The winner of the Olfa rotary cutter is Cheryl of Ladybug Lane! Congrats!
This was the swap package I sent to Kelly L. for PTS 10. She seemed pretty happy and posted lots of pics (which is always the best form of thank you in my opinion!)
I received this AWESOME package from Melissa!!!! I was thrilled, over-the-moon, so in love with everything! You can see a more up close picture of her beautiful hand quilting HERE.
Look at the adorable storage hoop!!!!
I made this quick baby quilt last week when I was procrastinating cleaning my house. :) ha ha! It's just (16) 10" squares that I cut out a 3" strip, assembled back together, then trimmed. Easy peasy!
I also took this stack of pretties and made.....
This quilt! I love the triangles, but, to be honest, I really stink at getting the points to look pretty and meet up. Oh well! There is always room for improvement! Hopefully I'll get better the next time!
Babylock Symphony is my main sewing machine, top right. The Babylock Tiara is my quilting machine, bottom left.
I had to clean things up because it was getting messy in my sewing room!
Had a great day thanks to Jessie (the mini dresden) and Amanda of Westwood Acres (the fabric)
I used the Briar Rose scraps to make a mini, though now I'm thinking of taking it apart to make it one long rectangle--just to be different!
I'm working on a pillow for Pillow Talk Swap 10!
I'm also working on a Fall-hued Liberty quilt! Lots of neutrals in this one. It's not my usual rainbow fest, but I'm sort of liking it!
I'm also getting ready to quilt this one! It's a custom order for Ann Kelle and it looks like candy to me! Love all the solids!
I'm also working on a little review and video for my Babylock Tiara! I've had a number of questions about it and I find that video is the easiest way to answer them.
This one was easy! This is my quilt for the Kona Charm pack challenge for my guild. It's a relatively simple design, but with big visual impact
I've been toying with the idea of teaching some quilting/sewing classes once I move to Franklin and I'm thinking I may use this as a sample pattern
I used a print from one of my favorite designers, Kelly Boyd of Ann Kelle Designs!
This was another easy one! This pillow was listed in my etsy shop for a few minutes until Kaelin bought it! It is SO gratifying when people I consider very talented in the quilting/sewing community actually BUY something I made! Thanks Kaelin!
This one was not so easy. This quilt was a custom order baby quilt for a friend of mine locally. Lets just say if I had to do this again, I would paper piece it!
And I got a little surprise in the mail this week from Hadley!!! I gushed over a few other keychains she made and she, very sweetly, sent me one of my very own! It's even teal!!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
These are the three quilts I completed Friday night!
The quilt in the video.
Back side view
Close up of binding with invisible thread.
I just love this pattern! I used Camille's version from her Simplify book, but I know there is a Moda Bakeshop tutorial for something similar!
I made these pillow covers Saturday night. They're for a giveaway at a workshop I'm attending next weekend in Nashville.
I'm also playing around with some Amy Butler Love charms I've had for 2 years! It was about time to use them in something! I think this will be a nice size lap quilt (about 50"x60").
Who knew my FMQ video would spark so many questions?!?!? I'm going to try and answer all of them here so I don't have to continually send the same emails. :) I'm also posting a video of how I baste.
1. I have a Baby Lock Symphony--no, I do not have a stitch regulator
2. I use Gutterman poly thread for everything. Aurifil doesn't like me, but my friend Tracey has the same machine and she loves Aurifil, go figure!
3. I spray baste using 505
4. I use size 80 or 90 needles to FMQ
5. I machine stitch binding to the BACK of my quilts then use invisible thread to stitch it to the front.
6. I don't use any particular brand of invisible thread, just whatever is at the store when I need it
7. I cut my binding at 2.25" on the straight grain unless I'm using premade bias binding.
8. I can get about 5 lap size quilts or 10 baby size quilts from one can of 505. This is a rough estimate.
9. The style of FMQ I use is very easy for me in part because I used to draw and paint a lot and one of my favorite things to draw is underwater scenes (I'm a Pieces, ha ha!). Do you see where this is going? I drew seaweed ALL THE TIME so the movement to create the stipple look comes naturally from that. I would suggest doodling to find what movement comes naturally to you and translate that on to a quilt rather than try and copy how other people do it. This is the only form of FMQ that I can do easily. I try and make swirls and it looks like a hot mess! Stick with what you know!
I'm supposed to be finishing a quilt that my sister in law asked me to make for her nanny, but instead I'm making these. My oldest helped piece the solids version. He wanted to give it to his Shelf Elf, but changed his mind and decided to keep it--ha ha! You can find the tute here
I made these two pillows a while ago, but forgot to blog about them, oops! These were a custom order from one my Facebook followers. I really love how the "love" one came out! The background is Moda crossweave in blue/white. The "ward" one is Kaufman's quilter's linen. Both appliques are white felt.
This is another one I forgot to blog about! Some friends of mine received some bad news--the kind of news where there are no words of comfort--so I decided to make a quilt for them. This one took me only 2.5 days from start to finish since I was extremely focused on getting something to them quickly. I was super happy with the results. I love simple patterns, they have such a clean look! This pattern can be found here.
Our guild did a little scrap swap where we each brought in some scraps and our partners would make us something. We figured it was an easy way for everyone to get something they liked since it would be made from your own fabric. Kelly (SewKellySews) got my scraps and this is what she made!!!
Isn't it awesome?!?!?!?!? I gave her a bunch of scrap pieces of dot fabric plus one piece of Dick and Jane text. I got the chills when I saw it (and I may have teared up a bit). She was so very thoughtful and Flickr stalked me to come up with something I'd love. I absolutely adore it! Thanks Kelly!!!!!
My partner, Ashely, gave me the scraps from her Fall couch quilt. I opted for a pillow cover in a simple design with a little bit of interest in the quilting. After seeing what everyone else in the guild made, however, I felt like a loser! Luckily, Ashley didn't make it to this meeting so I have time to whip up a little something else with the scraps I have left! :)
I don't know about you all, but I'm getting sick of the bazaar crap. You heard me! I'm going to be so excited when it's over and my posts change to things I really want to make, not just things I think could sell. Oh, wait, Christmas is coming up--those really-want-to-make things may have to wait! :) This is little circle of Flea Market Fancy will eventually be a table topper for the bazaar (if I can manage to sell it).
I made these boxy pouches a while back, but got burned out during the last step so I just finished them last night.
In case anyone is curious, this is my stack of stuff for the bazaar so far.
In non-bazaar news, I finished my pillow top for PTS6. I will be posting my original LOVE letters (a different size than this) on my blog for free soon. I'm in the process of creating an entire alphabet of paper pieced letters to sell in my etsy shop so you'll get the free ones once the rest are done!
While I'm still working on projects for the bazaar, I have taken some time recently to make a few things for myself. The other day I made that Aunty Cookie pouch and a few days ago I whipped up these voile pillow cases. That's right, VOILE!
I had originally bought this fabric with the thought of making a dress (maybe like AMH's tunic tutorial), but I've come to realize I need to stick with my strengths, and clothes are simply NOT one of them! ha ha! So I thought I'd indulge myself with some voile pillow cases.
One of the projects I've had set aside for myself for a long time has been a queen sized quilt with Little Folks voile on one side and Folksy Flannel on the other. I don't have time to start a new quilt project right now, so I felt that pillow cases could tide me over until I make my fantasy quilt.
Speaking of AMH, I made this bag (for my upcoming NYC trip) from my favorite Loulouthi print! The pattern is from ithinkisew and is called the KELLY bag! Eeep! How perfect!
I did modify the pattern some. I used Shape Flex to interface the exterior. I cut muslin the same shape as the exterior and basted it all around. I wanted to give the bag some more weight, but I didn't have enough fusible fleece OR canvas so I had to make do with the muslin.
I also added large open pockets to both sides of the bag. I did this by folding down the pattern piece about 1.5" below the marking for the magnetic snap and cutting two pocket piece PER side (so 4 total). In retrospect, I would have made the pockets sit a bit lower, maybe 3-4 inches below the snap. I interfaced one side of each pocket with Decor Bond. I sewed the top of the pocket pieces right sides together, then opened the piece to place wrong sides together and topstitched the top portion. Repeated for the other piece. Next I placed the pockets on the interior pieces and sewed a line up the middle of the pocket pieces, creating two large open pocket per side (so 4 pockets total). You can make the pockets any size you want depending on where you sew. Then I basted the pocket pieces to the lining pieces and sewed according to the pattern. The interior is made with fabric from It's a Hoot, Just Wing It, and Aviary 2.
This pattern is SUPER simple and I highly recommend it!
