Novel Ideas

New Blog

Hi everyone!

I've made the switch. I am no longer blogging here. You can find me at:

DukeSaysSewWhat.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!

Nov 9, 2011 11:24:03 AM

Nov 9, 2011 11:20:55 AM

Catching up! September 3, 2011

It's been a busy couple of weeks getting the kids ready to go back to school. They both got off to a great start this past week. I surprised Jack with this brownie when he got home. He was thrilled!

Here's Jack before his first day of 4th grade:

Here he is when I told him to stand up straight:

and here are Mitch and his girlfriend, Darian, after their first day of Senior year:

They have almost all of their classes together this year. Isn't that convenient?! Have I mentioned Mitch was elected GHHS President? Oh, I might have, I guess. Just so proud! He organized his first tailgate party by the second day of school. It was the night of our big local rivals high school football game.

Yep, here we are at Costco getting the food. His friend was nice enough to smile for the picture. I can't imagine that my own son would be tired of having his picture taken by Mom's I Phone.

So back to before school started...Jack and I decided his room needed to be completely emptied out and de-cluttered. What a difference that made! I was inspired by this blog entry from Jennifer showing her daughter's homework area: http://www.thatgirlthatquilt.com/2011/08/all-time-favorite.html

Here is Jack's new, organized space:

The desk was previously covered with stuff and there were boxes of toys on the floor. There was no chair. Just as I was about to email local friends to see if anyone had a high backed barstool they weren't using, I remembered we had 4 on our back patio. Duh! What's wrong with me? Anyway, found a can of red spray paint and Jack insisted on doing the painting. As you can see, it's not perfect, but I tried my best to keep my lips sealed as he did the spraying, saying he liked that all of it wasn't covered, "there are spots and I like it that way." As tempted as I was to go buy more paint and "fix it later" - how could I? We decided the chair needed a pillow, so I made him this:

I just finished it this morning and thought a picture outside would be nice! I'm happy with how it came out. I used this tutorial http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2011/08/v-and-co-how-to-faux-pleated-pillow.html

Here is the back.

In other crafty news, the 36 patch hasn't progressed much, other than playing with a layout on the floor:

Duke is always such a big help!

I saw something today that caught my eye and decided to add it to my list - then found myself cutting and sewing blocks for it. Yippee! From the list to the table. Here's what I've got so far:

and here is what it will look like when it's done:

The tutorial can be found here: Lightning ZigZags

I have so many WIPs that this week's goal will be to make a list of them. ;)

<3 Kris

Sep 3, 2011 7:50:57 PM

36 patch coming along! August 20, 2011

I really like where this is headed, but dread the amount of time it will take to make double this amount?! I guess there is no rush and that is the whole reason why crafters have lots of WIPs so as not to get bored doing the same thing all of the time. Hubby suggested this would make a neat duvet cover. We have a "king" sized bed. Hmmmm, I just don't know about that...

I haven't used the same fabric twice yet. Didn't plan to, but I really like the solids mixed in, so I may repeat them with different alternate fabrics.

Here are two I just made today. I'm getting faster!

Can't sew all the time....as the family is still on summer vacation. Here's Duke enjoying the beach!

He LOOOOVVVES the water!!!!

As usual, we are going to the skatepark every day...

which means the Christmas Tree garland is coming along!

<3 Kris

Aug 20, 2011 7:00:04 PM

WIP Thursday, 8-18-11

All set to do some triangle piecing, inspired by THIS post.

Three new blocks for my 36 patch quilt along. I have two more in the works.

And laying out some fabrics for a strip quilt (Christmas present). This one is a little blurry, oops.

That's what I'm up to!

Kris

Aug 18, 2011 12:37:32 PM

36 patch quilt along, August 16, 2011

I've made some new blocks this week! I am finding the more I make, the faster I am getting.

I like the contrast of the checkers and the circles here.

Fat quarters are working great for these. They leave just enough left over for some pieced strip quilting after this quilt.

The idea is that the two fabrics compliment each other in the block, but that all of the blocks are random in color. I think this is going to be a very colorful quilt! Who knew solids would look so bold in this combination? Fun!

I can't wait to finish!

Happy Fabric Tuesday to you,

Kris

Aug 16, 2011 2:05:45 PM

Christmas Garland Coming Along, August 10, 2011

New strand strung!

Kris

Aug 10, 2011 3:54:02 PM

Winging it...August 9, 2011

This weekend I sat down at my sewing machine and started pulling some things together randomly. I wanted to make a gift and I wasn't sure what I was making, so I just let it flow together on it's own. I started with a patchwork center, added some striped ends, attached this to a fun yellow and white checkerboard and came up with this:

I put a piece of felt behind it and did some handquilting on it at the skatepark.

Jack was happy to give me a reason to do some quilting at the skatepark!

Thinking it still needed a little something more, I went through my paper pieced hexagon collection (that was going to become it's own hexi quilt and never did) and hand stitched them onto the sides. Much better! While doing this, I had a 20something year old skater come over and ask me what I was making and show interest in it. Huh! What do you know! I never thought they would slow down enough to comment on my little hobby. Yes, I know, he was just being nice.

Once again, while I sewed on the hexis, Jack skated the park.

Back at home now, I made a simple back side, then quilted every other hexi, all the way through to the back side. Time for binding - - I went with 3 inch cut this time. I've never done that large of a strip. I liked how the wider binding finished out for this.

Here is a closer look at all of the different stitching, by machine and by hand.

See the line of machine stitching just inside the binding? That is where I machine stitched the back of the binding on. I really love doing it this way. It looks very crisp on the back.

Here comes Duke since I'm standing next to his treat mug....it is that redish colored mug at the top of this picture......back to the fabric, I like to think this is something that can be reversable.

I made it for my Mother-in-law for her birthday. Hope she likes it! I can just see it on her kitchen

table. Happy Fabric Tuesday! I'm off to check out all of the beautiful things posted here. (Click on the button below).

Kris

Aug 9, 2011 3:51:29 PM

More 36 patch blocks

I have been getting an hour here and there to sew, not much with my boys home for the summer. My oldest had surgery last Friday to remove a cyst from his tailbone. Ouch! He is recovering well.