adventures in sewing

It's been a while yet again.  I have actually been wonderfully busy with my family, my orders and life.  I just wanted to write while I was inspired to share.

I recently joined my very first swap hosted by Schnitzel & Boo I've done most of my posting on Instagram, made many new friends ( #makeaquiltmakeafriend ) and I've been inspired so much that I think about sewing 24/7.  I see patterns everywhere now, whether it is taking the kiddos to the glorious beaches, walking around the neighborhood or enjoying the afternoon in the back yard.  I wonder to myself how I can recreate such beauty through fabric manipulation. Combine that desire with all the lovely paper pieced blocks I have been seeing pop up in my Instagram newsfeed, I decided to conquer an intimidation block I've had.

I have always skipped over paper pieced instructions in books and magazines I browse through.  But how do we expect to grow if we do not overcome our fears?  I decided it was time to try paper piecing for myself.  I found a very quick youtube video that gave me the basic understanding of what to do for paper piecing here thanks be to "theCraftyGemini" for giving me the initial confidence that this too I can do!!!   I made 2 peak-a-book blocks based on her tutorial.

 I tried a sweet hummingbird pattern I saw in my quilting magazine but I messed up dreadfully and almost discouraged myself from continuing.  I decided I need something slightly more difficult but not too complicated and that's when I happened across the "Basketweave" star pattern from Add-Crafter.  I loved it! I posted on my IG schnitzel and boo swap hashtags and I got some wonderful feedback and the confidence builder that I needed to keep giving this a try.

Yet again, excited and wanting more I searched for my favorite pattern that I have wanted for so long yet never had the confidence that I too could do this.  I wanted the flying geese pattern but I wanted to do something slightly different.  First attempt, I do not remember where I got the tutorial for this one  but I thought I'd like to try it to eventually make a colorwheel sort of mini quilt for my Mom's art studio.  

But I wanted to go one step more. I wanted a different looking flying geese pattern and that's when I found the amazingly talented Pat from ForestQuilting.  She has the most lovely flying geese pattern in her free section, it's called "Chasing geese."  Really not tricky but when you print out the pattern it seems a little complicated at first but clear your mind, go with the flow and it WILL turn out beautifully! 

I made such a small version of Pat's pattern that I had to decide what to do with it. Well, a zippy of course! What else does one do with something too whimsical to stash away??  You can find the zippy for sale here.

And so, this little adventure brings me to the here and now.  I've just recently go into this fun method of quilting.  But I want to do something truly my own so I'm experimenting now with making paper piecing patterns.  My first 2 patterns are created by me but totally inspired but stuff I saw on Pinterest.  I came up with a pattern for a fox and a pattern for a raccoon.  I absolutely LOVE them.  I also started creating patterns for the alphabet which I will offer for free once I finish, so please check back and be sure to share! So until I am ready to share some pattern goodness with you, have a wonderfully creative day.  

Ahoy!

Thinking of my sailor today, he'll be home soon! Excited beyond measure, as are our children! The little guy turns 3 years old the day Daddy comes home and I keep telling him he gets the best birthday gift EVER! He returns the excitement and anticipation with his silly grin, squinting eyes and wrinkled nose.

I thought it was only appropriate today, being on the topic of Sailors, to try another sailors weave bracelet.

This time around, I used a cotton rope, the same kind that you find in the DIY section of Home Depot, made of cotton, used for blinds or Roman Shades.   I also wanted to incorporate a bit of tie-dye nylon I found at Benjamin Franklin Craft Store.

Here is what I used:

 

My wrist is a little on the big side I think, about 6 1/2" around and this Dasani bottle worked perfectly for my size wrist.  I have also used a baby food jar to make these bracelets.

 I follow the directions in my book, but for a good online tutorial on how to make a sailors bracelet, check out More Design Please's Blog.

Here is my bracelet:

 

I really wanted to make it a little bit funky, in retrospect I probably should have just let it be natural, but I took that red bottle of spray dye and started spraying away at this piece. In turn, it is sort of funky but a little too splotchy for my liking. 

Did you like that effect of it on the Hibiscus plant?? Nice color coordination right? Haha, at least something turned out kind of cool. So I wait for the dye to set and got a little distracted and snapped a few shots of Miss M. with some bracelets I have made for her:

With the dye set, I set in to make this piece yet more funky with the dyed nylon pieces. I weaved the nylon throughout the sailors bracelet and Ta-DA! Here is what I got:

Not too shabby. Next time, I wont use the dye but I might use a piece of raggedy scrap fabric. I adore this one that I've seen on Pinterest, which also belongs to Under the Sycamore's Blog.