Parsley shorts

So while the babe was napping and the boy was doing quiet time (and actually being quiet!) I decided to make a pair of Parsley shorts.

The pattern breaks at a natural spot that made them the perfect length for shorts and then I just measured them against a pair of current shorts to make sure the length was right. Easy-peasy!

a little Parsley

Hello! I haven't had a lick of time to sew lately, but how could I turn down the chance to pattern test Rae's Parsley pants!?!? She's got about a gazillion options of how to make the pants super cute-- I opted for the elastic waist with pouchy pockets. 

Ta da! They fit perfectly!

Little guy thinks that they are just perfect to pair with his animal masks.

If you are a big butt pattern fiend, these are the perfect next pattern for when your kiddo outgrows those! Rae should be releasing this pattern next week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Finish it up Friday

Happy March 1! I have a girlfriend in the Midwest who considers this the official start of spring and wears flip flops starting on this date.... yep, even with the snow that some of you still might have :)

Today my finishes are for my bees. This month I moved to the Haven.do.Good.Stitches circle. Our host for this month asked us to make low volume words. Our quilts will go to a women's shelter so with that in mind, I picked:

Haven. Makes sense since this is our first charity quilt together!

Wish.

And then for my Sewn Together bee, we were asked to create strips and then put them together with the larger bit of fabric. Since there were the first, I pieced using gentle curves-- hopefully that comes across!

I've been sketching a couple of other things and can't wait to work on them this weekend. Hope you have a great Friday! Linking up to Finish it up Friday.

Sew Thinky Thursday

It's time for Sew Thinky Thursday! Today Emily has us thinking about our sewing friends and asked: Have your fabric tastes changed by having friend who likes to sew? Do you like the same things or are you completely opposite? 

This is supposed to be an easy question, right? Here's a gratuitous friend photo because it wouldn't seem right to post without a picture!

Most of my sewing friends are people that I've met on Flickr through swaps and bees. I've met a few of you in real life too (especially now that we've been to Quiltcon!). I've always been a fan of bold and colorful designs, so I didn't need Emily's influence on that one. I've also liked the whimsy of Heather Ross's designs, so I didn't need Courtney's influence on that one either. But my love of rainbows and more vintage, soft, feminine palettes? Well, I've definitely been influenced on that one by my Flickr friends. Just look at some of my recent favorites and tell me how you could not fall in love with rainbows? :)

for more details on each photo, click here

Here's a recent rainbow make:

And vintage, soft, feminine palettes? Well, that's all my sewing buddy, J's doing :) I can't think of pink, blues and reds, without her coming to mind, even though lately she is into oranges and blues! I'm pretty sure she inspired me to do this:

So yes, my friends inspire my fabric selections and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Quiltcon: Day 2

Day two was my day to wander the show floor. But it had to start with a breakfast at IHOP, which was Charlotte's request as she had heard dreamy things about their pancakes. 

It was really exciting to see many of the quilts that I've seen on Flickr and blogs up close. Of course, there were a lot of other distractions on the floor, like this Moda photo booth. I met Lindsay and we had fun playing. 

I also got to try out a long arm!!! It was so much fun. On top of that, all the practice attempts that were created were going to be bound off and sent to a local animal shelter to serve as dog beds. 

Emily and I had fun playing in the rain in the Michael Miller booth. They had neons!!! Woot. I may have bought a bit of this. 

I also got to see a few demos, such as Heather Ross's journal making demo (a project from her latest book too). 

She was at Stitch Lab signing books, but of course, I left mine at home. Her Weekend Sewing book is one of my go tos, but my copy is a hardback and let's face it, I had to save luggage space for fabric shopping!

I just loved this display. I think J, my sewing buddy, would too. 

And just in case I got bored (never!!!) by the quilts, the other convention was offering up this deal (which one of the security officers also made sure to offer to any poor fabric-carrying hubby):

And I finally got to meet Alyssa, Christa and Rachel at the dinner that Alyssa hosted. Alyssa also planned a few party games, including Guess the Kona and Guess the fabric/designer. I failed terribly at the Kona game (2/10 despite loving and using a lot of it!), and I faired better with the Guess the Fabric game (11/15, I think).

Quiltcon: Day 1

This past weekend was bliss! Hubby let me take an indulgent trip and attend Quiltcon. This is what my suitcase looked like as I was preparing to go-- lots of handmade goodness!

The whole trip got off to such a great start-- I had a whole row to myself on the plane and there were no flight delays. Yippee! Before I knew it, I got to see this!

My first day, I took Anna Maria Horner's Every Last Stitch class. It was so much fun to hear about her handstitching experience.

I also had a chance to finally meet Hollie, Holly, and Courtney! Courtney and I had arranged to do a little private swap and here we are with our swap items (talk about nerve wracking - I've never exchanged a swap in person, but as it turns out it was a silly concern because we both loved our items :)

And here are a few quilts that Anna talked about:

I'm completely inspired to finish up my Log Mansion Quilt now using the skills that she taught us!

Emily and Emily met me after class and we made our way to the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild dinner, where I got to be an honorary member having once upon a time been part of that wonderful guild! I don't usually take pictures of my food, but I had this amazing Green Chile Mac and Cheese at Moonshine Grill and had to share it with hubby (who pretty much could live off of cheese if I let him!). And yes, I ate the whole bowl!

Finish it up Friday!

TGIF! It's been a long week, but I have a couple of sewing finishes.

First, I finished this quick little pouch for a good buddy who is moving away. He loves his little hotdog dog and will have to be away from him for a little bit, so I made him this drawstring pouch and another go to gift-- pj pants! That way puppy will be with him in spirit! Forgot to take a picture of the pj pants, but he tried them on and loves them!

I was also able to finish up my DQS mini. I went for space invaders and used this "pattern" from Elizabeth Hartman. Obviously it's not really a pattern, but using her drawing I was able to figure out how to layout the blocks. I used 1.5" blocks. The I and the heart, I just made based on laying them out. I made these last so I could tailor them to the size of the space invader blocks.

Colors were based off the space invaders fabric which is on the back (and which I forgot to photograph). But they do match... the heart looks a little less green, but it is a candy green and matches better in person :)

For the quilting I tried Amanda Jean's honeycomb quilting. Love it!!! I had this beautiful variegated green thread to try too, but it kept breaking. It was a 12 weight, so maybe it was too thick for my 90/14 needle (I didn't bother to try and trouble shoot as I was getting down to the wire for sending this off). I went back to my normal grey thread and that worked just fine.

I'm usually a hand-binder. I do love the process of hand binding, but I'm also weak at machine binding. Well, new machine means I've got to try out new things, right? So I dug up Rachel's zig zag binding tutorial and it worked like a charm! I will definitely be trying this out again on future quilts, especially since it is a time save and I can manage to do it and have it look nice :)

Final quilty stats:
-space invaders mini: 19"x20"
-pattern: based off Elizabeth Hartman's space invaders
-quilted by me!
-Kona cotton colors used: Willow, Candy Green, Chartreuse, Turquoise and matching tidbits :)

Hope you are enjoying your Friday and again, TGIF!!! Linking up to Finish it up Friday!