::Fabric Shopping::

I went fabric shopping with my ONE and ONLY local quilting friend, Maura!  It's my favorite thing to do, EVA!  We were literally giddy with excitement on the one hour drive there.  And giddy with sewing and quilt talk too.  The store is enormous and we spent 2 hours roaming the isles and filing our carts.  Fabulous.  Heaven, I tell ya!

full cart

As soon as we pull into the parking lot, my mind starts racing with ideas and in my head I'm thinking, "omgomgomgomgomgomgomg."  When we get inside, I usually elbow Maura out of the way, grab a cart and start yanking bolts of fabric off the shelves.

tone on tone chevron from Riley Blake

My heart literally races and I zip around aisles trying to catch my breath.  The announcer from Supermarket Sweep is in my head urging me on.






I lose sight of Maura for a long while as we are both off in our own worlds.  Tackling the store in our unique ways.  I start right inside the front door on the left with the precuts and zig zag the entire left side of the store.  Then I head to the sale section in the back on the right hand side of the store and work my way back to the front.  Maura starts in the sale section and is usually waiting for me by the registers.

Noteworthy by Sweetheart

Sometimes we pass each other and peek to see what the other has gathered.  Some oohing and aaahhhing occurs and 'oh, where'd you find that?'

Lucky Penny by Allison Glass

She's much more thoughtfull and deliberate and sticks with her list of what she needs for a particular project.  Sometimes she'll show me a fabric she loves ( like the ninjas) and then SHE PUTS IT BACK ON THE SHELF!!

How does she have such control??  Ack! If I love it, I have to have it.  Even if it just sits on my shelf.  (I am still thinking about those cute ninjas and wishing I'd bought them.)

Ahoy Matey by Michael Miller

After two hours of adrenaline pumping, we sit in her car eating lunch and thanking the Quilting Gods that not one school nurse called us to come pick up a sick child.

Don't Be Crabby by Laurie Wisborn

miscellaneous stash builders

stash builders

more stash

On the long ride home, we talk all about the projects we want to work on and how we wish we had more time to sew.

novelty prints that I couldn't live without

florals

And when she drops me off at home, it's all I can do to drag myself up the front steps with my bag of goodies.  I'm exhausted, but the second half of my day is about to start as the kids are getting off the bus.

my loot

And then we text one more time.

Thanks, Maura!

 

::Fabric Selection::

Here's the stack of fabrics I've pulled for the Virtual Quilting Bee.  I'm happy with all the color choices but I may have too many polka dots in there.  I'll have to see as I go and make sure I space them around.

This stack was used for my first Block 1.  Love, love, love it and really happy with how the block turned out.  This block was designed by Sherri at A Quilting Life.

This stack I pulled was centered around the top fabric~ Marmalade Floral Pink by Bonnie and Camille.
I love how it looks but ended up changing it for Block 2.  I will try to use it again in another block.

Here's Block 2.  The tutorial is by Sukie of Sukie Don't Ya Know and it's fairly simple.

And because I'm loving this Bee, I made a second version of Block 1.  I hope to make two of each block but we'll see how that goes.  Doesn't hurt to try!

 

::Block 1::

Behold my pride and joy.  I'm smiling today.  Block 1 for Amy's Virtual Quilting Bee is done!  I was able to piece it without too many mistakes and am a little amazed that I was so accurate with all those points.

Choosing fabrics that go well together is hard and takes practice.  It's so much easier to start with a collection from a fabric designer~ and I've done that plenty~ but I wanted to take a risk and pull fabrics on my own.

The seam ripper is also my friend.  I sooo want to just leave a mistake if it's not too bad, but I always feel better when I rip it out and redo it.  I ripped out one of these seems 5 times.  It was worth it.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  I love the colors, the variety of scales and the placement of them. In looking at blocks that other quilters made, I was pretty sure I wanted the main square and points to be the focus with the background more muted and the corners to pop a bit.

What do you think?  Do you like?

::Virtual Quilting Bee::

I joined a virtual quilting bee.  My first one evah!  And I picked an awesome one for a newbie like me to do.  I've always wanted to join a 'bee' but was hesitant and unsure but this one is too good to pass up.  I'm totes confident I can do this.  Amy of Diary of a Quilter has started this one and so far it's been awesome.  I haven't even made anything yet, but that's beside the point.  Ha.

I trust Amy to guide me through the process~ her blog is the best around, plus I met her at Sewing Summit '12 last fall and she's sweet as pie.  I like to think I can call her a bloggy *friend* but not sure she even remembers me.  I'll have to ask her in September during SS '13.  'Cause I will be stalking her, for sure.

me with my friend Amy!

Want to know all about the Amy's Virtual Quilting Bee?  Go here to get the deets.

Want to get the information about Block 1?  Go here.

Want to get the actual tutorial for Block 1?  Go here.

Want to see blocks that the VQB members have made?  Go here.  I love seeing all the blocks that people have started.

I'm at step one, picking out fabric and here's what I've pulled.  Gray, lime green, yellow, turquoise/teal blue, orangey red and some pink.  What do you think?  I seriously need opinions, people.  No seriously.  Please jump in with your two cents.  

Wish me luck.  I'm off to make Block 1!

 

::American Girl 18" Doll Dress::

I've been wanting to make some doll dresses for my daughter's American Girl dolls.  I think we have about nine dolls and very few clothes.  It's hard for me to spend money on the pricey clothes so I've decided to make our own.  

I started with the easiest thing I could make~ a pillowcase dress~ just like I make for the older girls.  An applique and rick rack was added, of course!  I played around with the width of the fabric and really there's no perfect measurement, it's personal preference. This dress below was made with a rectangle that was 11" x 24 " and fits like a shift dress.  Super cute and not overly fancy.

This one has a bit more 'swing' to it.  The rectangle was cut 11"x 27" and is just as cute.  I'm definitely going to stick with the 11" length but I'll play around some more with the width staying between 24" and 27" inches.

I wanted to venture out beyond the pillowcase dress and bought a pattern at Joann's.  Bleh.  I don't know how to read a pattern and it seems like it would be easy to read, but it took my friend and I two days to figure it out.  We wanted to make it without the lining but that made the directions hard to follow.  The next day, my friend Suzanne, had an epiphany as to how to do it and we ran to my sewing room to get it made.  (Things have changed since high school! LOL.) Turns out, you have to use a lining or else it doesn't work.   Good thing Sue was in town for two days, otherwise I don't know how I'd figure it out.  Good thing I have a friend, "in real life" to sew with.

I love the fabric and I added the trim along the bottom.  The pattern called for just turning the hem under and sewing it but the dress needed a little something extra.  Honestly, the dress reminds me of a hospital gown.  I like it, but it's not my favorite.  The pattern is the A dress from Simplicity 0293 and you can get it here, on Etsy.

I do love the fabric though.

I'm looking around for easy doll patterns~ if you have one to suggest~ leave it in the comments!