A Happy (Warm) Husband

The Problem: Below you will see a picture of the hubby's "neck warmer" while riding mopeds in the cold, winter rain of Seattle every Monday night. He recently started complaining about it slipping up out of his jacket and exposing his neck, leaving a crack in his otherwise impenetrable wall of thermals and rain gear.

The Solution: Throw your weight around in reminder to your wife (ie me) that you should benefit every once in awhile from the sewing machine that you purchased for her in celebration of your wedding. Well, shucks, how can you compete with that? Hence my solution:

This was a VERY simple project, which I emphasized, but the hubby remained impressed. I basically just went and bought your standard fleece, in black because God forbid we change the color! Haha. I also got some velcro and some bias tape for a quick binding.

First things first, I pinned out the current neck wrap so I could get the shape off of the top. This one fit perfectly, it just wasn't long enough. Why waste a good thing?

I then trimmed around it, had him try it on. He showed me how long he wanted it in the front. I marked it, traced the bottom shape to that length, ran bias tape around the edges and whallah! A brand new, non-exposing neck warmer for the hubby!

Not too shabby! Fusible velcro did the trick and he just kept saying the whole time, "it looks so professional!" Ah, the pleasures of bias tape.

That's one happy hubby!

To thank me for my services he kindly lubricated my ironing board, which now squeaks no more!

Oh yeah, and this furry little one was no where to be found, because Seattle has just started to see some sun. She found the one sun spot in the whole apartment and I found her belly-up! See the look of shame at being caught? :) 

The Swoon-ing continues! It's taken me awhile to get back in to the swing of things of sewing in our old apartment again. I forsee a very sewing filled weekend.

Happy Crafting!

Swoon #6- #9 & We're Back!

It's been a crazy few weeks since the last post. First and foremost, we are FINALLY back in our apartment! I'm actually kind of sad to lose such a good sewing space with room to throw a quilt top down on the floor and walk around it. However, it's nice to not be stretched over two apartments.

 

 

I got my sewing space put back together, mostly. There is still some organizing to do, but overall the apartment is looking good. Living in such a minimalist apartment and then coming back to this one, full of our stuff... well, let's just say it's time to get rid of some things. Seriously.

 

In other news, in the last three weeks I have finished 4 more Swoon blocks! Yay! This is actually coming together quite nicely. I had some time before the return move to pop these two out:

 

 

Swoon #6- Finished!

 

Swoon #7- Finished!

 

I then had the pleasure of attending a SMQG Sew-In at the Quilting Loft in Ballard. It was a blast! It was even more fun taking my machine with me to work, keeping it seatbelted in the back seat, mind you. Going straight from work to sew-in was a huge stress buster and made the weekend feel even longer. I finished the following: 

 

 

Swoon #8- Finished!

 

Swoon #9- Finished!

 

I also have a partial Swoon block done, but will only show you finished progress. We are more than halfway done with block construction and you know what that means!! On a recent weekend a dear crafting friend visited and on a jaunt to Bainbridge I finally found a ruler with the perfect diameter for the Parson's Fan quilting pattern I have in mind for this quilt. I can't wait to quilt it. Yes, I realize I have a few steps in between still to go. It's all about the process.

 

Summer is just around the corner and our bed will need a quilt. Challenge accepted!

 

Happy Crafting!

Swoon #4 & #5

Neti found a spot on the previously made Swoon stars whilst I spent an afternoon on some new ones.

 

 

Swoon #4- Finished!

 

Swoon #5- Finished!

 

I have to say, these two may be my favorite! Not much to say, just trucking along. It was a good lazy weekend spent doing chores and sewing. Looking forward to a week with a friend from Portland! Tori is coming to visit and we have a Bainbridge trip in mind. What do I need new fabric/yarn for, you ask? I'm not sure yet either.

 

Swoon Count: 5/16 Finished!

 

Happy Crafting!

Sidetracked with SMQG Challenges

I finished quilting my Madrona Road challenge table runner! Yay! The instant it was out of the drier, look who came searching for a warm, quilted spot. I finished binding just in time for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild monthly meeting.

 

 

Here it is! All smoothed out. Notice the paws? She couldn't keep away from it! I now have it placed on the coffee table, which I assume will be Neti's favorite lounging spot for the next few days.

 

Here's a close-up of the quilting. Notice the leaves in the negative space and the pebbles on the prints. I LOVE quilting the pebbles, but man do they eat thread!

 

The backing is my favorite! Super love it.

 

Along with the show and tell of the Madrona Road Challenge we also had a nametag challenge due. Here's mine! I LOVE it! I will proudly wear this for all of our meetings and sew-ins. It's definitely me.

 

The best part of the meeting was seeing everyone else's nametags. Look at the creativity in this group!! Some of these I never would of thought of doing.

 

 

Although sidetracked from the Swoon due to these few challenges (and an amazing vacation with the sister and Grandma), I'm now back on track with a few more blocks in sight. Last night at the meeting, one of the ladies brought her finished king size quilt and it spurred me to get going! LOVE these meetings, if only for the kick-in-the-pants-motivation they give me.

 

Happy Crafting!

Downton Abbey & Madrona Road

The below photo pretty much sums up my 3-day weekend.

 

 

I started my Madrona Road Challenge table runner and binge watched/caught up on Downton Abbey. We were lucky enough, as a part of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild, to receive a small package of Violet Craft's new design with Michael Miller called Madrona Road. I hit up The Quilting Loft on Saturday morning to supplement the fabrics with a solid and some more MR for the backing. I knew I wanted to do something small that was quilt heavy. A table runner sounded perfect!

 

I drew up a pattern and got to work cutting. This was an EASY quilt and didn't turn out exactly as I envisioned due to some silly miscalculation on my end, but I ended up loving it! I took the line pretty seriously and created a road, kind of.

 

It was about here that I wound up taking Season 2 back and getting Season 3 of Downton. What can I say? I'm addicted, just like the rest of my family.

 

The quilting started with a pebble quilting pattern all over the prints. I alternated to matching thread colors for each print so you see more texture than the actual quilting. I love the effect! I have a plan for the solids but at that point, as DA fans know, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen, so I just sat down and finished it, Downton Abbey, that is. On a sidenote, for those who are fans and have finished S3: "HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!! I am devastated!!!!!"

 

Ok, back to quilting. I need some practice on the next quilting pattern as it's a bit ambitious for me. Excited to see it finished! One challenge almost finished for the SMQG! I still have to make my nametag. Thank goodness it's a short week!

 

Happy Crafting!

Swoon #3

A short post check-in to say hello and show you Swoon #3. Finished!

 

I spent the weekend with friends and away from the sewing machine. I threw this one together during the Superbowl. I LOVE the colors and how bright it is. Needless to say, this is slow going, but it's really fun to see each individual block come together. I think I'll just keep trekking!

Swoon Count: 3/16 Complete.

Happy Crafting!

Swoon #1 & #2

A productive weekend in the quilting world, although I probably could have done more. I said goodbye to the little brother as he headed home. He treated me to extreme oohh-ing and aww-ing over each little piece of my Swoon (which I finally started!).

I was completely spoiled by him. Every time I would sew something together I would say "Step 3!" and make him look. He helped distract Neti and when I was later baking him some homemade biscotti and shortbread I lost an egg down the garbage disposal. Angrily I said, "Man! This is just not my day!" and he immediately retorted, "What are you talking about?! Look at your beautiful quilt!" Gotta love brothers! I wish he could stick around here forever.

So here they are! Swoon #1...

... and Swoon #2

I obviously have some trimming to do. I love how much fabric choice makes a difference. They are exactly the same pattern but the blocks look so different! I can't wait to see the rest of them come together. I have two mini projects I need to squeeze in between the Swoon-ing for the SMQG. I joined the Madrona Road Challenge and have an idea for a very literal take on the line. I also have to create a nametag for the SMQG meetings and can't WAIT to play with some embroidery and fun designs.

Swoon Count:   2/16 Complete

Happy Crafting!