fabric fit for a tween...

I'm way overcommitted in the realm of craft projects right now, but I did buy these fabrics to make a poochie bag for my niece. I was thinking it will be what I put her birthday gifts in. Maybe now that I've done some additional sewing, my poochie bag will be less of a fail than the first...

upcycling t-shirts into pillows

Jose has several Phish shirts acquired during years of fanhood and touring and show enjoying, but not enough for a quilt or any other large projects. When we pulled them all out to look at them, I realized that they would probably make pretty good throw pillows. We've painted most of our walls grey to serve as a backdrop for colorful art and accents, and these shirts are certainly colorful. Plus, you know I love adding some sentimental touches wherever possible.

I looked at patterns, but couldn't really find one that I liked. So I made it up. And surprisingly, it turned out well!

And the back:

Jose helped me pick the fabric, which is fun. We have four or five to go...looking forward to having them finished! By the way, thanks a ton to Tina for the interfacing tip. The stuff is magic.

1st Quilting Project: COMPLETE!

I finished my first quilting project! Well, half of it. I didn't do everything right, but I learned from my mistakes, and that's what's important. The placemat tutorial really was helpful, but I would like to watch someone quilting. You know, see their technique and figure out what I'm doing wrong/could be doing better. My friend Melanie quilts...mayhaps I shall talk her into a live demo!

WIP Wednesday - my first QUILTING project!

After completing a basic sewing project, the most logical step is not to build on your general sewing skills, but to jump right into a more advanced technique, like quilting. I wish I wasn't always the person who went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye, but that's just the way it is.

Christy talked me off the ledge and into quilting some placemats before a real quilt. The tutorial walks you through each step of the quilting process, just on a smaller scale. Turns out, I love quilting. I really never would have guessed!

I'm embarrassed to show my lines because I know they're awful, but it's a learning process, right?

Speaking of the learning process, the pattern author says that quilter's basting spray makes the process about 10 times easier, and I can definitely see that being true. Also true, if it gets on your dining room table, it will feel and look awful and really upset your spouse. Woops.

my first sewing project: the poochie bag

The poochie bag. Everyone's making it. Really, you can check out this Flickr stream for proof. Most notably, my friends Tina and Christy have made several of them, and they encouraged me to take a stab at the pattern as my first real attempt at sewing.

This is the ugliest thing that I've ever been this proud of. I did so many things wrong that it would take forever to tally, but I want to focus on what I did right.

1 - I cut all the fabric out perfectly. I learned how to properly use all the fancy cutting tools my brother gifted me for my birthday, so that's a big win.

2 - I made the handles. Seriously, that is a big victory considering how little I know about sewing. Were they perfect? No. Pretty? Not really. But did I get 'er done? Why, yes. Yes I did.

3 - I got one of the steps wrong and didn't realize it until it was time for final assembly. I did freak out a little and put the project down for a while (3 weeks), but I finally got it right.

4 - I didn't quit. Learning something new is frustrating, and I tend to want everything to be perfect. Perfect the first time (and every time). So the fact that I went ahead and carried out the entire pattern, knowing good and well that it looked awful...is a big deal. Hooray for making baby steps :)

The fabric combination is awful. Just awful. The pattern calls for three fat quarters and I had these in my stash. I was tempted to go shopping for a lovely color combo, but I knew that this was going to be a rough, rough cut. So yeah, it's not going to end up in the Flickr poochie bag stream, but it certainly has a place of honor on the highest shelf in my craft room. All hail the greatest awfully ugly first sewing project ever. All hail.

intro to sewing/those colors look good on you

My friend Karen came over last week to teach me how to use my sewing machine, and I have to say, she's a GREAT teacher! She explained everything really thoroughly and let me try things out for myself, and made sure to correct me when I was doing something crazy. She also taught me a major rule of sewing: never sew if you are tired and/or angry. I think that applies to knitting as well, but I learned (and continue to learn) that the hard way.

I bought some fabric this weekend to make the pups a series of kerchiefs...and clearly the first one on the list was the Steelers fabric. I was definitely waaaay tired, but I decided to sew them anyway. True to her advice, I had a few threading hiccups and being tired only made troubleshooting *that* much worse. Alas, the kerchiefs are finished and being worn as we speak.

It is RIDICULOUSLY hard to get both dogs in the same photo. I managed one shot before Puggie bolted, and Berger had his eyes closed. Geez. Jose does the same thing.


Puggie up-close. She's not as fond of kerchiefs as Berger is, but she tolerates them. And I'm sure they will grow on her.


Oh, Berg. Ever handsome, ever adorable. Ever hanging out in the kitchen, waiting for food to fall from the counter.