Where I've Been

I just returned home from a glorious weekend of sewing. It's more sewing than I've been able to do in months. And there have been some good reasons for that. In the Spring I started doing some commission work for Spring Market, which kept me busy but I wasn't able to share my projects here. Then shortly after, I jetted off to Europe for a month for a friend's wedding in Paris. My husband couldn't take a lot of time off work, so we spent ten days in Italy and a night in Amsterdam before he had to fly back home. Then I continued on to Paris, then London on my own before my journey ended. 

The whole time we were in Italy I was feeling sick and completely wiped out with exhaustion, which is odd. Well, we discovered in Rome that there was a reason for the way I was feeling. Which is also the reason I haven't been able to blog at all in the past few months. We're pregnant. And when I got home we got the next shocker. We're having twins. So I have been really sick for the past couple months and have not had the stamina or energy to sew anything but a few commission pieces. Finally the fog passed about two weeks ago so I am getting back into the groove, slowly. I plan to do as much sewing as I possibly can for the next few months, or until I get too big to reach the machine. I need to get it all in and fast, as our entire world is about to change. 

So I appreciate you sticking around while I was away! And I'm glad to be back. Now, it's back to sewing!

Aack! I've been Hacked!

My custom domain name has been hacked... right on the heels of my plans to return to blogging (and explain my absence). While I get this issue resolved, I have converted back to using my original Blogger address and I'l officially claiming it on BlogLovin. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sorry for the inconvenience! Please redirect your feeds temporarily to: http://undercovercrafter.blogspot.com until it's fixed.

Have you missed me? Because I've missed you. But I have a couple good excuses for my absence, I swear.

Quilters Needed

I am sorry I have been so absent lately. I promise an update soon, but first, as many of you know, I leave the Hope Circle of do. Good Stitches. Well we're looking for two Quilters to join our circle this month. Quilters make two blocks from their own stashes for our charity quilts each month. In addition each Quilter is responsible for designing and quilting one quilt of their own. Our latest commitment runs June - October. If you're interested in sewing for underprivileged children around the world contact me asap to join our circle.

BlogLovin

I'm claiming my blog on BlogLovin' so you can follow me over there too!

Free Motion Chicken No More

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing. I'm on a bit of a deadline with some custom orders that I can't show right now, so my AMH dress is halfway finished, as is a quilt I intended to enter into a couple quilt shows. I missed the entry deadline for one and am a couple days out on the deadline for the second, so I don't know if I'll finish in time. But before I got swamped I am happy to admit that I jumped a major hurdle in my quilting: I started to try free motion! DISCLAIMER: This post contains many pictures of my many mistakes. Nobody's perfect and we're always learning, right?

The first quilt I've EVER free motion quilted.

Yes, you heard me correctly. After taking Elizabeth's class at QuiltCon, I took the plunge at home and started trying to free motion a few quilts. They are FAR from perfect, but I think it's important to share the imperfections. I've been catching up on some charity quilts and decided these were the best projects to start honing my free motion skills. 

Not only am I finding free motion quilting to be fun, it's also fast. I can quilt an entire sandwich in much less time than straight lining it. That said, there is a definite learning curve and it's frustrating at times. But it's helping me get over my perfectionist attitude and I keep reminding myself that all my mistakes will come out in the wash. Quite literally. That's the great thing about quilting. So many of those little imperfections disappear when the quilt comes out of it's first wash all crinkly and cuddly. 

The second quilt I free motion quilted. See, it's slowly getting better.

So don't judge. And don't be afraid. You can see all of my many, many, many mistakes right here. I'm not embarrassed to show you. Free motion is a lesson in learning to let go. And with each quilt, I am getting in the to rhythm of free motion a little bit more. And I'm making mistakes a little bit less. I'm still backing myself into corners, and fumbling with uneven stitch length, but I'm learning and growing. I'm not going to give up on straight lining, oh no. That's still my favorite aesthetic, but I'm going to continue to hone my free motion skills. Expect to see a lot more around here in the near future.

Sewing ADD For Me

Last night's girl's night was awesome. Eight of us cozied up in my living room and shared our creativity. I just worked on some needlepoint but this morning I'm back at my machine. Actually, I've been having a little bit of sewing ADD lately. I have a few quilts brewing around in my head. I pulled a stack of fabric for one of them. I'm not sure if I'm going to add hand stitching or not but I pulled a roll of Pearle Cotton just in case. One thing is certain though, my broken triangles are making a comeback.

I also finally bit the bullet and bought three yards of the AMH "Field Study" voile that I've been drooling over lately. Since I'm not working I put myself on a fabric diet, but I finally caved at the last LAMQG meeting and bought it. Our meetings are held at my favorite fabric shop, Sew Modern, and it's always difficult to walk out of there empty handed. But my birthday is coming up and I have a wedding to attend in May so I thought that was the perfect excuse to wipe up the drool and buy it.

So I am working on some things for me. And I realize that lately I haven't been as good about posting about my process here. Frankly, I do a lot more process posting on Instagram. You can follow me over there as well, if you'd like. 

Spontaneous Girl's Night

I am just loving having time off from work. I've been going to the gym, enjoying the amazing weather we've been having here in Southern California, spending quality time with my husband and sewing. It's such a luxury to be able to sew all day if I want to or NOT sew if I'm not feeling it. Usually there is so much pressure to sew in the limited amount of free time I have and now that weight is lifted and it feels so good. 

My husband left for a convention in Austin this morning, so I have the house to myself for the next few days. When I'm working I would relish the time alone and hole myself up and not answer the phone if I didn't feel like it. But now that I'm a woman of leisure it's giving me the perfect opportunity to invite some friends over for a spontaneous stitch 'n bitch. After dropping my husband and his partner off at the airport early this morning, I turned our living and dining room into our workspace for tonight. 

I moved my new machine and table into the living room with the iron and ironing board, leaving space by the purple wall for another sewing table and machine if one of my friends brings theirs over. 

I turned one of our kitchen counters into a cutting table. 

Then I put a couple more cutting mats down in a corner of the dining room floor for a larger cutting space in case anyone needs to square up a quilt or something. 

Finally, my old machine is set up on the dining room table for anyone who wants to use it. And there's enough space left for at least two, if not three more machines. 



And I have lots of comfy spaces for people to sit and hand sew if they fancy. I haven't decided yet, but I think I might focus on some hand work tonight.