A little bit of alot

I find this picture soothing. I found it in my garden archive which reminded me I need to take more garden pictures before all my tulips eek over and die.

It's been a very busy and chaotic two weeks.

I had and still have, so much to do.

I'm nearly done with my sister-in-law's patriotic quilt.  You've caught glimpses of it in the sewing tips blog posts.  And I'll be starting in on another fun project for a nice lady.  As well as making some burp cloths, finishing my mother's table runner with a pattern called Ric Rac and tending the garden.

OH! My rhubarb has sprouted!! I'm so excited to know that next year I'll be able to take a tiny harvest for some pie. I'll have to show you all.  It's got the tiniest, baby leaves puffing out of the dirt.

 We also found out some really nice news, we're going to have a baby girl.  I'm pretty excited, though not so much when I think about how much of a pain in the a$$ I was growing up.

Such is my fate I suppose, but still, we're pretty stoked.

We're pretty sure her name will be Fiona Marie.

When I get a chance to catch up I promise to let you all in on my fun projects and good times.

Pressing vs. Ironing

In my world of hard to break habits lies the mysterious world of ironing.

To explain I mean I have a tendency to want to iron my fabric, my seams, and my finished blocks instead of pressing them.

This is what happens when you iron a seam instead of pressing it.

Because I forgot to press my seams (I ironed instead) I stretched out my fabrics.  When I sewed the block together I noticed that I had created what are called pin tucks.  Pin tucks happen when you stretch fabric to make it match another piece.  It's very tempting to stretch block pieces so they'll fit perfectly but resist!

One stretched seam amplifies itself many times over, ironing will aggravate it even more.

What's the difference?

When you iron something, anything really, you're essentially pulling and stretching the fibers of the fabric with a hot and somewhat heavy piece of metal.  You're attempting to physically, and hopefully gently, stretch out any wrinkles in said fibers.

When you press something you are attempting to create a "wrinkle" or a seam in your fabric.  Pressing also, as the word implies, does not involve pushing, pulling or stretching fibers.  Permanent pressing involves lots of steam to "set" the seam.

When you're piecing together a quilt block you'll often see that the directions will tell you to PRESS open a seam or to PRESS a seam in one direction or towards another seam.  Pressing and ironing are two different methods and should never be treated as the same thing.

G.I.A.

I'm going to be a bit G.I.A. this week.

"Gardener In Action"

The warm weather and thrown me outside to make sure my garden beds are turned under,

flowers are staked, lawn is mowed and the bird feeders are full.  I can't believe we JUST had our first grass mowing of the year.  In Ohio it's still a rare thing to mow in March, don't usually have to bust out the equipment till late April.

Also it's sad to see the daffodils that normally last nearly a month go from looking uber cute to droppy and spent in under 2 weeks.  I don't care what anyone says, even if the weather IS exceptionally pleasant be careful what you wish for.  All this warm weather is certainly setting us up for a longer allergy season, more bugs and more weeds.

I still wonder how the maple syrup harvesters in our area managed this year.  I can't imagine the syrup was running high or tasty since we had no hard freeze with a mild thaw.  Booo to that because I love me some maple syrup.

The honey supply should be on the upswing though!

The only good thing I can think of is that we may have a longer than normal growing season. That fact should bode well for most small scale farmers and backyard gardeners.  In fact our rain barrel is hooked up for the season already.  It will mean more land management for large scale operations though which means more weed control chemicals and water used for irrigation should this heat continue to build thru summer :(

It's a give and take kinda year methinks.

Bags

The weather has been undeniably gorgeous this week.

So before I detain you any longer from enjoying the warmth and sun here are the finished bags for Craft for Hope's Project #16

I love all the fabrics I used for these bags, but most especially the Hedgehog & Leaf combo and the Firey Pink and Orange Flower combo.

Chris asked me after I finished taking these photos if I had made one for myself.

Of course I hadn't, but I'll probably add one to my To-Make List now.

Enjoy the weekend!!

p.s. Remember you can find the pattern for this bag in Betz White's Craftsy shop: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/sewing/Accessory/Sidekick-Sling-Bag/3181

Pattern Review: Sidekick Sling Bag by Betz White (part 2)

Part 2

*A bit late due to my dates being mixed up on the post-ahead schedule, apologies.*
You can catch up on Part 1 here.

As you may recall I had just finished sewing the exterior portion of the bag together.

There may be an easier way to "square off" your corners but the way Betz describes how to do it is easy enough.  If you're nervous about cutting into your bag I always encourage practicing on a a bit of scrap fabric to see if you've go it down.

(The seams should line up, but don't kick yourself if they don't match perfectly it takes practice!)

This method is also used on the interior portion of the bag so all bag parts have a nice flat bottom.

It also gives a professional finished look to the bag doing it this way ^_^

You're almost in the homestretch at this point.

(stuffing it all together)

It may seem counter-intuitive to do it this way but keep with it.

Pattern Review: Sidekick Sling Bag by Betz White (part 1)

I purchased this pattern to make bags to donate to Craft for Hope's Project #16: Bags & Beanies for kids receiving cancer treatment in MN.

Here's how I thought her pattern measured up on my very first try.

 The pattern comes with clear instructions on materials needed, fabric suggestions, a basic stitch guide, and other intuitive info that are helpful when sewing this bag.

It has just two pieces that need added to a template you can make yourself like I did.
I used some scrap printer paper and added the curved pieces to the top making sure to mark one side FRONT/exterior and the backside BACK/interior.  You can use freezer paper or even parchment paper.

She warns against flipping the pattern and at first I wasn't sure why.  It later becomes apparent that you are creating identical pieces that will mirror each other.

Trust me, don't flip your pattern till she says too :)

If you're working with a print, like I was, make sure you can line up evenly the pattern you want visible on the bag.  No half-severed fishes here!

You can either pin your pattern or...

hold it down and trace around it with a fabric pen.

I found tracing around the pattern to be faster and easier to cut out than leaving the pattern pinned into the fabric.

Betz's pattern calls for 3/4 yards of both Main and Interior fabric.  This is MORE than enough fabric to account for a boo-boo or two so don't fret if you have a bad cut.  Sometimes patterns call for just enough fabric while others leave room for error.  Use good judgement, measure twice and cut carefully!

Aren't you glad?

It's getting on to that time of year.  The one where I'll mysteriously disappear at regular intervals to check my flowers, dig in the dirt, and generally soak up some long overdue sun.

I nearly forgot what the sun looked like this Winter.
We were looking forward to trying to catch some of the Northern Lights from the massive solar flare on Thursday but it seems that there's just too much light pollution around our area.  Fortunately it's not enough to blot out the stars, but I'm sad to have missed such a rare photo opportunity.
 

However, I have some wonderful things to post up next week: a pattern review, some shots of my new peonies in their "baby" stage and if there's time another quick quilting tip.

Remember to get outside and enjoy the fresh air this weekend!