Dresden Plate fun...

Since I've begun dabbling in quilting, I've been dying to try out the dresden plate block. It's so very vintage, but can still be modern and fun with the right fabric choices. (side note, the more I sew, the more I realize how much it really, really is all about the fabric)

I made this little table topper for my sister's birthday - she just did a little kitchen revamp and I tried to tie in a lot of the colors she chose.



I intended to just quilt an outline around the flower, but I got carried away and ended up carrying the zig zagging pattern all the way to the edges of the topper. I kind of love it.



My "to-do" list is a mile long, but I'm still hoping to make a Christmas version of this for my table.

Doesn't it look cute on my sister's corner table?



Molly

Little Bo Peep and Her Sheep

It's been a busy summer. And a busy beginning of fall (can someone please tell me how it can possibly be November?). Anyway, that's my excuse for being so absent. But November seems like a good place to get back in the swing of things in bloggy land. Also, yesterday was Halloween...and that's my weak segue into sharing pictures of my cutie pies in their costumes.

Meet Little Bo Peep and her sheep. They make a cute pair, no?



I know that my days of dressing them in coordinating costumes are numbered, so I figured I would take advantage while Maddie can still be easily persuaded. She was honestly excited that her brother was going to be her little sheep.

Will was a little angel and didn't fuss at all about wearing a hood and hooves.




Madeline had SUCH a good time trick or treating (this was her first year), that I have a feeling that I'm going to be hearing about it for weeks to come.

Her costume is a doctored up version of The Precious Dress, which you know I just love. I've lost count of how many times I've used it, but you can see a couple versions here. I also borrowed some ideas from the Cinderella dress you can find over here. I searched high and low, but I couldn't find a tutorial for exactly what I wanted for her bonnet, so I just winged it. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though I was totally improvising as I went.

Maddie's eyes lit up when she looked at herself in the mirror after trying on her costume - and that always makes those hours behind the sewing machine worth it. As a bonus for Mommy, this dress will also double as her Plow Days dress for next spring.



Will's lamb costume is a Tom Arma costume I scored off of ebay on the cheap. Love that!

I really have been busy in the past few months doing all sorts of crafty things, including a complete bedroom set for Will, so I have plenty to share - just need to carve out the time for blogging! Wiping noses and filling bellies always comes first, you know. ;)

Molly

Messenger Bags for the girls

Last week my littlest sister and my niece came over to make bags with me. My sister Louisa was just 7 months old when my oldest sister got married and 10 months later - my niece Siera was born. They are the best of friends and completely inseparable. And now they have matching bags.



My sister Katie helped them pick out and order the material. I was a little unsure of working with the nylon canvas, but it worked out beautifully.



We even had some excitement when Louisa lost her 13th tooth in the middle of constructing the bags.



I will admit that even though we intended for the girls to help sew the bags, I ended up doing all the sewing. The girls did help cut the pieces out and then spent the rest of the day refereeing the other kids with my sister and watching Toy Story 3. And they even mananged to NOT cry uncontrollably at the end like I did. Anyway.

Let me tell you how fabulous this tutorial is. Clear directions, helpful pictures. This was my second time using the pattern and I have another bag cut out for a birthday gift. One of these days I'll get to make one for me!



Molly

Skirt Week!

Crafterhours (seriously, how clever is that blog title?) is hosting "skirt week" 2011 and I decided to enter a few skirts into the competition. The deadline is....ummmm....today, so I figured I'd better get down to business and finish up my skirts!

First - a couple for Madeline. She still has to be bribed to wear pants, so skirts and dresses and anything girly is right up her alley. Plus, skirts are so easy for summertime! I'll start with my favorite:

I fused a large piece of seafoam Kona cotton to some fusible web (I use wonder under) and used a sippy cup lid as a template to cut out about 25 circles. I fused them to the white skirt piece and then topstitched them all in matching thread. I decided it needed something else, so I made an underskirt in aqua - about 2 inches longer than my white circle piece. Then I attached the waistband and made a casing for the elastic.

I love it so much! The 3-D circles give this skirt a little pizazz and seafoam is one of my favorite colors.

Next, a skirt in the same style, but just a little simpler. No underskirt and no applique.

The prints are one of my favorite Heather Bailey fabric combinations. (Ewww, I just noticed I really need to clean my baseboards. And is that crayon on the wall?)

And now two skirts for me! I'm going to be totally honest and tell you that getting dressed post-Will has been a challenge. Mostly because NOTHING FITS ME!! I'm telling you, it's ridiculous. Anyway. I think my point is that I needed some new clothes anyway. Or maybe I just needed to get that off my chest. Either way, here's skirt numero uno:

Elastic is NOT my friend. I need as little bunching fabric around my nicely padded waistline as possible. So I made a waistband and shirred the back of the waistband to make it a pull-on skirt. The fabric is a light-weight black denim. I'm going to get a lot of use out of this one.
Here's the back.

I actually made the following skirt for Easter. It was my first time drafting a pattern for myself. Much easier than I thought it would be. I used this tutorial as a guide for creating a 6 panel skirt. There is no elastic (thread or otherwise) on this one. It closes with a zipper. I added a blind hem to make it more fancy. ;)

I've already wore this skirt to church three times. It's an AWESOME pattern, because you don't have to mess with pesky darts and it's made to fit YOU, so...it's a perfect fit! A little time consuming, but most worthwhile things are. The fabric is Benartex "ZuZu's Petals".

What is your favorite skirt pattern? I had intended to make one more for me - I'd like to try a tiered peasant skirt with a zipper (staying away from elastic, remember?), but I ran out of time. Maybe by the end of summer. Check out all the other great skirts entered in "Skirt Week" here on Crafterhours - there is a link to the flickr groups for each category in the sidebar.

Molly

Kaleidoscope Quilt Along!

I've been wanting to join a quilt along for awhile now and Don't Call Me Betsy just gave me the perfect reason: The Kaleidoscope Quilt! I've been eyeing this quilt for such a long time and this was a great excuse to bite the bullet and put the pedal to the...err...carpet?

This quilt will be a challenge for me, because I plan to make it entirely out of my current fabric stash, which is dwindling by the day. I'm going to have to buy solids and backing, but other than that, I'll be raiding my craft closet.

I have until June 23rd to pick fabrics, so in the meantime I plan to finish up this little crib quilt:



Yup, more pinwheels in a house. These blocks just make me happy, I can't wait to finish this top!

Molly