scrap me silly.

oh my, where does the time go? the looooong pauses between posts are unintentional, but it seems that they are here to stay. luckily for all of us, keri is determined that this is not the year our blogs will die, so here we are. so happy together.

this little fella sucks up all of my time.

the days are all running together, so it seems like just yesterday that mrs. nipper knapp and i decided that we should make quilts for ourselves. just for fun. just because we are awesome. just because. yup, that is it. we have no other reason. but considering that my scrap box is now three boxes, yes three, it seemed like a good idea. of course i do not undertake projects like this without a plan, so i started pondering what pattern i would use. i wandered through internet land. lots of scrap quilts. and then i jumped onto pinterest. whoa nelly, loads of scrappy quilts. and now i am completely overwhelmed. while i have dithered back and forth between patterns, the missus n.p. has been sewing and sewing and sewing. and trying her hardest to get me motivated to jump in while the quilting is warm.

the problem, of course, is that i have about as much time for sewing as i do for everything else. ummm, none. oh and my sewing machine lives in the bedroom. where big-E sleeps. but, i dragged my machine into the living room and mrs. n.p. gave me another kick in the pants and now i am seriously determined to start before the end of this week. so i picked a pattern. i think. oh my god, there are sooo many. and they are so lovely. and i want to make them all. but i think i have made my decision. final answer? yes. i think. 

granny squares from blue elephant stitches.

i am ridiculously enamored of quilts that have bits of color in a sea of white. this pattern definitely fits that bill. but then i started thinking that it is not going to relieve me of my humongous stack of scraps. plus, i am still struggling to settle on just one pattern. sooooo... i am going to make a double-sided quilt. i mean, why not? it is a quilt for me. so i can do whatever i want. might as well make it so complicated that i can work on it until big-E is twenty-three. wheeeeeeeee!!

string quilt by leesa. oooh la la.

the back (or is it the front) will be a string quilt, which is sort of a patternless pattern. delectable. so with no further ado, here goes nothing. uhh, i mean, here goes the quilting.

THE quilt. day 1.

for the past month we have been receiving fabric and wishes in our mailbox. i was expecting this project to be fun, i had no idea that it would be totally amazing. i have been blown away by the spirit and generosity of each person who has sent fabric. thus far we have 32 fabrics from 23 different people...we have gotten old, new, used, and blue...they have come from 8 states, and three continents...

32 fabrics.

this week is my spring break, and for my entire five years of teaching, i have always sewed my way through spring break. i did not see any reason why this week should be any different. but i spent yesterday morning at the doctor's office suffering through a glucose tolerance test and yesterday afternoon moping around hoping against hope that the tests would come back normal. last night i organized and ironed all of the quilt fabric and today i was determined to get to sewing. but then the doctor's office called to tell me my results were normal, which made me so happy it took me thirty minutes to come back down to earth.

circle templates.

back to the quilt. i had planned on cutting a square from each fabric and sewing them all together. and then mrs. nipper knapp found this gem of a quilt at purl bee. neither one of us can imagine why anyone would make a mini quilt, so we both opted for baby quilts. she has already finished hers, which makes me feel like a slow slow dodo-bird, but i digress. this quilt calls for circles. lots and lots of circles. and i LOVE circles. my plan is to make a big circle with each of the fabrics and then make little fill-in-the-gaps circles with all of the scraps. today i made a circle with each of the 32 fabrics that are in my possession. and if i may say so myself, this quilt is gonna be stupendous.

next step...start making fill-in-the-gaps circles with the 32 scraps and wait for the other fabrics that are en route. luckily this pattern is perfect for all of my procrastinating pals. since the circles are attached to a large background fabric, i can just leave spaces for the twenty or so fabrics that have not yet arrived. fantastic-O!

cover up.

when i bought my sewing machine, i vowed to make a cover for it. how hard could it be, right? no problem, except i would have to put aside my three million other projects to tackle that one. such an easy project, yet it always got relegated to the back burner. five years later i finally reached the moment when it was time to make the cover. i pondered my stash of fabric...not wanting to use my "good" fabric for such a mundane project, yet still hoping for something adorable to stare at when the machine is not in use. enter mrs. nipper knapp of my mom's a nerd.

some of you are probably wondering who on earth is this mrs. nipper knapp lady that keeps cropping up in my posts. well, i met her two years ago at the wedding of one of my best friends. she was the photographer, but also the wife of the groom's cousin. i had heard that she was crafty and when i met her i thought she was perfectly lovely, but we were at a wedding, not a quilting bee, and she was busy photographing all the festivities. we did not have a chance to dive into our shared interests. after the wedding we became facebook friends and it was quickly evident that our aesthetics are closely aligned. and she makes stuff. all kinds of stuff. and she has a project list that rivals my own. but most precious to me, she too is spellbound by fabric, nifty sewing projects, and quilts. at first i was afraid she would think i was stalking her, because i was enamored of all the projects she spotlighted on her blog. but then i gave up any pretenses and just gushed my excitement for everything. since then i have happily helped her with some of the technicalities of sewing and quilting and she has provided ridiculous amounts of inspiration. she has a superb knack for discovering hidden gems and has singlehandedly doubled the list of things i want to make. so of course, when it was time to design my sewing machine cover, it was one of her finds that led me to the dark side...turning a project from super simple to ridiculously complicated. and i would not have it any other way. thanks mrs. nipper knapp.

a close-up view of the sewing machine cover.

the find is a tutorial on comfortstitching for an applique of a girl on a tree swing. i decided to take the "easy" route and skip the girl and the tree, but i used the featured applique technique. i created a colorful strip with  all my scraps of fabric and used it as the centerpiece of my sewing machine cover. the whole project took six hours, which even i will admit is ridiculous for an appliance cover, but the results are super snazzy. i share a bedroom with my sewing corner, so this is one of the first things i will see every morning. not a bad way to start the day.

the two sides of the sewing machine cover atop its precious cargo.

the grand finale.

hoot! hoot!

for most of the world, christmas is long gone. but we are in our own little world in miami. i promised the darling ms. pumpky that i would have a gift for her, but it had to wait until after the overwhelming pre-christmas days. we agreed to exchange gifts shortly after the new year, but well, i am a giant stinker and was not ready until yesterday. see, i had this brilliant plan to make her a lovely bag for school. sadly, the "perfect" bag that i made was lovely, but totally not perfect for her. time for a new plan, but i was completely stumped. and then i remembered the last time i visited her home and froze on her couch, because she has lost her throw blanket. not sure how you lose a throw blanket, but she did. and i was cold. so i thought to myself, the lass needs a couch blanket!!! and i had the perfect idea, because not too long ago i was trying to convince mrs. nipper knapp that she could indeed quilt a quilt and it did not have to be scary (she has since made and quilted a perfectly lovely quilt...bravo!). as an example i showed her this positively genius quilt by katie did. of course, ever since i found this design i have wanted to make one and now was the perfect chance. so i wasted nary a minute and headed promptly to joanns to procure the materials.

now this quilt was intended as a one-day project. but, well, i am six months pregnant and there is only so much i can do in one day. plus, although i have done little bits here and there, this was my first true experience with applique. i could not resist adding some cute-as-a-button owls. but, ummm...fusible interfacing? what's that? oh right, you need it to applique and apparently if you do not follow the directions rather precisely, things do not work out so lovely. anyhow, long story short, this turned into a four day quilt, but i am pleased as punch with the results, so the time spent was well worth it. oh and ms. pumpky was quite simply delighted.

my first experience with fusible interfacing. it took a few hours, but i finally had the two little owls ready to be appliqued.

the finished quilt. ready just in time for christmas in february. yahoo!

i am completely enamored of this binding fabric.

the back. pretty purple is pumpky's preference.

how to sew wavy lines.

it has come to my attention that more sewing tutorials are needed, so here goes nothing. today's topic is sewing together wavy lines, also known as sewing a curved seam. i put this tutorial together at the behest of mrs. nipper knapp, who jumped ship from "easy" quilts (actually no quilt is ever easy, but some are less complicated) and found herself smack in the middle of sewing a "simple" quilt. ahhh, the wonderful world of simple quilts...complicated messes wrapped up in designs that scream "i am simple, try me!!" anyhow, long story short, she needed some pointers on sewing curves, so i came up with this and am now sharing it for the world to enjoy.

step 1. cut a piece of fabric in half with wavy line. assuming you are sewing together different fabrics, layer them on top of each other, with enough overlap to accommodate your wavy line, before you cut. this way the seams will line up. if you are quilting, you can put multiple fabrics on top of each other (cut them slightly larger than your desired final piece) and switch around the colors after the cut. sew them together, and voila you are on your way to a fancy wavy-lined quilt.

step 2. flip one half so right sides are together...the seams do not match - don't panic.

step 3. make the first part of seam match and start sewing with a small seam allowance (i use 1/8"). if you use a bigger seam allowance, you will need to do a lot more snipping (see step 7) and/or trim the entire seam allowance with pinking shears, so that the seam allowance fabric can "bend" around the curves.

step 4 & 5. as you sew, keep moving the top layer so that the edges stay together. make sure the needle is in the down position any time you do any wiggling.

step 6. you should end up with a semi-ugly seam.

step 7. iron the seam (i prefer to iron the seams open), cutting little slices into the seam allowance in any hard curves where one side of the seam doesn't want to lay flat.

step 8. spray with starch and iron from the top...it should be golden.

a note about starch. starch is your friend. use it GENEROUSLY, because it not only makes things iron pretty and flat, it helps them stay the way you intended, AND it is sizing, so the fabric won't stretch and buckle when you do lots of piecing. i have never actually measured, but i wouldn't be surprised if i use a half a bottle of starch per quilt. since the question came up, i use niagara. it was what was available the first time i bought starch and it worked, so i have stuck with it. i recently found a non-aerosol version at the store and i switched to that..works like a charm.

aerosol on the left, non-aerosol on the right. both work fine...

happy wavy sewing!!!

framed by chaos.

as if i did not have enough projects on my plate, on tuesday i decided that i should give a gift to some of my colleagues. of course i cannot walk into a store and buy some little trinkets like a normal person. oh no. i have to create. right. on a budget. super. luckily, i mentioned this to mrs. nipper knapp and not surprisingly, she is a treasure trove of ideas. she promptly rattled off some quick and easy options and i was ready to roll...picture frames for the ladies and one embroidered hanky for the gent. no problem. except for having only 48 hours to buy the supplies, make the frames and hanky, and wrap up all the goodies. yikes!

a quick trip to michaels and target to secure supplies and i was ready. twelve picture frames...here we go. i set up a little assembly line to whip through these as efficiently as possible. paint the back of all the frames. apply modge podge and attach purty paper. cut the paper to size. modge podge over the paper. three times. wait for it all to dry. clean up the edges. insert a cute lerato designs card in place of the advertisement picture. wrap it up and tie a bow with a handmade gift tag. voila! it only took sixteen hours.

and then i remembered that i needed to embroider a hanky. ummm...never embroidered a monogram before, but how hard can it be, right? eeeps. it might not be the finest monogram ever completed, but it was done with love and that is all that matters. i hope.

of course 8 hour days at work followed by 8 hour evenings of crafting means i did not get enough sleep and ran myself right into another cold. argh!!! but i will get better fast and then i will plow headfirst into the real christmas gift creations, because it would not be christmas if i was not crafting until the last possible minute.

making the rounds.

christmas has always been a big deal in my family. my childhood is filled with memories of christmas crafts and helping my mums pull down the boxes filled with ornaments and other goodies. i was always super excited to get started, but like most children, my attention span only lasted about 7.4 minutes. luckily my mums had enough motivation to single-handedly complete the days long task of decorating. the collection of goodies has grown through the years...these days christmas takes over the entire house, inside and out. every nook and cranny houses a snowman, santa, or christmas tree. there are festive towels, napkins, and dishes. and the pièce de résistance is the christmas village, which sits atop the rock wall between the living room and kitchen. all of this probably sounds a bit gaudy, but i assure you it is not. it is a sight to behold.

mums is the only person patient enough to properly adorn the tree with lights.

other than my two years in the peace corps, i have spent all of my christmas' at my parent's house. i guess knowing that i will be in the midst of my mums' festive house explains why i have not taken to decorating my own house. plus there is the minor conundrum that i have no place to store my decorations the rest of the year. but this year i decided that at the very least we should have a wreath on our door. i had only two requirements...it had to be perfect and inexpensive. oh and if i had to make it myself it had to be relatively easy, because i am supposed to be working on a thousand other projects. no problem, right? ummm...sure. except other than knowing i wanted something fun and modern, i was not exactly sure what i considered the perfect wreath. 

some lovely wreaths. clockwise from top left: contemporary wool felt wreath by pinno, warmest greetings wreath by anthropolgie,  peppermint red berry christmas wreath by stylish stems, glitter berry wreath by pier 1, modern wreath by itsnick, and sweet fabric wreath by jane joss.

and then out of the blue a fellow blogtress, mrs. nipper knapp, posted a picture of some adorable flowers she had made. how lucky for me that when i asked for flower instructions, despite my not mentioning i wanted to make a wreath, she directed me to this felt wreath tutorial!! soooooo perfect. i jumped in my car, raced off to michaels, procured the necessary supplies, and came home to make my wreath. i even got the mister involved making little balls of yarn, so that i would be able to wrap my wreath. the finished product was more perfect than even i could have imagined.

the flowers all cozy together.

voila!!

of course i forgot to buy ribbon to hang the wreath (oops). i tried to use fishing line, but the felt flowers are surprisingly heavy and the thing was hanging kind of wonky. i switched tactics and made a braid with some of the leftover yarn. naturally our door is metal, so simple things like a thumbtack in the top of the door were not an option. i had to dismantle one of the mister's hangers to make an over-the-door hook. but in the end, the whole thing worked out and if i do say so myself it is perfect-O!!

let the drooling begin.

my life is ruled by two lists. the first one is my to-do list. yuck. the second one is my project list. FUN!! occasionally the two overlap, although this is rare. it has become increasingly obvious that the longer my to-do list, the more likely i am to work on my project list. in fact, today i actually added something to my project list AND completed it, prior to finishing my to-do list. oops.

today's fiasco started a little over a week ago when mrs. nipper knapp declared that she was about to sew her first zipper. she is not to blame, it's just that i simply had to tell her the secret trick to sewing zippers, which turned into a zipper tutorial. then i found out that she was in fact making zippered pillows and the next thing i know, i am gazing at our sad and grungy couch pillows, which have seen a little too much life (and drool...ugh). naturally, because i do not have anything else to do, i figured i might as well kill some time making new pillow covers. this is my first foray into making pillows (i used the super-easy tutorial from design*sponge) and i have to say, i am supremely pleased. so mrs. nipper knapp, the mister and i would like to thank you for being the inspiration that provided us with splendid new couch pillows.

our happily mismatched new pillows.