Pretty Little Dresdens All in a Row

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had some lovely times with your family and friends. Over the holiday weekend, I decided to get comfortable with my EZ Dresden ruler – which I talked about in my last post. Here are the blocks I’ve completed.

I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to do with them all yet, but they do look quite nice handing out all together on my design wall.

Also, this weekend, boyfriend decided he wanted to learn to sew. He even went to the fabric store and picked out 2-3 fabrics he particularly liked so he could practice. But, he doesn’t want to sew with the machine; he wants to sew by hand. I put together a quick little hand-sewing kit, and whipped up this little pincushion to keep him company. J

I can't believe December is only a few days away!! I'm buckeling down on some serious secret sewing projects. More soon!

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

Dresden Adventures!

The days have felt all turned around here. I was certain that Tuesday was Wednesday, and Wednesday was Friday?? So while I am a few hours shy of Wednesday, I wanted to share what was new in my sewing world. Several months back, I did a scrap swap with Elisa at Stitched Outside the Ditch. When I opened the package she sent me, I was so excited to find an EZ Dresden Ruler in the box. I'd seen people using them around the blogosphere, but I hadn't taken the time to buy one. I made a big stink about how I was so excited to use it, then I put it down for the past 4 months or so as I've tried to finish Christmas gifts and other misc. projects.

Of course, with just over a month left until Christmas, I decided it was time to try using the ruler and tackle some of my scraps.

My first attempt was more scrappy - I wanted to use this fabric with these cute little kids on it. Here's what I ended up with:

I have an overwhelming not-so-subtle love for polka dots (like every other quilter in the world), so I pulled some of my polka dots and tried my hand. I love how the little boys and girls alternate. I also have a little story for them all in my head.

After that block, I wanted to go with a darker color scheme. So, I started playing with my scraps and the end result was:

I am particularly tickled by the addition of the Ghastlies Gal. I seriously love the Ghastlies, and I would add them to every quilt if I could get away with it!

I really liked the black/orange combo, so I made a black/green block next:

The pear in the center was from a fabric scrap that I'd purchased from Teri at Sew Fantastic. Seriously, I love when quilting peeps destash scraps, It gives me the opportunity to play with some fabrics I never would have purchased on my own! 

To attach the circles, I'm doing that method where you use interfacing and sew the fabric and interfacing together, then cut it and flip. I did a poor job of describing it - if you're looking for the tutorial I learned from, you can find it here. I normally don't like doing little hand stitching that much, but I've been really enjoying trying to make my stitches line up half-way decently. I'm day-dreamining about what this quilt will look like when it's finished. I'm so excited that I've finally delved into this awesome way of showcasing small scraps of fabric while still leaving such a powerful impact!

While we're at it, it's officially Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be thankful for. I know I could go on for so long about all the things I've been blessed with, but here are the highlights of what I'm thankful for:
- My ever-supportive parents.
- My loving, long-suffering boyfriend.
- My best friend who understands me on a whole different level.

- The fast friends I have made through the online sewing community.

- Having a space to sew and leave my fabric all around.
- Finding my sweet dog and being able to afford to give him a good home.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by people you care about.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. 

Until next time.

A New Addition

Hello, Everyone.

My posts have been so delayed. I have a good reason this time. I've been getting used to a new addition. My boyfriend and I recently adopted a sweet old Cocker Spaniel named Wallace. He is 7 years old, he has lots of allergies, and has recently had a small surgery to remove a mass on his leg. He is my very first dog. I know it might seem silly to some of you long-time pet owners, but I feel like this is such an emotionally taxing time.

I've never understood people's attachments to their animals, and now it all makes sense. I've honestly lost a lot of sleep over the past week or so, because I've been worried about him. I wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to check on him and make sure he's okay. When I can't see him, I look around all panicky to make sure he's safe. I even want to add jingle bells to his collar so I can have a sense for where he is in the apartment when my eyes are closed.

I know these are all concerns I don't need to have. He's an old dog, he just likes to sit, sleep and be pet. He came to us house-broken and with excellent manners. He does not bark, he does not jump, he doesn't climb on furniture, he doesn't chew things, he doesn't bark at other dogs.... He's such an outstanding addition to my life. Especially because I'm pretty jittery around dogs. I can't even imagine loving another animal. He's it, the perfect dog; and it breaks my heart knowing another family left him.

It's been an interesting transition, because as I mentioned, he had a small surgery, so there's been a lot going on in his life. We're trying to determine what he is allergic too, and trying to find a doggy food that he enjoys. We have to give him medicated baths twice a week for the next month or so, and so I got to experience bathing a dog (a very good dog, by the way, who doesn't move at all and lets us wash him quite contentedly). I can't be as selfish with my time either. After work, I have to come up, and I have to take him on a walk. This morning, I realized that part of the surgery area on his leg had re-opened after the doctor took his stitches out, so we took him back to the doctor, and they prescribed the cone of shame. So I'm getting to learn about how when dogs wear cones, they walk into doors, and walls and basically everything else. But he's such a great dog, he doesn't complain or try and get it off.

I think the best part about Wallace is just experiencing how much he loves. He's only been with us about a week, and already he's so happy when I come home. He wants to sit near me, and he wants me to pet him. When I'm in the craft room sewing, he comes in and lays down, because he wants to be near me.

I was so worried about brining him into the craft room, especially since I was sorting scraps, but I quickly discovered he totally loves fabric. He doesn't chew them or try and eat them, instead, he likes to bury his nose in them and use them as pillows.

So, everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Wallace.

You can find additional pictures of my doggy on my IG feed: elisabew

I'll be back to posting regularly again starting Monday.

Baby Labyrinth

I've been working on a baby quilt for one of boyfriend's co-workers. She's having a baby boy. I'm not big on blues just for boys, and I love the yellow and oranges. :) So, here is the quilt. I used Red Pepper Quilts' pattern, and I love it. It's been lovely.

This is my favorite block. 

I've also been making tiny baby blocks as well, and hopefully I'll be making a big quilt with them all. We'll see about that later.

These tiny blocks are from an Instagram picture (elisabew)

Birthday Quilt

Well, this Sunday is my Momma's birthday. I decided last minute (5-6 days ago) to make her a quilt, so I threw this together over the week and finished up with the straight line quilting and binding today. I really like it, although I will say, piecing it was a pain in the neck, because my 1/4" seams were not as perfectly 1/4" as they should be.... Either way, don't look at the hourglass blocks too closely - they don't all measure up. :)

The Months all fly together

There's been so many changes in the past month and a half. I'm moving into a new apartment in 10 days, so I thought I should really take a few minutes to post my newest quilts.

The first is a Sparkling Cider quilt that I made at the request of my brother's co-worker. He's going to ask his lady to marry him and for their anniversary he wanted to give her a USC quilt since she is currently pursuing her Masters. Since USC is my alma mater, of course I had a hard time saying no. Here is the finished result, It makes me quite happy and I don't want to give it away.

This was my first foray into Flying Geese, which was obvious when I made all the small stars in reverse of what I intended them to be. This resulted in a whole bunch of extra, useless, geese. I used some to make a star on the back too. 

You'll notice my sad messed up star. :P

Next, on a whim I started improv piecing some materials together with yellow as the main focus color. The results are a perfectly charming lap quilt that is splendid for napping since the backing is Minky! It was my first time working with minty and I was a little worried about how well it would quilt, but the final results are amazing and I don't want to share it with anyone ever. :)

The wee little animals that make an appearance are probably my favorite part.

I love love lOVE how soft the back is.

Spooky!

I've been working on my super creepy lovely Ghastlies quilt since pre-October. I decided to do some basic kinda-log cabin-esque patchwork so I could display the amazing prints on the fabric. All the people remind me of the Adams Family, which I came to love late in life (and by late I mean early 20s as I was not allowed to watch them as a kid).

So, here's my newest finished project.

In other news, I finally got a stipling foot for my machine so I'm learning how to free motion quilt. I'll keep this lovely blog updated on my adventures there. :)