Gearing up!

I know, I know!! Two days of blogging in a row!

In a few weeks I'm headed to the Utah Valley Quilt Guild retreat in Park City. Yay! High altitude quilting! I'm starting to pull my projects together and I am, of course, planning to accomplish in 3.5 days way more than is humanly possible! 

We're doing a pin cushion exchange, and I tackled one this last week:

There are so many great, free tutorials out there that it took forever to decide what to do! I especially loved the ones that Darling Adventures' blog shared! I have no idea what the other retreat ladies are making, so I hope mine is good enough! 

We're also doing a secret sister exchange of goodies over the course of the retreat. There's a $2 limit per day, so I have to be creative. I'm trusting that they're not assigning me to Sue, my roomie, and since I don't know anyone else at the retreat (and seriously doubt they follow my wee blog!), I'm spilling the beans . . . In addition to a few fat quarters, I decided to make a few things. First, I made one of Keyka Lou's great little clutches. It fits a cell phone, a credit card or two, and some cash. These have become my go-to gifts of late.

I also made this mug rug with a paper pieced spool:

I used selvedges for the spool's "thread." Thankfully, my free motion quilting is continuing to improve! Now if I can just manage to figure out how to FMQ on a large quilt and not just tiny mug rugs!

Advancing!

Okay, so I was retreating, so now that I have returned from a fabulous sewing retreat, I guess I am again advancing! One can only hope, at least!

My friend Ella hosted a fabulous retreat this weekend "down south" (meaning out in God's country past the border's of Salt Lake County!!). It was a sleepover. I don't think I've had a sleepover for ages, and it was so much fun! It was a great group of quilters and scrapbookers. Great food, great laughs. We watched Footloose, which somehow I had missed when it first came through in the '80s (okay, the truth is out, I was glued fairly solidly to the books back in high school!). Very cool thing, Much of Footloose was filmed in Utah, and the church scenes were actually filmed at the Presbyterian Church where our retreat was held! Kind of surreal to see all those famous people sitting in the very hall where I was just sitting working on my sewing project! Thanks, Ella, for such a wonderful weekend! Can't wait for the next one!

Being the oh-so organized sort that I am (insert laugh-snort here), I didn't quite get my act together until the last minute, so I just threw all sorts of fabric and projects together into a large bin (or two), figuring that I'd have TONS of time to get ALL sorts of things done. While I'm so thrilled with all I got done, of course I brought WAY too much fabric. Funto be able to pull it out and admire it, however. Kind of like long lost friends! And, we did have a fabric swap, so it came in handy to have around!

So, what did I work on at the retreat? Patience, patience . . . ! I have been wanting the perfect sewing machine cover for a while, but I was waiting for divine inspiration to hit me. I was collecting my Heather Ross sewing notions fabric, putting together some ideas, and then it finally came together. I honestly didn't think I could pull it off. . . . and it's not quite finished yet, but it's almost there!

So, linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday, here's my almost finished sewing machine cover-I just have to take in the end a bit to allow for a snugger fit, and then make a lining. Here's the paper pieced side with spools (using Heather Ross's Munki Munki sewing notions spools section on the left):

I pulled from my selvedge collection

for the "threads" on the spools. The top and bottom spools use my Echino Bicycle selvedges (which say "Bicycle" and then something in Japanese).

For the second side, I really wanted shears, but the thoughtof paper piecing them gave me the horrors (sort of--I was game for a challenge, but the people around me I think were afraid they would never see me emerge from my sewing room again, so they kept chanting "appliqué," "appliqué"). Here's that side:

I learned how to do appliqué at Pam's retreat last fall and I totally fell in love with it. I can't see myself doing more traditional, entire appliquéd quilts (am

azing as I think they are), but I love what can be done with appliqué!

As you can see, I fell in love with two different grey fabrics, so I used the Japanese polka dot on the spools side and this one on the shears side.

So, now I just know you're simply dying to know what I've done for the ends of the cover. I know, I know! Thanks for humoring me! Here's what they look like:

I used the Half Moon Moda scissors in grey/white and green/white using paper piecing, and then I framed it in grey--using the polka dots on one side and the other grey (how's that for giving the fabulous fabric designer his/her credit--sorry!) fabric on the other.

I am, if I can actually be so bold to say, quite pleased with myself. I have only been sewing since June, so this time last year I would have thought a "feed dog" was a reminder to feed the pups. For some insane reason, I was crazy enough to start with paper piecing as my first sewing lesson, and I totally fell in love withit. I've realized, however, that almost no one teaches how to make patterns! There are tons of generous people all over blogland who amazingly share their techniquesand patterns, but everyone seems to learn on their own how to make their own patterns. Sigh. I think I'm going to make that my next mission!

Only other thing to report is that I finished and mailed off my zippy pouch for the Mouthy Stitches swap. I had precious little info to go on, as my secret partner was really more of a silent partner. Fortunately, I had one little gem of info--she likes Union Jacks. So here's what I made:

The non-Union Jack side has pintucks running down the turquoise fabric (it's hard to see in the photo). I hope she likes it! It was my very first Union Jack, and I'm fairly amazed that the paper piecing (mostly) lined up!

Love is still in the air!

Happy post-Valentine's Day!

Am I lucky girl or what?! Am I running away from home, you ask? no! I got a vintage valise, all packed full of vintage sewing goodies!! Does my honey know me or what?! The sweet little case has a fading, but still visible image on the front of a woman holding a parasol. So cute! It's a cute case, about 10x6", just perfect for little trips--like the one I'm taking this weekend to see my mom on the East Coast (and to go to NYC!).

And it was chock-full of sewing goodies!! Great vintage fabric, an adorable iron-on girl in a heart, needles. . . . and some not-so-vintage (thankf

ully!) candy message hearts! After all, what's Valentine's Day without the candy message hearts!!I've been sticking fairly faithfully to the no-grains, no processed food (not counting my diet coke!), very little dairy

diet, and I've been loving it (down 12 pounds without really trying!), but every once in a while, a splurge like candy message hearts is a real yum-yum!!

So just take a look at this fabulous vintage fabric! I just wish there were some info on the selvedges, but no such luck. Anyone recognize this fabric or know how to identify vintage fabric??

Are these fabulous, or what?! And there's a ton of the cityscape fabric. [Sorry, by the way, that all the pictures are all gi-normous. Blogger is not cooperating in my photo editing this morning. Harrumph!!]

Now, hooking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, where all things wonderful happen, here's what's been happening at Shortcookie recently . . . . It's been kind of slow sewing-wise (I actually HATE when "wise" gets glued onto words like that, so I'm not sure why I'm doing it myself, but there you go, it's that kind of day!). I've mostly just been meandering along with some older projects. I am still tryin

g to finish up a Valentine's pillow featuring Zoey and Sophie (Zoey, our border collie/lab is still clearly in process here!):

It's not ironed, so the heart looks a bit wonkier than it actually is. Zoey, being part border collie, has all sorts of feathery hairs coming off her, so that's what's going on in front. I still have to add some white fabric to her front as well, so she won't look quite so Rasta braid there!!

I've also been working on a sewing machine cover. I've decided to finally make the commitment and pull out some of my favorite, most hoarded fabric for this project. The front will have three panels: Moda scissors on the left and right panels in some sort of paper pieced abstract design, and then an appliquéd scissor in the middle panel. The back will also have three panels: I have two different Heather Ross spool fabric (one a macaroni love story spools and another a munki munki sewing notions)-- those will be used for the left and right panels, and then I will have a paper pieced section in the middle featuring three spools of thread made from selvedges. I've started on the spools, with my Echino bicycle fabric as the base of the spool. I think this will just be a practice one, because the "thread" is just not quite lined up with the "spool". Back to the drawing board!:

I love paper piecing and have really just taught myself. I've been struggling with figuring out how to create my own patterns. There are a lot of great tutorials all over the web teaching how to DO paper piecing, but I can't find any resources for how to DESIGN your own patterns. Any recommendations anyone??

Okay, now I better get cracking and get on with my Mouthy Stitches zippy pouch! I have a design and some good feedback . . . just not from my partner!! Not to give too much away, but for all the fabulous comments from the hundred or so participants, my partner has made all of 4 or so comments in total in the whole swap--and most have been about her proposed design. So frustrating!! I'll just have to go with my instinct and take the feedback of the other vocal participants!! I'm a bit cowed by how talented the other participants are--so amazing!! I would be lucky to receive any of the zippy pouches! I'm sure my partner must think I'm totally eclectic in my taste, because every time I see a pouch I say I love it--I keep discovering new and wonderful things! Although all that yummy Heather Ross out there. . . . !!!!!