January 2014 in review

 Next month I'll try my best to do a mid-month review because, boy to I have a lot of pictures and things to say for this post:) So far the year has started off great! Justin finally found use the perfect new family car, my new to me "Fozzie" ^^^^. I love her and it's been so nice to be able to just go when we want or need to after all the car trouble and months of no car at all that we dealt with in 2013.  That by it's self is enough to celebrate!

 Next up is my first finish of 2014, my second wiksten tank dress. I've already worn the heck out of this one, I love it so much. The burgundy fabric is a poly I found at the thrift store and the trim is left over charcoal knit from my fair isle meridian cardi. It makes a beautiful combo as a jumper over a tee or collared shirt and it's a great pattern for a garment beginner (this gal right here!)

We finally found a barber for the Bear! She gave him a "quiet" (he's terribly scared of the buzzers) haircut and as many dumdums as he could eat. After being practically thrown out of the shop the last time we tried for a hair cut with an inconsolable child, this mommy is glad to have found a new hair cut home of her boy. See, YAY for 2014!

 The first month of Stash bee was such a success! This is the  Tonganoxie Nine Patch that Kat our queen bee for the month and hive momma requested. I was totally inspired by the dark teal she had included in her sample fabrics so I have to say the darker block is my favorite, but I think they both came out super cute. All the blocks by my hive mates have been awesome  as well, so I'm super pleased with my group and am looking forward to my turn in September. I'm glad I have a while to decide on what I'll have them make for me, so many ideas are going on in my head.

  Speaking of bee's! I joined another one the other day! The Modern Insta-Bee on Instagram hosted by brazenlisa who was totally awesome enough to hook everyone up! We'll be working out of the book Modern Bee By Lindsay Conner for this one.   High 5 to all my Hive 5 ladies if you happen to stop by ;) the last two days of being thrown together and "meeting" you all has been great and I'm super excited to get to know you all and work together on this awesome bee.

Ah.....sewing clothing my newest obsession, mostly because I can now have all the clothes I long for, I just have to make them first ;) It took me a long time to get over the fear of garment making but now that I have, I'm on a roll! I even made a maxi skirt out of my left over galaxy knit the other day(no pictures yet) and it only took me like an hour and a half total!
 Sarah had gotten in this awesome tribal knit a few weeks ago. I think I showed up the very next day to get some for these leggings (my second handmade pair!). It's a bit of a slinky Lycra knit so they are really soft against the skin and super comfy. With our weather here being so up and down this winter, all my legging have been getting a daily work out in the "heather fashion" department ;)

 My Mom got a new Laptop and asked for a case made by me for her birthday. She's a Graphic Designer so she asked that it be bright and inspired by some of the Pantone colors of the year. I went with radiant orchid, turquoise, and tangerine (mostly because those were the ones she had mentioned on the phone, lol) I did a lot of new things with this bag: medal hardware, adjustable strap, recessed zipper  and the way I made the pocket. I designed the bag around the laptop specks and needs she asked for. I was pretty pleased with the out come and she seemed to love it when I gave it to her on her birthday.

 This picture of Coleman is my favorite for the month, so I thought I'd share. He's getting so big, it makes me sad. this is from our trip out to Crooked River state park on Martin Luther King Jr. day.

 A new year means new BOM's (block of the month for those non-quilty readers)! Here are my fabric pulls for the two I picked out to participate in this year. I seem to have a new found love of red this year.

Like I mentioned in my last post, this year I'm doing Quiet play's FPP BOM again, it's kitchen themed (yay!) January's block came out so cute! which came first the chicken or the egg? harharhar. In this case the egg since that was the part I started with:)

 I'm also Participating in Pile'o Fabric's skill builder 2014 BOM . This one is set up more like a class and so far I'm really digging her platform. We will also be doing quilt as you go on these blocks which I'm super interested to learn since I sew on a smaller machine and I do enjoy quilting my projects myself. These are the first two blocks of the series.  I'm pretty stoked to be working with that blue and white cabana stripe I got from Sarah in this quilt, she's had it in the shop for ages and I've been in love, but had no idea what to do with it. Now I do <3

 My most excellent husband turned another year older this month. I took him out on the town for his big day. I also dyed my hair a funky color(promise to post pictures soon) at his request because I'm awesome. This is when we made a stop at Downtown Cigar lounge in Jacksonville after the locals only beer fest ended. Monday night we'll be going to see Queens of the Stone Age and that will end his birthday extravaganza!

 Kristy does it again! This time she's tackling the characters of Lego Marvel and I was lucky enough to test her new Iron man pattern! Since I could choose which pattern to test, I let Coleman do the picking. I was a little surprised he picked Iron Man, I thought he would pick spider man since he likes the show and his fav jammies are his spidey jams. I'm still not sure if he even really knows who Iron Man is, but the boy's love for robots trumps spider man I guess and for all intents and purposes Iron Man is a Robot. Any-who this beauty is destined to be a pillow cover as per the littles request. this block finished at 10 1/2" so I've got some borders to add before he's finished. i'll either make him a 16 or 18" throw cover I think.
P.S. How awesome is that marvel license fabric? I really hate license fabrics, I always think they're so cheesy. This one not so much, I'm tempted to get more and make the boy a throw to go with his pillow with the rest of the characters once the patterns are released. Like I need another project!

So, this year the Bear will be turning four and while I'd like to keep him in his toddler bed forever, I think we'll be putting him in a big boy bed come his birthday so I've decided he needs new quilts for this up coming event! This is the start of the first of  two I have planned for him. I'm using dear stella's take a hike line in flannel and some flannel shirting fabrics in various campy plaids. I decided this was the perfect project to try out Liz of Lady Harvatine's (I totally have a quilty crush on her) Log pyramid tutorial which has fascinate me for months. I think in the end I'll call this quilt "Merit Badge" since the the theme of the fabrics and the pyramid blocks remind me of the badges I earned as a scout. I told Coleman he was a lucky duck since this may be the cuddliest quilt I've ever made, everything is just so soft!
Since I took this picture I've gotten the first round of logs onto the first half of my centers. These are pretty time consuming but so far I absolutely love the way they are turning out, I can't wait to share more progress as I go:)

 January 2014 really has been a month to remember. I've made some new friends, I got a new car, I was able to bring Joy to the people I love. It was good :) bring on February! 

Happy New Year's and the obligatory return to blogging

  While I'm not necessarily going to call this a resolution, but I do feel the need to start a better documenting of my projects and what-not in 2014.  My biggest dilemma with writing this journal has always been worrying that I might sound stupid or that why should I bother if no one reads it anyway. With that said, I have decided that no one ever has to read this but me, this record is for me to remember what ever it is that I want to remember and if you lovely mysterious reader out there decide it's worth reading and following along well that would be just peachy too:)
      So, you may be asking what I was doing in 2013? and the best answer I have is learning. Learning to piece better, learning different ways to quilt, the very end of the year even brought me to learning to make my own clothes! Now, those that know me personally maybe saying "but Heather, I thought you already knew how to sew? Hell, you have a business based on you being able to sew!" Well, yes I already knew how to sew, but I mostly taught my self and I personally felt to need to take the time to learn from others this year, learn different and/or better ways to get the desired results from my work.  It was a lot of fun, I learned quit a lot, and I think I'm a better seamstress and quilter than I was a year ago.
  In 2013, I discovered paper piecing and how much I freaking love that particular technique. I gained a better understanding of free motion quilting, though my skills still leave me with something to be desired, but I've been assured it all comes with practice. I participated is a swap and a few BOM's and made a few online sewing friends. I made a lot of gifts for the ladies in my family, and I still did Peach Vintage  (though admittedly less ready to ship, lots of custom and commission orders though! thanks for that loveys :)   
   In 2014, I plan to put what I learned to use, I've got a head and a few sketchbooks full of ideas that need to be put to fabric. I've got piles of Peach Vintage WIP's to finish up and get into my etsy shop. I'll be doing Quiet Plays Sew Kitchy BOM ( I participated in her and sew on BOM last year and fell head over heals in love with paper piecing, I highly recommend her Patterns to anyone looking to learn how) and I'm looking forward to catching up on my doctor who-a-long blocks with trillium and soma after having to set them aside due to a very busy holiday season. I'm also very excited to participate in my first ever quilting bee as a member of Stash Bee hive 8.
   More Clothing is also in the works with plans for a Bess top(dress cause that's how i role), Riding peplum,  and  Lark maxi cardi along with another Meridian cardi, Ruby dress, and my favorite new basic the Wiksten dress (I've made 2 already!). I'm eager to explore this little adventurer of mine. My grey and teal ruby was my first ever piece of adult clothing EVER, I love it, have worn it a dozen times already and I loved making it so much that since October, I've gone full on into making my own clothes with another ruby tunic, 2 wiksten dresses, a meridian cardi, and a pair of leggings, but I'll save that for another post.
 
   Here's a little slide show of some of my favorite 2013 finishes:

Created with flickr slideshow.