A Sewing Beast

Yes, you heard it here first!  Camden is a bit of a sewing beast!  With two handmade skirts under her belt - and an 8th birthday! - she was able to sign up for a spring break sewing camp at Modern Domestic, which you KNOW is one of my favorite places on earth!

She'd like to write this blog post herself, actually, but I would be pained in the brain to sit through that, so, I may see if she wants to add some at the end.

She did love her class, taken with Karin Dejan (her IG page).  The instructor prepped the pieces, in terms of cutting and pinning, but the students sewed and made the fabric choices.  Camden clearly has good taste, by the way ;)  Classes lasted three hours each day, Monday through Thursday.

After they finished their projects for the day, students were able to work on a separate project, and the first day, Camden actually made a wee gift for her teacher, as it was Karin's birthday the next day.  She was pretty excited about it, and as I was trying to rush her out at the end of class, she kept telling me she needed to finish something.  She handed it to her teacher, along with a card, on Tuesday - pretty cute, I say!

I was spying on her cutting threads out of the wheel, LOL!

Her face when she realized I was standing there!  

As for her daily projects, she made a drawstring bag, a tote bag, an apron and a pillow.  They all turned out super great, and she even sewed a ZIPPER into that pillow, folks!  Pretty cool!  I was probably just as excited as SHE was each day, aha!  She chose Cotton and Steel fabrics and fabric from Elizabeth Hartman's (her blog) Terrarium line for Robert Kaufman.  Camden smiled so much on class days and really enjoyed herself and was so proud of what she made.  I call it a crazy success and secretly wish she could take THIS quilting class over the summer, but we'll see if it works into the schedule.

It was a great week, and now Camden would like to add a thought about another project she made, which I kept mostly as she typed it, not correcting all her typos:

"i wanted to tell you about this other project that I made at my class is a quilt with fringe on two sides. it is for my doll. i made it for my doll but i don't have a name for her yet.  Any ideas?"

Getting some use out of that apron!

Music Class Ensemble! For Sewing Class!

Here's the deal!  Poor Camden needs to represent this week!  I may have said so in my last post, but Camden attends a sewing class at Modern Domestic, and it's her FIRST sewing camp, for which we are BOTH excited!  But I was aghast to realize it was coming up so quickly, and not only did she not have a fun Easter outfit, but she didn't have any new handmade clothing for her sewing camp.

First-world trials and tribulations, y'all.

It's rather easy to pull together the Music Class set by Oliver and S, as it calls for low yardage.  I have only ever once made the blouse with long sleeves, and I wanted to say I've made this a few times before, but I can find NO photo evidence of this fact :O  Well...other than the version I made back in 2013.  But I'm going crazy, because I know it exists.  Anyway, I used the Tokyo Train Ride fabric by Cotton and Steel.  I can't recall what I originally bought it for, but it works here, and this seller still has some in stock.  You NEED this print.  Orange does it for me, though, aha!  Samesies with the skirt, as it calls for low yardage, and I'm so crazy with my cutting techniques - which often leaves me with fabric leftovers, and I'm all, "What do I DO with this???"  LOL.  So...good and bad having leftovers.

The pattern itself, as usual, is quick and easy enough to put together.  If you plow through those pintucks and pleats, everything else is a breeze.  This was actually the very last outfit I made before shutting down sewing room operations.  I hope that this time, there isn't such a long stretch between sewing sessions.  When we moved in the summer of 2016, I packed things up in probably May, and then I wasn't able to sew again until November, essentially.  I mean, I guess I could have set up shop at the kitchen table or something, but that is a whole slew of other issues.

I know everyone and his/her mother has made this outfit, as it's an oldy, but if you have NOT, you need to!  I have nothing new and special to say about it, other than my usual:  ALWAYS lengthen Oliver and S patterns for longer wear.  I made the size 10 this time (though an 8 would have been fine), and I lengthened even that, so, since Camden just turned 8 a few days ago, I'm hoping we'll get use out of it until she's partway through her 9th year.  We shall see!

And some days in the life of....

A quick birthday poster before we ditched town!  And she has new sheets for her new room!

More presents from us - and grandma and grandpa!

Grandma prepared a couple of fun posters!

As usual, Matt adds the Darth Vader touch!

When I have kids with me at my massage appointments...

At this point, the fabric is mostly off the shelves, too!

New sewing room!  After trim is finished, I'll go in and paint it up!

LOL at this photo

Gifts from grandma in Michigan!

They always look forward to their singing cards!

Quicker by the Dozen... Dozen Months, More Like

Shouting from the rooftops!!!!  The quilt is DONE!!!!  Tell all your friends!  I'm certainly going to tell MINE ;)

I'm so excited (and YES, cue the Pointer Sisters!) that I have finally finished my Quicker by the Dozen quilt, designed by Lynette Jensen (her "about" page on the RJR fabric site), in conjunction with Cotton and Steel.

I actually made this quilt during a class with Meredith Hobbs at Modern Domestic.  She is one of my favorite teachers with whom to work.  I originally saw the quilt kit on sale at MD, and the quilt was hung on the wall.  I fell in love, of course.  I adore me some Cotton and Steel, and the quilt is made up of a mix of fabrics from the different collections.  The kit was sold separately from the class, but other than THAT, I needed only to purchase the backing and batting.  I felt a bit bad in being a bit unoriginal, but it also felt nice to NOT have to choose my fabrics for my first quilt.  I signed up immediately and took the class with four other lovely ladies, including my mother-in-law.

I say this time and again, but I truly enjoy taking classes.  The social aspect appeals to me, likely because I'm home with kids all day, every day, but I also love the atmosphere and lighting at Modern Domestic.  Additionally, in classes, you get tips and tricks - or reminders about details I might otherwise forget in my hurry to finish something.

I took this class last spring and actually had the quilt finished through the actual quilting before I went to Michigan in late June.  Why am I only NOW blogging about it?

Well, I am a silly lady and did NOT like my quilting.  I chose straight lines, which created diagonal squares covering my quilt, but even though I basted my quilt with the help of the other ladies in class, in quilting it, I managed to pinch the fabric in several places.  It just seemed awful to me, and I knew I could bind it and try to get over it, but that seemed so lazy.  In the end, I put it off forever and then finally pulled out every other straight line going in ONE direction across the quilt.  I wanted to do the same with the other direction, but I was convinced to chill out and just bind the sucker - which then didn't begin to happen until a week and a half ago or so.  The stitch-ripping DID end up fixing a few of the pinched spots on the quilt - but not enough, in my humble opinion, so, I just have to avert my ends when they start to wander too close to the mistakes.  I had told myself I was NOT allowed to work on other projects or even think about cutting out new quilt pieces until this quilt was done, so, it just needed to happen, LOL.

One of the more innocent pinches....yikes

I do love it and am so excited and proud.  My hand-stitched binding is quite lovely, though my turned corners aren't super awesome.  And I'm happy I am finally entering it as DONE into Jaclyn Salem's relaxed QAL she has going in her Brooklyn Knitfolk Ravelry goup.

As for the blocks and the class itself:  We focused on two blocks each week.  I think there are six different blocks, 12 of each.  Meredith gave us notes - things that worked for her in the making of it.  It was nice to use the large cutting tables and to work without worrying about feeding small children, aha!  The class was meant to be 4 sessions, but we did push into a fifth session, as we ALL needed more time.  My mother-in-law at this point needs to re-quilt hers and then bind it, but it's so close!  The most fiddly block was the one filled with half-square triangles.  Somehow, most of my mistakes are in the hourglass-looking block - and the V-looking block.  My corners just did NOT want to match up, even though I nested seams, etc.

A bit of a tedious block

See those GREAT matching points??? :O

Also, I found that for me, I just don't trust pressing seams open.  I worry the seams will come apart more easily - BUT in putting each block together, I found that, especially with the smaller pieces, it just helped to press seams open.  I didn't do this throughout, but most of the seams are pressed open.

Supplies I totally used:  Best Press (pro tip!!!  Meredith recommends filling half the bottle with water - cutting the solution to save the dolla dolla billz) and curved pins.  I'm not sure I'd be into spray-basting.  I know it can damage floors over time, and I also don't quite trust it, because I'm a WEIRDO.  Also, I just had to suck it up and empty my iron of water.  I HATE not being able to steam when I press, but my irons just seem to go south super fast when I use the steam option.  So, I had to pull out a spray bottle - which is honestly semi-annoying.  I used quilting gloves, which I believe helped.  They just provide a bit of stick when trying to wield the quilt and push it through the machine.

I also appreciated any and all wee quilting rules I used.  I have had large, long rulers for a while, but over the course of a few months, I used coupons at Joann Fabrics in order to build up my supply of square quilting rules.  As for marking pens, I used various colors of Frixion pens, which erase with heat.  I clearly already have water and air-soluble pens, but MD sells these, and I love them!  (At the writing of this post, I actually STILL need to go back and iron out my pen marks :O )  Lastly, I used a square storage-looking container from Michael's in order to tote my fabric blocks and rulers back and forth to MD.

My mother-in-law and I had tons of fun in class, and I'm just hoping and wishing for another fun quilting class to come up at the shop.  Right now, they aren't offering a class that quite fits what I want to take, so, I am holding out, but I'm getting antsy, aha!

Special shout-out to my friend for allowing me to take quilt photos in HER house, rather than mine!

And...days in the life of!

Future sewing room

In the new house-to-be, the fireplace is demolished...

This will eventually turn into another IKEA kitchen, aha!

Working on a first draft

Our house-to-be....minus a wall - which will turn into a bookcase

Next quilt project - for Camden!