Hodgepodge...that's kinda my schtick

I'm a scrappy kind of sewer. I like to use a lot of color.  Patchwork.  Scrappy.  Rough.  Imperfect.  I like it that way.  For Christmas in 2008, I made my parents a scrappy quilt.  Just a throw quilt to use in front of the telly at night or in the car while they travel.  My Mom handed it back to me a few months ago because a couple of the blocks had pulled apart.  (pats self on back...way to go Trish).

It was December 22nd and I was still sewing away at this quilt.  I stayed up until 3am one night just so I could sew kid free.  My parents really liked it so I felt bad that it had pulled apart.There and over here.  See?  That's where the blocks had pulled apart.  Is there a legit way to patch these?  I have no idea because I'm not really a quilter so I did what I do and got more scrappy with it (as if it weren't scrappy enough already).  I thought if I put some kind of square block on them that first of all, they would have to be pretty big to cover the full tear.  Second, I thought, it would be so much like the blocks that to only have a couple where the tears were would make the whole quilt look odd.  SO...I frequently revert back to dots.  My logo being the peas, I try to replicate dots in a lot of things that I do.  And that's how we came upon patching with dots.

But I couldn't do just two...I had to do more over the whole quilt to "even" them out.  Luckily, my niece was here last weekend.  She wanted me to do some dorm room sewing for her and so she stayed the weekend with us, watching kids so we could have a date night and then sew for her.  (Dang, if I only she lived closer.  I could SO enjoy that at least every other weekend...it was great to have her around but she lives an hour and a half south of us.)

Anyway, once I patched it...um, everyone loved it in our house.  My niece slept with it.  Everytime I lay it down, the kids come running to snuggle up on it or under it.  I really need to make one for ourselves I guess.  Well, see there?  Sprout...running from the playhouse like she had "quilt radar" when I laid it down to take a photo.

A perfect summer afternoon, napping on a quilt in the shade.  Mom...I'm just sayin', not sure this quilt will be making it back home to your house anytime soon.  Sorry about that.

Join me back here tomorrow...for a lovely sponsored giveaway from Lisa Leonard designs.  So many lovelies to choose from - one lucky reader will get something wonderful!  Come back and find out more tomorrow...

xoxo,

Trish

{how a skirt becomes a shirt and other tales of seams gone bad}

Sigh. I should warn you, if you have a weak stomach, some of this post may not sit well with you.

So, I've been sick for about a week now. Pretty dog gone sick. Remember back when I said we had been working to clean up a rental property we had? Well, the house was completely flea infested. I didn't know this of course until after we'd spent a day in there working and I came home with like 50+ bites. Horrible. Very very ItChY!! (never EVER never be a landlord - so not fun).

And remember back when I told you all my Dad had had a heart attack and was hospitalized? And I went to visit him? I had all of those bites raging at that time. And I must have scratched them while I was there - and picked up germs on my hands and introduced it into my leg. And contracted MRSA. Totally, totally disgusting and probably the most painful thing I have ever had. More than having 3 babies. Seriously. My entire leg swelled up, I could hardly walk, it throbbed, burned, ached over my entire body and I would share more details but really, it's just gross. They surgically opened it up and it's getting better but man, I have been out of my mind this week. If I've emailed you or talked to you lately and it all came up jibberish and the like - I've not gone mad, just under pain meds and pain.  I was already a bit of a germ -a-phob before this happened as my friends can attest and THIS has just thrown me over the top. Blah-ick! Next time I go to a hospital I will have on full coverage shoes, socks and pants that totally cover my legs, wash 20 times and then put on hand sanitizer and more.

One of the down sides, the baby is being treated with a topical antibiotic as a preventative for some odd looking spots on her legs. She's otherwise just fine. And everybody else here seems to have escaped the wrath of this evil superbug but we still have a few more days to be sure.

One of the days I was sick, I thought, ha ha, I thought I'd try to sew for a bit. I found a tutorial for a skirt here at Just Deanna, her Girly Twirly Skirt. Seemed easy enough and I thought it was well written and illustrated. However, in my daze I gathered and gathered and attached and sewed and when I got all done I had this big pouf where it should not have been on the top tier. I had one of my girls try it on and my husband and I looked at it and just scratched our chins. "Hmm, lift your arms honey", I said. And zip zap, hey! Now it's a shirt! I added a couple of straps and both girls loved it. I call it, the schkirt, pronounced shhhhh-kirt. In the end, days later, I discovered that the bottom tier you are to cut TWO of each. I cut ONE. Yeah. That would do it. The moral of the story. Don't sew while sick or you too will experience "seams gone bad".

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I did manage to not screw up adding some ruffles to a pair of jeans and an applique to a tshirt for a friend.

My June giveaway was a set of repurposed market bags which went to Crystal, new Mom of twin girls. They'll be on their way to you shortly Crystal. For July, I thought I'd giveaway one of my mini-notebook covers so you can take notes on the fly in your sewing room, etc. And this month, leave a comment about a sewing mishap you've experienced. Or if you don't sew, just any old project gone wrong kind of story will do.

Still laying around with my feet up. And slowly on the mend. Only me. Only weird little things like this happen to me. Shhheez! Hope all is well with you and yours. Looking forward to commiserating with you on your "seams gone bad".

xoxo,

Trish