Sew Many Resolutions.....

So I want to try and publicly commit to some sewing resolutions for the new year. I like making goals and lists, so here it is:

Every month:

I will finish 1 quilt top,
I will finish 1 other project (a purse, a stuffed animal, etc.)

AND I will accomplish these goals without buying more fabric to complete said quilt tops and projects.

Also within 2010, I want to:

Learn how to quilt a quilt on my own sewing machine
Take at least one sewing class at a quilt shop or by a long-arm quilter

I hope I am not setting myself up to fail with these ambitions; having Gregory is making life much more busy and sewing an infrequent activity. But I am definitely willing and excited to try! Wish me luck!

Laurie

Peg Bears and Fabric!

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! We sure did. Baby's first Christmas was so nice- I have never felt so happy and blessed. I love our little family and being a mom is wonderful.

I did manage to get a little sewing done- this is a project I have wanted to do for a long time. One Red Robin is the first craft/sewing blog I came across, thanks to a recommendation from my SIL, and I was dying to make the peg bears posted there. But the blog's author never posted or released the pattern till now. The pattern is in a book I received for Christmas- One Yard Wonders.

I have to say that Gregory LOVES these bears- I have never seen him react so positively to a toy. He's only 12 weeks old, thus I know that his interest in toys is very limited to begin with. But when he saw the one my sister made- he smiled a lot and was fascinated. He later gave it his stamp of approval by trying to eat it. It wasn't till this afternoon that I completed the one I made for him, and he stared at it with great interest for at least 10 minutes. Soon after, he tried to eat it and later begged to take it to bed for his nap as you can see from the pictures below.
Here is the one Emily made, the bear is stealing a snooze in the bassinet at Grandma and Grandpa Moulton's house.

Emily and I made these in just a few hours. Emily isn't big into sewing, but she was a great help in cutting and stuffing the bears- while I did all of the machine sewing.

Now, I really like these bears and I think they are adorable, but I can see how they might not appeal to all tastes. I am begging for comments on this question: Peg Bears: Cute or Not Cute? Please weigh in on this crucial matter as I am thinking about making them as gifts for other children but don't want their parents joking that I make terribly ugly stuffed animals that induce nightmares in their children.

Onto the obligatory fabric pictures, requested by a close friend who was very interested in seeing the fabric I received for Christmas. I had to tell her I have been teased for having a lot of fabric pictures on this blog, maybe outnumbering the projects I have made with said fabric. But I am going to indulge her request anyway, despite possibility (or promise) of continued teasing.

Anyway, here is my most favorite fabric I received for Christmas- pieces of Patty Young's Flora and Fauna line. I didn't want all of the different prints she released- the honeycomb with bees is unbelievably cool, but I had to pass on the prints with moths as well as the large neon colored daisy's over polka dots. Besides those prints, I LOVE everything else and I am determined to make something with this stuff by the end of January.

I also asked for some of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane line. When I originally saw pictures of this print, I was not impressed mainly because her previous line, Pop Garden is my all time favorite and this falls far short of it's predecessor. But it's grown on me and I was lucky enough to receive several fat quarters of some of the prints.

No pictures, but I also got a fat quarter set of Sandi Henderon's Meadowsweet line and Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley line. I love the first one, the second one's color range is a little out of my comfort zone.

Finally, I did the annual post-Christmas trip to Marden's- a discount fabric store in Maine that often carries fabric that is normally $10 a yard for a mere $3 per yard. This is most of what I found, but I also got a whole bolt of this for backing a pink quilt in the near future.

Those who don't sew probably think I am crazy for owning so much fabric- but what can I say? It was the only thing I wanted for Christmas and it's all I received too- AND, it's so much fun to make things with cute fabric- motivation and enthusiasm to make a project out of something you are not excited about is just no fun.

P.S. Here's one of the best presents I received that will greatly help in using up all of this fabric:

I am really thrilled with how many awesome ideas it has as well as it's ease of use with it being spiral bound and full size patterns included.

Christmas Stocking

Well, I finished Gregory's stocking and I am really happy with how it turned out. I did my own design and pattern- using techniques I had previously learned. I found that my experience making purses was especially helpful. The front is a combination of polka dot cotton prints sewed together and then fused and quilted onto fusible fleece. I loved the ease of not having to measure all the strips and purposely make it crooked. I used a red gelly roll pen to transfer his name from graphed tracing paper onto the white fabric of the cuff (the picture makes his name look crooked, but it's really not.) I then emboridered over the letters, easily the most time consuming aspect of this project (maybe I should have named him "Gus" or "Dan" or an abbreviation- like B.J.) I made the back of his stocking twice because I stupidly did not flip the stocking pattern the first time. Blame it on "baby brain." I wanted the back to be simple because the front is so busy on the front, so I think this worked out pretty well.

He's too young to appreciate Christmas this year, and won't get the concept of Santa or presents next year (but probably will be very adept at yanking off the tree ornaments next year); but perhaps in 2012, we will have a lot of fun with the little guy at this time of year.

Red and Green

Recently I have been plugging away at making a Christmas stocking for my son. I have scoured my stash for red and green fabrics with polka dots. I love fabrics with dots- so luckily I had quite a few. I am doing my own design, using the technique I showed in an earlier post with the Christmas tree quilt square. Hopefully I will have it done soon.
I am not really a "crafty" person- because I consider being crafty to be more of a person who uses glue a lot- you know, buys all the knick knacks at Joann's or Michael's that you can paint or put glitter on. I actually think there are a lot of cute crafts to do out there, I just have so much I want to sew, I really don't have the time to add another hobby. (Let's be honest, I also don't have the space either). So anyway- last year I did see a tutorial on how to make a wreath out of Christmas ornaments and a wire hanger. So I ended up buying 8 $1 boxes of red and green ornaments in the after-Christmas sale at Joann's, and here's what I made:
It really only took 1 hour to make- I just had to hot glue the little ornament "caps" onto the bulb and then strung it onto the wire hanger (which I had made circular). The only thing that stinks about it, is it can break pretty easy I think. Gregory loves to stare at it.

Maybe I should take up knitting..........

So my wonderful friend has made some adorable gifts for the kiddo...... It honestly makes me want to knit when I see what cute things she has made:


Look at those hexagons! Gregory better be careful, his mom might claim this little turtle for her own (only because the pumpkin hat won't fit her.....) Just kidding.

Box Exchange 2009

A little while ago I posted the quilt block I was submitting to my quilt guild. Here is the first block I made for someone: Of course, I procrastinated this project and on the evening it was due to be submitted, I started making it 1.5 hours before the meeting started! It was also right at the time my baby started stirring and crying after a long nap. I had thought the meeting was a week later than it really was. I blame it on the fact that usually the guild meets on the 5th Monday of every month and they switched it up for some reason as well as "baby brain."

The baby with the most blankets wins

I haven't been able to do much sewing since my son was born, but he is easing into a schedule and occasionally I have been able to do a few things.

I had made the blanket on the right before he was born- it's just a very simple receiving blanket- a sandwich of flannel. As Nick and I have been taking care of Gregory, we noticed that it was the perfect size to swaddle him in- about 45" by 54". I decided to makes some more, hence the muppets one and the little cars one. Joann's is having all of their flannel on sale for 1.50 per yard on Black Friday- I can't wait!
My little guy has SO many blankets thanks to my sewing and generous gifts of friends and family.

I am also working on a large adult sized quilt out of black, white, and yellow fabrics. I am in the tedious stage of doing all of the cutting- a task I hate. I will show the progress once I begin actually sewing.