As I sorted through my old stash recently, I found some old jeans I was converting to skirts. It occurred to me that I’m never actually going to make those skirts (they’ve been sitting, pinned together, for around 4 years) so I decided to use the denim for a picnic quilt.

I used a seam ripper to take apart pretty much every stitch in 3 pairs of jeans and a mini skirt I’d been saving for a purse. It was worth it. Every fold yielded surprising tonal variations. This is what I have so far, roughly a 12”x18” block. I’m considering adding other fabric to make it bigger without having to tear apart more clothes, but I really don’t want to take away from the patterns and tones that are emerging. We’ll see!

I just completed my blue scrap quilt. Ignore the fact that the quilting is pretty awful and that no threads have been clipped! In the future I want to focus on becoming better at quilting, but it was nice being able to just zip through a quilt.

Creating this quilt was such a soothing experience. There was virtually no planning involved. I chose blues and greens as my palette. I then went through my scraps, selecting pieces that were big enough to cut blocks that were 4 inches wide with varying lengths. The fabrics are from leftover projects, hand-me-downs from my Grandma Ona’s stash, and recycled clothes. I just cut pieces until I was certain I had enough. Then I started sewing the blocks into strips.

In the middle of sewing, my husband claimed the quilt :) He’s 6’9, so I ended up making the it about the size of the top of our king size bed. It’s the largest quilt I’ve ever made. Sewing the top was no problem, it was very relaxing. However, quilting the mammoth was not. I definitely want a long arm sewing machine now :). The quilting is ugly, but I think the pattern hides it well. All that matters is that Alex loves it :)

I’ve recently come across some great sewing blogs. This week I stumbled upon a post about cleaning your machine… which made me realize I’d never cleaned the inside of my current machine. Which I’ve owned for roughly 3 years. Oops. When I opened it up there was a good quarter inch of lint. It’s now clean and sporting a shiny new needle.

I’d gotten used to my machine thrashing and bouncing when I sewed. Now I know it’s not because it was aging. It was just super dirty! It runs like nearly new after its cleaning.

If you can’t remember the last time you cleaned your machine, do yourself and your machine a favor… JUST GO DO IT!

Normally I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. However, 2010 seems like a year to start fresh. I will not call them resolutions… I will call them goals.

Goal 1: Read 52 books this year.

I’ve amassed quite a collection of books, at last count I had over 60 on my to-read shelf. And then for Christmas and my birthday I was given 10 more AND a Kindle. (B to the dizzub, I LOVE my Kindle!) So, in an effort to clear out that list, I will attempt to read 1 book per week. I’ve already finished 1!

Goal 2: Lose 20 lbs.

Yikes. Should I really put that up here? I think this is the area where I’m most afraid of failing. I hope that adding it to my public goals will make me more willing to stick to it. I’ve already lost 3!

Goal 3: Make a dress or a shirt for each woman in my family.

This is my let-slide goal. By that I mean I’m going to strive to achieve this, but if things are too busy, this will be the thing I don’t do. The reason I want to do this is to become better at garment construction and reading patterns. When I make things for myself I have too much trouble with measuring and I give up too easily. Making them to give away to people I love should (hopefully) encourage me to finish. I have 2 great books I’ll be referencing (Sew U and Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified), along with tons of patterns from my collection. There are 5 women in my family. I have not started making anything, but I have started gathering ideas from the girls about what they’d like.

So, I’ll check back in from time to time to let you all know how things are going! Other non-pressing things on my agenda for the year include restoring an old quilt, putting up a tutorial for a stuffed dog toy, and making a 1st year quilt for Dexter. Amongst other things. It’s going to be a crazy year!

      This is the CUTEST shop! If I had a  little girl I’d be so tempted by all those adorable dresses! She also has great kimono-style pj’s!

I’m very close to finishing the first quilt I’ve made for myself!! Such a nice feeling :) Usually I only make quilts to give away. We have one that I made for a charity auction… my husband bought it because he didn’t want to part with it :)

My Grumpy Quilt is actually a crazy quilt. A few years ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt to snuggle in when I was grumpy (hence the name), made of tons of red, pink, and orange scraps. The quilt includes pieces of clothing I used to love, and bits of fabric  from other projects I’ve done.

It’s taken me a while because projects for myself tend to take a back seat to projects for other people and purposes. But I sewed a bit here and there. It was a great stress reliever because there is no rhyme or reason. The only rule I made for this quilt is that all my scraps fit into the color scheme. Beyond that, the crazy quilt offered a really nice change of pace. I was able to just sew for the fun of sewing and seeing something come together without worrying about “messing up”.

Then last week, I realized I’d finally made enough blocks to complete my quilt! I pieced them together with bright pumpkin orange and backed it with a shade a bit richer than hot pink. Looking at it nearly makes my eyes burn, but I love it!

Right now I’m busy doing freeform quilting all over the orange areas. Hopefully it will be officially done within the next few days!! But for now, I offer a sneak peek phone-pic for your viewing pleasure!

Often sewing makes me feel like I’ve done something great. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, and everything turns out wonderful. But, ugh… sometimes sewing can become a near nightmare. That’s what I experienced today.

I made a mei tai for my sister, because she has her hands full with her newborn twins. In the process I broke three… THREE. needles. Within the space of five minutes. I was sick. After that, I only had three inches left to sew and something with my machine stopped working. I couldn’t find my manual so I had to sew the rest by hand. It was annoying because it doesn’t match and I’m not the best at hand stitching.

But in the end, I must remember that functionality is most important, and that this was a labor of love. I’d do it all over again.

(Photo by GulfCoastCottagePDF)

I nearly died when I saw this shop :) My sister and I LOVED playing house (for far longer than either of us care to admit…) and if we’d had access to this shop then, I’m pretty sure we would have lost our minds :)

GulfCoastCottagePDF sells patterns for adorable felt toys. Each pattern is only $5.99! There is a wide array of imaginative toys for both boys and girls. I want the above tool kit for Dex, and *cough*hint*cough*, Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles, Dexter might enjoy some of the other patterns for Christmas… :)

I finally got around to listing some of my sock monsters in my Etsy shop: www.lemonwoodclock.etsy.com

So far I have 3 listed, stay tuned for more!!

I’ve been in a desperate dash to the craft fair finish-line this week! I’m pretty sure I’ve never been quite so goal-oriented in my life :) Alex helped me create an action plan, and thanks to a management and production book he’s been listening to, I’m now acquainted with such terms as “throughput” and “bottle-necking” lol. I’m currently trying to maximize throughput by avoiding bottle-necking. Which is fancy-schmancy speak for trying to finish more products by identifying and tweaking your most time consuming steps. I don’t fully understand it, that’s why I said “acquainted” with the terms and not “best friends” with them :)

Everyday I have a specific production goal. Yesterday’s goal was to complete 3 dolls (I decided instead to complete 7 doll *bodies* and have them ready for faces, which I can do anywhere).Today’s is to finish all the sock monsters I already have started, and to hopefully begin a few more. 

I haven’t had time to take real pictures, but here’s a sneak peek at my dolls, via my phone’s camera:

  They’re babies, not big girls, hence the barely-there hair. Some of them will have dresses, some of them will have diapers. But I plan to make them all a tiny blanket to match their clothes.

This baby had pigtails, which left her hair all freaky :) I definitely plan to replace them asap!