WIP Wednesday {5.30.2012}

It's been quite a week around these parts!  Lots of family time and barbecues this weekend, but I did manage a few chunks of quality sewing time.  Of course this was squeezed in between sneezes and nose blowing, and just waiting for this stupid head cold/sinus icky-ness to pass...yes still waiting...ugh.  Anyways, achoo!  On with this weeks projects:

Completed Projects

Owl-y baby quilt

This little guy is finished and on its way to its new home.  More on this quilt here.

May Bee Blocks 

These blocks were made using Elizabeth's Radiant Ring tutorial (which is awesome!) and are for Toni in the Imagine circle of do. Good Stitches.  This quilt will be so bright and cheery, can't wait to see it come together!

New and In Progress

EZ Dresden Project

This is the carnage of a little stitching, slicing and dicing using the EZ Dresden Ruler.  I'll be showing the finished project as part of the EZ Dresden Challenge Blog Hop next month, so stay tuned!

That about sums up this weeks projects!  I've also been plugging and chugging away on quilting my do. Good Stitches Japanese x and + quilt.  Hopefully in the next few days I'll be finishing up the quilting and shipping it off to Threading Hope.  Be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!

completed owl-y quilt

Despite coming down with a dreaded spring head cold/sinus infection this past weekend that left me just sick, icky and exhausted, I managed to squeeze in a little quality sewing time, and finished up this adorable baby quilt.  I used Amy's Chain Linked pattern as my inspiration, and doctored the block size a little, to fit to a sweet little baby quilt.  

I really love the geometric pattern with the aqua and white, and how it still features larger sized charms in a slightly different way.  As  I mentioned last time, this quilt was a commissioned baby quilt for my aunt who is gifting it to a co-worker.  She told me that the mom was doing the nursery with lots of "cute little owls" and I knew just the fabric.  I pulled out my remaining scraps of this Anne Kelle Urban Zoologie owl fabric, and paired it with a few coordinating prints in blues, greens and yellows, and a baby quilt was born.  

Since my FMQ foot is still out of commission, and they are apparently back-ordered at the store (grumble...) I pulled out my old machine to do some fun loopy FMQing.  Man, it really made me appreciate my new machine all that much more!  I think I am starting to like these fun loops even more than stippling.  It was just enough fun an whimsy to go with those adorable owls.

I hope the new mommy to be loves these owls as much as I do!

Quilt Stats

Quilt Name:  Owl-y chain linked baby quilt

Quilt Pattern: based on Amy's Chain Linked Pattern

Quilt Size:  39" x 45"

Fabrics:  Anne Kelle Urban Zoologie Owls, Kona White, Kona Aqua, and assorted coordinating prints

Binding:  Sparky & Marie Piccadilly Aqua double leaves

Quilting:  Loopy all over FMQ done by me on my home machine

SMS Giveaway Day Winner

Thanks to all who entered my SMS Giveaway this week!  Mr. Random has helped me select a winner...Drum roll please....

Congratulations Julie!  Look for an email from me in the next few days to get your address so I can ship out your winnings!

Thanks again to all who entered!

pillow re-do

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This Giveaway is now closed.

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I got an itch the other day to make new pillow covers for the couch.  When I started thinking about it, the old covers I made have been in our living room for about a year now.  Once I got over the shock of realizing that was an entire YEAR ago...seriously it feels like a few months at most, I figured no time like the present.  

I decided I wanted to go a little simpler than all that intricate piecing like last time, and just find some complimenting prints, to whip up a few super simple easy covers to spruce up and summer-ize the room.  In perusing the home dec section of Joann's, I came across a few fun prints that worked well together, and after realizing they were 50% off I knew it was meant to be.  

These seriously took about a half an hour per cover, my kind of project.  Like I mentioned last week, I accidentally bought regular zippers instead of invisible zippers, and after getting home, realizing my mistake, and muttering a few curse words, I decided to make the best with what I had, and searched my favorite blogs for how to use these zippers without them showing.  I came across this zipper flap tutorial from Sew Mama Sew, and decided to give it a go.  I must say, I absolutely love these zipper flaps, and may go this route more often, especially when working with a super simple pillow front. 

I also picked up about a yard and a half of this natural linen-y looking fabric, that really is a home  dec weight fabric, and thought it was far too boring to just make a simple cover out of, and consulted with my pinterest pillow board for what to do to spruce up this boring neutral color.

 

I have been wanting to try this V & Co Faux Pleated Pillow tutorial for some time, and thought it would be perfect using the neutral, with a strip or two of color from one of the other pillows, instead of varying the color.  I like my pillow covers to be nice and snug (I cut my fabric pieces at 19 1.2" square for a 20" form), so I ended up having to use a little fusible web on the pleats on either end to help keep them in place.  It worked like a charm, and this is one of my favorite favorite pillows ever.

While I was at Joann's I also picked up a pretty greyish nylon-y fabric (because I can never buy just what I went in for), with the intentions of maybe making  this fun ruffle pillow at some point.  Well in my pillow making madness, "at some point" turned into now.  This pillow took far more material than I had thought it would, so my only regret is I didn't have enough fabric to make the "base" square out of the same material, and at some spots you can see the material under the ruffles.  I'm sure I'm the only one that would think to notice that, but it bugs me a little.  Oh well, live and learn.



I have enough material to make 3 more pillow covers to go on the opposite couch, but I am really loving how this nice and simple, quick and easy project makes a big change in the look of the room.  I don't think I've quite gotten the "pillow bug" out of my system, so stay tuned for more!

Quilt Market Quilt

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This Giveaway is now closed.

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While I wasn't able to attend quilt market this year, one of my quilts did make the trip!  I think this quilt was made from start to finish in about 6 days, and was certainly the fastest quilting I've done in some time.  Elyse from Westminster fabrics asked if I could make a last minute quilt to display in their booth, and of course I couldn't say no.  A day later this giant stack of fabrics arrived at my doorstep and I got to work.  

While admittedly  these are not fabrics I am typically drawn to, it was fun playing with fabric that were a little different style.  The fabric is Camille by Melissa White for Westminster fabric, and as a whole really plays well together, with the bright bold fabrics being balanced with a few more muted patterns.  It sort of gives me a vintage sheets sort of vibe, with maybe some Kaffe Fasset-ness thrown in.  

I used my starburst cross block tutorial, and decided to play with color value, by pairing up the light and dark fabrics, so each fabric was represented equally.



Thanks Lee for snapping this pic while you were at quilt market!!

Here it is in the Westminster booth at market, see it there in the center??

Quilt Stats:

Name:  Camille Starburst Cross 

Pattern:  made using my Starburst Cross block tutorial

Size:  48" x 60"

Fabrics: Camille by Melissa White for Westminster Fabrics, Kona White

Quilting:  Allover meandering Stipple done by me on my home machine

SMS Giveaway Day

*****************This Giveaway is now closed*****************

It's that time of year again, and one of my absolute favorites, Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!  Welcome to my little corner of the blog-o-sphere, and thanks for stopping by.

If you're new to sewcraftyjess, again hello and welcome, please, stay and play for a little!  My name is Jessica and over the past two and a half years I have become quite the quilting enthusiast.  My eye is always drawn to bright fun modern prints, which makes up the bulk of my fabric stash.    For Giveaway Day, I thought I'd do a little destashing, and giveaway a few fat quarters of Denyse Schmidt FMF reprint fabric.  I was so so excited when I found out this fabric was being re-released, as the first release was a little before my quilting time.  I was a little overzealous, and ordered way more than I ever think I'll use.  

Now onto the good stuff, here's what's up for grabs:



I'll be giving away six fat quarters of Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy reprint as pictured.

As for the nitty gritty, here's how to enter:

1.  Leave me a comment telling my about your latest or current crafty project.  (If you are a no-reply blogger, please include your e-mail in your post!)

2.  How about we add one more chance to win, become a follower, and leave me a comment, or leave a comment letting me know if you already are! (again, make sure I have your contact info if it's not listed in your profile)

The giveaway will be open until Friday, May 25th at 5:00 PM PST.  

Mr. Random draw one winner and I will notify him/her about their winnings (again, please please make sure I have a way to contact you, if the winner does not have contact info listed either in their profile or in their comment, a second winner will be drawn).

I will ship internationally, so all are welcome!

an owl-y quilt top

Remember this stack of fabric?  Well I finally got around to doing something with it, and now have a quilt top to show.  This is a commissioned baby quilt for my aunt that I agreed to make, because I just can't seem to say no :-)  When she told me the mom was "really into cute little owls" for the nursery, I knew I had just the perfect fabric, and this quilt had to be made.  I used my last little bits of this Ann Kelle Urban Zoologie owl fabric, which I just love to pieces, and some coordinating prints and solids.  

I used Amy's Chain Linked pattern as my inspiration, and doctored the size to make a nice little baby quilt.  This quilt came together super quick, and I will be adding this to my arsenal of baby quilt ideas,  I can see it in so many different color combinations!

Unfortunately my FMQ foot bit the dust on the last quilt I was working on, so until I can get a replacement, this quilt top will sit waiting, but hopefully not for long!  Happy weekend sewing, I will be stalking twitter, vicariously living through all the lucky ones attending Spring Quilt Market!