January 10, 2008
December 24, 2007
Christmas arrived just in time
All the packages have arrived so it is safe to show some of the christmas crafting
I made 8 new stocking this year. Sent them North, South and East.
I forgot to photograph 2 of them, but you get the idea.
Stockings filled with goodies from Costa Rica. I love vacations before christmas.
It gives me the excuse to shop like crazy.
I made this apron for my step mom and made her open it yesterday
while I was on the phone with her. She loves the big pockets. My dad
says it is lasagna colors (?). Either way, a big hit I think.
Merriest Christmas to all!
November 19, 2007
Wedding Lap Quilt, 6 months late
At least I can reveal one secret project. This happy couple got married 6 months ago and I was sewing the binding in the few moments before they arrived for dinner last night.
I found it hard to make burgundy and green (the brides request) to not look like christmas, but since it took 6 months to make, it is just in time for the holidays.
The groom has an amazing quilt from his family on their bed, so instead of trying to compete with that, I went with a lap quilt for the couch. I ended up a little smaller than I had originally planned, but they seemed happy. Maybe it is just ’cause they are happy all around. Did I mention they brought the most delish homemade apple cider??? Nicest folks ever. They will be mortified I put their picture up, I might have to blur their faces…
November 6, 2007
Updated, Red Poppies
so, no satin binding. I kind of forgot while rushing to get done. It would have been nice because it would have made it a little bigger. It is a pretty small quilt. I bought the red binding, so I will be making another one.
I finally made use of some of the red and black in my fabric stash, I am thinking about a satin red blanket binding…
I have another nearly done quilt but the lucky recipient reads this blog so pictures of that one will show up later.
October 14, 2007
Batik and Print
I sometimes find it difficult to mix batik and prints but it this instance I think it worked. I had stayed away from purples because they are so tough to match. I put in a pinker purple on this one, for complete lack of another one in the same color family.
There are just so many different shades of purple. I have 2 more stacks of purple, marinating to maybe become a quilt and they are totally different families of purple.
I dropped this off along with the pink& blue quilt from a few weeks ago at the Maternal Wellness Center and learned that I had sold 2 quilts last month! Not the calm pink and blues like I thought but the outrageous circus colors that I thought would take months to sell. Lesson learned, I will be making bright colored quilts for sale henceforth!
September 26, 2007
One hour? my FOOT!
I taught the 2nd half of my elastic waist pants class last night at Joann’s Fabric. It was fun but somehow really nerve wracking. Every time I turned my around someone was pinning their pant legs together or sewing on a machine making a horrible racket. But at the end of the 2nd 3 hour class, all 6 students had pants! Yes, 2 three hour classes would make those pants SIX HOUR PANTS. The first one done was actually five and 1/2 hour pants. Now, I did teach the sewing novices how to thread a bobbin and preached the benefits of a little locking stitch at the end of the seam. But really! How can they really go around selling that thing as one hour???
The best part of the class was seeing a Viking sewing machine rep struggle and swear when she taught us all how to do a button hole on the store machines. Only 2 of the 6 tried to do a button hole (making drawstring pants, not elastic) and those two made the most beautiful buttonholes I have ever seen. There may be hope for me yet. So far in all of my 29 years I have only made hideous lumpy buttonholes and only when snaps were not an option.
But I learned a lot about how to teach the next one. Suggest “maybe not denim”and make sure everyone has a seam ripper. I think I may have learned more then them…
September 24, 2007
Presents (plural)
A friend’s birthday dinner called for a quick little tote as a birthday present.
And a baby blanket for baby josh- just for being a baby
Tonight I am going to Knitting night with some lovely gals and I have big plans on cutting some quilt squares while they deal with all that yarn (yuck).
September 18, 2007
Shorter days
Shorter days means more photographing inside. It is so hard to get a good quilt picture without sunlight. Thank goodness for photoshop.
I am starting a new chapter in baby quilts. Blanket binding galore and minke ( I think that is the right name) as backing. I did some crazy all over stitching on this instead of my normal stitch-in-the-ditch practice. It was time consuming and I’m not very satisfied with the final result.
I thought it was looking plain so I made 2 of these little flowers, not really certain where to put them on the quilt but loving them a lot. I spent a ridiculous amount of time moving them around the quilt last night…
symmetry or no symmetry? One flower or two? It’s a dilemma.
September 10, 2007
2 new baby quilts
I have decided to stop buying fabric for a while and use what I already have. I am pretty fond of this quilt. I love that the Kaffe flowers stand out with very little fabric. I also enjoy the quilt pattern, I invented it to accommodate the red fabric which was only skinny remnants from Jules’s quilt. Fast, easy, lovely.
I was itching to do an appliqué on the center square but couldn’t find the right inspiration before I had to take it to the Maternal Wellness Center on Saturday (where these are both on sale, hint, hint) .
The red one I like a little less. It turned out to be an exercise in screwed up measurements and I used every last thread of the cherry fabric, , one inch less and I would have been forced to added another print entirely. I also think the blue clashes. Those are itty-bitty crabs in case you can’t see them. I used them on my brother-in-law’s quilt so I could say “you have crabs in your bed”. A funny joke for a college freshman, probably not as funny for a crib quilt.
The only saving grace, in my opinion, is the red blanket binding. I think the key to blanket binding is a darker color, last time I used pink blanket binding and the print showed right through, not the case for the red.
