I've been called up to the majors!

So, I've done a couple of fun little sewing swaps on Flickr. Then I saw that they were starting a new round of the Doll Quilt Swap. This to me, is like the Olympics of quilting. Some people have been quilting for decades (while many have been quilting for less time than that). So I submitted my name to the lottery. I gave them a reference (for real!). I crossed my fingers and hoped.

The day that everyone was supposed to get their partners was a very long day for me on friday. Alex had ripped my spacebar off the keyboard of my laptop and it's really slow to type without one. By 9pm when I still hadn't received a response either way, I assumed I didn't get in. Then I found out that people got rejection letters if they didn't get in. Wait. I didn't get that either! After a couple of frantic tweets and emails using the nub of a space bar on my computer I was told to check my spam. Nope not there. Finally at 10pm I got an answer. I got in! There was some sort of mixup. I was accepted, but I wasn't assigned a partner to swap with.

It got all sorted out and now I have a partner to stalk for their favourites (it's like a secret santa swap, my partner doesn't know who is making a quilt for her, nor do I know who is making mine).

The size of the quilt that I'm making has to be between 9" x 9" and 18" x 18". Some people are making some teeny tiny pieces for their teeny tiny quilts. I'm trying to keep it simple. Better to have something simple and well made than something elaborate that's a hot mess.

It's a start

Idea #1, a photo by Pinkbrain and Mr.Chicken on Flickr.

This is what I came up with so far. My partner likes modern looking quilts. Most of the people posting their ideas have been showing quilts with one pattern repeated throughout the quilt. I like the idea of mixing up different elements. The largest blocks in this drawing are 3 inches across. TINY!

A bit of summer fun!

The second long weekend in a row and this past weekend was enjoyable. It was nice out and we got to enjoy it as a family. It's been a while. We went up to Mount-Royal which is a huge park in the middle of the city (we locals call it a mountain even though it's only 800 ft tall).

We did the gentle walk up and the steep down the stairs straight into downtown path.

Best way to see the mountain.

View from the top. (Could I be any more freckled?)

A little soccer after our picnic lunch.

Oh the climbing!

We even had time to discover a new element. Alexonium.

 The playground on the mountain was fun for everyone!

Best. Photo. Ever.

Remember the box kite we were building? It finally had its first flight. It really flew!

Finally, I got another project finished. A summer quilt for a friend. This quilt came together quickly which made it fun.

If a Quilt were a Tree Drawing Quilt

Shameless self-promotion (Vote for ME!)

The (naptime) Pillowcase dress

So I've seen this tutorial a lot and wanted to try it out. The original design uses an old pillowcase. I do not have any sassy looking pillowcases, so it's my version of a pillowcase dress. I made it for the daughter of a friend and it was so easy to make. From start to finish it took me an hour and a half. That's including putting on a load of laundry in that time. I tried it on Mister when he woke up from his nap. He was not impressed. He just kept saying "no, no, no". Funny since he doesn't even know what a dress is! It's a fun little dress and it will probably fit the girl until she's 5. I think I need to make more of these, they're so cute!

In other "hey look at me!" news, I've entered a contest and I'm a finalist! My favourite local sewing shop is holding a contest to name their new privilege-discount card. They asked people to come up with a name for the card, and then they would select 5 finalists The contest details and all the entries can be found here. The finalist with the most votes wins a free member card (worth 50$). I'm asking everyone to help me win by voting for the name Couture Club. I would be very grateful if you could head on over to Emeline & Annabelle's blog to vote for me! The contest ends Monday June 27th at noon.

Box kite, bee blocks, birthday planning.

Box kite, a photo by Pinkbrain and Mr.Chicken on Flickr.

I've been sewing. A lot. Bee blocks. 80's swap. A quilt for a friend. A Hawaiian shirt for my brother-in-law (he loves Hawaiian shirts and he loves golf and I found the perfect fabric...I don't usually sew for him), and this bad boy.

A kite. A box kite. A very large, we-only-have-space-to-store-it-on-the-ceiling kite. A kite designed by an engineer with the help of a program from NASA. We went to fly it on Friday afternoon but the wind vanished when we went outside. Then it was too windy on Saturday, and it rained all day Sunday. Maybe next weekend.

Alex has been napping well most days. He's grown two more teeth (they were fast and painful this time, as opposed to the slow and painful molars). We're at the park almost every day (I know the local daycares and nannies schedules at the park quite well now) and Alex is full of words. Sentences! Three word sentences. My favourite from this week "Daisy, window. Funny" when Daisy was lounging in the track for the windows.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for his birthday party. Low key, maybe in the park, perhaps a cake with a cement mixer on it. I don't have any of that "awww my baby is turning 2 years old" that some of my friends are experiencing. Am I a bad mother if I say that I like Toddler Alex a little bit more than I liked Baby Alex? He's trouble sometimes, but also very sweet and generous with hugs. He keeps me on my toes (literally...I had to break into a sprint to catch him after he escaped from the fenced off playground).

He's a monkey alright!

Picking apart my brains

So, I've have this uhh sculpture in our closet for 11 years now. I made it in university in my printing and dyeing textile class (or as my husband liked to call it, Pure and Applied Basketweaving). I spent so much time dyeing and printing this fabric. I made a rubber stamp and stamped it by hand. It had two colours, so that was another 12 hours of work. That was before I even started sewing. I think I ran out of steam at the end. The result was not quite how I imagined it. I've kept most of my art projects, this one taking up a lot of space in my closet. Good thing the ceilings are high, it occupied the way up high spot.

I decided to take it apart and reuse the fabric, since really the fabric was the best part of the project. I carefully picked it apart (picking my brains, HA) and then looked for a quilt pattern using strips.

Brains. Buh bye.

I love how the orange transitions into the pink.

My assistant. Getting in the shot again.

(I swear she's not a pelt, it's just the way her fur looks)

The other fabrics I picked to go with a side of brains.

Photo courtesy Emeline & Annabelle

I'm really happy with how the quilt is turning out and getting to keep that fabric is awesome. This quilt with the colours that make my husband cringe is mine. ALL MINE. It's kind of nice making something for myself!

In other Pink Brain related news, let me introduce you to my fabric design! How cool is this?

Sweetie approved (not a pelt).

I made this thanks to Spoonflower. It's really easy. You upload a drawing or photo. You can alter the colours or the layout (a bit) and voila! They digitally print the fabric for you. This is a 8x8 inch swatch. You can also put the fabric to be public so you can sell it (more expensive than regular fabric but not by much). You then get 10% of all the fabric sales (not that I think there's a huge market for Pink Brains). I'd be happy if anyone bought some!

Freckles, Fresh Air and Flying Insects

The weather has been getting nicer and warmer here. Most days anyways. We've gotten into a nice routine where we go to the park in the morning, come home and have lunch then Alex goes down for a nice long nap. My freckles have exploded from all this outdoor time. Of course, just when I start planning things for me to do during his great naps, he gets sick. Again. Poor kid. Another cough that keeps him up at night and doesn't even let him nap during the day. It's getting better now but the past weekend was rough. No sleeping, no napping and an exhausting trip to Grandma's house. Doesn't matter how crabby he is, he always has fun at the park.

Someone is happy about spring.

More someones happy about spring as well!

Before he got sick I was getting a lot of sewing done. Actually finishing some stuff too!

 Here's some of my works in progress (there's actually more than this too, I'm a busy bee).

More on this one later.

This bad boy just need to be quilted and bound and then it's done

. I think it'll make a nice picnic blanket!

This fun little pillow was easier than I thought it would be!

(Tutorial here).

First thing Alex did when I gave it to him?

 He stood on it. Then threw it. Then hugged it. Toddler approved.

Another doll quilt almost done. Super secret project.

Last weekend we went with my friend to see the butterflies at the Botanical Gardens. Those butterflies were not shy, swooping by our heads! Alex loved seeing them, even if he got a little crabby with all the crowds (I was pretty crabby about the crowds too).

 This past weekend we went to the petting zoo at a local mall. Best part was the peacock.

Why did the chicken cross the peacock?

To get to the other side!

Doll quilt completed!

I've been MIA lately due to a very bad week of sickness in my household. I'll spare you the details, but if you  really want to know you can read about it here.

I started making this quilt as a trial run for Alex's I Spy quilt, using some of the extra squares I had. It was a good practice and I'm much more confident now (and I also know which mistakes to avoid too!). I gave it to Alex's second cousin for her first birthday (which hopefully won't get lost in the shuffle after getting three carloads of toys a month ago at Christmas...anyhooo....).

The quilt top was fun to make. All of the stars lined up for me and Alex had a good 3 hour nap, giving me enough time to make the quilt top, press the seams, and then pin it to the batting and back. I then stalled a bit, since the whole quilting part and then adding the binding around the edge kind of freaked me out. I spent a full evening watching youtube video about making bias tape and binding a quilt. When I'm stressed, I do research.

I spent several hours just measuring out the lines to quilt on, just because I suck at sewing in a straight line, so I figured I needed all the help I can get. I have this magical disappearing ink pen that writes on fabric and disappears after 48 hours. Who knew such a thing existed!

I ended up with a pre-made seam binding but I'm totally going to make my own for the next quilt. I tried all sorts of pinks and blues, but the grey just seemed to work the best, even if it's a little unconventional for a little girl's quilt.

I'm happy with how it turned out. Doll quilts are fun because they're a manageable size. I might just have to make another one for Stanley.

A big thank you to the lovely ladies at Emeline & Annabelle. I tweeted them in a panic, really not knowing what I was doing. They were able to talk me down from a crafting-induced ledge. The next day I went in to the shop and Annabelle helped me get things sorted out and gave me some much needed encouragement. It's very cool having them as a resource that I can go to.

 Doll Quilt for Bryanna. Approximately 14" x20"

(I'm making a guesstimate because I forgot to measure it before wrapping it up this morning. Snort)

Quilt back. Yep it's the flower fabric again from my tunic I just made.

Detail of some of the squares. Notice the carefully spaced quilted lines. Ohhh, ahhh.

Bias tape. Hand sewn in the back. I know what a mitered corner is now!

One of the quilt bloggers I read (can't remember which one, gah!)

stated she only folds the quilt when it's done. I like that. So there it is.

A new sewing project....

So my next sewing project is a biggy. Like what the heck am I getting myself into big. I'm going to make a quilt.
I used to think people who made quilts looked like this:

But of course there are many cool quilters. I really love the internet sometimes. I never would have known that young hip artists make quilts too. I've been pouring over blogs and tutorials, drooling over fabrics on Etsy.

I'm starting with a small quilt for Alex. It's an I Spy quilt, so each square is different. It's been fun selecting the fabrics. I'm still missing a few, so I can't really start sewing until I have everything. I'm making it with 36 squares, going from light to dark.

These are two of the blocks (tentatively) out of the four that will make up the quilt.

My assistant placing the squares for me.

It's so hard to find good help these days...

Block #1 Yellows and whites

Block # 2 Pinks and Blues

So for now I continue to oogle fabrics, and wait for some squares from friends and another small purchase from Etsy (the lovely seller had a Pay It Forward listing that only cost me the price of shipping and the listing fee).

This quilt seems easy enough right? The quilt top is the easy part. It's all the stuff that goes on behind is the tricky part. Have I mentioned being precise isn't really a strong point for me? Um yeah. It's a good challenge right?

Sewing success: Schoolhouse Tunic

So I finally made something for myself to wear. In high school I made a lot of my outfits (and tapered a lot of pair of jeans...oh boy showing my age), even making my grad outfit for myself and for a friend. I got busy, had other things to do and then after my undergrad in university, I no longer had projects lined up. The sewing machine got buried.

I saw this shirt/tunic on a friend who had made one at a local sewing shop. It was super cute and I wanted one. I got myself the pattern from Sew Liberated. It's been on hold a while until I was able to finish the felt book. Starting more than one project is a guarantee that I won't finish one of them. That and I have no space to store projects.

I adapted the pattern a bit to fit my...ahem...assets. The front has a bit more leeway in it and there was supposed to be a large inverted box pleat in the back that fell funny on my butt and might as well have been a giant butt bow. So I made it a simple gather in the back and added a little panel in the front.

It's comfy. It's sassier than a t-shirt. I may have to make another one (now that I know what I'm doing).

Good thing Alex had a long nap today. It took me forever to get a descent self portrait shot (I really should have put some makeup on) with no tripod and just my timer on my camera.

I enjoy the neckline on this shirt. You get a good shot of what the fabric looks like here.

 Comfortable shirt. Awkward hand placement. This was the least bizarre.

 Gathers, much more flattering than a giant butt bow.

One of the many outtakes. Not sure what I was going for here.

Can I just say, a good bra makes all the difference.

Working Conditions

So, my apartment is tiny. Really tiny. It's a one bedroom with 3 people, 2 cats and an iguana. It's cramped. My sewing machine was locked away tucked into a closet that I couldn't get to. I wanted it OUT. Yes, the sewing machine came out of the closet. In order to make space for the beast, I had to clear my bookshelf of two shelves of books. It doesn't have it's own table, I just use the one table we have in the house, a cafe table that seats 2 (plus one in a highchair). I do most of my sewing while Alex is napping or in bed for the night because, well, because I'd like him to keep all his fingers in tact. So I haul out the machine, plunk it on the table and use whatever is left of the space to work. That's when the cats show up:

Oh this is comfy, let me lie right here. Nah the pins don't bother me.

Whatcha doin?

Mmmm thread. Tasty, fun to swat, rolls well.

Bitch please! This is MY spot *that's Daisy in the right lower corner*

(too bad my camera missed the ninja paw swat that happened)

If you don't leave me alone kitties, I'll start making nice Little House on the Prairie outfits for you to wear.

Oh and if you're wondering I'm making something for me. Yes, for me! I haven't sewn for myself in many many years.

Sewing! Alex's halloween costume

Yes, I am going to be one of those mothers that makes halloween costumes instead of buying one. Homemade costumes seem to be a dying breed. Hopefully this little person will always want the costumes I make and not be all " Oh mom, all the cool kids BUY their costumes!". Alex didn't even go out trick or treating this year (I contemplated it but in the end it was too cold) but I wanted him to dress up. We chose a lion because when asked what a lion says Alex roars and shakes his head. Perfect!

I got a pattern since I'm a little rusty at sewing but ended up altering it a lot. It was supposed to be a one piece outfit but I thought he'd never get to wear it again. I made it into a hoodie and pants (with a detachable tail). My only real snafu in sewing came from buying the wrong zipper. Three times. Too long, doesn't unzip at the bottom, too short and finally just right. I was terrified of putting the zipper on, but I did pretty well. The pants were easier than I thought. They were seriously too big (he could have worn 2 snowsuits under the pants) but I traced a pair of his pants and they came out perfectly. I'm on the hunt for some good fabric now to make more pants for him.

It was so great getting the sewing machine out. It had been buried deep in our storage closet for too long. Since our space is so tiny I had to clear out a couple of shelves on my bookshelf to make room, but it's totally worth it. My brain is spinning with all the the potential sewing projects!

Roar! (He totally did this on his own, unprompted)

Chasing his prey, like any good carnivore.