one shabby chick

A Yellow dress

I came across this blog today and she has a giveaway going on (it seems like she has them all the time!). What a beautiful little dress! Head on over and check it out!

Tea time and table runners

I was busy sewing away on the table runners today when I caught a glimpse of this and had to get the camera.

 

How cute and creative (pouring the juice into her tea cup!).

I vaguely remember being asked if they could have a juice and snack but did not realize they would turn it into this.

Oh, the joy of a big box (and a willing sibling)!

I powered away on the table runners today.

I serged the rest and have them all hemmed too - now on to the ribbon. I asked the bride and she doesn't care if I iron them on or sew so I'm thinking the ironing will be faster. I'll have to try it out tomorrow and see.

And, I finished my Common Threads block (sorta).

Somehow I kept thinking it was supposed to be an 11"-11.5" block - nope, 12.5". And I don't have enough fabric left to fix it - I emailed Liz and she said it was ok to send it like this so that's what I'm going to do.

And last night at my quilt class I started on the Garden Party quilt....can't wait to get the table runners done so I can get back to fun, non-commitment sewing. 

It's in the wash

After posting a bazillion in-progress photos of Baby Girl's quilt, I am happy to report it's finally done!

I finished up the binding today while watching this with the girls.

I really love how it turned out.

So does Baby Girl (what a relief!).

And I finished it just in time...because these came in the mail today. OK I am in love. Of course I love my hubby and kids and family too but this fabric is just gorgeous!! How does she do it?

Don't worry I still love my Drawing Room...this is a different but same kind of love...I am laughing as I write this but it's like loving your children. You love them all the same even though they are different. That's how I feel about these fabrics. Yes, I am sure it is horribly shallow (or odd, you choose) of me to even be saying that but it's how I feel.

Anyway, back to the quilt - it's in the washer now and will be ready for bedtime tonight.  Bela's is next - hopefully soon!

All I see is brown

Yeah - I started on the table runners! I figured it was time to stop procrastinating and start working. I cleaned the house and folded the mountain of laundry that had been sitting in the living room for days and then went about cutting the fabric.

This was my set-up on the floor....

It worked great (and I had just cleaned the floor anyways). I ended up with a couple yards extra - don't know how that happened. I think we were being cautious (in case anything went bad - which it still could I guess).

I cut 25 of the 13" x 80" runners and 2 of the 18" x 102" runners (one for a candy table and the other for the bride and groom's table). So they are all cut and I have started to serge all the edges. Then I'll hem them and then figure out the best way to attach the ribbon. I bought some heat-n-bond and I'm going to try that.

I need to ask the bride if she's planning on keeping them after or not - if so, I'll probably end up sewing the ribbon on. The cutting actually went a lot quicker than I thought.

I got a couple books here to listen to while I serge and hem all those edges.

Too bad the Olympics aren't on yet - that would be great to watch during the mindless serging!

My Blog-birthday

Thanks so much for all the wonderful suggestions about gathering. Nicole had a brilliant suggestion of using dental floss and zig-zagging over it - I think I'll try that next time!

(she was even kind enough to send photos!! What a great gal!!)

And yes, it's been one year since I started this blog...hard to believe. I definitely have grown as a "sew-er" in this past year and tried/done things I never thought I would have all because of this blog and the wonderful community of crafters online.

Heather's Freshcut first inspired me to start sewing again and now it looks like her Pop Garden is even more fabulous...can't wait to get my hands on it.

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and including me in fun projects.

I do plan on having a quilt giveaway but I'm going to have to push it back until I actually finish the quilt (it is cut out though!).

I think I'll try to focus on the table runners this week as the pressure of finishing them is starting to get to me.

Also I have been tagged and it seems like a fun thing to do for a blog-versary....

Here's what you do:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Hmm...6 unspectacular quirks of mine....

1. I don't drink water very often. I go through spurts where I will try and drink lots of water but mostly I forget and just drink Coke instead (I know - it's horrible for me!!).

2. Even though I grew up in Hawaii and live here still, I really don't go to the beach much. I try and take the kids but I'd rather sew, play soccer, do other things than go to the beach. Not sure if it's the swim suit thing or what...Sorry if this offends any of you mainland people!

3. I'm a clean freak...I know hard to believe with 4 kids but I love my house to be clean. I've actually gotten much better about it and can go for days now and not clean the house but I always like it to be straightened up at least.

4. I have unusually strong teeth. I have gone for years without going to the dentist and then will go and not have any cavities - and it's not like I'm a great brusher/flosser either. I've only had one cavity in my life and that's through 4 pregnancies of throwing up the whole time.

5. I don't have a gall bladder - not sure if that's a quirk or not but I'm saying it is. Because of my bulimic-like pregnancies (see above), I developed gall stones. And so after Bela was born, I started having these weird back pains and finally one day was forced to go to the emergency room. And it was gall stones. So about 3 months later, I had my gall bladder removed. Bela was about 6 months old. It hasn't ever been an issue so I guess you can live without certain organs :-)

6. Hmm...this is harder than I thought. What to write for #6? I didn't like my wedding dress :-) I know you are all gasping in horror. It wasn't that I hated it - I just didn't like it that much. But it took Hubby a really long time to get a visa to come here and then we had to get married within 3 months of his arrival so it wasn't long to plan a wedding. And at the time, I didn't want a traditional dress. So it's hanging in my closet - maybe someday I'll decide I liked it. I'll post a picture of it later today.

Ok I'm off to clean the house so I'll tag some people later!

Would you like a chocolate lollipop at your garden party?

The eye doctor was fine...nothing wrong with my eyes or anything. I've had a headache every day for a few days now which really makes me feels grouchy and not good (but I think it's hormones and weather related).

Anyway, I did get some sewing in yesterday afternoon. I had to. I needed a present for Bela's friend. I bought some tank tops at The Children's Place so then I only had to make a skirt - easy right?

Well, I thought it was going to be...I think something must be wrong with me! How hard is it to gather material?

I can't seem to do it right. I have tried all kinds of different settings/stitches on my machine and every time I end up breaking the thread as I'm trying to gather it. I even tried different threads. Do I need a special foot? Would that help? I need to know! On the pattern she said she has a tutorial for gathering on her blog but I guess she hasn't gotten it put up yet.

So I yelled and gathered and yelled some more and ended up with an o.k. gathering job on the skirts. And I accidently used the wrong waistband for Baby girl's skirt but you can't tell. I just had to cut another one for the birthday skirt. I didn't get a picture of it but I used this fabric and this fabric for it.

The girls modeled theirs for me this morning before church...wake-up faces and all. We are pretty casual here in Hawaii - this is fairly dressed up for church :-)

~I did brush their hair before we left :-)~

And brother did not want to be left out of the photo-taking...I thought this picture was hilarious even if it has bad lighting/shadow.......

And I know you must all know by now that Mendocino and Pop Garden are on Esty!! But just in case you didn't...

Good intentions

First of all, thanks for all the dress love. I'm liking it more and more. Plus the fabric is so cute it is hard to not like it. I may even attempt more - did I just say that?

I pulled out the other pattern I bought from her. It looks easier so I may attempt that next. Although I'm really coming down to the wire for this present. I had planned to sew yesterday but instead cleaned all my windows and screens - I love clean windows! And then came down with a horrible migraine for the rest of the day! No sewing....

And I'm off this morning to an eye appointment...my eye have been really bothering me. Seeing dots and weird twitching. I am near-sighted and wear glasses and contacts so I'm hoping it's just that I need a different prescription. I'm worried he'll tell me it's from too much sewing (or...{gasp}...computer time)  and I have to stop...please don't let it be that!

So there's no sewing pics to show. Instead I thought I'd showcase Hubby's work. He finished a bathroom a few weeks ago and is now working on a second one for the same people. These are finished pics of the 1st bathroom (no before pics - sorry!):

He's pretty excited which is always nice to see. The new one is pretty big (for Hawaii standards) with two shower heads and he's building a little bench in the middle. Here's some before pics and I'll put after ones up after he's done this week.

Not a fan of patterns (even easy ones)

So I had the best intentions today. I would finish the dress for Baby Girl and start on the other two. I only got Baby Girl's done and just barely. How can so many things go wrong in one dress? And it wasn't like I had to cut hard shapes - just rectangles.

 

So I started sewing the bodice and was doing the shirring and the whole time I was thinking - this is huge for a 3 year old pattern. But I plugged away and shirred a bunch of rows and then gathered it a whole bunch so it would fit her. But it just looked bad...too much fabric + shirring = puckers..you know what I mean.

~ this is the good one in case you couldn't tell :-) ~

So I started in on bodice #2. Again thinking it was enormous. This time I paused to read the measurements one last time. Oh, just one 16" strip... not two sewn together like I'd been doing. DUH!! Ok much better now and actually the right size.

The rest went together fairly smoothly - I did have to take breaks to feed those kids that seemed to be at my house today (oh yeah, they're mine!!). I serged it all together and then saw there was a big bulge in the front under the apron...an ugly "not properly spaced out gathering" bulge.

So I cut (I was not about to use the seam ripper) the seam out and went about sewing my gathering stitch to sew the bodice and skirt back together. I had to sew those gathering stitches 4-5 times. Ughh, it kept breaking halfway through my gathering. I was probably pulling too hard since I could feel myself getting tense. I finally got it all gathered and sewn back together. And I left off the apron the second time around since I'm not sure I like them that much.

So the finished product is far from perfect...but she's wearing it.

 (do you see the horribly crooked seam right there? - but I'm not fixing it!!)

And that's all that matters. I haven't decided if I feel like tackling another one or not. I may end up making a top and skirt or something instead. Or I may torture myself and try again. 

Almost finished quilts and rolled hems

I have finished quilting both quilts and have sewn on the binding (just have to hand sew it to the back).

Yellow on Baby girl's quilt....

and a minty Freshcut fabric for Bela's quilt.

I did quilt flowers on Baby Girl's but only on the border.

I tried to do a "type" of stippling on the blocks but it mostly just ended up being big wavy lines. I need more practice with that.

On the sashing I just did swirlies (I love swirlies).

This is fabric for a new dress for Baby Girl.

I'm trying out hers first and if all goes well I'll make one for Bela and one for her friend's birthday this weekend. Last year I made these for the friend's birthday.

I learned how  to do a rolled hem on my serger - very cool (and I even changed the thread color!).

And since I'm cutting in to my Garden Party I'm cutting pieces for my giveaway quilt too. It's not going to be done in time for my blog-versary (which is the 28th), but I can at least post the giveaway and send it when I'm done I guess.

Tonight I have quilt class....just need to finish my outer border and then I can go quilt it on the long arm. I have to remember to tape this though!

Revealing my source

Since becoming a fabric addict, I get the most excited about new collections I have been eagerly awaiting. 

Now I have a new source that lets me know exactly when they are coming out. And she has a store where I can buy them too. And she always has good prices - what more could a fabric addict want?