Challenge : Curves

 You know me, I can't resist a challenge. Rikki from Ricochet and Away set the theme to curved seams and since it's something I had never really done, I decided it was time to give it a try. I make a little throw pillow cover for Bug's future pink bedroom.

I think my seams turned out OK for a beginner

The back of the pillow is super simple

And since I'm a glutton for punishment and I try to get outside of my comfort zone, I tackled a second project, this one adding the complexity of random slashing. The result is a small table runner

This one was a lot of fun to put together

Easy Street - Pink Lemonade Edition

Well I did it... finished the top of my iteration of Easy Street. I must say I surprised  myself for managing this project that was way out of my comfort zone and I'm glad I did










I learned a LOT: piecing technique, chain piecing, cutting, assembling. The one thing I could not do is 'scrappy'. It goes completely against my OCD tendencies. There are a few different whites, yellows, pinks and greys but no, this quilt is not really scrappy. I still absolutely love it and can't wait to have it finished so I can have it on my bed.

Here are the block all finished before the final assembly

Of course there have been a couple of oopsies and some quality time with the seam ripper

I had the help of Her Evilness, my quality control assistant

And here it is .. Saturday night, on my bed

Then of course the usual agony over the borders

And the final result after some quilty 'math' to figure out the perfect size form my checkers border

100"x100" of retro bliss

Go check out the glorious iterations made by the other mystery followers here

UPDATE 

I got some daylight pictures today (01/08/2012) and noticed a piecing mistake ...Another date with my seam ripper tonight !

Trading Posts - Conquer the zipper

Amie and I decided to challenge ourselves out of our comfort zone this time around... and get over our zipper apprehension to make a couple of  zippered pouches following an Amy Butler pattern I dug up from my stash. After fabric selections, we had to run to JoAnn's to buy the zippers we needed.

    

Back in my studio, we got too busy to take pictures until it was all done.

Here is Amie taking a picture of her pretty make-up bag

I think we both did great !

 

Amie made the larger make-up bag

 

I picked a smaller pouch

 

And a coin purse

Here they are all together .. Pretty !

Naughty Notions Challenge - A woven ribbons experiment

Crazy me... like I didn't have enough on my  plate I decided to take on the challenge hosted by Rikka @ Sew La Vie... the Naughty Notions challenges... Could not resist , I HAD to.

So here it is, finished just before the deadline.
I dug up into my ribbon stash because lately it's been out of control.

I wove the selected color and stabilized the resulting"fabric" with medium weight interfacing

Then I dug up in my scraps' bins : cute left-over floral brocade and a piece of leatherette for the lining and outside shell

Added some fun trim left over from a jacket 

And this fab button covered in bead from my stash...

Finished !! 

I already took it out on a fancy dinner date with my hubby last night :)

Stash disclosure - Pre-stashbust

So it's part of the deal with the Spring Stashbust: Stash disclosure. Since you have to show it all. I figured I'd also give you a peek of my studio. It hasn't changed too much since my hubby and I gutted and redid the whole room except for a corner now dedicated to taking photos.

Current state - after serious tidying  ( I often have to push piles aside to use the cutting mat)

On the left, my trusted Pfaff nicknamed Victoria

On the right, the photo corner with tripod and light box under the table 

 

On the left, ribbon stash pins, needles, scissors etc

On the right, threads, fabric cutters and other sharp objects 

 

On the left, more ribbons and lace trim, labels and printable fabrics

On the right buttons and beading supplies

My button collection

Notions : trims, bias tape, velcro, elastic, snaps, more ribbon, more lace.

Botton shelf : satin, fabric flowers, glue

Middle shelf - Fat quarters and more thread

To shelf: Provence prints, velvets, corduroy,wool cloth

Bottom shelf: black and white calicos and solids, brocades, tulle and chiffons

Middle shelf: cotton prints - for quilting and dressmaking

Top shelf: special projects 4 quilts are brewing there.

Usually in the bottom cabinet:

Bottom box: minky and flannels

Middle box: fleece

Top box: Vintage lace and wide lace trims

2 boxes of scrap

On the left, smaller, for doll clothing and scrappy projects

On the right, larger pieces up to fat quarter size

Not pictured : batting for 2 of the quilts in project, poly beads and poly stuffing, various weight of stiffener and interfacing, foam, spray paint and spray adhesive, I bin of donated clothing item waiting for upcycling.

This past 2 weekends I did some de cluttering that warranted a trip to goodwill. Tomorrow is day 1 of the challenge, I'm ready to bust some stash.
Oh and You can still sign up here