Backyard Patchwork Quilt

April 29, 2013 ~ hungie gungie ~ 23 Comments

I’ve had the itch to make another quilt ever since finsihing the first one I made last year for Ellery. This time, a quilt to hang out on when we are playing outside- which this time of year is pretty much all afternoon.

I had a few requirements that I wanted to stick to: It had to be a STASHBUSTER, Colorful (enough to hide food and grass stains), Easy, and fast.

I perused Pinterest, adding several beauties to my quilt board. But, I realize I am not a “quilter” and I was putting it off because the whole process was starting to daunt me. Then, I remembered something an old Chef used to tell me in my younger days as a cook… when you get overwhelmed by what’s ahead of you, just use the K.I.S.S. system. As in, “Keep it simple, stupid.” And things will magically come together for you. So I stopped pinning, and started pulling fabrics.

I kept going back to the idea of using lots of florals, so I pulled anything I had that jumped out at me. Also, I had a few Anna Maria Horner prints that I felt were just staring at me everytime I opened my fabric closet. Like, “DO SOMETHING WITH US, LADY!”. So, I used a few that I was pretty sure wouldn’t end up into any clothing projects- Coordinates in saffron, and Bubble Burst in Turquoise. I thought those two would break it all up and add some pizazzzzzz….

I cut 10 1/2″ squares. 42 in all. I used my Mom’s square ruler which made the cutting process go super quick and precise.

(Thanks Gee for owning every type of tool I could ever possibly need. You always come through for me!)

I used Kona in Slate (i think?) for the binding and didn’t waste my nights hand-stitching it on… It was so fast using the machine and a walking foot really helped (again, thank you Mom for that!). For the backing, I just pieced together any large pieces I had left, plus that green floral print, and also added a large piece of some eggplant-colored cotton. When I asked my Mom if it that was okay to do, she laughed and said “I don’t think the Quilt Police will come after you”. Hey, I don’t know these things!

I hand-tied the quilt with mustard colored floss at each corner where the squares meet. I like how sort of loose and soft it is without the stitching all over… In fact, I would probably go that route again- it was so fast and easy.

I’m so happy with the result. I am excited to throw it out on the lawn, picnic with the kiddos on it, and maybe even take a nap on it someday. Just kidding. That will NEVER happen.

But, I do feel like it’s very “Me”…. whatever that means!

-Erin

Lately

October 4, 2012 ~ hungie gungie ~ 13 Comments

There may have been a shortage of blogging last month, but certainly no shortage of things made.

Ellery’s BFF “friend Caroline” and her nothing-short-of-amazing mother, moved all the way to Colorado. We are so sad they moved away but wish them all the best and promise to skype as much as possible!

I suggested to Ellery that we make Caroline some stationary so she can write letters to us. It didn’t feel like *enough* though, for such a dear friend… I mean, we’re crafters, aren’t we? So, we whipped up a little felt case (i get my felt from Ohma) in no time. We didn’t measure anything, just cut from random pieces in my stash. Caroline and Ellery loooove princesses, so we made a little crown for the front- stitched with gold thread, and some silver embroidery floss knots for a little bling.

Ellery sat on my lap the entire time and helped me keep my lines straight ;)… I love how this has a 4 year old touch.

On the way to Caroline’s house, we stopped and got some special twistable colored pencils (not shown)- perfect for her…she is a fabulous artiste!

I made some couch pillows….

….and some bed pillows….

…and a super quick and easy “faux” roman shade for my kitchen sink window. (two tension rods and some fabric. done.)

Finally got around to sewing up some cloth napkins. I’m 32. It’s time I stopped using paper towels at every meal.

This ruffle-less Pierrot with elastic casings in the sleeves (previous pierrots here and here) came off as quickly as it went on.

boo.

I am told that Ellery’s “back-to-school” dress, a purply corduroy jumper, will be worn “When I turn 5.” Check back with me in 7 months…

I dunno…. maybe the mustard lining threw her off???

And finally, I got this crazy notion to spray paint my fireplace screen yellow, but when I got to Lowe’s, Avocado spoke to me. So, there you have it… you can spray paint over spray paint, right?

Gotta say I’m a little bummed that E won’t wear my dresses…. So, for a while I’m going to concentrate on sewing for ME!

Next up…. WASHI!

-Erin

Progress

February 6, 2012February 6, 2012 ~ hungie gungie ~ 5 Comments

My quilt for Ellery is slowly coming together. After cutting out all my small pieces, they sat on my kitchen counter for a good 2 weeks. I just couldn’t get motivated to sew them together for some reason.

I did make some other stuff while procrastinating though….

A plethora of pillows for her new bed.

And lots of baked goods for moi. I can’t stop. It’s all I want to eat these days.

And now that I’m in the 7 week stretch, I’ve been on a serious home-organization kick.

Goodbye fabric closet!

…Hello under the bed storage!

Anyway, Leave it to an episode of the Bachelor to help me get my quilting mojo back. I sewed all my patchwork pieces together and looked up just in time to see Chris Harrison announce “Ladies, this is the final rose of the night.”

What.

Like you don’t have a guilty (reality tv) pleasure?

I don’t believe it.

This weekend, I got around to sewing all the white sashing to my strips.

Next up is piecing together the back- I’m really trying to use up what I have, so it might just have to be a bunch of random large pieces of fabric. Unless some specific design jumps into my head.

I really started to like this project once I began to sew all the strips together. And, especially since Ellery kept coming up to tell me how pretty it was. And that means a lot considering she’s only worn the tutu I made her a few times and the doll carrier (yet to be blogged about) not once- i think it was too much of a contraption for her?

Who knows…Maybe I’ll just make her a closet full of quilts.

-Erin

Felt Rosette Wreath

September 29, 2011October 3, 2011 ~ hungie gungie ~ 5 Comments

So, I finally caved and joined Pinterest. It’s cool- I’ve really been meaning to devote more of my life to the internet these days.

So far, the only thing I’ve pinned are wreaths… you can check them out here. I’m determined to not let the holidays pass me by before I make a couple- there are so many great ideas out there! I have a stash of felt, so I honed in on the yellow rosebud one , but I also loved this one too.

After a couple of hours, here’s what I ended up with:

Want to make one? Or just see how to make the rosettes? Okay.

So here’s how to make the little rosettes. First, cut a circle out of felt. I made my biggest one about 4″ in diameter, and made several smaller than that too. You can use a cup or a cd to help you draw a perfect circle, but I actually like it not perfect- I think it ends up giving the flowers a little more character once they’re all done.

Next, spiral-cut your circle about 1/2″ thick.

It should look like this when you’re done.

Then, starting on the end that was the center of your circle, begin rolling it upon itself. Use a glue gun here and there to help keep it all together.

How cute is that!?! I seriously had so much fun making these felt rosettes, in my head I was going through all the things I want to attach them to- barrettes, a cuff bracelet, headband, shoes….

I made a bunch in mustard-orange, heather grey, and a medium brown.

So now, get your wreath ready… I used an 11″ foam circle from Michael’s. I wrapped it with 2″ wide strips of natural muslin.

I used a few straight pins in the back to keep the muslin nice and tight.

Next, arrange the rosettes on the wreath however you like. I should’ve stopped here- I love how it looks…

But no. I kept going….

…And going. I don’t know what happened, but glitter pom-poms took over for a few minutes. I took several off but once your hot glue dries, good luck getting anything off! Just don’t be like me… know when to say no.

Anyway, I still really like it- it’s hanging in our living room and is the perfect amount of “Fall” to make me feel a little cozy when I walk by. It’s understated, but still makes a small statement. Well, I think it does but that could be just because I slaved over it for 2 hours!

Hope you’re inspired to create something Fall-ish!

-Erin

DIY wall art

September 13, 2011 ~ hungie gungie ~ 4 Comments

Since we bought our house 3 1/2 years ago, I’ve been staring at these two ugly vents over our fireplace:

I don’t know really what they do exactly… I’ve never felt air coming out of them. I suppose they help to take air into the chimney when there is a fire in the fireplace? Anyway… they’re just ugly.

A couple of years ago I bought two of these Ikea frames- with the intention of finding a couple of cool prints to go in them:

They sat around for a long time, and after many searches on etsy for the perfect print, I kind of gave up and forgot how much I hated the ugly vents. But, recently the urge hit me to cover them. STAT!

So, I took a bit of inspiration from the September cover of Martha and got to work.

I decided to piece together a bunch of random fabrics in the same (general) color family to make an apple and a pear.

I started with a shape that I cut from cardstock. Here’s my pear:

Then, I cut random widths of my fabrics and sewed them together:

I ironed my seams out, and then ironed some lightweight interfacing to the back. Then, using my cardstock cut-out, I traced the pear onto the back, and cut it out!

It was missing something (besides the stem- but we’ll get to that). So, I topstitched some gold thread on a few of the seams…

Next, I used a little fabric glue on the back of the pear, and placed it on a square of natural muslin. I had some brown leather on hand and made a stem, and glued that to the muslin as well.

Then, I put it in the frame… and got a couple of nails and a hammer:

And that’s it!

This was an enjoyable project to make that just sort of came together as I sewed.

I’m not married to these though, and I can see in the winter maybe piecing together a pine cone, or a tree… etc. It was fun to rifle through my fabric stash and see what I had that inspired me.

I especially like that the vents are now out of sight! Goodbye ugly!

-Erin

**don’t worry, I’ll be removing these frames when we DO have a fire going… because, yeah… the vents probably have a legit purpose.

Nobody puts baby in the corner…

July 18, 2010May 21, 2011 ~ hungie gungie ~ 2 Comments

But, I did! Yup. My sweet little boy is wedged between a dresser and a wall now that he’s sharing a room with his sister. I wanted to make a simple bedskirt that didn’t involve too much skill since I’m still pretty new at sewing… I didn’t need much fabric- just enough to cover the front and one side of his crib. I used about 1 yd of some new fabric that I love. I did a quick measure, sewed two panels together, and then hemmed the bottom.

I used this fun stuff to tape it to the mattress frame…

See?

The result:

The mattress is set at the highest setting since Grant is still little, but when I have to change it to the lowest setting, the skirt will hit the floor. I didn’t want Ellery to feel left out, and since I had more fabric, I made her a matching pillow for her bed.