Sunday, October 12, 2014

Plaid Flannel Quilt

While I was working on the Roman Road Quilt, I was also playing with some left over flannel plaids that wanted to be something.  So, on a whim, I cut out general blocks and just sewed them together.  It came out smaller than I wanted; and while at JoAnn Fabrics, I saw a piece of red flannel that would be perfect for the quilt.  And then I saw a piece of herringbone pattern green fabric that I thought would be perfect for the backing.  And I was able to get both pieces of fabric at 50% off for each piece... SWEET !!!

Another great sofa blanket for someone..

The more I looked at this, the more I realized that this was for a friend that lives in England.  So he received this for Xmas.  After I sent it off, I was telling a good friend that it cost as much to mail it as it did to get it quilted, but, hey..it was great to know it would have a good home.







So, here is the finished piece.  There was a learning curve for myself, which was good.  Flannel shrinks even more than I thought it would, so if I ever use flannel again, top grade flannel is required and at least a double wash and in a hot dryer are required before I cut anything.



Roman Road

A few years ago, I was given some xmas print flannel fat quarters.  At the time, I had an idea for a quilt, but never got around to making it.  About this time last year, another idea began to pop up in my mind.  So, I made this Roman Road..or Split Rail Fence .. depending on where you are from and the name you associate to it.

My nephew, Josh, requested a quilt from me 'someday', 'my choice'.  He likes to sleep, veg out on the sofa, etc..so thought that a sofa throw would be what I made for him.


Quilt Top .. Unfinished.  Blocks are laid out, but not sewn together yet.











Backing



I finally got the quilt top finished and sent off to Terri Clark (Salmon Creek Quilting) to have it long-armed.  I gave it to my nephew for Xmas.  He was thrilled when he saw it.  Hope it lasts him a long time.

http://salmoncreekquilting.com
https://www.facebook.com/SalmonCreekQuilting

Here is the finished piece:




Saturday, September 20, 2014

Diamond in the Rough Delivered

I received a nice thank you and a pic on Facebook of the quilt on the babies beautiful crib. Kim's choice of colors for the quilt were perfect.




Friday, August 29, 2014

Diamonds in the Rough finished

I finished the Diamonds quilt.  Waiting for label, but that will be an easy sew..

So here are the pics.

Picture taken by Teri Clark, the long arm quilter who quilted this for me:


The binding has been sewn on



The back of the quilt


One of the blocks


I requested that Kim design her own label, since this is for her grandchild.  This is her design.


A friend of mine has an embroidery machine and he did this label for me.  We are still trying to decide if the background color should be different.  But this is one of the attempts of what it will look like.


And we did go with a new label..and it is sewn on...so truly done.


And so I used both labels..




Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Throwback Thursday Kind of Thing

Back in the 90's, I was determined to make the most awesome quilt of all time..haha.  I started it and worked it..and then the relationship I was in went south...way south..and the blanket got set aside as I had to move, etc...and over the years, I pull it out, look at it..and then put it away again..

I am determined that by this time next year, I will have it finished.  It is a King Size blanket.  Made of flannel.  Pattern is Steeple Steps.  I did fussy cut a 7 inch square for each of the blocks.  I used about  2.5 yds of fabric to fussy cut all of the houses I needed for this.

So, here are a few pics of next years project or UFO (Un Finished Object) that will become finished.

There is a pattern of colors: Browns and Greens go in one direction.   Red and Blue go in another direction.











Starting a new laptop quilt


I was going to give this to a particular person but changed my mind for personal reasons and decided to give this to someone else. I need to sew the blocks together but suddenly my sewing room needs to be reconfigured and the sewing is getting suspended for a few days. 

Here is a pic of the work so far. The design has two different names. So take your pick, "Roman Road" or "Rail Fence".

  

Baby quilt top done

I finished the top and sent it off to be quilted.


 

I was taking pics of this and decided to take a few hanging on the clothesline on my patio. The sunlight was a little bright, but it made for a beautiful picture. 


Saturday, July 26, 2014

more layout stuff

Took some of the blocks and lay them out on the bed..just for fun..missing colors are blue and yellow..



Thursday, July 24, 2014

Working on blocks

Working at joining the blocks today.  Spent a productive day at getting the blocks put together.  Got all done and was putting stuff away and realized that I was sewing them together wrong.  So..seam ripper time !!!

So, truing up the smaller squares ..











So when I got done, I laid out a few of the blocks just to see how fragmented they looked.  Not bad..








Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Working on the baby quilt for Kim

Still plugging away on the baby quilt for Kim's daughter.

I have cut all the blocks into 5 inch squares.  I laid out the fabric pieces on my big table, and began adding color (bling) to each of the corners.  I was having so many problems remembering top from bottom and which square I wanted to make into part of a 9 inch square, that I began to label each block.  Each color has nine blocks so I labeled them 1 through 9.  Each big square is made up of four smaller squares, a - d.  And I labeled each top so I knew which way was up.  haha.

A few trial pieces showed me that apparently I can't sew a straight line free hand, so I drew a line to sew on, on each piece.  So I am sewing assembly line to gets the bling on.








Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Back to sewing non stop again

Ok..started a new project.  Lang's niece is having a baby near Xmas, so her mother asked me if I would make a crib quilt for the new baby.   We worked out which pattern she wanted and she bought the fabric and sent it to me.  The pattern calls for some bling pieces and she forgot to send the bling..which is fine, cause I have lots of scrap fabric...and it gives me an excuse to use up the different fabrics I have.

The quilt pattern is called:  Diamond in the Rough.


It will look like this:  


So I have been cutting and trying to match scraps to the blocks with the idea of creating little bits of "pop" throughout the quilt.  The scrap fabric in the center will not match on the seams and the more varied the colors, the more bling it adds to the piece overall.  Because I want the overall pattern to be pleasing, so have put everything up on the flannel board.  I will be putting the 5 inch blocks back into a 9.5 inch block and then rearranging the colors according to the pattern I have drawn out.  When the four blocks are joined together, they form a rough diamond in the middle.. :-)  .

Here is the darker of the beiges that will become 6  9-inch blocks.




Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The need to sew..!!

I had surgery on Feb 24, 2014, and needed to take it easy.  Which was okay, but I began to feel I needed to feed the addition.  While I was resting, Lang decided to paint the living room and hallway.  And then we finally attached the new curtain rod to the wall like it should have been done.  Well, that necessitated getting new curtains.  The ones we saw were of a weave pattern, but needed to have a backing.  Since I had about 20 yards of white linen fabric...sure, piece of cake..  Well, I got one done before I needed to take a day or two off..then I finished the other one.  They came out looking nice, so that fed that fix.

  The outer brown weave is what I put the panels on.  The inner greenish pattern already had a backing on it.

  Before, you could see all the way through the brown curtains.  Lang painted the walls a mint green.

Yesterday, I woke up and just needed to sew something, so came into the craft room and saw a cute little project, so I did that.

This a Sunbonnet Sue Needle Holder.

A lot of times, in your sewing bag/kit/basket, you find that when you are hand sewing something, you often want to use the same needle over again, because it is a comfortable fit to your hand, or whatever.  Where to put the needle so it is handy for the next time.  You carry a bit of fabric with some felt attached to it to store the needle.  Felt absorbs any oils or moisture from your hands and keeps the needle from rusting.

For those unfamiliar with the Sunbonett Sue fanatics out there..haha..here is a sample of what Sunbonnet Sue looks like on a quilt.



So here is the needle holder I made:

  This is the top of the needle holder.  I stuffed her bonnet so that it could be a pin holder.  The dress lifts up to get to the pins and needles inside.

  The red material is felt.  I sewed it down on the black fabric before I attached to floral print.  Missed the mark on my placement of the felt..Better planning next time. haha

  The back of the piece. Once I sewed the head shut after stuffing it, I sewed a ribbon around her neck which hid the other sew lines and made her look prettier.

Now, I can stash this in my sewing bag..and always have a needle holder ready when I need it.


Friday, February 14, 2014

challenges

I saw a needlework piece at a needlework shop..so took a pic of it and then began trying to figure out how to make it work as  a quilt...

So, here are some pics..



So here is the block design I drew up.

The block would be 18 x 18.  This is 16 x 16.  The dark outer color would be the background.  The Star type block would be a Main Fabric, and the blank square would be a complimentary plain fabric.


This would be a full quilt with each of the Star blocks would be one of the blocks above.  It is out of proportion, but it was suggested to me to make the quilt be outside of the borders.



My challenge is the wings on either side.  It needs to look like you are looking at the kimono from the back, and that the front is opened.  So the wings should have the fabric at angles that show the 3D look.  

         


I tried a sample piece and don't see the outer wing as being angled enough.  It has taken a few days of thinking, but I think I know how to change the look.  So will wait til after Valentines Day to work on it.