Sewing with Sewhooked: My Favorite Things, Block 1

The last thing I needed on my plate right now was another quilt-along.  But darn it all, Jennifer Ofenstein came up with the cutest little BOM that will fit my sewing room perfectly, and I rarely quilt just for myself, so I'm going to play along.  It's called My Favorite Things, and has an array of sewing and crafting tools.

The best news is, if you can snag it the first day of each month, the pattern is free on the Sewhooked blog.  If you're terrible at remembering to check in with things like that, I suggest you write it down in your planner, follow the Sewhooked Facebook page or group, and/or follow Jennifer's blog.  After the first of the month, it's an extremely reasonably priced 2$ on Craftsy, so either way, you can't lose because you're getting a free pattern or supporting an independent designer.  A big thanks to Jennifer for giving us the opportunity to download it for free for a time.

Here's my first block completed!

My completed block.  I'm pretty happy with it.
Don't mind the loose thread there; I actually tried to blow that off my computer  screen!

After rifling through my fabric collection for a while I chose one of my newest favorite things to work with: metallic patterned fabric.  I think they are so fun and have used them all over the girls' new bedroom.  They feel luxurious without being too bold.  It is hard to get a good picture because of the reflection of the light, but it looks beautiful in person, and I think it will look great hanging on my wall.

This black fabric has a gold floral print, and it was just screaming to be used for the sewing machine.  It will probably also end up being scissor handles in a later block as well as some other odds and ends.  I love this block because I have a 1905 sphinx Singer machine that I rescued from a rainy garage sale for 5$ a few years ago.  It sits in my sewing room now as a piece of sewing history.  It's beat up and rusty and has no monetary value, but it's beautiful to me and I'm so glad it's represented here.

My inspiration piece.
This poor guy was just rusting away in the rain and needed someone to take it home.
I was happy to oblige!

The first block (and the remaining blocks, from what I can see) is super cute, but definitely quick and easy.  My husband came up to hang out in the sewing room just as I was finishing another block and cleaning up, and I thought I'd start this as a quick project while he was there.  The 6-inch block took me about 30 minutes, and that included picking out fabric.  The hardest part was choosing a thread color for the top of the machine, so I had to have my daughter pick for me.  I think she picked well.

I absolutely love that Jennifer included both a 12" and a 6" block option to make our lives easier.  I'm making the small blocks (and to be honest, I probably should have reduced it a titch more) because I have so little available wall space in my sewing room.  I am even considering making this a 9-block quilt and just picking my favorite of the available options, so we will see how that pans out.

You can find the information for the January block here, and the pattern over at Craftsy.

Harry Potter Project of Doom "Quilt-Behind": Week 18

I haven't been able to do a lot of embroidery the last couple of days, because we are slowly recovering and backing up 1.3 MILLION files from my dead hard drive, leaving the laptop pretty well occupied and covered in wires.  It has been an expensive and lengthy process, but the good news is that all my family photos have been recovered, as well as all my patterns I had developed but not yet tested.  That makes for one happy mom and designer.  :)

Even so, I wanted to get a little something done today, so I finished up half of what will be my block 18.  I actually took the peacock quill and ink bottle from the block 15 pattern, but I have other big plans for block 15, and I wanted the peacock quill somewhere.

Peacock quill and magical ink.

Finding this peacock quill fabric was a total fluke.  I happened to be walking past it at JoAnn, and I thought I remembered a quill in one of the patterns.  Even though I would probably never pick this fabric for anything else ever, it really spoke to me for this particular block.

Close-up of peacock fabric.  It's a little psychedelic.

I went for somewhat plain greens and purples for the rest of the feather.  I'm fairly happy with how it turned out.

Our magical ink.

My daughter and I had a hard time deciding on ink bottle fabrics.  She wanted it to be rainbow ink, but the one fabric I had was going to detract from the quill fabric.  We went through my TARDIS cookie jar scrap stash and she found this black with stars and swirls.  We figured that looked like pretty magical ink and would show up well against the natural background.  We went with grey on top because a clear or light color wouldn't show up too well.  I think it looks like the ink is dripping back down into the bottle this way.  I'm not really happy with how it lined up on the left, but it was more important to me that the quill point lined up perfectly, so I think this is good enough.  I'm actually considering appliqueing some drops of ink coming down the side of the bottle later to cover that.

To finish this block, I am actually going to include the potion bottle book variation from block 18.  I got some small potion labels free from Spoonflower when they had a free swatch promotion, and it had tons of little potion labels on it.  I'm going to applique one of those on the book for fun.

Mostly invisible Invisible Book of Invisibility.

I worked on one other fun project today: my Invisible Book of Invisibility.  To make this one, I used clear, monofilament embroidery thread and the alphabet function on the embroidery machine.  I embroidered the book name directly on to my background fabric.

Look what a little monofilament thread can do!

To make it stand out more, this one is going to go under the horizontal stack of books on the Snitch block.  Hopefully it will make it look like the books on top of it are floating, drawing your eye to the empty space and title.

I am also super stoked about some fabric that showed up in the mail today:

Mermaid stained glass fabrics.  These really inspired me when I saw them!

These are slotted for my seventh(!) row on my bookshelf, where I will include the mermaid stained glass designed by Michelle Thompson.  It's available on the Fandom in Stitches Harry Potter page.  The fabric on the right will be the background, and I'm going to add an extra border of the fish fabric.  I have plenty of this, so I will be adding some of this to my book spine/magical item fabric giveaway.

Speaking of which, you can still enter the giveaway!  I've extended it by a week and will draw a winner on Monday.  Just leave me a comment letting me know that you would like some fabric for your PoD ... or any other project you might be working on.  :)  I have two entrants right now, and if I don't receive any more, I will add a bunch of fabric and split the pile between you two lovely ladies!

Supernatural bullet

I think I mentioned yesterday that I had some people testing out patterns that I have drafted but not yet tested.  I feel really blessed to have them come along because I just don't have time to test all my own patterns, but I hate to see them languishing on my computer.

You might recall that a year ago some time back, I posted 16 Supernatural patterns available for testing.  Foxfire over at Needle of Sewing +3 (is that not the most amazing name for a sewing blog ever?!) has just tested out my Supernatural bullet pattern, so that one is ready to be submitted to Fandom in Stitches.  Right now she's working on the demon tablet, but that one is pretty embroidery-heavy and will probably take a while.

Here's the computer-generated image:

The computer-generated image.  It's poor quality because I had to steal it from my own pattern thanks to my computer going on strike.  :)

And here's her completed block!  I'll link up to her blog posting once it's published.  In the meantime, go check out Foxfire's Finger Paint blog ... lots of cute ideas for nail art there.  If I had any skill in painting my fingernails, I would definitely be trying some out.

Foxfire's completed block.  Photo used by permission.

This is a quick, easy pattern, and a great addition to your Supernatural quilt.  It might even be fun to make a bunch of these in a smaller size as quilt cornerstones.

You can download the pattern here for right now.  I will submit it to Fandom in Stitches and Craftsy soon.

Throne Thursdays: Lannister

It has been a very long week, spent preparing a million party supplies, dozens of goody bags, and food.  I had a temporary break with reality about a month ago and scheduled two parties for the same weekend: a Minecraft birthday party for my daughter, and a fancy tea party for my Girl Scout troop.  Quick, someone smack me upside the head!

However, I still made time for sewing, so I'm proud of myself.  I got a really fun block completed for the Project of Doom that I will share next week, and I got my Lannister block done for my husband's Game of Thrones Quilt.

The computer-generated image.

This block took me a bit longer than the rest, but mostly because it had more sections.  There were a few funny angles, but nothing outrageous.  I'd probably rate it about a 3/5 for difficulty.

My finished block!

His chin area isn't lined up perfectly, but he's got a mane so I don't think it's all that noticeable.  The colors are much more vibrant than they show here.  I get so excited when I finish a block, I get right to photodocumenting it without fixing my camera settings.  Maybe some day I will grow up and become a real blogger, but until then, it is what it is.  :)

I can't wait to see this as part of the completed quilt.

You can download the pattern here.  I will list it on Craftsy once we get a new hard drive for my computer, since the old one is toast.

I now have someone testing my Game of Thrones blocks along with me, which is super exciting!  I always enjoy seeing my patterns done up on someone else's fabric with their own special touches.  Allyssa will be stitching along with me, and I will be sharing those pictures as I receive them.  Here is the Baelish block, in a fun chevron print:

Allyssa's Baelish block.  I love the green!

I received my new, so-much-better grey fabric in the mail today, so I'm hoping to redo my Baelish block and finish up Tully this week.  Then it's on to Tyrell and Baratheon ... if I survive the weekend, of course.  Wish me luck!

Throne Thursday: Baelish

So there's bad news, and there's good news.

The bad news is, my computer is currently sporting the blue screen of death.  It's like the cherry on top of the sundae of suckage this week.  I've narrowed it down to an issue with the battery or the fan, so replacements are on the way.  In the meantime, I'm working on the kids' computer, which requires installing all of the programs I need to share my patterns.  It's funny how nothing will remind you that you never back up your files quite like your computer breaking down.

The good news is, I had just emailed the Game of Thrones pattern pack to a tester, so I was able to pull it up on this computer from my email.  Today's pattern is the Baelish sigil.

The computer-generated image.

This pattern is incredibly simple to piece.  I would probably rate it at a 2/5, only because I think a 1/5 should be a true beginner pattern, preferably with few to no sections to put together.  But you can stitch this one up really fast, and the pattern is really versatile and doesn't have to be related to Game of Thrones.

The real deal.

I'm not actually happy with the color combination.  I thought I would try it out since this was the only green and grey I had that wasn't heavily floral, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to redo this block after a quick trip to the fabric store.  At least it is tested and ready to go!

The Baelish sigil.

Then again, I think I love that green.  It's just that polka dot silver that needs to go.  I'd love to find a nice tonal to replace it with.

Since my Martell block got such a crummy picture last week, I thought I would try to get a better one to show it off.  It didn't work out too well, but here it is, in some of its glory:

Martell block.

I've decided that because the quilt will naturally be so colorful, I'm going to reuse a lot of my fabrics throughout the different blocks.  When I find a grey I like, it will be the Baelish bird, the Tully trout, and the Arryn eagle.  That same red from the Martell block will be showing up as the Targaryen dragon and the background of the Lannister sigil.  I'm hoping that will lend some consistency and connection to the quilt.

My progress so far!  They are colorful, but I think they will all work out together.

Right now you can download the pattern here, but it won't be available on Craftsy until my other computer is up and running.  I will update the posting as soon as I have it listed there.

Side note:  I just came across this Ministry of Magic pattern by liljabs.  It looks simple and fun, and I have a feeling I may take a breather from my PoD and GoT and knock this one out this weekend.  Head on over and check it out!

Harry Potter Project of Doom "Quilt-Behind": Week 3

This week I knocked out a couple of the more difficult Project of Doom patterns that are available at this point:  the Deathly Hallows and the Dark Mark.  I am pretty pleased with how they turned out, and I'm glad I included them both in this block.  I am loving all the variations that Jennifer is including for us!  Right now, looking at what I have finished, I'm wondering if I made the right decision to go with a neutral background for my bookshelf.  I'm hoping that by the time I add in all the extras that aren't on here yet and do some quilting, it will look better.  I think having the wooden shelves and the busy wallpaper around it will help, but right now it looks so ... plain.

Some of my progress so far.

The Deathly Hallows was much easier than I thought before I saw the pattern.  It's only two sections that piece together easily, so as long as you can sew on the lines, you can make this one!

I had embroidered the rune dictionary last week in the hopes of finding the perfect place for it on my bookshelf, so I wanted to feature it here.  I didn't follow the original colors because I needed something that would stand out against this fun black and white fabric.  I wasn't sure it would work out on this pattern, but I think it does, especially in person.  Once again, this fabulous embroidery pattern comes from Susan over at The Bored Zombie.  She just released a new set of embroidery titles, and you don't want to miss out on them.  I'm looking forward to stitching them up next week, after I finish the yearly spell books.

Rune dictionary.

It absolutely kills me that the book doesn't quite touch the top of the Deathly Hallows, but I'm going to put on my big quilter panties and suck it up.  (Until I decide to go back and rip it out and fix it, of course.)  I decided I wanted the journal to look leather-esque as well as allow the green of the Dark mark to stand out, so I went with some browns for that part of the pattern.

The Dark Mark pattern.

The Dark Mark.  I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it was.  It was just a lot of tiny pieces and lots of sections that had to match up, but if you're familiar with my work, I don't shy away from tiny pieces.  It didn't end up perfect, but there's nothing that stands out and really bothers me, so I'm chalking this one up as a win.

On a side note, I am crazy excited about the pattern that was released this week and I just happen to have the perfect fabrics for it, so I will probably end up skipping around a bit.  I'm not holding myself to a strict schedule for this project, which is unusual for me.  We're going to test out this whole "spontaneity" thing that my husband keeps talking up and see how it works out.  :)

Where are you at in your PoD?  Just starting out, keeping up, or ahead of the game?

Throne Thursdays: Stark

Let me preface this by saying something that will probably horrify any hardcore Game of Thrones fans out there:  I have never read the books, and I've only seen pieces of the show in passing.  Usually as I'm passing through the living room on my way to the sewing room.

However, my husband is the consummate fan.  He is quite miffed that it is suddenly so popular, because he received endless taunting for reading it in high school.  Every year his not-so-surprise birthday gift is the previous season of GoT on DVD, since we don't have HBO, and he sits and binge-watches it as soon as he opens it.

For Christmas this year, I decided to design him a Game of Thrones quilt.  I have a (60-page long!) quilt pattern pack, with 11 sigils of the various Houses and an embroidery pattern for the logo.  The patterns are not in color, as my patterns usually are, because they are primarily two-color designs and it wasn't really necessary.  If you're interested in testing these along with me, I can send you the pack; just let me know!  I will release the individual patterns weekly as I test them, and the entire pack at the end.

This is what the final quilt will look like:

Game of Thrones quilt layout.

This is what this block is supposed to look like:

Computer-generated image

And this is mine:

The real deal:  House Stark sigil

I can't believe I managed to get all the spots that needed to match up to do so ... without any seam ripping!  It's a sewing miracle.

I would probably rate this block about a 2.5/5 for difficulty.  There are only a few sections, and they go together quite easily, with no funny angles.  The sections are easy to stitch, mostly in a back and forth triangular pattern, and there are no tiny pieces.  The block is 10", so it is large enough for even a novice to attempt.

These little daisies look like snowflakes.

I chose this white fabric from my stash because I have very little white, and the little daisies on this one reminded me of snowflakes.  I was horrified when I got to the end of this pattern and realized I was short two small pieces of white, and our local JoAnn didn't have any more.  I even tried looking all over the Internet to purchase more, to no avail.  Then I had a light bulb moment, and I thought I would ask the Doomers over on the Project of Doom Facebook page if anyone had any that I could trade for.  Within five minutes, I had several offers of help, and a lovely lady named Linda sent me plenty of the fabric so I could finish up the block without starting over.  Thank you, Linda!

Direwolf

I really couldn't be more pleased with how this one turned out.  Hopefully the other ones go together this easily.  (I am dreading the Targaryen sigil.)  I'm going to use the quilt-as-you-go approach for the first time on this quilt, so I'll report back with my progress!  I would love to see your work if you use any of these patterns.

You can find the pattern here and on Craftsy.  Enjoy!

16 Supernatural patterns!

I had grand plans this month of getting things finished.  I really did.  I have the remainder of my Christmas reveals to get through; a tested Totoro pattern, untested Totoro pattern, and Totoro quilt layout; a set of redone Frozen patterns (now larger! and in color!); a set of five new Eragon patterns ... the works.  But instead, Gmail and Blogspot decided they were going to war with my computer, which is a huge problem in a world that runs according to Google, and I had a few blog post and important email casualties.  I gave the posting a rest and focused on designing patterns instead. It was a refreshing change of pace and a lot more relaxing use of my "me" time. I managed to add to the two Supernatural patterns I had already, and now I have 16 patterns available for testing.

If you would like to test any of these patterns, simply download the pattern and test away! I just ask that you send me a completed picture of your block to be shared on the blog, and notes on any revisions that need to be made.

Let me know if any of the links aren't working or patterns aren't downloading properly, and I'll get that sorted out straightaway.

Available Supernatural Patterns

Pattern	Picture	Pattern Link	Tested?
Angel Wings		Here	Yes
Azazel		Here	No
Bobby		Here	No
Bullet		Here	No
Castiel		Here	No
Crowley		Here	No
Dean		Here	No
Demon Tablet		Here	No
Devil's Trap		Here	Yes
Jo		Here	No
John Winchester		Here	No
Kevin Tran		Here	No
Lucifer		Here	No
Naomi		Here	No
Ruby		Here	No
Sam		Here	No