Ember Costumes and Crafts

I've wanted to make a Christmas Quilt to hang up for a while now but wasn't inspired by any of the Christmas fabric I saw. I also have wanted to make a big rainbow roundabout quilt but was too intimidated by the pattern to do that.  Then I saw this Lewis and Irene "Noel" Fabric and decided to make a "practice" roundabout quilt for Christmas!  The little triangles are VERY DIFFICULT but I managed to make it work. The points aren't nearly as nice as I usually like, but the tutorial I was following said not to worry about it and...I agree that cutting off some points isn't a big deal on this quilt. When you stand back and see the hidden circles, none of those tiny points really matter!  I was worried that the circles wouldn't be obvious enough because my background fabric was too busy, so when I quilted it I meandered ONLY on the background and it really helped to make the colored bits and therefore the circles, pop out!  I quilted it on my home ma

This was a doll dress design team-up! I drew a picture of Rosemary's doll Violet and she drew and colored an outfit that she wanted for her, and then I went to my sewing room and made it a reality!  It was a fun little challenge and she loves it!   

Oh How I have Neglected Blogging.... So I will just post finished photos of a bunch of projects so I can keep track of what I have been doing!  In October I made a Dr. Strange Costume for Gunnar!  If we go to Dragon Con or something in the future I will remake the cape with more screen-accurate pattern and materials--which will be very expensive lol. I would also love to remake the pleather belt out of real leather eventually!  John 3-D printed the sling ring and they eye, and wired it with a glowing green LED. I painted it!  The arm bands are lace-up so he can get them on and off himself.  Overall I'm really proud of this and I think Gunnar makes a great (and very good-looking) Dr. Strange!   

The Quilt Top is DONE!  This beast is 992 hand basted hexes.  It measures 115'' x 85'' (ish) I started it over 4 years ago in July 2018!!!  Ummmmm now how do I quilt something like this????  Previous Installments: Starting My Dream Quilt Catan Hexagon Quilt Update #1 Catan Hexagon Quilt Update #2 Catan Hexagon Quilt Update #3 Catan Hexagon Quilt Update #4

 After 20 years of sewing, I finally bought a serger!! I've been looking at them for ages, and I even borrowed one from Alli a while back to try one out but...it was too complicated and janky and I didn't have room for it.  Now at my new house I have more room, and I did some research, and saved up some money and got it! I think this will make my costume sewing more polished and professional looking and I'm excited to put it to good use! 

I am still using the scraps from my purple Stargazer quilt that I made years ago, because I LOVE this fabric so much. During a lull when I needed a quick project this year I pulled out those scraps and made a bunch of teeny pinwheels and put them together into this doll quilt/wall hanging.  I think this picture is from before I quilted it?? I guess I sewed on the binding first. I'll have to look for a picture with the quilting done .   

When Gunnar gave me one of his ripped collared work shirts I knew right away that I wanted to use the soft fabric with the delicate dark blue stripes for a regency doll dress! I pulled out my favorite Pemberly Threads patterns ("Elinor") with the sleeve variations add-on. I also made some tiny piping for the neckline and tacked a dark blue ribbon at the waist. I think it turned out really cute!  I have used this pattern before and I highly recommend it! It's pretty simple and goes together quickly, and old clothing makes really nice material for doll clothes.  I also just saw a video from one of the "Costubers" (or people who make costumes and post their videos on youtube" about making some doll clothes for her American Girl doll that she always wanted! Maybe I should make some videos about doll clothes? I am actually working on a few patterns of my own. 😉 Now that I have my sewing mojo back, I have lots of fun plans!   

 Well it has been about a year since I blogged here regularly. I have to admit that I had some difficult time mentally and emotionally from about August through February, but I have slowly been feeling more like myself over the past several months. Over the fall and winter I did not sew anything, or read much of anything, or listen to any audiobooks, or play any games, so I really had nothing to blog about. I kept busy with the kids and the house, but my only outlet at all was writing.  By Christmas, when I was writing a family update letter for my friends and relatives I described all the cool things that everyone had been up to that year...but I couldn't think of a single nice thing to say about myself. It was hard to articulate, but I didn't feel  like me. I cleaned my house and fed my kids and did what was required, but I had no desire to do anything beyond that. I refused to leave my house (except for food) and I spent all of my free time at home on my laptop writing. Fort