Audrey Hepburn: A Quilt of My Friend's Very Own

This is me:  Let's buy that yard of white fabric I have needed for over a year so that I can finally get down to business on Camden's Broken Herringbone quilt.

Also me that same night:  Wow!  Thank goodness I happen to now have a yard of white fabric so that I can ALL OF A SUDDEN whip up a quilt for Elissa (of The Rarest Bird!!!), my friend!

My second quilt is officially a gift.  I surprised her with it yesterday, and I'm so glad she loves it!  I don't recall if blood, sweat and tears were involved in the making of it, but wasted fabric, rust stains and cussing were!

I figured it would at least be easy enough to use the Audrey Hepburn panels she had given me - turn them into a basic rectangles quilt.  I sashed each panel, having to rip out when I misplaced the wider vs. the narrower strips of white, and then I had to figure out where I wanted the mini panels to go, and I went with the sides of the quilt so that I wouldn't end up with a crazy long and narrow quilt.  In doing that, I also had to rip out and then buy more white fabric, but the math wasn't too awful, aha.

The only other near-fatal accidents with this quilt involved not making the backing quite enough.  It was wider than the top by about 6 inches, but it BARELY met the length of the top, and that was a bit scary, as I kept moving the top around to match the backing underneath the batting, not wanting to warp the top, clearly, but wanting to stretch it as far as I could. 

Lastly, when I ironing, I knew I was temping the fates because when there is water/steam involved with an iron, it sometimes lays down a rust mark, but I REALLY wanted to get out the pink pen marks (by the way, I love that pink pen, but it's a wash-out, not an iron-out; use Frixion pens in your quilting!!) without washing it.  Anyway.... you see where this is headed.  I lost my ever-loving mind and threw that quilt in the washer, knowing that the open seam where I had sewn the binding on would likely fray quite a bit in the wash.... and it DID.  After washing and drying, I then had to go back and re-sew some of the binding where it had frayed too close to the seam line.  That wasn't awesome, to be honest.

The only really flat photo of the front

Anyway, it took a few days to hand-sew the other side of the binding down, as life is crazy right now with tons of driving to and fro, but the quilt overall is done and awesome and it is loved.  I so love surprising people!!!!

And so.... days in the life of!

She has a thing about cleaning threads out of chair wheels....

Birthday posters for Meagan!

Finally starting to hang our art from The Rarest Bird!

Helping make Vegan Snickers Pie! 

For cousin Helen!

Second day this week of their camps!

Tiberius wanted an army helmet, of course

I just keep making MORE bags!

Thank Goodness for Last Year's Scirocco

Late to the game...but also ahead of the game??

That's how we'll view the project,  Honestly, y'all, I have been so awful about sewing.  It makes me feel horrible inside, and I know it shouldn't, but because I'm pretty stubborn about making the kids' clothing, they haven't had anything new in a while.  I mean, I DO buy Tiberius t-shirts, and I buy Camden camisoles (sorry, dudes...Target has my money where the camis are concerned....but could they make RED, please?!!!!), leggings and some plain or striped tees.  Other than that, though, when I see cute sweaters or fun dresses, etc., I can't be bothered, nor do I have money to spend on the types of things I like, anyway, aha!  I truly just like to be able to make their clothes.

Problem numero uno, though:  I haven't been sewing all that much.  I last truly made Camden clothing in December, and I am still light years behind on sewing ANYTHING for Tiberius, other than his pajamas.  I took a mini knitting break recently, too, as that was sucking up all crafting time, and I think my brain was slowly dying, as a result.  That break is sort of over, but I had pumped out four to six sweaters in a three-month span, and I think I needed to chill.  I am working on socks now, and I'd like to work on Matt's Quadri hat.  Maybe I'll cast that on next week.

I am getting back into the sewing room, though, in that I've started a quilting class at Modern Domestic (yes, my favorite place on Earth!).  I'm taking a class with Meredith.  She is a great instructor, and I always have fun when working with her.  I also convinced Matt's mom to take the class, and I think she is having a good time, as well, as she'd been really looking forward to working with Meredith for quite a while.  We are working on the quilt, Quicker by the Dozen, and I actually have a bunch of homework to finish today, for tomorrow's class.  There are two classes left, and all that'll be left is quilting and binding - yay!

Clearly, quilting is NOT garment sewing, but I'd like to finish the quilt and then crank out a few outfits for the kids for summer weather.  But speaking OF, I'm already ahead, as mentioned above ;)

I actually purchased this fabric for myself a few years back, and naturally, I saw it in my stash and thought it'd be super pretty for a Scirocco for Camden, aha!  I always have a good time making the dress.  As fancy as it looks, it's straight-forward and easy.  One can sew a regular hem on all the skirt ruffles and lining, or one could use a rolled hem.  I went with a regular hem this time around, and on the bodice, I used a wee bit of lace, given to me by a friend.

When I first finished it last year, I felt it was too big for Camden, especially in the elastic band in the back.  I told her for months and months that I needed to bring in the elastic, but laziness won out, and I never did until just a couple weeks ago.  I hope, then, that it'll fit nicely through the whole summer so she gets enough wear out of it :O  I believe I made the size 7/8.  She always loves this dress pattern, so, I can't wait to make the next....after sewing all sorts of OTHER patterns (I actually have two blouses to blog about, too, as soon as I finish the coordinating pants).  And of course, trying it on her NOW, it seems it'll be too small before I know it!  How does this happen?!

\And then....other nonsense we've been up to!!!

These three....giggles, fighting...and weirdness!!

I made a mean strawberry rhubarb muffin with this haul from great grandpa's!

Our first date night in quite a while!

The nighttime photos kill me, aha!

All smiles before he decides he is NOT a fan of these quesadillas

Matt's mom working away on her Quicker by the Dozen

Don't worry - I want to make the one on the wall, too!