Summer Sampler Catch-up

 I am SOOOO behind on my summer sampler blocks!!
 I went to the beach during week 2, and then it took a week to get back on track, so I missed week 3 as well. And then with my crazy notion of making 2 of each block (which I actually really like doing...it gives me a chance to refine my talents before I move on and forget each block!) I'm even more behind since it takes me twice as long. That said, I LOVE this sampler quilt-along! It's been so neat to see traditional blocks come together in modern fabrics. The flickr pool is awesome.  I'm telling you, between google reader, flickr and now Pinterest, it's no wonder my house is a mess!!

  But I have found a few minutes to sew up some blocks.  Since I last posted about the sampler, I finished another Mosaic block.  Here are my two versions of it:

  And I'm almost caught up with week 2.  Sad, I know.
Kate posted two versions of her block Flower Garden Path. Her's looked like this:

found here

  And here are my two.  I found I'm not a huge fan of piecing incredily small pieces.  I wasn't surprised to find it as I'm not the most accuracy-oriented person in life.  And I've never been drawn to quilts with tiny pieces.  I don't believe there will ever be a Dear Jane quilt made by me, and I'm okay with that.  I can find plenty of challenges involving larger pieces!  ;)

  Next up was Faith's tutorial for the Star block involving paper piecing.

found here

I had never tackled paper piecing that I can remember, but I had read about it before and seen quilting shows on it, so I was very familiar with the concept.  I will say, this was the first block I've run into that was a bit of an issue to make with a layer cake.  See, Faith's block along with all of the others I saw on flickr used just 2 colors for the star.  BUT...I didn't have enough of any one fabric from the layer cake to do that!  Faith said each piece should be roughly 4x10...I could only get 2 from each LC square.  So, I improvised and decided my stars would be a little scrappy.  I just used 2 shades of each color instead of one.  But, I'll tell you another secret about me...I'm incredibly cheap thrifty and I kept trying to make pieces fit that weren't quite big enough.  These 2 blocks took me FOREVER!  There was quite a bit of seam ripping involved.  Again--all me, though. Faith's instructions were spot-on!
  In the end, I really like them and the process of paper piecing.  My red and blue star somehow got a little short all the way around, so I will be considering some creative sashing ideas in the next few weeks...

  My next block is Lee's Arkansas Traveler and I love it!  It's so fun and lively...another block added to "Make a quilt out of this block" list!

found here

  I'm hoping to have my two done by tomorrow so I can keep on rolling.  It's not very often I make a quilt just because I wanted to.  And it's even less often that I finish it...so I'm keeping my eye on the prize and working till it's fresh-from-the-dryer cozy!

I did it...

I did it...I said I wouldn't.  I said I couldn't afford another thing in my life that wasted my time encouraged me to find new projects and inspiration.  I read all about it, vowing not to get sucked in...  But, I did.

I joined Pinterest.  If you haven't heard about it, Pinterest is a great way to store all of your ideas and likes from all over the internet.  You can make virtual "bulletin boards" that you pin all of the things you love to.  If you find a picture anywhere on the net that you like, just pin it to a board.  You can have many boards or a few.  You can have tons of "pins" or have restraint.  You can view other's boards to find people with similar style and repin from their boards.  It's simple to use and great for visual people.  And it's completely free!

You have to be invited by someone already on there, or request an invitation.  But no worries, I requested an invite and was signed in and using it 20 minutes later.  And I have dialup!!

So my sewing progress this weekend is slower than I would like, but my boards are filling up!!  I've got boards for quilt ideas I had been saving as bookmarks, but now can see exactly what I love.  I've got a board for holiday ideas, home decor goodies, inspiration signs and sayings, yummy treat recipes, and more!  It will definitely fill any void of time you'd like to not have back, that's for sure.

Follow me if you want to...But I warn you, you will love spending way too much time looking!!

WIP Wednesday

  So, I'm home from vacation and just got my machine back from the shop yesterday afternoon.  I took it in to be serviced while I was gone so I wouldn't miss any real time with it.  I've got so many ideas, my list of WIPs is growing by the day, and since I have actual progress to show in them, I'm ready to link back up with Lee and her WIP party.

  I'm knee deep in the Summer Sampler QAL (quilt-along).  I missed all 3 of last week's blocks while I was gone and since I just got my machine block I missed Monday's too.  So, that's 5 blocks to make up counting today's, but I'm making 2 of each, so I've got 11 to get made since I only made one mosaic before we left for the beach.  It sounds overwhelming, but, I'm really enjoying the blocks so far.  And I've never properly paper-pieced before (only string quilt blocks), so I'm actually really looking forward to it.  Here are my fabrics all laid out to make it easier for me to choose what I want for each block and some of my blocks cut out waiting on some sewing.

  I've also got a "secret" project I'm working on for Jenny's upcoming Sew Chic Refashion series at her blog.  She's asked a bunch of bloggers (many who are much more famous than me) to participate and we'll all be sharing a refashion we've done.  You should check it out.  I'll remind you.  :)

  I've also got fabrics layed out for some other projects I've got coming up, so while they're not yet in progress, they will be soon!

  Be sure to visit Lee and check out everyone else's WIP.  Great inspiration...

Ready for the water

  A few weeks back I saw that Dana had posted about a new pattern she'd created...the Beach Robe, and I knew it would be perfect for my two for our trip to the beach.  A robe is perfect for the beach because you don't have to worry about keeping a towel on and your hands are free to do other things.  Plus, it covers more than a towel which helps both with drying and sun protection.

  The pattern only goes to size 5, so I emailed Dana and asked if it was easily sized up, she said she thought it would be and since Emma only really needs the length sized up, I bought the pattern.  Dana is amazingly good at breaking down each step and explaining a pattern like she's in your sewing room with you helping out.  And after my last experiences from Burda, this was a welcome relief.

Love this kid.  He's so silly and funny.  Chris said he looked like Obi Wan in his robe.  He thought that was great!!

    I let the kids pick out their towels, bought some bias tape and got busy.  Well, actually the towels sat in my room for a week while I "got around" to making them, but do we really need to go into details here???

  I would highly recommend this pattern to anyone who is familiar with a sewing machine and has small children.  The pattern comes as a pdf so you print the pattern pieces at home and tape them together.  I measured the pieces up to Emma and Oren to make any alterations to them before I cut my fabric.  I ended up adding 2 inches in length to both and widening the armscye (fancy word for armpit hole!).  No one wants a tight fit in the armpit!

  And the pattern is very customizable.  I went with partial ties on both robes (because I didn't want to fool around with cutting out enough to make a full tie that went all the way around).  Emma wanted short sleeves on her's and Oren wanted long sleeves.  Emma said she didn't want a hood, but I decided for her that she did.  I lined both hoods which took about 1 extra minute and makes it look so much nicer.

Pa (my Dad) snuck up on them and posed behind them.  They didn't even notice till he grabbed them.  

  I would fully advise reading the directions carefully before beginning and when she recommends getting 2 towels, get 2 and that way you don't have to put the robes on hold until you can get back to the big city to buy another towel in each color only to find out that the towels Oren picked are now sold out so you have to finish Emma's until you can get to Walmart to let Oren pick out 2 new towels.  Also, when she says 3 packs of bias tape, you'd be smart to get 3 or 4...You can always take it back if you don't need it, and it's a bummer to only buy 2 and get about a foot from finishing when you run out.  But I wouldn't know from personal experience or anything...

She was not thrilled with getting out of the water for some pictures by the way.  Emma is like me...she'd live at the beach from morning till night if we let her.  No going up to the house for her!  ;)

  At any rate, I definitely think this pattern is a keeper and would use it again for gifts for the kids' friends with summer birthdays and things like that.  Both kids used them at the beach with success, although most of the time, they just air-dryed, being kids and all.

P.S.  I wish I was a big enough blogger that people would assume this was a paid-for post.  These are completely my own ramblings, I just wanted to spread the love.

P.P.S.  Does anyone know why sometimes blogger accepts pics great and sometimes they come out all grainy-looking even though you saved them looking good?  HELP me and my pics, please?!?

Made it by Monday Challenge on Tuesday

Hey everyone,
  We are having a great time at the beach and loving every minute of our time together here with family.  I wanted to link up with Jill again for her Made it by Monday challenge this week. 





  Her challenge this week was a shoe revamp.  Easy enough, right?  I was thinking I could glitter, paint, or at least "beautify" one pair of the many hanging out in my closet.  Then I remembered I recently gave away every pair of shoes I couldn't live without to a friend who took a trailer full of donations to Alabama after the tornadoes ripped through there a few months back.  Oh, and don't worry, I still have plenty, I just wear them all as is!
 
  So I looked around and decided it may be best to buy a cheap pair of flip flops to alter.  So I bought some white ones to match the pair Emma has and brought them and a few craft supplies to the beach.

  But then, life happened.  See these cute sandals I bought at Target?  I have a white pair and these black ones.  I just bought the black pair a week or so ago, but hadn't worn them.  Sunday morning we were rushing to get ready for church and while I slipped my foot into the left one just fine, the elastic strip in the back split away from the plastic leather on the right shoe.  I went to church with a broken shoe!  The fit was great, so I decided to just go with it...I'm on vacation, right??

Please notice the back strap on the back foot is just sadly hanging there.

   I had plans to just sew or glue them back together when I got home, but my Mom suggested just cutting the straps off altogether.  They were obviously fine without them since I'd worn them to church and grocery shopping with one shoe strapped and one shoe without.  So I went with it.  I'm revamping these sandals into flip flops!

  So, easiest DIY shoe revamp ever:

1.  Gather supplies:  sandals, scissors

2.  Cut back straps off each sandal.

3.  Model new flip flops and glory in your one of a kind shoes!  :)

Thank you to my sister for the awesome photos!  :)

What do you think??  I like them.  They're different, and since I have a white pair of the same style, now I have two separate pairs of shoes instead of 2 in different colors.

 As I said, I'm linking up with Jill today.  Go over and check out the other linkups and do a shoe revamp of your own to link up.  It doesn't have to be difficult or involve fancy tools.  See what you can make your own today.  Oh, and for further ideas, Ashley is doing a flip flop refashion series at her blog right now, too.

Oh, and those cheap flip flops I was going to make...I made a prototype and have learned what I can do better to make them cuter.  I will definitely post about them soon.  If only all shoe-making and fixing were this easy, I could have been a cobbler!  Oh well, I'll stick to sewing, probably!  ;)

Summer Sampler Blocks 2 & 3

  So I had the post for block 2 written up and ready to post and promptly forgot about it yesterday!  Oops...so I'm just adding Block 3 to the end of it and saving y'all some reading, 'kay??  We are headed to the beach for a week in the morning, so I have a few posts that I HOPE to post, but I'll have to play it by ear with the internet service there...me and the scheduled posts don't always get along...

Block 2:  Greek Cross
  Faith brought us our block today (Wednesday) and it's the Greek Cross.  She is doing her sampler quilt in all solids and I love it!  I almost waited till I could order/buy some solids to make mine like that too, but in the spirit of destashing I went with stuff I already had.
   Here's Faith's.  Don't you love it??

Greek Cross block courtesy of Fresh Lemons

  So, like Monday's block, I made two.  I think I'm going to double the quilt (making two of each block) so that I'll have 24 blocks to work with.  That'll give me a 4 foot x 6 foot quilt roughly if I don't add borders.  I'm not sure what I'll do with this quilt yet, but I just don't care for square quilts unless they're for babies and the kids don't need a 3 foot x 4 foot lap quilt.

  Again, I'm using a Make Life... layer cake with coordinating prints and solids thrown in.

  Just like the first block, these were super easy and I think they would be great as a one-block quilt, where this block was repeated over and over again.  I think you could do something special with the diamonds that form in between the blocks.

Block 3:  Mosaic
  And today's block is from Lee.  I love Lee and her style.  Here is her block:



And here is mine.  I only made one tonight because although this block is not difficult, I still have a ton of things to do before we leave tomorrow including some dessert with my kids.  I'll make the other one in the morning before we go or when we get back.  I'll be 3 (or 6 in my case) blocks behind when we get back anyway, so what's adding one more, right??

  Here are my five blocks altogether.  The gray I used today came in the layer cake and I used it all up...There's a gray with a small pattern that may read close enough if I want to continue to use the same "solid" for each block.  We'll see...

Why I love linkups

 You know how I'm always going on about the inspiration you can find at linky parties.  Well, a few weeks back, I saw this skirt from Katy at Sweet Verbena.

photo courtesy of Katy @ Sweet Verbena

 I thought it was super cute and EASY.  So I bookmarked it and the next time I went to the fabric store I picked out some cute knit fabric.  Yep, I bought some knit and made something with it.  Sure, I've used knits before, but they were usually t-shirt refashions or adjustments to store-bought clothing, etc.  But, I have braved the world of knit and come back to brag about it.  (haha)


  Honestly, the hardest part about this skirt was stopping long enough to really use the amount of pins necessary to keep these layers where they were supposed to be.  I am a non-pinner in quilting when I can get away with it, but this material is so slippery, even when pinned it would move, so a lot of pins was my key to success.  The construction couldn't be easier!

  I didn't hem it at all, and I did leave the underlayer just a little big longer.  I didn't like that it is definitely the wrong side of the fabric showing in that under layer, but I did like that it added just a little extra length and the idea of more coverage.  And to flip it was going to require cutting and more seams, so no thanks.  Because of the slipperiness, the bottom layer is a little longer than I was going for.  I was going for a quarter inch longer so that they would kind of roll up together.  It looks like I ended up closer to an inch, but whatever.  When I asked Chris to take pictures he took a few and then asked if it was done.  Like, wasn't I going to finish the bottom of it?  I take it he's not a fan of the bottom layer...

   So, what do you think?  Keep the bottom layer or cut it even?  I like that it's a bit different and adds some interest to it, but if it looks wierd, than I don't want the interest in the skirt to be that it looks messed up.


P.S.  I wanted to make sure and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad today!!  I am extremely blessed to have such an awesome guy to call my father.  He is funny, kind, loving, and completely supportive.  Have a great day, Dad!!!