Still working...

On the quilt for Redhead. (I've decided that "my oldest niece" and "my second to youngest niece" is too unwieldy. So Redhead is the new name for my oldest niece. Although... actually it looks like all of my nieces may be redheaded...)

I got this little embroidery in from my oldest sister, who is the Best Girl, and sewed it up into a square:



Check out the "fuzzy stitch" that she made up:


And I just loooove her little signature on it:


Hopefully I'll have more embroideries to share soon. (*hint hint* sisters get to work!)

New activity

I decided that since I spend about half of my waking hours at the office, I was going to look for ways to dress up my desk. First step was this little tissue box cover:



I looked up some tutorials online, but they looked easy so I just came home and winged it. The opening came out a little funny, and it ended up a little short because the seams at the top have more bulk than they should. It still looks cute, though, and will help dress up my desk. :)

Also, I have been working a bit on my blog... I was frustrated by Blogger because it doesn't let you reply to comments, so I am trying out a new Intense Debate comment system. We'll see how it works. :)

Swaps

I think swapbot and I need to see other people. I always look at new swaps and think they look like fun, but it turns out to be a bit of a pain to get things out on time. Even worse, looking back over the swaps that I've done, I see that there wasn't a single one where I received something that I liked as much as what I sent out. So really, the only thing that I liked about it was getting ideas for things to make.


Like this messenger bag. I made it for a swap that called for a monochromatic package. My partner requested orange. I had some orange corduroy pieces that I bought from someone on Craigslist, and I paired it with some brown and yellow from my stash:


(That's the bag inside out)

This bag is on my sewing list now because I love how it turned out and I need one for myself. Thing is, I never would have thought of making it without the challenge of making something orange that someone else might like. I tried applique for the first time on this project, as well.


(As you can see...)

So if I break up with swapbot, where am I going to find challenges like this?

Second rosali baby quilt

I don't like to think things, I like to know things. So when I first saw quilts with pieced backs, which my mother never did, I thought "Well, why doesn't anyone make both sides the front. I will be the FIRST EVER to do this."

Actually... I get into trouble a lot with this sort of thinking. Like when I decide it'll be easier to sew a seam before turning the purse inside out instead of after like the instructions say... and then discover that with the seam sewn it is impossible to turn the purse inside out.

In case there are other curious souls out there who couldn't figure it out without trying to do it...
a) lots of work
b) more piecing on front and back makes it harder to quilt evenly
c) impossible to get both "fronts" lined up perfectly, so one of them will be a bit crooked.
d) only one side can point up, so why waste all that effort?

If you decide you want to do this, I recommend extra size borders on each side so that when you trim the crookedness won't be as noticeable.

So here is what I made, in red for my second-to-youngest niece, who has a fresh and bold personality even at the tender young age of 13 months.

The front of the quilt is similar to the green version. Here it is before quilting:

The other front is a nine-patch using the same red:


And for my second foray into quilting, I closely quilted the blocks on the front in a spiral pattern, leaving the sashing unquilted. I like how it emphasizes the blocks, but it was a pain compared to the diamond quilting on the green version.


fyi, my sister is using it nine-patch side down.