Scrappy Trip Along Bee Blocks

Have you heard about the scrappy trip along blocks that were all the craze a few months ago? There is an awesome tutorial here you can follow if you'd like to join in. I wanted to be part of the "cool crowd" a few months ago when I first saw these blocks popping up on flickr and instagram...but convinced myself I didn't have time to start a new project.

Fast forward to March and the ever so talented Kelly (who has an awesome blog - check it out) picked this block for the Do.Good.Stitches circle I am a part of. I got to make a few scrappy trip along blocks AND sew for charity. Awesome, win-win for me!

I highly suggest you take a few moments and whip up a few of these beauties yourself, they don't take a lot of time and the beauty is you can use scraps if you so desire.

My very first gathered clutch

So I'm not a big bag maker.

I've only made 1 other bag (my fall fan bag) before, so I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I decided I needed to make a clutch to use at my sister's wedding. I figure it would be a good step to my ultimate goal of completing Amy Butler's Weekender Bag.

After a lot of research, I settled on making the gorgeous gathered clutch from one of my favorite blogs - noodlehead. There are always well written tutorials and the site provides a wealth of inspiration. The instructions looked easy enough, so I figured I could handle it.

After a few hours of very mild confusion (gather stitches? What does that mean? You don't gather stitches while quilting!) I had my very own gathered clutch:

And ya know what?

I adore it.

I will be making more in the future, because it really didn't take that long -- and now that I know how to gather stitches it should go together even faster. The design possibilities on this one are endless. I am glad that I have made it one step closer to the weekender bag...gulp...

Curves, Curves, Curves

This year one of my sewing goals is to master the curve. I like to create my own patterns and not being able to successfully sew a curve has put a major damper on my pattern/quilt making. The ideas are in my head but are unable to be realized on fabric. Luckily for me, Rachel over at Stitched in Color is hosting a month long Curves Class.

It starts this week and I'm super excited!

Just look at a few of the projects Rachel has put together for us to try:

I can't wait to get started.

You bet I'm going to try to master those curves!

I had big plans to blog about the awesome curves class earlier, but due to Sam's demise I had to wait. I'm sure you can still check it out and register today here. It is a super great deal when you think about all the hard work she has put into it -- it's a month long and you're bound to learn a few things!

Stay tuned to see my curve sewing in action within the next few weeks! =)


**All pictures are via Rachel's awesome blog...you know to keep it real around here.**

My "Rebellious" Weekend

This weekend my dashing husband spent most of his time studying for an endocrine exam. This left me lots of time to do whatever my heart desired. Of course I immediately wanted to spend some quality time with Nina (my sewing machine) who I have been neglecting as of late...so I did, despite being on my sewing hiatus.

Now before you get all upset about me ignoring doctors orders and the like, I promise I stopped whenever my wrists/hands started to hurt a lot. So it was somewhat slow going. But I did manage to complete a few projects.

First up I completed a quilt and it is easily one of my favorite quilts ever. I know I say that almost every time I make a new quilt, but I am seriously in love with it. I want to show you all so badly but can't reveal it yet. But here's a teaser shot:

Next up I conquered my fear of the zipper. 

As you can see I made myself a little coin pouch with scraps from my previous quilting projects....I even lined it! It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I definitely see a few more projects involving zippers in my future.

What did you do this weekend? Were you at all a little bit rebellious?


PS - don't forget to enter the stockings for kids giveaway!

Saturday Morning Sewing

I am spending the morning trimming down some squares to 4.5 inches...not too bad except I have 300 to trim.

How are you spending your saturday morning?