Monday Morning Sewing - and Unsewing

Since this week includes visits to the dentist and doctor to interrupt my days, I figured I'd better get something accomplished early.

I finished piecing the blocks on Emily's quilt, and it's time to sew the rows together.  I laid them on the living room floor and tried to notice if likes were together and if the reds were distributed okay, but I finally decided that since it's a scrappy quilt, it really doesn't matter. 

Well, I may go back and separate some of those darker reds!

The pattern I used was from this book.  The dark colors are darker and the light main color lighter in the sample, but these are the fabrics Emily picked out and loved, the Sierra collection by Anna Griffin (from Windham Fabrics, of course), and they included some pale turquoises and some beige with just a little pattern.  Just not much contrast.

After I sewed the bottom row together, I can see more of the pattern, and after it's pressed, I think it will be just fine.  In fact, I know it will be fine.  She's already needing an extra quilt for the cold Washington summer and the fall and winter to come.  I'm so jealous of their rainy coolness.  And they're jealous of our sunshine.  Wish we could share.

I'm just excited to see the blocks matching up and corners touching!

Yesterday on a whim, I decided to do some baby-to-be sewing.  And today I'm taking all that sewing out.

I checked this book out of the library a few weeks ago ( and rechecked it for 3 more weeks).  There was not much there that I wanted to make.  Some things are practical to sew yourself (saving money and being creative) and some you can just buy with a lot less trouble and expense.

But I did see this hooded towel that was simple-enough looking, and I had bought some pretty towels from the clearance section at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I guess if I had looked closer, I would have seen that the binding is just a little too wide for my taste, and, as I found out, that wideness made it a pain to go smoothly around the hood.  The directions said to cut the binding 3-1/2 inches, and my usual for quilting is 2-1/2 inches or less, but I just blindly went on and followed the instructions. 

Except I did round the corner that the hood was on, not that the corners were giving me a problem to miter, but I just thought it would be cuter!  Big mistake.

That wide binding even after the second attempt just bunched and gathered and was not attractive.  I thought about leaving it because it would be fine to wrap a wriggling baby in, but I just kept wanting to do it over.  So that's what I'm going to attempt today - cutting off at least a half inch from the binding, maybe even more, and doing it again.

For lack of a baby to model it, I tried the Bright Star giraffe, and again it looks -- ok.  I'll come back tomorrow and see if it's better with the narrower binding. 

These next creatures are what Mike calls my "paint-by-number" sewing.  It's counted crossstitch and my fall-back for when I want something foolproof and mindless to do.  Like while watching the Olympics lately.  It will end up being a birth announcement, and I just love every one of these little faces.  Petter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Tom Kitten, Benjamin Bunny, Squrirrel Nutkin.  As each one of their little faces emerge from the fabric, they just develop their own personalities and make me happy. 

 Lots of different colors to make up this "painting."

I don't know.  That squirrel's eyes look a little suspicious.  I might have to take my unsewing scrissors to that right one.

I love days like today when I can get a few things accomplished before I start to work and maybe even have a storm to look forward to later.