Owls

Okay, apparently my cousin is the fastest person to read my blog, ever, because I posted last night that I had forgotten to take pictures, and this morning I had them in my inbox! Yay! So now I can share these with y'all.

Pattern: Emmaline Apron by Sew Liberated

Fabric: It's a Hoot for the Alexander Henry Collection in cotton canvas for the main print. The straps are from one of Heidi Grace's quilting cotton collections for Joann's. The potholders have Insul-Bright sandwiched inside.

The owl print is in slightly muted colors, so I really flip-flopped on what color/print I wanted to go with it. I eventually settled on this print because the line-drawn circles made me think of knotty owl-holes in a tree, and because my cousin has green eyes. Both prints sewed up beautifully and were a joy to work with.

I didn't use a pattern for these potholders, but instead traced around a circle shape we had in the house. My sewing steps were as follows:

1. Fuse square of owl fabric to same size square of Heat n' Bond. Cut out owl shape with paper backing still on. Remove paper backing. Fuse owl shape to fabric circle.

2. Sandwich Insul-Bright circle between a plain circle and an owl-fused circle, wrong sides facing in. Serge or baste around the outside. (Hindsight being 20/20, I think I would do this part by hand next time.)

3. Top stitch around the outer edge of the Owl. I used a straight stitch to keep the drawing nice and crisp.

4. Cut 2" wide bias strips to make double-fold bias tape that is 1/2" wide. I use a Clover bias tape maker for this, but it's not necessary. Or you can use pre-made double-fold bias tape.

5. Shape bias tape around the circle with your iron, leaving a tail at the end to make a hanging loop.

6. Sew the bias tape around the circle. I use my left-edge top stitching foot for bias tape, which makes it a lot less painful. When you get to the tail, sew it over the beginning of your bias tape, and then swing it upward and continue stitching for a few inches or so.

7. Loop the tail down behind the potholder and experiment until it looks right. On the top side of the potholder, stitch back and forth over that section of the bias tape to hold the loop in place. When you're done, flip the potholder back over and trim the bias tape a little below your stitching.

Voila!

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I also sewed up a couple quick tank tops for my little girl cousins out of some owl knits I had in my scrap box.

Pattern: Ottobre tank top from the 4/2004 issue.

Fabric: Gray waffle knit from Sewzannes, white Mis-Tee-V-Us interlock from co-op. Brown rib knit from Joanns.

I thought the tanks were a little plain on their own, so I added a pocket to the gray one, and a faux placket to the white one. I used my coverstitch machine to top stitch the bindings, and I'm just loving my new clear foot! It makes bindings soooo much easier.

K, that's it for now. Hopefully I will have some swimsuit sewing to show next!

Rain, rain, go away

Usually our Spring weather around here is pretty mild, but this week we got in a very brrr Winter storm from Alaska. It is cold! And dreary!

Just in time for the doom and gloom, I happened to receive a package of bright, cheery fabrics from this a-mazing sewing shop I just discovered, Hawthorne Threads. This place, I tell you. They have just about the lowest regular prices I've found on designer quilting cottons, wonderful selection and searching ability, AND you can order cuts in increments less than a yard! (Nope, they are not paying me for this shill!) Believe me when I say these requirements are a tall order. Most of the quilt shops I've found don't meet my high standards, so I don't normally use them as a resource. I either go with a big box store (Joannns or Wal-Mart) or one of my co-ops. And since it's pretty hard to step into a fabric store with my 2 year-old these days, I tend to stick to the co-op for the most part, since I can do it from my computer.

In addition to all that wonderful value and easy-to-use-ness of Hawthorne, I placed an order on Monday, and received it on Wednesday. Hello, super fast! This was like a heavenly miracle to me. I am used to a 2-5 month disconnect between when I order my fabric from a co-op and when I finally get to touch it. Yes, I get my fabric much more cheaply that way, but, sheesh. Talk about fabric patience. And I loooooooooooooooooove fabric, so it can be very hard to wait.

So anyway, the reason I decided to break down and order from a regular online store was that, a) I have been drooling over this new line, Glam Garden, by Josephine Kimberling and b) lately I just cannot get the twirly, patchwork Analise dress pattern out of my head. I really want to use it to make a special 1st day of school dress for DD. Unfortunately, the patchwork view calls for small amounts of 7 different fabrics, and that doesn't really fit my co-op paradigm. So I searched, perused, and eventually decided to order from Hawthorne before the Glam Garden fabrics sell out. I am so glad, because who wouldn't want to get this at 2pm on a gray Wednesday?:

Okay, okay, so that's not all Glam Garden in the picture. I also found what I think might be, in all seriousness, the most awesome whimsical owl fabric, ever. What might this fabric become?? It's a secret!!

Disclaimer, the fabrics on the edges of the picture are actually not from the Hawthorne Threads order. It was just my luck that one of my co-ops happened to send a small package yesterday as well. The package also included a charm pack of Summer in the City by Urban Chiks. Charm packs are wonderful and affordable way to sample different quilting lines. They are usually around $5 from my co-op, so decided to try my hand at making DD a patchwork twirl skirt. This pack contains 40-ish 5" x 5" squares:

These next two prints are from Lila Tueller's Santorini line. I was surprised at how large-scale these turned out to be. One of the perils of choosing fabric from pictures, I suppose. I had intended them for a tiered Gracie dress for DD, but now that I have them in my hands, I'm not sure. I really love the sort stained glass look, and that combined with the roses just really reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. I think I may incorporate one of the roses in a Summer Belle sundress I'm making for DD. We'll see.

Continuing the princess sundress theme, I plan to make DD a Cinderella inspired dress out of these two fabrics. The blue one is one I actually already had. It is a gorgeous tone-on-tone quilting cotton from Jennifer Paginelli (can't remember what line). I have been not so patiently awaiting my 1 yard order of sparkly white Fairy Frost by Michael Miller so I could put these two fabrics together. You can't see very well in this picture, but the Fairy Frost fabric has sparkly silver glitter swirls all over it. The FF fabrics come in many, many colors, and I'm told that some very talented quilting ladies make these gorgeous stained-glass looking quilts with them. I'd love to see one in person--this fabric is just so pretty.

That's all for now! Next up, some SEWING. (I gave up on DS's jacket and have moved on to lots of fluffy, girly dresses for DD. My favorite thing to sew, besides knits!)