So, two things: first, I can’t find my back-up camera charger.  I bought it to replace my actual camera charger, which I had misplaced.  Eventually, the original charger showed back up, but then the spare went missing.  Then the spare showed up, but we packed to move.  So now, I have two chargers, but can’t find either, because apparently they’re in one of the two dozen boxes that we have not yet found time to unpack.  Which explains why these photos were taken with my phone.

Second, the Sewing with Kids series has been on semi-hiatus, ever since we sold our house and moved to the rental where we lived for six months before buying our current home.  But I am even now planning NEW Sewing with Kids lessons, to debut after Spring Break (which around here coincides with Easter Week this year).  Stay tuned!

And all that brings us to today’s project: I’m working on a school auction project this year for our son’s class.  I end up doing a lot of these each year, but most years in the past, I’ve primarily been in charge of securing the fabric for the project, and the other mommies have taken on the bulk of the actual work.  Which is awesome.  This year, though, we really (REALLY) love our son’s teacher, and have just learned that she’ll be leaving at the end of the year to move out of state, and I wanted to do something more for her and the class.  So I’m on point for the Glue Batik Wall Hanging they’re creating–it’s a 2-to-5-year-old class of 24 kids, all of them contributing to the quilt.

When she first came to me with the idea, our son’s teacher sent me this link, which she found through Ellen at The Long Thread.  I told her, “Actually, I know Ellen, like, IRL and stuff.”  I can’t be sure, but I think his teacher was suitably impressed.  The project is pretty simple, and involves tracing a shape in glue on fabric, then painting over it, and then washing out the glue to make a “batik” look.  Then the squares get sewn together into a wall hanging.  (Ellen is doing glue batik for her kids again this year, too, and has made the wise choice to limit the color palette–note that she points out the dyes dry lighter, so making them saturated makes for a bolder finished product.)

The biggest challenge, really, has just been the trimming. I haven’t traditionally been someone who always, always took the time and care to trim each block before I assemble the final quilt top, but a lot of these pieces had gotten skewed and un-square (is that a word?) as the children worked with them, so trimming was an absolute necessity.  Thankless work, but had to be done.

Right now, I’m at the sewing-together phase.  Bless his teacher and her two classroom assistants, they did all the glueing and dyeing without me being there, so all I have left is to assemble the final pieces.  I can tell you that our boy loooooved making his square, and will tell anyone within 60+ square miles which one he did, super proudly.  (Note: this photo is not his.  He’s three.  His is mostly blobs, but we still think it’s the best one there.)

I’m off to find the perfect green fabric for the insets and border, and then we’re heading to the finish line, just in time.  Anyone else ever make one of these and have a suggestion for the best way to secure it?  I’m feeling like tying is the way to go, but want to be sure I choose something to really set off the work the children have done.

I never got around to posting this dress after I finished it last summer, but with my Sewing Knits without the Serger class coming up next week, I got to thinking about this pattern.  It’s the Mission Maxi Dress from Jamie Christina, and it went together like a dream.  No serger, just a narrow 1/4″ seam allowance and some soft cotton jersey.  Honestly, I don’t think I would have ever chosen brown, but I had this fabric on hand and wanted to make a wearable muslin before I cut into my really yummy knits–and then I ended up loving the fit of this so much that I haven’t made another one yet.  Took a couple of hours or so, but has so few seams, and really is super straight-forward.  I’m hoping I can make at least one more for the coming spring and summer, since the length is just where I like it–right above my ankles–and it looks super cute under a cardigan.  Plus, it’s flattering in the fit, but not so revealing that a couple of extra lbs make me feel too self-conscious to wear it.  And out of this soft jersey, it is crazy comfortable to wear.  Let’s hear it for simple patterns that stitch up quickly and fit the way they’re supposed to!

This past weekend was the first meeting of our Your Second (Modern) Quilt class for 2012.  Most of these ladies took the Your First (Modern) Quilt class last year (either in the shop or online), and we were all excited at the chance to move up to the next level of quilting.  Originally, I planned to make another scrappy sampler quilt this year, thinking that we’d use a similar blocks-get-harder-as-you-go format, but with higher-level quilting skills involved.  But the more I worked on the sample blocks, the more it felt like I was asking my ladies to take the same class over again.

In Your First (Modern) Quilt, we focused on skill-building and working out the mechanics of quilting.  This year, I really wanted for us to focus on the greater picture, the quilt gestalt, if you will.  I feel like composition and fabric selection and that ephemeral FEEL of a quilt come into play once you get past a certain skill level, and I wanted to really spend these months working through that, all of us together.  And so, after a semi-vote taken at the retreat, we determined to make a sampler quilt, but a STAR sampler.

I am beyond excited about this project.  I’ve found some really lovely blocks, including the ribbon star up above, from Fresh Lemons Quilts, plus some foundation-pieced blocks, some string-pieced blocks, and some really lovely and challenging feathery stars.  PLUS we spent a big chunk of the first class just shopping and selecting fabrics, narrowing our palette to really focus on particular prints or colors, and I took copious notes, because all the ladies chose such delicious combinations.  As for the class sample, I’m using that bold Whipstitch yellow as my background (shock of all surprises), and wanted to select other colors that would work well with it–my default tends to be clean white, and I wanted something with some PUNCH.  So far, looks like I’m going to get what I hoped!

It’s looking to be a very fun, very quilt-y year.

We just got in the new Lizzy House collection, Hello Pilgrim, at the shop.  When I originally placed my order, I did it the way I always do: sight-unseen.  That’s how I like to roll when it comes to Lizzy, because I know that everything she produces will be something I have to, have to have.  But then I saw the swatches in person, and instantly requested an additional bolt of this print, just for me.  Because I knew right then that it would be perfect for the drapes in my den.  This photo makes the green of the walls look a bit more yellow-y than they really are, but you can see how perfectly the fabric works with the chic painter’s tape accents we have going on.

I’m lining these with white cotton batiste, and giving them a triple-pinch pleat treatment at the header, very mid-60s traditional, perfect for my 1968 ranch.  I love that the scale of this print is a little smaller than you’d normally see on drapes, but that the colors are perfect for my mid-century modern palette, and that Lizzy’s signature style takes the 1968 thing we have rocking and makes it that much more modern.  And while I might normally use a heavier weight for curtains–this is quilt-weight–I think lining them and maybe using a light drapery weight at the hem will make the difference.

Next challenge: making the curtain rod.  Our den window is actually a sixteen-foot wide sliding glass door to the sunroom, and that’s a lotta curtain rod.  Figure with the header making more bulk, I’ll probably need 18″ on either side of the window edge to accommodate the finials and width of the curtains when they’re pulled, which means I want a curtain rod that’s 19 feet long.  Yikes.  Wish me luck, and I’ll be back with an update!

I am BACK from the Whipstitch winter sewing retreat, and have virtually NO photos to show for it.  I was far too busy flapping my gums with these fine ladies to possibly have picked up my camera and taken any photographs.  What an amazing bunch of really cool women–all of them funny, and whip smart, and kind, and generous.  Just awesome.

Lots of great sewing going on, too.  I was hand quilting most of a quilt; Diane (my intrepid mother) made a garment bag and recovered some chairs; Diana (the shop’s delightful manager) made four skirts, all fabulous; Kim whipped out about a zillion tote bags to stock her gift closet; Tracey was working on a Vogue dress in a lovely neutral micro-print; Courtney very quietly and gracefully fully hand-beaded an amazing skirt; Chris and Marci both made jelly roll quilts, and defeated them handily; Linda had some amazing embroidery she was working with, as well as some lovely involved quilt blocks; Robyn was dead-set on conquering her Material Obsession quilt (which we all agree is better than the one in the book); Berry must have made six different garments, all of them lovely; Mary Ella was knocking out an Amy Butler bag that had me completely inspired; and Melanie made almost an entire layette for her soon-to-be little girl.  Huge range of types of projects, and so much helping of one another that it nearly brings tears to your eyes.  I actually lost my voice from all the talking, which is both a lesson in how wonderful the weekend was and a reminder that I really ought to talk less.

Looking forward to lots and lots more time with these ladies–we’re already planning a summer getaway to sew at the beach, plus monthly gatherings here in town.  We’ll invite you to come with us, too, once we get it scheduled!  The more the merrier, and the more sewing the happier we are.  Kim even went home after three straight days of sewing and sewed some more.  Makes me feel downright inspired.