Squares.

I meant to post this week with projects that I've been working on...Well, I haven't got many pictures, but I have been busy! :)

This week, I have...

-Ripped out the broken invisible zipper in my favorite dress and put a new one in. I hate to deal with zippers, so I put this off for weeks. And then it hit me that this was my favorite dress and if I ever wanted to wear it again, I should just suck it up and put a new one in. It took about 20 minutes. I felt silly for waiting so long.

-Finished sewing my first successful project out of knit fabric. It's an exact copy of one of my favorite shirts, and it turned out perfectly! Or at least I think it did. I'll know for sure after I wear it tomorrow. :)

-Made some items for my shop, but I haven't taken photos or listed them yet. Three cozies and one wallet. Not much, I know. But something.

And today...I started on my very first quilt.

I've been wanting to make a quilt for a while now, and I've been slowly collecting fabrics to use. I bought a book about quilting and learned the basics. {I also learned that I need to buy a walking foot and/or a free motion foot for my sewing machine. Still haven't done that. I can't believe little pieces of metal cost so much!} But even the beginner quilts in the book looked a little more complicated than I wanted to attempt for my first one.

So I bought the Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt pattern of Alicia Paulson's. Simple squares, quilting in straight lines, etc. I feel like I need direct instructions and simplicity for my first quilt, so I think this will be perfect.

And today I cut out all of my fabric! Exactly 728 sweet little squares.

I know the color scheme looks a little out there at the moment. But I'm hoping it'll all pull together when I start piecing things together. My inspiration was the laundry day embroidery I did last month. I wanted red and light teal/turquoise to be my main colors, but I had a hard time finding the color blue I liked. So I added more light green and yellow. Even if it does end up looking kind of quirky, it can't be more mismatched than the quilt already on my bed (see pictures below).

I forced myself to cut into some fabrics that I have been hoarding. Like the Bambi print, the sewing print (that I made this bag out of), I Love Lucy, and Wizard of Oz. I figured I could spare a tiny bit and it'll make my quilt a little more special because it's full of stuff I love. I'm thinking about embroidering a few squares, too.

It's crazy to think that these little squares will become a quilt, isn't it?

Anyway, I hope to start sewing squares together this weekend. I know quilts take a lot of time and effort to complete. I really want to have this one finished by the beginning of November, at least (cool weather!). I'm not sure yet if that's a realistic deadline or not, but I hope so. :)

Some crafty books I ordered from Amazon came today! I'm so excited to read through them.

I got The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting, The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet, and The Handmade Marketplace (with Emily Martin illustrations inside!). I also got a really good deal on a used copy of this book. Call me a prude, but you guys know how I feel about profanity, so the title put me off for a while. But I kept hearing that it is one of the best, if not the best, knitting book for beginners. Since it was so cheap, I decided to go for it.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm obsessed with craft books. They are so beautiful and inspiring. This is my collection (minus the new ones):

These pictures remind me that I really want to show you guys my little sewing corner. But it's the corner of our mudroom/storage room and it's hard to get good photos of just my corner, without including all of the other stuff we have back there. :) I'm working on it, though. I love my crafty corner and want to share it!

I just looked over and saw this on my bed.

Ollie, this cannot be comfortable.

This is Ollie, by the way. My brother's cat that I sort of claim as my own. He is so loving and needy, and he just always wants to be with someone. He used to lay on my cutting mat. Now he sleeps right next to my sewing machine while I try to work around him. I'll get a picture of that next time, because it's so stinking adorable that I can't get mad.

I have a cat, too. But Jack is a little anti-social. He has his favorite spots where he likes to spend the days sleeping, and they don't include the sewing table. The only time he lets you show any affection towards him is when he wants food. But I like to pick him up when he's unsuspecting and love him until he squirms. :) He's camera shy, but I can catch him sometimes.

See the quilt on my bed? It's an old one from my mom's side of the family. It's not especially pretty, but it is very functional. I love that it looks like it was made with leftover fabric, and sometimes even the little squares are pieced together. Like nothing went to waste. I like that it wasn't really made to be pretty- it was made with what they had and it was made to be used. I hope my new quilt will be both pretty and functional for many years to come. :)


Until next time,