gl's wardrobe

i finally finished this knitted skirt (pattern by 'barefoot knits') that i started last summer.  i'm lucky it still fits her.  who knew that i would be a little sick of this color by the time i was done?  luckily, when i took her shopping for summer material she didn't pick anything purple.  phew!

summer fabric that gl picked out. 

she surprised me by picking out this one.  i really like it.  it's going to make a beautiful breezy dress.

this was my choice.  i have a design in my head for it.  we'll see if i can translate it to fabric.

this one was also my choice.  i'm thinking a double layer skirt with a lace border.  the rest of it i plan on using in another quilt. 

purple pain

i'm easily distracted.  i've come to accept it and stop beating myself up over it.  this time it was those extra quilt squares.  i only needed 63 for the quilt and it turns out i ended up with about 120.  i needed to do something with them. i couldn't let them go to waste could i?  surely not.  i layed them out and pieced them together with the thought that i might make a bag or a skirt from the material.  sure, it's not what i was supposed to be working on but OH MY GOODNESS!  i'm so glad that i did it.  while working on sewing the blocks together i was reminded of one very important piece of information :  VELVET IS EVIL!

i had forgotten that.  i had forgotten just what it feels like to chase a scrap of velvet across a sewing table.  to watch it shift out of position and defy every pin that you poke into it, then turn it's head and stick out it's tongue at you.  i remember now!  it sucks.  i did an online search to see if i could get some tips for working with velvet and i didn't find anything different from what i was already doing.  i also found an expert quilter from Romania named Geta Grama whom i saw had made some quilted velvet bags.   i wrote her a note asking for advice and this is what she wrote back.... "if I would have a few options, I would never choose to piece velvet."  good to know.

i finished a bag using the scraps but now i need to go back and redesign the quilt.  luckily i don't have too many velvet blocks in it but enough to make me uneasy.  i need to replace them all with some nice, safe cotton.  looks like i'm already dropping behind in my april challenge.

 quilted purple patchwork bag (12 x 14) with ....

pocket.
sold!

"purple haze is in my brain....."

 i started the purple quilt today.  pulled up the purple stash from the basement and picked out my backing and my binding from the group.  i've been saving purple remnants for awhile, just for this quilt. 

 the size will be 35' x 45' with 5' squares.  i need 63 squares, a backing that is at least 2 inches bigger on each side and at least 160 inches of binding.  

i think i ended up with  more than 100 squares but some (like this green here) didn't make the final cut.

here it is all laid out on the kitchen table.  i swear, someday i will have a work surface that i do not share with food.  i like to take pictures of my projects and then look at them.  it gives a different perspective and sometimes you see things that you didn't see with your naked eye.  for example, i see that in row 4, 3 of the squares are the same material.  i'll have to change that.  otherwise, i think it looks good.  i was aiming for sweet and feminine.  i think i hit that mark. 

the math is done, binding cut (2.5' wide) and rows put into piles and labeled. 

tomorrow i start sewing.

 

if Baskin-Robbins can do it, why not me?

 i set myself a large task for March. it bordered on crazy.   i was going to do 1 project a day for the whole month.  that's 31 projects.  i'm very lucky to have a husband who is not only fluent in crazy but very tolerant of it. once more my home was covered in fabric, pins, embroidery thread, and all those dust bunnies that you get on the floor when dealing with textiles.  but alas, as Pierce said to Jeff on  Community the other night,

" That thing that some men call "failure" i call living.  breakfast, and i'm not leaving til i've cleaned out the buffet."

my goal for April is to finish 4 quilts in 4 weeks.  to be completely honest i will say that i already have one almost done and a second one mostly cut out.  that's my starting point.  this week will see me working on a lilac and green baby quilt.  ready, steady, broccoli on spaghetti...............GO!

  these are a few of the march projects.

3 sold!  i still have the yellow one.

 i call these the "sweetness" bags because they remind me of spun sugar.

sold!
this clutch was inspired by my daughter who got really interested in babushka dolls for a couple days. 

i love this blue fabric put unfortunately i was only able to get a small square of it.  it was a sample that the fabric store was getting rid of.

sold!
i've had this lovely green material forever and didn't know what to do with it.  then this little pink bird landed on my shoulder and was like "pss....embroider me on a field of green." you can't argue with an imaginary bird.  

Sold and Sold!  still have the floral in back!

 i found a quarter yard of this navy blue bunny fabric that i fell in love with and if i ever find anymore i will cry with joy.  it's so lovely and unusual.  the bag to the right is a woven houndstooth fabric that i layered a flower on.  the front purse is clutch sized, lined with black velvet and hand embroidered with a floral motif that i took from the gold fabric that it is on.  

sold!
i call this the "nina bag"  because i finished it and said, "doesn't this look like something nina would have painted?"  it's a smaller version of this next bag....

Sold
the one on the left was a disappointment so i shall not speak of it.  the one on the right however, that one i call the "Holly Hobbie" and it just needs to be cuddled.  i'll  post more of the March projects later this week.