Monthly Making: September

It might not be true in actuality, but I FELT like I got a lot more sewing done this month. It might have been more in planning and buying fabric than in actually sewing, but that’s still a part of the process!

Stylemaker Fabrics sends out a coupon code for your birthday month and I just about let the code lapse. But last minute I decided to check and see if they had a fabric I’ve been eyeing, and they did! So I ordered some of the Fableism Lumiere Happy Checkers in Bloom. I love it so much! It has been awhile since I’ve ordered a nice apparel fabric and this one is absolutely gorgeous. I do have a plan for it, but with the holidays upon us, realistically I might not get around to sewing it until next year.

Last month, I showed some blocks I had started working on for a quilt intended for my nephew who just got married.

And I finished the quilt top! I was hoping to use a design and colors that my nephew would like and it’s possible I may have totally missed the mark, but even so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I wish the lighter purples were a bit darker, but that’s what happens when you order online, I guess.

Once the top was finished, I mailed it to my mom. She’s quilting it and binding it and I’m hoping she’ll send me some finished pictures so I can do a blog post on the pattern (which is called Solar Phases by Bookend Quilting).

It went together so seamlessly that it really got me wanting to make another quilt, so I bought a pattern I want to make and then went to the fabric store to pick out fabric.

This is what I came home with. It looked fine in the shop but when I got home I had some serious hesitations. It doesn’t look it in the picture but the navy on the right side is so dark, it’s nearly black. As it was meant to be the background fabric, it’s pretty integral to the whole vibe of the quilt. I was also struggling to like the greens in the line up. Part of me wanted to just go for it but another part of me was afraid of ending up with something I totally hated. I decided to listen to my gut and so I hit pause. Today I went to the fabric store again and updated some of the fabrics.

I feel SO much better about this color combination. I’m still going to use the nearly-black-navy, but on a much smaller scale. The blue on the left will be the background fabric. I am comfortable with quilting but definitely still learning and one area I know I need more practice in is color work. I know some people who have great eyes for color, but I struggle with it. I’m hoping this turns out well, but I guess it’s all part of the process of trial and error. In any case, I’m glad to be working with colors that, at least initially, I’m very much liking!

In book news…

…my husband surprised me with a Kindle for my birthday. I’d always been adamant I didn’t want one, but I’ve actually really been liking it (proven by the fact that I read 6 books this month, which is above my average)! I was very excited for this fourth-in-the-series, new(ish) release, Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson. I enjoyed it although I have to admit I didn’t love it as much as I did the first three (if you’re a mystery fan, I highly recommend the first in the series, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone).

Anyway, things might pick up for me this next month. As mentioned above, we’ve got holiday sewing coming up and looking at the wants of the people (aka: my family), I have definitely got my work cut out for me. Maybe through it all I’ll still have time to do some sewing for me!