September Quilt

Quick, before September is over, I have to post my September quilt.  This Split Rail quilt was probably one of the first ones my sister, Tamia and I made back in 1998. She and I made matching wall hanging quilts for each month of the year. It was a wonderful learning experience.  When we found the apple fabric, we knew that had to be for September and we looked for fabrics to coordinate with the apples.  It's a simple design and easy to make without messing up on.  If I were to do it again, I would probably make the strips and squares smaller so there would be more of them, but I still like it just fine.

Curtain

You know, it's funny what you learn as you talk with the designer and learn a little about what goes into putting together a photo shoot.  Sometimes there's very little fabric sent to make something with, and it's up to the designer to come up with something smashing to show off the fabric when there's not much to work with.  Trenna does a fabulous job.  In this case, there was enough fabric for me to make one curtain which she will, with a close up, be able to allude to the set.  After all, who only has one curtain hanging by their window?  The fun part about this one is that there is the bottom fabric (I believe the name is Yasmin) and the coordinating fabric (named Kasbah) that I needed to match up the pattern exactly. This is folded in quarters, so you are only seeing half of the bottom, but you get the idea, I hope.

Chic Chevron Clutch and Pink Confetti Border Dress

More from this weeks sewing:
The new and very glamorous fabric line with lots of pink, mint, white and gold (some of the pillow covers posted earlier this week are from the same line).  Here is a sweet retro pattern dress from Butterick Retro '60 (B5748), or at least the bodice is from that pattern, the skirt, to show off the border gold confetti dots, we used the same skirt as for the blue and white dress.

The Chic Chevron clutch is just a pattern I made up on the spot.  You do what you gotta do.  Trenna will jazz it up even more with a classy pin or someones pretty hand and jewelery.  Of course, you only get to see the finished product as I give it back to her.  She's the one that makes them shine.

Sushi Apron

More from this weeks sewing marathon. As a quilter, my first impression of a fabric is how well it can be used in a quilt.  Of course I know there are other uses for fabric, but I'm afraid that is always the first thing I think about.  This Michael Miller fabric is a bit of a mystery for me as to the best way to use it, but I think making it into an apron was a much better plan than making boxers as was suggested originally to Trenna.

Lots of Pillows

Trenna's super busy this week which means Em and I are also super busy sewing for her.  Woo Hoo!  Yesterday and today we made a whole bunch of pillows form covers in the new fabulous Michael Miller fabric coming out soon.  Fun, fun!

Don't Let the Birds Do the Dishes Dress Photo Shoot

These, too, are some of the photos that Trenna took of the dresses we made. The details of the fabric and patterns are in the original post on the dress from 9-1-13.  Love the retro hair-do and buggy to go with the dress! Fabulous!

Blue and White Dress

Trenna sent me some photos of her photo shoot of some of the dresses we had made for it.  Details on the fabric and pattern are in the post entitled Bleu et Blanc Porcelain Dress from 8-29-13. Here is the lovely dress in the photo I liked best.

Bird - Now - Skirt

A lovely, vivacious lady commissioned a skirt that she designed. It has a cut out semi-circle in front, a bird appliqued on with hand stitching around it and the word NOW embroidered in the stitch line above the back of the bird. Here it is.

Pajamas

Another item made for Trenna Travis. These were exciting to make.  Not because the PJs themselves were so amazing, but because of the deadlines.  Trenna left for CA on Sunday, Michael Miller got the fabric on Tuesday and over-nighted it to us, we made the PJs by Wednesday evening and they were over-nighted on Thursday to arrive Friday morning for a photo shoot on Friday.  Fortunately the shoot ended up being changed to Saturday, because the shipping company delivered it to the wrong address and it wasn't until Friday evening that the package was found and delivered to the right place.  I don't think I would like to deal with that kind of stress on a regular basis.

The fabric is called Fannie by Michael Miller Fabrics. The pattern is Butterick B5537.

Below the picture of the PJs on the table, are a couple of the pictures Trenna took.  Way better photographer than I. ;-)

She makes these look GOOD!

Houndstooth Quilt Finished

 It's finally DONE!!!!! It only took 67 hours for this queen sized quilt to be pieced, hand quilted and bound, but because it was mostly through the summer when kids were home from school, what could have been done in under a month took 3-1/2 months.  Remind me never to undertake anything important in the summer.  But, it's beautiful, if I do say so myself (which I do). The colors in the photo don't do it justice since the room I was in was a north facing room with not enough light to take a good picture, and I certainly didn't want to take it outside where the bright white fabric could get dirty.

Pillows and Little Bag for Trenna

I was looking on Pinterest under Michael Miller for things to re-pin that I had made and saw some photos of some pillows that looked familiar.  "I think I made those," I though, but I wasn't positive.  Then, when I was looking through some photos of the past year to find a picture of my youngest for his preschool bulletin board, I came across some things that I made for Trenna, and there they were on my living room couch.  Proof that I really did make them.  Unfortunately I didn't write down the name of the fabric lines, though I know they are all Michael Miller.  Here are some fabulous bright and sunny pinks, oranges and greens. Some pillows and a cute little drawstring bag/purse.

Toy Play Mat

I'm back!  I love this one that I made as an example for a class I taught at Fabric Nosherie. This is an easy to make play mat for Legos, cars, Play Mobile or a variety of toys that seem to spread out and you want to keep them contained. When you are done playing in an area, simply pull the string along the outside and it pulls it together into a handy carrying bag with all the toys inside. Carry to the next location to play, or put it away and pull it out the next time you are ready.  Perfect!

Mazed Quilt

I know I posted a picture of this Mazed quilt before, but I just found some pictures I took within the last year and thought I should start posting them.  The reason I'm posting it again is because of the picture I took of the back, showing a fun way to quilt it.  I quilted only in the background fabric on the top which left the back still giving the essence of the maze on the front.  I like it and it was super easy to do, especially for a beginner quilter.

Those who visit my blog regularly, please bear with me.  I will be gone for the next week for thyroid cancer treatment, but will post when I get back.

Dress - Don't Let the Birds Do the Dishes

Dress made from Michael Miller fabric entitled, "Don't Let the Birds Do the Dishes." Made by my sister, Emerald from a Retro '52 Butterick pattern (B5032) for Trenna Travis Design Studio. You can't see it in the picture, but the sash has long tails that could be tied in a huge bow or a knot and hang to the bottom of the skirt.  It's hard to take pictures on the dress form when the form is a size small, but the dresses are petite sizes.  One has to do some finagling to make it look like the dress is being worn by the form.