IF EVERYONE JUMPED OFF A CLIFF WOULD YOU?

If that cliff is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, then yes, I would.

I first saw it almost two years ago when I bought a different book of small square samples.  I got the other book and promptly shelved it when I saw the 6" squares and the historical colors, which goes with nothing I own or hope to.  The recent popularity of the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt on the blogosphere got me rethinking.

I started on a square or two and pretty soon, dinner was forgotten, the kids were a distant memory, and housework never existed.  (I am sure they will all be there when I am done.)  Here's what I've got so far

I'm about 1/5th through.  I think I am going to make about half of them and do a lap quilt and then I will evaluate my commitment to the relationship.

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

While I was visiting Elizabeth she told me about these quilts she had seen.  And I was intrigued because I bought a jelly roll on impulse that I later regretted (I like the fabric, but hey, it's expensive!) and so it would be a great way to put it to good use with minimum risk.  Turns out, it might be one of my favorite quilts.  It will be super easy to quilt, too, because all I have to do is follow the line.

Basically, you take a jelly roll and sew all the short ends together to make one SUPER LONG (44" x 40) strip.  You cut off 18" on one end.  Fold it together and start sewing down one long side.  When you get to the fold, cut it and finish the seam.  Now you have two really long strips.  Sew them together again and cut at the end.  Now you have four pretty long strips.  Repeat two or three more times, I can't remember but you'll be able to tell.

The longest part of sewing this quilt was refilling the bobbins.  For real.  It's that fast.

Oh, and I found this tutorial, if you'd rather.  It's here.  I really liked how she sewed her strips together on the diagonal but I was worried about not sewing all my lines in the same direction and then it would be a mess.

Quilt As You Go Log Cabin Pillow

I saw this darling quilt here and wanted to try quilting as you go, but I didn't want to commit to a quilt (even a lap quilt) because I have several things in the works.  I needed instant gratification!  I used my Chez Moi something roll (thinner strips than the jelly roll) and this was so fun and just stitched up in no time.  Love.

Now I need to make a table runner using this same technique.

TEA AND CRUMPETS APRON KNOCK OFF for the wedding

These are the aprons I sewed for the servers at Rachel and Jake's wedding:

For the first three I took my inspiration from Antroplogie's Tea and Crumpets apron:

I think I did alright.  I scoured the internet for a good tutorial and didn't find one that met my needs.  So I just winged it and I think it was okay.  

I also made this apron:

But only because I was sick of sewing ruffles.

I also made fabric flowers to pin on.  And by "I", I mean my awesome niece Madi and my mother in law.  Here is the full on apron, with flower, in action, on my friend Steph.

I am thinking of doing a tutorial on knock off apron myself.  Except for reals - do you know how long it takes to make a tutorial?  Those women should all be thanked when they do it.  It takes FOR.EVER.  I know because I have about 4 in the making.

PICNIC SET FOR TWO

 

This is the picnic set I sewed up and purchased at Target for Rachel.  I used placemats to make the silverware rolls and placemats to make the bag.  (Sadly, she has since lost the bag.)  The silverware roll has a napkin, a small garbage bag, a straw, and a fork, knife, and spoon.

I found it somewhere on the blogosphere and copied it and now I can't find where I got the idea.  If someone has seen, let me know.  I'd like to give credit.

WHATERR YOU WANT TO CALL THEM ...

My husband's cousin's wife is an amazing photographer.  Check her out here.  She is doing all of Rachel's wedding stuff and Ben's senior pictures.  So I thought I'd make her a couple of camera critter, lens pets, whaterr you want to call them.

Here's a lady bug with scary eyes.  I should have put more white on there.  I wanted it all black, white, and red to get newborn's attention.

 

And seriously - my owl will NOT LOAD STRAIGHT!  I don't know why.  This one was just for fun. I showed it my kids and one thought it was a peacock and the other a duck.  So maybe it's a stretch calling it an owl?

I pretty much just googled images and then drew my own pattern from what I saw, cut it out of felt, and sewed it on to those awful scrunchies from the 80's that WalMart still sells.  (At last!  A good use for them!)

LDS GENERAL CONFERENCE NOTE BOOKS

Six months ago I made these for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference and vowed to make them earlier this year.

Well, here it is, the day before the night before General Conference and I am just getting started.  I used someone else's pictures last year and they were okay, but some pictures were color and some were black and white and it just wasn't okay. Tonight I redid the pictures and you can just click and copy the images and print them out yourself, following the instructions on the link above.

 

When my 9 year old saw me making these, he said, "Yes!  I LOVE doing this!"  So, yeah, it's a huge success.

BABY QUILT

Our dearest babysitter from back in the day was expecting her first baby!  They knew there were going to be some concerns and issues and they are just so positive and full of faith. They are inspiring!  (He is now born and cute as can be.)  We are so excited for her and her hubby!  I made this blanket for the new baby.

I used this pattern from the Moda Bake shop.  It was fun to make and quilt. But most of all, we are super happy for the new parents.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PILLOWS

 These two are my favorite.

I had to explain to my sister that this one doesn't say "get lucky", just lucky.

I used old tshirts for the top two and for the lucky I gathered ribbon and then freehanded it onto the pillow.  I also single stitched some shamrocks in the background.  If I never do the gathered ribbon thing again, it will be too soon.

LUCK O' THE IRISH

I wanted to make St. Patrick's Day shirts for the kids and since the iron-on stuff here DOES NOT WORK (ACK!!!!! so many ruined projects!) reliably (is it the humidity?), I had to sew.  I went to Cafe Press for some inspiration and found what I was looking for.

Today I made the Littles these Sham Rock shirts for St. Patrick's Day (and good news!  they are Mardi Gras appropriate!)

 

I bought the shirts at Old Navy (on clearance) and then cut up one of Rachel's Guarantee Girls cleaning shirts (Larry says that's very "sustainable" of me).  I used Old English Text MC and made the letters about 3" tall and traced them, reversed, onto Wonder Under.  

I used this shamrock from a blog (and I can't find it!  Rats! If you know where I got it please tell me) that I had saved to my images folder.  I made it into a guitar.  First I ironed on the letters and then I top-stitched around everything and put the knobs and strings on the guitar.

  

It took longer than I thought to do all that sewing,  but in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result.  I like it so much, I'm going to make a pillow ... sham.