2015 Finish Along: Quarter 2: Finishes

Hurrah for more finishes! Super excited that I am on a roll this year! I plan to bust through these and try to at least have some of them done! So far so good!

 Here is my finish from this quarter. You can check out my Goals List here...

1. Dinosaur Quilt for little man!

Happy Sewing! Happy Finishing!

Linking up

Floor Cushion: Free Pattern Friday with Mae & K

Welcome to my stop on the Free Pattern Friday with Mae and K!

I signed up to participate with Mae and K's Free Pattern Friday and this floor cushion was the perfect thing for me to sew. We needed one and I had been saving scrap fabrics for this very type of project!

First, You can get the free Floor Cushion on craftsy.

It was pretty fun, easy, and super quick to make!

I had wanted to accomplish this project and fill using the scraps that I have the hardest time throwing away... because, I save everything fabric! I used some sued (faux sued) that was given to me by a cousin who moved away. I still have a ton of that fabric left over. Oh, it's the bonus size!

I love that handle. Just proud of it. Looks so nice. Even without the piping.

I added a zipper to the seam on the bottom, which ended up getting a little funky (it's from a rice sack).

The kids love it (and the cat, she doesn't leave the thing at night, but I don't have a picture of her on it).

We were having a little bit of fun taking pictures.

Also, Check out Sew Thrifty's post here

And head over to Mae and K here, don't forget to check out some of her other Free Pattern Friday posts.

And for little man, being goofy...

A seriously simple fast sew.  They are addicting! I want to make another one, but I have nothing to fill it with. My goal is to eventually get some bean bag fill and use that to make another couple more... But that wont be for a while... Until then we have this awesome one to play with!

Happy sewing!

The Flying Geese Block: Multiple ways for the same block: A Round Up {quilting}

I decided to start working on the pattern for the Over in the Jungle jelly roll quilt, and in the digging process of finding the cutting dimensions (on a slip of paper with the scraps) I decided to look up the different was to make a flying geese block. Essentially, that was the route I took to make the blocks and wow, there are a lot of different ways to sew up a flying geese block! 

Pat Sloan has a video tutorial on how to sew them. Check that out here. She also give cutting instructions for a few different dimensions.

Connecting Threads has a tutorial for the method with a 'no waste' method too. Check out those two methods here.

Or check out the no waste method at Generations Quilt Patterns. I've never tried this method but it seems pretty cool if you have a bunch to make!

Check out doing this with triangles over at All People Quilt. This one scares me because you are sewing on the bias edge. I would probably warp and stretch the fabric. 

Quilters Cache has the three different ways listed on one page.

Connecting Threads also has a tutorial for folding the rectangle so you get almost like a 3-d effect slightly. It seems interesting. check out that tutorial here.

Stitch This has the different method with charts for cutting. check out those here.

Check out BC Quilter's for a cutting chart. 

The way I do it is the line drawn method. Though I might try the no waste method, it looks really cool! I do love the little triangles left over though. They are so fun to turn into improv-blocks, mug rugs, and such. 

How do you sew up the flying geese blocks?

The Diamond-y EPP Blog Hop: English Paper Piecing: All Points Patchwork by Diane Gilleland

I signed up to review a new book coming out and creating an English Paper Piece project. The book is All Points Patchwork by Diane Gilleland of Crafty Pod. Check out the book's website here! My project, a color order 6 point star turned into a case for our chromebook (which, now at this point, is just a 6 point star).

The Book:

I seriously love it. All Points Patchwork by Diane Gilleland is informative, but not overly so. It is great for those who have not ever done English Paper Piecing before, but also those that have. From great tips to creating your own projects to troubleshooting issues with stitches and suggestions for each shape, it is a great book for all levels. As she states in the book, she doesn't want a collection of patterns because she wants it to be a resource for the reader to use and to create their own projects. There are images of projects made though so you can see so many different ways to use paper piecing.

As I have only made a couple applique pieces using hexagons I was totally excited to read the book (so helpful) and make something using a different shape.

While making my project, I seriously referenced this book constantly! Loved it!

The Project:

I decided to make a 6 point star in color order and turn it into a sleeve/case for our chromebook. so far I was able to complete the star, but I cannot wait to turn it into a sleeve for the chromebook! I love how it looks and have been admiring it all day today (literally, I cannot believe that I made this)!

I used fabrics from my stash and used some tips in the book for using my finished star piece in this project. In the book she talks about fabric choice as well, and I have to say... I wish I had more solid colors in my stash, because this star would be even more stunning!

And one more. I almost just want to make a pillow, or a trivet, or something else besides a chromebook sleeve with this. But, I had bought these little 4x6 photo containers for scrabooking kind of like this one here (only half the size) and it holds small EPP projects to go just perfectly!

Check out these other lovely ladies as they post their diamond projects!

Also, there is a giveaway that Clover has jumped in to do too!

international entries allowed

Giveaway ends Midnight on Sunday, June 14th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Sewing

Building My Capsule Wardrobe: Month 2: What I Am Thankful For

Last month I posted about what I learned from my first month while trying to build my summer capsule wardrobe, you can read that here.

Month 2:
Now that I have reached the second month, I was originally going to share and expand on what I have learned. But...

1. I have come to terms with the idea that I still have no clue as to what I am doing.

2. I still don't fully understand what a silhouette is or how to go about establishing mine.

3. I still haven't figured out my magic number of items.

4. I am hyper aware of my ill-fitting, state of disrepair garments. I had to pull out a cardigan and wow.. holy holes batman! I became a little discouraged...

Since that first post I have removed 1 dress that is way too long (like, dragging on the floor long)
I have added 1 cami, 1 tank, 1 peplum top, 1 pair of pants, and 1 skirt.

I blogged those outfits. You can read about the tank, cami and pants here. You can see my skirt and peplum top here.

What I am thankful for:
Instead of sharing what I learned, instead I am going to touch on what I am thankful for since taking this up.

1. Laundry taking less time. I know I mentioned this before, but nothing can beat spending less time folding, sorting, ironing, hanging, etc... I need to apply this to the kids wardrobes so it doesn't take nearly as long just to do their laundry.

2. It takes way less time to put something on in the morning. Seriously. I grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt today, I didn't even thing about it. I knew I loved what I was wearing and that it was comfortable. I got a compliment, and I was like "wha? just jeans and a tee?" but hey! It was great!

3. Everything is in one spot. I don't have to hunt through my dresser for bottoms, then dig through my closet for a top. It's all right there, in one of the smallest spaces in my closet. I love it! (now I just need to get rid of everything I don't use)...

4. I have more time for other things. I actually did my toe nails the other day. I never do that. I spent some time of grooming that I otherwise felt there wasn't time for. Granted, I'm not doing the kids laundry (we can sift through their baskets for clean clothes, right?!?)... More free time is a bonus.

5. The fluidity of the concept. Like removing a dress. Replacing with something else. I want a different dress than the one I have, but it's just gonna have to do because... well... fabric is expensive. So, I just gotta make do with what I got right now... ;)

Be Intentional:
This word has been popping up all over the place with me lately. Intentional parenting, intentional about time, intentional in my marriage. And, by golly, it applies here too!

My mom offered me to go through some bags of clothes to see if I wanted anything. You know what? I didn't take one. single. thing.

I would have. I would have taken the bag to refashion, repurpose, make something for the kids. But, I didn't. None of the clothes fit with what I had, so I didn't take it. The kids have more than enough clothes, so I didn't consider refashions. I am so proud that I didn't take it.

Sure, I could have felt bad that my mom still has to figure something out with all. those. clothes... seriously, it was a lot. But, I don't need to take them because I feel bad that she has them.

so, intentional. Be intentional about the fabric you pick out. The patterns you use, and the clothes that you buy. FreeNotion.com has a great post on picking fabrics and patterns for your body type.

Everything requires thought and action. Passively working your way through is not going to guarantee success. I'm going through passively, and that's probably why I still don't know what a silhouette is. But I know my body type now. And, that's a huge step!

Jump In:
Want to, but not sure where to start? I those websites in the first capsule wardrobe post are still super handy. all you gotta do is start. It's not easy. Especially when it comes down to purging. I have the hardest time with purging. I still haven't made it to Good-Will and I so need to! But in the end, it is so rewarding!

What are your thoughts?
Is this a thing that can last, has lasted and will last? Or is this the latest fashion craze?

Whatever you decide to do...

Have Fun!