Saturday, April 21, 2012

Winner - decorating my grad cap


Thanks to all those who left comments. I'll be sending my friends Rebecca and Colleen both something in the mail! I'll probably do a combination of their suggestions (though I'm still not set on anything - going to go to Michael's soon and let myself run free....)
Thanks ladies!
Be back this week with more crafty posts. I also think I'm going to be joining another quilt along...




Sunday, April 15, 2012

Weekend Finishes

*Did you enter my contest to help me decorate my graduation cap? Ends Friday!*

I accomplished a spring break quilting goal and a half! More than I expected, to be honest, with all the school work I've had to complete.

1. Made a CD holder for my car - I can't wait to use it on the way work tomorrow. Much easier than the usual stick-my-hand-into-the-compartment-and-try-5-CDs-until-I-find-the-one-I-want. Now I'll actually be able to see them.

I used the same tutorial as before, from Georgia Leigh. I picked out a bunch of fabrics that went well together (and of course, that I liked). You could easily do this with scraps and it only took me a couple of hours.My fiance has reported back and has found his to be extremely useful... I'm glad that my sewing could be of assistance =P

2. I made a star for the back of my Made in Cherry quilt. Technically, I didn't piece together the whole backing yet, but at least I made progress. I used my favorite purples and a mix of gray and purple solids - I quite like the scrappy look.


I know one of the seams doesn't line up very well but the others do and I'm not touching it! Haha. The seam ripper is, on a normal day, my best friend, but this is the most accurate I've ever been on a first try so I'm going to celebrate it. :)

I could easily see myself making a whole quilt with these stars. Scrappy. Rainbow. The ideas are turning. Like I don't have enough projects to work on right now!

After I finish the backing and start to quilt Made in Cherry (otherwise known as Flying Purple People Eater) I'll make a new list of goals.


And technically, as of this Friday, the only thing left I have to complete for my undergraduate career is a presentation on my 20 page paper (which was finished today). So, in the next few weeks, I hope to be quilting, and thus, blogging, much, much more!
YAY!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Help me craftily decorate my graduation cap!

I picked up my cap and gown yesterday! In just one month, I will no longer be an undergraduate student! (which means I have to change some things on this website, but I'll get there when I get there!) :)

I'm celebrating! But I need your help.


See this graduation cap? I can't leave it blankly black. I just can't. My creative soul would consider that highly offensive. But seriously, my creative brakes are on right now. I'm having trouble coming up with something.

Do you have any suggestions for me? I'd LOVE to use things like fabric, ric rac, etc. But your design doesn't have to include those things. It can involve anything that has to do with quilting/crafting, or teaching (I'm going to be a social studies teacher), or the Class of 2012, whatever you think.

*The person with the design I like most will get a package from me, with a few things in it (okay, it includes fabric) :)

I'll leave this contest open for one week - until Friday the 20th. It's open to everyone, anywhere in the world.

Just leave me a comment with your idea. Thanks! I'd really appreciate your help :)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

WIP Wednesday: Updates from the sewing (ahem, dining) room

Lots of craftiness going on here, though I actually haven't done anything related to my spring break quilting goals yet. Oops!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
1. I finished my undergraduate senior honors thesis! Not craftiness but needs to be shared. 89 pages after one year - and it's fiiiiinally done. :) Happy dance!!


2. Finished my Lark hexagon basting - now I need to start sewing them together for my sewing machine cover. Currently in the process of taking the paper templates out.


3. Got out my mother's wedding hat/veil (so 80s!) - going to cut off the veil and make my own hair comb/detachable veil - "something old" :). More soon on this!





4. Started and almost finished a long-overdue scrapbook for my niece. I didn't realize how much I missed scrapbooking. Now I really want to make one of all my Europe pictures this summer. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with a contest/giveaway!


Monday, April 9, 2012

Sewing Heirlooms

Through the family, I received an amazing gift: my great aunt Selma's sewing box. After seeing my friend Rebecca post about her inherited sewing notions, I wondered whether my family had ever been involved with sewing. It turns out that someone was. I was so excited to open this huge box (really, it's massive)...


And find all of this...


Already loaded my own bobbins in :) I had been thinking about getting a bobbin holder/case but this one just came to me, so I'm glad I waited. I even thought about making one somehow... some of my great aunt's bobbins definitely won't work with my machine - they are huge and made of metal.


So much thread! (Blogger won't let me make my pictures right side up - I even tried Flickr - anyone have ideas?) For now, just tilt your head to the side ;)


I wonder how old these are? I have no clue! It's gotta be at least 50 years.


This gorgeous tin... it's full of old buttons. I haven't even had a chance to go through them all yet.
You can bet that I'll be passing this on to my sister (if she learns to sew and likes it) or to my future children. Even though I never knew my great aunt well (I was only three when she passed away), it's special to me and makes me feel like I have a connection to the family. I don't even want to take things out of it.

Do you have any sewing heirlooms?



Thursday, April 5, 2012

I'm still here! (sewing updates)

I think this is the longest I've gone without posting! It's been almost a month. I also haven't been reading blogs often. I've been so busy with student teaching, college work, and interviewing for jobs that things have gotten a little out of control. Today is the first day of *SPRING BREAK* and I couldn't be happier!!
There has been very little activity on the sewing front, though now that the most difficult part of student teaching is over, I have a bit more free time.
First, I recently made this car CD case for my fiance. I used all his favorite colors and fabrics that I knew he would enjoy. Don't you just love those aliens?
Got the tutorial from Georgia Leigh.
Yes I know the elastic got twisted ;) I'm not fixing it.
This was a quick and easy project that briefly satisfied my sewing urges...

Then, I started working on a sewing machine cover for my machine, finally! I decided to hexagon it up, so I broke out these Lark hexagons that I won a little while back from Kim. Because I'll be hall monitoring for a state test, for an entire week, at the end of the month, I think I'll sew the whole thing together then!

My Made in Cherry quilt is just waiting in the wings. I have the batting, but I need to put the backing together, baste, quilt, and bind. I'm still figuring out the back but I'm going to use some of those luscious purple solids (you know how much I love purple) and that beautiful print on the bottom of the pile.

Aaaaand my solids came in from Hancock's of Paducah (I always order my solids from there) - these, along with the Impressions prints, are for a quilt I'm going to start with my mom. More on that soon.
Goals for spring break:
-Make myself a CD case, too!
-Backing for Made in Cherry and baste
-Cut some of mom's quilt
We'll see how it goes... I have a ton of college work to finish over break, and several jobs to apply for... plus, for just one day, I would love to just sit and do nothing. Does that sound bad?
I'll definitely be updating more frequently!


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