spring crafty fever

d1 got her quilt pieces all laid out. she spent some time playing fabric sudoku, which drew her brother into the puzzle play. he wandered over to see what she was doing and got sucked right in.

after they had everything laid out, he said, "what are you going to do with this quilt, anyway?" she responded, "it's just going to be for me."

"well, you could give it to me since i helped you put it together," he suggested, in his best i'm-your-sweet-little-brother voice. it made me giggle hearing that, and reminded me of him at age 2, begging his older sister to get him a cookie when mom and dad had both already said no. i think she probably smiled, but was not convinced in the least to part with her project.

suddenly it seems like they all have a project going - or want to. that's exciting for me. however, it also means whenever i sit down to grab a sewing moment i get bombarded with several requests for help with their projects. last night looked like a bit of a craft circus in our central hallway.

 this is what it looks like (from above) when three daughters get sewing.

 d3 was inspired by book browsing a few months ago to make some small hoop art. she found these cute "sweet trio" ornaments/decorations in fa la la la felt (a family favorite). i finally got her some tiny wooden hoops for that purpose. however, she didn't want to make Christmas decorations just now in spring, so she decided to make a mushroom instead. i had her sketch out an idea of what she wanted (see notebook drawing). we got the background fabric and mushroom cap cut last night. it took some coaching, but i insisted she do the design, tracing, and cutting herself. they need the experience, even the failures. i did help her trim up the cap after she cut it out herself. those little 7 yr old hands don't wield sewing shears very well. but she did attempt it first, which is what counts.

while looking through her sketch book, i found some old gems she'd drawn ages ago:

this was a joint creation between her and oldest brother - he drew it, she colored. mama loves it.

not all current creativity is being channeled into sewing.

yesterday the three little girls were playing with paints al fresco in our amazing weather. baby got her first taste of finger painting, which she decided was too limiting. she had the best time body painting once the thrill of seeing her handprints transferred to paper wore off. it was pure delight to watch her slowly and carefully apply paint to various body parts, including her hair. it was creative exploration and joy at its finest.

i find this time of year everyone gets the itch and urge to just make something!!! i wonder what they'll do next?

pretty patches, multiple yorks

i saw this lovely large log cabin quilt on the inside cover of pretty patches magazine. it was a sample from an exhibit at a quilt museum in new york. i got all excited because the mr and i were headed there for our anniversary and i was going to tag the museum on to our itinerary. however, i read a little more closely and realized it wasn't in the new york but in the original one. on the other side of the pond. ah, too bad.

i'm home and you didn't even know i was gone, right? it's not the kind of thing one generally announces online before leaving. we saw museums and lots of plays, but seeing as i'm on a fabric fast (and holding this month - yay!), we did not make any stops at any of new york's amazing and varied fabric purveyors. we did happen into the garment district for a street or two on our way to a play. i saw the word "fabric" on a store front and started to get excited. but we were in too much of a hurry to even pause for a look in the window.

moonstone, sapphire, and platinum necklace by louis tiffany - that would have made a lovely anniversary present, no?

i had hopes of seeing some quilts in the metropolitan museum of art, and even went to the american wing for that reason, but was disappointed. we did see lots of other lovely exhibits, such as exquisite works by louis tiffany, but no quilts.

i was talking to a friend about my trip and how the mr wouldn't be interested in anything fabric or sew-y. she said, "yeah, i want to go to new york with girlfriends. sewing girlfriends." yes, i think that would work much better for fabric sightseeing. maybe said friend and i will have to plan that.

as for the magazines, i recently bough three new ones to give them a whirl. i looked at several, but there were three that seemed worthy of putting my dollars down for. i thought others might like to know what i thought of them, so i'll review pretty patches today.

pretty patches is a new UK publication. the jan/feb 2014 edition is the third issue. it's made of nice, thick paper and laid out beautifully with crisp, clear photography. this makes it a pleasure to peruse.

the pretty patches post section had lots of bits and blurbs about sewing related news: stores, products, shows, designers, etc. the shopping section alerts one to sewing finds: retail therapy from the haberdashery and beyond. there is also a regular glossary, workbox, and contacts section that seems to be specific to each issue. this is helpful, particularly to the beginner.

in general, the articles and projects cover a wide variety of interests and skill levels. this can be helpful or off-putting depending on how varied your interests are for sometimes one will only find one or two items appealing if they don't match up with your own preferences. it is a hard balance between trying to please everyone and targeting a specific audience. for me, this issue struck a pretty good balance.

in addition to products and projects, i particularly liked that there was a quilt history article included in this issue. one designer and her new studio were featured in another article. also, there is an article on the "absolute beginner" division winners from the 2013 festival of quilts. all of these bits were interesting to me, personally.

as for projects, there were 10: 2 quilts, 2 cushions, hand warmers, lanterns, a hexi bean bag, hexy bed linens, tiny fabric boxes, and a liberty doll. which am i likely to make? if i had all the sewing time in the world, i'd probably give most of them a go. realistically . . .

 i loved the look of the patchwork lanterns. i'm thinking this is something the older girls could easily make to decorate their bedroom.

and of course the liberty print doll! softies + liberty prints = love. a bonus for me is that this came out of the liberty home sewing book that i didn't keep. it was one of maybe two projects from that book i liked, but didn't feel were worth purchasing the whole book for.

which brings up my last point about the way this magazine is currently operating. with the exception of the "quilt as you go" cushion, which was designed specifically for the magazine, all the other projects were taken out of previously published books. if you don't buy books, this is good for you because you are getting some great projects from a variety of books. if you do buy books, you may find you already have some of the books on hand and the projects are therefore redundant to you. this was the case for me with one of the two quilt projects featured. as a quilter, i was seeing more quilt-related inspiration and projects than this issue offered.

overall, i found this issue appealing and interesting. there were articles i wanted to read and a few projects i would conceivably make. i am not taken enough, yet, to commit to a subscription as the rate is high. i look forward to seeing other issues before i commit to that.

"in hand" epp link party #6

 this last (short) month, i did manage to squeeze in a few bits of epp! never as much as i'd like, but some nonetheless. yesterday i even got some good old splish, splash, stash time to work on my epp. the name of this blog came about because i originally did most of my sewing while my little girls were bathing. that hasn't happened much in a very long time, but last night when the baby jumped in the tub, i pulled out my epp. (the project box was set on the tub rim only long enough for some quick photos, then i moved my stitching well out of splash range.)

 the little one is quite interested in my epp, but generally mostly in the thread spools and paperclips. i won't let her play with the fabric. or needles.

 after bathing, i let her explore the box a little. her favorite activity is to cram as many paperclips as she can get into the center of the spool. why this is fun only a 2 yr old understands. but it keeps her occupied and allows me to sew a bit.

 then i have to ask for the paperclips back. and sometimes rewrap the thread.

what do you do to occupy your little ones as you stitch?

 she wanted a turn to hold the sewing. "i poke it!," she said. really all she did was pull the thread. no harm done.

i got nearly a half wheel done during bath time. looks like i need to bathe her more often! or at least pull out the epp when she's splishing and splashing.

let's look at some of last month's link entries! many people were inspired by the Olympic games to pick up some handwork as they watched and cheered. a few others were distracted. which was it for you?

apparently, the Russian graphics and staff uniform also inspired quilters with it's colorful diamond patchwork. meg, at kinda stitchy, was playing with diamonds while she watched.  she was considering a sprocket layout. what did you choose, meg?

kristin, at kristin's quilts and stuff, was making a sweet little clamshell pouch for a swap. lucky partner! i think clamshells are on my list of shapes to do eventually. (in about 10 years when my current project is complete.)

and geomama has her own winter snow flurry of white hexies. can you even believe all those white hexies?! wow.

lots of great projects out there, friends! as you continue to work on them and link up, i hope to be able to feature them in coming months. it's hard picking just 3 to highlight! if you didn't get to see everyone's work, go check it out.

An InLinkz Link-up

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<a href="http://www.hydeeannsews.blogspot.com/p/in-hand-link-party.html" title="splish splash stash"><img src="http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab336/ab123photos/blogshare/inhand2a_zpsde5939e1.jpg" alt="splish splash stash" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

some ginger quilting

 we interrupt my regularly scheduled sewing to bring you "what the girls are doing." after a considerable hiatus, the two oldest daughters are back at the machine. in fact, this time they are at my machine.

yesterday morning, my oldest daughter came to me and said, "mom, i have an assignment for english where i have to learn a new skill, spend 5 hours working on it, and write about the experience. i was thinking maybe you could teach me to make a quilt?" i jumped on that faster than a bar of chocolate! the good news was i already had fabrics and a pattern picked out for her to work with. over a year ago i set aside a project box for teaching d1 how to make her first quilt. we've just never gotten around to it between her scheduling and my general sewing busyness elsewhere. but yesterday we did it. thank you, english class!

we're using a riley blake layer cake, moda bella basics charm pack, and the moda bake shop recipe "easy bricks quilt" by amy smart of diary of a quilter. i got a bit nervous as we got started because i've never taught anyone to quilt before! although i'm fairly confident with my own skills now, teaching someone else what to do was a little nerve wracking just in case i forgot something. i needn't have worried, of course. we just got started and kept on going.

 since we are working with precuts, there wasn't much pressing to do, but the layer cake had been sitting over a year, so the ribbons creased the top squares a bit. we talked about "pressing" while quickly flattening a few squares.

 then the rotary cutting lesson. yikes! (lovely backside photo taken by the only available photographer in the house, d2.) i have never used a riley blake layer cake before, so i don't know if it was because it's been slopped around my sewing area since December 2012 or if it just wasn't precision cut well, but the squares weren't fully square. we just ignored that and cut away. it's a first-timer quilt, anyway.

she did a great job cutting her squares in half. i had to remind her about the safety button a few times, but she seems to have the hang of it. after a few cuts, i left her to herself.

 then d2 wanted to get moving on her quilt for the church fund raising auction. we pieced a 4 sq top out of the heather bailey "nicey jane" fabrics she selected a few weeks ago (that i let her have after i ordered replacements, of course). that didn't take long at all since the top only requires 3 seams. her seams were pretty good, but a bit shy in a few spots. i might go back and reinforce the seams with a second run since this is a baby quilt being auctioned off.

 i had her pin (something i rarely do) to teach her the skill as well as to improve her accuracy.

that was it for day 1 of two daughters quilting. i finished off the quilting for "paris daydreams" when they left for their math tutoring.

this morning, we got back at it with d1 chain piecing and d2 pressing the fat quarters for her baby quilt 2.0 (boy version).

 d1 is going to be a precision quilter, i can tell. she was meticulous about lining up her pieces before sewing and careful how she sewed. i expected it to be a bit more difficult for her, but her seams look great! this pattern is so easy that it's coming together in no time.

i'm itching to work on something myself, but seeing them excited about and engaged in the sewing is pretty much as good as doing it myself. i've been hoping they would get interested for a while now. i'm so glad the opportunities presented themselves to push both of them into the quilting realm. stay tuned for their finishes, which should be coming up pretty soon.

how to fix a block that comes up short

 while squaring up my wonky stacked coin blocks, i came up a bit short in one section of this block. since it was two adjoining sections that were short, i didn't want to unpick the entire two pieces, add in two longer pieces, and resew all those seams, so i did a little patching instead.

i apologize in advance for not adjusting my exposure or white balance for better photos but as i really wanted to get the darn thing fixed and just photographed as i went sort of as an afterthought, i did not focus on my photo quality. but fortunately for viewers, i was stitching with white thread on my navy blue fabric, so the seams will show up really well.

 i found a solid blue scrap that was big enough to cover the gap

 unpicked the top and bottom seams of the two adjoining pieces, but not the seam adjoining them, just far enough back to allow me to work with them without pulling out the entire section

 trimmed that bit so they were both even

 sewed the patch scrap to the side of the section thereby extending it's length

 then sewed the lengthened piece to the top and bottom layers around it, backstitching over where the original seams ended

and trimmed to square up with the side of the block

the block is now patched up and evenly squared

since this is a quilt that has lots of strips with seams in the solid blue section, i'm counting on this not showing up in the overall design once everything is put together.

how's that for some old-fashioned quilter's "make-do" sensibility?

washed clean, starting anew

 february ended with the first rain of the year, washing us clean and making everything fresh and new here. as rain is a rare event in our desert home, i am always enchanted by droplets sparkling in the overcast light, hanging from everything like chandelier crystals or simply sitting on every surface, pretty little beads of water and light. you can't touch them or keep them, only enjoy their ethereal beauty for the moment before they roll off or dry up. during a break in the showers, i caught a few images in pixels. i'd love to say this inspired some great new quilt idea, but in reality it only invigorated and refreshed me for working on the projects i already have going. that is a good thing, too.

indoors, i jumped around between cleaning the house, getting the baby out of whatever she was in, answering the door at the knock of neighbor children, and playing in my sewing room. it was a cozy saturday.

 in the quiet of the morning, i snuggled up with my "gypsy wife" pattern book and started filling in some of the missing math work. oh, this pattern does drive me crazy! and i know i'm not alone. i've got a whole new slew of questions for the qal group. after a while i decided to leave all that to later and just start thinking about my blocks for the new month instead. my new sugar block club instructions arrived, too. love this month's "explore" block!

but while mulling over the gyspy pile and considering fabric choices for march's "explore" block, i chose to work on my oldest son's long-neglected, barely begun "christmas" quilt instead. if i'm ever going to get the 40 blocks for this done before next christmas, and it had better be well before then, i had better get moving on it. joining in with the bom and qal this year has made me realize i should pace myself on other big projects like this wonky stacked coins quilt that i'm just not excited to sit down and complete in a week or so. not every project engrosses me and sucks me in like penny patch did. if it doesn't have a deadline, like a baby shower or gifting need, i will push it off in lieu of urgent or enticing projects. so i think i need to set some sort of weekly quota for this quilt to get it moving.

 we saw the new lego movie on friday and everyone's legoes were immediately brought down to the family room for a huge building fest. i heard more choruses than i can count of "everything is awesome!" and even the baby now walks up to her siblings and comments on their creations, "that's off-thum!" on saturday, when they weren't sneaking out into the rain, they were master building with legoes. it is pretty awesome, i think.

my oldest children were involved in a full-day church event, involving over 13,000 local youth. it was outdoors. imagine the surprise of everyone when, after months of planning, preparation, and no rain, it actually rained on them right during the culminating event of the evening! but they were troopers and stuck it out. they came home soaked to the bone, covered in mud and bits of grass, but very happy. and that was pretty awesome, too.