Monday, December 6, 2010

SMELLS LIKE NEW SEWING MACHINE!

So, I finally got a new sewing machine.  I've been balking at sewing for a long time because I was getting very frustrated with my 35-year-old machine.  Can you imagine?  I have been saving up for a new Bernina, a B 350 PE to be precise.  I don't need all that fancy stuff -- yet.  But I wanted a 1/4"-inch foot and some quilting capabilities.  I now have them!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

STACKED COINS LAP QUILT

This past weekend, I finally started the stacked coins lap quilt for my youngest sister.  She and her husband, who is back in the country for her graduation, leave for Sydney, Australia, on August 23.  Needless to say, I haven't much time to finish.

However, I did decide to attempt speed piecing, a technique I've seen frequently, but was always scared to try -- I just didn't think I could pull it off.  I pulled it off!


Isn't that a lovely string of coin pairs?  I was so very proud of myself!  I finished all five columns of coins in about three hours.  If I hadn't breaked here and there to talk to my mom or have something to eat, I probably could have done it even faster.

Here's how the columns progressed:


ConnectingThreads.com collections usually only have 20 fabrics in them, so there are repeats in each strip set.  My very orderly brain has a real problem with being random when it comes to design.  Speech, notsomuch, but that's a different blog altogether.  Anyway, I just can't be random, so I decided to make it very rainbow-ish.  And kinda bargello.


Can you tell what my design wall was on Sunday?  Oh yes, it is a closet door.  I have yet to find the perfect wall for my large piece of flannel.  I think it might be on the wall next to this door.  Permanently.


A pattern is emerging!  Of course, it'll be broken up nicely by the sashing, which is also already cut.  That was a pain!  And I brain farted and started cutting the sashing up for the backing instead.  Oops!  Thankfully, I figured out my mistake before it was too late.  Whew!


I love it!  I think it's looks great.  I can't wait to get the sashing done.  I have to square up the strip sets first, but before I do all that, I have to bake a cake for work, cook some ground beef before it goes bad, and go all the way to Pocatello, ID, which is four hours away, for my sister's graduation!  Sheesh!


At least all the coin sets are put together!  And the sashing is cut!  Hooray!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

DESIGNER GEEK OUT

So, I just had to share because I'm a geek like that.  I follow Kate Spain on Twitter, and she tweeted for suggestions the other day.  I offered mine, and she mentioned me in a reply!  I'm a dork, but I'm okay with that.

Monday, July 19, 2010

MORE DETAILS ON THE LAP QUILT

I'm still using my cellphone to take pictures, but I set up the fabrics in a nice bright spot and I've edited them to look a little more lovely and bright than they usually come out.

Here are the charms that will become the coins.  A ConnectingThreads.com charm pack only has 20-ish charms, so I bought four.  They're only about two dollars a piece, so it's not bad.


My sister LOVES pink, and this collection, called Antoinette, is very pink.  It's darling, in fact.  I picked pink fabrics for the sashing and binding because Mary will love that.  Here's a shot of the sashing fabric.  It's a pale pink on white design.


So lovely!  I do my bindings on the bias, and I love using stripes for the binding fabric.  It just comes out fun and funky.  So here's the binding fabric.  It's a medium pink background with darker pink printing.  Very cute.


That will make some fun binding strips, won't it?!  And for the back, I decided to use the focal fabric from the collection.  It's background is white, which is kind of a bummer.  It'll probably get dirty fast if Mary uses it for a lap quilt on the plane.  But the pattern is so pretty, I couldn't not use it!


I'd say these came out pretty good for cellphone pictures!  As for the pattern, it's a Stacked Coins Baby Quilt from Moda Bake Shop.  Mary's only about five-foot-four, so I'm not worried.  And then she can either hang it up or use for when she has kids!

THE FABRIC IS HERE!

My fabrics for the coin lap quilt are here!  Yay!


It's not the greatest of pictures, but it works.  Those cute little pinwheels will now be put aside for this little lap quilt.  I only have a month to complete it -- I seriously doubt I'll need the entire month, but when you're working with a machine that only had one speed, it's really hard to piece something quickly and accurately.  It has to be slowly and accurately.  I think it's time for a new machine.  Maybe in January!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

SOMETHING CUTE TO WHILE AWAY THE WAIT

So, I'm waiting for fabric from ConnectingThreads.com to make a lap quilt for my sister who's moving to Australia.  While I'm doing that, I decided I would take the Tweet Tweet Charm Pack my mom bought me, and make half-square triangles out of the fabric.

My god-kids were here today, so they helped me sort my darks and lights, and we got to work.  Emily, my god-daughter, wants to learn to sew.  That was kind of the plan today.  However, even though she's six and has the IQ of Albert Einstein, she decided to run an index finger across the blade of my rotary cutter.  That's what I get for assuming she knew better!  So, no sewing for Emily.  Just some tears and tissue paper.  But she watched, and we did a fun little technique I saw on Moda Bake Shop -- making four half-square triangles with one pieces of Charm Pack.  Put the together RST, sew 1/4" all around the four sides, slice once on one diagonal, slice again on the opposing diagonal, and -- VOILA -- four half-square triangles.  I haven't pressed, but I'm going to do so to the dark side, as it were, and go from there.  Here are some pics.  Excuse the quality -- these are with my cell phone.


So, a little jumble of unpressed half-square triangles.  Fun times!


I tried to show off the different ones I've cut so far.  I have about 12 more pairs to sew and cut.  I'm thinking pinwheels, but I'm going to let Emily choose, since it'll be for her.


Here's a preview of a pinwheel, if we go with that.  I'm trimming the squares down to three inches.  Closest measurement I can get!  Fun times.

Enjoy the pictures.  Love this fabric collection.  It is darling.  So very fun.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

LOOK WHAT I GOT THIS MORNING!

Block number two of the Mystery BOM!  Yay!


Of course, I haven't even begun block number one.  Oh well!  Gonna work on it tomorrow.  Out to dinner tonight with the family!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

CHARMING STACKS OF FABRIC

I didn't get as much sewing done this weekend as I'd hoped.  I ended up helping my mother clean out the house I grew up in.  I cleaned my own house.  I babysat my sisters Doberman.  I was a little busy.  But last night, I finally sat down and sorted out the two charm packs of Moda's Blessings that I bought.  Mom bought me a honey bun of the same fabric, so I was able to use both charm packs for the placemats.


I'm going to do reversible disappearing nine patch chargers, rather than your typical placemat.  Mom's table is oval, so large placemats really wouldn't work very well.  And she likes funky things, so there you go!

Friday, July 2, 2010

NO, THANK YOU!

I received this:


in the mail today!  Hooray!  It's my catch-up for the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Block-of-the-Month club!  I joined a little late.  Anyway, I really liked the little envelope my invoice came in.  Very polite and professional and kinda cute!  It looks like a present and says, "Thank you!"  And I say, "No, thank you," for such a fun first block.  After I get my house clean this weekend, I know what I'll be doing!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

FAT QUARTER SHOP ROCKS

So, you know I follow the Moda Bake Shop. I also poke around at the Fat Quarter Shop quite a bit, and I've been eying one of their Block of the Month Clubs for a while. I decided yesterday that I would join it, since it's actually pretty affordable. Only $10 a month for a block pattern and all the fabric to make it. It'll take a year to complete, but it's using one of my favorite new Moda lines: 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain. I love her designs! Here's a sneak peek, and if you click on the picture, it will take you to the info page:


You can order a finishing kit and a backing kit (kinda wish they came together). That's the expensive part. But it creates a rather large quilt! Yay! I'll keep you updated!

Monday, June 28, 2010

PROJECTS FOR MY MOMMA


I finally bought fabric for Mom's projects! She wants placemats, which I decided I'd make for her birthday, which is in September. I'm thinking I might make them reversible or something like that. Something funky. Anyway, I also bought enough to make a small table runner for her as well. Same fabric collection -- Blessings for Moda Fabrics. It's an older collection, and it took a bit to find some yardage at the quilt shop I visit. Oh well, we got it done! I bought two charm packs of the collection, and I might go back and buy all the rest I can find. It's not my style, that's for sure; but it is very definitely my mom's.

Here's a pic of one of the large-scale focal fabrics from the collection:


I picked this for the back of the runner. That way, she can turned it over and use the pretty backing as a runner, too!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE


I had a baby shower to go to today, and the theme was "jungle." The parents, M and T, decided not to find out what the sex is. Therefore, green, yellow, and brown were the colors of the day. My god-daughter and her mom helped me pick out fabrics last night. We found eight REALLY cute fat quarters. I used a pattern I saw on the Moda Bake Shop -- Ribbon Blanket and Block. Very cute. The pattern called for using Minkee, which I've never sewed before. It wasn't fun -- lots of fuzzy stuff all over my sewing room. But the color was fun -- the Minkee we found is a cheetah pattern with a green background.


The front of the blankie has two each of the eight prints. The block has my six favorite. I picked out nine ribbons. I tried to vary them enough around the blankie.


I enjoyed making this little set. I don't have any ribbon other than this stuff, but I definitely want to make more of these. Too cute!

Friday, June 25, 2010

QUILT DUDES

Okay, so I follow the Moda Bake Shop rather religiously, and one of the regular contributors is a gentleman -- yes, I wrote "gentleman" -- named John. He blogs under the name Quilt Dad, and he also has a friend named Ryan who is a quilter as well. They are both married fathers, and I have to say, I love seeing guys who are into this art. It is a very technical art, something that I think appeals to men, especially ones with engineering backgrounds and the like. There is a retired engineer who sells his quilts on Etsy, and they are some of the most unique pieces of fabric artistry I've ever seen. He does mosaic quilts from single pieces of fabric. They are breathtaking. Thanks, guys, for sharing your art with us girls!

John's blog: http://www.quiltdad.com
Ryan's blog: http://www.ryanwalshquilts.com

Enjoy!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

MY PREROGATIVE, RIGHT?

So, I'm exercising my prerogative to change my mind, and I'm going to do a different pattern for my biggest Christmas presents. It's an adorable little tablerunner. I think it would look really cute on an entry table, but just a nice on the dining table. It is, of course, my receivers' prerogatives to place it where they please.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

CHRISTMAS PLANNING

I am starting to plan my four major Christmas gifts for this year. I'm going to make it a little easier on myself than I have before, and I'm NOT tackling anything as fancy as the skirts from last year. I found an awesome pattern on ModaBakeShop. It's an ironing board cover! And I can make it from jelly rolls, so I don't have to do much fabric picking, as it were. And it calls for ribbons, but I think it would be kinda fun to make my own out of the leftover strips from the jelly rolls! Cool, eh?
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