Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress

Last week an order came in the mail with some sweet kitty cat fabrics. I bought one for me and one for my cat loving three year old. When I took it out of the package she squealed with delight when she saw her fabric. I gave her a few options of what Mommy could make her and some how I was convinced to make her a dress. I had only ordered a yard so I went on hunt for the perfect pattern.

I picked the Ice Cream Dress by Oliver and S. The pockets sold me because she is in love with pockets! I was able to download it digitally. Print it out on my FIL’s large plotter printer that we still have from building the house with some help from the husband of course. Yay  for no taping! I had even managed to buy some parchment paper recently which worked perfectly for tracing out the pattern size I needed!

I happened to have just enough Stella Dot in Pink and Purple print for the top and bottom left over from Miss L’s quilt! The colors are made for each other so perfect for the Hello Petal Kitty Cat print. I love that everything is faced on the inside the only exposed seams are the side seams which could easily be done as a french seam. The extra lining fabric on the skirt band gives it a nice weight.

It just has a button and loop closure. Luckily we even had a button! I made her the size 3T (which happens to fit her older sister too it is just a lot shorter.) I am hoping it will fit Miss E for a while. She told me today that she wants me to make her lots of dresses and skirts. I guess my vow of not being a garment seamstress is void.

Who can say no to such a cutie?! Also big sis thinks she needs a dress too. I am stuck on what size to make Miss L though because her measurements are so small. She is nothing but bones and muscle, she actually measures tinier that her little sister. Miss L saw the Geranium dresses Amy made for her girls so you will most likely see the exact same fabric and dress here for my horse lover! After I figure out what size to make that is…

#yarnstitchswap

I joined a swap on IG a few weeks ago where the idea of the swap was that you sew something and then you get something knitted or crocheted in return. My partner gave me a list of things she wanted so I picked one and went with it. I picked the Noodlehead Divided Basket pattern. I knew she likes colorful fabrics so I figured that the lovely fat eighth bundle of Mor Mor and Sylvia I had sitting would be a lovely choice for her. I didn’t just want to make a plain baskets that would be too boring. I cut out 2” triangles and I have to say I love the results. I embellished the pocket…

…and then on the other side I put a strip of triangles going down it.

 

I ordered some DearStella scissors from Patterncrush for the lining and some Essex dyed linen in black from Westwood Acres. When the linen arrived in the mail I knew it was meant to be. I have to say my basket is jealous of the time and effort I put into this one ;)

Jealous or not I love my basket. I keep it just behind my sewing machine the current things I am working on have seemed to gather in there.

It’s been a while

I have been a bad blogger. Life has been busy. We were sick. My Grandma is having health issues. (Getting old sucks.) I just haven’t been very motivated even though I have a long list and deadlines. Although I think my sew-jo is renewed because my husband gave me the a-ok to get my dream machine, Pfaff expressions 4.2! He truly is the best :) I was able to go to a Pfaff demo class on Saturday to see what it could do just to make sure it was “the one”. Needless to say it came home with me and I think it is quite happy here. I played with it on Sunday, completely ignored my family. I even managed to finish a pay-it-forward gift. I think I am getting into the flow of this pretty sewing machine. I feel so lucky and blessed to have this as my first machine. I don’t have to use my Moms back up to her backup anymore ;)

The only thing that I am missing is the lever to put my foot up and down but that will come with time. It is such a habit to reach back there. I am almost ready to put Miss Ls quilt together so soon I will be ready to make my first FMQ voyage on her. I am so excited to have 10” of throat space plus my table extension! Can we say spoiled! Speaking of spoiled, Miss L thought since I wasn’t using my Moms old machine anymore and my Mom didn’t really want it back that we should set it up for her. So here is our new sewing set up. I even organized her little stash in a bin.

 

Yes she is already sewing in her PJs.

Happy sewing everyone! I will be back with my March goal soon :) I was so disappointed that I missed posting Februarys goal.

Doll Quilt Swap 14 received

I wanted to share the mini that arrived in my mailbox from Kristin at andChips. There was such a great group of talented ladies in the DQS14 on Flickr. It was so hard to figure out which one would be coming to you. Plus you your never expect the person you were making for would be making for you. Well guess what that happened! Mr. Fox went to live with Kristin and her loving star dresden (you can find the tutorial for the dresden here) came and lived with me!  

She said she was inspired by the shape of  my sewing room. I love all the low volume and  prints that she used! It is perfect :) And look she put a little stitching of Mr.Fox on the back as a label! Such a lovely reminder. Btw if you are wondering she loves Mr.Fox he is such a charmer.

I now have two minis on my wall! It is so nice to being finally hanging things in my space plus I am doing a private mini swap with one of my blogging friends too! So exciting!!!  

A mini finish

Last week it was my Mother in laws birthday. I decided somewhat last minute I should make her a little something. I decided to try the mini swoon pattern by Thimble and Blossoms. I only made one. I figured it would be a good mug rug or trivet since it is about 8”.

This baby swoon took almost as long as the Mama swoon block. So don’t be deceived by its size. So needless to say my MIL didn’t get her present quite as early in the day as expected. I am not too sure of the fabric line used here but I did pair it with Kona bone and also used bone as the binding. She was pretty happy with it. I had to make something for the lady who taught me how to chain piece when I was a super newbie to the quilting world ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

linking to finish up friday at crazy mom quilts

January Goal Completed

I am happy to say that I have made my January goal of cutting out all the pieces for the blocks for Miss L’s On a Whim quilt!!! I actually was even able to complete a block, Yay!

The rest of the pieces are all ready to be pressed and then on the next steps! I am excited to be getting this done for my daughter since she is growing while her current quilt is staying the same size, lol. She is also pretty persistent about asking when will it be finished. I am hoping I will have a completed quilt top soon!

Linking to January: A Lovely Year of Finishes at Fiber of all Sorts

Spools Mini

Last Saturday I had a lovely sew-in date with my friend Christina. We decided to make the Spools mini quilt by Thimble and Blossoms. Camille does design some lovely patterns!

I was lucky enough to win a Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate from A Lovely Year of Finishes for my November goal which I splurged and bought the Heather Bailey True Colors charm pack with. I am so glad I did because I love, LOVE the colors so much and the prints are super pretty too!

I decided to be brave and practice my free motion quilting skills. I wanted to try pebbling and since this quilt is only 14” by 16” I thought it was a perfect practice size. It is not perfect and I did get some shifting but I am okay with that. I am super happy that I tried something “scary” and plus it is for my sewing room wall so I can deal with its imperfections ;) I quilted it Aurifil 50wt in a light dove gray (color #2600) which I have to say is one of my favorite Aurifil thread colors so far. It is almost gone. Sad face.

I took the binding fabric from my daughters quilt fabric stack, shhhhh. I was going to use this fabric to bind her quilt but the running stitch print and color was just too perfect not to steal from her stack to bind this sweet quilt. I will find something else for her I am sure.

There are so many lovely versions of this quilt popping up. It looks so different depending on the fabrics you use. I think that if I make it again I would maybe make a scrappy version or perhaps a rainbow. Next up perhaps a mini Swoon or Puddle Jumping mini. Did you see that Jaybird Quilts is working on minis too?! Fun! She posted a sneak peek on Flickr!

Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it up Friday