Mushrooms

So this week, I got quite a bit of sewing in.  I finished up the last little bits on some totes I was making for a swap on Craftster.  I also decided to make Lila Tueller's mushroom pincushions for the same swap.

Man, these guys are big!  It's hard to tell from the pictures but the portobellos's are aprox 5.5 inches across and 5 inches tall.  The other thing I forgot to think about is how I plan to ship them to my swap partners!  I don't want to get boxes because that would be expensive.   I am hoping they will bounce back from being so crushed in padded envelopes.

This little guy?  He's mine.  I love how he turned out and I couldn't bear to send him away.  Sorry swap partners!

What did you sew up this week?  I am linking this up to Amylouwho's Sew n Tell.  Go check out the other fun stuff being linked up.

Cotton Candy Quilt

    I made this baby quilt earlier this year.  My cousin was having his first baby, a girl!  He and his wife named their little girl after our Gran and I am so excited about that.  (I miss my Gran!)  I used a pattern on this quilt.  It's the Yellow Brick Road pattern, I love that pattern.  I have used it 4 times now.  It works up really quickly and the directions are super easy to follow.

Here is the top as a flimsy:

I chose pink and green because those were the colors they had for bedding on their registry.  I chose an all over stippling pattern because it's quick!  Here is the finished quilt:

A close up of the quilting, the binding reminded me of a candy cane:

Just a fun shot:

Girly Superhero Cape

A close friend's daughter turned 2 this past weekend.  Of course I wanted to make her something fun.  She loves her big brother's cape so I decided to make her a girly one of her own.    I used the tute at Puking Pastilles: http://pukingpastilles.com/?p=57  It's super easy to follow and I highly recommend it.  


Close up and the backing fabric:


  I think she'll like it...  

Poppiful Wrap Skirt

 I have been dying to get my hands on a copy of Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing.  I had it on hold at the library for months.  It finally came in the the Sat before Mother's Day and I raced to the library to pick it up.  I really wanted to make the wrap skirt pattern.  I had seen a few versions of it on Flickr and thought it would be perfect for some poppy fabric (sale $3/yd!!) I had been hoarding for the perfect dress or skirt pattern.  So I traced the pattern, ironed and cut out my fabric, sewed and about 6 hours later (with interruptions) I had this skirt.  I stayed up till 3am to finish it and wear it the next day to church.  So worth it.



  If you decide to make this, check her website for corrections.  I am a size 10, used 5 panels and 3 yds of fabric.  (The original pattern has a sz L using only 3 panels.  That would have barely wrapped around me...)  I had to cut the waistband not on the bias because I didn't have enough fabric to do so.  I think the next one I make I might put a large button hole in the waist so that I can thread one of the ties through when wrapping.  I was unsure of the proper wrapping technique so a buttonhole would make that easier.  Plus that would help the waist lie flatter, not so much fabric bunched up.  
Close up of the waist:


Closer pic of the skirt:


I am in love with this book and I might use the Amazon gift certificate I received for my birthday to actually buy a copy.  Which is saying a lot for me.  I very rarely buy myself books.
Thanks for looking!

Read more: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=105883;sa=showTopics#ixzz2TOwC1tRL

Patchwork Bucket

I really needed a larger basket for the kitchen to replace the small one that was holding my son's sippy cups.  It was overflowing to the point of things falling out.  I couldn't find anything I liked at a price point I could afford. 
   So I dug into my stash and busted out this tute:
http://foofanagle.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/bagsket-tutorial/

     I didn't follow the tute exactly.  Originally I made the 12 inch one but it was a lot bigger than I had anticipated.  So I ripped out out the seams and cut it down to the 8 inch size.  (sort of.  I mis-measured my top part and had to fudge it a bit lot.)   I made up my own handles to fit the amount of fabric I had on hand.  I also left out the bag part because I didn't really need it.  Since I wanted to use up stash &  I didn't have any pellon 70,  I used the lightweight interfacing I had on hand and some leftover quilt batting to help it stand up.  I free motion quilted the bottom and stitched in the ditch on the top.  My binding was leftover from another baby quilt so it's two different fabrics.  All in all I love how it turned out.  



 bottom: 


inside:


all full up!:

Wintery Snowman Quilt

I participated in the Lap Quilt Swap http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=254966.0 this Summer/Fall.  I was gifted a ton of gorgeous Christmas fabrics by an aunt who decided she was not going to use it.  So I sent out some lovely blue and white fabrics and received 11 lovely squares in return.  I made 2 of my own and then pieced this top. (I made the top middle and bottom left squares.)



I did a pieced back because my backing fabric was not wide enough plus I had an extra square.  Also I had been wanting to try one out, I had been seeing them and really liked the look.  



I was unsure about the white binding because I normally do a darker binding.  But I love how it turned out.  Thank you (!!!) to my swap partners:  athenamat, audrey1999, flashleyashley, 1boy1girl1kitty2, MissDisney, j_q_adams, Glittergirl94, ritapizza, SewHelpMe, Jenicat
I love everything you gals and guy made for me!


BTW- When I was quilting it I kept having major problems!  You can see it here:

Vroom- Vroom!

I made this for a close friend.  Her baby was born in Aug and I finished it a few weeks after he was born.  


  I used this block pattern to make the entire quilt top:
http://happythings.typepad.com/happythings/2007/05/scrap_strips_sq.html
(I love her blog, you should totally check it out!)
    When it was done I found it kinda plain so I appliqued a car in the corner.
    I actually had the whole thing pinned and ready to quilt about a week before he was due but could not decide how to quilt the thing.  I am usually just a free motion quilter but the layout of the quilt top just didn't "say" free motion to me.  So I thought and thought.  I finally decided to attempt quilting each panel in free motion, with a car shape also.  I drew out the car shapes with a disappearing marker and got to it.
   I then pieced the binding out of leftover fabric.  I love the different colors in the binding, I might do that again.  I gifted it to her and she seemed to like it.  Plus, I was over there a few weeks ago and had to run and get something from the baby's room.  The quilt was lying on the rocking chair in his room.  
  (Who knows, she could have done that just before I got there.  But at least she cared enough to make the effort.  )

  So here is the finished quilt:


Close-ups of the car stitching:



The car applique:


You can see the backing flannel fabric here:


And here is is after pinning but before quilting: