Hanger trick

It might be time to revisit the lovely Wardrobe Wednesdays series, friends…

I am planning for Spring, and have done a much better job these days of wearing more of what I have due to a tip found on Pinterest… One I have mentioned before, which has countless names and just happens to be awesome and work:  The hanger trick.  

It's been called many things, and given many time parameters, but it's a fun little challenge and you can see what you wear and what you don't simply by looking at which way more hangers are facing.  
I'm about a month into it because I didn't flip things around in my closet until I had settled in from being home from Europe, but I have already notices that I wear more things, and that before the deadline I have set(1 year, not 6 months, because I don't flip my closet seasonally), I am more ready to give up some things I know I won't wear, because I can see a difference between the things left to be turned around and the things that have already been turned around.  It's a lovely trick to keep only the things you love and wear and fit the body you have now.  
Awesome, right?

A Whipstitch Sort of Morning

Y’all, have you been in here? Have you seen this awesome playground for us fabric fiends? Oh, it’s fabulous, friends…  So great.  Whipstitch’s brick-and-mortar store is about 20 minutes from where I live in town, and they do much more than sell you fabric.  The bright, open space is home to a little workshop with space to set up machines at the back and 2 lovely big cutting tables.  With rotary mats.  And get this… when they aren’t in use for the classes, they are open to be used by the general community. 
Great lighting, an awesome atmosphere that buzzes with friendliness and creativity, and a great staff full of ladies who love to talk shop, and just... Talk.  I walk in there and it’s like a magic idea switch just… flips.  I decide to make a quilt, or I start picturing how great that would look as a dress… 

A while back, I had an evening with friends in which I begun to cut that quilt out, and besides giving myself a new scar (rotary cutter user operator error… I learned my lesson!) I can’t say I accomplished much...  I cut maybe 3 pieces of fabrics into strips that will eventually become squares.  See?
 Maybe I wrote about it.  I was pretty proud of those strips and how much I managed to get done.

But yesterday, with a big cutting table at my disposal and a few hours to knock it out I went from folds of fabric to strips. And then from strips to squares.  So.  Great.  It goes so much faster when you’re not stopping to move everything when you cut every strip.  In 2 hours and change, I got SO.  MUCH.  DONE.  I cut all of the remaining fabric into pretty little strips, which make me want to set up my rotary stuff on my coffee table so that everything can be pretty little squares so we can play 9-patch... It's gonna happen.

hello...

It’s been a while.  The queue needs updating.

I need to tell you about the quilt.

I need to tell you about craft nights.

And EUROPE! … Well I need to link to the blog posts about Europe.

And that red dress.  You know, the one on the queue that’s been there for a while?

And a blue skirt that is a different plan for fabric I got knowing I wanted to use it this winter- and I used it this winter!

I have been sewing, just… not posting.  I am, however, in a season where I have been writing lot, just not about my sewing.  But, the thing that counts is I want to share these things with you, so as soon as I have pictures, I wiiiilllll!

Quilting update...

So, I decided that sewing lots of long straight lines to make my quilt was so 2011...
And I might have found a really fun, modern take on a 9-patch I really enjoy.
It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, you know...

There are a crazy number of tutorials already out there, and if you stay tuned, you'll get one from me too!

Here's the one I'm using...
The English Geek's Disappearing Nine Patch Tutorial

She does a whole quilt this way.  I like.  And gives you some thoughts on color.  Which I also like.  A lot.  Seeing as how I have 15 fabrics at this point...

Happy Holidays were indeed such.

2 reasons I haven't posted much:
1. Finals
2. These two:  Mom and Brother.

I have been sewing, so more adventures soon!

SLM

When finals are over...

... has been a mantra for a while now.
I am currently taking a 30-minute break to stand in line at the post office to pick up mailing supplies so that I'll be able to send things to my mom and brother for Christmas, and thinking of all the things I would rather do tonight and tomorrow morning instead of writing papers and exams. Lovely how that works out, isn't it? But. I have motivation in the form of fabric goodness that really, REALLY wants to become a quilt. I picked up some cottons that work together too wonderfully for words… I'm trying to bribe myself to finish paper #1 by getting to put them all together in real life and not just in photos. And when paper #2 is submitted late tonight, I get to wash them all while I work on exam #1 and paper #3. Then it's cutting time! I'm excited to make my very first quilt top.
And a tree skirt.
Thank Heavens for the kind words of encouragement from lots of people in many spheres of my life. I wouldn't make it through without it.

Pretty presents...

I'm hoping for a China-Free Christmas.  Here's some of the progress.



Mom's gift.  Has been decided upon, and I'm soooo psyched about it, because I think she'll really enjoy it.  However, she reads so I won't write.  I'm still hoping to persuade her to spend Christmas in my home (AHEM, Mama, pleeeease say yes?) so I can see her open it.  

Jewelry Sets:

Well, much like my sewing, I get the concept out, and I get the things put together, and it’s those finishing touches like, oh, closures, and matching earrings that get put off… But it’s all there, and it’ll get knocked out pretty quickly once I sit down for a second. 

 

Quilt:

The fabrics are coming together nicely.  I'm really getting excited about it.  I bought my mat and ruler and rotary cutter 2 weeks ago on Sunday (hooray for straight lines), so real progress is a-comin'! But... I will say I really like the fabrics I have right now...  We found some in a shopping adventure and others are old shirts that were favorites and no longer fit after big weight loss... They look great with the things in the quilt, they are 100% cotton, and I can't think of a more special way to re-use them.  

And honestly,  have you ever realized how much fabric is in a single shirt?

Wow.  Sleeves themselves are huge...

At this point, I’m going with measurements, and a wing and a prayer.  So far,  I have inspiration photos from pinterest and I've made inquiries for advice from the lovely ladies at SG.   I’ll add the widths of the strips up as I go, and make it to the measurements that I’m aiming for… I’m giving some thought to the whole idea of the back, and piecing it with log cabin squares, or maybe another shape… And some pillow covers.  But my goal currently is to have the piecing all done by finals and to find a good source for batting and all… I suspect I’ll be headed back to Whipstitch for some advice.  


Now to finish work so I'm allowed to play!


Happy day, friends.  

Christmas promises

I am not buying a single pre-made, straight-from-a-big-box-store decoration for my home for Christmas.

There, I said it, so it MUST be true.  Right?

I did buy things…

An angel to hang over my nativity (Ten Thousand Villages, an amazing Fair-Trade store)

A citrus garland from Columbia (Ditto)

A tree stand (bought at the local Ace Hardware)

And I have a few things…

Christmas balls purchased on sale last year after Christmas

White lights

Crystal from an old chandelier

Ornaments from our family Christmas tree that I’ve cherished since I was a kid

A nativity, made in Peru, from my mama

As for making things?

Already started on paper ornaments.  These are so much fun, and will make great bows for Christmas gifts!

An idea is floating around in my head for a tree skirt.  Thrift Store here I come…

It’s the holidays, y’all. 

What are you making?

Christmas is a month away? WHAT?!

Gwen and the calendar (Can you believe it’s the middle of November??) got me thinking Christmas... And I AM making gifts.  There isn’t, in my humble opinion, a substitution for handmade things or carefully chosen things… and if I give gifts, I give these kinds of things.

Yes.  I have started.  I have necklaces and earrings for many of the ladies in my life.  The boys will get baked goods.  My baby brother is getting recipes and the supplies to make them and shirts that’ll fit his gangly arms… which I won’t be making.  Blankets galore for little ones and expecting parents.  Mom reads the blog so I don’t know that I’ll talk about her gift… I’m excited about it though. 

I am making one gift that's pretty huge... A quilt.  Pinterest knows about it.  The recipient knows about it and has agreed not to read about it... and chose the palate with 3 lovely fabrics, pictured, and added to it with shirts and other reclaimed fabric.  

I’ll be digging into the collection and looking at vintage fabrics- not all flat folds of fabric but upcycling too- to mix in.

Now YOU get to hold me accountable for it too.  Here's to finishing by Christmas, right?

“But Sarah…” you might be thinking, “You don’t quilt.”

It’s a true statement, friends.  But… I dunno.  Something tells me that although this quilt is my first solo attempt, it will not be the last one, and will be a good way to sew more than I have been.  You can probably guess there hasn’t been much sewing happening… and you know, my mood relates to it.  I was soooo crabby yesterday it wasn’t funny, and while there were many factors, I think one of ‘em is a lacking in flexing my creative muscles. 

So I will flex them in the coming weeks... I've already started.  Some straight lines.  Lots of alterations are on the docket, and more are no longer on the docket... It's kinda nice.

I am well aware that a large part of me really wants to create too, though… and I will.  The quilt is a part of that, and so are some really great dresses and skirts.

Whipstitch Fabrics

Online, Whipstitch Fabrics is home of Sewing Buddies and many other great forums.  And some amazing classes and tutorials.  And a creative and ever-changing blog.  A great Etsy store. 

But, as I am an Atlantan of sorts, I finally made it to the brick-and-mortar store, friends!  And boy, am I glad I did, even though it’s waaaay after I mean to.  It’s so great.  I can’t wait to have an excuse to go back, and boy, do they give you plenty of excuses…

Great quilting fabrics and good clean lines… 

Pretty baskets of half-yard cuts and fat quarters. 

Great spools of antique ribbon that will be a great pair of headbands…

Open space they share with everyone when they aren't teaching their awesome classes.

And the light... Oh, the natural light.  

I didn't take pictures of the store, just the great stuff I got from it... A definite foul on my part.  But it won't be the last time I'm there.  More eventually!