2015 Sewing Goals and To-do

I'm putting this in writing so I hold myself accountable, and it will be nice to cross things off the list!  I'm sure this list will grow and change as the year progresses :)

my WIP box

Gifts + Swaps

basting my first quilt of 2015!

• Baby quilt for Tobin and Amy (Due Jan. 5) -- currently: Finished!
• Schnitzel & Boo mini swap (Due Jan. 23) -- currently: Finished
• Birthday present for Christine (Due Feb. 10) -- currently: cutting/piecing
• Birthday present for Shannon (Due March 14) -- currently: piecing
• Rainbow mini swap (Due Apr. 6) -- currently: quilting
• Sew South secret sister (Due Apr. 16) -- currently: planning
• Sew South fabric basket swap (Due Apr. 16) -- currently: planning
• Swap with Jess (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: planning and cutting
• Mid Atlantic Mod Secret Sewist (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: awaiting assignment
• Mid Atlantic Mod Mini Quilt swap (Due Apr. 23) -- currently: planning
• Briar Rose Quilt for Autumn (Due July) -- currently piecing

Monthly and yet to be assignment commitments

• Grace Circle blocks (monthly)
• Sisterhood of the Traveling (bi-monthly)

Quilt WIPs

• x-plus quilt (ALYOF January 2015 goal) -- currently: piecing

Pile of x-plus blocks

• DS disappearing 9 patch (Due June 7 so I can have it signed!) -- currently: piecing 
• Starbright Quilt -- currently: piecing

Starbright Quilt mock-up

• Penny Sampler (in time-out) -- currently: piecing 

Penny Sampler Blocks so far

New Projects

• Quilts for nephews (5) and nieces (1)
• C+S Single Girl quilt
• Stitched-in-Color "handstitched" class

Goals

• Sew 15 minutes every day
• #SewMyStash2015
• Blog at least bi-weekly
• Learn garment sewing
• FMQ!
• Try selling at a craft show

TGIFF: SSM#4

Happy Valentines day Lovlies!  I was hoping to post this last week but we didn't have power... no power = no internet = no blogging = sadface :(

Have I mentioned how much I love swaps?  Well I am a glutton for swapping, so I had to participate in the Sew Sew Modern #4 Swap over on Flickr.  Check out the Flickr pool to see all the amazing goodies that have been swapped :)

I can't reveal who my partner was for this round, because she hasn't received yet (the snow + ice + no power made me a few days late sending).

This was my initial fabric pull (sorry IG pic).  I wanted my patchwork to mirror the Pennant print from KOI.  When I started cutting, I decided to take out the Salt Water print because it didn't look great cut into tiny 2.5" triangles, it was a little too olive drab to fit in with the other prints.  I also ended up adding two other KOI prints for variety.

In-progress (also from IG). I ended up staggaring the rows to try to mirror the inspiration fabric :)  And I went with a scrappy low volume background.  The flying geese are 1.5x5.5" attached to another 1.5x5.5" strip of low volume.

And here's the finished pillow.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Especially since I just cut and sewed, with no pre-planning.  It still ended up square!

I did an off center chevron following the point of one of the geese.  The lines are 1" apart done in a hot pink Gutterman thread.  I also zig-zag stitched the binding on, because inevitably I miss a few spots on the back when machine binding with a straight stitch.

I finished off the back with the Pennant print and did a simple envelope closure (I'm too much of a chicken to try an invisible zipper!)

For the "small item" I took my scraps and made some scrappy coasters, they're so cute :)

And what swap would be complete without some extras :)  I included a lil' twister ruler and a cute ball of variegated Perle cotton.  Since it's headed overseas I wasn't sure what the restrictions were on sending food, so I opted not to send any candy along this time.

I hope you like it partner!  I had a great time making it for you!!!

Linking up with Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

WIP Wednesday -- Scrap Attack edition

I've been terribly remiss in my blogging lately.  Things are finally calming down at the library, but with the Holidays things are busy at home... a girl can't win.  This post should really be all about the holiday sewing that I'm doing, but I haven't even started it yet.

Instead I've been playing with my prolific scrap pile.  I posted this pic on Instagram last week (play along with #scrapbagofshame).  I really don't know how I generate so many scraps considering I have yet to finish a quilt... but i do, so I'm turning them into useful things.

Have you looked at Sunday Morning Quilts?  They have so many beautiful scrap projects in the book that I thought it would be a good starting point to try to tame this pile.



I started with the Scrapper's Delight quilt  because I have lots of strips and strings and I was thinking it would be a good charity quilt and opportunity to practice FMQ.  I have three blocks complete, and many in progress blocks (yay chain piecing!)  I'm loving how they're turning out so far :)



I got so tired of sorting through the huge scrap pile that I decided to try another project from the book -- scrap storage baskets.  They're coming together really quickly from my larger scraps.  I've been using the Quilt as you Go method to make the panels instead of sewing a slab then quilting. 

Since this was spur of the moment, I just need to get the correct interfacing for the lining and then I'll have the red complete.

 I didn't plan the orange slab as well, so it has some random scraggly bits that I'm hoping get lost in the seam allowance.

In other QAYG scrappy news, I finished my Modern Scrappy Bits item.  It's Jeni Baker's Half-Square Triangle Pouch tutorial but made with QAYG panels.  Didn't it turn out so cute?!

My partner asked for low volume and aqua.  Surprisingly I didn't have that many aqua scraps, so I'm happy I was able to come up with enough to add some color.

I'll probably table these projects for the week because I'm hoping to catch up on the rest of my commitments for the month (bee blocks, swaps), then get my Christmas stockings sewed up :)  What have you been working on?

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

Halloween Sewing Swap

Happy (almost) Halloween!  I love Halloween, it's always been one of my favorite holidays.  So, of course I jumped at the chance to participate in Martha Fipps' Halloween swap.  And I didn't hesitate to buy a whole slew of new Halloween fabrics (lol!)  Unfortunately I had no idea when I signed up that life was going to be so crazy the last couple months so it was a little hectic getting 4 items sewn up for my partner.

My partner wasn't too picky, but didn't have kids, so all of the items were for her.  I decided to try my hand at making a cuppa and a catch-up's nesting bowl pattern using Rachel's (@woodenspoon) flying geese dimensions for the focus print.  I made the 7" bowl and it turned out HUGE!  The basket filled up with all the goodies stuffed a medium flat rate box.

I also made Noodlehead's small Open Wide pouch, a little card wallet using the leftover HSTs from the flying geese, and an improv pieced coffee cozy with some more scraps.

Isn't that button and Riley Blake: Too Cute to Spook adorable?

I received a lovely package in return from Katie.  It turned out that it was an even partnered swap, so I created for and received from the same person.  Katie claimed she was new to sewing, but after looking at the items she made me, I don't believe it!  She did such a fantastic job with everything!

 

I think the coasters are my favorite -- scrappy on one side, text print on the other -- what could be better than that?

I had such a fun time decorating over the weekend.  The bunting goes perfectly over my fireplace and the table runner on the coffee table :)

Did you make anything fun for Halloween?

WIP Wednesday: Swaps

Hiyas!  Seriously hellacious week around here /sigh...  I wanted to write this during a lull in my desk shift today, but it was so freakin busy.  Oh well, I'm home now and can knock a post out pretty quickly.

I know I've mentioned this a lot, but I love swaps.  Right now I'm in two sewing swaps over at Flickr.  Both of my partners (or maybe it's just one partner  ::wink::) mentioned they like bright rainbow colors.  Both swaps are scrappy swaps.  So I dug through my scrap packs from Hawthorne threads and my overflowing scrap bins and came up with some great rainbow prints to use for each swap. 

First off, I've been waiting for my chance to participate in the Modern Scrappy Bits swap.  When I joined the group, a round was already in progress, so I had to wait until this round to join in.  The assignment is to make a mugrug, coasters or cup cozy for our partner.  Here are the fabrics I chose: 

I honestly can't tell you what all the fabrics are since some are from swaps, and others are from scrap packs.  I know the Magenta is Metro Living rings, Pink is FMF seeds, Green is FMF leaves, Navy is AMH feathers from field study, and the teal is an Art Gallery elements.  The gray is Bella of course :)

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to make, here's what it has turned into:

I have a leftover piece of the Bella to use for backing, but it's not quite big enough so I'm going to have to do a scrappy pieced back I think.  I haven't decided how I'm going to tackle the binding yet.

The next swap I'm working on is the Simple & Sweet Scrappy swap.  For this swap we have to make a pouch for our partner, and send 50 charm squares.  I decided to go with Jeni Baker's Half Square Triangle Pouch.  Again, I pulled a pile of rainbow scraps out of the scrap bins.  I wanted each HST to be a different color, so I had to choose 12 scraps for this one.

Since this swap isn't due until Aug. 30, I have some time to work on it.  So far I have one panel done.  I'm a little intimidated since this will be my first zipper pouch, so wish me luck :)

So what have you been working on?  I have some exciting (to me) news to share later this week :)  Thanks for stopping by!

Swap 'til you Drop [Part 1]: Swap-bot.com

Welcome to part 1 of my swapping primer.  After starting to write everything out, I decided that it would be best not to present you with a wall 'o text and split this into two parts :) Today I'm going to tell you a little bit about an awesome swapping site -- Swap-bot.com.  In part 2 I'll talk about Flickr swaps. 
 
Around the time I discovered quilting, I also discovered online swapping... and let me tell you, it's addicting!  Swapping is great for several reasons

1. Meet new people and possibly make new friends who have similar interests
2. Tying new patterns and tutorials you may not have discovered on your own
3. Building collections (there are tons of swaps out there for non-related things if you have other artistic interests -- like Artist Trading Cards)
4. It's fun and you get pretty things!

So, how do you get into swapping?  The first site I discovered was swap-bot.com.  Swap-bot is a site dedicated to swapping pretty much anything and everything you can think of, including fabric and sewing swaps!  You can read more details at their About page.  Not only is it a great and easy way to swap items, it's also very easy to host swaps for things you are interested in.

Swap-bot is very ratings driven, meaning you have to build up your swapping "cred" with good ratings.  New users have to complete and be rated for 5 swaps before they get their swapping limit increased.  Setting limits on the amount of swaps that someone can participate in protects the user from getting overwhelmed, and it also protects everyone using the site from getting taken advantage of by people who just want free stuff (with no intention of sending something in return).  Hosts generally use ratings as a guide to judge whether or not they want to allow someone in their swap or group; it is very important that you send on time!  If you repeatedly send late or "flake" (meaning you don't send at all) it will hurt your ratings and you most likely won't be allowed to participate in swaps.  After participating for a while you'll get to learn the etiquette of the site.  They have a very helpful FAQ and New User Guide that I would recommend you read through thoroughly before you join :)

Finding your way around swap-bot can be a little tricky.  When a host posts a swap, they have the option to choose 3 categories for their swap, and luckily you can use the categories they have chosen to find swaps that interest you.  The three categories that I usually search for are Fabric, Quilting, and Sewing.  New users can also search for "Newbie" to find swaps geared toward new swap-bot members.

There are also a large number of interest-related groups you can join, some fabric and sewing groups that I really enjoy are (you may not be able to view these links without first creating an account): Fabric Fanatics, Nuts for Sewing, and Sew Random.  These are just some of the groups where I tend to participate in most of the swaps because they interest me, there are a lot of groups for other interests and many other sewing related groups that you may want to check out also.

My one disclaimer is:  you may not receive something that is completely to your taste, especially if you are a "modern" quilter, but if you receive something that you don't necessarily like, you can always swap it away the next round.

If you decide to give Swap-bot a try, please feel free to join the scrap swap I am hosting, I'd love to see you there!  Once you get some more swapping experience, I also host a monthly stash builder FQ swap that is a lot of fun :)

Sorry lots of text and not a lot of pictures!