First Attempt at Picture Smocking!

 It's been a while since I've blogged. A lot has happened in the last year. We sold our townhome, moved in with family and will be closing on our house in the next month. Hence, the reason I haven't written in a while. It a little hard to sew when all of your sewing supplies are packed away.

I've always wanted to learn to smock. My sister and I grew up wearing pretty dresses that were smocked by my grandmother and mother and I just knew that I wanted to learn how to smock before having children. My LQS also has smocking classes, and I've been waiting for a year to find a time that corresponded to a time that I could attend after work. In March, that finally happened. We learned how to do geometric smocking, but I really wanted to do picture smocking so I found this crab plate and got started.

I'm really happy how this turned out. There are a lot of firsts in this project. It's my first time smocking, adding buttonholes, sewing in a lining, and making a jon-jon. It's not perfect, but who is really going to notice on a one year old that is in constant motion!?!

Here is a close-up of the picture smocking:

This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I can't wait to make more!

A Crochet Finish!

I started this blanket last summer and finished it in February, but I forgot to take pictures. I started the blanket with no one in mind. When you are a newlywed and crocheting a baby blanket, you get lots of questions! I'm around the age where a lot of my friends are having babies, and I thought it would be nice to have something handmade ready when the time came. Well, it didn't take long for the blanket to find a home. A few months into the project, my sister found out she was expecting a boy.


We had several long trips in the car last fall and this was the perfect project to bring along. I finished it during the winter and put it away until my sister's baby shower in April, but I never got a good picture of it. I recently traveled to meet my cute little nephew and took a picture of the blanket. I hope he enjoys it!

Aliza's quilt

Alizas quilt, originally uploaded by seamstosew.

I just love "Bliss" by Bonnie and Camille! I got a couple of layer cakes and a charm pack of the line for Christmas and was excited when I found out that my friends were expecting a girl. I knew "Bliss" would make the perfect baby quilt for a girl!

Since it took me a while to finish my first quilt, I wanted to do something that would go together really fast. So I opted to just use my charm pack and add a few squares of white in the mix. It definitely went together really fast!

I still learned a lot making this quilt because I didn't have any instructions to follow and my teacher wasn't right beside me to ask questions :)

I embroidered a label for Miss Aliza on the back of the quilt with her birthdate on it. I hope she will enjoy it for years to come!

nursing cover

I recently had a baby shower for my sister, and after seeing a nursing cover on her registry for around $40, I thought that I could definitely make it for a lot cheaper. I found a tutorial on dairy of a quilter and went to work.

The tutorial was so easy to follow! I finished the project in just a few hours. My husband was even impressed that I started and finished a project in one night :)

My first quilt!!

My first quilt is finally complete! It took me about five months to finish only because I was intimidated about quilting it. I had nothing to worry about! I quilted it using my walking foot and straight-line quilted through the diagonal of each block, stopping at the orange border. I then echo quilted around the border a couple of times.

Most of the fabrics in the quilt are Fandango by Kate Spain with a few additions to make sure I had three light, medium and dark fabrics.

I learned a lot making this quilt and of course would have done a few things differently, but overall I'm loving it! It's the perfect addition to the guest room.

Thanks!

This is long overdue. My aplogies for the late post. Things have been extra busy around here this month.

There is love in the air :) Thanks to SewSara for this lovely heart fabric from her Love Day giveaway! It's fun and colorful, and I can't wait to make something with it.

Birdie Stitches BOM- January

I've been seeing these cute birdie blocks all over blogland this month. At last, I couldn't resist. I figured that I could handle one block a month, even with my busy schedule. Therefore, I'm joining in on Little Miss Shabby's Birdie Stiches Block of the Month! I've never really done embroidery before. I started a pillowcase once, but I just added thread however I wanted. I didn't learn the proper embroidery stitches. This is the perfect time to learn a few embroidery stitches. This block uses the back stitch and french knots. Needle 'n Thread is a great site that has wonderful tutorials on embroidery stitches. For this quilt, I decided to use my last layer cake of Bliss. The block was easy to put together, and I love how it turned out. I can't wait to see what each month's block will be!