EIGHT

After my mother's day post, a few people have asked to see close ups of the filmstrip I posted of my sisters and I.

So, since I love you, I love my sisters and I love these photos...

Here we are. All eight of us.

I pretty much have the best sisters ever.

Molly

My new favorite bag

I figured I'd better get this post up quick, I've been on a bag kick lately and I'm perfecting a pattern that is threatening my *current* favorite bag. Which is this one:

It's probably not not a totally fair assessment, because I love the fabric so, so much, I can't NOT love it. It's chartreuse. Green. I love green. LOVE green. I tried to pick a shade of green for every room when we were painting our new house last year but hubby put his foot down. I did get guacamole in the living room, though.

Wait, where was I?

The chartreuse bag, right.

The lining and pocket is in Nicey Jane. Because if I could only pick one line of fabric to use for the rest of my life, that would probably be it. I'm sort of addicted. Exhibit A, B, and C.

It's big enough to hold all my stuff , but shallow enough that I can still see everything when I open it up. I love it. Wait, did I say that already? I sort of followed this pattern. Uber easy, you guys.

The only thing I'd probably do differently is add some interfacing to make it a little more structured. It's pretty soft and floppy. Which is actually kind of perfect for a summer-time bag.

I'm on a bag kick now. I have three different bags cut out, and a bunch of ideas rattling around in my head, so you'll be seeing some more posts dedicated to bags pretty soon.

Okay, I'm signing off. It's a gorgeous Saturday here on the East Coast and I'm heading to the playground with my munchkin.

Molly

Mother's Day Gifts

I finished my mother's day gifts at the eleventh hour last Saturday. Although, that's not entirely accurate. Two of my grandmothers are out of town, so I *still* haven't finished their gifts. But I will. I will.

I spray painted a bunch of frames....

Then I made a mat and covered it in fabric for an interesting photo presentation. This one was for my Mother in law. I made smaller versions of this for Madeline's three great-grandmothers.

I spray painted 8 of these watermelon frames...

And then my sister and I took pictures of ourselves and our sisters (yup, there's 8 of us!) for my mom. We're all holding up a number for our birth order. Mom loved it! I still need to get a picture of them hanging on her wall. It looks pretty awesome.

(click to enlarge)

This tote bag was for my mother in law, super easy bag and very practical, I think.


I loaded it with pockets.

And did a simple button closure.

A ruffled clutch for my sister, who is quite possibly the best mother in the world:

This clutch was a pain in the butt to make. At one point I ripped out every single stitch and started over. The finished product is pretty cute, but I have no idea how I got there, my design process was totally flawed. I do love the lining and card pockets, though!

I also made another bag that was intended as a gift, but I loved the fabric too much to part with it, so it became a mothers day present to myself. I've been using it for a week, and it might be too early in our relationship to make these kinds of statements, but I think I'm in love. At the very least, I'm smitten. It deserves it's own post, so I'll introduce you guys later.

A big thanks to everyone who voted for my top in Made By Rae's Spring Top Week. I think I ended up in 4th place out of that group - not to shabby, right?

Molly

I made the cut!

I'm so seriously stoked about this! One of my tops made the finals in Spring Top Week! Since this challenge was the first (but certainly not the last) time I've ever sewed tops for myself, it just makes "making the cut" all the more sweet.

So, if you really want to make my day, go over to Made By Rae and vote for me today. Pretty please? I'm up against 11 other fantastic tops, all competing for a shot at the finals. If I don't land in the bottom spot I'll consider it a victory. :-)

Okay, that's all. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Molly

Quilting: The adventure begins

Ever since I laid my eyes on this fabric, I've known it was meant to be a quilt for Madeline. But, there's one small problem.


I've never made a quilt.

So a couple months ago, I started reading and researching quilting. What fabric to use, what kind of batting to use. Sashing, cornerpost, pinwheels, log cabin squares, borders. Different methods of basting, spraying, pinning, clipping. Quilting with a walking foot, free motion quilting, long arm quilting. Birthing a quilt, binding a quilt, mitered corners, blind stitches...


It's enough to give me a headache.


But I still want to do it. She's still in her crib, and I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be able keep her in there until I have a chance to get educated and get her "big girl" bedding done.


So. We all have to start somewhere. I purchased a walking foot for my machine and started simple. I saw this great tutorial over at the Polkadot Chair and thought it would be perfect with the minimal cutting and straight line quilting. But even though it was simple, it still gave me a chance to practice making my quilt sandwich, basting, quilting and binding.


It was fun! It didn't take me nearly as long as I expected and I have a sweet table runner to show for it. I even successfully mitered my corners.

So, I'm feeling a teensy bit more confident about this whole quilting thing, and I'm planning on attempting some free motion quilting on this adorable doll quilt as soon as my darning foot arrives. Hopefully I'll be ready to start on "THE" project sometime in the next decade. :-)

Molly