new beginningsI

It seems fitting that I'm returning after almost a year-long hiatus to blog a baby quilt and shower. I hope that this will be a new beginning for me with this blog just like the weekend was about celebrating the impending arrival of a new life. I didn't mean to be away so long; life kind of had her way with me, however. I was not at all sad to see 2013 transition into the new year, but I am immensely excited for all the love and fun that 2014 will bring!

Chief among them is the arrival of my niece or nephew next month.  To celebrate, I threw my sister in law a party. Full of awesome bites, easy games and handmade presents. See for yourself!

Our wedding bunting, still useful and cheerful!

The food table. We like to eat when we party!

Still using those vintage sheet cloth napkins!

Games and handmade vintage sheet goody bags!

Baby shower guest art. Each guest took a rainbow ray to write a blessing/prayer/hope for the baby.

I must confess, I am really proud of the way this original idea turned out!

The baby quilt I made for my niece or nephew - front.

A closer look at all those triangles.

Love this detail on the backing!

The back of the baby quilt.

So proud of this binding job. I am also now IN LOVE with clover wonder clips.

It has been some time since I quilted with new cotton fabrics (instead of vintage sheets). I'm loving the crinkle!

Too many photos of binding?

My sister in law and baby!

It was a great weekend and a great excuse to sit back down at my sewing machine. I did need to take a nice long nap on Sunday after church, but hopefully I'll be back soon with more sewing updates.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} ritual from Soulemama

wonky stars

quilt blocks are out... Moses' homing beacon. 

I swear he hears me laying the fabric on the ground.

only ever more comfortable after the blocks are pieced.

Months ago, I began experimenting with quilting wonky stars.  I have a significant number of vintage sheet scraps and an even larger collection of vintage sheets from which to cut.  I've seen several wonky star blocks on pinterest and started with a few blocks just to try something new.  Well, I ended up liking the blocks more than I anticipated.  Instead of using my blocks as hot pads or saving them for a larger project (no more bed quilts, please!), before I knew it I had half of a baby quilt.

all pieced and sandwiched and ready to (finish) quilt(ing).

Each year, the staff where I work host an enormous garage-type sale.  We collect donations for a few days, then the staff volunteer to price and arrange everything the day before the sale.  Usually, the prices are really low.  We also host a corresponding bake sale and silent auction.  The auction is a combination of promised items and the higher end donations we receive.  All proceeds benefit the students via student book scholarships.

After getting the hang of the wonky stars, I committed to a baby quilt for the auction.  I finished the blocks and the quilt top relatively quickly... and then set way too high expectations for the quilting!

all done, with a beautiful drape.

I decided to do a dense free motion quilting pattern I hadn't really done or tried in years.  I had just gotten the hang of this on a much larger quilt (that is still unfinished) waaay back in 2006.  Of course I haven't touched it since then.  And I have a different machine than I did back then, too.  So it was more than a little new.

folds nice and square, too.

It took me hours, but I am so. pleased. with the way the quilt turned out.  It was great FMQ practice, I got a confidence boost in actually finishing a project, and the quilt went for $70.00 in the silent auction.

finished front.

finished back.

Probably needless to say, Moses loved the finish product, too.

sorry, Moses.  not for you.

no, really Moses.  we can't keep it.

There's probably a limit on how many photos I should post of my dog, quilts that I make and combinations of those two.  However, it always feels like a finished project doesn't happen all that often, so indulge me.  These are some of my favorite blocks.  I realized after I was done that the best looking blocks were those that had high contrast stars to background.

love that blue hatch sheet.

bought this vintage sheet FQ from elegantitus months ago. so hard to find purples.

so, technically the green fabric wasn't a vintage sheet.  but it was a repurposed sheet from the thrift store. :)

When I was making the blocks, I started with a patterned background and a white star.  Then, with each new block, I utilized the background fabric to form the new star, creating kind of a chain of matching/coordinating blocks.  Then on my last block, I used a white background with a pattern star.  You can totally move from block to block and see the order I finished them.

the coordinating blue star to match the blue background block above.

FMQ close-up

Although it was a lot of work and I don't have my next FMQ project lined up, I am looking forward to trying it again.  I can't wait to give other patterns a try.

Moses, ever hopeful. He even brought a ball!

More Napkins

The collection grows.

I've blogged about possibly my favorite thing to sew before, but last October, after I stopped blogging, I was charged with planning a baby shower!  I've never even helped plan a baby shower before (and sadly, somehow, I took no photos of the actual event), but I was very excited to make more. cloth. napkins.

All different vintage sheets.

I love vintage sheets so much.  This is the easiest project to showcase their beauty without dramatic alteration, that still allows for reinvention of something that has typically exhausted life in their first round.  Even a bed sheet with rips or stains can be resurrected as a set of napkins.

Tidy stitches.

And because they are so simple to sew-- really the iron does all the work here-- I can really crank them out.  I think I made 40+ napkins for this baby shower, and I used additional vintage sheets as table cloths.  I'm really kicking myself for not photographing the event.  I was positively giddy to be able to put my stash and favorite go-to project to use.  We also used the vintage sheet buntings that hung at my wedding.

Combinations.

My favorite combinations of fabrics are florals and geometrics.  Usually one side is busier than the other.  In my house, we know to wipe greasy hands on the busier side so any potential stains are more difficult to detect.  But a wash in warm water with Oxyclean has taken care of any lingering food marks these puppies have encountered so far.  We don't eat many meals where we're really messy (buffalo wings?  If only), but those would be the meals we would break out the stash of take-out napkins.

I'm glad to have a big set of these for future events.  Dare I say, I'd be eager to host another event if it meant I could use them?  And this is another item that I'd love to receive an Etsy request for at any time.  If you find yourself interested in switching to cloth napkins, or would just love a set of vintage sheet napkins, find me on Etsy and we can work out the details of your order.  These napkins finish up at 17" square, with turned edges and topstitching, but they could be made in any size or combination of fabric.

Did I mention they are also good for the environment?  They are zero-waste napkins!  In addition to preventing disposable napkins from being sent to the landfills, vintage sheet napkins also reinvent vintage sheets, almost all of which either are orphaned items (no fitted sheet or no pillowcases), or are salvaged (can no longer be bed sheets at all).  And, they are just darn pretty.

Alanna's 5th Birthday Quilt

Backtracking again, through the things I have recently done but did not blog, here is the quilt I made for my niece's 5th Birthday:

Alanna's 5th Birthday Quilt: Purple Gingham.

I wanted to make her something big because the 5th birthday seems like a big one.  After all, it's after the 5th birthday that children in the US typically start kindergarten, begin learning to write their own name and tie their shoes.  Plus, they also have the social development to be able to play games and generally are a little more fun and independent.

I kept the stitching simple.  I wanted her to receive it on time, and it mimics the simplicity of the quilt.

Her favorite color is purple, so I focused on that in this quilt.  I used two shades of kona purple solids, a white solid and a vintage lavender and white striped sheet for binding.  I bought the supplies and sewed up the entire quilt top in Binghamton in December.

I love the gingham look effect!

This isn't he first blanket I've made for Alanna, but it's definitely the most exciting and grown-up.  It's just her size, so she can use it for naps, cuddling on the couch or bring it on a sleep over (at age 5, I'm fairly certain that is something she is allowed to do!).

Mark was super excited to step out into the hallway to hold it up for me to photograph.  As you can tell.

I used a super soft vintage sheet for the backing.  I love the floral print here, and there is purple although it's not overwhelmingly purple.  I used new fabrics for the quilt top, so I had to sneak in some vintage sheets for the backing and binding.  It's surprisingly difficult to find good purple vintage sheets.

Not to draw attention away from the quilt, but excuse Mark's socks.  I was too lazy to crop this photo.

Close up of floral vintage sheet.

I am not often timely with my gifts, a deficiency I am trying to work on because it seems so much more important with children.  But this gift was finished and received on time!  Alanna was able to open it at her birthday party.  Sadly, Mark and I couldn't be present, since we live 1,500 miles away.  But my lovely sister captured the moment, and I think Alanna really liked her quilt!

Yes, that is a Trader Joe's paper bag and pink ribbon.  Have I mentioned I don't believe in wrapping paper?

First glimpse!  She looks excited!

Not sure what it is...

It's a quilt!  And she loves it!  Hooray!

this boy... also loves vintage sheets.

Moses: "Oh, hey mom."

Moses has a definite thing for vintage sheets.  Look at how he's wiggled himself up between the pillows to get to the soft pillowcases?

Moses: "Ignore. Ignore. Ignore."

Also, of course, for pillows.  Because just lying on the Beauty Rest pillow-top mattress is not quite soft enough, especially when there's also a pile of pillows there, am I right?

Moses: "This is getting a little awkward... I would never photograph her nap..."

Too bad he doesn't also have a thing for being photographed.  He's so photogenic!

Moses: "Maybe if I hide... she'll go away?"

At least, when he allows himself to photographed.

Moses: "If I can't see her, she can't see me."

Love this pup!