Christmas Project Roundup

I had fun creating a few things for my family for Christmas. I also got a fancy new iron and decided to act as an angel swapper for the instagram mini swap. These were all great projects and I'm excited to share them with you today!

First up is a Makeup bag (tutorial here) and Two in One Zipper Pouch (pattern here). These are number 18 on my 2014Q4FAL list and were also my December ALYoF goal. These were so fun to make with their combination of Japanese canvas weight and quilters cotton from Joel Dewberry's Birch Farm line.

Here's another angle of the 2in1 pouch. This is the third one I've made of these and I just love them! They are so fun and useful and the pattern is really well written.

I really love how this one turned out too. I did the larger size from the tutorial and it ended up being a great makeup bag size. I laminated the lining with some Heat and Bond and I really wish I didn't. It seemed like a great idea at the time, easy to wipe and all that but the process of box pleating and turning and flipping the fabric made tiny perforations and tears in the plastic. It would have been much more durable without the laminating and could have just gone in the wash. Lesson learned.

I knitted my first Christmas gift. I picked up knitting about two months ago and just love it. This hat and cowl were for my Step-Dad.

Here he is all ready for the Massachusetts snow (that they currently don't have).

My kids helped with my last Christmas sewing project. We started a new tradition last year where they get a new pillow case to sleep on for Christmas Eve. I think it's a fun thing and they loved picking out their fabrics. All but the baby even sewed their own pillow case. They all felt so crafty and accomplished. It was a fun way to bring them into the holiday spirit and to teach them a little more sewing.

Oh and check out one of my favorite Christmas presents!! A pink itouch iron! Love! I have wrist problems so the repetitive motion of tipping the iron can be quite painful. This is such a cute solution! I did this hefty stack in no time and with no pain. As a quick aside I learned something important that I must share. Do not use distilled water in your iron! It said that on my users manual and I googled it to find out more. Apparently when you use distilled water in an iron it can superheat causing scorching and the mineral-free water will suck metal from your iron causing cracks and deterioration. There you go, my PSA for the day.

I had so much fun with my first IGminiswap quilt that when @mugirl113 was asking for someone to act as an angle to make a mini for someone whose partner backed out I jumped at the chance. This was so fun to put together and she should get it in the mail today or tomorrow. The extras were so fun to gather. I was poking around on her pinterest account and I found all kinds of inspiration.

When I saw this tutorial I knew it was going to be awesome so right from the start I decided to make one for her and one for me. Mine is the pillow. The spiral quilting isn't perfect but I love it anyway.

I've been loving this matchstick print from Cotton and Steel for so long and was just waiting for the perfect project before I snatched some up. I adore it on the back of this pillow.

Here's the tag on the back of the mini. This came from some yardage by Sweetwater for Moda. It has so many fun tags and I've used two already and I've only had the fabric for a week.

 Thanks for stopping by and checking out my fun sewing. It's been hard keeping all these secret projects a secret and I've loved being able to share them today. I'm linking up with my favorite Friday places...Finish it Up Friday and TGIFF.

Finished Supernova and Stocking

I'm on fire this week! I finished two projects that have been on my list for so long! The quilt was part of the Supernova Friendship Swap that ran earlier this year over a period of five months. It hasn't been on my list for terribly long but I've been wanting it done since the first block because I'm so in love with it! The Supernova quilt is also #6 on my 2014Q4FAL list. The other project is a stocking for my baby which I bought two years ago after I found out I was pregnant with a girl.

First up, the quilt. LOVE!! Izzy from Dizzy Quilts made five of these blocks and I made the other seven. We each ended up with ten blocks and I was going to make a 3 x 3 quilt and a pillow but then I figured if I just made two more blocks it could be twin size. So I whipped them up real fast and I'm glad I did!

Here's a fun artsy picture. I quilted 1/4" in on all the stars. I love the look of it.

I added a cool tag this time too. I just found some yardage that has a bunch of tags on it and you cut them out and sew them on. It's such a fun look and a personal touch.

Here's the completed stocking. You have no idea the relief of having this off my list!! Too bad I didn't poke it on my 2014Q4FAL list. Oh well, it's done and I love it!

Here it is with all our other stockings. Finally ALL the stockings are hung.

I made all of these except the Julie one. That is from my childhood. I love how they look and that they continue on the tradition of having felt handmade stockings that my mother started.

Those are my finishes this week. I can't believe I finished that stocking. It wasn't even close when I posted about it on Wednesday. Next week I'll share my Christmas sewing projects and they won't be a secret any more! I'm linking up with my favorite places... TGIFF, Finish It Up Friday, and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

WiP Wednesday: I'm Back!

Sorry for my brief absence. The flu hit us hard last week, as in I lost seven pounds hard. Thus, I didn't get anything done with the illness and then trying to catch up on laundry and dishes. I have made up for it this week though and have some great things to show you today.

The day the illnesses started I received my IGminiswap package. It was so fun and a welcome break to all the nasty. I love my mini quilt made by Anna (@wollykat).

Since I learned how to do color changes in knitting I made my little girl a hat with her name on it. It was fun. I still want to add pom poms to the top but haven't made it that far yet.

In a fit of productivity I quilting my Supernova Friendship Swap quilt today. I was thinking of adding more lines but I actually liked it this way better. That may or may not have been influenced by trying to shove this twin-sized quilt through my sewing machine on the diagonal.

I even made the binding too. I'll happily share this one later in the week.  With the double layer of batting it is so warm I'm in love! I may do that for all of my quilts in the next batch.

Look I made mittens!! I've always wanted to know how to knit mittens. I got a kit mailed to me from my favorite former LQS Stitch in Des Moines. I seriously adore this shop and will continue to shop there by post and stop in whenever I can make the two hour drive. Anyway, the kit included the pattern, needles, and Knit Collage yarn to make these adorable mittens.

Even the baby loves them! She saw me trying them on for a picture then handed me the camera and put them on herself. It was too cute not to share.

My final WiP is Ruby's stocking. It's coming along slowly because I can only work on it when everyone is asleep. Ruby really likes to get involved with this one and the sequins are better in the bowl than all over the carpet.

Well, that's my excitement this week. I'm so glad to be back in the swing of things. Be sure to stop by on Friday to see the finished Supernova quilt. Also, I can't wait to share the things I made for Christmas! Good thing it's next week! I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

First Knit Hats and Sewing Progress

I have a sort of obsessive personality. When I find something that interests me I go after it all the way. This is especially true with craft skills. Less than two months ago I took a knitting class and now I'm like, "KNIT ALL THE THINGS!" I have made a little time for sewing and piecing and I should take a little break because there are may projects that need to be done but I'm having a ton of fun with it. Check it out...

Here's my first ever knit hat! LOVE! I love how classy it looks and how the patterned purl stitches make it look like dots. This was my third ever project and I'd only previously worked with bulky weight yarn so it seemed to take forever but it was fun. The double needles freaked me out at first but I quickly got the hang of it.

It's just so pretty! This is the Jul Hat pattern made a little less slouchy.

Having finished a hat I decided to conquer color changes. This is the Pom Pom or Knot Hats pattern by Spud and Chloe using some awesome bulky yarn.

Fun, right? I have enough left over to do it in the reverse colorway too!

And then from the front.

Having figured out color changes I decided to go for it with another idea. Personalized hats! My kids often misplace their hats and this is fun way to help them out. I have crocheted them all really fun one but never something this personalized. My little Amelia is over the moon about hers and this awesome purple sparkle yarn.

Not much has happened on the sewing front. I was waiting on some supplies to do the two pouches next on my list. It was so so cold that I didn't want to leave the house but we had an unseasonably warm day and I bit the bullet. Now I just have to stop knitting long enough to finish these up. I've set decided to finish these for my ALYoF December goal.

My little Ruby (age 16 months) has taken to sitting on my lap whenever I sew these days. It's quite difficult to maintain any sort of accuracy with a tiny curly head in my way so that combined with my knitting obsession equals not much progress with the foxes. I've got a nice pile of chain stitching building but not as quickly as I'd like.

So that's me. A knitting machine with sewing on the side. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by!

Mini and Two in One Pouch Finishes

I'm so excited to have my mini all finished up for my Instagram mini swap. It pushed me to try new things and I just love how it turned out! The mini is #7 on my Q4FAL list. I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Here it is in all its glory. The pattern is from Vintage Quilt Revival. I was a little nervous about the colors at one point thinking maybe it was a little too 80's track suit but I think it turned out well.

The quilting was so fun!! I did a sort of straight line spiral thing in the diamonds and squares. I think it adds fun texture. You can also sort of see my binding method. Most people were hand stitching them and I just can't make that happen. It actually looks better when I machine stitch mine so I stuck with it.

This is just for the cool texture shot. I really like the quilting on this one and I may have to do something like that again. I was going to do more quilting but the people all polled all agreed that it was better like this.

I wanted to throw in an extra little something in her package. A zipper pouch seemed like just the thing but I didn't know which one until Svetlana from S.O.T.A.K. Handmade came out with her Two in One Pouch.

Aren't they adorable?! I did a little patchwork with some leftover Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille.

One more shot just because I love them so. I have one more cut out and ready to sew but then we had the holiday and I didn't get to it. I highly recommend the pattern. There are a lot of pictures and good explanations. You can get it here.

As a side note I got to the part with the double pointed needles on my hat. This is my first time ever attempting them and I was a bit afraid of it. Now, a few rows in, I've totally got this! I'm ready for my next challenge - any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

WiP Wednesday:Fox and Knit Progress

I always like to share my finishes on Friday because of the fun linkups so even though I finished my mini and some pouches they will have to wait. I did get some progress done on my foxes and knit hat though and they are fun and worth sharing in a quick post and linking up with WiP Wednesday. If you want to see what I'm up to in between posts check me out on Instagram @julieschloemer.

This is SLOWLY coming together. I keep setting it aside for other more pressing projects. I only have three more seams per fox! I might just have to finish it up this week so I can move on without this cookie sheet on my table.

I'm loving this hat! My third knitting project is going well and is so fancy! I can't wait to get it done and wear it. I think I'll make mine a little less slouchy but otherwise I'm doing well following the pattern. I'm almost to the point where I use double pointed needles. I've never done that before and I'm a little nervous.

Well, that's my little update for now. I'll be back on Friday to share my finishes. I can't wait! For those in the states I hope you enjoy your holiday. I'm off to make a lot of pie. Thanks for stopping by!

Knit Finish and Basting Party

I finally have the internet in my new house!! It took nearly three weeks and I've done so much in that time that I can't wait to share. I have a few WiPs going but for today we'll just stick with the ones that are finished or nearly so.

So this is my second knit finish. I'm pretty in love with it. It is a seed stitch cowl using this really cool yarn that gets variably bigger and smaller. It is #10 on my Q4FAL list.

The yarn made for a really cool texture when combined with the seed stitch. It was a fun project and with record low temps in Iowa I've already gotten some good use out of it.

Next up I added the borders and basted my Supernova Friendship Swap quilt. Izzy from Dizzy Quilts and I did this together over several months and I just love how it turned out! I added two more blocks to the set that we made so it would be bigger. With me being 6' tall and my hubby 6'6" longer quilts are always welcome.

I also finished up and basted my April Showers quilt. I love how this one is pretty basic but really fun too. It shows off the fabric without being terribly obvious that that's what I'm doing.

The basting party was fun. I only have hard floors under my dining room table so I had to move it and all the chairs to baste these. I waited until I had three to make it worth the effort. The last one was my Instagram Mini Swap quilt. I just love this and have even started to quilt it already. It is turning out so well! My kids keep telling me they can't believe I'm just going to give this away and suggest I make another for myself. I may just have to do that.

I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Well, there's my productivity for the week. I am also nearly finished making the foxes for the orange twin-size fancy fox quilt and have made good progress on my knitted hat. Not to mention how the boxes are going away and it's feeling more and more like home here. I hope to have the mini finished this week as the posting deadline is December 1st. I can't wait to show it off! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm back - Sort of...

I had a nice move and we're getting settled in our house but still don't have internet until next week. Here I am with my nook in the Barnes and Noble store writing a post... good times. In the mean time I have been sewing. Here's an update of what I've been working on.

I finished the top of my April Showers quilt. I'm pretty taken with this one even though I wasn't in love with the line and first it grew on me the more I played with it. This is twin size.

Having finished my first two knitting projects I decided to try a hat. The yarn is so much thinner than my other projects so it feels slow going but it looks so classy! I've actually done a lot more than this but don't have a more updated picture.

So it is annoying that this picture is sideways but it shows nice progress on my Fancy Fox quilt. I have one of 80 complete. This will also be twin size.

I also finished my mini top. I started cutting yesterday and finished piecing last night. I'm pretty in love with this! Now I just have to figure out how to quilt it.

Here's the back. As far as paper pieced patterns go it wasn't crazy hard but looks pretty cool. This is for the instagram mini swap I'm in.

Well, that's me right now. I hope to post my jnitting finish later this week and be back to my usual blogging when I get the internet next week. Thanks for stopping by!