Sewaholic Hollyburn Skirt

Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt

Greetings! Can you believe how many times I've post in the past week or so? It might be due to my new weekly checklist system, but we will see if I can keep it up! Also, welcome to the parking lot of my store/apartment complex. A great, private, and very bland place to take photos but thats ok. I finailly tried out my new tripod and camera, so hopefully pics will continue to improve. 

So casual!

In an effort to keep wearing nothing but navy, white, and black, allow me to present the Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt! I have heard great things about this skirt for ages, but honestly wasn't totally sold on the middle center seam. I just don't usually like font seams on skirts, but I guess I'm just odd like that. This yellow version, by Lauren, finally sold me! It looks so cute in a solid, and she raves about it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This is me giving it a whirl

I used a nice Japanese indigo cotton that I have at the shop (and online! here) that is a bit stiffer and a tiny bit heavier than quilting cotton, but not much. I thought the pattern was subtle enough to keep the middle seam from bugging me. And I was right! It's actually not even noticeable, really.  I made version 3, which is short without button tabs or belt loops, but I may add loops net time. I have some stretch cotton twill in bright reddish-coral that might be perfect for this! (Otherwise I'll just copy Lauren's yellow version!)

Up close and personal!

I made the size 6 with no adjustments, which was fun! I usually have to grade out because my hips are always a bigger size than my waist, but I have heard that Sewaholic patterns are made for us hippier ladies, so that was nice. And I must say that it fits really well! (Except after a big lunch!) I like that it has body, but isn't gathered at the waist, so that it lays a little bit flatter and doesnt add volume to the lower-stomach problem zone!

Tripod selfie !

I am quite happy with the skirt, and it was definitely easy since there was no gathers. I also really like the pockets since they show up and arent just hidden in the side seam. I think side seam pockets add bulk to hips as well, another no-no! (but I still love them because pockets are great). Im glad to have a pattern fit me out of the package, and one that doest take long to make either. A flattering length, good for flats or heels. Way to go, Sewaholic!

Check back soon, I have some quilts I'm finishing up, and I'm also getting my hair done Monday which means that soon enough my bangs will no longer be a different color than my ponytail. Fancy!!

Triangle Baby Quilt!

Triangle Baby Quilt!

I've made a million of them (maybe 10 of them, really), but I do love a good triangle quilt! I just think it's a modern version of patchwork, a great way to showcase fabrics, and there is just something fresh and simple about them that I really like.  An old co-worker and quilty supporter of mine brought his pregnant sister and her husband into the shop a while ago so that they could chose fabrics and have a baby quilt made. I always love seeing what fabrics people pick out, and how people combine the fabrics I have. I honestly am always surprised and delighted!

Close up

Just when I think I've exhausted all possible combos, people come in and shake things up for me, and I think that's fun. Two of the fabrics they chose, the red, pink, and brown on, and a grey and peach chevron, are probably 2 of the last fabrics I would have ever used in the same project. They chose a few greys as well, and then I added some Japanese fabrics and a few others from my stash at home to round things out. Also, they hadn't found out if they were having a boy or a girl and I think these colors are a very interesting option for a gender neutral quilt without relying on green or yellow.

Cotton and Steel lions

They also chose this great lion print from Cotton and Steel's first collections, which I think gives the quilt a great pop of color and whimsy. Gotta have whimsy!! Anyway, I love how this quilt turned out, in what I think is a really unique, special color palate. I hope their future baby loves it!

Modern-Rustic Plus Quilt

Plus Quilt!

This is a quilt that I finished up right around Christmas time... so late May is an appropriate time to write about it, right?? This was far from my usual color palate, as you can probably guess, but I actually had a lot of fun choosing fabrics for it. I used 4 or 5 from the shop and then ordered the rest online to create a quilt that would be at home in someone's cabin-esque home in the outskirts of Chicagoland. Basically the countryside. 

Kinda blurry photo

My friend ANgie ordered this quilt for her brother who was getting married. I dont think I used a pattern for the pluses, but each block is around 12" square, the middle bar being 4.5 inches wide, if I recall correctly. I made the binding out of Robert Kaufman's Essex yarn dyed linen, in "leather" which is actually one of my favorite fabrics because it really has a lot of depth in person. And a different texture than the rest of the quilting cottons, which I like. 

Close up

I used a Riley Blake flannel for the back, since they had a winter wedding and live in a cabin. It is a really soft and snuggly fabric so I thought it would be perfect. I also loved using a few Alison glass prints (the red, and the dark teal with green x-circles, the tan with red pluses). They are so rich in color, and so unique, I just love them. I have a fat quarter bundle of the whole line and I just can't decide what to do with it! Aside from stare lovingly. 

I fun departure and a nice, wintery quilt! 

Mini Quilt Swap

Hello again! Anyone still out there?? I am attempting to blog once a week, and have a backlog of old projects I would also like to catch up on, so this is the first one. Wish me luck, and thanks for reading!

Original inspiration fabrics

This past winter (whoa, where has the time gone??) I signed up for my second "mini quilt swap" on Instagram. This one was hosted by someone name SchnitzelandBoo and seems to have a lot of people participating! You get a partner and look through their Instagram account to get a feel for what they like, and then you make and send them a gift. Your partner is a secret, and it's actually a lot of fun!

I pulled the above fabrics to start with, and then stared at them for a few weeks. I really wanted to use the top one, which is a Nani Iro double gauze with cool neon dots, but I didn't have a plan other than that. 

Starting

After looking through my partner's photos I thought I would do something that was somewhat star shaped, had a white background, and used aqua. I found a paper-piecing pattern called "Celestial Star" from a shop called From Blank Pages. It's a cool block because depending on how you lay out the colors it can look really, really different. You can check out lots of examples on Instagram with #celestialstarqal. I eventually decided on this layout, but it wasn't easy!

Waiting to be quilted

The block is made up of 12 triangles that each contain 10-12 pieces so it is a lot to keep track of! It helped to use the coloring guide and cut out everything ahead of time, rather than cut as I go, which I occasionally do with paper piecing, even though it creates more waste I think.

Quilted

I used straight-line quilting to echo some of the shapes but kept it simple for the most part. I used aqua thread so it would stand out a little bit more.

FInished!

I used an older Anna Maria Horner print for the binding, and I really like it because although it has colors that arent in the quilt it still matches, or at least coordinates ( at least I think it does!). I must say that paper piecing can be really fun, and it can also be really tedious! I have to be in the right mood to do it, but I could never make enough of these blocks to equal a whole quilt. Yikes. That would be so many pieces of fabric!! But I am working on a much more simpler paper-piecing project for a large quilt for myself (when I have extra time, which is so far not at all), so we'll see how that one goes!

I have one more mini that I am finishing up for a Cotton and Steel swap, which now that I think about it also involves aqua, a circle, and white, but ah well!