Getting things done

My current small WIPs. It feels so good to be sewing again!

A New Project

I seem to be starting a lot of projects lately and not finishing many. Maybe it's time to get working on the WIPs...

This one I have to finish because it's my challenge entry for our local quilt show. Yes, I know it seems a little back-to-front, but I entered it before making it. Yes I did.

The challenge is to make a small quilt inspired by a painting.
I'll share the inspiration soon.

Batik Jane

I'm not doing much myself right now, but a friend and I went "Stash Dashing" on Friday.
As you may or may not know, I'm a little obsessed with Dear Jane quilts.
This one is made with batiks.
Stunning!

(It is on display at Heirloom Quilts in Poulsbo, WA.  The lady who made it works there but did not want to pose for a photo. Hats off to her for this absolutely lovely work of art!)

It's Fall Y'all!

There's no more denying it.

This was my Saturday project:

I used my pattern for the Street Scene pillow.

Here's the trick for fussy cutting.

Make a template frame with an opening the desired size of your finished section. I taped two pieces of card stock together.

Move this around on your fabric until you find a "picture" you like.

Use a disappearing marker to trace along the inside of the template. Remove the template and cut the fabric 1/4" outside the marked lines.

(Center and border fabrics are from the Farmyard collection. Red and green sashings are Wee Woodland stripes.)

A Little Busy

It's done though. And I'm OK with it. I think once it's quilted it will be very pretty.
In the end I decided to use the striped fabric as sashing rather than borders for the blocks. This involved some seam ripping but made it a more manageable size.
Now I just have to decide on a border.

These Blocks are Ginormous!

They started off at 15" but then I found a fabric that coordinates SO perfectly that I felt the need to add a 1" border all the way around.
Now I have 17" blocks!

I wasn't planning on making a twin sized quilt. Without sashing or borders this will be 51" x 68" and I'll have to add sashing.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

UPDATE: I think I found somewhat of a solution. Let's just say that, if stupidity was a disease, I'd be dead. Stay tuned.

(Fabric used: http://www.etsy.com/listing/82324772/12-days-of-christmas-quilt-fabric-bundle & http://www.etsy.com/listing/82877305/bright-striped-cotton-quilt-fabric-1)

Still Sewing

Two posts in one day!

I just had to share my completed blocks and layout!

I LOVE it!

(If you're trying to purchase the fabric bundle and it's sold out on Etsy, please convo me or send me an email and I will list another one.  Thanks!!!)

Sewing!

Woohoo!
I'm SO happy to be sewing again. My sewing machine seems a bit foreign to me. I haven't seen her in a while.

I've decided to tackle the WIPs, starting with Christmas since it's around the corner. Really!

This was a quilting bee project with my quilt group. The blocks shown here were made by the group members. I'm hoping to add the missing ones today.

The blocks are 15" x 15". There will be 12. I'm using a fabric panel as the centers and just a random log-cabin-ish design. (I probably should have ironed these before I took the photos...)

The 12 Days of Christmas!

Twelve drummers drumming...

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming...

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens...

Two turtle doves...

And a partridge in a pear tree!

Merry Early Christmas!!!

(I've added a listing for fabric bundles to my Etsy store.  These contain enough fabric to make all the blocks although I haven't quite decided on sashing yet.  Probably white.)

On my way back...

Wow, I've been MIA for a long, long time! I won't bore you with the details.
Suffice it to say that my "new life" starts on Monday and my plan is to be back on a very regular basis.

I'm a guest designer in the "Celebrate Christmas" quilt-along over at the Quilting Gallery.

It started this week.  It's not too late to join in. 36 free Christmas Block patterns over 12 weeks!

Still Buried in Yarn

This is fun!

Today's Yarn Project

Wash/dish cloths

Quilting Escapes Me

For some or other reason I can just not bring myself to sew this summer.
I like to keep my hands busy, so I thought I'd do a bit of knitting. Tiny knitting since I'm not ready for big knitting projects either.
This was REALLY fun!

Since I don't have any babies to knit for, I listed the little hat on Etsy.

Shameless Plug

I'm really hoping to get back to sewing soon but I have a feeling that, until I can get the munchkin off to college, not much will be happening.

In the mean time, here's something I just added to the Etsy store:

I was asked to create a custom listing for a customer and thought it was a great idea.
It's a "layer cake" (don't think I can officialy use that name) - 30 little 10" x 10" squares of 1930's fabric, all different.

My next post will, hopefully, be a "real" post.

Finally, the winner

I apologize for not announcing the winner of the Go! Baby fabric cutter on Monday as promised.

I had completely forgotten that I had to take my son to college orientation and class signups. One step closer to an empty nest. Sniff, sniff.

It's a very, very pretty campus.
View from the dining hall:

Seen on the walk to the dorm:

Just pretty and green and leafy all around.


Oh right... You want to know who won the drawing!

After sorting through all the "no reply" comments and anonymous comments...

The winner is.....Char!
She has a lovely blog you may want to go have a peep at: http://clothstitched.blogspot.com/

Congratulations!!!

Go! Baby Giveaway Time!!

I promised that I'd be giving away a Go! Baby fabric cutter and if you've been hanging in there, your chance has come!

The folks at Accuquilt are kindly providing a Go! Baby and three dies for me to give away to one lucky reader!
Good news: They ship internationally!

Here's how to enter. You can have up to FOUR entries in the drawing - one for each comment.

1. Become of follower of this blog (see link in the left sidebar) or like the Facebook page. Giveaways, tutorials, etc. are usually posted on the Facebook page before they show up on the blog. Come back over here and leave a comment telling me you did one of the above.

2. Sign up for the Accuquilt Newsletter and receive 22 free patterns.  (Many of these patterns can serve as inspiration even if you don't have a Go! Baby yet.) Then come back over here and leave a comment confirming that you signed up for the newsletter.

3. Post about the giveaway on your blog or Facebook page. Come back here again and leave another comment telling me that you posted about the giveaway on your blog or Facebook page. (Remember to add a link to my blog on yours.)

4. Go check out the Go! Baby dies on the Accuquilt web site and leave a comment over here telling me which three dies you would pick if you won.

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you or I'll have to draw a different name.

Entries close at 12:00 PDT on Friday (comments posted after this time will not count)
I have decided to extend the entry period. Entries will DEFINITELY close at 6pm PDT today, Friday August 5th.
Entries are now closed.
I will announce the winner on Monday, August 8th.

Good luck!!!!

Go! Baby Appliqué Pillow Tutorial Part II

Welcome to Part II of the Go! Baby Appliqué Pillow Tutorial.
Today's instructions will be relevant for both Go! Baby owners and those who don't own one yet. (Keep watching for the giveaway.)

(I had some trouble taking photos in our rainy Seattle weather. You can click on each photo to see a larger version.)
At the end of yesterday's tute, we had all the little appliqué shapes ready to go onto the background.

Now...
Out of white fabric, cut a 15" x 15" square. (I like to oversize things and trim them back afterwards.)
Using a disappearing marker, draw a 12" x 12" square onto the right side of the bigger square. Do this by drawing a line 1.5" in from the edge on all four sides of the fabric square. This is going to be your placement guide for the appliqué shapes.
Mark the center of the square and apply the yellow circle shape using the fusible web manufacturer's instructions.

Now we're going to add the other shapes. I just eyeballed this.
IMPORTANT: We're just laying them down, not actually ironing them on yet!
Follow this sequence:

1.

2.

3. (Remember the 12" x 12" square? Do not let any of the green shapes extend beyond this.)

When you're happy with the layout, iron all the shapes on at once.
Trim the square to 13" x 13" exactly.

A note before we continue: We'll be pinning. I normally hate pinning anything but this project needs it so don't try to take a shortcut.

I've seen the following trim in many quilts recently and thought I'd try it.
Out of blue fabric, cut 4 strips 1" x 13", fold them in half wrong sides together, and iron.

Pin a strip to the right side of the center section, lining up the raw edges carefully.

Sew a seam just a little over 1/8" from the edge. We're doing this because we don't want this seam to show on the front of the pillow.

Attach the bottom blue strip next and then the two side strips.

Out of red fabric, cut 2 rectangles 2.75" x 13".
Out of red fabric, cut 2 rectangles 2.75" x 17.5".
Sew the 13" rectangles to the top and bottom of the pillow center. (It doesn't matter which sides you choose to be "top" and "bottom".)
Remember to pin!
Press away from the pillow center.

Sew the 17.5" rectangles to the two remaining sides of the pillow center and press.

Now we're going to make a teenie little quilt. The great thing about it being so little is that you can use a kitchen counter or table to make the "sandwich".

Out of white fabric, cut an 18" x 18" square.
Out of batting, cut an 18" x 18" square.

My method:
Using painter's tape, tape the 18" x 18" square onto the counter/table right side down making sure that it's laying flat. (Do not use the green painter's tape I used here.  It doesn't stick.  Use blue.)

Place the batting on top and smooth it out.
Place the pillow top over it and smooth out. Pin. Try to pin only on the background, not through the applique shapes.

"Quilt as desired."
I quilted the applique shapes first and then free motion quilted the background doing a little "echo" line around each shape.

Trim the top to 16.5" x 16.5".
I used the edge of the blue trim as a guide to get the whole thing straight since there is likely to be a little distortion on the red border when you quilt the top.

Now we'll complete our pillow cover.
Out of yellow fabric, make a quilt binding at least 60" long.
(Cut 2.5" wide strips, fold them wrong sides together, and press.)

Out of white fabric, cut two rectangles 16.5" x 11".
Fold over 1/2" toward the wrong side of the fabric along one long side of each rectangle. Press.

Fold it over 1/2" for the second time. Press.

Sew the seam about 3/8" from the edge on both rectangles.

Place one rectangle right side up on the back of the pillow top, lining up the raw edges.

Place the other rectangle right side up on top, once again lining up the raw edges. It will overlap the first one.

Pin along the outer edge. Be 100% sure that your edges are lined up!

I forgot to take a photo here...
**Place the pins at a 90 degree angle to the raw edge with their dull ends extending past the raw edge a little. If you don't quite get it, read on and you'll see why I did this.

Turn the pillow top over (right side up).
We're going to attach a binding just as we would with a regular quilt.
Line up the raw edge of the binding with the raw edge of the pillow top.
Pin.
Here's where my **previous instruction regarding the pinning of the pillow back comes into play.
Notice how the pins I placed on the pillow back are sticking over the edge. This allows you to pull them out as you pin the binding on, keeping the layers from shifting.

Attach the binding and complete as you would any regular quilt.

And there you go!

(If you like the fabric combinations I used in this pillow, I have added a fat quarter bundle to the store using this fabric combination: Fat Quarter Bundle - Abby)
I am also planning to list the pillow cover on Etsy I just listed the pillow cover on Etsy at my cost because, goodness knows, I can't keep everything I make!
(and I made two of these because I forgot to take photos the first time round.)