Piece Out

This past week I rediscovered my love for Foundation Paper Piecing.  I first learned this method several months ago on a sewing day with my sisters.  As soon as I "got it" I realized this is the perfect thing to satisfy my OCD tendancies of straight lines and following a pattern directly.

I found a really great site here that has 100 paper pieced blocks.  The quilt featured using the blocks is a crazy quilt with tons of embellishments on it.  Quite intriguing, but not my style.  I have done a few blocks using Block 1 and some scrap fabric. 

Each block looks a little different because I was getting into the swing of things and measuring things wrong, but since it's a crazy quilt, it doesn't really matter as long as the blocks are the same size in the end!
After practicing on these blocks I wanted to try something with a higher level of difficulty.  I will not share with you the star block that I spent waaaaay too much time on and never did quite figure out.  (No matter how I sewed, it wouldn't quite work.  I choose to blame pattern error, even though I know for a fact the pattern is correct!)

Saturday I got up the nerve for attempt 2 on a more difficult block.  The finished block is only 5" square, so the tiny pieces frustrated me a bit and had me saying some very inventive curses.  It was only after I finished the block and sewed the four separately pieced rows together that I realized one of the pieces that was supposed to be black was done in linen.  Oops!  It's okay though, nothing a strategically placed heart won't fix! I also added a little bit of hand embroidery for the thread and the needle.

Overall I was pleased with the result and learned from my mistakes.  I definately will not be making a whole quilt of sewing machines, but it was much easier than I always feared the multiple rows would be.  Here is the free pattern if you want to attempt it. She actually has a ton of free paper piecing patterns on the main site sewhooked.com.  I love the fandom ones, but am not yet ready to attempt them!

Another sewhooked pattern that I made was the spool one.  This one was pretty simple.  I'm thinking of making a wall hanging for my studio with this pattern.

Check back soon for some more sewing room updates.  I haven't forgotten I said I was going to post more, I've just been sewing more than organizing and I don't want to lose my mojo!

Always,
K

Granny Blocks

Thanks to the fabulous Lori Holt over at Bee In My Bonnet I tried out a new technique and I'm totally addicted.  (I so want to adopt her as my 4th sister!)


She is hosting The Great Granny Along and has a great tutorial to help you get started. 

Here is my first block:

I was so proud of myself at how well this turned out.  I doubted it the whole time I was working on it, but as my sister always says: Trust the pattern.  I did and now I want to make tons more!

I've also been working on hexies again and want to work on a block I found in the Summer 2012 magazine Scrap Quilts for a Crazy-Pieced Block.  Looks like something I can do.  It feels so good to be motivated to sew again!

Always,

K

Studio Makeover - Part 1 - Curtain Call

My studio serves double duty as my creative area and my home office.  I've been "redoing" it for months.  Nothing major, just organizing, purging and redecorating as I go along. 

I'm super tired of the clutter.  It's a large area made smaller by my office area and an old pull out sofa that came with the house and can't be moved.  It won't fit through the door...don't ask how it got down here in the first place, I have no clue.

Yesterday, I spent the day shopping and sewing with my sisters.  They gave me great advice and pointers to complete my new curtains.  Unfortunately, I only took some of their advice...I'm stubborn that way.

Here are the before curtains.  Basically they are discount store curtains that I hung just so the neighbors couldn't peek inside until I made new ones.

Here is my fun, bright upgrade:

It took me 2 days of sewing to make these.  I started picking them apart the minute I hung them, then I stopped.  Because who cares if they aren't perfect?  Who cares if one side hangs slightly lower than the other.  I MADE these.  I put my ♥ into them.  And I love them.  So there! :)

I will be posting more studio updates as I complete them.  (See those red polka dots in the bottom left hand corner?  That's a sneak peak at another update I'm going to share!)

Always,

K

What's Cooking?

Father's Day is an especially sad day at my house since J & I both lost our Dad's in the same year.  This year we decided to honor my Dad by making something he would have liked.  His favorite was always something with red sauce whether it was lasagna or spaghetti or something  Italian, but since I don't do red sauce we went with seafood.  Dad used to love steamed shrimp, steamed crabs, crab cakes, crab imperial, etc.

J & I came up with our own version of a seafood quesadilla.  The first one is the shrimp version with white cheddar cheese and mozzarella.  As you can see by the top picture, we really loaded them down with shrimp.  What made it extra good (and calorie-laden) is that we sauteed the shrimp in a garlic butter sauce before putting it on the quesadilla.  Can you say YUMMY?!?

The second quesadilla is a crab quesadilla with white cheddar.  I didn't think to take a picture of this one before cooking but we didn't do anything special, just lump crabmeat and the white cheddar.  We had sour cream on the side for dipping, which was the perfect addition to both versions.

I have to say that both versions were awesome and I think my dad would have loved them.  The crab was my favorite and J liked the shrimp better.  Although this is not something we will have on the regular menu (because of the cost!) it was a great way to remember my dad on an otherwise sad Father's Day.

I know I have once again been lax with my crafty updates, but I do have lots of projects to share.  I've just been super lazy about taking pictures.  It's on my to do list, I swear!

Always,

K

Bright & Sunny Owl Banner

I've been wanting to post this bright owl banner for a few weeks now, but Mother Nature likes to make it rain on the weekends so that I can't take it outside for a good picture.  She finally decided to make it sunny (and way too hot!) today so here goes!

I just love how this turned out.  I had a picture in my head of what I wanted and it turned out even better than expected!

For the owls, I used the pattern from Moonstitches.  They were super easy to make and brighten up my craft studio a lot!

I know it doesn't show by my bad posting habits, but I've been hard at work on lots of projects.  Most of them are still in the WIP stage, but I hope to get them posted soon!

Always,

K

Hoop de Hoop

My new obsession is mini creations in embroidery hoops.  I have a bunch saved on my Hoop Dreams board on Pinterest.
This hoop was inspired by a hoop made by Gwenny Penny on Pinterest. 

Encouraged by my sister, I did more of a free motion outlining instead of the straight stitch I normally stick to.  I'd really like to make a whole series of these with different animals.  Quick, easy and fun, right up my alley!

Always,

K

Goal Oriented Crafting

I think my biggest challenge in being creative is getting started.  I surf Pinterest and blogs all week thinking of all I can work on over the weekend.  The problem is, once the weekend comes, I have no clue what I actually want to spend time on.  I think I've finally found the way to stay focused.  I got an idea from elleandblair via Pinterest. 

This has literally changed my crafting life. 

 I made my own version of a Goal List (below) based on the one I found and I rotate

out the post-its as needed.

I have always been a "list" person, but once I wrote something on the list I felt bound to it...like I had to do it because I had written it down.  (Hello, OCD!)  This is the perfect solution because if I find something I want to do I add it on a post-it and remove one of my "lesser" goals.  No guilt, no eraser, no messy crossed out lines (which I totally don't believe in anyway!)

How do you stay organized and/or motivated??

By the way, stay tuned for some crafty updates soon.  My sister (Quilted Cupcake) and I spent the day sewing together yesterday and I'm super excited to share the projects I completed and some great tips she passed along to me!

Always,

K