November Happenings

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been gone for so long! We've had a lot of visitors over the past month and I haven't had much time for sewing. I thought I'd check in before we all get swept away into Thanksgiving and show you the two small things I've completed this month. 

First up was my Color Bee Shocked bee block for October. Yes, I said October. I know, I know I became one of those people. I never meant to get behind, but it just happened and I don't know how to explain it. I felt really guilty about it so I included some extra goodies along with my block and apology note. I've made a pact with myself never to let that happen again! Anyway, here's my block:

It's called X Marks the Spot and uses a bunch of HSTs. It was actually pretty fun to put together, so I shouldn't have waited so long to do it!

My other November project I just put together today. It's a laptop sleeve for my new computer. 

I had a bunch of 2.5 inch squares left over from my double Irish chain quilt, so I decided to put some of them to good use. I just sewed them up corner to corner and cut off the excess. That way I wouldn't have to trim up all of those HST corners. 

For the layout, I wanted something more modern (I had thought about doing a simple pinwheel pattern, but it just didn't seem cool enough). So, I played around with turning the HSTs left and right and came up with this broken square design. It's more modern than I usually go, and it's growing on me. :) 

Speaking of modern, I did get to go to my first Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting this past week! It was a lot of fun and I got to put a face to an online quilting friend. Thanks for coming with me, Kathy! Hopefully we'll be able to attend their holiday meeting in a couple weeks once they nail down the date, time and location. Until then I'll try my best to get some more sewing time in!

Happy Thanksgiving and happy sewing everyone!

Wicked Wicked Wicked

Hello everyone! If you are here for the first time, welcome! If you're a follower, then welcome back! :) Do you like my picture? I couldn't resist putting up a shot of the creepy spiders that are all over my house and garden. I just wanted to set the mood for this wicked day! :)

I'd like to thank Wendy and Mdm Samm for hosting and cheering on this hop. I have the privilege of sharing my day with these lovely ladies:

Becki hosted by Why-Knot-Kwilt

Bumbleberry Stitches

Nini & The Sea

Dancing Moon

Create In The Sticks

Negligent Style

Rose Creations

Kris Loves Fabric

A Geeky Crafty Life

My Quilting Journey

The Recipe Bunny (you are here!!)

Please stop by and visit these ladies today too. We hope you enjoy the hop!

Last year I created a couple table toppers for the Wicked hop, so this year I wanted to make something to adorn my wall. My husband and I moved to Portland this year and so I have new walls to decorate this Halloween season. I decided to put this together for you all today:

It's a spooky graveyard scene on a night with a blazing full moon. I would not want to be stuck there at night!

This wall hanging was a lot more work than I had originally anticipated. Here's a look at my planning sheet:

Yikes! So many tiny pieces! Here's a close up of one of the spots with those little pieces (1" HSTs!):

I will confess it was murder trying to get all of my points to turn out, and I wasn't completely successful. But, that's just fine since this little quilt is staying with me! Here are a couple other "in progress" pictures that I took for you guys.

Top Complete

Embroidery

So, I hope you liked my little project! Please remember to stop by the other blogs today for more Wicked projects and fun! I hope you come back to see me again soon! Happy Halloween!

Upcycled Skirt

Hello everyone! I've been seeing pictures of upcycled skirts all over Pinterest lately, and I've been wanting to give it a try. Unfortunately, I'm not much of an apparel sewer. I usually just stick to quilts, hot pad holders, table runners, you know, things I don't have to wear in public! If I screw up on a quilt no one will really notice it but me. However, if my butt is hanging out of a skirt, several people are going to notice that!

So, today I faced my fears and got to it! I went to Goodwill to find a cheap men's shirt. I actually found two that I liked, but I started with this one($6!!!):

I cut just below the arm seams and then cut the bottom to be straight across. Gotta love that rotary cutter!

Then, I turned it into this:

!!! It actually worked! There were a few hiccups along the way as to be expected. (Sorry for the bathroom pics, but I don't have a full length mirror!) I'm so pleased with how it came out. I didn't take pictures of the process because I wasn't sure I would even like it, or that it would fit. I did add a tie in the back, so here are some more pictures:

I think it is quite cute. And, now I just need to get some brown tights to go with it and I'll be ready for fall! Thanks for indulging me in my new craft!! :) Happy crafting!

Butterfly Baby Quilt Finished

Hello everyone!

I have finished my butterfly quilt and wanted to show it off to you all. All finished it is 38 x 40 inches and I love it!

I used all free motion quilting on this one. I did a squiggle in each butterfly in coordinating thread. In the sashing I did a heart motif and also used that in the borders. Here's a close up of the quilting:

For the back I used this super cute argyle print. I still have some more left so I can use it on some more projects.

So, I have decided to sell this little quilt and have opened an Etsy shop. I don't have much in there right now, just this quilt and some blank note cards that I put together. If you want to check it out, you can see my shop here. It's called CraftieBunny. Hopefully I can start making more things to put in there. :)

I've also finished my Double Irish Chain Quilt, but I'll save that for another post. It is enjoying itself on our bed for now. Anyway, what have you all been up to?

Gobble Gobble

Hello everyone! I know, I know it's the first day of October, but I couldn't help myself from completing a little November project instead. It has been very windy and chilly here which reminds me more of November from Wisconsin rather than October. Even though I live in Portland now I guess I have been channeling the fall season stuff from Wisconsin. :)

I have been spending a lot of time in my sewing room lately (with the completion of my Double Irish Chain top and the Butterfly Baby Quilt top), and I wanted something I could do while being in the living room with my husband. So, I got to drawing and designed this little turkey cross stitch.

I just love how plump he is. :) I think I'm going to make him into a card. I just need to get some larger card stock so I can make an aperture opening card and then I'll be good to go. I still have some more cross stitch fabric, maybe I should make something for Halloween (or Christmas already???)... :) Happy crafting everyone!

Butterfly Baby Quilt

Hi everyone! I bet I'm in the same boat as everyone else when I say I can't believe it's the last day of September already! Summer sure went by fast.

As a quick update here today I finished my butterfly baby quilt top. It measures 38" wide by 40" long. If you missed it, you can see my butterfly quilt block tutorial here.

Now I just need to find some fabric for the back, quilt it, and bind it. I'm thinking I might try to sell this one as I have no need for a baby quilt right now. Otherwise I might hang it as a wall-hanging quilt in my sewing room. Hmmm, decisions decisions! :)

Anyway, hope you're all having a great start to your week. Now, on to October! :)

Double Irish Chain Top

Hi everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the transition into fall. It's a blustery 65 degrees here (55 yesterday) so I'm enjoying snuggling up in all of my warm quilts! :)

I have been really busy this month. At the beginning of the month I talked about wanting to work on my Double Irish Chain quilt. I've had this one in the works for 3 years now. I had all of the pieces cut out, but none of the 81 blocks completed. So, I set out to get the top done this month and I've succeeded!

It measures 96 inches square with the border. Each block was 10 inches (finished) and I added a 3 inch (finished) border all around. This is definitely big enough for our bed. Here's a pic of it on the bed before the border was added:

This is going to be the largest quilt I've ever made. My Super Mario Quilt was longer (105 inches), but it was only 75 inches wide. This one will be just as hard to maneuver though. I need to get backing fabric for this yet. I'm not sure what I want to go with. I'm thinking a dark green would be nice since there's so much light green in the top.

I wasn't quite sure about the light blue print when I started putting all of the blocks together. It's still not my favorite, but it's growing on me. I didn't want to go out and buy a different fabric since it was already cut up into the squares.

So, any suggestions on how I should quilt this beast? All over pattern? Something specific in each colored section? Border treatment? An all over stipple would be the easiest and wouldn't take too long. I could also do straight line quilting to play up the diamond effect of the quilt. That might actually be even easier. Hmmm... what do you think?