Patchwork Stocking Tutorial

Okay, I'm hardly an expert sewer, so this tutorial thing is a little strange for me. But here it goes. Last year I had this fat quarter pack of Xmas fabric and I got it in my little head that I would make patchwork stockings for the whole family. I couldn't find a tutorial online that suited my fancy, so I just kind of winged it. By virtue of a Christmas miracle, I finished them on Christmas Eve and they actually turned out pretty awesome. I know that anyone who knows anything about sewing probably could have figured out an easier way to do this, but this is how I figured it out...

1. Make a big piece of patchwork fabric. I realize that this is kind of time consuming and wasteful, but since I was making six stockings, it was the easiest option I could come up with. I figured out how much yardage I needed and I started cutting out squares. I did 2.5" by 2.5" and cut out roughly a million of them. A million.


2. To make my fabric I (kind of) randomly laid out my squares on a sheet of light fusible interfacing. I very carefully ironed them down (thus fusing them), leaving as small a gap between squares as humanly possible.


3. I stitched the squares together, by folding over the interfacing and seaming right over it. I've seen a lot of projects that use this method, usually called fusible quilting or something of the sort. Basically, you're just sewing the squares together in strips, but they're already attached to each other because they're stuck to the interfacing. Does this make even remote sense? It will make sense when you do it. After sewing the first row together, fold over the next row and do that one. Once all of the vertical rows are together, trim your seams and repeat the whole process with the horizontal rows. You know have a very solid piece of fabric that will look like this:



4. Now just use this piece of fabric like you would any piece of fabric. I used a stocking I already had and liked the shape of to make a paper pattern. I traced six stockings out on the patchwork fabric, held my breath and cut.


5. I then cut out stocking shaped pieces in red fabric and from a fleece baby blanket (for batting) and basically made a mini stocking-shaped quilt. I pinned them together and did some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting to make little quilt sandwiches.

6. I cut out some more stocking shapes in red felt and with the right sides together, sewed them together, leaving the top open. I fashioned a little fold over out of fuzzy white fabric and sewed it to the top of the front (quilted) piece. I finished them off by sewing a little loop to the corner to hang by the chimney with care. The end!

If you have any questions, please please please comment or email me. I realize that this explanation might not be totally clear, so your questions and input are much appreciated. xoxo.

Pile of Halloween

Halloween, how the heck did you sneak up so fast? For the past couple of weeks I've kept thinking "Oh no, Halloween is this week!" and then I realized that it was actually a couple weeks away. Now, it's almost here, and I am sadly underprepared. Costumes to make, a playgroup party to plan, pumpkins to carve and I'm kind of pretending that none of it is happening.

But the costumes are actually almost finished. Of course, I can't show them to you until the day comes (mainly because I don't want to overexcite the kids with a costume modeling session), but I'm really really happy with them. After the hellride that was last year's mermaid costume, this year has been a breeze. Ruby was easy: she's going as Princess Leia, and after the investment of a proper wig, all I had to do was make the angel costume from a Christmas pageant pattern and a belt. Easy peasy. Henry is going to be a pirate. That one was a little more involved, but it was actually really fun and despite some risks, seems to have turned out great. Feeling good. Full costume pics and specs on the patterns after everyone is sufficiently filled with candy.

Beach Blanket Bingo

What could be nicer than a family trip to the beach, with a picnic packed and a nice picnic blanket? I started making this quilt in June -- my plan was just to do a quick and dirty patchwork quilt. A broken sewing machine (so happily repalced) and some serious binding procrastination threw me off track, but I finally finished my hand sewing last night. And I couldn't be more delighted.

What makes me most proud is that this gorgeous quilt cost me almost no dollars. The fabric on the top is all either scraps or garage sale finds, the back is a piece of solid gray from a garage sale and the binding is a very light denim, also thrifted. And the batting? Through a strange set of circumstances Aaron and I found ourselves in possession of a couple of Snuggies. While Snuggies are awesome in theory, the fabric they're made of is truly horrid. So rather than junking them, I used one as the batting for this blanket. It worked like a charm -- not as thick as a proper quilt, but with enough heft so it won't blow away at the beach.


So yes, think of me going to the lake, sitting down with my quilt and kicking back. And feeling proud that I finally finished something. Hooray!

Low Tech Tech Cozy

I got one of those fancy new iPhones. Yep. Before you judge you should know the following: this is the first smart phone I've ever had and I did not stand in line for it (they were just released in Canada last week). My crappy flip phone had got to the point where it only had a two hour battery life after a full night's charge and since I'm hoping to work a little bit more come this fall, I really needed access to email when I'm out and about with the kids. And they're just really cool. And I'm already addicted to the Hipstamatic camera app. Yes, I just said "app."

Anyway, after getting the phone through my wireless provider (thankfully my contract was almost up so I got this baby at a fraction of the actual retail price in exchange for signing up again plus I didn't have to wait in line to get it) I went to my local Apple Store, breezed past the 300+ people waiting in line to get a phone of their own and asked the nice man there where the cases for the phone were. They didn't have any. A quick trip to the online Apple Store illuminated the fact that the store in the mall wasn't just sold out, but no one makes decent cases for the new iPhone yet. If you have one of the old iPhones there are dozens of cute cases (including some really lovely Kate Spade designs). For the new one? Nada. Not a problem if you're like my husband and carry it in your jeans pocket, but if you have a big crazy disorganized purse and don't want your phone scratched to pieces, this is bad news.

I really want a decent protective case that still gives me access to my phone, but until that happens I whipped up a little slip cover for my phone. It took exactly two minutes. I folded a piece of felt, sewed up the sides on the machine, trimmed the edges with pinking shears and slipped my phone into it. Not a perfect solution, but so easy. Like, so easy.

On a side note, Aaron bought a case for his iPad (yes, we're turning into that kind of family) that is basically this, just in really thick wool felt (it would have been too thick to put though a sewing machine -- it actually offers a bit of protection beyond being merely scratch proof). It cost $45. For a felt envelope. Seriously.

FAB! (Ric)

In an effort to stop using the same five or six prints for every single thing I make, I bought some new fabric. My super awesome friend Heather directed me to a fab sale on Westminster quilting cotton over at Fabric.com a few weeks ago (sorry, it's long over) and I went a little crazy. This stuff was super cheap -- I'm talking less than $3 a yard. So, I took advantage, getting a hodgepodge of stuff with no particular project in mind. If I was thinking I would have bought from a single collection so I could make a fancy coordinated quilt, but who am I kidding? I'd way rather just stick this stuff in the stash and mix it up with my existing stash of vintage and non-vintage fabrics when the right project comes.

Speaking of which (and speaking of those same prints that I use every single time), I'm patiently hand sewing the binding on my picnic quilt, which I need to finish next week if I want to take it on our summer road trip. Oh binding, why? Why?

New Baby

Look what followed me home the other day. Really. Actually, my much maligned cheap-o Singer sewing machine finally met its match after years of me trying to force it to do things it just wasn't designed to do. I know I could have fixed it, but I was so annoyed with it and so tired of it being unable to hold tension and just being plain crappy that I decided it was time to hit the online classifieds and buy a new one. I managed to find a never before used (it was won in a contest -- in fact, someone in a Canadian city near you probably won one and is selling it online) Janome 2160QDC, with a quilting package included. I got it for about $350 less than suggested retail. I feel pretty stoked, I must tell you.

I didn't know it could be like this. This thing is so bloody quiet -- it's like it's whispering to me. And it has a walking foot. A walking foot! And the feed dogs drop. And it has a darning foot! Free motion quilting, here I come. Now if you excuse me, I need to go spend some quality time with my new friend.

In Production

And motivation begins to creep in. Yes, that's a stack of cut fabric. Shockingly, most of it has now been sewn together. I'm feeling good, people. Feeling good.


In other news, Ruby is taking piano lessons with an awesome musician that we know. She sent home a little keyboard picture for Ruby to colour and Ruby took it upon herself to write "I colour me and you!" This cracks me up like crazy.

Eh, Spring?

I wanted to make a banner for spring (a la Alicia), but I was starting to think that I'd dragged my heels for too long and the spring boat was passing me by. But, as I look out my window at a major blizzard (on May 4), I'm reminded that this has been a wacky year for weather everywhere. I originally planned to have this up by St. Patrick's Day (hence a lot of green), but with spring not quite here yet, I'm certainly not too late.

Anyway, I'm feeling good that I finished something. I had a major breakdown this week over Ruby's kindergarten enrollment next year. Basically, I was feeling less than great about our local elementary school and could envision her life being steered in the wrong direction (I realize this was kind of crazy). My instincts that the school is less than ideal for our family were confirmed after I spoke to the principal (note: it's still a decent school, just not right for us), so we've decided to sacrifice locale for an amazing school that suits our family's style and beliefs. I am so excited, but the excitement only comes after a load of stress and some sleepless nights. I have a feeling that our family's life is never going to be boring. Which I kind of appreciate, but sometimes a little boring would be nice if it means I get a little bit of extra sleep. Phew.

We Are Family

Ah, this post is painfully overdue. Every year, I make Ruby a doll for her birthday. If I weren't so lazy, I'd link back to them, but every year they've been a little bit different: Kate the Knitted Cat, the Wee Wonderful kitty, a Raggedy Ann-style rag doll, a Ruby doll and now, Amy Karol's Aunt ___ doll from Bend The Rules With Fabric. I've been meaning to make one of these ever since Amy first posted the idea on her blog a couple of years ago, but I think I really needed the template from the book to push me over the edge.

Aaron's sister Daniella lives in another city and we only get to see her a couple times a year. This fact would be made easier if she wasn't one of the most awesome aunties in the world. Ruby and Henry both love the stink out of her and it's painful that she's so far away. Hence, the Auntie Daniella doll. And, soon to be sent off in the post, for Daniella's birthday (which has also passed, I'm such a failure), Ruby and Henry dolls.


These were incredibly easy to make, the hardest part was going out to buy the printer-ready fabric sheets and hoofing over to my parents' house to print the photos (we're a laptop family and don't have a printer). Super easy, super cute and a little weird (I'm such a sucker for a floating head).


These were ridiculously hard to photograph because Henry would not keep his paws off of them. He was even kissing them, which is why there are some wet marks on the faces. He loves his Auntie 'Nella (as he, and no one else calls her). And I do too.

I Heart You

I knew I was going to do it. After helping Ruby to make her paper hearts garland, I needed to make a fabric Valentine's banner. I NEEDED to. Actually, it was practical, because I had this really cute V-Day fabric that I bought from Sew Mama Sew some time ago (sorry, I'm really bad at keeping track of fabric names/designers/etc). It's adorably cute and I was thinking of making a Valentine's apron with it, but I like this even better. I ended up wasting a lot of it to get the motifs I liked (and even then I didn't really take the time to centre them properly), but I'm glad it got put to use. The other fabric (the one with the little people) used is another Sew Mama Sew purchase and then a floral vintage thing I had lying around.

I used the Birthday Banner pattern from Alicia's book Stitched In Time, except without the stenciled letters. I also backed each panel with pink fabric because I am notoriously cheap when it comes to my patterned fabric (which is why you see the same patterns show up in a lot of the stuff I make). You can see the pink when the light shines through, which is okay, since I chose pretty non-Valentine-y fabrics so that the men folk in the house would be able to live with it.

Overall I loved making this thing — it was easy, and lets the cute fabric shine. I kind of want to make one for Henry's birthday too, but it's so hard not to just move on to the next thing.

Not A Creature Was Stirring...

Except for those disturbed by the never-ending whirl of the sewing machine. The presents are wrapped, but I'm busting my hump trying to get these stockings made before they have to be hung on the banister with care. I'm feeling like I'm completely insane for taking this on, partially because I don't really know what I'm doing and am kind of winging it. And I'm making six. But the end really seems to be in sight, I think I just need one more night in front of the machine.

Then there's the baking to do! I'm planning to make this for Christmas dinner. And I have to make my Grandma's famous Pistachio Pudding Pie for Boxing Day. And Christmas morning brunch. Thank heavens I'm not doing a turkey (thanks, mom).


Oh, and Ruby had her best friend from school, Julia, over yesterday to make gingerbread cookies. I used Martha Stewart's gingerbread recipe from the Cookie Book, and baked them in this crazy Wilton pan where you press the dough into molds rather than roll it out and cut it with cutters (I refuse to roll cookies). I gotta say, they were not great. It took me a few gos to get the baking time right (burnt gingerbread is never great), but they still tasted weird because they were super super spicy. Granted, I may have put too much in when trying to bake with two four year old girls and one one year old boy, but there was a lot of ginger and cinnamon in the recipe. Santa's going to get a bit of a kick in the pants when he stops by on Christmas Eve. Let's just hope he has some stockings to fill by then.

Checking In

And the race is on to make six patchwork Christmas stockings before this time next week. It's not going to be easy -- I'm exhausted, not finished my shopping or wrapping, have a really painful cooking burn on my arm, and fear that Henry has the croup. Yes, I am whining. But if I don't finish, I can always buy some at the drug store on Christmas Eve and save these for next year, right? Right.

In other news, after constantly referencing Julie and Julia on this blog, I finally saw the film (I have kids -- I only make time to go to the theatre if it's a kids' or a, ahem, Twilight movie) and looooved it. How could a movie about cooking be so good? Of course, now I have all these plans to cook like crazy in the new year, which will probably never materialize. But it is nice to dream of duck wrapped in pastry, isn't it?

Little House

I finished the Cozy Cottage from Alicia's kit. I'm telling you, this is the Sistine Chapel of felt ornaments -- so much beautiful detail, and actually quite time consuming. Mind you, I did go a little overboard on the beading, so that could be why it took me almost a full week to make it. But I loved every second of it, especially embroidering the holly. So fun. I'm kind of desperate to move onto the Ice Skating kit, but I'm also committed to making six (!) patchwork stockings in the next 11 days, so I think I might stash them away until next year. Christmas, how do you always manage to come so quickly?

But I do love this Cozy Cottage, and I'm very glad that this one is not intended as a gift, it's staying put on our own tree. Also, it's near and dear to my heart because I started it, appropriately enough, while on a pre-Xmas family vacation that took place here:



And featured a view of this:


Yep, last weekend was bliss in a rented house in the mountains. We risked life and limb driving there in a horrible blizzard, but got to spend almost three whole days with Aaron's parents and his sister and her girlfriend, which was amazing. And certainly made me feel very Christmas-y indeed.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Ztar Warz Movie

Wow. First off, thank you to all who have dropped by/are still dropping by to sign up for my giveaway (the post is one below this one if you're still looking for it). I knew the response would be good since Sew Mama Sew is so popular and I am, after all, giving away something for free, but you've all said such nice things, it's warmed my heart. The comments will be open through the weekend, then I'll announce a winner on Monday.

What else... oh, I finished the Snowy Tree ornament from Alicia's Walk In The Woods kit. Cute, no? This means my teachers' gifts for playschool are finished. Whew. I'm moving on to the little house next, which will go on our own tree (yes, the Snowy Tree is currently on our own tree, but it's just for display purposes, I swear).


And I had to share Ruby's letter to Santa. I suggested that she dictate to me and I'd write it, but she insisted on writing it herself, with me spelling out every single word for her. I realize that I mislead her in the spelling of "Claus," but it was early and I had yet to finish my first cup of coffee. So much for my former life as a professional editor, eh? Still, it was hard for me to put this in an envelope and send it off, it is so precious. I have no doubt that Santa will bring her her Polly Pockets and Star Wars movie, because she is indeed the world's greatest girl.

Attention Shoppers

My shop is open. The items are still very limited, but more will go up in the next few days, I hope. Also, on a slightly related note, I will be participating in Sew Mama Sew's awesome Giveaway Day this year. It's on December 2 -- stop by and comment on that day to win a prize.

In unrelated news, I'm have tickets to see New Moon tonight. I am inappropriately excited. This article kind of sums it up.

Deer Prudence

How the heck did I find time to make a felt Christmas ornament? I don't know, but I'm telling you, these things are addictive and I can hardly wait to make more. This is the Little Deer ornament from Alicia's Walk In The Woods kit. I started with the deer because it's the easiest of the patterns, and I managed to complete it over the course of one bad Canadian film and an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I admit, I was a little discouraged when I realized that I should do all the embroidery on BOTH sides of the deer, but since I'm creating heirloom pieces here, people, I decided laziness was a poor course of action. So yes, Mrs. Deer has beautiful sequined speckles on both sides of her rump.

I'm really hot to trot on getting onto the other ornaments, even though there are more pressing things at hand. But I really want to get the rest made so I can decide which ones I'm willing to part with as teachers' gifts. It's hard. Maybe I'll just buy them some soap or hand cream instead.

Cushy

Pillows! I managed to whip up these Semi-Simple Pillows from Bend The Rules Sewing while the kids were awake and playing (our playroom and sewing room are actually the same room). I got this vintage green fabric ages ago at a fabric sale and knew I wanted to use it for a project where I could quilt or embroider around the flowers. There was also a quilt in Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts that it would have been great for, but I didn't have enough. So, I used some of it in my Easy Lap Quilt and saved the rest for these pillows.

My old couch pillows were getting shabby (i.e. the fabric was falling apart completely), so I wanted to get these done before we start our holiday entertaining. Free-motion quilting scares me and I didn't want to ruin the fabric, so I just hand embroidered around a few of the flowers. The rest of the pillow is made from some thick natural linen. Perfecto!

In other news, I enjoyed my first Starbucks holiday drink of the year today. I only drink Starbucks during the holidays, so this was very exciting.

Fingers And Toes

Finger puppets! A little team of finger puppets! These little dudes all come from the Arazni Aronzo book Baby Stuff, which is awesome. There are a bunch of finger puppets in there, and I had grand plans to make all of them, but I only got to six (there's a pig that I made that I found after I had already taken this picture. Sorry piggy, I swear it has nothing to do with that flu that I think Ruby may have).


I actually made these guys a while ago, when our kitchen renovation was going on. I promptly stuffed them into my embroidery bag and forgot about them. The problem is, they originally started off as a baby gift, but then I realized that no baby wants one of these finger puppets. They are far too flimsy and delicate for a baby, or even an adult to play with. I was thinking of maybe buying a couple of deep picture frames or shadow boxes and sticking them in there as little pieces of nursery art. That would be a nice baby gift, no?

Holiday Inspiration

Every year I look at Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holidays feature with awe. In case you haven't seen it, every year (this is the third annual), the geniuses at SMS spend November corralling a bunch of sewing tutorials that are perfect for holiday gift giving and decorating. It really is genius. The folks there seem to have a really great eye and a really great aesthetic (not to mention great fabric to sell), and this feature offers so many ideas and so much inspiration.

That said, for the last two years I've jumped on the bandwagon too late to actually get anything made. As a public service, I'm gently reminding you about Handmade Holidays, so you can swing by there before it's too late. New ideas all throughout November. Check it out.

Oh, The Luxury

Is it too early to start making Christmas ornaments? Yesterday when I was on my mission to reluctantly purchase the pinkest, most plasticy Polly Pocket extravaganza imaginable, I noticed that my local mall was in full-on Christmas mode. Actually, I was even more shocked to see that by the morning of November 1, my grocery store had done an overnight transformation from Halloween to Xmas decor and that they were actually selling fruitcakes. It's November, people. But I digress. Back in September, I ordered both the Walk In The Woods and Ice Skate Afternoon felt ornament kits from Alicia. Normally I don't go for these kits -- I'm kind of cheap and would rather save some dough by putting together the supplies for myself. But, the luxury of letting Alicia do it for me (and thus, letting me avoid a trip to the craft store) was too much to resist.

I have a bunch of work stuff I have to do before I dive into these beauties, but I'm really excited about them. The plan is to give one each to Ruby's teachers, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to part with them. Either way, I'm excited. And while the kits are sold out, Alicia does still have PDF patterns for sale. Less luxurious, but just as festive.