christmas pants 2011

Fabrics for this year!

I have SO much you show you all!! I actually started on Christmas crafts at a decent time this year so most of the projects I worked on I wasn't able to post on here. I hate it when Christmas gets ruined!! The project nearest and dearest to my heart are the Christmas pants for my family. If you recall from this post last year I decided to make pajama pants for my family to wear on Christmas eve when we open gifts. Last year I DID NOT give myself enough time to complete the pants in time so it was imperative that I fix that this year. Since Joanns gets their Christmas fabric in October I was able to get what I wanted in the beginning of Novemeber. I went with Christmas fabrics this year and got straight to work. Since I have most, if not all, of Wednesdays off from work it was the prime time to work on the pants while my parents were out of the house. Another little help to myself this time around....NO DRAWSTRINGS.Good Lord I never could have imagined the time and hassle it spared me by just using elastic in the waists. With God as my witness I'll never use drawstrings again! phew. Now, without the drawstrings I still wanted some way to tie all the pants together. Last year I used each persons drawstring in a different person's pants. This year the best option I had was switching the pockets. It added such a cute and unifying touch to the whole thing. So with the combination of time and elastic I was able to finish and wrap all the pants by the first week of December. What a relief it was.

The switched pockets

Come Christmas Eve eve I snuck around my dark house placing the wrapped pants outside my families doors with a note that said "Open ASAP. You know what to do!!". As predicted last year, my step-dad woke up early (he got called into work), kicked his gift, and didn't think much of it since their door was near the tree. He didn't have a clue haha. I woke up nice and early the next morning and stayed in my room, trying to listen for people as they woke up. When it seemed like they were all upstairs I went up, wearing my pants, and discovered them awake and in their pants as well! It was glorious. I hadn't said anything about the pants all year so they had forgotten all about it. And boy did they look swell. I was so pleased that the whole thing went as smoothly as it did. AND I even got proof this year!

our better sides!

Our traditional family "Capt'n" pose.

I'm so happy with how everything turned out. And even more happy with the smiles on my family's faces. They all loved their pants and wore them for the rest of the day and into the weekend. What a Merry Christmas for all! 

quilt retreat

Last weekend my sister and I packed up our sewing machines and our projects and headed to the quilt retreat! We were both pretty excited for it this year since there was a time when we didn't think we'd be able to go this fall. But as it turned out we made it happen and couldn't wait to work on our projects. And to make it even sweeter, we were both able to get off a whole day on Friday so we had ample time to get to the retreat and really get some work done.

As always it was so nice to see the other quilting ladies and catch up with them. It's almost like having my Grandma there with me. It's a real comfort to know that they still care about Cassie and I. They get a real big kick over us being there and continuing the tradition of it. There were actually some other girls out age that went this year too so that was pretty exciting for us. It's not very often that I meet quilters my age and sometimes I worry that it may die out after a while. I hope it won't. For all the old lady flack it gets, quilting is still a really beautiful art form I think and people would appreciate it more if they really knew the work that went into it.

Long story short we had a blast. We were able to get so much accomplished and had a really fun time with each other as well. I took the T-shirt quilt that I started during the Spring retreat. I hadn't really gotten much done back in the Spring so there was a lot of work to be done for it. I'm super pleased to say that my hard work really paid off. I was able to get 4 rows sewn on and only have 2 more to go. And I couldn't be more pleased with the way it's turning out. I can't wait for it to be finished!! I've wanted this quilt for so long.

Here are a few pics from the weekend. I don't have any of the quilt currently...I kind of want it to be a big reveal!

yes I had lunchables!

and yes they were delicious!!

the applique FCS square I made. It's a little silly but I still like it

the strips monster

the rooms of ladies

my happy little space

figuring out where I wanted the shirts to go

Row 1 complete!

The Crown Royal suit

About a month ago a friend of mine contacted me about making a Crown Royal suit for Halloween. My first thought was "He wants me to make him a Crown Royal bottle looking outfit"? Lucky for me he was referring to a dress suit made with the colors of a Crown Royal bag, purple and gold. Always looking to try something new, I said "sure thing!" having never made a suit before.
So my friend and I picked out the fabrics and notions I would need for the suit and construction began. The colors were a perfect match and I was pretty excited to get started. For the most part constructing the suit wasn't difficult. There were the usual flubs though, sewing the wrong sides of the pants legs together making it look like a mermaid tail, realizing that the standard arm length in the pattern isn't long enough AFTER you've hemmed it, sewing buttons onto the wrong side of the jacket opening. The usual. That's what I get for working late at night but alas, one must use the time she has. The one aspect that gave me the most frustration was the binding for the inside of the jacket because it was made with a lining fabric that proved difficult to work with. It was nearly impossible to cut an even 1inch strip so when I ironed the edges over it made for some very skinny parts. And skinny parts only make it impossible to sew on to a seam allowance. Not gonna lie, it was a pain and I never looked forward to it. BUT the end product was very much worth is because the gold striping really made the inside of the suit look sharp. So here it is, the Crown Royal suit:

 I wish I had taken more pictures during construction. When you get into the zone it's hard to take a break for anything haha.

the finished suit!

the jacket

these gold buttons really added to the finished product

i looove the way the lining makes the inside look! so sharp!

the back pockets came out prefect!

Tom sporting his new suit when he came for a fitting. I still had to hem the sleeves and pants.

Overall I couldn't be more pleased with the way this suit came out! And more importantly, my friend is beyond thrilled about it! It fits great and looks great too. With a gold dress shirt and a sweet crown, this will end up being a very unique Halloween costume and I can't wait to see whatever pictures pop up of it! 

slouchy beanie

A while back a friend of mine say me working on a hat at work. His immediate words were "Can you make me one with really bright greens and blues and stuff", and I said sure! I chose an aqua blue, bright, orange, lime green, and black yarn by Stitch Nation. I wanted some black in the hat to make it a little manlier and in hopes that it would make the brighter colors really pop. I didn't want to make a regular ol' striped hat so I decided to intermingle the colors throughout the hat. Little did I know what a pain in the bum this would be! Switching colors so many times in one row made for lots, and I mean LOTS, of ends to tie in. But despite that, the hat looked killer and all the work really paid off. And my friend couldn't be more pleased. The smile on his face was payment enough for me.

Overall I'm really please with the end result of this hat. It looks super cool and different. And the fit was perfect as well. It even fit on my big noodle!

crochet fun

I feel like someday, whenever I figure out how to crochet, I should do this to a tree! Doesn't it just look so happy and comfy and warm?! Why shouldn't a tree have a sweater?! hahaha And a rainbow one at that!
I just couldn't help but be amused by this and there are plenty more to see here.

Quilt Around Chautauqua

This past weekend the annual Quilt Around Chautauqua/Fall Festival was held at Chautauqua Institution. Since I work there I couldn't wait to spend the weekend surrounded by quilters and their gorgeous creations! And boy was I not disappointed. The quality and craftsmanship that was on display was like nothing I'd ever seen. And there were SO many! The Festival was spread throughout the Institute in 10 buildings, each dedicated to a guild or two. The hotel I work at fed nearly 300 people per meal and housed 250! I've never been around so many quilters in my life.
It was impossible NOT to feel inspired by the work I saw. The patterns and color choices and variations of different ideas; truly awesome. My sister and I literally walked from quilt to quilt doing the "oohs and ahhs" and pointing out the ones we loved (my sisters boyfriends followed along, putting his input in from time to time. such a good sport). What was even more fun was running into a lot of the ladies that we quilt with, many of whom knew our grandmother. It's always a pleasure to chat and catch up with them. Cassie and I aren't sure if we'll be able to make it to the retreat this fall so we've already decided that if we can't we'll just have our own retreat and visit the ladies at the camp. It will be fun regardless.
So here are some of my favorites from the show. I hope your enjoy them and are inspired as well! 

a wall of fall!

on of my favorites! I SO want to make a Halloween something!

tooooo cute!

PUMPKINS!! yay

My Friend Kim and her friend made these!

 They bought one cut of each fabric and divied them up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

these colors are to die for and I LOVE the snail trail pattern.

update

I know I've been pretty sparse in my posting lately but it's for good reason! I've been working on a few gifts lately so I can't go posting pictures of them for all to see! That would ruin all the fun. BUT I will say that I'm almost done with them so once they are given I will be able to show them off here.

I haven't been a total waste of space!

In other news, my sewing station has been all packed up for my moms house warming party this weekend I simply can not wait to get it all out next week and work on some projects. I've been over flowing with creative ideas lately that I'm thrilled to finally try. It should be good stuff.

So be patient and stay tuned my loves. I promise as soon as I can show you the goods I will!