Fat Quarter Gardening Aprons

Well, I apologize for being a bit AWOL this week - it's been super busy!  Unfortunately, I haven't been busy with sewing-related projects, but I've been a bit swamped with job/family/yoga-related projects (Okay, the yoga isn't so much a "project" as an "activity").  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't really relevant to sewing either.  However, I do have a couple projects to show off:

This is a project that I saw on Sew Mama Sew a few weeks ago, and I decided that I needed to make a couple.  One for myself, one for my mother.  I think the blue and green one will have to be for my mother - she is a more avid gardener than I am, and I think the darker colors will hide dirt better.  I don't garden as much, so the lighter color might stand a chance.

All of my fat quarters came from Sew to Speak, but I can't really say who the designers are.  One is an Anna Maria Horner print.  I absolutely love the ties - this is a Michael Miller bias tape.  I have so many ideas for this notion.  I'd like to have a messenger bag with this around the edges, and I'd like to have either a skirt or a top (maybe both) with this for trim.  One thing at a time.

It's a really fun project, and the apron looks fantastic on my beautiful, skinny daughter who was kind enough to model for me.  I think they'll be fine for my mother and myself, but if a person is too much bigger, they may need to use larger pieces of fabric so that the apron covers the entire front of their waist.  But this is just a suggestion - I don't think you'd want it to look too narrow in the front.

Fun stuff!  

The other day at Target, my daughter fell for a pretty floral summer dress - pinkish-purple with ruffles.  My immediate response was "I can totally make that".  So I plan to.  Soon.

Have a great weekend!

And the quilting goes on...

I fully intended to be more present here over the long weekend, but I was just too busy working on projects!  A few weeks ago, I blogged about the beginning of a new quilt here.  I've been working on it off and on for the past few weeks, and it's come quite a long way.

I'm excited to have the piecing almost finished - just one more row across the bottom, which I may try to start this evening.  Right now, I think that I'll hand quilt using both red and white perle cotton thread - my idea is to quilt different size circles inside the squares.

I wish I could claim that I've been fussy-cutting all of the different pieces, but I haven't.  Taking that into consideration, this is probably my favorite part of the quilt so far:

Cute, isn't it?

I predict that I'll end up taking much longer than I would like to finish it, but I'm excited anyway.

Spring! Quilts!

I feel somewhat guilty that I haven't been sewing much the past few days, but I also feel that I have an excellent excuse.  Have you been outside lately?  We have.

Somewhat miraculously, Josh didn't fall in the creek at all (I didn't think to bring extra clothes).  The sun has been shining all week, but I bet that water is still pretty cold.

I haven't completely neglected my sewing - in my spare moments this weekend, I started piecing a new quilt.  Lots of Aneela Hoey fabrics, but also some Denyse Schmidt, Kona Solids and Free Spirit prints (if I'm remembering correctly).  It is an Anna Maria Horner design that was available as a free download here.

I love that it is a fairly simple design - the triangles in the corners adds some interest to the pattern.  A simple quilt for what will (hopefully) be a simple time.   Now that Spring is here, I don't feel that this quilt is urgently needed, so I'll  sew slowly, with the windows wide open.

One for mama

I've been making so many skirts and pants for the kids lately that it seemed high time I make something for myself.  I have the fabric and the desire to have my own handmade clothes, but it's harder to find the time.  This weekend I didn't spend as much time sewing as I might have liked, but I did manage to throw together this skirt:

I used the Ginger pattern by Colette patterns - as promised, it was a simple skirt to make.  The instructions are lovely and there are plenty of helpful diagrams.  I used Lotta Jansdotter fabric for the main part of the skirt and Anna Maria Horner for the waistband - I love the unexpected contrast.

I also decided to include a lining - I usually regret it when I don't line garments that I'm making for myself.  I'm happy with it, though there are some things that I'll probably try differently when I make this pattern again.  My next Ginger will probably have a different waist style, and I may cut the main front piece on the fold rather than having a center seam.  Also, it will most likely be made using the velveteen that I used for this scarf.

Snuggly Quick Change Trousers

My new little nephew Arlo was just born this past month, and we completely adore him already.  Naturally, I decided that the best way to demonstrate my affection was by sewing.  I already made a spotty dinosaur to play with, but I wanted to sew some cute little baby clothes, too.  Inspired by SouleMama's post about Anna Maria Horner's Quick Change Trousers (from Handmade Beginnings), I made a tiny pair for Arlo.  Because he is a rather large baby, I decided to make the 3-6 month size.  As I sewed, I couldn't help but think he would be too big for them - they look so small!  It's amazing how difficult it is to gauge the size of a tiny new baby when you're used to sewing for big kids!  My Joanna is getting ready for sixth grade, braces, and band instruments, so it's difficult to accurately remember those tiny baby sizes.  Josh, my baby, is in Kindergarten already!

Luckily, the cuffs can be rolled up or down to accommodate this growing little guy.  The pants are reversible - one side features puppy-print fabric by Tammis Keefe and the other side is a repurposed men's flannel shirt.  I'm hoping that the flannel feels super soft against his sensitive baby skin.  The Tammis Keefe fabric was leftover from Josh's second pair of Treasure Pocket Pants.  Josh is pretty excited that he and Arlo will have matching trousers!  I'm sure Arlo will grow out of these fairly quickly, but no matter.  I can't wait to make a bigger pair - the pattern is so cute!

I really love the back yoke on this pattern.  In Handmade Beginnings, Anna Maria Horner uses three different fabrics, but I just used the yoke to repeat the fabric that is on the reverse.  The contrast fabric on the baby's bum is super cute!

Unfortunately, my little nephew lives two states away and I haven't met him yet!  I did, however, mail these pants to him.  They're too big for now (don't they look big folded up next to him?), but he'll grow into them soon, I'm sure!

Also, in case you were wondering, he is laying on a Snail quilt that I made for him from Boo Davis's 'Dare to Be Square'.  And the polka dot dinosaur is this one.

There comes a time

There comes a time in every girl's life when she realizes that if she's going to wear a scarf all day everyday, it needs to be super cute.  This winter, I've been wearing a plain black scarf almost everyday - it's an easy scarf to wear that is almost always on the hook by the front door.  But it's boring.

So, when I saw Anna Maria Horner's Figure 8 Scarf tutorial, I knew this would be just the thing to fix my boring scarf problem.  Also, I've been drooling over AMH's velveteen selection for months, and this is a great project to show off her printed velveteen.

Now that isn't boring, is it?

Instead of using voile, as the tutorial instructs, I decided to use quilting cotton from AMH's LouLouThi collection.  I imagine that my scarf is quite a bit more voluminous than it would be in voile, but I like it.  I had been trying to think of ways to use this XOXO Hugs and Kisses print, and it works really well with the Bubble Burst Sparkle Velveteen print that I used.

Now, the only problem will be that I'll want to wear the same thing every day.  And because it is so distinctive, people will notice.  Maybe I'll have to make a few more in other prints ;)