apple picking pants

Posted on October 13, 2015

apples2

I bought this great fabric when it was released – it’s the cotton canvas apple print from Melody Miller’s Picnic collection. The kids caught me browsing fabric one day and immediately requested pants out of it. Hazel picked this colorway, and Max this one.

apples

I washed the fabric as soon as it arrived, but then promptly forgot about it. Then suddenly last week I remembered and quickly whipped up some pants for the kids. Apple pants while picking apples? I just couldn’t resist!

apples3
(one apple up on top, two, two apples up on top!)

apples4

The pattern is a favorite around here – Rae’s Parsley Pants. The fit is perfect every time, though I do add about 2-3 inches in the length, as these kids are kinda tall.

apples6

I haven’t made much in the way of kids clothing lately, but making these pants reminded me that I should. It’s fun to be able to make something unique out of fun fabric, and of course it’s always nice to see how excited the kids are when I show them something I’ve made for them (I realize that won’t last forever, so I best get sewing now!)

apples5

Posted in Clothing, Fabric | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Fall Migration

Posted on October 7, 2015

fallmigration

It’s kind of appropriate that this quilt was finished now, as the colors resemble many of the Fall leaves outside. As it so happens, I actually finished the quilt top last Fall, but then procrastinated (as I do!) in finishing it up. When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to get to the quilting, I opted instead to send it off to Gina, and she quickly worked her magic!

fallmigration7

I love leaving the quilting up to her – it’s always a fun surprise to see what she selects. For this one, she used a nice loose wavy line running vertically. I think it complements the herringbone design quite nicely!

fallmigration6

The quilt, as you might recall, is made up of a mix of Denyse Schmidt Hadley prints and some coordinating Cotton + Steel basics, and was intended for Max’s new (at the time!) twin bed. I set off the prints with lots of white space in a modern herringbone design.

fallmigration4

Max picked the orange floral backing, and then I bound it in one of the brown prints from that line. It’s already at home on his bed, or on the floor (more often the case) and he seems quite pleased to have a new quilt on his bed! (and I love a happy quilt recipient!)

fallmigration3

Posted in [search] Strip Quilts, Fabric, Finished Quilts, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Mendocino log cabins

Posted on September 22, 2015

mendocinologcabin

Look, look! I (finally!) finished a quilt top. This was probably the biggest reason for the lack of productivity this summer (by the way, it’s another boy!). I finally feel interested in sewing again, and there’s even a bit of time for it now that Max is back in preschool, but then we started a construction project at our house which displaced my sewing space. This one was finished up at the dining room table amid the plastic walls and construction noise.

mendocinologcabin2

I received a surprise fat quarter bundle from Windham Fabrics a while ago of the reissue of Heather Ross’s Mendocino. It seems I just can’t resist Heather’s prints, because even though I still wasn’t really feeling up for sewing, I found myself diving into my stash for coordinating prints and cutting them all up into strips for this log cabin quilt.

mendocinologcabin4

I like the mix of prints in this line – lots of bold colors but then also a number of low volume prints on white or peachy-colored backgrounds. I opted to use the orange, gold, fuchsia and plum colored prints from this line for this quilt (though don’t worry, the reissue does include those great aquas and browns too!)

mendocinologcabin5

I’ve always been intrigued by this type of log cabin quilt, but have always shied away as I find log cabin blocks a bit slow to construct. I opted to make 10-15 at at a time and chain pieced them and was pleased to find that they came together rather quickly.

mendocinologcabin3

I thought I’d make it baby sized, but then realized I should really up the number of blocks and make it more of a bed sized quilt for Hazel. It should end up about 60″ x 75″ or so, which should work well in a toddler bed (and hey, should she decide she’s not into it, I’ll gladly put it to use myself as a nice lap quilt!)

mendocinologcabin6

It was really fun to get to sew with Heather’s fabulous Mendocino line again! Thanks, Windham Fabrics, for giving me the opportunity to do so! The reissue of Mendocino will be available next March, I believe.

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts, Quilt Blocks | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments