Back on the Chain, Gang

Back to Blogland: I have no idea what I’m doing.  Getting an architectural license, having a baby, and obviously not blogging for over a year can make one completely forget how to publish to a blog.  I think the above picture of me is skewed, and I have no idea how to fix it. 

But I’m back to sewing, I hope.

Goal number one is to start using fabric I already own, and then, maybe finish some unfinished projects. 

To start, I’m chain sewing a bunch of 2 1/2” fabric strips I cut from fabric that I purchased too much of online.   Minimum yardage is no fun!  The plan is to turn these leftover greens and blues into a zigzag quilt. 

A Not-so-“egg”-cellent Wreath

A friend of mine discovered a really cute Easter wreath on a do-it-yourself craft blog, and since we have a reputation for making wreaths together, she thought it would be a fun project for us to whip together for our front doors.  Making the wreath involves wrapping many plastic Easter eggs with different pastel colored yarns, and with much help from the glue gun, you attach the yarns to the eggs, and ultimately, the eggs to the wreath.  The finished picture on the blog made it look to cute…

Until you start wrapping the eggs.  And wrapping…

And wrapping…

So in conclusion, it took a lot of time to wrap yarn on plastic eggs.  We certainly didn’t have enough eggs to cover one wreath, more or less one for each of us to hang on our doors.  This year, we have a bowl of yarn wrapped plastic Easter eggs.   Let’s just say, don’t try this at home if you want an Easter wreath for this year.

Fancy Four-Patch Table Runner

I can hear your applause!  Yay!  My table runner is now a finished project!

What I thought was a simple project that finishable in an evening, took me over a week.  I suppose that’s not terrible; I technically could have never finished it.   (Lately I’ve only been finishing embroidered onesies, so I’m exceptional proud of myself for sewing something different.)  This finished project was immediately put to use, now running on the coffee table in my living room.  Perfect to complement April’s showers, the bright blues and green warm up my room with a springtime touch.

I picked up this table runner kit, complete with pattern and fabric for the top and binding, from a vendor booth’s at a local quilt show.  I recognized the proprietor of the booth as also being local, one of the “generations” at Generation’s Quilt Shop in Pottstown, PA.  I’m sure that if you stopped by the shop, you could probably pick up this kit, but if you just can’t make it to town, the fabrics were from Robert Kaufman’s Dill Blossoms fabric line and the simple pattern was nicely laminated on a two-sided card from Pieced Tree Patterns.

Here’s my Fancy Four-Patch Table Runner in its current resting place.  It was a beautifully sunny, 75 degree day here, so I’ll have to apologize for the sun beams across it.

Rotary Cutter: Found!

Would you believe it?  I went to a local quilt show this past Saturday, came home, and found my rotary cutter!  It was right beside my quarter inch foot.  Of all the places for it to be, right?

Luckily for the three of us (Jill, RC and the 1/4”), I picked up a table runner kit, complete with pattern and fabric, at one of the vendor booths that very morning.  It seemed the perfect, quick project for me and my newly relocated cutter and foot.  Still early afternoon, I figured I could knock this thing out before dinner.

 

Three “tonights” later, it’s still not done.  (I was so looking forward to amazing the blog world with a finished project.)  Alas, I started working on the quilting tonight, and it’s surprisingly very fun and addictive.  It shouldn’t be long before I share my table runner!

Fun with Sergers?

Over the weekend, MrBeans accompanied me to my local sewing machine shop while I picked up some supplies.  Digging around for gift ideas, he asked me if there’s anything I might like.  Without hesitating, and possibly subliminally prompted by the one in front of me, I said, “A serger, of course!”  

Of course I want a serger; what sewista is complete without one?  Though, I don’t need one.  But by some total twist of uncanny fate, day one of a two day serger class was being held in the shop at that very moment.  Quickly drawn into the classroom by the friendly shop keepers, I was instantly immersed into a garment making frenzy and the latest and greatest trends in sergers.  Maybe I do need one…

Then, once I saw how the Baby Lock sergers magically thread themselves, it was a no brainer.  I had to have one!

If it wasn’t for the voice of reason (aka MrBeans,)  I would have swept that bad boy up into my arms and taken it home with all the extras and goodies only available for the limited time special weekend price of $$$$.  $$$$!  Falling off of cloud 9, I realized I really don’t need one, now.

So tonight, while dreaming of sergers, I enjoyed embroidering another cute, little onesie.