Last week, I decided to copy Melissa and make myself a t-shirt.

People! This was fun to sew.

I had the navy Laguna knit in my stash. It was purchased as part of a kit for a dress that I never made. Use it or lose it, right? Right! I paired it with a fat quarter of an Anna Maria Horner voile from the stash. I'm tall with a long torso so I had to turn the fat quarter 90 degrees to get the length I needed, but this print works well in either direction. Plus it looks great with the solid navy.

I followed Melissa's directions, including using the Metro T-shirt pattern by Liesl & Co. I love the process of adjusting patterns. All the measuring, drawing, tracing - I always end up learning so much. This time I altered the pattern to bring the seams forward and create a hi-low hem as Liesl shows in her tutorial. Once I sewed it up and tried it on, I felt that it was way too long in the back, so I drew the hem a second time, taking 3 inches off the back of the tee and leaving the front where it was. In the end, my shirt ended up a little more than 2 inches longer in the back than the front center. (If you do not have a long torso, I think you would need to shorten the front piece as Liesl suggests.)

I've worn this tee a couple of times and I love it. Jane asked me yesterday whether I had made it - the girls were still away at camp when it was sewn up. After I answered yes, she asked where I bought the blue shirt to alter. When I explained that I had sewn the entire thing, she was a little surprised. But for me, that is the icing on the cake. I made a t-shirt that looks store bought! Even up close!

Win, win, win.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday sewing the improv blocks I made in 2008 at Denyse Schmidt's studio into a quilt top. It's mostly finished, just waiting for some "white" borders to make it a usable size.

Only after I took some photos and looked at them on my phone did I see the best bit of improv. Do you see it?

I seriously couldn't have made that happen any better if I had tried.

With both girls away at camp for a couple of weeks, I spent some time thinking about what to send in their care packages other than food. I bought a couple of Lizzy House Catnap fabrics awhile back specifically for p.j. shorts and decided to sew them up to send to camp. Cat faces for my cat lover Jane and mice on bikes for Kate, because why not? They are so dang cute!

I used the same pattern from Stitch magazine (Summer 2012) that I did for their last batch of sleep shorts. The pattern is in women's sizes and downloadable from the site, but does not include any directions. The directions can be found in the magazine, which I do have somewhere on my shelves. But because I am disorganized and too lazy to search for it, I went ahead and sewed without the directions because I'm crazy like that. No, really, I have made so many pairs of p.j. pants and shorts and they all go together pretty much the same way so I just went for it.

Because the girls are away and I can't get a good waist measurement, I decided to make these with drawstrings instead of elastic/faux-bow waistbands. I figure that I can always add elastic later if they want it. Before I sewed the waist casing, I made a buttonhole on each side of the center seam for the threading the drawstring and tying the bow. The drawstrings were made by sewing two 2" widths of fabric together and then pressing the long piece of fabric so that the raw edges are encased in the center and topstitching the tie closed, giving me a very long 1/2" wide piece of fabric. (Does that even make sense? I think you know what I mean. Well, I hope you do!) Once I threaded the tie through the buttonholes, I pulled the ends even, gathered the waist to what I thought looked like a reasonable fit (a.k.a., I winged it!) and then tied the bow. Once the bow was in place, I knotted its tails and cut the excess drawstring off on an angle. Easy, peasy and very much flying by the seat of my pants. I did leave the drawstrings on the long side figuring that we can cut them shorter if needed. Look at me thinking!

Each pair (one women's size S, the other women's size M) was cut out of a yard of fabric so these really are a easy and good stash-busting sew. Fast, too - each pair took about an hour and a half and I do know that assembly line sewing a bunch goes much faster than that.

So yeah, you guessed it. I've got some more fabric ready to be cut.

Just a little over a week ago, we dropped Jane off for a three week summer camp at a college in North Carolina. Back in the early spring, I thought that maybe I should make her a quilt to take because she sleeps in a full size bed here and because the only twin bedding we have belongs on the beds in Kate's room. And because she was going in July and I wasn't sure if the dorm would have air conditioning, I decided that a lovely, summer weight Liberty quilt would be just the ticket.

I ordered a bunch of fat eighths from Dee at Pick Click Sew on Etsy. I have ordered Liberty fabrics from her before and she is extremely attentive and so nice to work with. She also cuts her fat eighths at 10", which makes for a wonderful value. I wanted bright, cheery prints in pinks, reds, blues, greens and yellows and that is what I got. Finding myself a few prints short of what I needed, I took a few pieces from my stash and from my first Liberty of London club installment from Westwood Acres Fabrics. They also cut their fat eighths at 10". Nice, right?

I started cutting for this quilt a couple of months ago, fitting in one or two pieces when I had a small block of time. The fat eighths were each subcut into two 10" squares (for this quilt) and two 5" squares (for another project) and a 1 x 10"-ish strip (that I put aside in my scraps). Jane and I laid the squares out on the studio floor in a 9 x 7 grid and then I sewed them together. Easy, straightforward and fast, the sewing took much less time than the cutting.

I enlisted some help for the basting. Mind you, they each put about eight pins in before moving on. But, it's a start!

The back is a pink Free Spirit voile that was in my stash, most likely purchased for clothing or lining, combined with a larger piece of Liberty to make it big enough. I'm am trying very hard to use it or lose it and this goes for everything in the stash including the precious Liberty, not just the quilting cottons. But I digress... The batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton Request, a very lightweight, 100% cotton batting. The entire combination - Liberty, the batting, the voile back - is the same I used on our Liberty bed quilt and is one I will repeat again. It makes for the most beautiful, soft, drapey, lightweight summer quilt.

The quilting is loops, per Jane's request. I used a hera marker to make a grid on the front of the quilt sandwich and it worked very well as a guide for the free motion stitching. Each loop is about 3 inches tall. The large pattern made for relatively quick machine quilting - it took a couple of hours tops. For the binding, I used another Liberty print from my stash that we didn't choose for the top. It seemed like the right finishing touch.

The quilt, before washing, measured 66.5" x 85.5". We gave it a good run through the washer and the dryer (cold water and then ultra low heat) before packing it up and taking it to camp. All reports are that it is doing its job quite well - keeping her cozy at night and providing a virtual hug from mom, when and if it's needed.

The house is so quiet now. I put Kate on a plane to her camp yesterday.

Boy, do I miss those girls.

Here's a comprehensive list of what I've read since my last update. I read a wide range of books - everything from memoirs to total beach reads to JA novels to serious literature. I've listed them in the order they were on my Kindle so there's no ranking or anything like that. In fact, my favorite book so far this year, I only recently read.

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton (I've read the entire series from A is for Alibi onward and I love these books. I think they keep getting better and better).

Paris by Edward Rutherfurd (This is a dense, historical novel. I enjoyed it.)

Night Film by Marisha Pessl (I thought about this one for a long time when I finished. It's strange, but good.)

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell (A story of two young sisters with an unconventional living situation and what happens to them - charming and a bit sad, but it has its bright moments, too.)

Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George (Again, I have read everything Ms. George has written and I will continue to devour her mysteries. So, so good.)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Beautiful, sad, uplifting with compelling and likeable characters - a great JA novel that I read so I could discuss it with the girls. It was hard to put down.)

The Confessor by Daniel Silva. And also by him A Death in Vienna and Prince of Fire. (I really enjoy these spy/assasin thrillers.)

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (I liked this one quite a bit. The story of the main character kept me guessing throughout.)

The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver (The story of a multi-generational family centered around their summer home.)

The Bloodletter's Daughter by Linda Lafferty (This one is a little strange, but I was compelled to finish it. I'd love to hear what you thought if you have read it.)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (It won the Pulitzer Prize. Fatty loved it. I liked it. Read it yourself and form your own opinion.)

Still Life With Breadcrumbs by Anna Quindlen (I love the way Anna Quindlen writes about women. This was very enjoyable. I also read One True Thing by the same author, which is a look at a mother/daughter relationship - a nice read.)

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan (Not my favorite by Amy Tan, but still a great story with many layers.)

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (A quick read - I saw the plot unfold before it did, but I still enjoyed it.)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (I won't give it away, but I'm sure you may know what this is about. Again, I read it to keep up with my kids. I tore through it and enjoyed every last word.)

The Unlikely Pilmgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (I'm not sure how I picked it, but I liked the story of Harold and his journey.)

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (I wasn't sure what this was going to be about, but I was surprised at the turns in the plot and the development of the main character.)

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (This one had me thinking, in a good way. It's a very compelling story.)

Magnolia City by Duncan W. Alderson (Total page turner, beach read, long in length.)

Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews. (This is another tear-through book with a pretty predictable plot, but still highly enjoyable. Perfect for poolside or the beach. Since I read this one, I have also read Summer Rental, Spring Fever, Savannah Blues, Savannah Breeze and Save the Date, all by the same author, all in the same vein.)

Delicious by Ruth Reichl (This is fiction, unlike her other books. A quick, fun read).

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg (If you follow Molly's blog, Orangette, and/or have read her first book, A Homemade Life, you will find this very enjoyable. If you haven't read the blog or the other book, you will still like this memoir quite a bit.)

How to Catch a Frog by Heather Ross (Just read it. You will love the way Heather recounts her unconventional childhood and how it has formed her into the person and artist she is today. Plus, it's funny.)

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia (This is about high school students at a large arts conference - there's a mystery involved, too. The characters are well thought-out and it was among my favorites of this year.)

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (Centered around a family wedding on an East coast island, this one feels like summer.)

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (This book! The story is wonderful, the characters charming and is right now my favorite book of the year.)

The Promise by Ann Weisgarber (I felt like this one ended too soon. I'd be curious to hear thoughts from anyone else who has read it.)

Point of Direction by Rachel Weaver (Short, but packs a wallop. I really liked this story of two people who choose to live in a light house in Alaska.)

That is A LOT of books, you all. Go and Read. Enjoy the holiday weekend

Just a note - these are affiliate links, but I purchased all the books on my own. Of course, the opinions expressed are also all mine.