Loulouthi Tiles Finished!

Here it is, my Loulouthi Tiles quilt, done and done. I started this quilt back in June when I was still in the middle of my very first quilt ever for the modern quilting class I took. This weekend I finished. Why? I don't know. It was really awful timing to finish this quilt. Although I love it, there was absolutely no reason to finish it. And my #1 machine is still in the shop, so I actually made the effort to spend extra time at work to do most of that very heavy straight-line quilting. (Which I also love, but wasn't really necessary on this already unnecessary quilt. The thing is, I have another quilt that does have a deadline and really needs to get done this week. But I did this instead. My husband and I decided I have focus and time management issues. Just like college.

The back is quite crazy because I really didn't want to have very many scraps leftover. I honestly wanted to be done with Loulouthi forever. I had gotten quite sick of it after making this top and seeing it made into everything all over the internet and staring at it in the shop all the time. Well, I'm over that now. Finishing this has made me totally in love with the collection all over again. It's just an objective fact that this fabric is gorgeous.

Here's a close-up of the wonky log cabin I made just for fun. This is just one of those things you have to try when you start quilting. Then you will get log cabins forever. And you will get wonky. Win win.

Yes the quilting took forever and I often thought, "What is wrong with me? Why am I doing this?" But I knew the answer once I took it out of the dryer. I love that moment. 

Some things:

• It's the baby version of Rachel's pattern, about 43" by 49"
• I used Bella "Green" (Yes, it's just called green. Weird.) for the sashing. I'm just gonna say it: Moda Bella beats Kona. Any day.
• I quilted it with aqua thread in diagonal straight lines about 3/8" apart. 
• Binding is the blue Hugs and Kisses print, all by machine. 
• I like it a lot and I'm probably keeping it. Even though I'm not a baby. 

Mini Quilt Challenge- My Fall Colors

I originally began this mini quilt as a table runner/ square for a swap in the Cincy MQG. It didn't make it to that swap because my kid took some scissors to it. FANtastic. Well, I repaired the damage this week and finished it up just in time for the Mini Quilt Challenge at AmyLouWho.

The design is inspired by this quilt, just miniaturized. If you are interested in the dimensions, I cut the main squares to 3 inches. Then I sewed a strip of the linen 1.5 inches by 3 to one side, then another strip of linen 1.5 inch by 4 on the next side. Arrange them like so, 6 rows of 6 blocks makes a 21" square mini.

The main part of the back is a Joel Dewberry print I've had forever that I absolutely hated until I used it here. Love it when that happens. 

The solids are mostly from my swap package from Anna, and I added my linen and the pink Echino print.  I had the Celebrate Color contest in my mind all along with this one too. The yellow is really the only conventional fall color here, but all of it together looks very fallish to me and I love the scheme. 

Go check out a whole lot of other lovely minis here. And if you are visiting from the mini party, you can see another mini I've made here. 

LTTSA: Planning the Puppet Theater

We're a third of the way thru November people! How did that happen? We officially have a pink Christmas tree and garland up in my place of work- yikes. Time to get moving on this super-cute gift for our kids, and I'm really glad we are doing it this month. 

I recently bought a couple of prints from Lizzie House's 1001 Peeps collection on a whim. As soon as I saw them in person I knew I had to use them for this puppet theater. 

Here's a rough little sketch of what I plan to do. I'm not changing it too much, just turning the house into an Arabian tower type thing. Drawing it out really helped me see where I wanted to use my fabrics.

The linen on the bottom here will be the main part of the building. I still need to buy some canvas. The book has a great suggestion to get a drop cloth from the hardware store, but I think I'm going to pick up some duck cloth from Joann's because it comes in a few different colors. That's actually what I used as the base of my table playhouse, so I might even get the same yellow color. The blue tower print will be my roof and door and the purple will be the windows. I'm going to trim the windows in that orange, which is not Lizzie House, but the Moroccan feel is perfect.

I'm using Lizzie's signature pearl bracelet print in a variety of colors for the curtains. That red is actually from Outfoxed- I love how all of her collections work so well together!

Lastly, I have a little of this print on the way. I plan on stuffing the little characters to make a few puppets, either on craft sticks or just finger puppets. (If you like 1001 Peeps, Above All Fabrics has it on sale right now.)

You'll need to get some sort of fusible web for the appliqué if you don't already. I like to use this Heat n Bond light because it comes on a big roll, but there are several good kinds, like Wonder Under or Steam-a-Seam. Just make sure it's fusible on two sides and sewable. Sometimes I like to just use spray adhesive for appliqué, especially when using thicker materials like felt, or really big pieces. It's just quick and easy. Some kind of fabric marker will be good to have for this project too.


The possibilities are endless for how you could adapt this project. You could make it a castle, a circus tent, a train, a pirate ship or Noah's ark, a treehouse... you guys probably have some brilliant ideas. And of course, making it exactly as it is in the book will be very adorable as well. I really love those flower boxes on the windows.



Hey, maybe we should do the giveaway from last month? I loved all your aprons and other projects. And I was encouraged to see that we had even one more entry than last month- we are not losing momentum at all!

Ok, the winner according to random.org is #14, Amanda of Ellieboo! I'll be emailing you soon about your pattern choices from Mama Stellato's shop. If you didn't win, be sure to browse the great patterns at really good prices.



Good news- we have another great sponsor for November! Owly Baby has some of the sweetest young kid patterns like this reversible wrap dress and the sidewalk jacket for winter. You'll soon be seeing my version of the Darling Cardigan pattern. It's pretty darn cool.


So how are you guys doing on the theater? Have you started dreaming? Have you got to the cutting and appliquéing already? Can't wait to hear your ideas. Also, if you know of any great puppet patterns or tutorials, share links here and I'll do a round up of puppet ideas on the next sew-along post. Happy sewing!

Walk In the Woods Quilt Top

So I started a baby girl quilt this weekend. You know what really sucks? Having two quilts basted and ready and then having to put your machine in the shop for a couple of weeks. I REALLY want them finished, but there is no way my old machine could handle quilting very gracefully. But I am thankful that it's there as a back up, and to soothe myself about those other unfinished quilts I just started another. 

I'm not supposed to have Aneela Hoey's new line because it's not due out until spring, but I do because my nice peeps at work brought back samples for me from Quilt Market. It was like a charm pack, except with 2.5" squares instead of 5." Is there a cute name for that precut or is it just sample size? I don't know. 

I didn't know it would turn into a quilt. I just started by sewing all of them together, and I thought I might make a couple more of those patchwork bibs for Elsie out of it. But then I realized it was much too light and cute to stain with baby food so I just found some other fabrics on my shelf and it magically became a quilt top. I didn't have to buy a single thing, but it's practically begging for red gingham binding, so I may have to buy a little of that. It's necessary.

And I'm running low on seed catalog. Must get MORE. Also, I need a friend to have a baby girl so I can give this to her. Anyone? Knocked up? Female persuasion? Anyone?...

Bad Things, Good Things

Well, first cute things...

I'll admit, this hat from Target seems like a copout compared to Hendrix's costume. But really, Elsie was in the stroller under blankets all night, and this is one cute Panda.

 Getting ready to go out with friends and neighbors. (I also made Robin Hood's hat using this tutorial, which was really quick and adorable.) Hendrix kept saying "Frick-r-Freeters!"and now he calls the candy itself trick or treaters as well. By the end of the night he was rifling through people's bowls of candy looking for his favorites. Rotten.




Bad thing: I broke my sewing machine on Friday. Luckily, I still have my old one which works fine, but I probably should have been using that to begin with when I sewed up 200 of these-

My husband Nick has a band called FirstPost and they had a CD release party Sunday night at our favorite local pub. (Well, it's just a bar, but I always call it a pub because that sounds classier... especially when talking to my mom. Hi mom! I'm sure she is loving the cd cover as well.) Any way, it was a very exciting night and the band sounded awesome, and my machine could probably use a good servicing anyway. Have a listen to the album here.

The event was also a costume party so I dressed up as Nick. Yes, this picture is weird. But I kind of nailed it right?

So the CD release was a very good thing, but the bad thing was that I missed the first half of the show because of my children, one of whom might be traumatized for life because of that night. Our best friends came over and put their two kids to bed at our house so that we could all go and share a sitter. We do this often and the kids all sleep fine. When the sitter hadn't showed up 20 minutes after she was supposed to, we called her parents and found out that she was in bed sick. Her dad volunteered to come since they were all asleep anyways, so we thought that was great and we left. It's within walking distance from our house, and about 7 minutes after we arrived, the dad called. Hendrix had come downstairs for some reason to find this strange middle-aged man whom he had never met before and he flipped out. Looking back, it might not have been the best plan of action for the sitter's dad to stand in... anyway, I ran home right away to calm him down, and he did pretty quickly. But Elsie had been awoken in the commotion as well and she did not want to go back to sleep. Not one bit. After I had been there an hour screaming this in my mind, our friend Nathan came home to relieve me so I could go catch the rest of the show. And we love him for it. Hendrix has only mentioned the episode once, so maybe he won't be talking to therapists about it down the road... here's hoping. 

I'll leave you with one pretty thing. My managers at Sewn Studio got to go to Quilt Market last weekend and they were kind enough to bring me some gorgeous not-yet-released fabric samples! On the left is Aneela Hoey's upcoming Walk in the Woods line, and on the right is some Quilt Blocks by Ellen Barker. I feel like such an industry insider getting to play with these! And did you notice what book that is up there? I finally got my copy of Sewing For Boys. I love every single thing in it and can't decide what to make first. But whatever it is will have to wait because I have got to get in some serious quilting time this week. It's been too long!


Oh, one more bad thing: I dropped my iPhone in Dr. Pepper over the weekend. It's ruined, of course. Don't ask how.

Bias-Trimmed Aprons. (Finally)

Yeesh. What a weekend. I'll have to tell you more about it some other time. For now, we've got to see some adorable kiddie aprons!

So, you'll remember last week I was having trouble deciding which bias tape to use on my yellow stripes. The choice was between a tone-on-tone green print, and another yellow stripe with more colors mixed in. Stripey to the max, if you will. I think the votes in the comments here were pretty evenly mixed, as they were over on my Flickr. But then Liesl Gibson herself voted for the green! (you know her, just the author of our beloved book and the bestest kid's patterns ever.) Of course I thought that was a pretty good deciding vote. But then, I wavered again. You see, a certain sew-alonger is the mother of designer and blogger Jessica Jones of How About Orange. I'm pretty sure that was the very first crafty blog I ever followed, and she's basically awesome. Well, she voted for the stripes and I was torn.

In the end, I went with the green. True story, though pretty anti-climactic. I just thought it was funny how many designer-y opinions were getting involved.

 But you don't have to worry about the stripe trim, I'm in the process of putting it on this crazy Ikea print. I really love it on this one too.

Show off your aprons....you have a week if you are lagging... drawing for a prize from Mama Stellato patterns! .... Be nice to everyone else... you know the drill.

You guys! I'm so excited about the puppet theater this month! It's going to be our most fully customizable project yet, and I can't wait to see what you come up with. Join us if you are new!

LTTSA: Bias Tape decisions and a swap idea

Last night I finally got around to making my bias tape. A LOT of bias tape. There are about nine yards of the stripes and 10-11 of the green. And that's all from half-ish yards of fabric to start off. Yowzers.

So now I can't decide which to use on the yellow striped apron. The obvious answer would be the green because it's more contrasty. But I kind of like the subtle stripe-on-stripe action too. I really just like striped bindings. But do you think it's too light? Too babyish? Too many stripes? Maybe I just think baby because H's crib skirt was made from this fabric. Anyway, I like them both. You decide for me.


Now let's talk a little more about bias tape. Most of you will probably go pre-made for the apron, which you should not feel ashamed of at all. Making your own really does make the project take about twice as long and it can be tedious. But there is something about those tedious tasks that I really like taking the time for sometimes.

So if you decide to make it for this or any other project, you could do it this way (great post about bias tape in general) which is pretty much how the back of our book explains it.

But I do it this way, which was taught to me by my friend Julie. The difference is that you cut it in a way that it's one long continuous strip, instead of cutting the strips first and then having to sew each one together. It's pretty brilliant once you get the hang of it.

You don't need a fancy bias tape machine (though that would be nice), you just need one of those doo-hickies pictured in my first photo here. Just be sure you buy the size that is twice what you want your finished double-fold bias tape to be. For example, I mostly just want 1/2 inch tape, so I bought a 1 inch bias tape maker. They run about $6-$7. Tip: Some instructions will say to cut your strips to 2" for 1/2" tape. But I've found it runs through the maker much easier if I cut the strips to 1 7/8"

If you are unsure about actually applying the bias tape, I'm going to send you to another great Prudent Baby tutorial. (Geez Jessica, this would have been helpful last week when I was actually making my apron. I know, lame of me.)


So here's an idea I had when I was making a bazillion yards of this stuff:


Since just a half yard of fabric makes 9-10 yards of 1/2" tape, you will usually be left with a good amount after whatever project you are working on is done. And then you will get sick of that particular print of bias tape before you use it all up.

So what if we did some kind of homemade bias tape swap??

I'd have to work out the details, but it would probably look something like everyone buying a 1/2 yard of a cute print, making it into tape, then dividing it into 3 three-yard portions. Then you'd send two of those to me, I'd mix them all up and you'd get two different prints back. Does that make sense? If you wanted to get more, you could make as many half-yard's worths as you wanted.

There is no way I picture being able to organize this before the holidays, but is this something anyone would be interested in for sometime in the new year? Can you just imagine all the cute varieties of print bias tape wrapped on cards and lined up on your sewing table? I can. And I love it. Let me know if there's any interest, because I think it's a pretty fun idea!

The apron link party will start Monday. I know that's Halloween (woohoo!) but as always, you'll have a week to join in before I pick a winner for the Mama Stellato giveaway.




I'll leave you with this. But be careful, you might just want to watch it over and over for the rest of the day. (found here.)