inspiration Lynn, who was tickled to be in on the secret and very encouraging of my half-scale version of her lovely quilt. I called mine “Quarter Moon Bay.” Get it?

It’s about 20″ square. I have a hard time with “random” placement of colors in quilts because I rearrange and rearrange and rearrange, so I sorted the colors into the corners and put the lighter cream patterns toward the middle of the quilt.

The back….ah, the back. It’s piece-y, and the label I intended as a main feature was almost my downfall. I made this groovy design and traced it onto fabric with a Pigma marker. Which ran in the wash. Oh. No. In retrospect, I think I didn’t prewash the cream fabric because, hey, who washes cream? So I was really marker-ing on the finish of the fabric, not on the fabric itself. After 3 washings, it’s much lighter, but still legible, so all’s well that ends well. It’s just a little broken in :o)

Anyway, Wendy loves the quilt and wrote me the nicest of thank you e-mails! Whew!

* * *

And if you’ve read alllllll the way to the end of this, here’s a bonus. Some of you may know that I miscarried our first baby on Mother’s Day of this year. God is looking out for us because we’re expecting again. On Mother’s Day, 2009. Please send good baby vibes this way.

Green!

August 17, 2008 at 3:27 pm | In Sewing/Crafts | 11 Comments

I wasn’t sure what to make for Lauren’s birthday, so I called her mom:

Me: Hi, Erin. What’s Lauren’s favorite animal?

Erin: Lauren? What’s your favorite animal?

Lauren: Green! [She's going to be two years old]

Erin: No, what’s your favorite animal?

Lauren: AN-i-mal!

Erin: No, your favorite animal, like a duck, or cow, or chicken, or dog…

Lauren: Dog!

Erin: Definitely dog.

Me: Great! Does she have a favorite food?

Erin: What’s your favorite food, Lauren?

Lauren: Milk!

Well, dogs are much harder to draw than a glass of milk, so this is what I made:

milk dress front

It’s done in green seersucker (hmm…does that mean she can only wear it for another week until Labor Day?) and lined with white cotton. I bound the hem instead of sewing it because I like the look and! I hate to iron up hems. So fiddly!

The straps are fastened with snaps. I attached the bottom set first, but then the top edge flipped down, so I added another set above. They have an added and unintentional benefit of letting Lauren’s mom lengthen the straps, so theoretically she could wear it in the spring again. She’s a tiny thing!

Here’s a closeup of the glass of milk. I fused the applique and then added some of the binding as the straw, stitching stripes with perle cotton.

milk dress applique

The pattern is Simplicity #3662 (5 for $5 at Jo-Ann last week). I threw the fabric in the wash when I woke up this morning and cut the pieces out at about 9:00. It was only two pattern pieces, cut one each from fabric and lining, so it went together very quickly. The whole project was done by one, so I call that completed in plenty of time for the party this afternoon at 4:00. Last-minute Lisa strikes again.

Lucky Lisa

August 20, 2007 at 2:15 pm | In Doll Quilt Swap, Memes, Quilting, Sewing/Crafts, Thrifty Goodness, charity, swaps | 33 Comments

I’ve been a lucky, lucky Lisa for a good month now, as the mail carrier has brought a steady stream of loveliness to me from all over the country.

It really started about 4 weeks ago, with a package with an Alaska return address. Textile artist Linda concocted this fantasy “wild thing” quilt for me for the Doll Quilt Swap. It’s stuffed hand applique, with machine quilting, and it’s incredibly detailed.

It’s based on a fawn stuffie she’s made, and it’s frolicking in a stand of towering sea oats. Linda’s hand-dyed fabric are exactly the colors I asked for to match my office’s red, green, and black color scheme.

Her piercing “people eyes” took some getting used to, but she’s settling in nicely now. Thank you again, Linda!

Next, Marisa from California sent a handmade pouch in her signature taupes. It’s a quilted pyramid pouch, pictured here on her beautiful blog. I just love that shape! She’s included a sweet appliqued tag with her knockout calligraphy. Thanking you, thanking me, Marisa! I have enjoyed our exchanges and your generosity in sharing your quilting expertise. I just last night finally figured out the taupe-y treat I’m sending to you: a pear! Inspired by your post about Kwoozy.

This week I received an envelope full of my favorite old childhood friends from Lynn, a.k.a. eggmoney. She sent them as a “thank you” for co-hosting the Doll Quilt Swap. Well, it was an honor to have her among our number. Her quilts are real knockouts! She also has an etsy shop full of lovely items. How did she pick these out? They’re perfect for me! Thank you, Lynn!

Toad

Georgie Porgie (waaaannnnnhhhhhh!)

Go, Dog, Go! This would make a great congratulations or good luck card.

Marvin K. Mooney (hmph!)

and my favorite friend, George

I dragged Ryan to the theater see the Curious George movie when it came out a year or two ago. We were “unchaperoned” by any kiddies: just a couple of thirty-somethings loving the familiar episodes, as well as the Jack Johnson soundtrack.

Finally, my streak of luck apparently reaches beyond my mailbox. I’ve found some super things at the thrift store lately.

These are 1″ wooden blocks that you can use to make designs. I know I’m supposed to be a grown-up, but it’s been fun to play around with these. They have 4 solid colors and 2 sides with half-square triangles. They’ll undoubtedly come in handy for Kim’s Doll Quilt Challenge. One of the upcoming months will feature the Fresh Traditions quilt, which uses a lot of HSTs!

Look at this little cute bear. He was a dollar. The overalls!

And I had the find of a lifetime: a Gocco printer for $2.50: rhymes with “thrifty.” I spotted the box from across the store and my heart skipped a beat. You know that feeling if you frequent thrift stores. Then you stroll nonchalantly toward your prize and snatch it off the shelf and hug it to your chest, hardly believing your luck. Or is that just me?

I’ve already tried it out on our Christmas cards. We didn’t send any out last year, we were that late. So maybe if I start in August, we’ll be able to get them out in time in 2007!

This design is a tribute to the artist Charley Harper. I’ve only recently found out about him, through Design*Sponge. He sadly passed away in June, but he leaves quite a large body of work. His paintings are everything I love about art: they’re humorous, stylized, graphic, and very very colorful.

One in ten auction in progress

August 19, 2007 at 9:32 pm | In Quilting, charity | 2 Comments

I’ve finally written a post about the lovely things I’ve received in the mail lately, but I have to wait until tomorrow to take a few photos before I post it!

In the meantime, I’d like to call your attention to an auction taking place to help a fellow craft blogger’s mother who’s survived a stroke earlier in the summer.

The one in ten auction was so named because there was only a 10% chance for her to survive. The items being auctioned are all handmade and donated by their makers to defray her mounting bills, as many of the medical expenses are not covered by her insurance.

I was honored to make and contribute the Blueberry Pi-R-Squared doll quilt. It’s up up for bid now, along with many beautiful and unique handcrafted works. A complete list of the items appears here.

Peachy Keen/Jelly Beans

August 17, 2007 at 5:43 pm | In Doll Quilt Swap, Quilting, Sewing/Crafts, swaps | 3 Comments

Look what I found in my drafts: an old post that’ll be a month old tomorrow! Sheesh.

I finished my Peachy Keen quilt for DQSII last week. Whew! What a relief…for a minute or two. THEN I remembered that I’d committed to making a “fairy” quilt for another swapper whose partner had to drop out.

I finished binding the Jelly Beans fairy quilt this afternoon, washed and dried it, and then hotfooted it to the P.O. minutes before they closed. Last-minute Lisa strikes again.

I forgot to put the walking foot on my machine for a few rows of quilting both horizontally and vertically. Gah. Didn’t have time to rip it out; I never would have made the post office on time.

All of the fabric came out of my stash. And yes, it’s the Plain Spoken quilt again from the Modern Quilt Workshop. I love that design. It almost makes itself. This is my 3rd or fourth time making it, although I halved the finished block sizes, making this piece 19″ x 21″.

Today was the deadline for sending quilts, so much of the work is done for the other Swap Mamas and me. A few swappers here and there need a little extra time, but all that’s really left to do is sit back and watch the little packages show up on blogs and of course on the Doll Quilt Swap photo pool on flickr. We’ll track to make sure that everyone gets something. Then it’s on to planning Doll Quilt Swap III! Maybe the other Mamas and I can get together on IM to toss some ideas around for the next round.

Now that my swap projects are done, I finally get a chance to play with a few quilt tutorials shared by some very clever ladies.

Liz posted this technique on Whiplash for their miniature quilt contest. It’s since been adopted by Kim and the gang for the July Doll Quilt Challenge. I want to try it in brights on a black background.

Sarah G.’s swap quilt employed some cool and wonky Log Cabin blocks. Here’s a link to her tutorial on flickr so you can try it yourself. I have to warn you: it’s very addictive. I’ve tried it out on a several blocks, with varying degree of success. It has motivated me to tidy up my scrap basket, though. Now I don’t have to paw my way through piles of scraps to find the right size or color anymore. I’ve made a few and multiplied them in a graphics program to see how a quilt might look:

And look at Amy’s swap quilt! Isn’t it cool? I stared at it for a while wondering how she made the blocks. Luckily, she posted the technique tonight. I’ve made up a block, and people, it is fun! And fast, too!

I have no business posting right now

August 10, 2007 at 3:08 pm | In Sewing/Crafts, plush | 27 Comments

because I’m so busy getting ready for the neighborhood block party to be held in my backyard tomorrow! We’re expecting 50+ neighbors. Wish us luck and no rain. I still have a little running around to do, and cooking.

I just had to mention that Hillary of Wee Wonderfuls has just released her handsewing pattern cards. I was lucky enough to help her test the birdie design.

The patterns for Birdie and his friends, Turtle, Butterfly, and Snail, are available right now at Wee Wonderfuls.

I am very behind on blogging due to the party prep. I still have yet to post about my doll quilt and respond to all the lovely ladies who’ve tagged me or otherwise recognized me for different things (thank you all)!

More Sunday! Have a great weekend y’all!

William the Orange

July 27, 2007 at 10:45 am | In Sewing/Crafts, plush | 15 Comments

My friend Lara, who’s Dutch, had a baby Tuesday!* I wanted to make the new arrival a little gift.

This is William the Orange. He’s named after William of Orange. The House of Orange is the royal family of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

*That exclamation point was originally a period, but then I remembered that episode of Seinfeld about punctuating a note about a new baby and changed it. Changed IT!

Blueberry Πr2 & boating

July 24, 2007 at 11:43 pm | In Quilting, Sewing/Crafts, charity | 13 Comments

Eireann’s mother survived a recent aneurysm and stroke. That’s the good news. The bad news is that her medical insurance will not cover her care and rehabilitation due to a pre-existing condition.

Crafters the world ’round are donating handmade goods to help defray the family’s mounting expenses. The items will be auctioned on eBay beginning August 19th. Eireann’s named the auction one in ten, after the odds that a patient will survive medical conditions like her mom’s.

After reading about the auction on Tania’s blog last Friday, I volunteered to contribute a quilt. Then I found out that photos of the contributions were due this Wednesday. Oops. I sewed up a storm this weekend and completed the quilt with a day to spare. Totally unlike me! But here it is, the 4-day quilt:

It’s the same design as the Strawberry-Rhubarb Πr2 quilt I made for Maitreya in the first round of the Doll Quilt Swap.

Lapis blue is Eireann’s mom’s favorite color. I was fortunate enough to have all the fabric I needed on hand. The blue-on-white print on the back? Blueberries. It was meant to be.

I matched the heck out of that plaid binding. Can you see the 5 joints? No? Good :o)

For those of you who caught that I called it a 4-day quilt when there were actually 5 days between Friday and today, here’s the reason: we’ve had quite a run of perfect summer weather here in Chicagoland, so Ryan and I joined our friends on a little fishing outing in a local forest preserve over the weekend. Our friends rented a rowboat.

We prefer a canoe. I didn’t even get a fishing license. I enjoy just paddling around instead. Much less messy. Here’s a photo I took of him with all of his gear. Can you tell he loooooves to fish? I think he might have as much fishing equipment as I do sewing/quilting gear.