Tayla's Quilt...

The horse fabrics are leftovers from the wedding album I made for my niece's wedding 5 years ago. She has since had a baby, and I found the leftover fabrics again. I thought it'd be neat to make a quilt for the baby out of her parents' wedding album fabrics!

The quilt measures 49" x 52" - a good size for a toddler to haul around.

The back is made from a scrap of coordinating horse fabric with the blue and brown sewn on to extend it's length and width.

Stashbusting:

3 -1/2 yards of leftover fabrics

1 spool of thread

Sewing small projects...

 

Working on some small projects by request. My daughter wanted some pretties for her kitchen, in various colors and patterns so she could change things around when she felt like it.  She bought two fat quarter bundles (5 fabrics) and this is what I came up with.

 

The Southwest fabrics. A variation of the 10 minute tablerunner. Bowl cozies and potholders, too!

This green and pink bundle is to match her Jadeite and LaCrueset pieces. I sewed the squares in the tablerunner together, not realizing that I got 3 rows backwards! I had to take most of it apart and re-do the sewing. GRRRR! I had the brilliant idea to make round potholders...forgetting that I abhor curves. Yeah, those potholders got taken apart, too. At least the bowl cozies went together fast. 

Stashbusting:

1 partial spool of pink thread

1 full spool of white thread

1/2 yard of navy backing fabric

1/2 yard of green batik

1-1/2 yards of leftover batting

One down, one to go...

I'm making two of these for a friend's grand-nieces.  She gave me the bear panels, the rest is fabric from my scrap box. The backs on each quilt are flannel for snuggly-ness.

 

 

Stashbusting:

2 yards of various scrap fabrics

1 spool of thread

Quilt Of Honor...

Found some red, white and blue fabrics in my stash and made a Disappearing 9-Patch Quilt Of Honor top for a veteran.  I passed this top on to the organization's chairman. It will be long-arm quilted by a volunteer and donated to a veteran recipient.  

Stashbusting:

3 yards of assorted fabrics

4 flat sheets and 5 muslin curtain panels given to the Quilts Of Honor organization 

for backings for this, and other quilts.

Sewing small things again...

The new, black and red kitchen set for my daughter. 

2 embellished towels, 2 microwave bowl cozies, and 2 potholders.  

Another old project...

I first started this project about 10 years ago. It got buried in a storage box, too.  It's a pattern, still available, from this company.

http://www.swdecoratives.com/proddetail.php?prod=111102

Everything was done except the decorative elements, quilting and binding.  

I used silver conchos on the belt, the necklace has real beads, and the basket's decorative braids have silver beads at the ends. 

I free-motion quilted the sky and the sand dunes, outlined quilted the cacti and woman. Did some crosshatch on the lowest cactus, too. The borders are stitched in the ditch. 

I didn't want to quilt the skirt or top - I washed the quilt so it'd wrinkle a bit, giving the skirt fabric authentic folds. 

Stashbusting:

All the fabrics used were scraps I had laying around, except the gray borders. 

The backing fabric was given to me by a neighbor many years ago. 

Used several bobbins of different colored threads for the quilting.

Old Project, finally finished...

Back when I first started getting serious about learning to quilt, I took a class to learn to make this specific quilt.  That was about 20 years ago. The quilt is from a Trudi Hughes quilt book.

Although I finished taking the class, I never finished the quilt because there were several flaws in my sewing, and it made the quilt wonky. It was also supposed to have an additional border to make it twin-size. The additional border was to be made up of 9 patches that matched the center of the hearts (so that's what that extra fabric was for!!).  

I had hand-quilted the entire middle when I discovered that it was supposed to have this extra border and that the back was all crooked. Being an inexperienced quilter at the time, I had no idea what to do, so I put it away to finish later.  

We then moved a couple times and the quilt ended up in storage.  The extra fabric for it ended up in different boxes. At one point, due to mice getting into our stored stuff, several boxes were thrown away due to the nasty mess they made. The extra fabric was part of that garbage. So now I had a dilemma...how to finish the quilt.  So I took the easy way out.  I put it back in a box and forgot it. 

Well, in my current quest to finish everything on my project list...this one came up. I decided to just finish it as is.  The entire center is hand-quilted around the hearts, the blocks and the first border. So, bind it, and stitch down the outer borders and call 'er done!  

As you can see by the sides, I ate up some of the blue flowered border by folding the wonky back over the front to make the border. 

It took me about half an hour to finish this quilt of Damocles that has been hanging over my head for 20 years!  LOL

Project-busting:

1 quilt - DONE!

I finally finished the Christmas quilt I started on June 5, 2014.  It is the Disappearing 9 patch block done with scraps of Christmas fabric leftover from other projects.

I bought fabric to finish the back, but still had to piece it after miscalculating the size.  :(

I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and the bindings, and then stitched and X over each block.  The binding is folded over from the back.

Stashbusting:

2 yards of various Christmas scrap fabrics

2 yards of polyester batting (given to me)

2 spools of white thread

Using Up Christmas Fabric...

I opened one of my wirebasket drawers and found quite a bit of Christmas fabric.  I have wanted to try the Disappearing Nine-Patch technique for a while, and decided this would be a good project.  Basically, you make a 9-patch square - any size (I used 6 inch patches) and then cut it right down the middle, both ways.  And then you simply turn 2 of the blocks inward and the chain effect happens. 

 

 

Christmas Disappearing Nine-Patch. Note that I also did random patches - I tried to keep the reds and greens mixed up.

 

 Not quilted yet as I've not found a satisfactory backing fabric.

 

Stashbusting:

 

2 yards of various fabrics.

Half a spool of thread

A Little Project...

Since the foyer wall cabinet was built and installed two years ago, I've needed to create a small cover for the bench seat between the bookcases.  Temporarily, I was simply folding a blanket and putting it on the seat, but it tended to slip and slide. 

 

So, I finally decided last night, when I threw the blanket in the wash, that I really needed to make something. I didn't want a cushion, just something I can toss in the wash when it got dirty.  I also wanted it to be fairly neutral colors.

 

I found these hand-dyed fabrics I bought some 20 years ago for a project I never did...and so, my bench seat cover was born. 

 

 

 

I cut a foundation piece, fliped and stitched the strips, added batting and a back, sewed all around, turned it right side out, and stitched all the way around the edges. I also stitched down the center seam.  I may quilt it later...we'll see. :)

 

 

This is the back - a piece of batik fabric I bought at a yardsale - 2 1/2 yards for $2.00!

 

 

 

Here's a photo of the complete unit, with bench seat in the middle.

 

Stashbusting:

 

Half a yard of various fabrics

Half a yard of scrap batting

Half a yard backing

More Gifts...

More gifts for other occasions besides Christmas.

 

Soon-to-be-born niece, Vivienne will receive this flannel quilt, which I made yesterday and today using my own tutorial.

A rice bag, a cover for the rice bag and a handkerchief (for me). I used one of my sewing machine's decorative stitches on the hankie, although you can't really see it. 

StashBusting:
 

Approximately 3 yards flannel
1 yard leftover batting from another project
5" by 18" piece of fabric leftover from another project
10 inches of handkerchief fabric given to me by Grandma

Yes, it's been a while.  However, I did make a quilt in the past few months. 

 

My niece and grand-niece came to visit, so I bought a used toddler bed for the grand-niece, who is 2 years old.  I then made a quilt for her.  She likes Hello Kitty! so I bought some fabric with the famous kitty on it. 

 

I wanted it to be a row quilt, so it's sort of improvised. All the rows are 5 inches wide.  I made two rows of pinwheels, 2 rows of 5 inch blocks, 2 rows of stripped blocks, 2 rows of Hello Kitty! fabric, and then WOW fabrics between each row.  On the row at the top (Hello Kitty) I put a pink and white lace ruffle between the HK fabric and the WOW fabric. 

 

The matching pillow case was WOW fabric measured to fit a travel pillow, with a Hello Kitty! border and more lace. 

 

 

 

And then, I went to my computer and into Microsoft Word, chose the Edwardian Script font, spelled out her name, blew it up to 300 (it came out on 2 pages it was so large), stuck it under the SECOND row of WOW fabric and lightly sketched her name with a #2 pencil onto the top of the fabric.  Then I hand-embroidered her name in a light blue, thin crochet thread, using a straightline stitch.

 

 

I used batting, and backed it with a pretty flannel print. The binding is more of the HK fabric. About a foot of the quilt is tucked under so you can't see the other rows. 

 

 

She knew the bed was for her...here is Cheyenne, sleeping under her new quilt.

 

 

 

StashBusting: 

About 1 yard of various fabrics

A piece of batting left over from another project

1/2 spool of white thread

 

New fabrics:

1 fat quarter bundle of 5 fabrics (the pinks)

1 yard HK fabric

1 yard flannel 

1 spool of new thread

This is the quilt I messed up by washing it after it was sewn together, but before it was quilted.  I had to take it completely apart, and put new batting a new back on it.  It is for my grand-niece for her 9th birthday.  She loves butterflies and the color green, so the quilt reflects that - a basic 4 patch with wide butterfly fabric borders. The back was folded over to make the binding.

 

 

 

Machine pieced, machine quilted. 1 spool of white thread, 1 twin sheet for backing and about 3 yards of fabric for the front.

Long Absence Is Over...

After holidays, visitors, remodeling, and then sickness, I am finally back to quilting and blogging about my quilts. 

I started a quilt many moons ago, experimenting with a fabric I liked.  Had no idea who to give it to, but I figured it'd find a home eventually. 

So, I put a back, some batting and the quilt top together, and then "birthed" it.  Sewed all around the edges while it was wrong sides together, left a small hole and turned it right side out.  Then I set it aside.  Unfortunately, I set it on the bed...and the dog loved it.  He came in and laid on it with muddy paws after he'd been for a swim in the neighbor's pond. 

Well, I washed it.  And because it wasn't quilted, the batting shredded, and the quilt back, which was 100% cotton muslin, shrank.  Even though I washed both it and the quilt fabrics BEFORE i made the quilt. 

I put it aside for a while, knowing I'd have to remove every stitch. A special birthday is coming up, and I realized this quilt would be perfect for the birthday girl!

So, I took every stitch out...and today, I will be putting it back together as a quilt with a new back.  I'll post photos when I am done. 

Yard Sale Treasure...

I went to a yard sale today and there was a pile of fabric, mostly Christmas and some vintage calicos.  I asked the lady how much she wanted for the fabric...$2.  I came home and discovered I have about 15 yards of fabric all together, and some is even cut into strips already!  I have a project for those strips :).

Anyway, as I sorted through the fabric, I found a little bag, opened it up and there was this:

Whoever started this project quit because the blades are all hand-sewn and the centers are sewn on machine, which bunched it up - the entire Dresden plate doesn't lie flat.

This will be an easy fix - rip out the centers, place them by hand, and all will be well.  I have no idea why there are only 5 - there is no other matching fabric at all. 

My daughter suggested placing one in the center and off-setting the other 4.  Sounds good to me.  Now, to find a nice background...plain white, or should I get adventurous?  We shall see...

Stashbusting Baby Quilt

I was looking through some fabric and came across the remaining strips of the Triangle Sprider Web Quilt.  There were only a few so I whacked them into 2 inch strips.  They made four blocks and a spare.  Well, why not add triangles and set them on point? OK. Then I used the rest of the WOW fabric to piece the rest of it.  Of course, it needed a border, so I rootled around and found the peach fabric. Once that was done, it needed binding.

Despite careful placement and checking twice, I managed to sew the left bottom block upside down...and didn't see it until I photographed the finished quilt. 

Stashbusting:

1/4 yard of strip pieces from Triangle Spider Web Quilt

1 yard leftover fabric from back of the Double Irish Chain Quilt

Scraps from M-I-L Alma's quilt

1 yard of batting bought at a yard sale for $1.00

8 X 45 inches of leftover Christmas fabric for binding

1 yard of leftover white fabric

The quilt measures 36 inches by 40 inches.  Destined for the Swap Meet craft sale.

Green Strip Quilt

After using the leftover strips of fabric from the Two-fers Circle quilt to make 2 smaller baby-sized quilts, I thought, Hey!  I can do that with the leftover green strips, too!

Viola!  A strip-pieced baby quilt.  Probably will be sold at the craft fair.

StashBusting:

1 yard+ of leftover muslin

leftover green fabric strips

 10 pieces of leftover batting (seamed together)
1 spool of thread

I had to buy 1 1/2 yards of polka dot fabric to finish the back. Stitched in the ditch by domestic machine.

Another Scrappy Baby Quilt

I had no intention of making this a quilt, it was supposed to be the back of the Strip-pieced baby quilt below. Plans change. 

These were larger scraps and I didn't want to cut them for the strip pieces, since there were plenty. So I took this heap...

And made this scrappy baby quilt.  I didn't cut any of the pieces except to trim.  The center of the quilt is cross-hatch quilted.

Stash-Busting:  3 leftover pieces of Warm & Natural batting seamed together, 2 spools of leftover thread.  And the scraps and back, of course.

There are only a few very small strips of the backing fabric left over. 

Another small project...

Pa made me a tea tray for Christmas.  I have one, but it was actually too small for my mug, the teapot, the condiments container and the spoon to stir everything.  Pa likes to create unique gifts, so he took a piece of oak wood leftover from my fireplace mantel, and made this:

Isn't it gorgeous?  The only thing is, sometimes I spill and I was so afraid of damaging the wood...so I thought I'd make a small quilted mat for the tea tray. 

Here's the mat.  I  took a piece of paper, pressed it into the tray, creased it around the edges with my fingers, and then cut on the crease.  I then drew on the fabric and added 1/4 inch to the "pattern," and cut out 2 pieces of fabric and 1 piece of batting.  I sewed it up right sides together, leaving a 2 inch opening on one end, and turned it right side out.  Then I cut some binding, and bound it on the outside as trim.  Then I found two little crocheted doilies that weren't doing anything important, and hand-stitched them to the front. 

And here's my tea tray, doing the job it was created to do.  The mug is a Villeroy and Boch, a gift from my friend, Gerrie.  The teapot is from Numi Tea, a gift from my friend, Jane.  Yes, I know...I need to make a tea cozy.  That's probably next.  LOL