I'm finally sewing again!

Wow... it's been over a month since I've sat down at my sewing machine!  I guess when you move, other things take priority.  Like scrubbing down the insides and undersides of all your kitchen cabinets. How did they get food there??  Or spending all your free time coordinating viewing and delivery of Craigslist furniture.  Or mopping every surface you thought of and then some.


Anyways, what am I sewing?  I'm working on my Planetarium quilt using vintage sheets.  I've separated my sheets into warm and cool colors and the cool colors set is finished.  Just making more quarter square triangle sets in warm colors and then I'll be ready for sashing!  Woohoo.  It feels great to start sewing again!

Work in Progress Wednesday

I've been plugging away at making what feels like a zillion hour glass blocks using my vintage sheets stash.  I finished all of the cool hourglass blocks yesterday and now I need to sew them into 9 patch units.  This is going to be a great version of Elizabeth's Planetarium quilt!  Here's my first post on this quilt.  

Playing around with vintage sheets

When I first started sewing again a few years ago, I had a very small fabric budget and was scared to actually cut into expensive fabric store fabric.  What if I messed it up??  The first blog I started reading back in the day was Oh,Fransson! and Elizabeth had a great quilt using vintage sheets.  I started finding them at thrift shops and even participated in a couple rounds of vintage sheet swaps on Flickr.  I didn't get around to using a lot of them before I moved, so I gave some away and kept my favorites.

Fast forward a year or two and I was cleaning out my sewing area.  I found my favorite vintage sheet bundle and the Planetarium quilt from The Practical Guide to Patchwork was the perfect use for these great pieces!  I am very impatient and couldn't make 160 hourglass blocks before putting together one whole block.  So here's what I've come up with.  The original quilt used solids to frame the blocks, but I'm on a fabric diet and decided to use my stash.  I love Lizzy House jewels!  Only 15 more blocks to go... :)

My Precious Part 3

I've had this quilt top done for awhile now, pushed to the back of the pile, waiting to finally be loved.  I found the sweetest, perfect vintage sheet to use for the backing and I am proud to say I've finally finished my precious vintage sheet quilt!

The pattern is called New Wave by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh,Fransson!  I was in a couple vintage sheet FQ swaps awhile back and these were some of my favorites.  One of them is the same print my mom had in college :)  

For the quilting, I just followed along the block edges 1/4" away from either seam.  Kind of boring but I feel like I've been stuck in a quilting rut lately, doing mostly straight line stuff.  My new quilting book from Angela Walters came in the mail today, so I'm hopefully going to start quilting more creatively in the future!

Finish it up Friday

Everyone loves a finish!  This quilt is made from vintage sheets that I swapped for on Flickr and used Oh!Fransson's Mod Sampler quilt pattern.  I had made this quilt using 1930s repro prints too - one of my first quilts actually.  I love seeing how different they are even though the blocks are exactly the same!  

My favorite part of this quilt is the vintage sheet on the back.  Isn't it mod fabulous?  I quilted with straight lines in a diamond pattern and along the sashing too.  I really love this quilt, but I've decided to give it to my dear friend Caitlin who really came through for me in a desperate time of need.  I'm pretty sure she'll think it's as fabulous as I think it is :)

Finally using my vintage sheets!

I've participated in 2 rounds of vintage sheet fat quarter swaps on Flickr over a year ago.  I was so excited about them, and then I couldn't figure out what to do with them!  So they've been sitting in a drawer, ignored and abandoned!  When I had to organize and pack stuff to move, I decided to do something about it.  I chose my favorite pieces and cut out 2 quilt tops, then the rest were mailed to another lovely blogger who will most certainly make some awesome items from them!  


So without further ado, feel free to ogle my vintage sheet version of Oh! Fransson's Mod Sampler quilt.  I've made this one before in 1930s repro prints, and I thought it would be fun to revisit in a more, well Mod, way :D  At first I was really nervous with the green sashing I'd selected, but now I totally love it!  I've been waiting so long to find the perfect project for the bold, large flowered sheet, and it will be the perfect backing.  Sigh... so adorable!

the final layout

sampling the sashing

doesn't it make the blocks pop?

the perfect backing!

My current list of projects:

Tops that need binding:

Michael Miller Antiquity table runner (still)

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

DS Quilts Zig Zag

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Tops in pieces:
Cherish Nature Circle in Squares
Hunky Dory Pandora's Box

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 0

Finished projects this week: 0  

Vintage Sheet Swap Project #1 Completed!

Hello!  I know I'm sort of sporadic about my posts.  I've moved for my new job and had training and all, so I've been busy decorating and learning etc. etc.  I have managed to finish my first project from my lovely stash of vintage sheet fat quarters.  


I stumbled upon the lovely Pink Penguin blog awhile ago after I had purchased the Spring 2010 issue of Stitch magazine.  The author, Ayumi Takahashi, had a plastic bag dispenser featured in the magazine.  She has great tutorials on her blog too.  I decided the Quilted Placemats Tutorial would be a perfect way to showcase some of my vintage sheets in my new apartment.  I say perfect because, frankly, I was scared to cut big pieces out of my fat quarters!

I finished 2 placemats and am pretty happy with how they turned out.  I did make a few mistakes that should make the next versions come out improved.  I skipped the spray on basting step and after I was finished quilting the white center, the placemats were a little more like a rhombus than a rectangle!  I think next time I'll quilt the white before sewing the patchwork strips on the edges to make sure it's straight.  I guess I had a mental block when I was sewing the bias tape on.  I used purchased double fold bias tape and machine stitched it to the back of the placement.  Duh - now the front has hand stitching showing instead of a nice straight line!  Oops...  

The patchwork edge is an assortment of vintage sheets.  The white fabric in the center is Kona linen that was 50% off at Joann.  I bought a ton to make a cathedral window quilt - to be continued later.  The bias tape is Wright double fold bias tape.  I used leftover light loft batting and the back of the placemats is a purple cotton I found in the remnant bin super cheap.  

There's more in the pipelines for my vintage sheet stash.  I actually have received my box from a second swap I participated in.  I think my new kitten, Carlton, likes them!  I should probably make something for him soon!  He's fascinated with trying to help me type :/  

Have I mentioned I love garage sales?

I don't think I've told you this before, but I heart garage sales.  The best kind are church sales where everyone brings all their unwanted goodies into one big place = less driving for me :D  


I found some great stuff for my apartment today: Rubbermaid silverware organizer, pizza cutter, and Intuition razer blades that would have cost $12+ for a grand total of $1.00.  Yeah, a buck for all of that.  Love it!  


Meanwhile, here's a picture of my vintage sheet swap collection that I'm busily crafting from.  Sorry I can't show you any works in progress currently, but they'll be up shortly!  Feel free to send some project ideas my way.

Meet the Lovebirds

This weekend one of my sewing projects was to make these lovely little birds I found while perusing flickr.  The pattern is from Spool sewing blog and the inspiring baby mobile from Sew Girly is what I aspire to make.  

I made two from some of my vintage sheets and cut up shirts laying around.  Aren't they sweet?  When I get my fat quarters from the vintage sheet swap I was in, I'm going to make more and complete a mobile.  I love how they perch just so on top of my mom's sewing machine!

That reminds me, my lovely mother told me she went sewing machine shopping for my graduation, and we like the same one!  I can't wait to have my very own Bernina :D

Green Coffee Sleeves

For my sewing project last night, I decided to try something new - coffee sleeves for your hot coffee cup.  They're green for a couple reasons: 1. It's reusable.  2. It's made entirely out of scraps i.e. recycled material.  

My overflowing box of shirt scraps!

I have a lot of scrap material from making my aprons (see my etsy shop!) and the vintage sheet swap I participated in, plus I still have that "found" lime green polar fleece, which I used for batting/insulation.  I tried out two different methods, and I'm not really sure how I feel about these prototypes.  The blue one is made from men's shirt scraps and the yellow one is made from vintage bed sheet scraps.  I was hoping more of the flower print would show, but I think I made it too small.  I did try to quilt the yellow one a little bit with triangles.  After sewing these, I think the polar fleece will be fine insulation, but I didn't like sewing with it and may switch to insulated fusible batting if I pursue these as a potential money maker.  I'd also probably leave it open with Velcro or elastic and a cute button on the end to make it mutli-sizable.  

coffee sleeves (sorry, no coffee cups to fill them with yet!)

Give Aways from The Vintage Sheet Blog

Lately I've been pondering projects from vintage sheets.  Aren't these and these great?  I stumbled across this new blog, The Vintage Sheet Blog,  just in time for the Grand Opening Week give aways.  A new give away every day!  Head over, check it out, and tell them I sent you.  Open until 4/29.