Warmth in the North

nothing much going on

    I'm not up to much of anything but there are a few things I'd forgotten to post.  First up is my plain, little name tag.  I'm going to the Sewing Summit in a few weeks and I hate wearing name tags.  You might think those two things are unrelated but conventions sort of require name tags, don't they?  They are providing some but I saw that other people were making their own and it got me thinking.  Maybe, just maybe, if I make my own I'll not be such a grouch when I wear it.

    Some bunting with my name stitched in my writing and I was done.  It's pretty tiny, less than 2"x3" but I really like it and it should do the trick.  Jeni, Amanda, and Faith all have pretty fantastic handmade name tags, if you're looking for some inspiration.  

    In entirely unrelated news, on Friday this lovely little card was in my post office box.  I'm fairly certain that it's for all the do. Good Stitches circles that have sent quilts to My Very Own Blanket but it was so nice to get such a sweet card in the mail.  As a bonus they called me Ms. Kennedy, which is fairly hilarious, sort of like being called ma'am by people at least twice my age.  Yes, the things I get enjoyment from are quite silly.

a makeup roll

    After seeing Erin's review of Rachel's makeup roll pattern for Travel Handmade, I knew there was one in my future.  It's the brush storage that drew me in, mine always get chucked to the bottom of the makeup bag, seeing them all lined up is so nice.  Armed with some Heirloom and a bit of Kona Hibiscus, I made my own and it'll be coming along with me to the Sewing Summit.

    The pattern is very detailed and easy to follow, I'm tempted to make a few more as Christmas gifts.  The only change I made was to use an hair elastic rather than a crochet loop fastener.  It's a little bit of a cheat, instead of needing to know exactly how full the roll will always be, the elastic creates a bit of wiggle room.  I can't wait to fill it up and take it along with me to fun and exciting places.

little luxuries

    I've been playing with some tiny bits of Liberty of London tana lawn for the last few days.  There's no way I'll ever be able to make an entire quilt out of Liberty fabrics, they're hard to get your hands on and pricey.  I do have a plan that just might let me make the most out of every bit that I do have.  It involves a lifetime of English paper piecing, my new addiction, so I'd better get started. 

my abby tote

   

    Here's my new fall bag and one of my entries into Celebrate Color for September.  It's the Abby tote from V and Co with a few mods.  I've been wanting to make this bag for a while and when I saw this fabric from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom, I knew it would be mine. 

    Everyone was out of fusible fleece so I just used some leftover batting and added it to the outside fabric during the gathering stage.  The pattern doesn't call for any lining other than the second fabric but I wanted to add a bit of padding.  I also added some leftover interfacing to the top bands and the handles.  The last thing I changed was practical but a little bit sad... the wonderful bow has been shortened.  I'll never use it as a scarf and it was bound to come undone and go trailing in the mud and snow.
      It's wonderful that the tote is reversible although I'm in love with the Rose Bouquet in Gold so it might not get flipped inside out all that often.  The one downside to it being reversible is that there are no pockets.  I should have just added some anyway but didn't think of it while sewing.

    My Abby bag is already in use, carrying all my many things to work.  It easily fits my laptop, lunch and everything else that I feel compelled to drag everywhere. I really do love it and it's going to be coming along with me to the Sewing Summit in a few weeks. 

for the love of solids

    A while ago I joined For the Love of Solids on Flickr.  It's my first swap in a reeaally long time and was a ton of fun. We had to make make our partner one large item and one small item using only solids.  Let me tell you it was harder than I thought. 

   This pillow cover has already been mailed off to my partner.  It took me forever to decided what to make her, I tried to use the colours she mentioned and poured over her inspiration mosaic and photo stream trying to figure out what she'd like.  I settled on the simple plus pattern because it tends to make the fabrics the star of the show without being boring. 

    While I like the pillow I love this little pouch.  It's my first attempt at English paper piecing and I think the hexies turned out really well.  I used this tutorial for a make-up bag but I imagine my partner can use it for whatever she likes.  I stuffed it with a few other goodies and along with the pillow cover put it in the mail last week.  Now I'm waiting and hoping she likes everything.

a dead simple quilt

    

    I decided to join Lynne of Lily's Quilts Dead Simple Quilt along and today she posted the fabric requirements.  First we had to pick out palettes for our quilts and I choose this one from Design Seeds.  It's almost all shades of gray but I love it.  If you look in my closet at any given moment you'll see a disproportionate amount of gray, it's my colour of choice.  For some reason I shy away from it in quilting, so this is the prefect opportunity for me to play with my favorite colour.

    This morning right after I read the fabric requirements I reached into my stash and started picking out fabric.  All of the deeper purples come from Heirloom and those lighter grayish purples are from Parisville but everything else is really randomly chosen.  I'm in love with the stack of fabric and can't wait to start cutting.

pfft

    All my knitting is in this exact state.  Almost done with some made up problem keeping me from spending a bit of time finishing it off.  At the moment I despise all the turning required to knit on this lace boarder and have gone on strike.  Hopefully my sanity will return and I'll get back to knitting because I really, really want to wear this.  Autumn is coming and my neck is going to be cold soon!

do. Good Stitches :: wonky log cabins

    These are my September contribution to do. Good Stitches, wonky log cabins for Melissa's quilt.  She asked us to use this tutorial and use bright fabrics.  I used it as an excuse to cut into some cute owl fabric from Spoonflower and used them for the centers.  All the other fabrics were just grab out of the stash and I'm hoping they're bright enough. 

    I'm also a touch unhappy with where those owls are sitting in the blocks.  I wish I'd managed to get them centered, in both blocks they're sitting on the upper right hand side of the blocks.  Once again wonky does me in, I think I over think it but I'm going to keep trying.

Celebrate Colour

    Have you heard about Celebrate Colour?  There are all sorts of categories, wearables, home dec, yarn, and needlepoint.  Almost everything is covered and you don't have to make something every month which is just my pace.  Plus as autumn has well and truly arrived here, it'll be nice to look on the good side of autumn as opposed to dreading the coming winter.

    I found these pictures in my Flickr! favorites and they're exactly what I miss about fall.  It's all brown and yellow up here but growing up everything was rich and vibrant.  Reds, purples and golden hues are everywhere in southern Ontario.  I'll be using those colours again over the next few months, as well as watching everyone else having fun with the colours of the season.

little bunting pouch

    This little pouch has been on my to do list for a little while now and it's finally finished.  It doesn't really have any purpose but I wanted to play around with bunting and all these scraps were just calling out to be used.  It currently contains all my hexies supplies which had been scattered across the coffee table so it is coming in handy.

    The photo isn't very detailed but I used fusible web and then machine appliqued it onto the muslin.  Pretty straightforward but I'm thinking of trying it out on a larger scale for a little baby quit and wanted to see if it would work without being too much of a pain.  I'm not exactly sure if raw edges are a good idea for a baby but I love my little pouch anyway.