Small project #5

My final small-ish project. I loved being able to check off all these little things this week!

It is a beautiful day today, and as soon as I can get the boys packed up, we're off to the zoo! So I'll get that binding sewn down later.

I've wanted to make a table topper for a while, and LOVED the one that Cluck Cluck Sew put up this week. I have also been looking to do a red and blue quilt, as well as something with triangles....this was the perfect place to try it all out. This little quilt is 14" x 16.5"

Love those lemons!

I changed up my normal stipple quilting with some straight lines. I really like how it shows off the triangles, and it was fun to finally give the walking foot a try!

My mantra after this quilt, though, is SQUARE IT UP! I was a bit lazy, since this was so small, and didn't square my blocks. I was surprised at how quickly those little differences added up across the short rows.

Small project #4

This one sneaked in a little quilting. I used an awesome tutorial by Oh, Fransson! for a nine-patch door stop.

Her patterns and tutorials are very detailed step-by-step with lots of pictures. Super fun and easy to use.

Nice, square top with a handy handle

Zipper on the bottom for dumping out the beans and washing.

I made this one for my front door, and the fabrics are the same as my first quilt that ended up being hung on a nearby wall. That's my favorite Amelia print on the back.

My only problem was using batting instead of fusible fleece for the lining. I tried to turn it into a fusible thing with heat-n-bond. That was a mess! The paper back didn't peal off and I had to just toss it.

Hmmmmm

School's out. I fear for my blog and crafting sanity. Perhaps I can convince them to start quilting.....

Caleb did make a really cool fish in his home ec class this year with wool felt. It's funny, at school these days, they are into self-evaluation in everything. In his comments on the fish, Caleb said he was really slow at the blanket stitch - just like me!

Regarding my quilting - you'll see to the right that I've added a Halloween swap button. I'm so excited, but also kind of freaked out that I've joined my first swap. What if they don't like me?! I decided to do 'candy corn' as my theme. I had remembered Amanda Jean's quilt, and found some other wonderful inspiration on flicker.

I have my fourth small project sewn, but it needs a filler - so hopefully I can make it to the grocery store today. (With three boys in tow, I may rather jab my eyes with knitting needles!)

Small project #3

I found this tutorial at Pink Chalk Studio - she made it after having to carry everybody's water bottles on the 4th of July. I can totally relate to that! I can not tell you how much I love the one I just made.

I like the look of her pieced outside fabric, so I went with that, too. This is the same pair of fabrics used on Becket's shorts. It was super fun doing the improvised quilted waves through the fish!

She suggested twill tape for the strap - but after 2 tries at different stores, I couldn't find a good length of wide tape. In both places, they were down to the last yard! With Becket along, he wanted this sea turtle belting - since I'm hoping he will carry this one, I thought it fit in just right.

I attached the strap before joining the sides. I'm sure that made it much easier. For his little body, I ended up using a 30" length for the strap.

I was pleasantly surprised when I slung it over my shoulder and it hung quite nicely. A good thing, as he'll probably want to ditch his water from time to time.

The pattern suggests a french seam. That was a wonderful idea, and should avoid a bunch of stringy bits from sticking to your cold water!

My water bottle holder went together so quickly, and turned out perfectly. I think it would be a great party favor - you could change up the fabrics for any age/gender/occasion. I'm going to enlist the older boys to choose their own fabric combos in the hopes they will actually carry them (we're getting to the point where some things that I think are great are sooooo not cool).

Small Project #2

but first..... Run! Enter for a chance at 30 Katie Jump Rope Fat Quarters!

They are on The Fabric Shopper, offered by Marianne of Pickled Pear Lane. For myself, I've bought fabric from her before and had a wonderful experience. I would certainly recommend her! So go, enter, and then visit her etsy shop...I'll wait.

Now that you're back, I finished this cute mushroom needle case that has been on my list for some time. The pattern is from the spring issue of Quilts and More.

I used wool felt - if you haven't worked with wool felt before, you should really try it. I learned that I am crazy-slow at blanket stitch.

I especially liked how there is room for my scissors and some floss or thread. I'll be all set for sitting at the boys' summer games.

I used this Sewline fabric glue pen for the first time, and it was amazing! Just as good as the pencil I talked about a couple of weeks ago. I have sewn small felt things on softies in the past, like eyes, and it is so hard to pin them and keep them from shifting before you're done. With one little swipe, this glue stick held each mushroom dot perfectly! Have you ever tried to glue felt before?! It never sticks! I plan on giving this a try on my quilts the next time I need to pin something small, or applique in any size.

Small project copycat

I've been having a grand time cranking out bento box squares, but other lists keep going through my head.


Crazy Mom Quilts did a fun small-projects-week in April to tackle those items that are on the list but never get to the top. I really liked the idea and thought it could be a great motivator for me to blast through a few small things that always seem to get pushed to the side.




I had the perfect fabric, so Becket's new shorts got crossed off the list today. We call these 'lounging pants' - for generally being comfortable and hanging out around the house and after the pool. I based them on these Bandana pants tutorial.




That's a really great tutorial and I've used it several times in the past with both bandannas and yardage. The big benefit of bandannas is no hemming or need to turn under the raw edge at the top casing.

For this 3-4yr old size, I cut two pieces 18" (waist) x 20" and for fun used a wave print and a fish print instead of all one pattern. You just need to make the waist edge bigger and the length a tad longer for a 10yr old size.

These two prints are so cute together, you'll be seeing them again later this week!

Week 5 nine patches

....plus one. I tossed in a Neptune square as I was cleaning up. I really like this group - the pink and green ones and that bird peaking out turned out just as I wanted.

I went back and forth on the green Bijoux square a bunch of times before I decided it would be good. Then when I uploaded the photo, I finally saw how little contrast it really has. Thumbnails can be very helpful - kind of like the squinty eye technique. (You know, where you kind of squint and blur your eyes a bit to make sure all the colors are evenly distributed. I used to do this when I was little at Christmas time...when the strings of tree lights were those large screw-in bulbs. If there was too much of one color clumped together after the squint-test, I would swap bulbs around to fix it!)

This was a surprise favorite for me! I've had them cut and been looking for a good pair for those crazy orange, pink and yellow circles for a couple of weeks. I was starting to think they weren't going to work with anything. Once I turned over the final, ironed square I couldn't believe how much I liked it!

Road to addiction

As I've mentioned before, I'm generally crafty, and have always been. Having discovered the craft world on the Internet, my links of blog favorites grew quickly. The problem for a craft addict lies in how easily suggestive they are!

A most wonderful Nom - from a little dear pattern

Ravelry and knitting blogs led to craft sewing, led to embroidery, led to modern softies, led to paper crafting, led to.....

And so, to help push others into new crafty addictions, I thought I would show a couple of embroidery projects I did recently.

I used an Urban Threads design on this super cute t-shirt for my nephew. My husband lucked out and caught that huge drool - perfect for 'Where's me Grog?'!

This is a viking design I made from a picture a friend sent me. Sorry I don't know it's origin, but I thought it was so cool and translated it to an embroidery for Becket's shirt. Of course, he now refuses to wear it (what is up with that?!) So I may try to put some stabilizer on it and use it in a future quilt or pillow for myself.

Improv Pears done!

This was the second quilt I pieced and finally got it quilted and bound in time to Spring to Finish! It is 51" square.

I used 6" square piece of three different Kaufman pear prints at the center of each wonky log cabin block. They were a lot of fun to piece! After it was all done, I realized the green really wasn't as spring-y as I had pictured. I saw more of the dots than the overall, but I was not going to change it!

I pieced a leftover strip for the back.

I had great karma the day I joined all my binding - you can hardly see a single seam. There's one of them on the right of the top row. Even the point where the final join is made falls perfectly!

When it is cold and dreary next winter, I think this is be a fun quilt to warm-up under.

I washed that quilt with the Neptune coin quilt and did have a minor issue. I didn't pre-wash the linen and probably should have. While working with it, the 100% linen was so slippery and tended to unravel. That a led to square-ness issues overall and some edges that were less than 1/4" under the binding seam. This little section pulled out during the wash.

I ended up tucking it against the binding, then machine stitching a tight, narrow zig-zag along that area. You can hardly see the repair on either front or back - it blended into the texture of the linen. Hopefully I have stopped the pulling and fraying.

As a side note, the quilt went from 51x64 before washing to 49x62.5 All linen will be pre-washed going forward.

Quilt nightmare

My oldest and youngest sons were both confirmed positive for type A flu yesterday. So I've been laying on the floor with the youngest in his fever the last two nights. I covered up with my Neptune coin quilt - it was so nice and cozy (but could be a touch wider and longer). During one snippet of sleep, I dreamed that the quilt did not survive the night, with many areas of binding coming off and the quilting unraveling! In Becket's words, "Mama, this is a bad day."

It looks like the fevers have since broke and with the help of five Tamiflu precriptions, one for each of us, things will continue to improve. My quilt survived and I was able to finish the binding on another during nap time. Both are going into the wash. Hopefully the clouds clear tomorrow and I can get some good pictures of the newly crinkled quilt.

Quick nine patch update

Before I have to post two week's worth, I better show my week 4 nine patch blocks! I actually have a full yard of that yellow Michael Miller with the appliances and jello - I'm strangely drawn to it and hope to find a good use.

The long weekend was busy, but I wanted to share what a 6th grader looks like when his parents are yelling and cheering as he marches past in a parade. It's hard to hide behind a trumpet!

Injury is good?

STILL doing yard work. The neighbor jokingly commented that it is like watching the slaves build the pyramid. We finally finished re-planting most of the beds, now we're moving 15 cubic yards of mulch from our driveway to all those beds. For those that haven't had the horror of mulch dumped into their driveway - 15 cubic yards looks like a small mountain after the dump truck leaves. What a way to spend the long holiday weekend, eh!?

I did get a break yesterday as I was forced to sit and ice my knee. It seems that I've been bending too much and now it is terribly swollen. Hurray for injury (I'm telling myself!) as I had time to work on stitching down my binding. Just a couple more breaks like that and then I can finally show the finished quilt!

And just for fun, here are a few whirlygiggle blocks. I'm addicted and will share some more of this picnic quilt next week. We're off to grill and watch Caleb march in the parade.

Have a great weekend!

Busy as a bee

I decided what to do with the two Neptune layer cakes that came in the quilt kit I bought. I'll make a Bento Box for Becket's room (B Cubed). The layer cake squares will work wonderfully for this. I can get 3 light and 3 dark blocks out of each pair of matching 10x10 squares.

I'm going to use only the blues, blacks, and greens - the lights are all going to be Kona's premium 200ct muslin. It feels like a soft, cool bed sheet. Should be perfect for his room! I only have those two test blocks done so far, as I have been more busy FOR the BEES than sewing.

Yesterday we were out from 8am until 8pm planting and moving stuff. I started counting it up, and stopped at 100 things: perennials, shrubs, grasses, and a few annual pots.

I still have to do the vegetable garden, and add some irrigation.

But first I'll take a break and make some more 2.5" squares for my nine patch blocks before I'm too far behind!

So close

I had all the blocks quickly pieced for this wall-hanging quilt and laid them out for joining. Guess I was too quick - that center, left block is wrong. I'll be unpicking it tonight.

I don't know which is worse, frogging my knitting or unpicking seams?!

Ending and Starting

Motivated to get in another Spring to Finish quilt, last night I stippled an improv top that has been sitting for a while. The binding is cut and ready, so I just had to pull a pile for a small hanging quilt.

I'm getting the hang of cutting my fabric - hurray!

Week three 9 patch

My third week's nine patch blocks. It is getting harder to decide how to create them, and I was even more worried when I realized we have seven more weeks to go!

As I wonder if all the blocks will 'go together', I think I will have to start trusting more in the magic of the white sashing.

I've also started my Aviary quilt. Those are honey bun strips in sets of three. I must say I was quite proud of myself when I measured the center strips and they were actually 1" wide! I think my seams are getting better.

Liz, over at Teeny Tiny Quilts, asked what we listen to while quilting. Becket took a kid-sized view of my spot in the front room that shows my iHome back there.

I usually listen to various NPR podcasts (This American Life, Planet Money) and The Moth podcast. Nothing I'm doing right now is rocket science, so it's fun to let my mind wander. It actually seems to help when I'm free motion quilting - the result is more organic and prettier if I don't over think it. I have to use the earbuds when actually quilting a top, though. Otherwise you miss all the funny stuff to the hum of the needle. What do you listen to?

Honu kala pa'a - finished!

I have been dieing to share my finished coin quilt - had to wait for some sun to get good pictures.

Honu kala pa'a - roughly Hawaiian turtle coins. I made it to remind me of the wonderful trips we've taken to Maui and Kauai.

I love it! Tula Pink's Neptune line - three charm packs and a bit of yardage for back and binding. It is sashed with 100% white linen, also on the back.


The other solid on the back is cotton oxford shirting. It was a substitute when I realized I forgot to buy enough linen for the back. A happy accident, it was wonderful to work with and I'll certainly look for more to use again. I got that piece for a huge bargain at JoAnn's, but it is considered a fall fabric, so I have to wait just a bit to find it again. I decided to feature some of my favorite charm squares on the back, and I like this the best with the sea turtles.


The black print is perfect for the binding.

Neptune really is amazing, so when I saw that Hancocks of Paducah had the quilt kit on sale for nearly 50% off, I had to have it. The kit came with two layer cakes, nine fat quarters, and finally 5/8 yd and 1 1/2 yd cuts. Ooooh, pretty.....

(tossed in 3 yards of Bijoux - on sale, already paying for shipping and all)

We decided to do Becket's room in a kind of Hawaiian sea-theme with underwater and waterfall photos we've taken. I'll probably use just the blues, blacks and greens. I just have to choose what pattern to make.