Everyday sewing: Bibs

Not a whole lot to say today.  My boy has a big neck and store-bought bibs are hard to get around those juicy jowls of his.  So, mama to the rescue (or sewing machine that is)!   Cotton animal prints on one side, chenille on the other.  I just traced a big bib I had already on hand.  Easy peasy.  It feels good to do some everyday sewing. 

Weekend snapshots

Just some snapshots from the weekend.

How was your weekend?

Skip Hop Jump

Skip, hop, jump.  That's how I feel when I look at this quilt.  It makes my heart happy.  This was the first quilt I completed after the bug was born.  I remember some sleepless nights when I would just go into my sewing room (which is now the bee's room) and cut and cut. Sew and sew. 

Isn't it funny how babies do things we'd like to do without any inhibitions?  Like roll around on a snuggly quilt in pure delight as their mommy tries to photograph it.

I used the Skip Hop Jump pattern from Denyse Schmidt's Quilts and fabric from Sweetwater's Hometown line, with a few other red fabrics from my stash.  I'd love to make this again someday, but might just wing it instead of using the templates. It's supposed to be a freeform quilt afterall.    

This was a wedding present for some dear friends of ours.  They had the most beautiful, intimate wedding weekend in the mountains which I feel honored to have been a part of.  I completed this quilt in July 2012 and they were married in 2010.  Luckily my friends didn't seem to mind the late present. 

Eye candy Thursday

There are few things more delicious than a stack of homemade quilts.  Well, maybe ice cream.  Chocolate ice cream to be exact.  I'll post more about each of these quilts soon.  And yes, that is Swoon on the bottom there...

I'm a latecomer to Instagram, but now I can't stop.  Talk about eye candy!  I'm CreativeReveries if you'd like to follow me over there.

Psss...I'm sharing this handmade pile of goodness today over at My Quilt Infatuation!

DIY Ironing Board Cover

I'm somewhat embarrassed to share this project with you.  My ironing board cover was a pretty sad sight for a long time: scorch marks, holes, etc.  It was long past the point of needing a new cover.  Evidence:

I tried to buy a new cover, but couldn't find one to fit this oversized board (oh extra wide ironing board, how I love thee).  So I used this tutorial and now have this pretty thing:

Guess what?  It was as easy as the tutorial claims!  I did flip the board over to cut out the fabric, but that step is simple.  Now I am kicking myself (not really, don't worry) for not making this sooner!

Katie Jump Rope

Thank you all for the comments on my last post, reminding me that quilting is about the process, not always the end (though the end is so nice).

I put aside the scrappy trip quilt this weekend and picked up another work in progress, my Katie Jump Rope quilt.  Did anyone else hoard this fabric?  I splurged on a fat quarter set several years ago and then it sat and sat - I was waiting for the perfect project for this.

When I found out I was pregnant with the  bee last year, I knew this was the perfect fabric for his eventual big boy bed.  This will just be a simple square within square twin-sized quilt. I figure I have a good two years before I need to actually finish this one.  Plenty of time, unless of course his big sister claims it first!

Psss...I'm sharing this over at A Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.  Go check it out!

Slow

Geesh.  This quilt feels like it is taking me forever.  I thought it was supposed to be quick!  Everyone is either lying about the speed of putting this together or else I am just very, very slow.  I have faith in humanity so it really must be me and the fact that I am spending at least half of my limited free time reading The Game of Thrones (oh my god so good) and another one quarter of it planning the next quilt I want to make.  You know, because I don't already have four quilts in progress and I have so much free time.  Right.  

Divide and conquer

Do you break up tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks of units too?  I do this with many things - running (ok, i just started doing this again, but still), working, cleaning, quilting.  My scrappy trip around the world will consist of 36 blocks total.  I've completed 8 so far. Last night I started working on 12 more.  Slowly inching along...but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about how I will quilt this bad boy.  Any suggestions?

Balance

I wanted to write about all the reasons why I don't sew much these days.  Why I don't come here very often.  I'll give you two.  

 The bug

The bee

Tell me, how do you find time to do things to feed your soul?  How do you carve out a space in your day/week/month for just you?  

Stars and squares

With two little ones in tow, it's almost impossible to find a moment to breathe some days, let alone sew.  But it makes me happy.  So I try to fit it on those rare days when I am not completely exhausted.  

I decided the Bee had to have another quilt after he was born.  I had been wanting to try scrappy stars for a while.  They were fun and "quick" to make.  I'd love to make a whole quilt with them someday.

I started this when the Bee was a few weeks old, and finished it before he started crawling.  I call that a success.

Deets:  Stars and Squares baby quilt

Size: 42x42ish

Fabrics: Lucy's crab shack charm packs, Kona white solid