A tale of two minis

How was your weekend?? Did you get to be crafty?
I accomplished a few things, including falling down the last three stairs in my townhome. Stupid slippery socks. I have a couple of bruises, but I'm okay! I'm moving slowly this morning, though.

Today, I want to share two mini quilts with you. One was for a friend, and the other was from a friend.

You may have noticed in my mosaic, but I recently knit a second pair of Toast mitts for my friend/fellow guild member, Tammy.

I used some of the handspun from Sam. We made a trade last year, and this was one of the skeins she sent.

I wasn't expecting anything in return for the mitts; Tammy just wanted a pair, and is hoping to learn to knit soon.

She surprised me with the cutest mini at our February meeting.

Look! She used Kelly's LOVE pattern, and also pebble quilted for the first time. I love it, and it was so sweet of Tammy to make me a little treat!

My pal Kaelin has been on a sewing hiatus, due to a neck injury. She was sentenced to six weeks of no-sewing, which is, luckily, almost over. Some of her friends conspired to make her a care package, and I made her a mini quilt. I didn't want to give it away, but I did, reluctantly. She received it last week, so I can share it with you!

I'm so obsessed with wonky stars, guys. I can't even tell you!

Kaelin is very into navy/pink right now, so I used some favorite fabrics in those colors and densely quilted this. The fabrics include: Dear Stella stars (love!), Metro Modern circles, and a fireworks print I picked up at Sewing Summit. There's no selvage, but I wish I knew what it was! I'd love to get some more of that print!

I love the way the quilting turned out. I wouldn't want to densely quilt a larger size project, but on a mini, it's not too time-consuming.

I made a little hanger, which I sewed into the binding, and bound it with some jelly roll strips of the new Pezzy Prints. The back fabric is Lecien My Folklore.

I'm linking up with Megan today!

Wedding chatter

I knew I wouldn't be one of "those" brides. For instance, I don't care what color the table linens are (actually, I'm not even sure there will be any).
But Elliott and I have managed to have a lot of fun with the planning so far. Mostly, it's me, but when I ask his opinion, I don't see a glazed look, and I do get a thoughtful opinionated response.
Really, it's working out well. I've only had a couple of freaked out moments, which quickly dissipated.

proof positive that I am rarely serious

Here's a few details of what our day will look like.

Colors: Yellow and gray, with navy and red accents.
I haven't picked out accessories yet for myself, except shoes, which are yellow and fun!
The bridesmaids are wearing gray dresses with red or blue shoes.

I haven't ordered flowers yet, but I'm loving something along these lines.

Our venue changed from the one I picked. Elliott never came with me to see it, but when we went to pay the deposit, he couldn't see us getting married there. We worked quickly to find another place, and ended up with a very fun venue that is cheaper than the first one. Plus, we didn't have to change our date, so all is well.

So, of course, there will be some handmade elements.
I saw this on etsy, and my sister punched me some hearts and stars, which I'm going to stitch to baker's twine.

I'm making each guest a cloth napkin party favor, with a little label that has our initials and the date. I'll share the napkins soon. I've only completely finished one, but I have a few in the works. I'm just using stash fabric for now, and hopefully, I can keep it that way!

My sister took our engagement photos, and we picked one to use on this save the date design. We printed the file ourselves, and they turned out great!

Invitations have been been ordered from Ruby Press, and Ruby was very helpful during the proof process. I can't wait to see them!

Jill and some good friends are throwing me a shower, which I imagine will be very fun. I've been promised there will be minimal games, yummy food and drinks, and good friends. Perfect!

We've picked an incredible honeymoon spot, Vancouver! I'm hoping we have the courage to travel across this, but we'll see.

So, what else would you like to hear about, if anything?

Thanks for letting me ramble about the wedding a bit.
Honestly, I'm just ready for it to be here already.

Fi's Mini and other things

Mini quilts have been on the brain lately. I've had a lot of gifts on the to-do list lately, and besides that, they're just fun to make. It's so gratifying to start and finish a project in a few days. A mini lets me play with a new technique or beloved scraps. The blog world has been equally enamored with mini quilts lately, and there's even a fun contest going on right now at Ellison Lane. I'm trying to finish the mini I hope to enter for her contest, but for today, I wanted to share the one I made for Fi. Fi is a fellow Houston Modern Quilt Guild member. For birthdays in the guild, each member makes a gift for the person who has the next chronological birthday.

I made this scrappy HST mini quilt for her gift, and included a S'mores chocolate bar and a charm pack of fabric.

I used a no-bind method to quilt this mini.

In a nutshell, you assemble the top, then quilt a few foundation lines through just the top and the batting, to secure it.
Then, you assemble (right sides together) the top/batting and back.
Leaving a gap to turn inside out, then flip right sides out, top stitch the perimeter to close the gap.
Then, quilt away! That's the last step! No binding!

A close up of the yellow stitching.

I got to use some fun fabrics in this piece. The HSTs are from my triangles on a roll trial run, and I used a small piece from my Pezzy Prints jelly roll (a prize from Brenda's blog!).

I'm linking up with Megan today!

I'm also excited to share that I now have a complete FQ set of Anna Maria's Good Folks fabrics! I love this line, and have tracked down all of the prints, bit by bit. The last several fat quarters are a result of a swap with Leslie. I cannot thank her enough!

Later this week, I plan on sharing a little wedding chatter with you. We're at the two month mark!
I've also got a few received goodies to share.

Tadpole's Geese

You may remember that I met Rue in person a few months back. We agreed on a swap around that time. She asked for a mini quilt to hang in her daughter's bedroom. She lovingly refers to her daughter as Tadpole. I love that nickname. She's the cutest little baby, too. I got to meet her in December as well, and she is the happiest baby. Precious!

So, Rue made this swap pretty easy for me. She asked for specific colors, to match Tadpole's room. She also commented on loving the geese mini I made for my mom last July.

I used some fun prints in the colors she requested. I included prints from Outfoxed by Lizzy House, Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, a chevron from Half Moon Modern, Essex linen, a Kona solid, and Laura Gunn's Painter's Canvas. For the back, I used the same green chevron print. I quilted using three different Gutermann threads, a purple, orange and green.

In return, Rue spun me some yarn, which I should have very soon! I'll be sure to share it with you when it arrives.

Have a great rest of your weekend, everyone!

Days 1-10

We're halfway through February already! Geez. Time is flying crazy fast these days!

I thought I'd share a mosaic of days 1-10 in my month of crafty photos.

I must admit, I've been late in posting or taking some of these pictures. I'm enjoying the prompts, though. I enjoy looking through the flickr group, too.

Here's my favorite out-take, from day 7:

Olias can only be this close to the yarn under my watchful eye.

Stella +

Happy Valentine's Day! Do you remember the Echo pillow I sent Nicke? Ah, I'm still so in love with that yellow stitching.
Well, last week, I got my lovely pillow! Nicke knew I would fall for a gray and yellow plus pillow. She was right.

She used some lovely prints, including Dear Stella, Amy Butler, Ruby and others.

Nicke handquilted around some of the pluses, and it just looks lovely! She also included an invisible zipper, which looks masterful!

I would certainly call this a successful swap! Nicke is so much fun, and I feel lucky to count her as my friend.

A love for wonky stars

Hey friends, I hope you all had fun weekends with some crafty time!
Although I'd always heard they weren't difficult to make, I'd never tried wonky stars for myself until last weekend in Birmingham. We're starting our second round of the Wonky Bee this month, and Melissa asked for any radial blocks. I knew it would be the perfect excuse to dive in with some stars.
Chris purchased the 99 Modern Blocks book from a LQS on our trip, and I found a happy little block to try.

This is called Three Wishes. As I made each piece, and the block grew, I loved it more and more. I worked on my second block, with no real plan in mind, and came up with a fun pair of stars.

I love this block, too! So, it's safe to say, I'm now a wonky star junky. I made a mini this weekend with more stars, which I can't share yet, but here's a peek.
Oh, yes. There will be more wonky stars!

I'm linking up with Megan today!

I am a leaf

So, as promised, I'm here to share with you the mini that Amanda made for me.
First, have you watched Firefly?
If you haven't, I highly recommend it. There's only one season (it got axed, and was followed by a movie, Serenity, a few years later). It's a fun sci-fi show!

Amanda incorporated our shared love of the show with a mini quilt. Amanda picked a quote (from Serenity) from the character, Wash, and embroidered it in a happy yellow thread.

Even better, she used pieces from the ever-amazing Good Folks line, by Anna Maria Horner (along with some other AMH goodies). She paper pieced the curvy triangles, which you can see her working on here. I just love it! She included those fun little fabric pieces of Firefly characters, found on Spoonflower.

She also included a skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Sauterne. Ah, yellow. How I love you. I've said this before, I know, but I love our crafty community. To find others that share a love for sewing, knitting, quilting, embroidery, crochet, spinning, creating, etc. well, it's an awesome feeling. Thanks again, Amanda, for a very happy swap (oh, and psst! she's destashing some Mendocino at the moment!)!

on a roll

I have received gifts from both Amanda and Nicke to share with you, but today, I just wanted to share a fun new tool I got in Birmingham. Triangles on a Roll is now my favorite way to make half-square triangles. I purchased the 3" finished square roll. Amanda and I tried it out Saturday night.

It's quick and makes very accurate pieces. I always have trouble getting my HSTs to be just the right size, but this helps me out! Plus, this roll will make 600 squares. I want to make lots of HSTs!

I will definitely be purchasing other sizes.

I even cut into some of the fabric I purchased while in Birmingham, like this Kaffe Fassett Spot and Malka Dubrawsky's A Stitch in Color. Love!

Okay, received gifts, coming up! Happy Friday, everyone! ETA: Here's the basic instructions on how to use this paper: you pick two square scraps, then sew the paper square to the scraps, following the dotted lines, and using a very tight stitch. Then, cut on the solid lines. Trim dog ears and press!

FO(s): Double Fortnight

Actual knitting has been finished! What??
Yes, in the past couple of months, I have actually finished at least two knitting projects. Specifically, these hats you see above. I used Brooklyn Tweed's Fortnight pattern, found here. Both hats were knit in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, colorways Tidepool Heather and Persimmon Heather. The pattern is easy to follow, and I adore the large garter stitch brim. Each hat took just around 100 yards of worsted weight yarn on a size 7 circular.

These hats were knit for two very special people. One is Jules, who just sent me the amazing selvage mini and extras. For her, I knit the rusty orange hat to match the pair of Fetchings I made last year. I sent along some extras, including one of my last coffee cozies and some fabric.

Jules' husband took this photo of her wearing it. I just love those cables!

The teal version was knit for Amanda, who has fast become one of my best friends. I "knew" her before sewing summit, but it was after meeting in person that our friendship solidified. We have chatted lots since then, and hanging out with her this past weekend (where we exchanged gifts in person!) was so much fun.

Although Amanda is a very proficient knitter, she said she didn't have a hat for herself; she's given all of her hats away! So I knit this one and included some extras. I'll share what she made me next time!

Swoon #7 and #8

Hello! I'm back from a very fun weekend with crafty friends. I went to Birmingham to hang out with Chris, Rachel and Amanda this weekend. We chose a (fairly) central location to hang out and sew. It was a crazy fun weekend, and we were all very productive! I'll be sharing some of my other projects later this week, but first, here's my latest Swoon blocks.

Swoon #7 includes two Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow prints with my typical Kona Medium Gray.

Swoon #8 includes a Ty Pennington Impressions print with Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow herringbone. And I know I've said this with several of the blocks, but I think this may be my new favorite...

If you haven't already heard (and chances are, you have), Katy is hosting a Swoon-Along, which is 600 members strong on Flickr. I'm hoping to finish up my ninth block in the next few weeks, and get a quilt top together! You can see my other finished blocks here.

I'm linking up with Megan today!

FO: Starry Art Student Tote

I finished the Art Student Tote I shared with you earlier this week! I recommend this Anna Maria Horner pattern wholeheartedly.

My only trouble was during the cutting process. Since I made the slim version (view C), I got a little confused by the cutting diagram. I ended up cutting my main fabric (those beloved stars) wrong, and wasted some (but don't worry, I'll give those large scraps new life!).

I modified the interior of the bag slightly. The slim version has a divider wall with pockets, but since I'm hoping to tote around my laptop in this, I omitted the divider, and just added the pockets to the side of the bag.

Anna's directions were clear, but like with all patterns, reading through before starting is a good idea.
My only other modification was that I omitted the magnetic closure, mostly because I didn't have any, and was fine with not having a closure of some kind. My last modification was that I did not interface the straps.

All in all, I'm very happy with this bag. It was the perfect supplemental project this week. I started cutting fabric Saturday night, and Tuesday, I was finished!

Fabrics used: Joel Dewberry Woodgrain in yellow, Sundae Stripe in gray from Moda's Ruby, Cosmo Cricket crosshatch in yellow, Sandi Henderson Secret Garden (floral pocket print), and Dear Stella stars.

I highly recommend this pattern. When I first purchased this pattern, I thought a sew-along would be fun. I'd still be up for that, if anyone is interested. I have hopes to make the larger version.

Would anyone want to sew-along with me?

February - Photo Challenge

Having never participated in a photo challenge, I can't guarantee I'll make it through February with this, but I'm going to try! Andi posted a fun idea for February, and since the focus is crafting, I think I'll have a better shot at success!

The prompts look fun and I already have ideas for a few of them. She included a 30th day, in case you don't like one of the prompts, or you miss a day.

Andi just started a flickr group to share your photos for the challenge. Feel free to join us!