Bee Vintage- August Blocks for Jen

Oh my hexagon. That is my new swear phrase! I didn't think that these would be so hard, but for me, they were.

Jen asked for shabby chic colors and she loves pink. I like this one the best!

I am part of a quilting bee called Bee Vintage.  Each month a new "Queen Bee" is the head of the quilting bee and lets all the others know what quilt block to make for them. When we are finished, we send them through the mail to the Queen Bee.  The Queen Bee makes a quilt from all the blocks we send.  Our bee uses vintage sheets for our quilt blocks. 

Jen was our Queen Bee for August, and she asked for hexagon blocks. The tutorial we all used was this one by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. The cutting instructions were here. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the moving of my ruler (brain cells, come back! I miss you!) but once I got it, it was easy. At one point I had to call in my math-minded hubby and he even cut some of the triangles for me. Sewing on the other hand...I need to figure out the pressing and matching of seams a little better. My seam ripper and I bonded quite a bit during this project.

Here is it's mate.

I couldn't take any cute clothesline pictures this time. It was raining. And dark outside. And I needed to get these in the mail the next day. My pictures are a bit dark as a result, sorry!

It really is quite brilliant how these work- take a look at the tutorial if you haven't already!

And the last one!

Book Review: Sewing in No Time

I have a shelf of very inspirational craft books, and instead of just looking at them for ideas (like normal!) I've been making projects to spruce up my craft room. Today I am reviewing one of them, Sewing in No Time: 50 Step-by-Step Weekend Projects Made Easy. I bought this one from Joann's with my 40% off coupon. Yay coupons!


This book was written by Emma Hardy. She is a contributor to both the british magazine Marie Claire, and the french magazine Marie Claire Idees.The french magazine is a super fun but spendy magazine to get here in the United States. It is full of crafty ideas and just lovely eye candy! I have only ever seen issues online. Someday when I go to France I will haunt newsstands to find one to bring home with me. See the Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? No thanks, I just want a magazine. Hee hee.

Whimsical print circa a long time ago from Joann's home dec section.

I chose the project "Ironing Board Cover" on pages 114-115. I had thrifted a small tabletop ironing board from Salvation Army for about two dollars. I already had the batting, the home decorator weight cotton, muslin, and the cording in my stash. It's fun when I have almost everything I need to start and finish a project.

Here is the very nice looking back, if I do say so myself.

I thought the directions were very good. Emma Hardy gives approximations on measurements for this particular project, not exact sizes. This is due to the nature of this project- all ironing boards are not the same size. (Other projects do include exact measurements.) The pictures are clear and easy to follow. I would consider myself a beginner sewist, so I think most people could follow the directions for the projects in this book.

Instructions on Ironing Board Cover in the book.

I was even able to have Molly help me with this project! Normally you would find me saying, "Oooh put the scissors down! No, don't touch the iron! Oh dear, no that fabric can't be your cape, it's the ironing board cover! Come back! AGH!" For a change, we were able to do this together. I won't say it went perfectly, but it wasn't super frustrating. (This means I didn't have to think too hard about the directions- I could pay attention to a 3 year old, a 4 month old, AND we could create and sew something! Not so easy these days for me...and a good thing about this book!)

Judy loves hearts, she was born on Valentine's Day!

I also made a variation on the laundry bag project. This was made for my MIL Judy back in February. I thought she needed something to carry her knitting in, and a roll for her knitting needles. I shrunk the dimensions for this project so she could carry a medium sized knitting project in the bag along with her knitting roll.

Instructions on the Laundry Bag from the book.

I don't know if I can call this an official book review as I have only made two of the projects in this book. There are several other projects that I have looked at and would like to make. That counts, right? Most craft books have a higher ratio of things I won't make versus what I would like to make, this seems to be the opposite. There are a lot of wonderful ideas in here, and I plan on making more from Sewing in No Time. Here are a few more pictures of fun projects from the book!

Cute little toy bags.  I am not a fan of embellishments.  I think I'd leave off the flower. But I love the animals peeking out- so cute! Maybe I would just put googly eyes on each bag. Then they are always looking at you! That is either hilarious or creepy. I can't decide. (Okay, I am siding with hilarious. I love googly eyes!)

I have fantasies about making play tents for Molly and Jack.  Oooh, I revealed his name to the interwebs!
Yep, it's John Henry, nicknamed Jack. He is named for my grandfather.

Ahhh, a peg bag.  I still haven't decided what I want mine to look like on my lovely clothesline.