I actually finished something. And then we had to put it away.

I won't bore you with a mosaic of my finished projects of 2011, mainly because I finished next to nothing. It would be a two-frame mosaic of Henry and that enormous quilt. Maybe some knitting - I can't remember. I'm lucky I know what day it is. (Monday. Right?)

But I did manage to finish something for the holidays. The last stitches were put in on Christmas Eve morning, ready for Santa to fill them:

New stockings! (The dog sleeping in the sun is not new, nor is her stocking. Don't give me any grief about not making her a stocking, because her stocking is 10x more awesome than ours, and it was passed down to her from my childhood golden, Maggie, who was the greatest dog on Earth, godresthersoul.)

Henry and I picked up this fabric at Jo-Ann's back in October. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do. I went completely off grid with these bad boys, and I'm proud of say that with the exception of initially putting the lining together backwards, everything went pretty smoothly. Justin did have to help me draw the stocking shape because I kept ending up with a letter J. (Side note: file folders make very nice pattern pieces.)

Construction is very basic. I cut two stocking shapes out of leftover batting, then sewed my pieces directly on one at a time. Trimmed to make it pretty, did some decorative machine stitching, then sewed the two outside pieces together. Then I did the embroidery (chain stitch for some dimension and oomph), followed by the lining. And of course I lined them - what do you think we are, hobos?

I love them. And for the first time in history, I'm sad Christmas is over because we had to put them away. I will always remember this Christmas for being the one where we finally had awesome homemade stockings, even though Santa only put chapstick in mine. Neither Henry nor Gracie had anything in theirs, but Justin made out like a bandit. We'll be revisiting our priorities next Christmas.

Bubble, bubble, toil and...

I'm still exhausted and I have far too much work to do to be blogging, but my crafting mojo is slowly coming back and I'm just too excited about this upcoming project to not talk about it.

I'm a member of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. I'm not very good at being part of a group, but this group fits me to a T. I've made awesome friends and I'm so inspired after every meeting. Last night, Paula taught us the six-minute circle, and I swear to God, my brain did some flip-flops and she completely blew my mind.

Last night, Jacquie unveiled an enormous pile of charm packs from Robert Kaufman. I am such a solid fabric kind of girl, and just seeing all those colors together made me slightly giddy. Our next guild challenge is to take one of the five color stories and make a quilt. We can add as much fabric as we like, but it all has to be solid, and we have to use every color in our charm pack. My mind is SO full of ideas and I can't wait to start.

I'm not very good at documenting my crafting process, so I thought I'd give it a whirl with this project. Let's start with the colorways (pictures from RobertKaufman.com):

The Brights were my first choice. Those greens just reach into my heart and give a good hard tug. And the orange? The orange is magnificent.

But I didn't want to go with my first instinct. I wanted a challenge, a pallete I wouldn't normally use.

The Classic pallete. Those purples! The hot pink! Too close to my comfort zone.

The Pastels. Listen, the last thing I am is a pastel girl but these colors all together...they're dynamite. Hannah picked this colorway, and we agreed that it's the orange that really makes it sing. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

The Darks. Aren't these dreamy? But I worked with a lot of navy blue Kona last year, and this was kind of the pallete for my parents' quilt. So that left...

The Dusty pallete. This is definitely out of my comfort zone, and these are shades I haven't really used before, not even in my knitting. Also, I think it'll look really spectacular with our new couches. They're kind of a creamy beige. In this palette, I think I'm most uncomfortable with the rose. For someone who really likes hot pink and red, I'm not into rose and mauve. It reminds me of a parlor, maybe like the one Almanzo's family had (you know, Famer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband).

So! That's what I'm starting with. I am so, so excited about this challenge, and I can't tell you how grateful I am to the folks at Robert Kaufman. Thanks for being so generous.

Next up: sketches! And I'm not a confident artist, so this will be SUPER FUN.

Weekender Bag, v. 3.0

How many times am I going to make this bag? As many as it takes to get it out of my system, I guess. While I was making my mom's bag, I thought that her friend Pat would probably want one, too. Less than a month later, I get a call from my mother asking me if I would make Pat one for her birthday. I love Pat. She's crazy and carries an eye patch in her purse and performed our wedding ceremony.

I started more than a month in advance, but of course I let it languish until two days before I had to deliver it. When I picked it back up, I was tired and not feeling well, and the instructions didn't make any sense at all even though I'd already made the bag twice before. There was a lot of ripping of stitches that night.

It all worked out in the end. Phew.

The main fabric is a Kaffe Fasset home dec print, and the binding and lining is actually from a home dec fabric store. I never even considered getting bag fabric there, but man, it can be a lot cheaper than getting fabric from the quilt store. A lot more options, too.

I made the straps four inches longer for over-the-shoulder ease, and instead of using thin interfacing for building the bottom panel, I used some scrap quilt batting. Genius! Much easier to wrangle and it provides a little more stability. But really, I didn't feel like looking for interfacing that night, so batting it was.

Is this my favorite one yet? I'm not sure. I do love the fabric, and the more times I make it, the easier it gets. I love my original, and I fixed the straps before our trip last week so I could sling it around the airport. (I also noticed that I had only basted in the lining, which was quickly becoming a hot mess. I sewed that bad boy in by hand on Thursday night, and I used such stiff canvas for both the lining and bag that my thumb was numb for three days afterward.) But there are places where I didn't catch the seam allowance, and it's maybe starting to show a little wear. And I sure do have a lot of scraps left over...

Already behind

I am determined not to make the same mistake I made last year, namely finishing a quilt at 3 a.m. the day we left for holiday travels. No, I will have all of my holiday crafting done in a timely manner this year. My self-imposed deadline is November 20. I refuse to knit for anyone but myself (and maybe Justin) during December. I spend so much of the cold weather months, those months where you're just dying for a new sweater, crafting for others. Don't get me wrong - I love giving homemade gifts, and I love making them. Just not during peak snuggly-time. I've set myself a schedule, which also includes wedding gifts and commissions, and I'm sticking to it. DO YOU HEAR ME, YARN AND FABRIC? STICKING TO IT.

Which is of course why I'm working on a quilt for myself and itching to cast on a sweater. I'm staying strong, but it's not easy. I need to focus on the prize: no stress in December.

I'm really late in sharing these pictures, but I made some blocks for our quilt guild's St. Luke's NICU project.
The only direction was color, and I did squares for the green and pink blankets and the brown and purple blankets.

All of these were taken from my stash. The blocks were supposed to be 12.5" square, and I was at 12" the first time I finished. So I removed the last layer of strips on each and made them a little bigger. This is a case where pre-planning might have been helpful.

I bought this fabric specifically for these blocks. I used the purple in Abby's wedding quilt and really loved it, and the leopard print as from the same line. I like that it's purple and brown but not girly at all.

I also got to play with my new quarter-inch piecing foot while making these blocks. I used my regular foot on the green and pink and the quarter-inch on the brown and purple. What a difference! My seams are so much straighter on the second set of blocks and I had a much easier time lining up everything.

Weekender Bag, second edition

I know I swore I would never make this bag again, but I have a short memory when it comes to painful crafts. (See: felting.) My mom had always admired my Weekender Bag, and I got this crazy idea last fall that this would be a perfect birthday gift. I started a week before her birthday. Nine months of thinking about it and then I actually sit down to make it. I need to work on that.

I'm happy to say that this time was much, much easier than the first.

I  found the fabric at Pink Chalk Studios many, many months ago, and made a separate order for the lining and binding. It's home dec fabric, so not as stiff and thick as the canvas I used to make mine, so it was a little easier to sew through.

Like I said, the whole process was a lot easier this time. I had absolutely no problem with the piping - it's a snap to make. I think they key was not pinning anything. Just sew slowly and line up your edges as you go. You'll be a lot happier that way. I did the same thing when I added the piping to the bag - no pins. Nothing bunched up or ended up getting pushed out of place.

I did make a few little modifications. I lengthed the straps by 2" each, to make it easier to slip over your shoulder, and I widened them by 1" (which, when folded over like in the pattern, only widens the strap by 1/2"). I sewed the entire strap to the front panel instead of just securing it with two little lines of stitches like the pattern says. In fact, one of the straps on my bag came off as soon as we reached my parents' house. It was apparently jealous.

So it turned out well. I managed to finish it with a day to spare, and I think she really liked it. It'll be good for traveling with her girlfriends and her next trip to Italy.

Of course, it won't be nearly as much fun without these two idiots along for the ride: