It's that time of year again

When I'm sewing and staying busy but can't blog about it.  It's Christmas craft making time.  I still don't think I'm going to get everything done but we will see.

I had a great time with some new materials and some new techniques today.  That's the only hint I'll give.

And I know, I know, I still need some big girl camera pictures of the quilt for little man.  It's been a little cold around here though and there's no way I'm going outside for the small amount of natural light I can get if the high is 9.  I'm kinda wondering if it would be worth it to learn how to knit to keep my family of 5 in hats, scarves, and mittens from now on.

It's done!

You thought I had forgotten about this quilt, didn't you?  Well, it's done.  Just in time for a new big boy bed.  I'll take some big SLR pictures soon. 

Thread, chosen

The cat approves.  

Sandwiched

Finally basted the layers together tonight.  I had hoped to get it done over the holiday weekend but my effort to patch a small piece of batting to make the perfect fit, I stupidly cut into a panel of my backing.  Luckily I had extra backing and I was able to cut out the bad part and fix it.  Pretty sure I'll be the only one that can tell where the mistake was after it's finished.

I need to check out a few colors of thread for the front but then I'm ready to quilt. I'm thinking blue or grey for the top and red for the back.  

And for reference, I'm going to use this idea for straight line quilting from Piece and Press.  

A picture of the back before I accidentally cut into it.  

Teachers gifts

I got these finished on Wednesday night and we stuffed them full of notes and cards.

I have to make two more bags for M's teachers and finish them by next Friday night.  The fabric and interfacing pieces are already cut out. I just need to sew them up. While the draw string bags are bigger, they come together a lot faster than the gathered clutches.

My first big quilt

I snapped this on my phone the other day. The quilt had 4 columns of blocks along with sashings and two outer borders. It's huge!!!

Felt fruit and veggie quiet book

I made a quiet book for another nephew who is celebrating his first birthday this week.

I pinned an image from someone's Etsy shop but it's no longer for sale.  I studied the couple of images from the listing and I think I came up with a good replica.  I loved working on this since it didn't have a tutorial.

I used felt cut to 5 1/2 inches by 11 1/2 inches.  Unlike the blue quiet book, I was going to use both sides of the felt .  One side could be sewn right on to the felt and the opposite side would have the fruit of veggie image placed on to some scrap fabric.  That way you can cover up the stitching from the back side by the larger scrap square from the front.  Sew a line 1/4 inch around all the edges of the square.  This will save your fingers from getting too close to the iron when you're pressing the edges under.  Fold on the sewing line and then press.

The scraps were cut 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 inches but I think I'll make them 5 X 5 next time.  I had to be careful I wasn't going to sew the edges into my "binding" after everything was done.




Background scrap
Red felt
White felt
Black embroidery floss
Brown ribbon
Green rick rack

Cut all your pieces and sew on some black embroidery floss seeds on to the white inside. Then attach the white felt to the red felt, cut some ribbon and fold it in half, tucking the ends under the red felt, then sew the apple to the backing fabric.





For the pear
Yellow cotton scrap
White felt
Black embroidery floss
Brown satin ribbon
Green satin ribbon

Again, sew the seeds to the white felt then the white felt to the yellow cotton. Tuck the ribbon ends under the cotton. Here's where I would suggest using the fusible web to attach the cotton to the felt. Zig zag stitch on to the felt.

The radish
Marroon felt
Green satin ribbon
Background square

Tuck the ends of the ribbon between the felt radish and the background fabric. Sew the radish on to the background fabric.


For the peas
Green felt
Green scrap fabric
Green embroidery floss

Sew the felt peas to the scrap fabric. Then fuse and zig zag stitch to the felt. Add some green embroidery vines.

Carrot
Orange felt
Green rick rack
Background fabric. 

Fold the rick rack ends between the carrot and background fabric. Attach the carrot to the back ground fabric.



Watermelon
White felt
Green felt
Pink scraps
Black embroidery floss

Add the seeds to the pink scrap. Sew the white felt ring to the green felt. Sew the white felt to the edge of the pink scrap and then zig zag stitch to the felt.

Eggplant
Purple felt
Green felt
Green rick rack
Background square

Sew the green felt cap to the purple felt. Tuck the rick rack between the eggplant and the back ground square and sew together.





Last page, lemon
Orange felt
Yellow felt

Sew the yellow felt to the orange felt and add some stitching to resemble the lemon segments. Sew the lemon to the felt and the lemon juice drops to the felt.

Arrange all the fruits and veggies on background squares to they cover all the stitches from the design sewn directly on to the felt.  I lined up most of my squares on the outside edges of the book so i could make sure when I sewed the pages together, I wouldn't catch any of the square in my seam

Fold the book in half and sew using a 1/2 inch seam.  I went back and forth a few times at both ends to ensure the stitches wouldn't come out.  

5 more blocks

I'm so close to being done with M's blocks. I've got some extra cut up squares and rectangles and even three less than perfect blocks I'm going to add as part of the design on the backing. My assistant is going to come up with a draft of the pattern in a few more days. It won't be much longer. I had hoped i could talk the little guy into letting me quilt it with an all over orange peel pattern but he wants straight lines instead.

Car caddy information

Here's the link again for the tutorial for Homemade by Jill.

Again, I skipped the freeze paper and cutting away for the numbering on the car pockets.  For this project, I blame the fact that I didn't have an Exacto knife to do the tiny work.  My husband has since fixed that since then. 

I used a pair of old worn through the knees jeans and a pair of some work pants that had seen better days for the duck fabric. 

The directions were pretty straight forward but I need to work a little more with my piping.  I left too much of the flat part exposed so it showed when i turned it right side out.  Next time, I will get regular velcro instead of stick on velcro.  I had to sew the stick on velcro to make sure it held.  This made my needle really sticky and I had to throw it away after I used it. 

My Quiet Book

Some notes.  I got the ides for putting the book together from this post Lella Boutique.

I didn't do the fabric lettering because I couldn't get a big enough font that I liked and I'd never used fusible web before.  I need to give it a try since several of my recent projects have called for similar applications.  Instead, I tried my hand at embroidery.  I love the result.  I used this tutorial and as a first time user, it was easy to follow.  I did a simple chain stitch but I hope to try out some other stitches as well. 

I didn't want to do a texture book since C is two now.  I searched the web and Pinterest for ideas for the other pages.  I was hoping to make it a one stop shop to pick up supplies at one store.  I knew they had tons of felt so I went there first.  I found that first and the snaps in a jiffy.  No buckles and most importantly, belting.  After 30 minutes of precious kid free time, I gave up.  7 minutes at a different fabric store I found everything, gave the cashier my digital coupon, paid and was out of there.  You might have to go to several stores to get what you're looking for. 

On to the hardest part, the shapes and snaps.  This time I made three copies of each shape using freezer paper and starch.  Before you sew the bottom part to the backing, sew on one part of the snap.  Sew the other part of the snap on one part of the top and then make a sandwich on the other part of the top.  Shapes and colors = 27 little pieces of fabric and freezer paper.  Next time I'm using fusible webbing. 

Some birthday gifts for nephews

I am soooooo late on these gifts but here are some pictures of two gifts I sent to my 6 and 2 year old nephews. 

I'll post pictures first and then repost some in new posts with some of my notes in case you have questions on how I put them together. 

Please see my previous links to see who posted them first. 

There's a marble maze on the left side between the back and the top white fabric. Since it's for a 2 year old, the maze in a simple up and down pattern. For older kids, you could make this more complicated. On the right, a buckle, zipper and belt type ring.

 

Counting with pony beads.



And the hardest part of the whole project. Shapes and colors.

 

Please look to my previous post about applique. Not my strong suit but I'm working on it.


And for the six year old, a car carrying case. He's into Matchbox cars so I wanted to give him something he could pack a few into and travel with.

 

All folded up.



Unfolded and sad. It's not full of shiny new cars.


Much better.

More Nikki bags

I made two bags for my friend L and her daughter L. I promised I would make her a bag if she sent me the materials. Turns out she had more fabric than I needed since she picked out a decorator fabric that was wider than the standard 44 inches. I needed to get a little more fusible interfacing and use some scraps for the inside and pockets but I was able to make a big bag for my friend and a smaller bag for her daughter. Same pattern just reduced to 80% in Adobe. I think I used a smaller seam on the handles just to make sure I had enough room to turn them. Good news though, no broken chopsticks. Just leave a large opening for turning and it's not too difficult.   

Some links

Yes, I know.  I'm over due for some pictures.  I've been doing some sewing lately and haven't gotten those last two matching bag pictures posted. 

In case you want to spy on what I've been doing, are the pages I've been using for my projects.

A quiet book.
I made some interactive pages instead of texture pages. 

And then a car caddy.
Two pairs of pants and some scraps later, I'm almost half way through. 

Here's what I've learned-
-I do not like to applique.  I've done the freezer paper trick but I just can't do it right.
-I need to invest in fusible web.  I can press and then sew down my applique pieces instead.
-I like hand embroidery though.
-It reminds me of hand quilting. 

Decisions

And more decisions.

Duvet

Oh my lord.  I thought making a duvet cover would be super easy.  Make a top, make a bottom, sew three sides together and then add snaps. 

I used this tutorial on Design Sponge for the most part and the instructions from Prudent Baby for adding the snaps.

The project was almost too big for me, literally because of the sheer size of the thing.  88 inches by 92 inches finished and about  89 X 94 unfinished.  While I'm glad I made the french seams to join my panels together it was a bear to match the patterns too.  I was terrified of making a mistake that I measured and remeasured everything, matched patterns, evened out the wrinkles and measured again.  I'm happy to say that it's done and washed now, off to it's new home soon.

 

I promise to take some better pictures before sending it away.

I might make myself a duvet cover if and only if

-I can find a fabric that I love

-Double points if it comes in something wider than 45 inches (hoping to only have to join two widths of fabric instead of three with this one)

-Triple points if i won't have to fuss so much with matching my patterns

More props to my awesome iron though too.  Love that thing.

 

Finally, some craftiness

I decided to craft some of the Christmas gifts for our family and friends this year.  And now, off the camera and on to the blog. 

Here are four though I ended up making 7 in total.  The pattern is here at Noodlehead.

Then I ended up making some large tote bags.  Need to make a bunch more because they turned out so cute.  I even might make one for myself.   Pattern for purchase here.  Please don't break any chopsticks trying to turn these handles.  Make the seam allowance 3/8 inch instead of 1/2 inch.  Just a little bit of a difference makes a world of difference in ease of turning. 

And then for my smallest nephews, I made some hooded towels.  Instructions here at One Simple Bliss.

I just yesterday washed and pressed a lot (!) of yards of fabric to make a duvet cover for my sister and brother in law.  That's the last of the crafting for gifts for a while. 

While it was a lot of work to do all that crafting in December and I know I should have started earlier, I loved seeing people open their gifts.  All that hard work was worth it. 

And next year, I'm starting earlier.  :)

My quilt resume

I thought it might be neat to make a post of all the quilts I've finished so far.

My first quilt, a baby quilt for my friend Angie, summer 1997.  Fence Rail pattern.

Then I jumped into my huge oversized queen quilt.  Machined pieced, hand quilted.  Stars and Stripes from Quilts, Quilts, Quilts.  Started winter 1998, finished the hand quilting fall or winter 2000.

(Hmmm, I don't have a picture of this one.  I'll update that soon.  And by soon I mean, I'll try to remember.  At this point, it's not my favorite quilt.  I had no idea what I was doing and the fabrics are really not my style anymore.)

Edit, here it is in use with cute kiddos. I made another Stars and Stripes lap quilt in red white and blue for Operation Homefront Quilt, an organization that was collecting quilts for the families of fallen soldiers but never took a picture of it before sending it away.  Machine pieced and quilted.  Spring 2002.

I moved on to a wall hanging with scraps from my Stars and Stripes lap quilt.  Another pattern from Quilts, Quilts, Quilts.  Machine pieced, hand quilted.  Not really sure when I made this one.

I really streched myself with this one.  A wedding quilt for my sister and my brother in law.  Her color selections were orange, green and purple.  It was a much more successful approach to making Y-seams and a lesson on hand drawing feathers.  I wasn't done in time but I'm pretty sure I finished hand quilting it in the fall of 2004, machine pieced Lone Star pattern.

I made another wall hanging, urged on by my sister, based on Penrose Tiles.  English paper pieced and machine quilted.  Fall 2003 or 2004.

After a quilting class through my quilt guild, I made a curved wall hanging.  Machine pieced and quilted.  Fall 2005 (?).  It went to live with my BFF Em at her house.

Another gift for my friend Em.  A small pillow.  Oooh, mitered borders. 

I'm still working on a crib sized quilt I started in fall 2006.  I had it maybe 3/4 quilted when I found out I was pregnant with twins so I put it away for a really long time.  I've only got a small border left to hand quilt.  Here are some in progress, post twins picture.  This one is a favorite of mind.  So favored that it has a name, Fire and Ice.  I'll update with closeups of the quilting after I'm done because then the title makes sense.  ;)

Then the baby boom happened.  My sister was expecting her first baby several months before me and I squeaked out a baby quilt for her.  Machine pieced and quilted, summer 2006, my own design.

Then I had a huge break and didn't make another quilt until my sister's second baby.  Pattern by Oh, Fransson, machine pieced (early 2011) and quilted (early 2012).  I had the top done for a very long time but had a hard time getting the quilting finished because I had gotten my new machine.  I was ready to toss my new Viking out the window because of all the jams and broken top threads.  Turns out I needed to learn how to use the machine, needed a different sized needle and I learned that I really disliked the fancy Gutterman variegated thread I was using (I'm going to stick with a smaller weight thread for quilting from now on).

Rag quilt for my friend A, machine pieced and quilted fall 2011.  The top fabric was donated by a bunch of multiple moms and I put it together with some help from my friend Tiff as a gift for A who is battling breast cancer. 

Baby quilt for my nephew J, inspired by Ara Jane.  Machine pieced and quilted early 2012.  turns out, I really like stippling.

Another baby quilt, machine pieced and quilted spring 2012, pattern inspired by The Quilt Engineer.  This was my first time with fancy designer fabric.  Citron Grey by Robert Kaufman for Moda.  

With all the baby quilts, my kids started asking for their own quilts.  I planned one for each of my girls and they picked out some fabrics and color scheme and I used scraps for most of the rest of the tops.  For Miss P pie, machine quilted and pieced, summer 2012.

And then there's the one for my C cupcake.

Iron love

I got a new iron for Christmas and I got to break it in today. Love it!

Look forward to some posts on what I've been sewing coming up soon.