Plain Jane or Flamenco?

I have to say that the money I spent on a subscription for Ottobre was money well spent. I think that I love just about everything I see in the magazine!

This skirt is from the 01-2007 issue (#15). I love it! I had bought this very bright pique from Gorgeous Fabrics about a month ago. I wanted to make something that would show off the print but also be fun. Rachael saw this skirt, said that she liked it, and I considered it for a few days. The front of the skirt is just a simple A-line skirt.

When you get a look at the back of the skirt, there is a little bit of a surprise.


Yes, that is 7 rows of flounces! I love the flamenco dancer look. How fun! The only other embellishment this skirt has is on the waist ties.

You can read my review of this skirt here.

Hi Addie!

My Apron Swap Partner, Addie, let me know that she received her apron yesterday! She told me that she wore it while cooking dinner last night and will soon have a picture up on her blog. I'm so thankful that she enjoyed it. Sometimes it can be hard to make a gift for a person that you don't really know (or that you do know).



Addie wanted to know where she can get the book that I used for the apron. I bought mine at a quilt store in Conroe, TX., but I did a quick Google for it and found it here for less than what I paid. I also saw that Cindy Taylor Oates has several other books and I believe that I will have to put them on my wish list.



I'm going to give you a sneak peek at what I'm sewing right now.

This is from Gorgeous Fabrics and it is a wonderfully heavy, skirt-weight pique with very vibrant colors.

Have a wonderful day!

Pocketful of Cherries

I wanted to show how I did the pocket for the apron that I made.

The first thing I did was to draw the pocket shape, the stems and the cherries. I was careful not to get too close to the seam line.

I cut a 1" bias strip in the darker green, folded it in half and ironed it. I then placed it on the line that I had drawn and stitched a scant 1/4". I folded the extra bit over the raw edge and sewed it into place using a blind hem stitch.



I traced around a large spool of thread onto the red pique for the cherry shape. I sewed just about 1/8" into the inside edge of the cherry. I left the edges raw. I considered stuffing the cherries but decided against it.



I free-hand cut the leaf shape and used a running stitch through the middle to gather it into two leaves. I placed them over the end of the stems and started to sew at the top center going to the right. As I came back around the bottom of the leaf, I put a little bit of stuffing into it and continued to sew it closed. I then sewed over the gathering stitches and finished the other leaf the same way. As you can see, I also left the edges of the leaves raw.



Once the applique was done, all that was needed was to cut out the pocket shape, sew rick-rack around the edges, and then sew a second pocket to face the appliqued pocket. Turn and press. Voila!


What do you think?

Cherries Jubilee

Well, what do y'all think? The apron turned out even better than I imagined it. The apron was very simple to put together. I can definitely recommend Cindy Taylor Oates patterns!

I ordered my fabric last week on Wednesday from Farmhouse Fabrics. They have wonderful fabrics and excellent customer service. I received the package on Friday morning. That's fast. Look at how pretty they package their fabric!

This is all of the materials that I used for the apron. From Farmhouse Fabrics, I ordered a pink pique printed with cherries, a solid pink pique, red medium width rick-rack, and this adorable red gingham elastic ribbon. I bought 2 fat quarters in different shades of green at a local quilt store and used a scrap of red pique from a previous project.

I used the printed pique for the entire apron. I put the rick-rack around the top of the flounce and around the inside of the neckline. I used the gingham ribbon around the bottom of the flounce and around the outside of the apron.

I'm excited. I plan to send the apron, along with a dish towel (from Target), that is printed with cherries, and two recipes that a friend found for me that contain cherries.

Yikes!

Well, I finished my apron today, and because of bad weather I can't upload my pictures! I'm so irritated.

The theme for this apron swap is "Summer." All fabrics must be pre-washed and dried, and have some sort of embellishment (rick-rack, fancy trim, or decorative stitching, but must be washable, so no glue). The apron must be adult sized, and must include a dish or tea towel (does not have to be homemade). I also have to include a recipe for a non-alcoholic summer beverage.

I thought a lot about what summer means to me and thought about summer memories from my childhood. I grew up in Houston, TX., but every summer my mom would send me to her hometown of Beckville, TX., to spend the summer months with my grandmothers. She always came up for the Sharp Family Reunion and I would go home with her then. I loved those summers, I would walk along the railroad tracks or just wander off until dark and it was time to come in. I could walk to the library and check out too many books. I would hang out at my grandmother's cleaners and I learned how to work the ancient cash register. And there was always lots of fruit and vegetables, grown fresh in my grandfather's garden.

Do you have any favorite summer memories?

One Word

HUGE!


Okay, so I have more than one word! Cody's quilt is officially finished. It has been washed and dried; folded and put up. On to other sewing. YEA!

Still Quilting

After you sew all of those little rectangles, sew 7, wrong sides together, for 1 row. Make 8 rows. Sew each row together, wrong sides together. You then clip the seams about every 1/2". This will become the "chenille" when washed. This makes a quilt about 44" x 66". It is extremely messy! So far, I've managed to complete the top half the of quilt and will spend the day (after schoolwork) sewing on the bottom half.

The picture is the top left hand corner of Cody's quilt. It is going to be just a little bigger than anticipated. Oh well, he likes to wrap up in a quilt on the couch, this will give him plenty to wrap around himself.

Apron Swap Update

I receive the email about my partner, and it is supposed to be a secret, so don't ask! I'm dying to know who has me! :) I think that I have pretty much decided to go with an apron from "Retro Aprons" by Cindy Taylor Oates. I love the simplicity of the aprons in this book. You could make the same style apron over and over using different fabrics and trims and it would never look the same.

I am going to get started just as soon as I finish Cody's quilt. I can't wait.

Have a wonderful day!

Quilting for Cody

ETA: None of these fabrics have been pre-washed, so if you do want the leftovers, please keep this mind.

Okay, so I'm about to admit to what is almost blasphemy in some circles. I do not like to quilt. That is, it just doesn't relax me the way sewing clothes for myself/my children does, so I don't do it. I'm sure that I can not be the only person that prefers one type of sewing over another. Anyone?

Anyway, before Cody went back to work at the end of February, he asked me to make another quilt for the couch. The current one is old and ragged. He wanted an LSU quilt. I asked if he wanted a fleece blanket, but no, he wanted an actual quilt. Now, I don't know how many of y'all are familiar with LSU, but the school colors are gaudy at best.* Bright purple, and bright yellow. Yeah, I think that will go real well with the burgundy couch and green chair in the living room. (I hope my sarcasm is coming through.)

So, one day while shopping at PlainandFancy Quilts** I saw that they had a kit for a star chenille quilt, the fabrics were all plaids and stripes, mostly darker fabrics (with purple included). I thought about it for a couple of weeks, and finally decided to go back and buy four packages to get the size quilt Cody wanted.

The package comes with instructions and 14, 1/2 yard cuts of fabric. You cut each 1/2 yard into 2 8" strips. Then cut the strips into 9.5" rectangles (for a total of 8 rectangles from each fabric). Then cut batting into 6 x 7.5" rectangles. All I have to say is that I am so thankful for rotary cutters.



You layer a piece of the batting between two rectangles and sew 5/8" away from the edge, then sew a star in the middle going all the way to the seam lines. This anchors the batting so it won't scrunch up later on. Then cut of the corners, like in the picture.


So, that is where I am at so far. I've done three of the packages and am going to try to get the fourth done today.

Is there anyone who reads this, that is into strip piecing quilts? I would be more than happy to mail you the scraps left over. Let me know, please.



*I don't care for the colors but I do like the school, okay? Don't shoot!

**I may not like to quilt but I DO like fabric and quilt stores always have great cotton fabrics.