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!

A Bad Apple - OR an Apple Picking Dress

As usual, I'm in shock.  Did I REALLY last make an Apple Picking Dress in 2015?????  (Last post is seen HERE.)  No.  Seriously????!  That doesn't seem right, and I feel there is a lost blog post - or a post never written, aha.

Either way, sad times, as I love the pattern and apparently wish I'd made a million more.

For all the extra work a button placket CAN be, this goes together quickly and has a polished look about it.  My only issue with this version is that the spot where the tie meets the placket is frageeeelay.  I don't normally feel this way, so, I'm not sure if it's the Joann Fabrics shirting I used.  I added some zigzag stitching to that spot, and I ended up pinching the main bodice fabric in doing so.  It's not super noticeable, but I'm bummed, though I hope it holds.  I definitely don't want to rip it out, as that whole area needs no added stress.  And I have naturally instructed Camden to not yank on the ties at all.

This maybe shows the color best.. and a great view of the bad apple, aha!

Honestly, maybe the craziest part of this dress is the sewing-on of TEN buttons.  Jeez.  It was a toss-up between these pink buttons and a sort of orange pair, but the pink seemed more delicate and in line with the look.

Anyway, I always do the double skirt version, and it turned out really well - I can't wait to have her wear this on Friday to her seventh day of school!!

So...days in the life of!!!

A Book Report on Floral Fashion

You must know by now my undying love of this dress.  I daresay I like the pattern more than Camden does, as it isn't the first dress she ever reaches for.  I have sewn a few Book Report Dresses by Oliver and S - shown HERE and HERE.  It, like the Seashore Sundress, in my LAST post, is a relatively simple sew that you can turn into so much more.  I clearly don't get crazy with the pattern, but I think I love how there are different "blocks" of color, in a way.

The pattern goes together easily.  The only thing that may slow you down are the loops, and even putting those in isn't a chore.  I am sure it's fun for kids to have hidden pockets, too, though Camden never seems to make use of them.

I made a size 8, and I think I lengthened it, because this pattern makes it easy to do so.  And because it has so much positive ease, I do like to get extended wear out of it by making it longer.  

Anyhow, this puts me at dress number 5 for Camden's new school year!  Another is hot off the hand-stitching needle, so to speak, and I have plans for pants and a top AND a vintage pattern I have never sewn before.  After THAT, y'all???  Oh, jeez - so MUCH!!!

After the next dress blog post, though, I hope to be blogging about a finished cardigan, so, we'll see!

A few moments in the life of...

Writing comics

Helping dad sand

Even babies are welcome to their shack, lol