Getting excited...

It's coming, y'all!  The Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy's Creative Side is just around the corner.  The festival opens two weeks from today.  It's a juried festival and you can link up any quilt, you just need to write a new post for it the week of the festival and link back to the festival.  It's super easy and a great way to see tons of super inspiring quilts and some amazing quilters around the world!  The last one was prompted me to start this blog so, of course, I'm super excited!  For more details on entering click on the button.

I'm hoping to finish one of my UFO's in the next two weeks (while simultaneously writing two big papers for school).  Should be a fun filled couple weeks!

If you're a quilter I hope you consider entering or at least checking out all the beautiful entries once the show starts - it really is fantastic and provides loads of inspiration.

Upcycled Baby Quilt

Finished!

I made this quilt for my son using a bunch of his old t-shirts and onesies.  It was my way of holding onto those memories a little longer in a way we could all enjoy. 

I made it basically like you would make a t-shirt quilt except I opted not to fuse the shirts because I wanted to use really thick batting to give it a really poufy look and wanted to retain the "give" and stretch of the t-shirts as much as possible. 

From each onesie or t-shirt (I used 48) I cut two 6 inch squares.  Then I separated them into lights and darks and paired coordinating fabrics into four patch blocks.  THEN I spent about 3-4 hours arranging them on my design wall in a way that made me happy (basically keeping similar colors adjacent as much as possible).  After that I sewed the four patch blocks together.

Sewing with the unfused knits was a little tricky and involved some patience, but I wasn't too worried about everything being perfectly aligned because I figured the batting would disguise any irregularities and I was mostly right.  I also couldn't stick to a strict 1/4 inch seam because the knit kept getting pulled into the machine so it was more like 3/8 of an inch.  The finished quilt is 44" x 66".  I used two layers of the highest loft batting I could find and tied it in the corners of each block using a coordinating yarn from my stash.  I bound it with satin blanket binding (just cause it saves me a step and I'm lazy like that).  The finished quilt has the feel of a comforter.  Theoretically, the blocks should tighten up a little more after it's washed and dried and should make it look nice and fluffy (I'll let you know how it washes).

My son loves it.  He like looking at all the different images on the front and pointing out all the animals he knows.  AND he likes the back.  I wasn't sure what I was going to use as the backing fabric until I got to JoAnn's, but as soon as I saw it I knew there was no turning back.

Buzz always wins.  :)

Linking up to many of the awesome parties in my sidebar including Sew & Tell Friday and Met Monday... check 'em out!

Project Peek

Here's a peek at what I've been working on this weekend.  It's a project I've been planning for a little while now.  It's an upcycled quilt made from a bunch of onesies and t-shirts that my son has grown out of.

I took this pic while I was pinning the quilt "sandwich" together. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it sometime this week.  I'll post more pics and details when it's done.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Stashbusting Sweater

A little late for Stashbusting September, but I finished the sweater for my son none-the-less.  Officially, this is the first sweater I've ever finished!  Yay, me!

Since I didn't use a pattern, I did the best I could with sizing.  Not bad, but the sleeves are a tad too long and the body of it a little wide.  I intended it to be large on him so he could wear it for longer... I'm interested to see how it will wear over time.

Again, this was my first attempt at fair-isle knitting (using two different yarns at the same time) and I kinda like it.  Getting the tension right took a little practice, but it wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought it might be.

If you have boys, I don't have to tell you what it's like to try and get a decent photo of a moving target.  The first day I tried to get pics of him in it outside and he took off on me to go play with these girls down the street - way more fun than mommy with a camera.

A Thomas book got him to sit still long enough to take these.  The sleeves are rolled once in all of these pics.

Some Cameos from the Wedding

I had the privilege of helping the bride get ready, so while she was in the shower I was able to snag some of these detail shots.

This one is a shot of the porch of their cabin.  It had a great view of Lake Michigan.

The bouquet.

Ready and with a Rolls Royce waiting. Oh, did I mention that I got to ride with her to the church in that Rolls Royce? Since I was in it I don't have pics.

Their reception was at a beautiful country venue that included an outdoor tent space and a renovated barn.

Each table was set with a different pair of salt and pepper shakers from the collections of both the bride's mother and grandmother.  They rented the vintage china and stemware.

The centerpieces were all different as well... this was one of my favs.

And the hair jewelry in action, as promised.

It was a really special wedding and absolutely beautiful from start to finish.

A Labor of Love

I mentioned a few posts ago that in addition to making my BFF her hair accessory, she also asked me to make her guestbook.  What I haven't mentioned is that she gave me an old, wood-bound journal (blank) that belonged to her grandfather that she wanted me to turn into her guestbook. 

Above are the before pics.  It's hard to tell in the pic, but the pages were already too brittle to use for something that she planned on keeping for a long time.  She also gave me some leaves and some old lace that I was free to use or not depending on how things went.  She is a huge fan of texture when it comes to art and their wedding has also focused on the fall leaves and colors of the area (in Michigan, along the lake).  She also didn't want me to decorate the wood cover itself (can't say I blame her).

Now, when I took this project on, I kind of had an idea in my head on where I wanted to go with it.  It involved using some art paper I already had and playing with watercolors to give the pages a little color.  I also planned to use some of the leaves, but then realized that if I were to decoupage them down to the pages they would probably crack or peel as the pages were turned.

Watercolor + art paper + decoupage = giant FAIL

No pics of giant fail for you because I was just plain disgusted.  Utterly discouraged and determined not to let my BFF down, I moped for three days and then I marched right on over to my favorite art supply store and got lucky.  And by lucky I mean I talked to no less than four different workers there and found the perfect paper to turn this project into what I had imagined in the first place.  Now, I know that I wasn't supposed to shop for Stashbusting September, but pretty much this is a commissioned piece so I'm over it.  Plus I have so many other projects started for Stashbusting September that I am just going to continue to stashbust on my own probably right up till Christmas.

Now that I've gotten all that off my chest, here are some "after" pics...

Clearly, I blurred out their last name above.  This is the inside cover.  The paper is made from tree bark.  It has a fabulous texture to it and it brings in the whole nature theme and trees without any mess.

She also has this crazy fixation with anything copper, so I added just a touch of it in the form of some acrylic paint.  :)

Here are the pages the guests will actually sign on.  I tore them along a straight edge so that the pages would have rougher edges.  The paper itself has texture, but it's much more smooth than they look here.  I bought a pair of prismacolor, fine-line markers in black for the guests to sign with.  They write perfectly on it without smudging or bleeding.

Love the leaves. 

These last couple shots are my attempt at showing the soft edges that the torn paper produced... it feels almost like cloth.

And with that I am going to go start packing because we leave tomorrow for the wedding!

Bridal Hair Accessory

One of my dearest friends is getting married in a Roaring '20's style wedding this weekend.  While she was trying on her dress, she also tried on several different hair accessories, mostly involving feathers and sparkles and some netting.  The prices, though, were pretty steep.  I jumped at the chance to make a hair accessory for her.

I'm sure it will look prettier on the actual bride rather than on me and since I'll be the one helping to put it in her hair I will definitely be able to do a better job of pinning the netting in the back to make it look rounded (I pinned it into my own hair blindly because I'm impatient and didn't want to go hunt down a second mirror).

It will also look better on the bride because it is meant to be worn on the left side of her head, where her part is.  Mine is on the right.  Her hair will also probably contain some sort of styling product and not be sporting my "wash and go" look.  :)

I started with a small oval of felt and sewed the tulle down to that first.  Then I spaced out the feathers and glued down just the tips with my trusty hot glue gun.  Then I hand sewed all of those beads to the felt in such a way as to cover up the ends of the feathers.  I started with the pearl beads, arranging them as I went, and then went back and filled in with the crystals afterward.  When I was happy with how it looked (and so was the bride) I glued the felt onto a metal, clip-style barrett. 

Maybe I'll get a couple pics of the bride wearing it this weekend.  :)