Borrowing leads to buying

Last year I borrowed this book from Miranda and loved it! I'm a sucker for a good quilting book so I picked up my own copy recently on a trip to Fabricana. [I love that they've started carrying books now even if I am reasonably sure I'm the only customer buying them.]

I've got my eye on a few quilts already including Ice Pops which appeals to my neat and orderly nature.

I'm totally looking forward to trying the Flock of Triangles pattern after reading this half-square triangles tutorial on Oh, Fransson. So easy and so classic, though...do people really need to follow a pattern to make this quilt? Seriously?

And the Hop, Skip & A Jump pattern may look a little familiar to regular Milkybeer readers since it was the inspiration for the anniversary quilt I made my parents last year. So easy to do and such a nice look.

So many quilts...so little time.

The prettiest bunting ever!

One of the things I like best about sewing for other people is that I get to work on so many different types of projects. One week it's a quilt, the next week it's lunch bags and then on to a duvet the week after that. It's been rare that I've been asked to make the same project twice. The latest request...bunting.

I am in love with this fabric! Such lovely colours. It was the jumping off point for all the other fabrics I chose. Fabric selection is always my favorite part of sewing, but especially when I find some that I truly love.

This particular set of bunting will be making an appearance at a three-year-old's birthday party this weekend, but I think I may make up another string just for myself to enjoy...or maybe a quilt. Oh my God...a quilt in these fabrics would be AMAZING! Excuse me, I have to go get my rotary cutter!

Fabric gift boxes

Ever make something just for the sake of having something to show for yourself at the end of the day? That's what I did the other day when I made up this set of cute little fabric boxes. Aren't they adorable? They would be perfect to store jewelry or to give as a gift for Mother's Day. The outer fabric is Waterford cotton - a fabric I'd never heard of but is very affordable and just perfect for these boxes.

Want to make your own? I found the tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew. [love that site]

Happy Easter weekend!

We take our Easter egg hunts very seriously around these parts*. As such, I made sure Abner was all set with this cute fabric bucket for this year's round of hunting. I didn't follow any pattern and probably made it a bit bigger than necessary (each side is about 9"), but at least Abner will have plenty of room to stash all the chocolate she can get her little hands on. Let the egg hunt begin!

* How seriously? This is my family and some good friends all in our 20's still carrying on our annual egg hunt tradition...a tradition that started when we weren't even school-aged yet! Apparently we didn't have baskets the year this photo was taken and were using bowls instead...must have been a lean year for chocolate eggs.

Fabric finds...I can't resist!

I spent a bit of time wondering through Fabricana last week and now all these lovely fabrics are spending a bit of time on my stash shelf. Happy sigh.

One-word Wednesday: Duck!

Starting the pink cross quilt

I had no intentions of working on another quilt anytime soon with all of the commissions I've had recently. Honest. But when I read Elizabeth Hartman's (of my fave quilting blog Oh, Fransson!) post about a Quick-Piece Tiny Squares quilt over at Sew, Mama, Sew I absolutely had to try it. You have to admit, the concept is pretty alluring: patchwork piecing hundreds of tiny scraps into a beautiful quilt without spending ages doing it!

I promptly dug through my handy dandy bag of scraps and pulled out all of the pinks I could find. Don't ask me why I went for pink. I hate pink. Collectively though, even I have to admit, these squares look stunning.

Following Elizabeth's suggestion, I laid out my cut squares (2.5" x 2.5") in a grid pattern atop some light-weight fusible interfacing and ironed everything down. What I like about this technique is that you don't have to be completely precise about your cutting and placement -- a little overlap is just fine as long as you're rows are pretty straight over all. Once you stitch down each row and column, all of your seams will match up perfectly and any overlaps or gaps you had will be hidden in the seam allowance.

So, just how quick is this project? I was able to cut out all 315 squares in one night, and iron and stitch the entire quilt top the following evening. It's now sandwiched waiting for me to begin hand quilting. I'm not sure how that's going to go since the interfacing adds a bit of bulk, but we'll see. I'll post more pics as the project moves along.

P.S. I will likely be selling this quilt once it's complete (assuming it turns out okay). If you might be interested in purchasing it for yourself or as a gift, please message me at heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com. The finished quilt will be approximately 30 X 42 inches.

We have a winner!

Yup. Today is my birthday! I've been happily sewing all morning and just generally enjoying this bright sunny day. I wisely treated myself to the day off work and am so glad I did. Who wants to be sitting at a desk on a day like this?

The view from our balcony.

Blue sky as far as the eye can see!

Today is also the day I promised to select a winner in the "Name My Dress Form" giveaway. Initially, I thought I'd just pick the suggested name I liked best, but there were so many great entries, I decided to let the good ol' random number generator help me decide. Without further ado....the winner is....Lesley! She suggested I name my dress form Scarlet, and you know what, I think I just might do that! Thanks Lesley! Hopefully the coasters and mug rug will go with that sweet new kitchen you're working on!

Incidentally, if you haven't checked out Lesley's blog, may I suggest you mosey on over there. Seriously. It's one of my faves.

Thanks for playing along everyone!

One-word Wednesday: Brush

Is she a Scarlet or a Ruby? (with prize preview bonus!)

Good news folks, there's still time to get in on the fun and help me name my dress form. I'm planning to keep the contest open until Friday when I'll select one of the entries to receive a little handmade gift. Friday also happens to be my birthday, so it seems appropriate to give a little something on that day.

No matter how much you torture me though, I will not tell you what I've made! Nope, not gonna do it. I won't tell....okay, fine...you got me. I can't keep a secret worth crap. Wanna see what I made?

It's coasters and a mug rug! Wait, whoa...mug rug? What the what? Yeah...until a week ago, I didn't know what a mug rug was either. I've taken the liberty of illustrating its intended purpose below. It's either a really big coaster, or really tiny place mat depending on how you look at it. What-ev. I think it's awesome and hopefully you do too.

I'm on a bit of a linen kick at the moment. There's just something so beautiful about natural linen next to a selection of beautiful cotton prints...so simple and so gorgeous. I think I'm going to be using linen a lot more in the future.

One of the great things about this project is how it used up some of the teeny tiny scraps I had on hand that really aren't good for much else. I still have enough cut squares left to crank out a couple of additional sets, so I just might whip some up for myself. It only takes about an hour to do up the entire set. You can find the coaster tutorial I used over on Craft Snob if you'd like to make your own. The mug rug measures12 X 8 if you're looking to make that piece...it's not in the tutorial.

This project marks the first time I've ever done chain piecing. I'm sold. Such a time saver. If you're not in the know, chain piecing is where you keep running the pieces through one set after the other without taking the time to cut your thread in between. By the end, you have a long chain of connected pieces linked together and you just clip all the threads at once. I wish I'd tried this technique ages ago. Would have saved a tonne of time on some of my previous quilt projects.

Anyhow, like I said at the beginning of this post, there's still time to enter the contest if you'd like to win these little cuties. Hopefully you're even more excited to win now that you know what the prize is! To enter, you can go back to the original giveaway post and leave a comment there with your name suggestion for my dress form, or you can simply comment here on this post. Doesn't matter what you say...any old comment will do! If you've already commented on the original post (thanks so much!) you can comment here for an additional entry!

P.S. Despite the title of this post, I haven't narrowed down my choices for a name yet. Keep the fresh ideas coming!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

Project preview (with video bonus!)

Just a wee sneak peek at one of the commissioned projects I'm working on...

and a little something to make you laugh...if you've walked through a craft market in the past couple of years, you'll know exactly what they're talking about!

It's me, only with more dials!

I'd like to introduce you to someone special who's just come into my life...my new dress form. Well, she's not so new - try vintage 70s - but she's new to me. I picked her up yesterday for only $25 and she is now happily residing in my bedroom.

Regular readers of this blog are probably scratching their heads thinking one of two things: A) Why does a quilter need a dress form? or B) What the hell do you need a dress form for...you never sew clothes for yourself! Okay, okay...you got me on the first one. There is absolutely no need for a dress form in quilt making. The second point, however, is only partially true. I have been known to make my own clothes on occasion. The problem is, most of the time they never seem to fit quite right. With this shapely gal's help, I'm hoping to remedy that! I'm dying to take a stab at some of the patterns and techniques in my Built by Wendy Dresses book to create a few dresses that will actually fit me!

For those of you thinking of getting your own dress form ('cause I know you all want one), a couple of remarks:

1. It's alarming to see one's own proportions on a life-sized form standing right in front of you. Somehow, it seems more real than looking in the mirror. There's no denying your actual measurements when you have to dial them into place.
2. Carefully plan out where your dress form is going to live. Sitting at our desk is now sort of creepy since she kind of looms over anyone sitting there. Not good if you're at all prone to paranoia.
3. Ever wonder if your measurements are proportionate? Dial them into a dress form and you'll find out (my waist is tremendously disproportionate to my other measurements...and not in the good way).

Anyhow, all this is to say that I'm super excited about my new toy. I think she needs a name though. Leave a comment with your suggestion and next week I'll pick my favourite entry to receive a super-special surprise -- so super-special, I don't even know what it is yet!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

Reversible bucket hat cuteness

It doesn't happen often, but last week, I actually sat down to sew up one of the patterns from my expanding selection of crafty books. The pattern? The Reversible Bucket Hat from Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson. The result? This adorable little hat which sits so sweetly atop my adorable little girl's curls. It will be so perfect for summer...bring on the sun!