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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Few Things I've Been Working On

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.
My brother FLIPPED his car a few days ago! Thankfully, he is all right. He just has a few cuts and a Honda logo emblazoned on his arm.  Seat belts rock! I wanted to make him a brother appreciation gift and I knew pretty quickly that I had to make a weird stuffed animal for him (for protection, of course). He is 24, but he appreciates the cutesy and unusual! Mister Bunny from Sewing in a Straight Line by Brett Bara wasn't the weirdest stuffed animal pattern I found, but he was definitely the most dapper.

Mister Bunny has a flannel body and a felt face and ears. I would have totally used one of my husband's flannel shirts, but I already cut up a perfectly good piece of clothing for Handstitched Class and I didn't want to raise his blood pressure even more!  Mister Bunny and his partner Miss Kitty are great quick sewing projects if you need a gift for a child or a weirdo, like my brother ;D. I made a tag for Mister Bunny using printable fabric. I sewed it on with the blanket stitch on my machine. It took me a few tries to get it looking remotely normal, but it was fun trying a new stitch since I mostly stick with the straight stitch or the zig-zag stitch, if I am feeling wild!



I decided I was going to be good and wash all my fabric for Rachel at Stitched in Color's Handstitched Class. As my luck would have it, my front load washing machine managed to dump all the water that was supposed to wash the fabric onto the floor.

LESSON LEARNED: Make sure no Shout Color Catchers (or anything else) find there way into the soap dispenser drawer! My husband took the machine apart and there was a Color Catcher blocking the pipe between the soap dispenser and the drum. I told y'all I was accident prone!

After everything got washed for real, I was able to begin The Flocked Tank ( the first project for Handstitched Class). I love this tank top and I am wearing it right now as I am typing this post! It is made from an Old Navy jersey stretch tank in Heather Charcoal & Clothworks Floral Folio Dark Orange Wavy Stripe.

I had the worst time getting my transfer marks to stick so I free-handed a few of the shapes. It was so much fun cutting up the tank to reveal the fabric! I have trouble keeping my stitches even, but I really enjoy the process of hand-stitching.



This is Block One for the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block of the Month. The block is named Laundry Days and it was designed by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. I was so excited when this came in the mail last Tuesday, can't wait to see the next one! Vintage Modern makes me smile. 

I always hate it when the camera reveals some horrible mistake I did not see with my own eyes. When I looked at the picture I uploaded to the Fat Quarter Shop's Flickr Group, I noticed that the block didn't look square on the lower left side, and I was really irritated with myself because I had spent so much time on this block! Luckily it turned out to be a case of bad ironing instead of bad cutting!

Besides that, I have been working on WIPs, but none of them have changed substantially since the last time I photographed them!


The latest news on the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop is over at Plum and June. Be sure to stop by there and enter the giveaway! AND don't forget to check out the following blogs on the hop!

June 14
 Debbie from A Quilter's Table
 Sarah from Silly Banana Sewing
June 19
Jennifer from Sewlandia
 Nicole from Mama Love Quilts
June 21
Suzanne from SuzClaas
Mina from Kindaquilty


I am now going to hop off the computer to go trim some HSTs! Woo!


17 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Beth said... #

I love everything in this post! The little guy, the tag, the tank., the block . . Glad your brother is okay.

Lucy | Charm About You said... #

Love the bunny and that tank is so gorgeous!

Bethany (Make Me A Quilt) said... #

Phew! I'm so glad your brother is okay! Scary.

That bunny is so awesome I would want it as a gift! Lol! It reminds me of a stuffed animal I made for my cousin once, a long time ago. It didn't turn out nearly as cute, and looking back I'm embarrassed I even gave it to him! It's probably fallen apart by now. :P But it's the thought that counts..

Your tank top turned out really cute too. I really love visiting your blog, the photos and the graphics always look so fantastic and fun.

Katy Cameron said... #

Loving Mr Bunny, glad your brother is okay!

Cute tank top too :)

Megan said... #

I'm so glad your brother is ok. Mr Bunny will make an awesome co-driver for the future, but I wonder if his twin needs to watch over your washing machine!!

Celtic Thistle said... #

Your handstiched project looks lovely, free-handing is obviously the way to go.

Glad to hear that your brother and your washing machine are as right as rain!

Kelly said... #

Loving everything on this post and glad your brother came out of the crash relatively unharmed :)

Debbie said... #

I'm sorry about your brother but Mister Bunny is awefully cute. I hope you have a better day.

Shan said... #

Glad to here that your brother is okay. Love the little stuff friend you made for him. The pattern that he is lying on is one of my projects in the very near future. I love the colors from the fabric that you picked.

Jess @ Elven Garden Quilts said... #

Glad your brother is relatively unscathed! That softie is adorable! Love your tank too, and that block is gorgeous. It looks fine to me - I'm terrible at photographing my blocks straight on, so they always look wonky :o)

Books_Bound said... #

Such a sweet thing to make for your brother! My brother is also an awesome weirdo, it must be a brother thing. :) Glad yours is ok!

And Vintage Modern makes me smile too. I made a bag a couple of weeks ago out of the aqua flowers you have in your block, and I haven't used another bag since. I love it too much!

Kristy QP said... #

Lovely idea for a little gift for your brother. The tag you attached made me laugh!

Love that Vintage Modern block - gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

Pile O Fabric said... #

Oh, I hope your brother is okay! He will love his silly bunny with the cute little tag! I feel bad I made you wash your fabric and then you had a terrible mess haha. I couldn't get my transfer marks to work either so I have been using a water marking pen instead.

Anonymous said... #

hello! i've been following your blog since giveaway day and wanted to let you know that i've nominated you for the versatile blogger award! i love your posts and just wanted to acknowledge that. you can view the nomination post here: http://captainsharmie.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/the-versatile-blogger-award/

i'm glad to hear your brother is okay. he's extremely lucky, and i think that stuffed animal will be loved. cheers!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said... #

Very cute toy for your brother - hope he's ok :)

Connie Kresin Campbell said... #

How cute to make the bunny for your brother! Glad he is okay and I just love your black top!

OPQuilt said... #

Ditto all the other comments. I noticed on the package of my Color Catchers that they recommend putting it in a lingerie bag for front-loader machines. I do that first, then load my fabric is so it stays imbedded in the load, instead of glombed onto the window. Sorry about your mishap, and yes, like all the others, so glad your brother is okay.

Elizabeth
www.opquilt.com

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