Quilt in a Day

Or more accurately, quilt top in a day. The trouble started 2 or 3 (4?) years ago when Ellen, her Texas friend, Ann, and I spent a day shopping the bead, yarn and fabric stores in Ventura. 

I found this jelly roll, in "my" colors, and just had to have it. I had no idea what a jelly roll was, or what one did with it, but home with me it came.

Fast forward to July, about a month before I got my new sewing machine. Kaity posted about a quilt top she made in less than a day, using jelly rolls, and included a video of quilt races. I was hooked.

I've gotten a little smarter as I've aged, so rather than using my perfect - and expensive - original jelly roll for my first try, I went to Joann's and picked up two coordinating jellies. 

First I mixed up the strips so I'd have a more random pick of colors and patterns. 

Then I miter-joined each of the 40 strips to its neighbor, giving me one loooooong strip that was 1600" - over 44 yards. 

The next part was definitely the hardest. Without twisting the fabric, you're supposed to join the start and end of the 1600" strip and sew them together, right sides facing. You end up with a piece 2-strips wide and 800" long. (No picture of that part; it was late at night and I was too tired to think of photos.) 

You cut the end apart, then fold the bottom up to the top and - right sides together - sew them together again, this time getting a 4-strip wide piece that's only 400" long. 

Lily, of course, was helping me every step of the way. 

 Fold it again - 8 strips wide. 

And again - 16 wide - 

until after the 5th and final fold, you have a piece that's 32 strips of random stripey goodness. 

Cat included for scale (and because I couldn't get her to stay off the d*mn thing.)  

The almost-final step is ironing all the seams - and learning -again- that steaming your fingers hurts. 

And the final step? 

Start worrying about how to attach the batting and backing, and get this baby sewn up.

Ballet Class

Leia had her first ballet/tap class today, along with two of her day school buddies. They looked sooooo cute in their leotards and tights, each with her own little carry bag. 

Brooke, Leia and Callie

First, the girls met Miss Lauren 

and then it was time to dance. 

 Leia got into the swing of things pretty quickly, 

unlike one little girl who had an immediate meltdown and had to be taken out of class, never to return. 

Miss Lauren is the school's director and she's obviously taught very little girls before. There was time for sitting and listening, 

 time for hopping and jumping, 

and time to see what great noises new tap shoes make. 

When we signed up, I thought the entire class was going to be ballet; I think Leia will enjoy it more with tap.  

 The girls first danced to "Ants Go Marching" 

 and I thought it was the Cutest.Thing.Ever. 

But I had to revise my opinion when they started their second song. Three year olds, in tap shoes, dancing the Hokey Pokey? Priceless. 

About that time, Leia decided she'd had enough and made her "I want my grandma NOW" face . . . .

But another round of Hokey Pokey solved that.

Not even grandmas can compete with tap-dancing the Hokey Pokey.

First Time

I took Naia, 10, with me to the fabric store for the first time. She loved the t-shirt dress I made her - 

proudly wore it to school today and got lots of compliments - and wanted more, pretty please. First stop was Target for some t-shirts; not many were on sale, unfortunately, but we ended up with four shirts we both liked. (No see-through, no low necklines, no 'sleeze'. Grandmas are a tough sell.)

Next stop, Joann's in Oxnard. Naia was a little overwhelmed at first but quickly got into the spirit of the hunt. For each t-shirt, she changed her fabric choice at least twice and one shirt had four potential mates before Naia found one she *loved*.

And I found a gold mine in the remnants bin. With all the fabric flying off the shelves during the weekend sale, I wasn't too surprised to find the bin restocked but was very pleased to find so much kid-friendly dress-potential material. The fleece is just over a yard and will make a nice baby blanket for some one for about $5. All the others are one yard or less and prices ranged from $2.50 to $4.00 apiece. And I should be able to get two dresses from each one. Score!!

After dinner, I finished two dresses - one for Naia in purple and red cherries (her choice; love those colors together) and one for Addy in teal with fishies. Naia's dress cost me about $16 - $10 for the t-shirt and $6 for the skirt, with a little yardage left over for another project.

Not bad for a few hours work.   

Happy Girls

Naia is happy because I figured out a way to make her a t-shirt dress, just like the little girls'.

I took one of my medium t-shirts, added a pieced together skirt (my fabric was 44" wide and I needed 60") and voila! She loves it and I think she looks great.  (The dress is sleeveless; she has it on over a t-shirt and jean shorts.)

The cats are happy because I obviously put all this fabric out just for their lounging pleasure. AJ made herself a little nest, 

  while Lily just wanted to wrestle it into submission.

Joann's Fabric is happy because I've been in there at least every other day since I got my new sewing machine. Sunday's excursion netted me a new pair of Ginger scissors (40% off!), 2 jelly rolls to make a quilt (my real reason for going to J's in the first place), and a kit to make this quilted bag - 

complete with inside pocket

and some of the ugliest fabric I've ever seen. But the way to improve your skills is to practice, right? And the kit, including fabric, was on clearance for $7.97.

At that price, who cares if it's ugly!
 
The other thing that made me happy was getting my bobbin lace supplies organized. Thanks to the generosity of ex-lacer friends, I've outgrown my little carry bag. A quick trip to Harbor Freight, where this beauty was less than $18  (Joann's wanted $45 for something similar) - 

and I had all my bobbins, thread and tools in their new home.

 

And had time to start a new lace project.

 As Leia would say, I happy me.

How Quickly They Grow

Leia and Leanne both had milestones this month - Leia turned 3 and Leanne, 6 months - so we took them to my favorite portrait place, Picture People in Simi for a photo session. Love how Picture People really works with the kids to get great shots. It took two employees to corral Leia today and get her to cooperate; she had a major case of the sillies. I think they really got the essence of "3" - feisty, silly, and princess.
We took Leanne for her pix earlier in the week and she gave the photographer a run for her money. She was a smiles and giggles until the camera was pointed her way, and then . . . . solemn or frowns. The only picture in which she had even a hint of a smile was this one - which fortunately Marie and I loved.

Naia didn't go with us this time since she'll be getting school portraits taken soon. Can't believe she's in 5th grade already. All my girls are getting so big!

On A Roll - The FO Edition

When Leia got up from her nap, I had two new dresses all ready for her. Don't be too impressed; these are 'cheater' dresses. All I had to do was seam up the side (serged it on my new sewing machine. LOVE it!) and add the straps. Leia didn't care - she was happy, happy, happy with her new Ariel dress.

Leia's favorite 'look at my b*tt' pose

Also put the finishing touches on two hats. This one was made with super chunky yarn, a giant hook (12mm) and only slip stitches - front loop, back loop and inverse. Love how it turned out. Now I want to make another using thinner yarn and a smaller hook. Super chunky wool won't get much wear in So. California.

Last up is the Tunisian Honeycomb Hat. Fell in love with this on Ravelry and had to try it. I wasn't too sure about this color combo at first, but I think it looks great and really emphasizes the stitch pattern. Want to experiment a bit with this one too. Think I'll add a border around the bottom edge, and my decreases and bind off look messy to me. Need to think about what to do . . . .