HST quilt

 I started this quilt at the TMQG "rapture" retreat in May. I finished last month, but waited to share until after I had gifted it. I loved the idea of small half square triangles with large areas of solid. Two inch half square triangles are actually VERY small, so it ended up being more work just to make those triangles.

 Of course, silly me, I made too many HSTs, so I had plenty left over from the back. I think I also have enough left for a doll quilt, so that might be happening soon.

I had planned to quilt fully in straight line quilting. I created the first bit of straight line quilting, then tried adding straight lines in between. It was a MESS. I redid it and pulled at things and tried again. Tons of mistakes, bubbles, overlapped lines, etc. I decided that stippling was much more forgiving. After I added the stippling, I actually decided that I liked it better than I would have with all of the straight lines. The straight lines I used really popped in between the stippling.

And, here's a close-up.

I believe the finished size was about 50x70, a couch sized quilt.

Recent Sewing

I have been working on a couple of quilts. One is a gift that I will wait to share, and the other is making me want to stab my own eyes, though I have been plugging away at it. It is making me remember why I don't make many queen size quilts-I get bored LONG before they are finished. Baby or couch sized quilts are perfect for me. So, I wanted to do some other projects, just to avoid the work that I should be doing :) I made the above bag using this tutorial from Made by Rae. It came together really cute, but it was the first bag I've ever made, and I didn't use the right interfacing with my quilting cotton. It is far too floppy, so I will probably leave it hanging in my art room. I will use the tutorial again, though. It's really cute and only uses two fat quarters (seriously.)

I wanted to make a bag for my sister's birthday, so this time I bought a pattern from Made by Rae. I used light interfacing on both fabrics, and like the weight of it much more than the first one. I would recommend this pattern as well.

I've been wanting to make a pillowcase dress for Ashlyn for awhile. I used this tutorial with fabric from my stash. The dress is REALLY big, but, of course, I didn't try it on her until I was totally finished. I could make it shorter easily, but would have to make major adjustments to make it smaller around. At first, Ashlyn liked it, but she then decided that it wasn't made from enough fabrics. Basically, she wanted a dress pretty much like the one I made her last year.

I had already planned on using a peasant dress pattern from Little Lizard King. This was the same place I bought the pdf pattern for the apron knot dress. They were both very easy to follow. I had planned on using different fabrics, but when Ashlyn talked about wanting more than two fabrics, I headed to my stash for the rest of this Mendocino fabric. I plan to add a sash to it (and maybe a pocket,) but she wanted to wear it as soon as I made it (highest compliment.)

And, is it just me or does my little girl look awfully grown up in this photo? 

TMQG sewing day tomorrow. Now to decide if I should work on my queen sized quilt, start a baby quilt, or make myself one of the two skirts I want to have before school starts.