Sewing

Sewing Summit 2.0

October 24, 2012 By Sukie 11 Comments

I’ve finally recovered after a week’s vacation + sewing summit. That’s right! I took the whole week off then I attended Sewing Summit. It was awesome and exhausting at the same time.

I don’t know what crawled up my ass but I thought it was a great idea to try to make the Weekender bag by Mrs. Amy Butler. . yeah and somehow I convinced Colleen to join me. We sat down and made a plan and gathered our supplies. A long time ago, I bought a fat quarter set of Outside of Olso by Jessica Jones. If you’re interested in purchase some, it’s still totally available:

The Needle Shop

Marmalade Fabrics

Drygoods Design

Hauling my machine, supplies, and kid to Colleen’s house was easy. . .it was assembling the bag that kicked my ass. Recently, I used Mrs. Fransson tutorial Mod Mosaic block and thought, “Hey! Lets do that on a bigger scale with Outside of Olso!” For the sashing (grout lines) I decided to use denim and make them 1″ finished. I also used the denim in the zipper part of the bag (saddles). I love how it turned out:

(More pictures are available on my flickr feed)

I want to give a special shout out to my good friend, Colleen – thanks for the help buddy!

Now off to Sewing Summit – I went last year and if you missed my post then here click here. I think this year was a lot better for many, many, many reasons. Sewing + bloggers = a fun packed weekend for all! If you don’t believe me here’s a bunch of pictures of a goofball:

There were a lot more hands on classes than last year! Yeah, I took 5 classes that needed prep and since I spent the week making the weekender. . my prep work was shit. Luckily, the instructors were awesome and the sewing rooms were open to 1am to help me get ready. I have a couple WIPs to finish but I loved the weekend!!!

Friday night was the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild Mixer . . . basically a mixer for the attendees and our guild. I was tweetin’ and instagram’in teasers all before Sewing Summit – if you could see the look on the bellhop’s face when he saw what he had to hail to the room, I mean you only could imagine right?

I think a lot of folks had fun. . well I hope they did. . . .We tried to get everyone who came a swag bag and if they didn’t we had tons of raffle prizes.

(Photo courtesy of Liz of Goddess in Process)

(Photo curtesy of Darcy of Modern Cozy)

I’ll be attending next year for sure – and I hope I was approachable . . . true, I’m not a shy person but it’s also weird for me to introduce myself to ppl. I’m sure if you came up to me and said, I’m this person on twitter/flickr/instagram we’d become close like peas and carrots but I can’t just go up to folks and say, “Don’t you know who I am?” lol

Had a blast will see you at Sewing Summit 3.0!!!

Filed Under: Sewing, Sewing Summit, Weekender

Planetarium top help me decide backing!

September 9, 2012 By Sukie 107 Comments

This weekend was filled with sewing! The Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild (slmqg) had their Sew Saturday and it always a good break for me to get away from the family and sew for 5hrs straight. Well when a bunch of friends get together to sew, there’s more chatting than sewing. It’s super fun! If you don’t have a guild in your area, why not just get a couple buddies together and sew?

I had a couple frustrating moments during Sew Saturday. . . blocks were messed up and I had some quality time with a seam ripper. Yeah if I wasn’t around people, I’d be yelling “F*&v My Life!” This week I’ll be focusing on finishing those dang bee blocks! argh!! Maybe I should start taking things that don’t take a lot of brain power to Sew Saturdays. ha!

Anyway, I finally finished the Planetarium top, here’s a couple action shots

(Top)

I did one block with Geisha Passion as the border and not solid because I didn’t have a lot of pink border blocks (if you noticed).

Okay here’s the fun part – I’m going to let my readers help me decide on what Indie prints or print I should use on the back.

Here’s the choices:

Wonderlust in Soleil

Geisha in Passion

Dynasty in Mandarin

Wonderlust in Luna

Geisha in Bliss

Dynasty in Saffron

Oh for helping/voting, I’ll choose a random voter to winner this lovely bundle of Modernology!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m using Mr. Rafflecopter for the giveaway and if you don’t know how to enter please take a minute to watch this short video!

How to Enter Rafflecopter Giveaways from Rafflecopter on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Fabric, Fransson Quilts, Sewing

W.I.Ps

June 19, 2012 By Sukie 2 Comments

Head over to Lee’s blog – I’m guest posting! Woot! Woot!

Filed Under: Sewing

No more fat quarters!

April 24, 2012 By Sukie 16 Comments

You know when you’re starting the quilting hobby and you go to the local quilt store. . or even shopping online, and those dang fat quarters are the best.

They’re good for many reasons:

1. Fat quarters give you a bigger chuck of the fabric.

2. They give you better options for patchwork or applique

3. They’re popular and stores make it easy to buy bundles

Here’s the reasons why I think fat quarters are A N N O Y I N G:

1. I think it’s about $3/fat quarter and that’s crzy!! I would rather buy half yards if that’s the case. You’re saving a little $$$ depending on the fabric.

2. Typical you can only buy a fat quarter online if it’s in a bundle pack and sometimes you don’t want the whole pack. . . but if you’re lucky then you can go to the local quilt store and pull it off the shelf. You could contact the online store to make you a special pack too.

3. Also after you buy just one fat quarter of the fabric you love and use it. . don’t you wish you had more of it?

I’m done buying fat quarters, I’m buying only half yards from now on! (j.k lets just say I won’t buy fat quarters as much). Check out my latest addition to my stash (all half yards/yards no fat quarters here!!)

Filed Under: Sewing

Stash attack!

January 2, 2012 By Sukie 18 Comments

So it’s a new year and I’m thinking I have to be a little more bitchy and less easy going. . . wha?!?! Yeah I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to cleaning my house. . .I usually don’t do it til I either lose something or I have company coming over (and lately I haven’t had anyone coming over).

But I’m kind of tired of the mess, ya know? Like I need to crack the whip out and get all the stuff organized and in it’s place.

So most of the family was back to their regularly schedule program today except for me and Pepper. I took the approach of lets not try to gang-bust all the mess in one day. . . that’s just ridiculous. Baby steps. So first thing is to organize my massive fabric stash!!!

Do you clean like me? It’s gets really freakin’ messy before it gets better. . . yeah but it wasn’t that bad.

I love the new year. . . you can go to pretty much all the major stores and they’re having some crzy ass sale on bins. I snatched these big clear bins up at the Lowes.

I was able to put all my WIPs (work in progress) into one bin and as I was putting them in I wrote them down. I want to get to the point where I’m just working on one project and finish it all the way through. . yeah basically not more WIPs. Insane right? Going by the list I have about 13+ WIPs. . . not bad. . . I think only (2) are quilts. . . I think. . .

Speaking of WIPs. . . did I mention I’m hella behind on my quilting bees? Yeah I suck ass. . . here’s what I’m working on for my 4th quarter group for 4×5, whatta ya think?

Filed Under: 4x5 Modern Bee, Sewing

Scrap Splat Challenge

October 25, 2011 By Sukie 26 Comments

Back in September, Mr. Thomas issued a Scrap Splat Challenge on GenerationQMagazine.com. (40) 2.5 scrap squares issued to 30 gals/gents, you have to use all the squares in your project.

When I got my scrap set, I read the note and put it aside. .. I mean the due date was in October, so I had plenty of time right? Well last weekend, (yes! last weekend) I remembered that I had this on my list and freaked out! Did a quick google search to see when the project was due and dang 10/26! Yeah so I looked at my scraps. . .I had already thought about doing a sewing machine cover. . . but oh how my plans quickly change.

Here’s a shot of my scraps that I received:

How do I make something modern with tradition fabrics. . . and how do I incorporate each one together. . . . oh wait Mr. Thomas said I could use solids. . . . okay. . . hmm search thought my piles of fabric. . jackpot! Kona Charm pack from the Sewing Summit Swag bag.

I organized the piles into the color wheel:

Hmm. . . it’s kind of coming together. . . lets do some sewing! I placed the scrap squares with solids that were in their color range and then for neutral element, light kona grey.

Here’s the dilemma I have. . .my style is modern but I have to deal with the traditional fabrics. . .it’s easy when you have modern fabric for your modern projects. . but flip that a little and your brain starts to break a little.

I looked on my cutting table and saw one of colorways from PearTree and wanted to incorporate that design:

That means a little raw edge applique. . .oh boy my favorite. . (one day I would love to learn turn edge) (and yes you did detect a sense of sarcasm)

Again turning to my fabric stash. . gotta add more neutral fabric. . .oh white fleece that’s already cut to the right size. . yeah at this point the sewing machine cover idea is trashed because of the size of this puppy:

But I think I accomplished my goal! It looks pretty modern with traditional fabrics. . . . what do you think?

Since I’m hella short on time, I really need to not over think this. . so I just did some straight line quilting from the center of the circle out and here’s the results:

Here’s the back, again something from my fabric stash (shout out to Ikea):

My little girl, Pepper loves it so it’s going to her:

Hope you liked my impromptu Scrap Splat Challenge!!!

Filed Under: Baby, Challenge, Sewing

No internet makes. .

October 12, 2011 By Sukie 9 Comments

for a poor blog post from Sukie (that’s right talking in the 3rd person is lame) Why no internet? Well the main cables are in the back of my house and it’s currently being working on by the govt to widen the road. This is what is looked like this morning:

It’s kind of a mess!!!

I’ve thought about throwing any ugly fabrics in the hole letting it get buried. . .

Hopefully my internet will be up by the end of the week. I leave you with a pic of some good buddies I met and hung out with at Sewing Summit:

Filed Under: House, Sewing

Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

September 7, 2011 By Sukie 2 Comments

So here’s what I have a hard time with. . . as a relatively new quilter – it’s hard for me to move away from fabric lines. You know what I’m talking about? Like if you buy the whole fabric line and put it in the quilt then you’ll know it will all work. You don’t have to worry about clashing and things turning out funky.

Where do I turn to. . . .well lets go the color wheel my fellow quilting peeps.

One of my many projects besides making every quilt in Mrs. Fransson’s book is to make other quilts that I love and adore. I haven’t venture out in making my own pattern unless you count the Kona solid challenge (and lets face it – that wasn’t too original) One of the main reasons is that I’ve got too many things on my plate to try to figure a quilt out. . if you know what I mean. Maybe next year I’ll start being a contender, but since I’m a newbie I’ll just sit on the sidelines and cheer my fellow quilters on.

So back to the color wheel and moving away from entire fabric lines. . . .

I’ve added to my list of quilts that I must do is the (drum roll please):

Yeah I really loved how Kate, Lee, and Faith quilts turned out. So of course I get super jealous and want one for myself!!! But if you don’t hang out with me in person and you only know me from this blog – then you don’t know that I way over tapped my budget on fabric in July and August. So I can’t just go out and buy fabric for this. . . . . I must shop my stash. And what do you know. . I’ve got tons and tons! Namely this awesome Art Gallery fabric that I bought from market in the spring.

(bottom two stacks)

But if you notice that it’s leaning more towards the girly-girly colors and I can’t have a super girltastic quilt.

1. I’m not a girly-girly and
2. My husband will roll his eyes and complain how much estrogen is flowing out of the quilt

So I’ve gotta look at the color wheel and shop my stash and come up with good pairs for each color any suggestions??? And my first attempt at moving away from a entire fabric line . . kind of scary.

Filed Under: Sewing

Next up. . .

September 6, 2011 By Sukie 3 Comments

Oh I haven’t forgotten that I’m still trying to work through Mrs. Hartman’s book.

The next pattern in the book is Snapshots:

It’s a little different from the Postage Stamp quilt. There’s a pattern in the way the blocks are placed.

Now here’s the kicker. . it’s already done. Yeah this was the 1st quilt I started working on last year. It was a great precursor to the Tokyo Subway map.

Fabric choices:

Well we had an older quilt that my husband grandmother had made us for our wedding present (we’re in yr 12 now) and let me tell you – we used that everyday! The main reason was it had that vintage sheet feel – super soft and super comfy. Well using it everyday it began to fall apart.

(sorry for the crappy picture)

Blocks were completely missing in some spots:

As much as it broke my heart, I thought it’s time to put this away. . . but than I thought, “Why not make a quilt for Grandma out of it?” What does that mean? Well you might want to cover your ears if you’re reading this. . it means I would be tearing the quilt apart and putting pieces of it in a new quilt to gift back to her. Horrible? I didn’t think so. . . well maybe since she put so much work into it. I didn’t want to pack the quilt away. I think when you make something like a quilt it should be used, right?

Here’s the backing:

I thought why not pair that with other Christmas fabrics. . . and send it to her as a Christmas gift.

Grandma’s sewing skills are awesome cause I had a hell of a time taking the quilt apart. I’m taking my favorite blocks out of the quilt and I’ll add it to another quilt for sure:

Filed Under: Fransson Quilts, Sewing

Cheap girls sewing table

August 30, 2011 By Sukie 12 Comments

Yeah. . I’m cheap. You gotta save money somewhere when you buying gobs and gobs of fabric right? I say that jokingly but you know it’s true!

So a requirement (okay it’s not a necessity but it’s nice to have) when you’re free motion quilting with your machine is to have you sewing table level with your sewing machine. Basically you want more room to move the quilt around and you don’t want it hanging off the machine 2 to 3 inches because it can screw up the sewing bad. Unless you have wicked free motion quilting kungfu. . .then you’re my hero!

Now I’ve been searching online and the classifieds for a good sewing table. Oh! The one I had was a good one, a Ikea:

It served as a cutting and sewing table. . oh and don’t forget where the crap-lands-table. “Oh! Oh! I don’t know where to but this 5yds of fabric. . I do now!”

Yeah so I had to find a replacement – so I thought if I went to the thrift stores once a week and found a sewing table I (when I say “I” it really means “Handy Husband”) could mod the table to fit my machine.

I found a nice table through the classifieds. . 1980s-ish don’t you think?

I measured the opening and made sure my machine wasn’t too small or too big for the mod.

So we took out the craziness in the bottom and began to fashion us a shelf to hold my machine. Sure it’s not going to be super nifty and hide my machine inside but for $20bucks. . . beggars can’t be choosers – plus the most important thing to me is that I have more room to quilt and that sewing machine level with the table.