Finished Quilt!

At long last, I can say my first quilt is finished! It turned out beautiful & I love it! It's found a new home on our couch and since it's backed w/ Minky ... everyone wants to use it! Here are some pics of the finished quilt and a few more tips I learned in Quilt Class with the talented Louise @ Scrapbooks, Etc. It's true - even if you know how to sew, you can always learn SOMETHING from a class! Plus group sewing is just fun.

I guess the story of this quilt would be this ... I fell in love with this fabric and spontaneously bought a jelly roll. I thought I'd make pieced pillows with it, but, then while at the Sew Sampler class with Sarah back in March, I saw this quilt sample on the wall. I chatted w/ the instructor, asked some questions and quickly became convinced that I could do it! SO - I bit the bullet. I signed up for the class, reserved the jelly roll for the quilt front, and then picked up some additional fabrics for the center squares, border & binding. The class was taught over the course of a month w/ meetings every Monday night (I have links at the bottom of this post w/ my progress week to week).

  

the quilting is a pretty swirly design that resembles butterflies - compliments of Louise

quilting detail on front side

Tips I learned during this process:

• Learn how to properly thread your bobbin. Duh. My bad.
• Put the needle all the way down WITH THE PRESSER FOOT UP ... slide fabric RIGHT up to needle, and THEN lower presser foot. This ensures proper tension, especially if you have an "auto" tension gauge on your machine, which I do. I never did this before, but it does seem to be helping.
• Use a thimble when hand sewing the binding. You will suffer injuries w/o one. :)
• When pressing seams (which you do ALL THE TIME  when you're quilting) "heat" the threads before you press the seams. What? If you have a 2 squares sewn together, while they are still folded (presumably w/ right sides together) ... quick press ("heat") the seam on the wrong side. When you open up the two squares to press them flat, it'll be easier. I love it.
• If you use a Singer, buy a walking aka even feed foot if you're going to use Minky.
• Do not use steam when you're pressing fabric that has already been cut to its precise size. Steam will distort the fabric and that's not good. I've not put steam in my iron since I learned this a few weeks ago!
• If you're using precut fabrics (like a jelly roll, etc), chances are it has pinked edges. When cutting such fabrics, measure by and to the OUTSIDE tips of the pinked fabric, or the widest points.



corner close up

In this class, I also learned how to attach bias strips so that they lay flat when attached, to make mitered corners, and how to attach binding to quilt and hand stitch with a blind stitch. I'm thankful to have these two tips in my sewing arsenal!

All in all, this was a fun class and I love the outcome. I will probably take another class sometime, but it may be a while. It's a serious commitment - a quilt that is. I really liked having a "long term" project going while I continued w/ my usual quick fix crafts. Someday, I'd love to learn how to actually do the quilting part because I don't think I can fancy myself a quilter until I actually do the entire quilt!

 Fabrics Used:
• Robert Kaufman Daisies & Dots Line (jelly roll for the blocks + yardage for border & binding)
• Aqua Minky (front center squares and back)



I absolutely love the contrast of the aqua minky & the bright red binding. I think this is a color combo that will never get old to me!

The rest of my quilt class posts: Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. PS: One of these days, perhaps my actual sewing will reflect the very long mental list of things I want to make ... like coordinating pillows with all the wonderful scraps I have from this quilt!

I am participating in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side!

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Adventures in Pattern Making

I've been taking a pattern making class.  When I saw that Sara had entered the Made by Rae Spring Top Sewalong 2011 contest, I was inspired to jump in and put my new knowledge to work.

I based my design on this shirt from Anthropologie.

I liked the shaping from the pleats.  I read the comments on the website and there were lots of complaints about the low neckline and the large sleeve holes.  I would have to rectify those issues.  I also didn't care for the longer sides.  So, basically, I was discarding everything, but the pleats and the ruffled neckline!

The pleated shaping is both on the front and the back.

I have plenty I could complain about with this shirt, but considering it's only the second time I've designed my own shirt, I don't think I did too badly.

As a quick aside, this is what was going on at my feet as my brother took my picture.  Let me introduce Tia and Maria, my doggie-nieces.

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Here are the main things I write about:  crafting, thrifting, and food.  Lately, I haven't crafted much, I haven't found much at the thrift stores, and I haven't eaten anything worth mentioning.  Consequently, I haven't written much at all.

I decided to take a clue from from my blogmate and try to get motivated by committing to something I have absolutely no time to do.  She's sewing kids' clothes for an hour a day, I'm going to try to enter this contest: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Vintage_Sewing_Giveaway. My deadline is October 1st. Can I get it done?

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Sunday Sewing Tip on Thursday

I totally forgot about my Sunday Sewing Tip.  I'm middle-aged, forgetting is what middle-aged people do, right?

This is another storage tip post.  As you know, I love thrift stores.  One thing I'm constantly buying is old novelty planters.  These are great for ort catchers or miscellaneous doodad holders.  Here are some examples from my sewing room.

This is right next to my sewing machine.  I would guess this one is from the 1940s.  It's perfect for scissors, seam ripper, stiletto, and other miscellaneous tools.

These are on my ironing board right next to the bottle of Mary Ellen's Best Press (love that stuff).  The dog planter is an ort catcher (bits of thread or scraps), and the head vase holds a scissors and some other tools.  You could use something else for this, but this is much cuter, isn't it?  I have a poodle planter in my TV room, as well, but I forgot to take a picture of that one.

If you're off to your nearest Goodwill to look for an old planter, keep in mind that an imperfect planter is fine for this purpose.  As a matter of fact, if you can get a chipped or crazed planter for 99 cents to keep your seam rippers in, more's the better.  You don't have to worry if it gets knocked over and it's still cute.   We'll all be old and imperfect soon enough.  Let's hope someone out there still has a use for us.

One more storage tip.  I needed a button keeper.  One day, I came across this old glass humidor at a Savers store.  Buttons are pretty so this allows me to see the buttons, as well as the pretty old humidor.

The Mercury space program era lunch box isn't used for storage, but it's awesome, so I included it in the photo.  Please disregard the dust.  I have better things to do than clean.

So there's your Sunday sewing tip on Thursday.  Perhaps I'll remember the next Sunday sewing tip on Sunday, perhaps not.  But a tip is a tip so let's not quibble over the day.

Seacrest, out.

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