One Silver Thread

Makeup Bag 1

2010-10-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

I finished my makeup bag and am SO happy with the results:

I actually feel like the finished product does justice the gorgeous fabric. I've been using it for all my toiletries (not actually my makeup, but that's details...), and love it.

I learned something interesting along the way: The bottom gusset is not so easy, and can come out looking seriously wonky if not done right. I cut and sewed and ripped and cut and sewed and ripped several times, until I found just the right technique for making them play nice.

It's all in the geometry (which was not my strong subject, so I'm extra proud of this one). I'm whipping up a post about my little method and it should be posted - ohhh, in the next decade or so.

PS: Let's pretend that there wasn't just a month gap between this post and my last one, mmkay?

MADE Noodlehead Giveaway

2010-09-24T10:16:00.003-05:00

MADE is giving away a Runaround Bag pattern from the fantastic Anna at Noodlehead. Anna is so talented and I love her patterns - go check it out!

All kinds of miscellany

2010-09-20T11:25:00.014-05:00

It's been a busy month here in Sara World. We signed a contract to build a new house (yay!), which means we have to put our current home on the market (not so yay). Honestly, it's all been a pain in the arse and I haven't had much time for hobbies, much less time to blog about my nonexistent hobbies.

I have, however, finished a couple projects I'm excited about; All baby stuff. (Man, I have a lot of preggo friends right now!)

First up is a super cute quilt for my friend Alissa's baby (yet to be formally named). I whipped this up with a Hunky Dory charm pack and am in love with the final result (and am amazed that I didn't majorly screw anything up this time).

Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of the finished product (that's what happens when you stay up 'til 1am the night before the shower finishing the binding). I need to see if Alissa will take a picture for me. I did, however, get a picture of the pizza from our surprise shower lunch - yummy, yummy, yummy:

I also made a set of burp cloths for two other dear friends of mine; Karina is having a boy and Dawn i having a girl. You know I love me some black and white:

And for baby boy, this is from the All Star collection by Riley Blake. I do love me some Riley Blake:

I also came down to the wire on finishing these, quite literally:

And for the first time since I started sewing again seriously, I started a project for *gasp* me! (Assuming you don't count the guest room quilts). I've had this gorgeous My Mind's Eye fabric sitting around (told you I love me some Riley Blake) and decided it would make a gorgeous makeup bag. They're all pinned and ready to sew. I couldn't decide which patterns I wanted on the inside or the outside... so I'm making two.

I may use both or I may put one up on Etsy to try and make a little extra dough. I could sure use a little extra dough right about now. My machine has me beating my head up against the wall, and I think it's about time for an upgrade.

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm still alive. No really, I am.

2010-07-27T14:46:00.004-05:00

I know it seems like I've dropped off the face of the planet. I haven't, really. I just started letting Tony Horton and his P90X begin torturing me every night. And lemme tell you, after wrangling my ~~monsters~~ angels all day and then spending an hour playing Jedi mind tricks on myself that I can do a pull up if I try hard enough, there is just no time for hobbies. Though I did clean up my sewing desk last week when guests came for the weekend, and I got to lovingly touch all my beautiful fabrics and tell them I haven't forgotten them... I'll be back for them soon.

My black and white quilts are coming along, but frankly I got tired of looking at them. I love them dearly - I do - but I cut a few things short and am getting tired of dropping money all over the place on them. I think I've spent about $250 so far on them... and my husband is starting to look warily on this fabric addiction of mine, so I'm laying low on the JoAnn trips for now.

I DID however, accomplish something - I'll introduce you to Stella in the next few days. I bought her for $15 from a friend, and after a little TLC I think she looks like a million bucks.

Hmmm... I hear noises coming from upstairs. I'm going to ignore the little voice in my head that tells me I probably don't want to know what's going on. Ta ta for now friends - hope you're having a great week!

Guest Room Quilts: Coming together

2010-06-08T16:50:00.005-05:00

I've been lucky (OK, and persistent) in finding the time to work on these beauties the past week. I have 8 blocks of 48 completed and I'm so, so stoked with them. Aren't these yummy?

No really, all these black and white patterns are making my heart flutter. I'm seriously in love.

I have all my small pieces cut out and ready to stitch. I labeled my stacks so I know which is which and started sorting them a bit so the right pieces go with each other.

I also realized after jumping in that my original sketch had some measurements and other such issues that were wayyyyy off. I need to post a picture of my crazy marked up copy! I also realized that my sketch didn't explain very much either... like the fact that I'm doing 2 quilts and each one will have color reversed designs on each side. I built the sketch for my own process and threw it up here on a whim. When it's all done with I'll post a clean (correct) copy for you in case anyone wants to check it out.

Guest room quilts

2010-06-05T10:32:00.005-05:00

I'm finally getting started on my guest room quilts - yay! I've been planning these for months, ya'll. No really - Illustrator is saying "GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!" Yep, you heard me - I design in Adobe Illustrator. Maybe it's not the absolute best method, but I'm a graphic designer and it's what I know.

And because I'm into letting you all see my down-and-dirty behind-the-scenes work, here's the pattern I've created that I'm working with:

I plan to have a double-sided quilt: One side with white background and one side with black. It's most definitely a work in progress, and we'll see soon enough whether or not I've bitten off more than I can chew. And I'm still missing all the super cute Michael Miller fabrics seen here. We'll see if they all end up being designer fabrics or if I just pull some fat quarters out from Joann's. I love me some Michael Miller, but $10 a yard may not be in the cards right now.

It's time for me to hit the cutting mat running!

What do you see?

2010-06-04T00:35:00.004-05:00

I never started out to quilt... but this was the quilt that made the decision for me. My mom teaches elementary school and loves everything Eric Carle. When I saw this fabric and quilt kit on sale last fall (and at the time had decided to make all my Christmas gifts - that was borderline certifiable), I bought it on the spot and decided it would be my mom's gift.

My poor mom. It's a good thing she loves me, because she gets the first attempt at every hobby I decide to pick up. Being my first quilt, we hit a few snags along the way, and honestly I may never read Eric Carle again. I learned how NOT to do a lot of things.

Though I had purchased a kit, my "fussy cut" squares were giving me grief and things weren't squaring up so nicely. Once I finally got it pieced and sandwiched, the quilting kicked my newbie ass. I thought that was the easy part?!

Live and learn, Sara... live and learn.

It also didn't help that I had jumped in using clear polyester thread (which also kicked my newbie ass). I sewed and ripped and sewed and ripped and drank wine and ripped some more.

6 months later, it's finally finished! I learned a lot... most importantly that a quick run through the washer and dryer will cover a multitude of quilting sins.

But you know what disturbed me most about the whole thing? Stabbing these poor little children in the eyes every time I sewed over them. I could almost hear their screams.

JD's Quilt

2010-06-04T00:23:00.004-05:00

There have been quite a few babies in our circle of friends recently! This one was made for a client's new baby boy; her nursery theme was safari animals and these fabrics were just too cute to pass up!! I think my favorite part, though, is the fun stripey binding.

I can't decide which direction I like it from best; they're both pretty schnazzy:

Kid tested!!

Vivian's Quilt

2010-06-04T00:18:00.004-05:00

I made this quilt a couple months ago for my best friend's new baby girl (and what a cutie-pie she is!!). I used fabric from Hobby Lobby that I fell in love with and mix/matched several others in as well. The end result was something I was quite pleased with... and nearly kept for myself when it was all said and done!!

Well hellloooooo there!

2010-06-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Soooo... this is my first post. I never know how to start these things; Am I supposed to get all gushy and welcome you to my blog? Or tell you an alluring but blatant lie that by coming back again your hair will grow in thicker and chocolate cake will never make you fat?

Meh - none of them quite fit me. I'll just give you a little run-down of me and then we can skip this first-date shifting of the feet and where-am-I-supposed-to-put-my-hands-in-the-movie-theater routine.

Hi! My name is Sara.

I'm married to my high school sweetheart: he held my hand when we were 14 and the rest is history. We have two a-freaking-dorable children: Drew is nearly 4 and Livi just turned a year old. Though they're nearly perfect in every way, they quite regularly drive me to drink cheap wine and blare Stevie Ray Vaughn and/or Miles Davis after I put them to bed.

I'm a web designer on hiatus from designing web sites to stay at home full time with my ~~monsters~~ angels. I had my own business for nearly 10 years, but (surprise!) having two kids is a full-time job in itself, and I found myself drinking just a little too much cheap wine and blaring Linkin Park a little more often than SRV or Miles. So I quit my job. OK, so we should probably make that an active verb: Quitting is probably the more accurate description. When you own a business, "two weeks notice" is a sick, cruel joke.

I like Jazz. I love my Spurs. I love fonts and all things beautiful. My style is clean and modern and I have a great weakness for black and white and lime green. My husband hates lime green, but we still manage to make our marriage work in spite of his flawed taste.

I love to sew. My Grandma and Great-Grandma taught me to sew when I was a wee little thing, and while I've never really been good at it, it's always been a hobby that brings me comfort. My Great-Grandma had a Bernina that I would sew on while spending summers at her house. Oooohhhh, how I didn't realize then the glory my 8 year old hands beheld at the time.

I sew quilts. That is just weird to say. I still have a hard time saying "I quilt." First of all, it sounds a lot like "I quit," which, we all know I'm less than stellar at (see above). Second of all, it just feels so... well, like a granny hobby. And I love, love, love my Grandma, but you get my drift. But there are so many quilters out there reinventing the trade; taking a classic art form and modernizing it for our generation. And I dig that. And the clean lines that quilting lends itself to totally fits in with my point of view as a designer (to reference the fabulous Heidi and Tim).

And that about sums it up! I expect that this blog will consist of mostly my sewing escapades (cue Janet Jackson and 8th grade memories), but will probably bleed into some cooking, decorating, and other things I do to keep myself sane whilst taking care of the short people all day.