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Hello All!


I've changed my blog address to match the title.  You can find me at:
Perfection Not Included

Come on over!  I cannot promise that I'll be posting anymore than here but at least I'm consistent...

October's PMQG All Day Sew

In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a blogger, I just pretend to be one.  

Yesterday, my Guild had an all day sew.   I didn't get much sleep the night before, I think it was about 5 hours, so I was just dragging all day.  Not too much got done but it's so fun to hang out and chat with like minded people.  

Here is what I accomplished yesterday:

Two charity bee blocks for my do. Good Stitches circle
The pattern is called LynneBobSquarepants

I also made my littlest one a coat.  The pattern is from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book.  It's called Baby in the Hood Jacket.  I lengthened the sleeves and the body of the coat.  

I used some of the Flea Market Fancy reprint and a DS Quilts print for the exterior and an Anna Maria Horner flannel for the lining.  My favorite part of this coat it the little covered buttons I made with an adorable Tula Pink ladybug print.  

Lest you think I got a lot done, I had almost all the pieces for the three items cut out before yesterday.   I think those bee blocks took me 3 hours.  What is up with that?!?

Our next all day sew is on Dec 1st at Fabric Depot from 9-9.  I am so looking forward to it!!

Zipper pouch

      It's her first zipper.  I pieced in the vinyl, otherwise she did it herself.  It's a zippered pouch for school.

      Sewing together this summer has been fun and frustrating at the same time.  She's very hard on herself.  If she doesn't get something right the first time, she has an "I can't" attitude.

A quilt 4 years in the making

  

(Oops! Problems with the linky!)

  The quilt I am choosing to display for the Blogger's Fall Quilt Festival is one that has been 4+ years in the making.  This is the second quilt top I ever made.  It was made to match my daughter's room and large enough for a twin sized bed.  Once the top was finished, it sat.  And sat.  And sat.  Oh, I found the original picture I took of the top.

The main reason that it sat so long is I was debating between making it a duvet cover or and actual quilt.  We have duvet on our bed and I figured, eventually our daughter would get one also.  So it sat until spring of this year.  I was determined to finish up my UFOs and this was in the pile.  One Sat we were over at my MIL's and I took that time to patch the holes in it and baste it.  Then it sat for a while longer.  I waffled a bit on how to quilt it.  I finally decided to do straight lines (only my second time!) on either side of the seams.  I am not great with straight lines and it took forever!

   I was at a monthly meeting for the PMQG and Violet showed us a quilt she had just finished.  It had a ruffled boarder.  I quized her after the meeting about how she did it.  I knew my girly daughter would love the ruffle!  Thankfully I had not bound it yet.  The quilting was about 75% finished at that point.  

  I dug though my stash and found about 1.5 yds of the perfect fabric for the ruffle.  Once the ruffle was attached I think I took another month or hand sew it closed.  I had hand sewing and am extremely slow at it!  Last night I stayed up until midnight and sewed the last stitches!  Woo-hoo!  

A picture before washing:

My tired quilt holder and recipient:

After a washing We do not have a great place inside to display such a large quilt!:

Patched with some Mendocino:

The backing is a brand new vintage sheet.  I collect them and this one was still in it's packaging when I bought it.  (Love!)

I am so glad that this is off the UFO pile and on my daughter's bed.  She is sleeping under it tonight for the first time.  She adores it and I am very pleased with the finished result.  

You should go check out the other entires, there are so many that are amazing!

(You can click on any of the photos to make them larger.)

Also linking up with amylouwho's sew n' tell.

Amy Butler Extravaganza!

Amylouwho is hosting a Amy Butler Sew n Tell link party today.  She announced it a few weeks ago and there are prizes!  It just so happens that I had been planning on making a few Amy Butler items for some Craftster swaps I am in.  I waited to post these on the blog until my partners had received just to make sure I didn't ruin any surprises!
  Everything I am posting today is from a pattern found in Amy's Little Stitches book.  I have borrowed this book multiple times from the library and made the boy a hat from it a year or so ago.  I love the finished products that Amy Butler's patterns produce, but I have to admit, getting there can be a headache!

First up, is the Everything Bag pattern.  This was a fairly straight forward pattern.  It has a lot of inside pockets and a divider.  Originally when I saw this bag in the book I really wanted one.  After making it though, I don't know that it will fit my needs too well.

I used a baby wale cord on the outside.  It's super soft!  The inside is a toile which my partner is a huge fan of.  Inside shot:

I love the amount of pockets on here.  I think that is what makes this bag worth making.  There are four  on the inside and two on the outside.  So handy for moms!


Next are the super cute baby pants in the book.  I have made a lot of kid's pants over my sewing history. This is a straight forward pattern with the cute added bonus of a accent cuff.  I alternated the main and accent fabrics to suit my partner's tastes .  I used Amy Butler's Full Moon Dot and Sandi Henderson's Apple Dot, they complimented each other really well.

 Once I finished them I showed it to my husband and he commented that the apple fabric was upside down.  Which, if you look closely, you can see that it's actually not.  However the darker apples "read" as the main print and they are upside down.  Bummer!  I didn't have enough fabric to redo it and since it's not technically a mistake, I decided to let it go.  I definitely want to make a pair of these for our bebbit that's due in a few months.

The last project is the Modern Diaper Bag.  If you have seen this pattern in the book, you know how huge it is.  Like unusably huge.  I saw a modified version of this bag on Craftster and she used the measurements found on The Ogden's blog.   I was so excited to see Jenny's modifications.  It makes this bag a whole lot more useable.

 
Now this pattern was a pain.  I had a hard time matching up the lining and the exterior.  Also there were so many layers of interfacing that I was skipping stitches in a few places.  But, like the Weekender, the finished product is worth the frustration.  It creates such a polished looking bag.  The exterior is a alova suede in a moss color.  I lined it with a quilter's cotton.

The amount of pockets on here is awesome as well.  You get six interior pockets.  Like others have mentioned, how to attach the pockets is not clear in the pattern.  So I just sort of winged it.

Both of my partner's seemed very happy with their bags so I am glad I made them.  I might tackle the Modern Diaper bag again, but I am not too sure.  I just picked up Style Stitches and there is a bag in there that I am in love with.  I might have to make that one instead...

I am linking this up to Amy's party today.  I cannot wait to go and check out what everyone else has been making!!

Giveaway: The Reversible Zippy Hoodie

Amnda's hosting a giveaway for the hoodie pattern I tested. See all the other lovely test hoodies and enter here:

Giveaway: The Reversible Zippy Hoodie

Dragon Hoodie

Last week, I chosen got to test out another pattern for Kitschy Coo!  This time it  was a reversible hoodie pattern.   How fun!  I finished  the hoodie this weekend.  This was a pretty intricate pattern but her instructions were easy to follow.

  She suggests using two similar fabrics, either two wovens or two knits for compatibility purposes.  Of course I decided to make it hard on myself, and used flannel for a lining and sweatshirt knit for the outside.  It makes for exciting sewing!  I really wanted to make the boy something warm so he could wear it the next few months.  The flannel I had purchased a year or so ago to make a hoodie but never got around to it.  For the sweatshirt fabric, I cut up an old sweatshirt of mine that never quite fit right.  Yay for cheap projects!

  The fit was spot on and the the boy really liked it.  I love the dragon flannel, I think I am going to get some more to make some lounge pants for him.  So this is the "inside":

The necessary cheese smile:

And the exterior (isn't he so stinkin' cute?):

Monster face (which is also necessary as a 2 year old):

   I am really pleased with the finished product.  Plus I am glad to have made the boy something.  He tends to get the shaft when it comes to being sewn for.

  Thanks again for choosing me as a test sewer Kitschy Coo!

I am linking this up with Sew N Tell!

Madyson Marilee's Cotton Candy quilt

          I made this baby quilt earlier this year.  My cousin was having his first baby, a girl!  He and his wife named their little girl after our Gran and I am so excited about that.  (I miss my Gran!)  I used a pattern on this quilt.  It's the Yellow Brick Road pattern, I love that pattern.  I have used it 4 times now.  It works up really quickly and the directions are super easy to follow.

Here is the top as a flimsy:

I chose pink and green because those were the colors they had for bedding on their registry.  I chose an all over stippling pattern because it's quick!  Here is the finished quilt:

A close up of the quilting, the binding reminded me of a candy cane:

Just a fun shot:

Underpants! Tee-Hee

I got  a tiny bit of sewing done this week.  I volunteered to be a test sewer for kitschycoo's newest pattern.  Which just so happened to be kid's underwear.  This is convenient timing as my daughter is constantly running out of clean chones.  

I dug through my stash of knits and and bag of t-shirts to re-con.  I found this super cute pear knit and a paw print knit to use.  The pattern works up really quickly and only takes about 15 min to sew up!  Here are the three pairs I made (two for the girl and one for the boy):

  My daughter adored the pear pair and insisted on wearing them right away.  The paw prints however were not her favorite because "they have black on them and I do not like black."  (She is super girly and thinks black is a "boy" color.)   I like the fuller coverage on these.  They are more like boy shorts and are age appropriate for a 6 year old.   Perfect for under skirts!

(Removed pictures)

The boy was not as impressed with his.  He is still not really potty trained and I think he found it odd to not be wearing a diaper.  I do like the fit of these so I will probably be making more as we start to get him fully potty trained.

(Removed pictures)

I just had to make them a matching pair, it was too cute not to!

(Removed pictures)

As we were finishing up the pictures, my husband walks in from work and gives us the oddest look.  He then pretends to dial (I hope!) child services, and I hear him say, "No, this time, the pants are completely off."  :D




I am linking this up to Amy's Sew N Tell.

Spring Quilt Festival

If you are a quilt or crafty blogger you know about the awesomeness that is Amy's Quilt Festival.  If you don't than you should.  Go here and find out about it.  Go ahead, I'll wait....
 Done?  Good!

  This time around I am showing another baby quilt.  That's the majority of what I make.  (I work better on a deadline and a smaller scale.)  Some friend's were having a baby girl earlier this year.  They had a brown and green nature scheme for the nursery.  I try to make the quilt match room colors when possible.  It gives me a place to go from.  I have found that if I do not have something to start with I become paralyzed with indecision.

    I had been wanting to try a coin quilt for awhile so I hopped over to the Moda Bake Shop.  I love AmandaJean's tutorial and used most of her fabric requirements and measurements as a guideline and went from there.  I did not start with charm squares.  Here are the fabrics laid out after digging through my stash.

I loved making this quilt.  It went together very quickly.  I think it took me a few days from start to finish.  Which is great because I waited until the week of the shower to make it. (Click on the picture to see it larger.  I can only fit small pics on my layout.)

I quilted it in waves from one corner to another.  I really didn't want to use free motion stippling allover.  The straight lines seem to need something else.  I also didn't want just straight line quilting.  I needed something a bit faster...  I had seen something similar to this on Flickr somewhere.  Oh, I found it here.  I love that quilt!
(Click on it to make it larger)

 Everything except the brown sashing was from stash which I loved even more! I used some of my vintage fabrics that I got from my Gran's and Great Gran's stash.  (My Aunt gifted me 2 rubbermaid totes of their fabrics last year.)  They are both passed away so I loved being able to use it.   Two of the greens below are from them.  This is a close up of the front.

A close up of the back.

The binding fabric was cut on the bias specifically so I would get the "candy cane" stripe look.  I really like that on bindings.

Funny side note:  I added a label because the parent's were sure of the baby's name before she was born.  So three weeks later, she's born and they named her something else!  I keep trying to get the quilt back from them to replace the label but they do not want to give it up.  I suppose that's a good thing, right?

Okay so now that you are done here go visit Amy's Creative side and check out the other hundreds(!) of quilts posted.