Preppy Girl's Quilt

Here is my latest creation, the preppy girl quilt. The commissioner of this quilt fell in love with the purple bunnies online at Reprodepot. Once we had the bunnies in our hot little hands, we met up at Purl Patchwork and picked the other five fabrics. The white on white Robert Kaufman floral print is the same print as the pink and white floral backing. Overall, I am totally charmed by this quilt and how it turned out.

Bad Crafter

I have been way too busy having fun this summer and not working hard enough on all of my great projects. I am a very bad crafter. Like this past weekend, instead of sewing, I went off to the Jersey Shore. Saturday had great weather but storms rolled in on Sunday. I didn't have my fancy camera but was able to capture a couple shots before the storm. But don't worry, the crazy rain didn't stop the fun. My only regret was having to leave to go back home so I could go to work on Monday.

The boardwalk seems so mellow on a cloudy day. But it was bumping the night before!


The lifeguards announced that the storm was coming and the beach cleared out, fast.


The seagull didn't seem too nervous.


Those were some scary cloud formations. They were moving so fast and were so ominous. My camera's batteries died right after taking this shot so I didn't have a chance at capturing the crazy lightning in the distance.

The good news is that I don't have any plans for this weekend besides staying in my nice, air-conditioned apartment and getting caught up on some projects. Someone might have also bought a new Japanese sewing book with awesome looking patterns that must get tried this weekend. And when I say someone, I mean me, the person who isn't supposed to buy any more patterns until there is some better production coming out of the Astoria studio.

Little Miss B

Here is Brielle, the cutest little model. What a natural! She is such a good natured lady and ever so patient. Doesn't the first shot nicely show off the hem on the bottom of the dress and her cute little legs?

Overall, I am very happy with the way the dress turned out and how it fit. My only concern before trying it on was the length. It seemed a little too close to evening gown length and my suspicions proved true when I tried the dress on Brielle. Next time, I think I will shorten it a bit. The pattern does come in larger sizes for toddlers and bigger girls. Once the model is walking, I think the length will work a lot better.

Quilt Action Shots - VI

Here are the sweet little twins modeling their new quilts.

More Makeup Bags

So, a certain blogger gave me a couple of yards of very cute Amy Butler green polka dots when I was out in San Francisco least month. It is perfect for makeup and to carry other little goodies. Although it is only July, I am already planning out what I want to make for the Bust Craftacular coming up in December, which is going to include little bags like this one.

To give the bag a little more structure, I used batting between the polka dots and yellow lining. I also added some adorable grosgrain ribbon to the little strap, just to make it sassy.

I offered Amy a little something in exchange for the fabric and all I could get her to agree to is a case for her sunglasses. It should be super cute. Hopefully I will have time next weekend to try making one.

A Dress For Brielle

I am in a countdown to meeting little Brielle, who turned three months old yesterday. In anticipation of our first meeting, I wanted to make her a little present. I used the Oliver + S party dress pattern. It is labeled easy and for the most part it was. My only trouble came attaching the bodice to the skirt. I managed to create matching puckers in the middle of the front and the back. Boo. I ironed them like crazy and am hoping no one will notice.

I also want to take this moment to give my sewing machine a big shout out. My Brother sewing machine is awesome. The pattern calls for buttons and due to some unfortunate buttonhole attempts with my old machine, I was very very very apprehensive to ever doing buttonholes again. And let's not even talk about the button setting. With gritted teeth, I tried the buttonhole setting and it worked like a charm. Feeling a little more confident, I went for the button feature and that was even easier. Who knew it could be like this? I am a changed woman. More confident, ready to face the world, one buttonhole at a time.

The Second Twin Quilt

So there are two little ladies in Los Angeles waiting for their quilts. I purposefully picked very different fabrics for each girl but I will leave it up to their mom to decide which one will get the seersucker quilt and which one will get this fun animal print. I quilted flowers and circles on the seersucker quilt but went for the simple stripes with this one. It was my first attempt using the quilting guide with my machine and did alright - if you look closely, the lines get a little wavy, but that can be chalked up to the charm of homemade, right?

Here You Go Mom!

Here is the finished quilt I made for my mom. I goofed on the math when I calculated my block pieces. Rather than take the time to fix each block piece by piece, I ended up going for a simpler pattern with the bigger pieces and then framing it with the smaller pieces. I backed with a light blue, used white binding and quilted in the ditch. It should look perfect as a throw in my mom's family room.

No More Streaking!

After way too many mad dashes from the bathroom to my bedroom in my fishbowl apartment, I finally made myself this wonderful robe. The picture doesn't do it justice since I have been wearing every day for the past week - if I was a good blogger, I would have ironed it first, but getting this post up seemed more important than a little ironing.

I used the pattern posted below with this adorable floral print I picked up fabric shopping in the Garment District with Charlotte. I made a couple of changes to the pattern to simplify it a bit. I skipped the decorative lace and skipped the pockets. Overall, I am incredibly pleased with how it fits and how it looks. Next up, a new nightgown from the same pattern.

Where Have I Been?

Busy sewing. Too busy to even blog about all of my projects. Fourth of July Weekend was a giant sewing fest in my apartment. By Sunday, I was delirious and ready for a quilting break. I also cranked out some more goodies today. So without further ado, here are my projects. I am going to break up the posts for easier uploading.