A Little Pillow Talk

I love making pillows. They are easy and pretty quick to make. They are also small enough to use to try out quilt blocks or just use up scraps. I took some of my old pillow covers off, once the packing was done, and decided to make new covers to go with our new living space. My sister is such a fan of color and fabric that she encouraged me, although I must say, I didn't need much encouragement.

 The first pillow cover was this one. My sister had some crocheted doilies that had been made by either my grandmother or possibly my great grandmother. No one knows for sure, but we wanted a way to showcase this one in particular. My first thought was to put it on a solid fabric, but when I found this in my stash, I knew it was perfect. This is from the Sweetwater collection Volume II. I stitched around the edge of the doily, and then a bit in the center to anchor everything.

 An envelope closure on the back and then is was done. We spent a couple of days admiring it on the couch before I made this nest one.

 I was just dying to cut into the Charleston collection. I did not buy the whole collection, but a few of the designs just called to me, one being this print of the houses and the streets. I love the way the red flowered print frames this piece.

 And to quilt the pillow top, I decided, after stitching in the ditch around the two borders, to just follow the map line of the streets. I LOVE how that turned out.

 The second border, which disappears in a frontal shot, is the navy blue umbrella print. So cute and the perfect frame for the pillow.

 I really wanted to include the pineapple print in this pillow, so it became the envelope closure on the back. So so pretty. This is my new favorite, but I say that every time I make one.

And here they are together, sitting pretty. Have a lovely day and I will talk to you soon.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.

Beatrix is Complete

On Sunday, I was able to finish my Beatrix top. I don't know why I sometimes dread finishing on garments. All that was left was to hem the sleeves and make button holes and attach the buttons. I think it is the fear of button holes that got me. As it turned out, they worked out quite well.

 This is the front of the blouse. I used Anna Maria Horner's Loominous for this top after seeing Rae's version of a Boho dress in the same fabric. This is some of the most interesting fabric I have ever used and I love the way it turned out. I used the pattern piece for short sleeves, but cut them a bit longer which is how I prefer them.

 Here is the back of the blouse with its six buttons. I really love the look of this back. I think that was what attracted me to the pattern in the first place.

I have plans to make at least two more of these. They are not difficult and the instructions are wonderfully written and illustrated. I have already bought the fabric! I am truly enjoying sewing again!

On last shot, an out take due to the shadows of the late afternoon. This is proof that the camera sees things the eye does not. I kind of like it though. See you soon with more sewing adventures.

Starting to Find My Groove

I am finally starting to find my sewing groove here. It has been tough to find sewing time, which sounds ridiculous for someone who is now retired, but it's true. Still working to find the new normal. I have made some time to get some things going and to keep some things going, but the to do pile is growing at an alarming rate. I need to buckle down and sew more to keep on top of it. Too many ideas are coming at me too fast.

But here is what I have gotten done so far:

 This is Made by Rae's Beatrix top. She made a Boho dress in this fabric and I loved it so much, but I am not a dress person. I love jeans and slacks so I needed a top. I still need to hem the sleeves and put the buttons and button holes up the back, but I LOVE this! I have already bought fabric for two more. I knew if I found the right top pattern, I would make several. This one has everything I want in a top!

Then, I finally was able to do the April Lesson from the Penny Sampler quilt by Rachel Hauser. I loved how it turned out!

And...I was able to do the May lesson as well!! I decided to do all my little blocks the same to add a bit of continuity to the project. I have a lot going on in my version of this quilt. I am going to get a design wall up soon so that I can see how it is all looking. I need to do that before I go much further.

 And finally, a picture of the new sewing room. I am sharing the room with my sister. The other side is her home office, but the space seems to be working well for us both. I got the crates at IKEA to store some of my stuff. I had book shelves back in NC. I did bring my cutting table that has a gate leg and attaches to the wall. I still love that thing! I haven't figured out a goo spot for the scrap boxes yet, though.

 All my fabric that lived on shelves is now in these pull out drawers. I bought a second one at IKEA. Everything is still sorted by color. That is how I work best. The short sweater hangers above were bought at Bed Bath and Beyond. They are holding larger scraps, sorted by color. I stll have more sorting to do on those.

And this is the view above my machine. Lots of bright light and right now, beautiful bougainvillea. I hope you have a lovely weekend and I will talk to you very soon.

First Finished Project in California!

After lots of unpacking and rearranging and errand running to get things, I finally spent some time working on a project in my new sewing space here. I am finding it hard to make myself go in and dive into a project like I used to, but I think it's just because I am still settling in and trying to get a routine of sorts. Any way, here it is:

 I made a tuffet! Now, this is not my first tuffet, but my second. I have been wanting to make another one since I made that first one about 10 years ago. I wanted this one to be really different though.

 My original idea for this was to make it look like a California poppy. I though that would be fitting in my new home state. I had just a rough idea of how it would look. Then, one day my husband took me to my new local quilt shop to look at fabric. And I found this beauty: Poppy Mae by Robin Pickens for Moda! It couldn't be any more perfect!

 So I studied it and tried to figure out how to use it for my tuffet. I decided to make it mostly the poppy fabric and ad a thin stripe of green between the panels. Then I fussy cut the center of a poppy to cover the button. I am very happy with how this turned out. And I thought you might like to see the first tuffet, very well loved and used.

 I made this one in a class with Sheryn Cole about 10 years ago in North Carolina. I had so much fun with this one, choosing the colors and I even painted the feet blue to go with it.

 Here is a better picture of the feet. This little sweetie has been sat on countless times by grand children and has propped up many a tired foot over the years.

 You can see in this picture how dingy the fabrics have become. I have thought about recovering it, but I still love all these fabrics so very much. I am thinking I may just try to clean it. The Kaffe Fasset print on the button was the inspiration for the color pallet that I chose.

 Here are the two tuffets side by side. You can also see that in the last 10 years the button on the first tuffet has loosened and pulled up from the center a bit.

New and old...

I know that they will both get lots of use here in the Garden House. We love our tuffets. If you want to make a tuffet, I bought my kit from Tuffet Source. You may have seen them on Facebook, but you can google them. They have the parts you will need, to make a tuffet. You need to provide the fabrics and thread. I do recommend a class if you are unfamiliar with the process. They are offered all over the place. Just google it. Talk to you soon.

My First Sewing in California

I am happy to report that I have, at last put needle to fabric here in California. My husband reminded me yesterday that it has only been 2 weeks since all our stuff arrived and it has taken that long to unpack and organize well enough to begin to feel normal. Normal means sewing.

So, the machine is set up, the fabric unpacked and most of the sewing tools have been located. Still looking for one or two things. I made a couple of trips to IKEA to get some new storage things for the fabrics and my books and tools.

I have decided that the best way to make a design wall, which I still need to do because I use one a lot, is to follow the directions of Erin at Sew at Home Mummy. She made a design wall on a roller shade fixture and it is the perfect solution for me. I share the space with my sister. Her part is her home office and my part is the sewing room, even though we are calling it the sewing room.

This room actually will have 3 uses as it will also be where we put guests to sleep when they come to visit. For now we will use an aerobed in the space, but later we are thinking of a pull out sofa maybe. So the design wall needs to be easily hidden.

Now, I will show pictures of the space next time, but here is the wee bit of sewing I did:

I had a piece of batik fabric for years that I loved but couldn't figure out how to use. So I made us 4 napkins. I love the print and the deep color. My sister did the napkin folds for this picture. See, we work so well together!

Since I can't blog with just one picture, here are a couple more that have nothing to do with sewing:

 This girl, with her back to us, is Trouble. Her name is perfect for her personality. She is pure trouble.

                Strawberries from the local farmer's market. Yum!

And my sister's neighbor gave us a big bag with a dozen or so juicing oranges off her tree in her yard!

Soo we squeezed them and got a half gallon of orange juice! It tastes just like eating an orange! Well, that's all I have for today. See you soon.