my first completed quilt on my own!

I had to throw that last bit in because when I was in high school, my grandma helped me to make a quilt for my full size bed. At the age of 16, when all I wanted to do was hang out with my first boyfriend and drive around in my very own car, I was forced to spend many hours hand quilting with my grandma. Of course I had no patience for it and gave up, but it was a nice quilt anyways.

So onto my very first quilt made all by myself! I used Amy Butler's Mid Mod Pattern (available for free here!) but I reduced the size of the bordering fabric to make it lap size. Figured I'd start small.

Here it is! I used a blue/brown/white color combination. All the fabrics are from my stash! That is what I'm truly proud of I think. Even the surrounding teal was on hand, I just had to purchase the backing (white Kona solid) and the brown binding. Because I didn't purchase any new fabrics to match specifically for this project, I don't think they all jive perfectly, but that's part of the beauty of it. It reminds me of the colorful quilts my great-grandma used to make using scraps of old clothing and feedsacks.

A close up of the quilting. I decided to go simple to avoid getting discouraged, and it still took me forever to quilt. I stitched in the ditch on each strip in kind of a blocky zigzag way. It was actually pretty efficient. On the teal, I just went in squares around the nine patch about an inch away from each other. I decided not to mark it and just eyeball the distance. It's actually pretty consistent and it looks handmade in a good way.

And a side note about this kitty bed I made for our two cats - they can't stand it! I'm trying to draw them away from my furniture, it's tiresome vacuuming the dining room chairs every week. The pattern used is the Moroccan Pillow from an older issue of Stitch magazine. If anyone is interested I can look up the exact details. I think I stuffed it too much. I've never seen either of them use it, but I looked and there was some fur on the top, so one of them must have tested it out when we weren't home. So far, I've only seen them lay next to it though. I used fabrics from Jessica Jones' first collection.

Maybe one day I'll be able to snap a picture of a kitty enjoying the pillow! Eh, probably not.

quilts galore!

Ok I have to admit I have been a little bit obsessed with quilts lately. I browse quilt blogs at work (during lunch only of course!!!), spend half my evening pairing up my stash fabrics for possible future quilts, and I have been slowly finishing a couple works in progress. Here is one quilt that made it to the end this weekend!

This was a baby shower gift for someone at work. Can you tell it's going to be a boy? I never much liked sewing for boys but these fabrics are just adorable! I really loved picking out the blues and greens, which is their color scheme. Also, this is a super speedy quilt to throw together. I first saw the technique at craftlog and have made several over the years. Instead of embroidering x's at the junctions, I used a fancy asterisk stitch on my electronic sewing machine.

The backing is an ultra soft cuddly polka dot fabric. I think I need to make a quilt for myself with this backing! You can't see the batting (obviously) but I decided to splurge for a natural bamboo that was much more expensive than my usual natural cotton. I think I'm hooked now though! It added a very nice weight, which could partially be attributed to the backing I suppose. The real hook for me was that the quilt top stuck to it well but the batting didn't stick to itself like the cotton does.

And here's the set, I also made a Peanut from the book "Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts"! He is too cute, it's a great pattern. The only thing that threw me was the placement of the eyes. Going by the pattern it really looks funny, and it's completely different than the photo. Next time I'll just "eyeball" it! (I <3 puns, sorry!) Also, I left off the yarn tail since this is a gift for a newborn.

So back to quilts, I also finished a lap quilt that has been a WIP for at least a year. It was half quilted too! Not sure what the holdup was on that. Once we get away from this dreary weather I'll take some photos. The results of attempting to take photos on a super rainy day are above. Can't wait to start my next quilt!

sigh

It has been that kind of month. At least Key Lime Pie is just as delicious upside down, although considerably more difficult to eat. I am sad finishing off this particular pie though, it was purchased to eat on the last night hanging out with my awesome BFF before she moved over 400 miles away! And so this leftover pie signifies that she is already gone. So sad.

Also a sad day for london purple, because she really was the key sales force at craft fairs and the inspiration and official Bag Namer for several bags. I supposed the good news is that I have even more motivation to get into Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this September. Chicago is not far from her new home in Milwaukee, so she can join me behind the table once again!

What a different mood from my last post. Sorry the photo is so awful, the camera was almost dead so I hurried, and of course the pie was almost gone by the time I uploaded the photo. Hopefully next time I will have better news and better photos!

happy things

What's been going on since my last post? Been doing some sewing, I have a couple awesome custom orders in progress. I haven't been able to sew as much as I'd like because I've got pneumonia. =( Hopefully I'm almost over it though. Some things that cheer me up...

Hot chocolate on a cold day with tons of marshmallows! Sure to ease a sore throat.

My goofy niece who just turned four and loves to pick out her own clothes.

Safflower - possibly the new color of my sewing room!

New Design - Kindle Case!

My Christmas gift from Tom this year was a Kindle! Anyone who knows me would definitely agree this is a great gift because I love to read. We spent two weeks in Hawaii for our honeymoon and my biggest complaint was that I couldn't pack enough books because of the weight! I think this is what inspired him to get me the Kindle. Well anyways, it seemed so small and vulnerable in my purse and it somehow got a scratch on the keyboard, so I went to work and created a nice padded case for it!

I've really been loving patchwork and quilting lately (you may notice I've added some quilting blogs to my favorites!) and of course I love pink, so this is what I came up with. The base is a nice soft, heavy linen in sort of a creamy grey shade. I added two layers of cotton quilt batting and sandwiched it with a plain muslin before quilting, just because batting on the bottom always clogs up my machine.

The inside is this wonderfully soft pink cotton from Prints Charming. I'm not sure why, but it is really the softest quilting cotton fabric I've ever used. That's why I chose it for the lining.

This is definitely going to be a new product for london purple. In fact, I've already got a commission for one! Someone at work saw it and will be ordering one for his daughter-in-law, with Steelers fabric! Speaking of the Steelers, as it's Super Bowl Sunday, I must say Go Packers! (I'm from Cleveland, it's just on principal.)

And it's been awhile since I've had some kitteh love in the blog. This is DST, remember there are some pictures of him from way back when he was teeny tiny? Now he's big and a little bit fuzzy, and he became really attached to this piece of tulle. So we keep it in the living room for him to lay in =D

london purple is BACK!

Whew it has been awhile! I had a busy 2010 crafting for my wedding, but with the new year I am ready to kick london purple into high gear! My sewing machine has been abuzz for the past few months, mostly making some gifts for friends and items for around the house. I've been playing around with patchwork and quilting, and I am excited to incorporate these techniques into some of my products this year. Below are some photos of my latest projects. It seems like I have a log cabin fetish now!

This was my Christmas gift to my grandma's this year. They are quilted log cabin wall hangings. They have the same favorite colors - purple and yellow - but each one prefers one more than the other so they're slightly different on the bindings.

A little patchwork pincushion for my sister. Her gift was a pretty grey and yellow sewing basket filled with goodies, so I made a matching pincushion for her! I got the idea to make it a mini log cabin pattern from Pink Penguin's blog.

And finally, I'm working on a new london purple product for the home, quilted patchwork potholders! This is a prototype that I'm planning to give to my BFF. Her kitchen has sort of a red theme, so I hope they look good! It will be a set with a matching trivet.

I'm so excited to get london purple going again so keep following my blog to see new products and projects!

I'm in the Spotlight!

This week I'm being featured in the Spotlight on lillyella's blog! Make sure to check out the interview and enter for a chance to win a West End Clutch in the color of your choice!

On a side note, sorry I've been absent from the blog lately. Usually I blog while eating lunch at work, and I've been so busy that I work straight through my lunch! Then I come home and sew all evening. It's good to be busy though, so I'm not complaining.

Make sure to check out the new items I have in my shop!

Whew it's been so long I almost forgot how to code links in html. I've got to update more often! I'll try to post again later in the week. More shop updates to come later!