WIP Progress update!

Hey my friends! I've been a little MIA from my blog the last couple of weeks. We went on a little family trip and I just wasn't ready to post anything but I'm here today and I have somethings to share!

First! If you follow me on instagram (@emilylaraesews) you saw me post last Friday that it was a day nearly as good as Christmas, pick up quilts from the quilter day! I dropped off two and my mom dropped off one and it was so exciting to get them back and run my hands down them. You know you do that too.

So here they are!

First is my Winter Wonderland quilt. (I talked about it more here). My mom offered to get this one quilted for me for my birthday. She was tired of knowing it was sitting in my closet just as much as I was! I picked a swirling snowflake pattern, it just seemed fitting, and it turned out AMAZING! Even better than I had hoped it would! For the backing, I used a print from Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille. I'm a sucker for their fabrics and the red was just too good to pass up! Now I just have to decide what to bind it with. A solid? A stripe? The left over backing fabric (which I've pretty much ruled out, that seems too boring.) Basically, I'll take any suggestions at this point!

 Next up is a quilt my mom did. Its the perfect 10 pattern from Swirly Girls. When I say that my mom did it, I really mean that I did almost all of it. I cut it out and laid it out and did the majority of the sewing. My mom helped piece some of it and put the borders on. Oh and she paid for the fabric. Apparently, I have zero skill in the center the quilt in the frame department, but here it is. It is bright and cheery and whimsical and so much fun! My mom decided to have a swirly Christmas tree as the quilting pattern and it fits the feel of the quilt just perfectly! I'm sure my kids will be snuggling under it this Christmas season.

Lastly, but certain not least! Is this fabulously cute Fireworks quilt I made using Art Gallery fabric. I hadn't ever really used Art Gallery before but I'm hooked. Its just so smooth and high quality. I had to replace my needle because it was just a little too dull to sew with! I've never made a quilt with so.many.points. before and my blocks definitely got progressively better as I went on. Some of them I'm even really pleased with! I couldn't resist using the butterflies on the back. I'm thinking this quilt will be on my daughters big girl bed. So perfect! I picked a loopy quilting pattern for this one and I adore it. Seriously. Too good.

Have you made it this far? okay!

Next I've been working on a Modern Maple quilt. Originally I had wanted to get it done in time for fall but since fall is now strongly upon us, I guess its going to be done for next fall! Ha! A long while back, I bought a bunch of Flea Market Fancy fat quarters. I bought them with the intent to make the perfect ten quilt, but then started doubting that choice (are you sensing a theme in my quilting?) so it went in the bin of pretty fabric. Well, I saw a bunch of maple quilts and knew that was my pretty fabric's destiny! So here are the 7 blocks I have done now! I need to have 16 of the large (12 inch) blocks and 36 or the small (6 inch) blocks. I got settled on a layout that I liked and then I realized that it is pretty much identical to a layout that Lori Holt has in her book Farmgirl Vintage. So! that is exciting, and I'm really looking forward to getting it done!

So that means my round up of things to finish:

bind winter wonderland
bind fireworks
finish blocks of modern maples
hello darling fireworks quilt


Looking forward to it!!

Wip Wednesday

It is finished.

Remember when I talked about this quilt a couple of years ago? I am happy to say yesterday I finished it! I finally got the binding done. There is just something wonderful about binding a quilt... so relaxing, I love it.

This quilt is hodgepodge of different projects I have done. A little (or HUGE) diary of the many sewing endeavors I have embarked on. Different quilts, clothes and even the left over binding of another quilt. It is completely recycled, even the back is an old sheet we weren't using anymore.

I measures in at a whopping 90" x 102" . It is huge.

Now on to the next project!

sew something

I'm tall.

Like, five ten.

Most women are shorter than me.

It's fine, I've gotten used to it. What I'm not used to, however, is clothing manufacturers who think that "regular" pants should have an inseam of like 10 inches. Seriousy. I find a cute pair of jeans and they bob up over my ankles. Not cool, guys, not cool. So I've had to get a little creative. You know, diy'ing my pants.

It's easy.

No really, like super easy. All you need is a pair of your old pants that fit well and that you LOVE, new pants that fit in all the important places, scissors, pins, and pen (or marker) and sewing machine.

Here's what you do. turn your new weird fitting pants inside out. Take your old pants and lay them on top of the new ones, lining up the outside edges, and making sure the crotch is in the same place on both. Next, trace around the inside edge of your pants where you want the new pants changed up. Usually for me this means taking out the super flare around my ankles and making them a little more cropped. If the are well fitting other than the legs, I just taper my line gradually. For thrifted pants that are huge, sometimes I have to go all the way up the leg to the crotch, which is fine! Just make sure they still fit before you cut. Once you have tried them on and see that your sewing is a work of genius, cut the extra fabric!! Don't cut if you aren't sure they fit, you can take stitches out but can't really add cut off pant-leg fabric back on.

Now turn them right side out and wear them with pride!!! (and then take awkward pictures of your legs and feet, wooo!!!!)

Don't you just love fall?

I do. I love the crispness in the air. The leaves changing colors. The smell. The smell that takes me back to elementary school days, knowing that winter was coming and SNOW. Crunching through leaves to go trick-or-treating. The traces of snow on the mountains, snow that hasn't yet made it to the valley floor. The beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees. I love it.

Anyway, this post isn't really supposed to be about fall. Nope. I wanted to show off another project that I have recently finished. Back when Liam was brand new, I stumbled on the perfect boy fabric to make him a quilt. And then I found the perfect pattern for a boy quilt. Of course, switch up the fabric and it would be an equally adorable little girl quilt. Anywho, I grand plans to make if for him quickly but then things happened, and we moved, and I started this little business online that took off way faster than I ever thought it would and that kept me pretty busy. But I was looking through my collection of quilt tops that I have finished that I need to finish completely and I found his! I decided it was time and I went on the search for a back for the quilt. A handful of quilt shops later I had my fabric and I went for it. I quilted it on my little machine at my mom's house and did up the binding while watching some tv. I think I'll give it to the baby for his birthday this month. (WHAT?! He is NOT turning one this month... ) I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. And I finally learned how to connect the loose ends of my binding correctly and it almost turned out right... practice makes perfect. I think I'll start a little tradition. Blankets from mom at the 1st birthday... and who knows when else. Well here it is...

I love the chevron print and I love the orange and blue combo. So perfect for a little boy! And of course, I had to take a couple of pictures of the little rugrat climbing around in the grass:

I think he likes it... :)



how i stay busy

so after i made my quilt the other night i decided to just keep going and see how far my crafting motivation could take me.

i think i worked at a fabric store for much too long becuase i have endless projects purchased and waiting to be completed. one such project was a table runner i wanted to make for july 4th. i wanted to have it done to put on my table this year but just never got around to it. so i pulled out the fabric and went to town!

i'm really happy with the way that it turned out. i have another one that i just need to finish sewing the binding on and then i will have two! i don't know what to do with the second... maybe start selling them? hmmm... anyway, i now have july 4th, halloween and thanksgiving table decorations!!!

i love them all!!!!

the love has returned

once upon a time i mentioned a slight love i have (here, here and sometime back in 2008)

well the love has once again returned in full force.
last night i pulled out the scraps to make an ugly quilt.
i sewed all the 3 1/2 by 6 1/2 rectangles together into squares and in total created 224 squares.
i put them together.
and here is what i got:

and you know? i think its my favorite on so far!

next on the list? patriotic table runner and some kind of fall decor, patriotic quilt (in the works for 2 years now) and who knows what else !!!

crafty crafty

In an attempt to make our apartment a little less ... like a prison... I have taken to making subtle improvements. This last one was probably not so subtle. I took a sheet, cut it up and once again, you give me some fabric and a sewing machine and you will probably end up with something like this:yeah, they are are pretty ugly...


halfway there:the finished product!!! I think they look much much better!

{addicted}

So I have in the last couple of years developed a nasty, money blowing addiction that I simply can not seem to satisfy. I try to avoid it but alas, I am drawn back time and time again only to find that my love for it is still there.

What is this addiction you ask?

Well, it is sewing.
Or quilting to be more exact.
I don't know what it is.
I just love it.

So what happens, you ask, when you hand me some of these supplies:




and one of these machines?



THIS!!!!For Christmas this year, Darrell and I have Darrell's 11 year old sister to give a gift to. She not-so-subtly let us know that she would like a quilt. So after a couple hours, I made this!

Oh and by the way, if you look at my cutting board really close, you'll notice that I accidentally melted mine in the car. :( (I am taking donations in case you wondering.)

I hope that I can either kick the addiction soon, or turn a profit off of it. Either way, I would probably save me some much needed money!!!