happy fourth of july!

we were up on the puget sound this weekend with my husband’s extended family.  it’s a neat place to watch fireworks, because we look out over the water and can see various displays going off in all directions.

knowing we’d be watching the show (and betting that someone in our group would head to the rez nearby for a few “big guns” of our own), i made a picnic blanket.  i dreamed it up and decided to make it on monday, and finished it up on friday afternoon during naptime.

it’s 11″ x 11″ solid squares (kona charcoal, aqua, jade, and olive, plus a bella solid lighter green to coordinate with the olive), backed by an old urban outfitters tapestry that i had hanging on my apartment wall in college.  the tapestry gives it a nice weight, while still remaining soft to use as a warming blanket if need be.  i have a love of blue, green, and charcoal, and am usually restraining myself from using those colors for every project i make (case 1, case 2, case 3, case 4, case 5, case 6…shall i go on?).

and look, i serged the edge!  i FINALLY threaded the serger my husband got me for mother’s day last year.  it took me a half hour to figure out, but i’m glad i took time away from actual sewing to add this tool to my toolbox.  i love it!  i was just going to serge the edge to clean it up then add a proper quilt binding, but once i serged it, i decided i really liked the look and called it done.

here it is all laid out so you can really see the pattern – it was inspired by this one.  i quilted it 1/4″ from one side of each seam with a regular sewing foot (since it was only two layers, my walking foot wasn’t necessary).  someday i’ll make a non-square quilt (em’s quilt was patchwork squares, too), but this time i liked playing with color and value and kept it simple.

finished size is about 75″ x 75″ – plenty big to load up with cousins (five under eight) with room to spare…

we let em stay up super late for her first real fireworks show, and she was so much braver than i expected!  she’s normally a pretty cautious kid, but she was waving around sparklers and ooooing and aaahing at the fireworks like a champ.  O went to bed at his normal time and slept through the whole thing (good baby).

here is em and a sparkler, with my husband doing the ol’ long exposure trick on the camera…

and some fireworks right over our heads…it looked like glitter in the sky!

happy fourth!

isn’t that fun to say?  mug rug.

i think mug rugs are one of those sewing blogger sensations that most of the world doesn’t know about yet.  once starbucks figures out how awesome they are, you know they’ll be selling them at every location for $20 a pop.  but for now, they seem to be a niche blogger thing, which is kinda cool.

the first time i heard about a mug rug, i immediately thought of my good friend kim.  that girl is an avid tea drinker and a prolific baker.  when i’d hang out with her at her parents’ house in high school, i was always offered tea and a snack.  always.  whenever i visit kim now at her own home, i get the same offer.  so to give myself a break from kid clothes sewing and get a mini quilt fix, i made kim a mug rug.

here’s the thing about being friends with someone for half of your life – you know random things about each other like what the design for their stained glass class project in high school was.  mine was a hummingbird from a disney coloring book (lame).  kim sketched her own design, a girl in a purple dress reaching up to a rainbow sky (totally cool).

when i presented the mug rug to her, i held it up in the same orientation as her stained glass and asked her if she knew where my inspiration came from.  she laughed and guessed it right away.  best reaction ever (except maybe for em calling her quilt “stupendous”).  🙂

if you’re still a little unclear on what a mug rug is, here’s an action shot.  because i’m NOT a prolific baker and had to get out the door to meet up with kim and her kids for a playdate at the park, all i had in the house for the photo was stale mini nilla wafers.  plenty of coffee around, though.

the design is also inspired by noodlehead’s sunburst pillow tutorial, which is on my “to make” list.  for anyone interested in the fabrics, here’s the rundown of designer and collection from the top down: kona solid red, sandi henderson meadowsweet, erin mcmorris weekends, kona solid mustard, amy butler lotus, pillow & maxfield whimsy, patricia bravo bazaar style, kona solid purple.  most were from my scrap pile.  the back was a fat quarter and i didn’t get the selvedge side, so i don’t know that one.  the binding method is from “a practical guide to patchwork” by elizabeth hartman, the same method i used for em’s quilt.  SUCH a good explanation.  i feel even better about my mitered corners this time, too.

it was such a fun and quick project, i’m already planning my next mug rug – maybe a chevron pattern to bring to work?  sewing for myself?!  shocker.

i did it!  i finished a quilt for em’s twin-size big girl bed!  wanna see?

here’s the front!

(like the hubby’s foot?  good to marry a tall fella for quilt modeling)

my goal was to keep the piecing as frustration-free as possible, so i went with 6″ patchwork squares in pinks and greens and yellows, since my little gal looooooves pink.  most of my favorite fabric designers are featured.  when em first saw the quilt top, she pointed to a valori wells square and said, “hey, that’s like my skirt!” and a heather ross square and said, “hey, that’s like my pillow!”  and a solid and said, “hey, that one’s pink, it’s my favorite color!”  i loved that she was so excited.

and here’s the back!

a neat thing happened when i was picking out the main backing fabric.  i knew i wanted a large floral that reflected the colors of the front.  i came across this print and really liked it, and then noticed the designer was sandi henderson.  the first little flannel/minky blanket that i made for em was from her ginger blossom line, so i thought it was a really nice coincidence and had to go with it!  there are even tiny golden flowers with green stems, so it coordinates perfectly.  i pieced it with solids from the main colors of the front – lime green, pink, and yellow.

i quilted it 1/4″ on either side of each seam with my walking foot, following this example from film in the fridge.  then i sewed on the deeper rose-colored binding using the method from elizabeth hartman’s “the practical guide to patchwork,” machine-sewing the binding onto the front, then wrapping it around and hand-stitching it to the back using an invisible ladder stitch.

elizabeth’s instructions were perfect, and i finally grasped the proper method of mitering corners which i’d been sort of faking before.  i thought the hand-sewing would be really tedious and terrible, but it actually did become theraputic and enjoyable once i got in a rhythm.  i was so excited that the stitches were actually invisible!  the hand-stitching was definitely worth the time and sore fingertips.  the finish is so clean and pretty.

i washed it up last night, and was pumped to put it on em’s bed today!  here it is, all loaded up with her favorite animals, pillow pet, and guard-rail for her crazylegs sleep habits.  we’ll often find her sleeping parallel to her pillow.

here she is pointing to her favorite fabric on the quilt.  i’m not a huge pink gal, and actually avoided dressing her in too much pink when she was a baby, but she has claimed it as her favorite color as a toddler, so who am i to argue?

now snuggled up and faking sleep with her favorite buddy, frankie the elephant.  oh so cozy under her new mama-made quilt!

finishing this project was a huge accomplishment for me – i was really intimidated by making a bed-sized quilt.  i consulted quilt books, the internet, my mom (thanks, mom!) and good friend erin (thanks, erin!) as i made my way through the process.  with each step that worked out well, i breathed a huge sigh of relief!

going straight for a twin-size was pretty ambitious, but i really wanted to make this for em’s bed, and i’m so glad i did.  she is so excited about it, too, and for a sewing mama that is really the best i can hope for.  however, i AM looking forward to sewing something smaller-scaled and, uh…curvier.  oliver + s bubble dress for easter?  YEP!

i’ve been spending most of my free time working on a quilt for em’s twin-size big girl bed…my first honest-to-goodness quilt, not just a picnic blanket!  this one has much more patchwork, batting, and will reside on a bed, not on a campground picnic bench, and i will see it every day.  as a result, i’m completely terrified at each new step…what if the rows don’t line up?  what kind of basting do i do (pins, fusible batting, basting spray)?  what kind of quilting pattern should i go with (i’m thinking this)?  what if i can’t reach the middle while quilting with my normal sewing machine?   oh man, SO much hand sewing on the binding…and i need to hand sew it, i haven’t had much luck with making machine-sewn binding look pretty enough.

so far, the top is pieced.  i went for the simplest, most low-stress type of patchwork i could think of (a bunch of 6″ squares).  i joined them into pairs, then squares, then rows, then joined the rows.  i bought batting and environmentally-friendly non-toxic basting spray…and that’s where things stand now.  the top is pieced and looks great, it’s full of fabric by my favorite designers plus a smidge of vintage sheeting, and it’s the perfect colors for em’s room.  it fits on her bed!  i’m seriously thrilled.  tomorrow, i shop for backing fabric and binding, and hopefully, during naptime, i will make a nice little quilt sandwich.  i’m devouring quilting blogs (film in the fridge and oh, fransson!), i’m draining the brain of a good friend who just took a quilting class, and i’m checking the quilt books i’ve accumulated with the intention of making a quilt someday…there are so many steps and i don’t want to mess it up!

here’s a little sneak peek.

wish me luck!