more quilt blocks

I didn't mean to disappear like that. I've kind of been in a blogging funk which has turned into a life funk, or vice versa. Luckily I had a wonderful weekend with beautiful weather that snapped me out of it. I am just so over winter and can't wait to be spending the majority of our time outside. I know I'm not the only one, right?

I did spend a little time inside catching up on some virtual quilting bee blocks. I really love that natural sunlight for sewing! Stephanie sent ABC blocks and pink and green fabrics. We had the option to embroider the centers, which I did. I think pink and green is one of my favorite color combinations so this was definitely fun.

Sara requested the popular spiderweb blocks. She sent along different strips of reproduction fabrics with white fabric for the centers. This is really addictive, I tell you!

If you want to see more of the blocks for this month's Pieced Together Quilting Bee, check out the flickr group.

latest finds

I have had a couple of great thrift finds lately. A few weeks ago I found a huge bag of vintage knitting patterns. They are so fun to look through. The styles, the models, and the pictures are something else! These are a few of my favorites. The baby one is from the 30's!

The Japanese mugs are from a thrift store I rarely go to. Actually, it's a funny thrift store because it's two thrift stores in one huge building. You could spend a whole day there. I picked them up on a 50% day off too!

Lastly, I found this vintage cheater cloth on Sunday. I had walked past the sheets and saw this piece and immediately threw it into my baskets. Later as I was sifting through the fabric section, I spotted another piece of the fabric, except it hadn't been sewn at all. Score! I ended up buying both pieces because I just couldn't resist them.

And for some exciting news. I've opened up a vintage shop to sell some of my finds. I often pick up things that I really love at the thrift store but have no room for. I find myself needing to buy them because I just can't leave them behind for someone else! It's probably a sickness but at least I'm admitting it. Some of the things above are listed, including the mugs and some of the cheater cloth. Hopefully I'll be adding more things this week. Come and check it out here.

Today Isaiah and I are venturing out in the snow. I think this is the most snow he's seen in his 3 years. We hardly even get a good amount of snow, especially in March!

Dresden Plate

February was also Sarah's month for the Busy Little Quilting Bee. I e-mailed her a couple of days ago because I never received my fabric, thinking it must have gotten lost. Sure enough, yesterday it arrived and took almost 2 weeks to get here. What the heck? I think my mail people hold on to my mail. Anyway, Sarah requested a scrappy vintage style quilt. She sent some really adorable reproduction fabric. I don't know why but I immediately wanted to do a Dresden Plate. Now, I've never done one before and I've read about how tricky they can be but I must say this was pretty easy.

I machine pieced the "plate" together and then appliqued it onto the background fabric. It all came together rather quickly and I think I might be addicted. Actually if I didn't "know" Sarah, I might be tempted to keep it for myself!

coming together

I think the last time I mentioned my Dear Baby Jane progress, I was about 40 blocks behind. I really, really want to be caught up, so I spent a good part of the weekend working on the blocks. I completed about 10 of them and have 3 ready for hand applique. I also decided to start adding the sashing to part of the blocks. I did this partially because I am excited to see it coming together but also because I couldn't imagine having to put all the 200+ blocks together at the end. I am really loving how this looks so far. I'm just hoping to finish it in my lifetime! Now, just to catch up on the 20+ blocks I'm behind on now!

spider web in progress

My new WIP: a spiderweb quilt. I had first seen a vintage spiderweb quilt in an old quilting book I found at the thrift store. I spent days staring at it and trying to figure out how to make one. Unfortunately, the quilt was not labeled as a "spiderweb" quilt, so I had no idea there was a fabulous tutorial out there for making one! That is until everyone in blog world starting making them. Of course I had to jump on the bandwagon and now I'm obsessed with making these little blocks. They are very addictive. Now if only I could muster up the energy to turn the dining room back into my sewing room I'd be in business!

A very Thomas birthday

I am finally recovering from this weekend and still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it Monday. These long weekends always throw me off. Anyway, Isaiah's birthday party turned out great. John surprised me with a visit from the hospital, something I was completely not expecting. He was able to get out on a day pass and it was so special that he was able to be there for the party. He's still in the hospital, but feeling much better and hopefully getting out of "jail" soon.

Isaiah really enjoyed all the attention, not to mention the presents and cake. Now the cake was really a work of art, in my opinion. My sister and I stayed up way past our bedtimes on Friday night and woke up early Sat morning to finish it up. Both Thomas and the shed are made of cake. Thomas' face is made out of fondant and was surprisingly easy to make. We made the rails out of chocolate twizzlers and chocolate modeling clay. And of course, lots of coconut "grass."

Now I'm ready to claim my sewing room back. Everything was cleaned up and put away for the party since my sewing room also doubles as the dining room. Perhaps I shouldn't say "everything" got put away as you can see the measuring tape and stitch witchery in the picture. I'm looking forward to finishing up some special projects and starting new ones. Hopefully this will be a nice productive and relaxing week!

The birthday boy

My dear Isaiah. Thank you for keeping us laughing, smiling and hopeful during these very rough times. You are such a shining light in our lives and we could not love you more. Happy 3rd Birthday my little one!

Right now I'm in the midst of frantically cleaning the house (which includes cleaning my sewing room, yikes!), baking a Thomas cake, and preparing for a large birthday party tomorrow. To add to that, John had to go into the hospital because he spiked a fever yesterday. They quickly got him on some antibiotics and we're hoping that it's just a simple head cold that caused it. Unfortunately he'll be missing Isaiah's birthday but it's better for him to be healthy in the long run. So that's a bummer and I'm still trying to get used to this whole process, but I'm just ready for it to be over.

Anyway, wish me luck. I'm going to need it! Thankfully Isaiah is spending the whole day with my in-laws, so I'll have a lot of time to myself.

Rainbow block

It seems the only thing I've been sewing lately are blocks for the quilting bee I'm a part of. Not that I mind. I really enjoy the challenge with each new block. It's fun to discover fabric combination that I would not normal use. This block was for Sarah. She's making a quilt for her brother's wedding present and her color theme is "rainbow." Now that's definitely not a color scheme I usually work with. She wanted something Denyse Schmidt inspired, something log cabinish. This obviously isn't a log cabin, but I instantly wanted to do this. Hopefully she likes it!

little blocks

At one point, I was nearly caught up with my blocks for the Dear Baby Jane-along. That must have been months ago, but I realized I'm about 40 blocks behind. Yikes! Last night I sat down and figured out which ones I need to complete. Then I traced about 10 of them. I think half the battle is tracing them. If I had the CD where I could just print out the blocks things might go a little faster. I was able to get 4 done today and hopefully tonight I'll get a few more done. I opted to do the ones I could paper piece because those seem to be the easiest. Now I need to get some more aqua and red fabrics. Anyone up for a trade?

I also was able to get two block finished for Juliette for January's Busy Little Quilting Bee. She's making a quilt for her son and sent the linen and cool dot/plaid fabric.

One final note I wanted to mention about the Ruffle Wristlet Pattern, since I did receive a few e-mails about it. You are welcome to make and sell wristlets made from this pattern, as long as you credit me with the pattern. You can also see the two adorable wristlets Mary made on her blog.

Have a great weekend! We're supposed to be getting a nice Spring tease with the weather.

Pattern is available!!

Whooohoooo I am finally finished with the wristlet pattern. I cannot tell you how good it feels to have this finally finished and up for sale! I am really excited albeit a little nervous to hear and see the feedback about it. Here are the ones my fabulous testers made ( I hope it's o.k. I'm sharing these guys!).

By Jamie
By Stephanie
By Anina
It's a PDF pattern and it is available in my etsy shop now. I've even created a flickr group in the hopes that if you do make one yourself you'll share your creation! Thanks to all my testers. You guys are amazing!

January Blocks

Well, this past week was kind of crazy. John's blood counts dropped very low last Monday, followed by a fever on Wednesday, which subsequently landed him in the hospital for a few days. Thankfully he recovered rather quickly and is feeling back to his "normal" self. It made for a very long week, as you can imagine, because we had to make several more trips over to the hospital than we usually do. As much as I love Isaiah, I was happy to have a day like today where he was in school and I didn't need to go anywhere! It was refreshing and I was able to fit in some thrifting and sewing.


I made these two blocks for Cathy. She is going to be making two quilts for her girls. I just love the colors she sent, they were very fun to put together.

Hopefully tomorrow my wristlet pattern will be ready for sale. I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me talk about it! I am really excited to get it finished, but I'm worried about it being a good pattern. Thankfully I've had very helpful testers and I can't wait to show you the ones they made!

almost there

We finally had our first snow "storm" of the winter, followed by some nasty ice. I was happy to have the snow, but I'm hoping I don't have to go out driving in it. People in the D.C. area are terrible drivers to begin with, but add any kind of inclement weather and forget about it.

Anyway, I spent most of my day today putting the final touches on my wristlet pattern. Thanks to some wonderful testers, it should be ready in the next few days. It's funny trying to write a pattern for something you make all the time and then trying to describe your process. I'm hoping that it'll be easy to understand and not sound like a bunch of bologna! I also wish I were a little better with the computer. Trying to get the pattern pieces and pictures right is a pain in my ass. Seriously.
This is the wristlet I made today, with some of my beloved Flea Market Fancy fabric. I'm proud of myself for actually using it! I plan on putting this one on etsy and a few others sometime later today, just in case you're interested.

Baby Kimono PJs

My sister gifted me a copy of Amy Butler's newest book, Little Stitches for Little Ones for Christmas. Sadly, most of the projects are for babies, and well, at almost 3, Isaiah is hardly a baby anymore. I don't really know anyone with babies either. Then I remember that a blog friend is due to have a baby boy soon, and that coincidentally, I've owed her something in the mail for a few months now. Shame on me.

This little kimono pj set was too cute not to make and I'm hoping that it makes up for the fact that I'm very late for sending her something. The top is made with Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom line and trimmed with some brown linen. The pants are made with the same linen, which I absolutely love. I think this style is very similar to the Oliver + S pattern, which I have, and I just might have to make a pair for Isaiah. It's so stinkin' cute!

Inauguration Day

We were up by 3am. On the metro by 4. And in a crowd of very excited, enthusiastic people by 5 am. We stood in the same spot, in the freezing cold for almost 6 hours.

We became friends with our neighbors and sang songs.

We watched history being made in front of our very eyes.

We could not get on the metro after because it was too full and luckily found a cab to take us home. Our bodies ached and we were exhausted by the end of the day. But it was so worth it. An amazing experience that I will never forgot and am so blessed to have been a part of.

pattern writing

I've really been wanting to write a pattern for my Ruffle Wristlet for a long time now. For the past couple of days, I've finally started the process. I figure that I could offer a PDF on etsy with detailed pictures. I have to give credit to those that write patterns. It is much more difficult that it seems. You have to make sure you give every measurement and detail that goes into making it, so that the "maker" can have a nice finished project. In general, writing is very difficult for me, so doing this is really a challenge. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up this weekend so I can have some pattern testers give me some good critiques!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to a weekend without any trips to the hospital. Oh, I almost forgot to mention! John had a PET scan yesterday and the results were very good! His cancer is responding to the pre-transplant chemo/new stems cells and some of the lesions are now PET negative and the rest have shown great progress since the las scan. We are just so relieved, as you can imagine. Thanks to all that have been sending their thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them! You can read more on John's blog, as he is always better at explaining all this.

collecting

I have been in love with Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy fabric since it first came out, though I had only bought a few pieces then. Recently I became obsessive in "collecting" some of this fabric, and in the past two weeks, have added these fabrics to my stash. They've just been sitting on my table, with me staring at them and occasionally petting them (what? you don't pet your fabric?). I can't bear to cut into them. I am missing a few fabrics from the collection that I'd really love to have, so if anyone has some to share, or a secret source I'd love to hear it. I might even send you something really nice in exchange ;)

Virtual Quilting Bee Sign-Ups

Sign-ups are now closed. If there is enough interest to form another group, I will pass that information along to anyone who wants to be a group leader for their own group. Thanks!

There seems to be enough interest to start another virtual quilting bee group and I'm excited to start one. Here's what it will entail. Each person will be given a month in which they will send out fabrics for their own quilt, and will receive the completed blocks from the group. If you sign up, you must commit to making a block(s) each month for one year. The quilting bee that I am a part of now, there are about 17 people, so a couple of months we make 2 blocks for 2 different people. We occasionally fall a little behind, but it's pretty easy to catch up. This may or may not be the case, depending on how many people sign-up. If you want to participate, please send the following information to katiebhandbags AT gmail DOT com :

Name
Address
Blog/flickr site
if you would prefer making only one block a month

I'm really excited to start this!

BLQB and another quilting bee?

I am finally caught up on my blocks for the Busy Little Quilting Bee. November's block was for Sarah, who sent three fabrics (the orange dots, orange DS and the pear fabric) and requested log cabinish blocks or Denyse Schmidt improvisational blocks. The blue fabric just happened to be sitting on my cutting table and I just added it in. I think it was meant to be.


December's block was for Stephanie. She sent two fabrics, the solid white and solid red. She requested crosses with the white background and said we could add other red prints if we wanted. Her inspiration was the quilt from the Tokyo International Quilt Festival. I'm not even sure how this came together. I just started making some crosses and then sewed them together. I'd love to make a larger version of this for my own wall!


Today I hung out with my friend Stephanie. We got to talking about these blocks and made me think about starting another Virtual Quilting Bee. If there's enough interest (at least 12 people), I'll put a group together. It requires a commitment of making at least 1 block a month, depending on the number of people in the group. Each person "has" a month, in which they sent out fabric of their choice and a block is made for them by the others in the group. So, if you're interested, just leave a comment saying so. If there's enough people, I'll send out an e-mail and get a group started!

elisa nest tote

Thanks for all the comments about John coming home. We're all happy to have him here again, especially Isaiah, who has taken every moment to show John something new. John still has to be seen twice a week at the hospital, so it means a lot of sitting and waiting. One of the "benefits" is that I get to knit. I finally finished up the Elisa Nest Tote that I had intended to give to my sister-in-law for Christmas. It's a really easy knit and has a fun pattern, but I just couldn't squeeze in enough hours to finish it before Christmas came. Then again, I started it two days before Christmas. I like how it came out, although my finished edges didn't come out as neatly as the pattern's picture. The I-cord handle was the only tricky part for me and it quite uneven. I'm sure my sister-in-law won't care though (at least I hope). She lives by the beach, so I figured this would be great for toting toys and shells, or she can use it to go to the market. Anyway, all that is left to do is send it to her. Hopefully that doesn't take weeks!


The details:

pattern : Elisa Nest Tote via the purl bee
yarn: brown sheep cotton fleece in Caribbean
needles: size 9 circular and size 5 double pointed
difficulty: easy!

Happy New Year, a little late

My creation
Originally uploaded by katiejeanbags

Well, here I am a few days after the New Year. I am a little behind on blogging about the reflection of last year and the renewal that a new month brings. All for good reasons though. John should be coming home today! We have been preparing for this for the past week, hoping that he'd be coming home sooner, but today looks like the day. While I am excited for him to come home, this brings about new challenges. Although John's counts are great and he's feeling pretty good, we still don't know how the cancer has been responding to this transplant. Plus, John cannot drive for the next 80 or so days, which means I will be his chauffeur. I am worried and anxious about our finances and how John's health progresses, but at the same time I am extremely hopeful. It is after all, a new year.

I am not sad to see 2008 go. It has been hectic, busy, crazy, creative,and at times, fun. In January of last year, we were finding out that John was in remission. We enjoyed a beautiful spring in our garden, the most wonderful trip to Oregon in the summer, and I got a new sewing machine (squeal!!). The last half of the year we spent getting John through chemo and prepared for a bone marrow transplant. So, to you 2008, I say good riddance!!

Believe it or not, I am still trying to finish up some handmade Christmas presents. Luckily the recipients are all happy to receive a belated handmade gift. I've been working on a major one for John, but I ran out of white thread last night. Grr, I hate when that happens! Hopefully I'll have something to show sometime soon.

Anyway, if you made it to the end of all this rambling, I hope you had a great holiday and new year!