Double Sided Quilt

A Kaleidoscope quilt had been on my Pinterest board for quite some time. In fact, I pinned two different versions without even realizing it! I made this quilt some time last year but never got it blogged. It hung in the craft store above the fabric line it's made from until a few weeks ago, and then I finally quilted it last week. 

I used fabric from the line Blythe from Robert Kaufman. I also made a shirt out of this fabric. 

I didn't paper piece this quilt. I didn't use a special ruler. I, like a psychopath, cut this quilt from a template and used 10" squares. And linen. I made a quilt with a gazillion points out of linen. It almost didn't work, but it was close enough that I was able to manage. If you want to make a Kaleidoscope quilt do yourself a favor and don't be like me! We will be stocking the Kaleido Ruler in the shop, so if you want to make one I would go with the ruler. 

For the backing I had some 6" hexagons cut out from the line so I decided to use them to piece the backing. There weren't enough for the whole quilt back, so I decided to "float" them in the gray fabric. I LOVE the back! I think I like it more than the front!

I used Moda's tutorial for sewing rows of hexagons together by machine. Gray hexagons and half hexagons filled in the holes to make it square, and then I added fabric around all four sides to make it big enough. 

I started quilting this quilt during a video interview with AFN at the shop. I loaded the quilt and did a little meandering to show them how the long-arm quilt machine works. Then I left it alone for a few days while we counted inventory. (Blech.) Then one morning I woke up and thought "BEES!" My quilt needs bees! People call the hexagons honeycombs because of looking like, duh, honeycomb. So between the flowers and the honeycomb, I really needed bees. So I picked out all the stitches I had done for AFN and started again with this pantograph from Digitech Designs.

So now I have a double sided quilt! And I love it!

Let the Fall Sewing Begin!

Fall is in full swing here in Germany! It is COLD. That's ok though, because that means I can start sewing fall clothes. 

I'm not finished with the Washi Tunic yet. I feel like there are a few more things I can try with it. This one is rayon and I added sleeves. Oh, and pockets! Even though the pockets are intended for the dress length I decided to see if I could make them work. I little resizing so they didn't hang too low, and it worked!

The pattern doesn't come with a sleeve (just the cap one) so I drafted this one. I used a combination of the School House Tunic sleeve and a bell sleeve from this shirt. This is my favorite one so far.

Fabric: Valorie Wells Novella Rayon
Pattern: Washi Tunic

I never blogged these pants, but they are part of my "PJs I can Wear to Work" series. *wink*

It's a nice stable knit with a pinstripe pattern. From a distance most people can't tell they are knit! But they are like wearing sweats to work. Love them!

Next up a blouse from Hilco's Knip Mode magazine. This is my third time to make this blouse, and my favorite version. I did the sleeve cuff in linen and then used the "J. Crew sleeve roll." That cracks me up. They have their own brand of sleeve roll!

Fabric: Blythe from Robert Kaufman
Pattern: Knip Mode blouse (no name)

I also made another knit pencil skirt. I'm loving these! So comfy and cute and easy! (not such a good hair day...)

The knit pencil skirt is just a tube! So easy. This one is one tremendously long tube folded in half. The single layer of knit wasn't thick enough so I doubled it, which meant I only had to hem the top since the bottom is folded. SO.EASY.

So those are my first fun outfits for this fall!

Two more completed projects

I absolutely loved Corinnea's orange linen dress she made last week. So more Nicey Jane, and more of that perfect green Kona produced this:

Teal earrings by the Green World

The pattern was a little snug. I made a 14 and it still was a bit tight on my hips. I'm so glad I didn't make the dress first! Be sure and measure yourself and make sure you cut big enough.

Before I jump into showing you the next project, I wanted to show off these earrings Corinnea likes to say I pounced on the other day. Totally beautiful and deserving of pouncing!

Chandelier earrings by the Green World

I had a whim to make a kick pleat skirt. It started with the black and white number I made a few weekends ago, and then I figured out how to accomplish the fitted version. So Saturday morning I bought the fabric and by Saturday evening I had a skirt! The waistband is photographed here first to show you the fabric, and because it's boring and I wanted to get it out of the way first! Ha! It's Robert Kaufman Quilter's Tweed. I love the print, and the back side was lovely enough that I made the waistband out of it. Oh yeah, and I used Wonder Tape for the first time, AND a zipper foot for the first time! Oh my.... Wonder Tape, how do I love thee.... and yes, I've never had a sewing machine with a zipper foot. I will never be without one again!

We went outside to snap some photos of the skirt and had so much fun that a couple of young German girls actually started following us around! I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying until I heard ".... actress from Hollywood!" OMG! They FOLLOWED US HOME! I can't imagine why they would get the idea we were someone interesting..... Couldn't have been because I was walking around on a hot day in a cloche and heels!

Here's some of my favorites from the photo shoot!

I guess it may have seemed like we were someone of some importance since I did have my own personal photographer giving me directions and wearing a Hollywood t-shirt!

I've been trying to get my mom to do something crafty since she got here. Who knew that all I needed to do was hand her the Canon and watch her go! Here's some other fun photos she took today.


And if you were in the country of Germany at a little after 5:30, you know that Germany won their game today! Wow! Seriously, we live right next to the little Markplatz, and it was like a parade! Everyone driving around honking and blowing their vuvuzelas and waving flags! It's fun to watch.

I hope all of you had fun and exciting weekends!