The Summer Shed Project

Here are pictures of the summer shed project... that happened last summer.

Last summer the boys gave our garden shed a new foundation.  Apparently it was leaning - I couldn't really tell, until now when I look at the pictures.  Throughout the project, I took pictures of the different stages the shed went through.  I was planning on blogging them at the end of last summer, only the shed wasn't finished.  I was hoping it would have gotten finished by now, but it isn't.  I really want to blog the pictures, so I am just going to - finished shed or not.  It is mostly done, besides for the door needs to be painted and I think my dad as some little things to do to it (ones that wouldn't be visible in pictures).  At the beginning of the summer, we did plant some plants around the shed.

I thought the original shed was pretty cute!

In case you are wondering, the sign is from my graduation party.  This picture was taken not too long afterwards.

Here are some pictures of the shed currently:

I thought I wouldn't like the shed looking different from before, but I actually think it turned out quite nicely.

My Summer Sewing Project

I didn't have many plans or anything too exciting to do this summer, so I made a little list with ideas of things to do, mostly at home or nearby.  One thing I wanted to do this summer was to sew, like make a quilt.  A real quilt.  In junior high, I made a quilt with my mom's cousin Chris for a 4-H project.  It was a kit, so all the pieces were pre-cut.  Other than that, I did the WHOLE thing, including the quilting.  It was a lot of work!  Then a couple summers ago, I for some reason felt like making a quilt.  I ended up making rag quilts, and a bunch of them, but they aren't exactly real quilts.  Again, this summer, I felt like like making a quilt.  So, with my spare time, I made a quilt - the whole works.  I figured it would be a great learning experience, something fun to work on, and having a quilt, that I have made would be fun too.

I used this pattern from Posie Gets Cozy.  I purchased it online and then I was able to download it onto my computer.  The pattern suggested what materials to use for the batting and backing and gave all the measurements for fabrics.  There were step-by-step directions with pictures too!  It worked great.

I got all my supplies at Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I was a bit worried that they wouldn't have enough fabrics for me to select from that I liked, but they did.  I spent quite a bit of time in that store getting my supplies!  There were so many combinations of fabrics that I could have done - I can see how someone could get hooked on sewing!  I love the fabrics that I got!  I love that there is a mixture of fabrics - some more vintagey ones and then ones that are more bold in color and add a little pop to the quilt!

I am just going to go out and say how much I spent on this quilt.  I spent 168 dollars (about) and I ended up using some thread that we had around our house, so it could have been a buck or two more.  Quilting is expensive!  Though, some of the items I bought were first-time-quilter purchases, like the self-healing cutting board and rotary cutter.

I started my quilt as soon as I had the material.  The work went fast - it seemed that this project wouldn't take me that long.  But, then the excitement of it started to wear off and I didn't work on it for a while.  My fabrics, sewing machine, and the cutting tools all sat out for a while.  It got to the point where I just needed to finish it.  I really didn't have that much left to do, and once I got working on it again, I was soon done.

I made a full size quilt because that is what size bed I have.  I didn't know if I would put it on my bed, or what exactly I would do with it, but just incase.  As I started to lay the strips out, it looked like it was going to be HUGE, but as I began to sew the pieces together, the quilt became smaller.  I think it turned out to just the right size - not too big, not too small.

(I just snapped the pictures on my iPhone while I was making it, so they aren't the greatest.)

I love the way my quilt turned out... but, it is not one bit perfect.  And, I am ok with that because nothing I do will ever be perfect and if I expect perfection out of anything crafty I do, I just get frustrated.

For the quilting, I was to sew along one side of each of the quilt top's seams going the length and width.  I was able to quilt the length fine (well, it still isn't straight, but better than the width) because I had seams to follow.  But, when I went to quilt the width of the quilt, my squares didn't all line up.  I knew I wouldn't be able to sew the width very well, without anything to follow.  So, I laid some tape about every 4 inches along the width.  I did not get the tape down straight, and I was not able to sew straightly along the tape.  The quilt ended up being quilted down the center of squares.  But, that just makes the quilt more unique!  (I really don't know if this made any sense.)

Also, I decided to embroider a little "tag" on one of the corners of the quilt saying "summer 2015," but that got totally messed up.  This quilt isn't perfect, but that just makes it more unique.

Having sewn a quilt before helped greatly for giving me an idea of what I was supposed to do, especially with the quilting.  I still don't know what I am going to do with my quilt (I don't think I am going to put it on my bed anytime soon), but it is quite the accomplishment and exciting to have.