Why I Sew

Ever since I started Fabric Mutt, I've been very careful with my children's privacy. You hear a lot about Bunny, Bear & Mouse on here and sometimes you catch a little glimpse of them, but that's about it. So it was kind of a big deal when my husband and I decided that it would be special to include a picture of my girls in Sew Organized for the Busy Girl.

These little girls make me absolutely crazy sometimes, yet they make life so good. When I think about sewing, it's almost impossible for me to not think of them at the same time because they've been right there with me from the beginning. How many hours have I spent working at my sewing machine with them standing on their tiptoes by my side to see what I'm making? How many packages have I opened to a chorus of, "Oh Mommy, it's so pretty!" and immediately had three more hands reaching out to pet the new fabric? How many times have I checked on them in the night and felt a little emotional to see them cuddling in their sleep with the quilts we made together?

I look at these pictures, and I'm reminded that this is why I sew. I really believe that sewing has made me a better mommy in so many ways. It not only gives me the chance to burn off the stress that comes with parenthood, but it allows me to bring something beautiful into my children's lives, to show them that you're never too busy to be creative and that it's never too late to learn something new.

So let me introduce you to (from left to right) Mouse, Bunny & Bear...my favorite people in the whole wide world.

Everyday Party

I fell in love with Everyday Party at first sight. This collection is one part girly, one part retro, and all parts adorable. I can't thank my friends at Birch Fabrics enough for sending me a bundle to play with this week.

I went looking for a pattern that would nicely showcase these lively prints and finally decided to enlarge Rita Hodge's lovely Jacob's Ladder pattern from Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert. It made me smile to return to this title, one of the first sewing books I ever purchased, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for small projects that are relatively quick to make but that will also introduce you to new quilting techniques.

Everyday Party looks so springlike to me that I also added two Kona solids -- Tarragon and Grass -- to complement the prints with a little green. This quilt turned out exactly the way I hoped it would. I adore the vintage look of these colors together and the simplicity of the design and quilting. It's been pouring rain here for the past few days, but I ducked outside for a few minutes this evening during a short break in the downpour to take photos. Bless my sweet dad who stood holding this quilt in a chilly drizzle so that I could get my blog post written tonight!

The quilt is backed in two prints from the collection: Everyday Quilt and Everyday Main. For binding, I used the Meadow Floral print which is a dark blue green. Though I wasn't sure at first if it would work against the solid greens I had used in the quilt, it ended up blending together with them perfectly.

When I first sat down with these fabrics, I envisioned making a tea party quilt that the girls could use in their imaginary play. Halfway through my sewing, I realized that Mouse had outgrown her previous bed quilts and really needed a new one, so I readjusted the size to fit her little bed. She's been dancing around my sewing table for the past few days with excitement over her new quilt. I even let her sit on my lap and stitch a bit of the quilting with me. After this evening's brief photo shoot, I brought the quilt out and wrapped her up in it -- much to her delight. "Thank you for making me this quilt, Mommy," she sighed as she snuggled down into the layers. "I'm going to keep it forever and ever and ever and ever...for a long time!"

As Time Goes By

It was back at the end of August that my grandmother found a magazine article all about patchwork quilts made out of vintage feedsack material. "Can you make one for me?" she asked over the phone as I flipped through the pages that she had sent to me so that I could see the photos. I assured her that I could make something similar out of reproduction prints, and a bundle of Storybook Classics by Windham Fabrics was quickly ordered. I had already started cutting out pieces to make a Swell quilt from Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley when I got the news that my book proposal had been accepted by Stash Books. "Never mind, darlin', there's no hurry," Grandma assured me when I fretted over getting her quilt done along with my book projects. "Just make it in time for Christmas," she added. I was able to sew together one block, and then the rest was set aside as I turned my mind and hands to other things.

Little did I know then what lay ahead. Over the past few months we have watched my grandmother spiral down into an unexpected and very serious state of dementia. After a painful and exhausting November, it's become clear that Grandma can no longer safely live alone in her home, so tomorrow we'll be moving her into a nursing home just ten minutes away from us where she can receive full time care. I wanted her to have something special for her new home, so this weekend I pulled out that bundle of Storybook Classics again and put together the simplest of patchwork quilts. Twelve inch blocks are bordered by a narrow strip of white and bound in a black and white dot print. I backed it in two different prints by Bonnie & Camille from their Vintage Modern and Marmalade collections. It may not be fancy, but the quilt is almost exactly what Grandma had originally wanted, and it will fit perfectly on her new bed. Tomorrow when we pick her up from the house she's lived in since she was a girl, I'll have the quilt waiting in the car so that she'll have something to look at during the drive to her new home.

I spent yesterday evening helping my parents fix up Grandma's new room, trimming a little Christmas tree with vintage style ornaments and decorating the walls with some of the quilts I've made for her over the past few years. As I drove home afterward listening to Christmas carols on the radio, I was suddenly overcome by tears. Even though we know that everyone grows up and gets older, you can never really prepare yourself for the reality of what that means. And even though we all talk about time getting away from us, I am stunned by how quickly life is going by each day...each year.  It seems like just yesterday my parents were making Christmas for me and my sister, and now we're making it for our own daughters. In fact as I type this sentence, my girls are eagerly pulling at my sleeve and saying, "Is it time to decorate for Christmas, Mommy? We've been waiting soooo long!" Precious little girls -- they have no idea how quickly time can fly.

This December I plan to make the most of every moment...every single one. Won't you join me?

Autumn Sky

It feels absolutely fantastic to share my latest quilt with you -- officially christened Autumn Sky. I am so ready for fall right now, and thankfully it seems like the weather may actually be starting to cooperate down here in Southern California. Of course, now that I've written that, it will be 102 degrees again tomorrow...

I adore the color palette of this quilt. It's rustic and vibrant and so very fall. The giant log cabin block lets the prints shine, which is exactly what I wanted to do.

For the backing, I used four glorious yards of colored dots from Erin Michael's lovely Lush Uptown collection for Moda. I can't get enough of this print -- it's beautiful.

This quilt is for my dad, one of the nicest guys I've ever known. I love you, Dad.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Chevron Baby Quilt

This little baby quilt was an absolute dream to make.

The pattern is simple to piece and quick to sew. I love the modern feel it has, even with the children's prints. You'll recognize my Bells & Whistles fabric audition from the other day with a few changes. I almost never finish a project using exactly the same fabrics I pull at the start. About half of these fabrics are organic, and I really appreciate the slightly muted colors which, for me anyway, also adds to the modern vibe. I enjoyed using the mix of low volume prints along with Kona white for the background. The binding is a typewriter key print from Type by Julia Rothman -- a fun take on an alphabet print -- and the backing is the yellow print in the center block which I picked up at the local Hobby Lobby. It was in the clearance section at a great price, and I just couldn't refuse.

I'll be handing this quilt off to my parents to deliver tomorrow morning to the expectant family, and I have to admit, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to this one. I might just need to make another for myself using some grown-up prints...

Mr. Bear Kit

One of my husband's coworkers has a daughter who is turning one this week, so my husband asked if I could make something that we could bring as a birthday gift to the party on Saturday. I've been just itching to use the Mr. Bear print from Sarah Jane's new Let's Pretend collection, and this was my chance. May I present the Mr. Bear Kit.

Mr. Bear is made exactly like Mopsy, Bunny's tooth pillow which I shared with you last month. I love making these little stuffed friends. They're so quick and easy to put together, and they're the perfect size for small hands to snuggle. I sewed a little pillow and quilt for him along with a bag to hold it all. It was so much fun putting this kit together in the sewing room today.

I love including a handmade bag or pouch with a gift. It's great to have a place to store the toys inside, and kids love carrying things around with them everywhere they go. My daughters do it constantly.

I hope this little guy will be a good friend to the birthday girl.

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday & Fabric Tuesday.

Summer

I considered so many different names for this quilt, but in the end I realized that the best one was simply "Summer."

The colors and prints that made their way into this piece remind me so much of the lazy summer days we spend here in Southern California on the edge of the desert. Blazing hot afternoons that fade into quiet evenings on the back patio. Long walks at local botanical gardens where my girls play hide and seek between the fruit trees. Our annual road trip to Arizona for a week with my husband's parents where we swim and hike and look for bunnies among the cactus each night before bed. These are the moments, I tell myself often, that I'm going to want to remember someday.

Fabrics by Heather Ross are the star here, but there are also a variety of other prints from my stash included. I tried not to stray far from a color palette of pale blue, orange, yellow, brown, grey, and white. The chocolate brown print by Lotta Jansdotter that I chose for the binding makes a nice frame around it all.

While I enjoy designing a quilt, I'm not always as big a fan of the quilting. Remembering how long it took me to make all those straight lines on my first Heather Ross quilt, I felt a little tired when I sat down to work on this piece. Then I decided, why not have fun with this one? So I did straight lines, wavy lines, echo quilting, free motion boxes, and even played around with several specialty stitches on my machine. Is it perfect? Nope. But I can tell you that this was by far the most enjoyable afternoon of quilting I've ever spent.

I finished the quilt this afternoon, the same day that my husband wrapped up another year of teaching and came home to start two months of summer vacation with me and the girls. And I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spring 2013

Most of you have seen this quilt before, but if you haven't, you can find all the details about my Heather Ross improv quilt at this post. It currently hangs on the wall in the bedroom shared by my three daughters, and I love to look at it when I'm sitting on the floor in there at night singing them to sleep. Every quilt is made for different reasons, and this one holds a special place in my heart. It will always remind me of these crazy, exhausting, happy days when my girls were little...days that are slipping away oh so fast...

Linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Quilt Stats
Name: Once Upon a Time
Size: approximately 45 x 46"
Fabrics: various Heather Ross prints along with other scraps and pieces from my stash
Pattern: my own
Quilting: quilted on my Brother home machine
Date Completed: February-March 2013
Festival Category: Wall Hanging Quilts

Quilter's Favorites

Color Study Baby Quilt

Geta had the brilliant idea for an event called Quilter's Favorites -- a chance for quilters to share tips that work for them and get some new ideas from others who link up. I'm getting my post in here at the very last minute, but here are my thoughts on a few of her suggested questions:

Timber Mosaic Bag in progress

List a few favorite quilting notions: Clover clips have become absolutely indispensable to me, especially when I'm making a bag. Pins just can't hold the pieces together as firmly. I also finally caved in and bought my first can of basting spray. Now all I can think is...what took me so long?? I want to buy a case of this stuff! It's made my small quilting projects so much easier to manage, and I love how quickly it can be applied.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Bundle

Any advice for a successful color scheme of a quilt? I'm still learning about this, but I'm finding that I really love the look of a project that has a mix of different prints from different collections. I've been practicing more often through my Fabric Auditions, which I'm trying to post weekly on the blog (I know I've missed a few weeks lately, but I'm trying to get back on board again...), and it's been a great learning experience for me. A few tips I've learned so far: 1) sticking to a specific color scheme makes a quilt look so much more pulled together, 2) try to vary the lightness and darkness of the colors within that scheme, 3) throw in some neutrals -- I'm loving plain old white and black these days, and 4) try to mix up the types of prints you use: dots, stripes, flowers, checks, solids, etc. The more you practice, the easier it comes, but I've learned to trust my instincts about what I choose. If I don't love it, I keep looking until I find a mix that makes me happy.

Do you have free tutorials on your blog? You can find them all right here. My Patio Placemats have been featured on several websites this month, and they make a great easy project for picnics and patio dining.

Any tips for sewing organization? I have a post on how my sewing room is organized which you can see here. A few things have changed since then, the biggest thing being that I have a fantastic new sewing table, but otherwise the place looks basically the same.

Zakka Delightful Linen Bag

Could you recommend a book to someone that just started quilting? The book that had the biggest impact on me as a fairly new quilter was Zakka Style by Rashida Coleman-Hale. It's not specifically about quilting, but it introduces you to a host of different techniques and types of projects. That book taught me how to how to install a zipper, how to sew hexagons, how to make my first bag and pouch. It opened up a whole new world to me of projects that I could do and gave me a love for zakka projects and linen in general. I will always have a special place in my heart for that book.

Share a favorite quilt made by you. Every quilt has special feelings attached to it for one reason or another. It's so hard to choose, but I narrowed it down to two of my favorite quilts. Memory is full of scraps from my first year of sewing and now resides on the bed I share with my husband. I love the memories that are wrapped up in that quilt.

Once Upon a Time is a quilt I made for my daughters featuring Heather Ross prints I had been saving for over a year. It's the most improvisational quilt I've made to date, and because of that, it was a real challenge for me. Right now I'm working on a second one of these for my grandmother which I hope to finish in the next month.

Perspective Mini Quilt

Don't do like me...and hurry through your sewing. So often I get excited about a new project, get into the sewing, and then get distracted by other ideas and deadlines. I end up rushing through the end of the project, not always giving it my best, and not enjoying it nearly as much as I should. I need to remember that the process matters just as much as the product, or as my dad once said, "It's supposed to be a hobby. If you're not having fun, it isn't a hobby anymore." When I slow down and take time to enjoy myself, my projects look better and I have so much more fun making them!

I hope something in here is helpful to all of you. Be sure to drop by the link-up at Geta's blog for more great ideas and advice!

Lovey

It happened this week -- the thing I've been dreading. My little Mouse suddenly became aware that her room is dark at night and that darkness is sort of, well, scary. I've been in with her three or four times each night as she wakes up crying from bad dreams that she can't completely remember. Now she won't let me put her down for a nap without looking at me with those big, blue, tear-filled eyes and pleading, "Mommy, will you wock me and sing a song foh me?" So we rock and I sing and then she cries quietly when I finally tuck her in bed. It's the stuff of life that every child goes through, yet it still tears at the heart of a mother. To help her cope with it all (and me too, I suppose), I decided to make her a special lovey to keep with her when it's nappy time.

My friend Lori held a low volume print charm swap a while back, and I was so happy to finally dig into the pile I've been keeping in my cabinet. I mixed in a few brighter prints to balance it all out, backed it in an American Jane print, and quilted it all over with a wavy stitch on my machine. The binding is made up of leftover scraps from previous projects. It's a simple little quilt, and really that's all it needs to be.

I've always told my girls that when they're wrapped up in one of my quilts, they're all wrapped up in Mommy's love. Hopefully we can all sleep better tonight...especially this precious little girl.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Fireworks

This morning we went to visit my grandmother, and I brought her a quilt. She's accumulating quite a collection of Fabric Mutt originals -- every time she sees something new that she likes, she asks if I can make her a quilt just like it. When she was asking for a new lap quilt last month, I showed her the Thimbleblossoms quilt patterns that had just been released, and she immediately went for Camille's Fireworks pattern. These blocks are not hard to put together, just a bit time consuming, but the final result is really beautiful. I used Splendor 1920 for the fabrics -- gorgeous prints.

When I put the blocks together at the end, it was a little busy, so I added a grey stripe (for some reason it looks almost like a soft brown here) to break things up a bit. I don't remember what shade of Kona this is - I picked it up at my local quilt shop -- but I decided to use it for the binding too. Normally I hand sew the binding on my quilts, but lately I seem to be in a time crunch for so many projects that I've been attaching the binding entirely by machine more often. There's pluses and minuses to both techniques -- in fact, you can check out a great post about that topic here.

The back is all one piece of Azure Decodence. I love the colors in this collection -- it all has such a great vintage look to it. There is so much detail in these designs, and I start to appreciate it even more as I work with the pieces of fabric to assemble the blocks.

So last week Grandma got a look at the Heather Ross quilt that I made for the girls, and guess what she wants me to make for her next? That's right.

Is this the best hobby in the world or what?

Once Upon a Time

After a more than a year of collecting fabric and just over a month of sewing, my Heather Ross quilt is finally done. I love this quilt dearly, though there were times when I wasn't sure it was meant to be. I've never taken such an improvisational turn at quilting before, and though it was way out of my comfort zone, I'm not one bit sorry that I took the trip. I'm calling this one "Once Upon a Time."

Making a quilt this way is crazy. I wasn't even sure where to begin. After thinking and sketching and thinking some more, I finally decided to start by making some blocks that I loved and then building around those. I looked at my favorites on Flickr and Pinterest and pulled out a few that I liked: the wonky star, the postage stamp, the winged square nine patch (favorite block of all time -- I can't wait to make another one of these).

But putting them together was difficult. I wanted things to look a little more random than your basic sampler quilt. I also realized that I was going to need more than only Heather Ross fabrics, so I pulled some extra prints that coordinated. A definite color scheme began to emerge, and I had to rip out some things that didn't go, add some things to balance what stayed behind. I spent one evening just picking up fabric sections and moving them around over and over again. Panic hit me when I began to fear that this was all a mistake. Half of me wanted to rip it all apart and admit defeat, but I just couldn't give it up.

But, oh my goodness, that moment when I started to like it -- when I started to love it. It was worth every hour of angst that came before. As I began sewing the different sections together, it came alive for me, and suddenly I loved the challenge and excitement of seeing what was going to happen next with this quilt.

I had intended to hand quilt this piece, and I even spent about two hours on that, but in the end it just wasn't working for me. I ripped out all the hand stitches (even though it about killed me to do it) and did it all by machine. Again, I'm learning: if you don't like it, don't leave it that way -- even if it means taking apart something you've poured a lot of time into. You'll hate what you don't like every time you look at it, so you might as well start over and do it right.

I'll be perfectly honest, the back is nothing fancy. This quilt is going to be hanging on the wall in Bunny and Bear's room, so no one's going to be looking at that side. Just in case it ever comes down, though, I picked out some pretty fabrics for the back.

And there you have it: so many lessons wrapped up in one little quilt. It somehow seems fitting that I'm passing this one on to my daughters. They're still growing up so much every day, and strangely enough, I am too. It feels good to know that challenges -- even little ones...even sewing ones -- don't have to beat us if we don't let them.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Color Study

If there is anything I regret most about not starting my sewing career sooner, it's that I didn't get to sew for my daughters before they were born. What fun it would have been to make baby quilts and bibs, tiny dresses and stroller blankets while dreaming of the little ones on the way. Thankfully the parade hasn't completely passed me by -- I've had the chance to make several baby quilts for friends and family this year. The one you see above was a quick finish. I cut out the pieces last night and sewed them together today. I'm calling this one Color Study.

I had so much fun choosing the prints for the charm squares. There's a lot of Denyse Schmidt in there -- I just can't help gravitating toward her beautiful fabrics -- but you'll find a number of other designers represented here as well. The center print is a wonderful text print from the new Field Notes collection which I happened to see at Fat Quarter Shop, and I used a black tape measure print for the intersecting lines.

The back of the quilt is just three lines of fabric: more tape measures, a dot print from Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade collection, and ABC Critters from Mind Your P's and Q's by Keiki. That last one is such a perfect fit for a baby quilt -- how can you resist those darling little animals? I bound the quilt in a black and white Voltage Dot print from Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt.

I'm sorely tempted to keep this one for myself, but I'm content to know that it's going to a very good home.

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday & Fabric Tuesday.