Boarder Crossing

My sewing machine whirled and hummed away tonight; so, I’m back to blogland with the results, just as I had promised myself!

I can’t believe I finally finished this quilt top!  (All I had left was to cut out and sew on the outer boarder…I’m 99% positive the center of it has been done for a year.)  I think I’m going to call it my Wonderland Quilt because of the bright colors and varied floral patterns.  It seems very curious to me. 

One thing I discovered tonight is that it’s very difficult to photograph a large quilt.  It’s tough to get the whole quilt in one frame, with the right lighting, not on a skewed angle and keeping the cat off it all at the same time.

Watch out Barcelona!

 

Barcelona, Spain

Because I finally finished my Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt!  Naturally, I should take to the streets of Barcelona, and show those Spaniards the glory of my stitches!

Okay, so I’m a little overly excited that I actually finished this project.  My next, not to mention first, trip to Barcelona is not in the forecast-able future, so I’ll just have to show off this sweet summer skirt in the suburbs of Philly for the remaining, and altogether waning, days of summer.

This is the first article of clothing I’ve ever made for myself, and I am beaming with pride!  I think it turned out very well, and I don’t want to give all the credit to Amy’s well written pattern; after all, I am the one who sewed it together. 

I was really impressed with my seams matching up and the  invisible zipper skills that I didn’t even know I had.  This skirt came out much better than any of my quilts have recently.  I can’t wait to run it through the wash a few times for the unfinished edges to get their frayed texture…then I’ll really be ready to take it to the streets. 

Don’t worry, I’ve since hemmed the bottom.  I’m off now to find my next project…or maybe I should could finish an old one…

Zip Zip

How can too much of a thing be bad, especially when it come to zippers, right?

I’ve finally got a kick start on my Barcelona Skirt!  Yay!  Unfortunately, when I went to put on the zipper, I realized that I purchased one that didn’t match.   Here’s a tip: bring a fabric swatch when you’re picking up the zipper. 

So, I sent MrBeans off to correct my blunder.

While I was out for the evening, I sent him off with a scrap of fabric, the old zipper and instruction to “exchange it for one that matched the fabric, blue or grey.”  Not wanting to make a mistake, MrBeans exchanged one zipper for several in different colors and sizes.  At least one of that had to be right, right?  Jackpot! 

Goodbye to June

My favorite month is nearing the end.  June is the best for many reasons.  It’s the beginning of Summer (this beach girl’s favorite season,) birthdays, anniversaries, and it’s flanked by two three day weekends, Memorial Day and July 4th…What’s not to love??  It’s sad to see another June ending.  At least there’s still two more months left of summery weather!

 

Speaking of summery weather, for Christmas last year, I received Amy Butler’s Barcelona Skirt pattern, and while exploring some quilt shops on my birthday, I picked up this damask fabric (from the House collection by Annette Tatum for Westminster) to make one out of.  I’m very excited...I just hope I can find the time to make it this summer while I still have a chance to wear it!

Fabric Business Card Holder

I finally ordered official SewBeans business cards, maybe a month ago, and I, of course, made a business card holder for them right away! I did a google search for a pattern, and found a free one on Amy Butler's website.

I used fabric scraps from my studio and embellished the business card case with some ribbon. I love Amy's fabric, but I'm not as big of a fan of her patterns. This one called from some heavy interfacing, that I didn't have, and I manged to put the substitute in the wrong place. The folds in the case were very bulky, and my finished case buckled out a lot. Though, since I've been toting it around, it has flattened out.

The great things is that it still holds my business cards, so I'm happy!