On Point - If You're a Baby

I busted open a couple of Early Bird charm packs over the break and put together a quick baby quilt. 

It was pretty quick overall since you don't have to measure the setting triangles. 

I quilted on my little machine since it was just straight lines along the seams and also because my longarm has a quilt loaded that I don't feel like quilting.   But I'm not taking it off until it's done! 

The backing and binding were already in my stash and happened to also be by the same fabric designer, Kate Spain.   The backing is of course flannel.   Because flannel.     Binding is hand sewn to the back.

I used this tutorial  and it was very easy.  If I do it again, I'll make the original squares bigger and pay more attention to placement because I did end up with same fabrics touching.   And yes, I did take those bits off, reshuffle and sew back together. 

It's currently listed for sell in my Etsy Shop and as always, all proceeds go to charity.

I also finished putting the labels on a bunch of charity quilts -

Exquisite Beauty

I finished a quilt for my bed this week.  

 I used two layer cakes of Kate Spain's Fandango for a 72 x 90 quilt for my bed.  You can click on the labels section on the left of this site to see some of the progress pictures.

Please ignore the crumpliness of it, there's three other quilts and a down comforter under it.

Ok, now for the story of the label.  One of our favorite authors as kids was Bill Peet.  So when my sister had kids, I tracked down some of his books.  The one we read all the time is titled No Such Things.  Everyone in the family was assigned an animal from the book.  My mom is a blue-snouted Twump, the middle nephew is a pie-faced Pazeek, one sister is aspooky-tailed Tizzy while the other is a great Gullagaloop.  I lucked out with the cover creature, the fancy Fandango.  So when I found out that Kate Spain's new line (new at the time anyway) was called Fandango, I knew I had to make a quilt for me out of it.  I printed up the poem and the picture at Spoonflower for a label.   Please ignore the part that says I made this in Sept 10, that's when I thought I would finish it.

I'm linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival (check out tons of other quilts, I find a lot of new blogs to follow here) and Finish it Up Fridays (hosted by one of the nicest bloggers ever).  This is my 13th finished quilt this year, yay!

iPad cases

iPad cases, a photo by shanleytulip on Flickr.

And no, I don't need to have costume changes for my iPad and I don't have 3 of them. One was made after reading a Moda Bake Shop tutorial, the middle one was made by FOLLOWING the tutorial. I'll put on the button tonight, as it's a gift for someone celebrating a birthday tomorrow. The top one was made just this week using this Fresh Lemons tutorial as a going away gift for a coworker. Ok, if I admit it all, it's the 2nd one I made with that tutorial. I just botched the first one so much that I started over again. The night before I needed to give it away. The zippers are supposed to be invisible but I'm settling for toothless. The little pocket is really handy for cords or what not.

This is shaping up to be a finishing sort of weekend and I managed this post just in time to link up with crazy mom quilts!

Slowly with the Fandango

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

A big wrinkle in my batting slowed down the quilting on my Fandango project. I had to think about it for a few days before I got up the courage to slice the batting. The 4 layers was just too much so I cut the top off the wrinkle and then overlapped just two layers. I didn't want to risk having them pull apart. So far so good, we'll just wait to see how it washes up.

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Since I got it off the frame, I decided to make up the binding (pictured here next to my favorite niece picture, although she's way bigger than that now). And here's the newest addition to my pile of bindings to be done.

Batting Wrinkle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

That pile should go down soon as I'm sending the first kite quilt north for binding. Although, that just means that it is time to do the second kite quilt and I'm growing the stack again. Sounds like I won't need to take my machine to the next guild meeting!

Fandango Quilting

Fandango Quilting;, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've been quilting off and on this weekend on my Fandango quilt. It is a pretty easy design and I think I've got about a row and a half left. Not too bad considering the size. This is one of the patterns that makes me think that quilting for others wouldn't be so bad. Maybe someday when I run out of fabric, ideas and peeps needing quilts.

P.S. Mom, this is still not for you.

Fandango Loading

Fandango Loading, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm in a quilting kind of mood lately. The last piece for my Pfaff showed up this week and I have a bunch of tops to get done. At least as far as to the hand binding stage. I'm going with a swirly whirly pantograph for this one. Thank goodness I started that before I went out to get extra bobbins today. I found out that my little sewing machine store, Consew, is going to be getting in and demoing the Quilt Cad software soon. Just what I need, a way to draw my own pantographs!

Saturday Stash #9

Lovely View, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

And yes, I know I haven't posted a few of the pictures but I did take them all on Saturdays and I'm a big fan of filling in my blogs backward. So glad Blogger let's you change the posting dates/times.

Here are three little stacks of Kona solids with a set of Sunkissed (still not opened since I'm not quite sure of a pattern). The scraps on the corner of my desk are for the SDMQG first charity project, a wonky star quilt.

I sew in the house in the "winter" since my converted garage is just a bit chilly. Plus the yellow walls and happy fabric/photo desk help with how much I miss the sun after work. I'm already on the countdown to Daylight Savings Day!

Proof

IMG_1807.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

That I don't feel well tonight. And no, not because I've not sewn the last 4 strips of blocks to the Fandango top. The wrinkles and bunched fabric are proof that my normally good dog has been sleeping on the couch. She only does this when I'm sick so house rules no longer apply.

I thought it was just a cough but now I'm starting to worry.

My living room

IMG_1787.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Yes, Fandango is taking over my house this week. Here is my living room floor this morning. I'm trying to decide whether this should be 81 x 81 or 72 x 90.

And what should I do with the 4 (or 3) extra blocks. I'll have flannel on the back, of course.

My New Desk

My New Desk, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Relatively little of my planned sewing got done today because I decided to trek up the coast to pick up a new desk. Just finished putting it all together. The glass top seemed like the perfect place to add some of the extra strips of Fandango. Of course, I had to include the cutest baby picture ever. If that picture can't cheer you up then nothing can.

No more organizing for today though. I am le tired.  Maybe I will manage to show my chemistry experiments later this week.  I will have printable labels, I will!

Saturday Stash #3

Last Order of 2010, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Today's stash is the last order I placed in 2010. It took forever to get here. Forever. This is my first and last order from eQuilter.com, their site is nice and they have a million fabrics, most of these were on sale. A lot on sale actually. And it wasn't the waiting for the order that I minded. They did respond to my email saying they would be late with the order since their clearance sale went much better than expected.

But here's the thing, I ordered two yards of the orange swirly flannel in the back. And they emailed that they didn't have it in one continuous cut. So they gave me the option of paying for an extra 12 inches. I chose what I thought was the option of 2 yards in 1 yard increments. Nope, they sent me an 18 inch piece and cut 12 inches off the 1 yard 30 inch piece. Surely, this is an error and they'll make it right? Nope, not even a real nice apology. Here's the thing, the shipping was sooooo late (and not that cheap) that a little give in the fabric cuts would have made me shrug and say "well, these things happen, no big deal". But without the customer service, it's just not worth shopping with them again. And I can be quite successful in the not shopping at places again, just ask Starbucks and Target.

Fandango Clutch

Fandango Clutch, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

It's my first finish of the New Year! It's a little gathered clutch from this tutorial. While I did struggle with it (and not just whether to cut up my Kate Spain Fandango yardage), it turned out really well. Also for once I took notes of the dumb things I did in error so I can skip them next time.

It's not really clear in the picture but the front is gathered. One of the things I'll try next time is to cut the front piece a little bigger (6 x 15) and then once it's gathered down I'll trim to the 5.5 x 9 side. Or forget entirely until I'm trying to link back to this post. One of the three.

The lining and the front dots are from a scrap bundle that I bought up in Northern California because one of the fabrics had colors that my sister was considering for her wedding. For the inside I pieced a couple of the strips together since I figured it would be mostly covered by the card holder and divider. It really isn't noticeable and I'm patting myself on the back for using the fabric I have instead of going out for more.

Also, I only had a navy blue zipper so I'm pretending that I used that color on purpose for some, um, pop? Contrast? Dorky homemade look? It's way more noticeable in the picture than in real life.

Fandango Clutch, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Fandango Layer Cakes

Ahhhhhhhhh, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've started the Fandango (my new favorite Kate Spain fabric) and made up a couple of blocks. This is happy fabric and every time I pick up a new piece, I have a new favorite pattern/color. Until I pick up the next one. . . . .



I don't have the whole stack sewn together because of this little chore that needed to be done. All that fuzz was in the bottom of my poor machine.

Pile of Fuzz, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.


And for those keeping track, no I haven't figured out a project for my old new favorite, Verna, yet.

D - U - N, DONE

D - U - N, DONE, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've finished the quilt that's been keeping me from other things, like my Fandango Layer Cakes.

This one will go off to it's new home and then I'll post more about it.

Here's a little bit of adorableness I found at my closest fabric store while on a hunt for binding. The store is a short walk away and dog friendly so someone doesn't have to sit outside and whine about being left alone to die. They don't have a lot of quilt-able fabric but sometimes I find something great.

New Fabric, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.