Scarves for Men

So, this weekend I made a scarf. And I was really digging it. And I guess I still am, it's got me second guessing my aesthetic a little bit. I was at a fabric store this weekend and found this great, relatively inexpensive poly / rayon blend. It's think, feels like wool but much softer and I thought it would be great for warm winter scarves. So I bought it in charcoal and a sage-y green. 

I measured out one of my husband's scarves and cut accordingly, then I pieced in some shot cotton, a couple masculine prints (can you see the new Architextures line in there. Yummy!) and some linen. I backed it with a light AMH voile, thinking the might feel nice on the neck. Super quick and simple. 

Then, I gave it to my husband as a gift, since we're heading to Alaska for a week on Sunday. He's unsure if it's his style. He wants to think about it. And don't worry, I'm not offended in the least. I actually appreciate when people give me their honest opinion. I think people are so scared of offending others that they're rarely honest. I know I fall into that category. But for me, I know everyone has their own sense of style and taste. Doesn't make it bad, just not the right thing for him. Oh well, it may be going up for sale on Etsy. What do you think?

She Made Swap

After I had made the decision to cut back on swaps and bees, I had already committed to a few. One of those, the Modern She Made Swap, is wrapping up right now, so I can check one off the list. I jumped on board the Modern She Made Swap back in September when I thought that I would actually be in town for the majority of the Fall. Thankfully, I did find enough time to participate and make a (hopefully) thoughtful package for my partner. I just didn't have as much time to post pictures of my progress and comment on others photos as I would have liked. 

 

I must admit that I was a little confounded at first when I got my partner. She was way wide open and seemed to be happy with anything and ultimately I just wanted to please her at the end of the day. So I did some stalking and carefully watched how she would respond to pictures other people posted in the swap and I finally decided on a (mostly) solid Mini Quilt for her. I knew she loves solids and the theme of this swap was "Triangles" so I made her a herringbone mini, that ultimately was hard for me to part with because I loved it for myself.

I also made her a matching little fabric basket, that you've all seen before. And I included some batik fat quarters to go along with it, since she admitted to having a *secret* adoration for batiks. I haven't heard back yet, which worries me because she should have her package by now. I hope she loves it. 

Then, I received a fabulous mini quilt from Heidi. I just adore it. And I can't wait to hang it in my studio. She captured my love of modern, clean lines, hand stitching and low volume fabrics perfectly. She says it was a stretch for her, but I think it came to her naturally. 

She included a matching pin cushion and some Kate Spain (favorite) fabric scraps for me in the package as well. Lucky me! I love good mail days like this!

Happy Little Pouch Hop

Good Morning everyone! First of all I just wanted to thank Elaine and Emily for inviting me to participate in the Happy Little Pouch Blog Hop. Don't you just love a little bag? I'm not really a purse person in my everyday life, but I adore little pouches and bags of all sizes, especially for storage and travel purposes. And I travel a lot. Recently I decided to test out one of Ayumi's patterns for her little fabric basket and I was instantly addicted. These baskets make a great addition to any swap gift you might be cooking up.

Her pattern is super easy to follow and the basket comes together very quickly. There are also a bunch of modifications you can make to personalize it and make it your own. I made another one of these for a friend (and I forgot to take pictures, ugh!) using Echino. I didn't want to cut up the print so I just cut two 9.5" x 3.5" strips instead of making the patchwork square strips.

 

  

Another way to easily personalize these baskets is by using a decorative stitch instead of an edge stitch around the top of the basket like I did here. 

Just make sure you're lining is lying flat when you edge stitch our you could get a pucker like I did. (Boo!)

Although Ayumi's pattern is for small baskets (perfect to hold a few fat quarters or your collection of buttons) it's easy to modify her pattern to make larger baskets. And these come together so quickly and easily that I think I'll be whipping out many, many more of them in the near future.

Want to see more Happy Little Pouches? Check out the rest of the Blog Hop Participants:

Monday 11/26: Emily from Mommy's Naptime and Elaine from Dashasel Sews

Tuesday, 11/27: Courtney from Mon Petit Lyons and Lucy from Charm About You

Wednesday, 11/28: Hollie from Undercover Crafter and Katie from Katie's Korner

Thursday, 11/29: Lindsay from Lindsay Sews and Michelle from I Like Orange

Friday, 11/30: Sara from Sew Sweetness, Cindy from Adventures of the Singing Quilter, and Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts

Monday, 12/3: Holly from Bijou Lovely and Heidi from Fabric Mutt

Tuedsay, 12/4: Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Bets and Emily from Mle BB

Wednesday, 12/5: Shruti from 13 Woodhouse Road and Liz from Dandelion Daydreams

Thursday, 12/6: Beth from Plum and June and Kaelin from The Plaid Scottie
Friday, 12/7: Emily from Mommy's Naptime and Elaine from Dashasel Sews

Thank you for stopping by! And please join us in the fun and share your pouchy makes in our Flickr group. The Flickr group is also where you can upload your pouchy makes, and at the end of each week we will have some great prizes to award!

Prizes have generously been donated by:

Modern Quilt Guild Showcase

Did you see the report back from the International Quilt Market that the Modern Quilt Guild did yesterday on their Modern Quilt Showcase? If you did you might have seen a few quilts that look familiar, including this one...

Eek! Even though I couldn't be there to see it in person, I had amazing friends like Alissa and Caitlin who were there and snapped pictures for me. They sent them to me over the weekend and it finally felt real. Of course, I look at it and see all the imperfections but it doesn't diminish my excitement one bit. I encourage everyone who wasn't able to see the exhibit in person at Quilt Market to hop on over to the Modern Quilt Guild site and take a virtual tour of the exhibit. There are so many amazing quilts featured. And this show is traveling, so there are still opportunities to see many of the quilts in the exhibit up close and personal coming up. Congratulations to everyone in the show!

PLPS Sent

So you know that amazing package I received from Whitney in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap last month? Well, I got to return the favor because she was actually my secret partner too. Fancy that! Unfortunately I don't think I was able to do nearly as good a job on her package as she did on mine. There was no way to top it. 

As I was stalking Whitney I quickly learned that mermaids made her swoon, so when I saw the new Sarah Jane "Out to Sea" line I quickly snatched it up for her. Then I had a hard time cutting it up since it was so super cute. And I guess that's where I was getting hung up. I had this nagging feeling that the pouch was too simple, especially after the awesomeness I received from her. 

But I couldn't resist. I kept it simple and let the fabric speak for itself, choosing to embellish rather than piece. Originally I was going to make her a bento box bag but she specifically requested a zipper closure so I switched things up and used a pattern from an old issue of Stitch Magazine, with some modifications.

I embroidered starfish and kelp onto one side of the pouch and then designed and pieced a sailing ship to appliqué on the other side of the bag. 

I also fussy cut the side panels to capture my favorite mermaids at play.

Sadly, I had started piecing a smaller pouch to go inside, but I was given 36 hours notice to be on a plane for work, and knew I wouldn't return home before the shipping deadline so it did not make it into the package. I did, however, fill the bag with lots of other little goodies, including a mermaid embroidered tea towel and a pocket hoop for her sewing space storage.

I wish I could live up to the greatness she sent me, but in the end I opted to let the fabric speak for itself. I loved having Whitney as a partner - both ways! She totally rocks!

do. Good Swap Angel

And then there were swaps. Holly and I hosted a blind swap for all of the do. Good Stitches Circle Hosts. Unfortunately, someone had an unexpected turn of events and was unable to complete her gift so Holly and I jumped in as angels. Amanda was such an excellent swapper and we couldn't let her go empty-handed. Her surprises arrives well past the deadline, but at least she arrived.

When it became clear that her partner was MIA Holly and I got to work. Being friends with Amanda, Holly knew she would love some knitting accessories since she had a baby on the way and probably not much time to sew when her bundle of joy arrived. I started stalking her and pulled fabrics from my stash from some of her favorite designers in colors she loved. 

As I continued to stalk her, I discovered that she might like a bag of some sort so I found an adorable pattern in an old issue of Stitch Magazine and got to work. The bag came together quickly. I actually enjoyed this pattern more than the last one I tried from Stitch. But I did make one huge mistake. And, unfortunately realized it too late. Can you tell?

Yep. I put one of the pleated pockets on backwards. Oops! I don't think it looks horrible. Or am I just trying to make myself feel better? I was rushing and that's really my only excuse. Ugh. By the time I realized it (during this photo shoot in fact) I tried to think of a way I could fix it but couldn't come up with a concrete solution, aside from ripping the entire thing apart, which seemed extreme.

As I tend to do, I did make some slight modifications to the design. I will admit, on this project the design modifications were largely in part due to the fact that I used the last bit of this AMH Innocent Crush print that I had in my stash. It's a personal favorite, but I was so glad it was being used for someone who loves it as much as I do. I added coordinating Kona Solids on the pockets and the handles to make the AMH print go a long way. And I really love how the solids sneak in and break up the print.

I also made her a little pocket hoop for some cute, sewing space wall storage and included a bunch of extras in her package. So, Amanda, I'm sorry that your package came so late. Thank you for being so patient and such a great swapper! Congrats on your new baby girl, too!

Comfort Quilt

There was a secret project I was working on over the summer. I couldn't share it until now. I've been running the Sewn Together Bee for over two years now. As we neared the end of the last round of the bee one of our members experienced a tragedy in her life. Her mother passed away and her grief was consuming. Unfortunately, she also missed out on her month in the bee after working so hard on all of our blocks. 

So we did a little stalking and came up with a color scheme and a plan and got to work. It seemed like she gravitated towards blues and greens and also pinwheels. So the members of the Sewn Together Bee started creating pinwheel blocks for her and sent them to me to finish. 

I ended up sashing the blocks that came in small. We made them any size or pattern we desired. With sashing they all ended up 12.5" unfinished. Time was of the essence, since I spent much of the summer gathering the blocks from all corners of the globe. I went with simple straight line quilting on the diagonal to accent the movement of the pinwheels. 

The backing is one Michael Miller print that I picked up thinking the yellows and oranges would contrast nicely with the greens and blues on the front. And I bound it in a simple Kona Olive, then wrapped it in love with a note on behalf of the entire bee. 

Then, one day, unexpectedly I received a beautiful note in my mailbox. It brought tears to my eyes. I rarely have time to sew anything for myself these days. Sometimes I get frustrated and convince myself I'm not joining any more bees or swaps, ever. And then there are days like this, when I am reminded why I do so much sewing for and with others. The reward is much sweeter. I would rather brighten someone else's day over making myself a new dress any day.

do. Good Stitches Host Swap Sent

I can finally reveal what I made for my secret partner in the do. Good Stitches Host Swap. I was matched up with Erica, who hosts the Wish Circle. And you want to hear something funny? She practically lives down the street from me! I was halfway tempted to just show up on her doorstep with my package, but I thought that might be a little creepy, so I mailed it instead.

One of the things on Erica's wish list was a sewing machine cover for her Janome. And since we're both sewing on the same machine, I was able to use mine for reference. And after a little bi of stalking I settled on hand piecing a couple Joseph's Coat blocks and hand appliquéing them onto yarn-dyed linen (her favorite) for the design.

I've never made a sewing machine cover before, so I kind of winged the construction. I made the main panel from one long piece of the linen and quilted it with a neutral solid backing - sort of a quilt as you go method. Then I cut the two side pieces and quilted them in the same manner, also adding pockets to each side. I then attached each side with Y-seams, so the main body of the cover had a continuous look.

Finally, I made the inner lining in the same method from the linen (save for quilting) and tacked the corners together internally so the lining wouldn't fall. Then I finished the raw edges with binding, as you would a quilt. I think I might have to make one of these for myself.

Of course, I added in some extras for Erica, including fabric, thread, buttons and tools. I also sent her a little card encouraging her to come and meet me at a LAMQG meeting sometime. It's always nice having sewing buddies nearby! So, here's to another successful swap. I swear, one of these days I'll cut back. But they're hard to resist. They're just so much fun!