Brown Bag Challenge: An Update

As I mentioned back in November, my quilt guild introduced a few challenges  on this year’s program.  One of them was the Brown Bag Challenge.

 

The Brown Bag Challenge

Anyone who wanted to participate in this was to bring a brown bag filled with 4 fat quarters, 1 meter of fabric and a cookie cutter.  We all put them in a pile and then randomly grabbed a different bag.  Your job with the new brown bag is make a completed (bound and quilted) quilt for your partner using what they’ve supplied you.  In June the finished quilt will be given to your partner.

I’ve been working on the quilt for a little while now.  One night when I couldn’t sleep I finished sketching the design I wanted to use.  It is a basic design, but it did take a bit to figure out how all the pieces would fit together.   When we found out we were having a baby and she would be due in June I was a little concerned with the commitment I had made to complete my partner’s project.   I know my partner would totally understand if I didn’t make the deadline, but I just didn’t want to have that happen.  The worst thing that will happen is that I won’t be able to be the one to deliver it to her.

Since I wanted to ensure that I had it complete for the June reveal I made it one of my first priorities – after all it was being made for someone else.

I love how it turned out.  I call it “On the Plus Side” but I can’t show it to you yet.  But I will show you the back of the quilt.

My partner included this mustard colored fabric that I used as the backing – as you can see.  Her cookie cutter was a little hippo that I had to somehow use in the quilt.  I used a wavy quilting pattern that Bijou Lovely did a tutorial on and when I would look on the back I often thought it looked like rolling hills.  So I appliqued the little hippo on the back to wander over the rolling hills.

I really like the back and really like how the wavy quilting turned out.  I will definitely have to try this quilting pattern again.

32 To Do: #19 Make a camera case

Nate got me this fabulous camera for Christmas this year.  It is the Canon Powershot S110.  It has a huge screen on the back – it is a touch screen too.  And he got me it in white – pretty flashy if I do say so myself.  The only problem with it is that it didn’t come with a case and I didn’t want the screen to get all scratched up in my purse or diaper bag as I paparazzied our baby.

Once again I scoured pinterest for DIY camera cases and looked at a bunch of tutorials.  I found this super wonderful one too and I saw that many other people had been successful at it as there was picture proof.  So I thought I would give it a whirl.  Lets just say it was a debacle.  The measurements for the camera were the same, so I cut out the pieces as guided in the tutorial.  But once they were cut out and looking at my camera I was starting to doubt  this was going to fit.  So I cut more fabric an inch and a half larger thinking that would help me out.  Continuing on my merry way I began following the instructions, only to discover – NO SEAM ALLOWANCES.  I decided to ere on the side of caution and use a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Lets just say that my camera didn’t fit – and if I made the seam allowance smaller I was afraid it would rip open while putting in my camera.  So I stepped up to the bigger pieces of fabric I had cut and tried again.  This was going better until the finishing stitches.  It called for you to insert the lining into the outer piece wrong sides together.  Then fold the two top edges in, how much?  don’t have a clue, then stitch around it to finish it.  I did my best.

And voila, that is what came out.  UGLY!  I will not use that, I will not take that out of my hand bag, I will not allow this to leave my drawer or circular file bin.  I didn’t even want to post this photo.

After this, this was the 4th project with no seam allowances that didn’t turn out, I was ready to give up, but then I remembered I had put it on my 32 To Do List.

So back to the drawing board I went.  I found another one that I quite liked and thought, ok maybe, this will work, after all I’ve tried her tutorials before and they have all turned out rather well.

And I was able to make this…..

Now this I will carry around.  It is another Pink Penguin Tutorial.    She also did that tutorial on the lunch bag that you’ve probably seen around everywhere.

It was a really good tutorial and it was her very first one in English too.  I did alter it a little bit, because the camera hers was made for wasn’t the same size as mine. I would be happy to share my calculations if you would like – they have been checked and as you can see did work out – just let me know.

I also didn’t want to hand sew the top and bottom binding on, so I used the tutorial Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts for machine binding.  

The only thing I don’t like is the raw edges at the top and bottom of the side binding pieces.  I am concerned with fray there, but for now I am quite happen to put my little camera in its case and tote it around.

Pregnancy Brain: A Real Condition

I don’t want to admit this, but I NOW believe that the condition known as Pregnancy Brain is a real thing.  I’ve been fighting it for months, trying to keep my brain fresh and active not succumbing to the lose they all talk about.  Not admitting that my forgetfulness is a result of the pregnancy, but instead on having too many things on the go.  Or admitting that I actually lost my train of thought altogether and instead blame it on trying to talk to Nate while doing something else at the same time.  Or the classic, trying to shower in the morning, but running out of hot water immediately, not being able to discover why until I get out of the shower to find that somehow in my pregnancy haze I turned on the bath tub at the same time and had both running.

Finally, the pregnancy brain has effected my sewing life and it is too hard to deny this anymore.  Last weekend, on Saturday, we had nothing scheduled – except our weekly trip to the Home Depot, and I decided it was the perfect time to dig into the nursery sewing – after all I couldn’t quilt my last project as I had run out of thread (doubting this was a coincidence).  In my note book I carefully read through all the tutorials and figured out what I needed to cut out for each of the projects.

I was cruising along.  Until I started sewing the fitted crib sheet.  Then I hit the wall.  You see my fabric was 58″ width – a little larger than the typical quilting cotton that the tutorial called for.  I sketched out that I needed a piece 45″ x 69″ to fit the mattress.

I drew out my fabric piece to visualize what I had and what I needed to do.  As you can see I took the width of my fabric  minus the amount I needed and it equaled the amount I needed to remove.  So I cut 13″ from my fabric, from all the pieces of fabric I was going to use to make crib sheets – as anyone noticed my error yet?  I thought I was doing pretty good at that point.  That evening I woke up at 2:30 and was wide awake so I decided to sew.  I thought I would get the fitted sheets done so I could spend Sunday feeding elastic through the casing.

There I was in my pajamas at my sewing machine, marveling at my work.  But as my previous tutorial following had taught me (no seam allowances -remember) that I should double check to ensure that things were fitting.  I was concerned about doing this as it was still very early and I didn’t want to wake Nate.  I snuck upstairs and decided that rather than trying to get the sheet on the mattress in the crib, I would carefully remove the mattress and take it with me. Yes, taking a giant mattress down two flights of stairs in the middle of the night is a good idea – another reason to support this theory.  I did get it down to the basement and laid it on the floor and triumphantly put my sheet on it – only to discover that it wasn’t wide enough.  It was long enough for sure, but width wise I had somehow messed up – but where?  My triple checked my math, I used a calculator to make sure, I sketched it out.

And there on the floor, in a heaping pile of flannel pajamas and crib sheets I lay crying my eyes out.  Not knowing where I screwed up, not knowing how I could fix it, not knowing if I had enough fabric to fix it, and not knowing how I was going to tell Nate.  When I couldn’t take it anymore I went up stairs, woke up Nate and told him what had happened, alright I cried what had happened.  No matter how I make fun of Nate on the blog sometimes, he really is a good fellow.  He took me in his arms, told me everything would be ok and that we would fix it.  He asked if we could salvage them, add other fabric to them to make them fit, and other options I had already tried before coming up.  He finally said – order more fabric and that he would help me get them finished once the fabric arrived, just in case I am too big to fit in front of my machine, he would sew them for me while I supervised.  See, he is a good catch.

That morning I thought long and hard about what I had done – then it hit me – THE FOLD.  I didn’t consider the fold.  Yes, my fabric is 58″ wide, but I wasn’t cutting it opened up, I was cutting it folded.

Which meant that on my cutting table I had a piece of fabric that was 29″ x 69″ and if I opened it up I would have my 58″x69″.  I was right though, I needed to take off 13″ – TOTAL, not from each side.  I took off 13×2 =26″ (because of the fold) off in reality.  I should have taken that 13″ and divided it in two, giving me 6.5″ to take off because of the fold.  At least I figured it out.  It was a costly mistake to say the least, but one I will never make again – I hope.

With all this being said, I think this pregnancy brain really does exist because I refuse to admit that I could have made this mistake being of sound mind.

 

Tutorials: A Rant

I don’t usually complain or rant on this blog, I even try to stay away from reviewing things that I didn’t enjoy or weren’t that helpful – to be honest because I don’t want mean comments thrown back at me for an opinion.  And because I remember the ONE line I had in my elementary school’s play Bambi in grade 2.  I played Thumper’s mother and the line was, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I don’t even think I would say something if this “issue” only happened once, but it happened all throughout my sewing for the nursery.

I love tutorials that people post online, I’m even working on one myself.  I’ve learned how to bake/cook some terrific recipes, done some fun crafts on my Wilting Days with Lauren, and sewed some really terrific items.  The tutorials pull me in with fabulous photos that they’ve taken and pictures that show each step – as a visual learner they are so helpful.

But alas, many of the tutorials for sewing DIY projects don’t include seam allowances – don’t even mention them at all.  And this has become a thorn in my side – so let the rant begin. 

As you know I’ve been making items for our nursery.  I wanted a truly custom nursery – not because I’m snobby and couldn’t find anything better out there, but because I wanted to be in there with our girl and know that this was created for her, that time was taken to make each item just so, just for her.  I spent hours scouring online for tutorials (alright scouring pinterest, then through google) on envelope pillows, fitted crib sheets, bench cushion covers, and change pad covers.  I dug through tutorials trying to find the perfect instructions for each of these items and finally found some that I thought would work.

But yah know something – no seam allowances were given.  No where.  Not in the instructions, not a note on the photo, not even in the comments.  NOTHING!  Why is this such a big deal to me?  It meant the difference between putting something together and then having to rip it apart because the seam allowance was too big or having it fray open because the seam allowance was too small.

I don’t know if people are assuming that there is a universal seam allowance that everyone should use or know, but a note would be handy.  

From what I’ve been taught there are a couple standard seam allowances – 1/4″ for quilt piecing and 1/2″ for clothes.  So which one should I use to make the pillows?  The change pad cover? The bench cushion cover?  The camera case?

I am serious here, I made all of those items and not once was a seam allowance mentioned.  For somethings maybe it doesn’t matter, but when I have to rip apart a change pad cover because I used too big of a seam allowance and caused the cover not to fit?  Seriously.

After sewing for almost four years, I have been able to figure the seam allowances out.  I’ve been able to look at the pictures (thank goodness they had those) and roughly guess what seam allowance they are using.  But what about those “new/beginner” sewists?  Those who want to get into the very cool and hip pastime of sewing/quilting?  They would make those projects with no seam allowances listed and have their envelope pillow cover not fit their pillow.  Or their camera case not come anywhere close to fitting their camera – even though it is the same make and model.  They would use the edge of their foot as their guide and the seam would be huge.  It would discourage them so much, maybe even turn them off (if enough projects failed) – I know, a bit dramatic here.

It is hard to believe that something like a seam could make or break a project – but it can, you all know it.  It has been so frustrating to put these projects together to only have to take them back apart and try again because they don’t fit with the seam allowance I assumed.

All I am asking is when you make a tutorial, please take a second to note the seam allowances.

Thank you for reading my rant.  Again note that this is my opinion only, some people don’t care about this and some people think I am being silly.

 

Nursery Sewing: At a Stall

Spring break has been very productive this year.  Marking was complete, marks were put into the grade book, quilts were basted and quilted, rooms and nooks and crannies cleaned.

These were the four quilts I at least wanted to get basted.  Only one technically had to be done right away as it is a gift for someone – the other three could be done slowly before Baby is born.

But yet, somehow I didn’t estimate my time well and this instance it was a good thing.  I was so focused that three out of the four were complete within the first week.  Mind you, the binding still has to be complete with the hand stitching, but that makes for a lovely evening activity.

With that said my goodness my nursery sewing has hit a huge stall. So I was half way through quilting the big quilt for our little girl’s room, but I ran out of bobbin thread and top stitching thread.

I thought for sure I would have been able make it way further than I did before I ran out – but alas no luck.  So out to the store I go….

 

Spring Break 2013

I’m officially on Spring Break, for two weeks!  YEAH!

And my goodness do I have a lot to do.   I really wish I could take a page out of Molly’s book and lounge on the sofa and catch up on some ZZzzzzzzs.  Which I will, don’t get me wrong, but I won’t be spending my ENTIRE TIME sleeping.

(Just to toot my own horn here, but I think that photo turned out really well.  It is with the new camera got me for Christmas.  It takes terrific pictures don’t you think?)

Anyways, I have 4 quilts I need to finish – alright 3 I need to finish and one I want to finish.  But I am making huge head way with those.  The tops are done and 3 out of the 4 are pin basted and ready to go.  The last one is 90% done too.

UPDATE:  3 of the four have now been quilted and are in the process of being bound.  The fourth and final is under the machine as we speak.  I have finished a quarter so far. 

There are also crib sheets to make, pillow envelopes to envelope, change pad cover to construct, and window sheet bench pillow to cover.  Plus some marking to do for school.  Oh did I mention that there is cleaning to do as well.

UPDATE:  The school marking is finished!  Yeah!

This is the fabric that I will be using for the Baby’s room.  From top left to right and what I hope to use it for:

Mist with white polka dots: sheets and pillow (if some extra)

Mist, grey and white chevron: Window Seat Bench Cover

Grey with white polka dots: sheets and pillow (if some extra)

Dark grey with multi colored dots: Change pad cover

Solid Mist: Sheets

Mist and white chevron: Pillows

White with mist flowers: Book Slings

Grey and White Chevron: Pillows

Sounds like there is a lot to do and sometimes I look at the pile of fabric and think, “what did I get myself into?”.  Oh well, if I plan on one full day to do all of those – because really they are small projects so I should be ok.

I’ll let you know how they are coming along.

Pinterest: Fantasy Football for the Ladies

My husband is in a fantasy football pool during the NFL season.  He has been a part of it – no wait – he runs his “league” since…..well I’m not sure, but as long as I’ve known him.  I call it the League of Dorks.  When we were dating, we would watch football on Sunday -sometimes (depending where we watched it), we would watch 2 or 3 games at once, thanks to that picture in picture feature that some tvs have.  And during the game there is a constant checking of points and stats and am I winning or losing.  L of D starts in September, with a night dedicated to picking the teams – a live draft is what it is called, where in live time they take turns picking who is on their team – some even research players before hand and have a wish list of sorts.

Not the most flattering picture of Nate, I know, but this is sometimes what happens on a Sunday.  The game is on and he will be checking his pool.

I’ve made jokes about the L of D for years now, but I think I might need to stop – as Pinterest has come along – the Fantasy Football League for Ladies.  I spend just as much time on that website, maybe more, as Nate does for the L of D.  I mean I have boards to create, pictures and ideas to pin or repin, comments to be made, and likes to add.  My friends and I talk about it too, “You should see what I just pinned on my board” , “I saw your board, super cute idea.”  And I hate saying “super cute” – cause it has to be said with a whinny type tone (YUCK!)  And I am sure the one thing we all say that makes our husbands/boyfriends/other people in our life cringe – “I am so going to have to try that.”

I know Nate would love to see the end of Pinterest – because it has become the Jen’s DIY list and the Honey Do List.  And I am sure Nate is tried of me asking him to come over to my computer or have me bring the computer to him to see my latest pin.

Pinterest has not been good for the Baby either.  Because of Pinterest, I have sought out “modern and sleek nurseries” and “nursery ideas.”  All that means in some instances – more work for Nate.

As I mentioned before, I found our color scheme for Baby’s room on Pinterest.

Source: pinterest.com via Jen on Pinterest

 

And from there, well it just sort of took off.  Let me show you some of my other ideas for the nursery….

Here is the fun art work we purchased for her room, (it came today, can’t wait to open it up).

Source: etsy.com via Jen on Pinterest

 

And this tissue holder I would love to purchase for the room as well.

Source: etsy.com via Jen on Pinterest

I am in love with this bunting idea draped across a wall,
adding just a punch of color. I hope I have enough fabric
to make this.

Source: thebump.com via Jen on Pinterest

Instead of a typical mobile I am hoping to make this fabulous paper crane one – or something similar to it.
I already have my origami paper too.  I am hoping my Mom can find me a sweet branch to use
for the base – she has a knack for it.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jen on Pinterest

 

My whole life I wanted a window seat, so we are putting a “window” seat in.
Except it won’t be by the window (thank you stupid register thing).
We will put it on the opposite wall instead, and thanks to this tutorial I
found I will create a bench cushion for it.

Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.ca via Jen on Pinterest

 

 

Are there more project ideas on my Pinterest board?  In a word – YES!  Feel free to check it out.  I have onesies that I would like to get, little dresses I would like to make, and activity ideas.

Is Pinterest dangerous?  I would say no, though I really know the answer is yes

Bloglovin

What a shock it was this week to discover that Google Reader was shutting down as of July 1 and I was really just starting to get into it.

For those who don’t know what Google Reader is, it is a “program” (I don’t know what else to call it) where you can subscribe/keep track/file of all the blogs that you like to read.  So instead of going to each blog each day to check if there was a new post you can go to the Google Reader and there would be a list of the blogs that you read that have a new post.

I didn’t know what I was going to do, I know not a real big problem, but I had finally got all the blogs loaded and I didn’t want to go back to checking so many blogs every morning hoping for a new post – it is my morning news paper.

After some research I found that a good one would be BlogLovin.   I was able to import my “files” from Google Reader without any problem.  I really like the layout too, I can see what posts are new and it even gives me a picture for the blog.

You can follow me on Bloglovin too.

Happy Birthday to me!

 

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear me, Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my 32nd birthday. Though according to some nice former students I have, I don’t look a day over 28 – bless them for that, if I still taught them I would give them all As.

Anyways, last year I started a “TO DO list” for myself, a bucket list of sorts for the year, 31 things that I wanted to do before I hit 32.    In my opinion I did pretty well on my list.  I was able to complete 16 of my bucket list items – I know percentage why that isn’t awesome, but I was still really pleased.

I’m not going to make excuses as to why I didn’t accomplish all of my list or things like that, but I must admit it was really quite fun to work through it.  Sometimes the list gave us a starting point for some of our adventures, other times it was overwhelming.

Because I enjoyed the list so much, I decided to make another list, my 32 things to do before I hit 33.  So here we go.

1. Lose the “baby weight” (whatever that amount may be)
2. Bake fancy bread.
3. Learn to stop in my hockey skates
4. Go to Kalispell
5. Finish Nate’s Birthday Quilt
6. Switch out the photos in the living room frames
7. Have a picnic at Barrier Lake
8. Take more photos of life
9. Get printed our yearly photo books
10. Finish Baby Girl’s crib and floor quilt
11. Watch Les Miserable
12. Try a new restaurant
13. Make a year book for our baby girl
14. Read Les Miserable
15. Go see the penguins at the zoo
16. See at least two movies in theatres
17. Make Caramel Popcorn
18. Eat at one of the restaurants featured on “You Gotta Eat Here.”
19. Make a camera case for my new camera
20. Begin and maintain the “One Line a Day Book”
21. Finish a year devotional book
22. Clean the basement
23. Make something (from the DIY) from Pinterest – not a pinstrosity either.
24. Finish my Swoon Quilt top
25. Make a cute little girl dress for our baby
26. Have a pedicure date with Nate – yes Nate (his toes need it, this is really for his own good)
27. See Les Miserable when the LIVE show comes to town (coming June 25-July 7)
28. Renew my passport
29. Make Rice Krispie Squares
30. Treat myself to a spa day
31. Go walking once a week with my Mom Friends
32. Bake Fresh Bread at least twice this year

Fourteen Weeks to go….

 

I’m just about 26 weeks now, only about 14 weeks to go (so they say).  With that being said, it seems like it is getting time to set up Baby Girl’s Nursery.  That is correct, you read it right – we are having a baby girl.  Poor Nate – to be surrounded by a house of girls, good thing he does manly hobbies.

The color palette below was where the nursery started for me.   The color at the very bottom of the chart (light mist) is the color of our walls.  We painted the walls quite a number of years ago (to get rid of the BRIGHT yellow and green that the room was) and when we found out we were having a baby, we decided that the color would be perfect for either a girl or a boy.  Because we had our walls that color already, when I saw the palette I knew right away that it would be lovely for a room.

Source: pinterest.com via Jen on Pinterest

 

 

The only thing we really changed about the palette was we are using a creamier white and lighter grey.

And just to keep you up to date – Thanks to Christmas sales  we were able to find the stroller we wanted as well as the car seat.

The stroller is the Baby Jogger City Mini GT and the car seat is the Chico Key Fit.  They were some of the top rated on Consumer Report, and because we can’t even buy a blow dryer without consulting Consumer Reports.  We have to get Molly ready for being around the stroller as she doesn’t really care for things with wheels.   I had no idea how complicated it was when it came to buying a stroller or a car seat.  It was so overwhelming that I got myself worked up and over heated and had to take a break.

Over this past long weekend we headed out and found our crib, again after consulting Consumer Report.  Did you know that the Ikea crib (sundvik), is the second rated crib on CR?  We are really happy with it and the conversion possibilities, a day bed (I always wanted one of those) or a toddler bed and it fits in the color scheme.

As you can see we have a crib skirt already purchased and a giant stuffed carrot.  Both are extremely important to a nursery, don’t you think?  In my next post I will share more on the crib skirt and the sewing projects in the room.

We have a wonderful dresser and rocking chair, that use to be my mom’s.  As well as a change table – which Nate will refinish in white as it is currently in an expresso brown color.

Thats what we have so far…I will be sharing in post what sewing projects I will be working on and in another post my dreams for the nursery thank you to my obsession with pinterest.