Do you watch Top Chef?  If you do, you know that they always get busted on deserts, and use the excuse “but I’m not a pastry chef”.

I am like some of the contestants, in that I cook, but I don’t bake.  For one, I’d probably be 100 lbs. heavier if I baked, but really, it’s because there is a precision in the chemistry of baking.  You have to measure, there are ratios of things (see, I don’t even know what things), and you have to know the chemistry of baking.  The way I cook, I might read through a recipe, but I rarely follow it, even the first time through.  I might not have all the ingredients, or it might call for cumin, which I don’t like, or there might not be enough garlic, so I improvise based on the idea of the original.

And sometimes, there isn’t even a recipe.  I might see something on TV and say, that sounds good, and then I’ll make my own version that might taste nothing like the TV version.  The problem with that, of course, is that nothing is measured or recorded, so if you come up with something really good, you can’t reproduce it.  🙁

In knitting, I pretty much do the same thing, although I do follow patterns for the most part, but once I’ve made something, I don’t follow the pattern much if I make it again.  Or even the first time, sometimes!  And if I am counting stitches and come up short, I’ll just M1 and get it balanced and move on.

I’m starting to think sewing is more like a pastry chef than a sous chef -type pursuit, and I really need to work on that.  Not necessarily in following a pattern, but in measuring, balancing, etc.

But anyway, here’s a case of the saw it on TV but didn’t write anything down, didn’t buy the pattern, didn’t measure, just winged it.   I’m new to quilting, but I can work my DVR, so I have been recording shows like Quilt in a Day and Fons and Porter.  On the latter, there was an episode where they made a bag out of pre-quilted fabric.  I looked on their web site to see if the pattern was available, but it wasn’t.  So, I just watched the episode again, and then I winged it.

Here’s the result:

Now, those of you who are pastry chefs will be all itchy over the crazy wobbly looking pockets, but I just pinned the pockets on and started sewing.  I didn’t know what I was doing, but it’s functional!

The inside has a divider, which is just a folded piece of fabric sewn into the side seams.  I thought that might help it be more stable when the ironing pad or mat is removed.  I have no idea if that will work, but I’ll get to test it out next weekend at the LAMQG weekend sew.

Since I used Amy Butler Love quilted fabric, I decided to link into the Sew & Tell and Amy Butler challenge on Amylouwho’s blog.  I guess I’ll have to wait for next week though, as I’m late for this week. I’m linked up now.  Go take a look and see what other Amy Butler goodness is being made. 

The other project is more of the ‘read the recipe, didn’t follow it’ type.

Over here, there’s a great tutorial on creating fabric baskets.   And I read it, but I wanted a longer basket for storing my large fabric scraps, and thought I might make a few and line them up all neat on my IKEA Billy bookcase, out of reach of my toddler.

So I decided to make my fabric 22 x 16, and cut out 5″ squares, so I’d have some charm squares out of the deal instead of wasting that fabric.  And I didn’t have the type of interfacing that she had, I had a much stiffer Pellon (70 maybe?).

So, with this wicked stiff pellon, it wasn’t that easy to sew around those really bulky corners.  I was wrestling and wrestling with it, and mumbling to myself that what the heck is free about a free arm when you can’t even wrangle the thing around the thing when I thought of the solution.  Hang the end of the machine off the table, and no more wrestling!

Here it is stuffed with the leftovers from La La’s quilt, plus the fabrics I’m planning to use for an Xmas tree quilt.

I wrapped the fabrics around my 4 1/2 inch square-up ruler, and they fit perfectly in the box.

I like the nice sharp corners.

It’s not as wobbly as it looks, it’s just full.

So that leads me to an ethical question.  When someone puts up a tutorial or a pattern and you use it for inspiration, I think it’s widely accepted that it’s OK to mention the inspiration and make your modifications and move on.  Sort of like open source software.  That’s what I plan to do with the green fabrics.  I plan to make a wall hanging inspired by the one posted on PurlBee last year.

But what if you are inspired by something that’s not a tutorial or free pattern, but is just a photo of a completed work or a pattern for sale?  Is that fair game in the same way?  What about software.  If you found a program online that does some cool stuff that you never thought of doing before, but instead of buying it, you write your own code to do the same thing.  Now that you have the idea, is that OK?   What if you don’t try to sell or give away the resulting software, but just use it yourself?

It was Ms. A’s fifth birthday this week, and we celebrated a week ago down in San Diego at a great park that had an amazing view of the area.

The theme of the party was Purplicious, which is a book that Ms. A is fond of. 

At least, that’s what it said on the invite.  When we got there it was more princess-y in theme, but still all purple. 

So, for a few weeks, I thought of what to make.  Since I knew purple was a must, I asked what Ms. A’s other favorite color was so that I could have another color to work with.  That was pink, which I had for the sashing, so that worked out well. 

Every few weeks, La La and I would go to the fabric store and pick out some purple fabric. La La would ask to pick out a purple each time we went, and I let her.  

I think she’ll be confused when she figures out that fabric is not called purple, but is called fabric. 

I found out that Ms. A still loves her doll that I made her for xmas, and had given the doll her own name.  I decided a quilt would be a fun gift for the doll, and felt Ms. A out with questions about whether her doll had a bed or not, or a pillow. 

I had a lot of fun coming up with the pattern for this.  Each square is 2″x2″, with a 1.5″ x 2″ purple piece in the center of each block.  It took me a while to figure out the dimensions with some graph paper.

I used a premade binding for the edge, and one of La La’s flannel receiving blankets for the batting.  (They shrink so much after the first washing that they aren’t much use after a couple of months anyway.)

Then I made the pillow and pillow case too.  I just love how cute they are!

Here’s the top.

And the bottom.  Ms. A likes guitars, so it worked for me. 

The label says:  For Ms. A on her purplicious fifth birthday (with a doodle of a cupcake) From me 2010.

Best news is, I got an MMS the next day from Ms. A’s dad showing the quilt under 2 of Ms. A’s new Barbies.  Pretty good deal, if she trusts her new Barbies with her new quilt. 

My next projects are a siggy quilt swap, which is 101 squares with my name and city on them, to be exchanged with 100 other people, to make a cool quilt and maybe some new friends in the world. 

The second is a quilt for La La, from a pattern I bought from Carolina Patchworks.  But, as I do, the pattern calls for five fabrics, but I’m going to use sixteen – at least one each from this fabric line. 

I’m really excited for both projects. 

That’s what I wrote on the label for this quilt I just made… my first!

There is a new baby on the way for one of my Stitch n’ Beach girlfriends.

I started with a Jelly Roll of fabric from I think 2009 or 08 called “All you need is love”.  It was red, pink, and white, with some brown and a great green that just pops!

There are polka dots, stripes, hearts and lots of Love Love Love.  Very girly for the girl on the way. 

I was inspired by this pattern, which means, I read that pattern, and went and did my own thing.  I’m happy with the result.  (Do you love my giant red corkboard wall?  yeah, me too.  ahem.) 

It’s backed with the red hippos from IKEA. 

I don’t know what it is about this fabric that I love so much, but I do.  I have a pillow and duvet cover in the green hippos for La La’s crib and  I bought some more of the fabric because eventually she will outgrow her crib and I want to keep the fabric around. 

I quilted in straight lines, (uh, mostly) on the diagonal.  I started without a walking foot and then realized it would be better to get one and it made the rest of the lines much easier. 

I machine stitched the binding to the front, and hand stitched the back and even mitered the corners.  I got some advice from fellow SnB gal Carole who is an expert quilter, and I’m so glad I asked because what she showed me looked so much nicer than what I was trying to do at first. 

I started working on this quilt in February at the LA Modern Quilt Guild‘s Sewing Saturday.  They have a space where we can spend almost the whole day with great light, a great space and everyone brings their work, their machines, a few irons, ironing boards, cutting mats and rulers and everyone shared tools and advice and I had such a great time that I want to go back in March, but may have to wait for April. 

Just like my local SnB, there were women of all ages and skill levels, and even a few men.  I wish I could join the guild but will never be able to make it to a meeting, as they meet on Monday nights and getting around LA after work is not on my list of fun things to do.  I might join anyway, just to get in on these great Weekend Sews. 

I am so looking forward to meeting the recipient of this quilt.  She’s due in a month.

I didn’t get to stay at the baby shower Wednesday night because we’ve got the plague at casa adnohr right now.  Mom, Dad, and La La all have conjunctivitis, Mom also has an ear infection and laryngitis, and Dad has an ear infection and bronchitis.  We spent the day yesterday sanitizing the house because this needs to get out!!!  We are still coughing til we’re dizzy and are just miserable. 

I am really bummed because some of the women that don’t come on a regular basis always come for a special occasion, and I didn’t get to see them.  I just ran in, gave momma the gift and left.  I felt really bad, but didn’t want to make anyone else sick, this is no fun.  Especially momma who wouldn’t be able to take the good antibiotics to kill the bugs. 

But I’m really happy I was able to complete this in time for the shower.  I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to start on the next project.  It’s either going to be a quilt, some more doll clothes, or a really cute book for La La.  I’ll describe that later, once I iron out the details. 

ETA:  I forgot about Sew & Tell.  I wanted to link this up so I’ve added this line so you can see what others are sewing and sharing too!

Love this!  Just might be the project for my Amy Butler Love. 
Or this.  Or this. 
And I absolutely have to make a few of these so I have a place for my fabric.  I especially like this version, which is really simple and clean. 

I know, no yarn, right?  Well, I’m taking a break, but will surely knit again soon.  It’s just difficult to knit when a little someone is always grabbing the needles out of a project, or is pulling the needle off the cable leaving me with useless circular needle.  You know. 

As the days get longer, I’ll have some light in the crafty room/office and will enjoy sewing after La La goes down for the night. 

Now that things are working again, I’ve got a few sweaters to show you that I made in 2009.  All for La La of course.  And a little sewing project I did for Christmas. 

In reality, I may make a little doll quilt or two before I dive in on a human sized one.  Not the sewing I’m worried about, but the quilting, since I’ve never done it before. 

And can I just say bah! to the Zemanta thingy that is suggesting photos of cats just because I typed the word knitting!  Not all of us knitters have cats, or even like them, Zemanta!