Quilts of a Feather: Coming Soon: Selvage Along!

Quilts of a Feather: Coming Soon: Selvage Along!: Do you keep the selvages from the fabric you use? Selvages! Join me and Jess at Quilty Habit this summer for a Selvage Along!  Ever...

Kate Spain Charm Swap!

Just wanted to let anybody know who loves Christmas, Kate Spain, and/or Charm swaps, I found one!  I absolutely love Kate Spain and have been collecting her fabrics for quite awhile now.  I have some I purchase and know right away what I am going to make with it, others I am still waiting for the perfect project.  I know as of yesterday there were still spots remaining so please follow link below for the info and send Michelle a email!  Please join the fun!

http://www.crayonboxquiltstudio.com/2015/06/now-open-kate-spain-charm-swap.html

For my fabrics I picked were mostly from her Twelve Days of Christmas line and the mitttens were from In From the Cold.  Of course I have four fabrics because I was lucky enough to get (2) spots!
Yipee, I can't wait!

Woo Hoo My Aloha Girl Quilt

Once again, it's been forever since I last posted something on my blog but hopefully this will be my last gap.  I have made so many quilts, dresses, and random projects but never post them so I this time I think I will.  I just finished my Aloha Girl quilt from Fig Tree Fabrics.  It turned out just as beautiful as I hoped it would.  I used one Aloha Girl jelly roll, three yards of white Kona, and a vintage full size sheet for the backing.  I was going to use the Kona Bone but it looked a little to yellow all together so I chose to use the white to brighten it up.

As for the pattern I have to give credit to a photo I saw on Pinterest.  I love Pinterest!  I'd say 95% of my quilts come from Pinterest.  I either see a fabric swatch or pattern and then the hunt is on to either find the pattern or search out the fabric.  With 14 full size tote bins of beautifully folded quilting cotton in my garage, I have to start using it.  The pattern credit goes to England Street Quilts.  She has this beautiful free pattern on her website that she made with Cosmo Cricut's Salt Air Fabric.  The pattern is called Summer in the Park and she has a wonderful tutorial for this that whips up in a couple of days.  I think it took me about a week start to finish.  Here is the link for her tutorial page in case you would like to make one too!

Free Pattern Here:  http://englandstreet.blogspot.com/2012/10/summer-in-park-free-jelly-roll-pattern.html

With all said and done, I am very happy with my new quilt.  I really wanted to have the backing match but on a budget and having so much in my stash I needed to use what I had.  In a way it worked out perfectly because it actually flows together really well.  I usually only use 100% cotton but this time with the vintage sheet having a little bit of polyester in it, it's so soft and cool to the touch it's perfect for a summer quilt.

I normally free motion quilt on my little Brother machine and I do mean little.  It's a portable and lightweight machine that gets the job done.  See ladies, don't think you can't free motion quilt without a large machine, I do it all the time.  This quilt ended up measureing 68" x  68" with a loose meandering pattern.  I wanted the quilt to be flopy after I washed it so it draped nicely.  You just have to be patient and practice!

Although I have a feeling this will end up on my daughters bed rather than my couch!  I hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by!

My 4th of July Skirt

Good Evening All!

I am doing a post tonight on a skirt I made to wear this 4th of July.  I made it for kicks but as it turns out, it's one of the most comfortable skirts yet!  It's a simple yolk skirt with a button front (cause I am not a zipper fan) and two panels gathered for the skirt bottom.  I am going to have to make a tutorial for you all should you like to make one for yourself.  I wasn't sure if this one would turn out so I didn't take pictures as I made it, but now I know it's a winner.

I made it by making a waist band yolk that is 4" wide with an arc at the top and bottom so it sat on my waist naturally following my hips.  The sides angle a bit as well or else it wouldn't sit right.  The front yolk pieces are the same as the back piece, just cut in half with an inch added to each side so it would over lap and I could button it.  I cut out duplicate yolk pieces for a lining, sewed them like the outer yolk and then with right sides together sewed the two waistbands together.  I turned them, pressed, top stitched, and added my buttons and holes.  Once I fitted the yolk I measured the bottom of the yolk to where I wanted my skirt hem to end and subtracted a couple of inches because I wanted some color at the bottom of the skirt.  With my skirt panel measurements, I cut two panels from my fabric and sewed the sides together.  I measured twice the width of the color band, added 1/2" for a seam allowance and cut two of those.  I sewed the two bands together, pressed the raw edges together and pinned it to my skirt bottom.  Once I got an idea of how big the color band needed to be I opened up the hem, trimmed and sewed the raw ends together so I had one big color band circle that would fit the skirt bottom perfectly.  I sewed all the raw edges (skirt bottom and folded color band) together and top stitched.  I then gathered the top of the skirt to match the yolk and did the same as the bottom, pinned, sewed all the raw edges together, and topstitched.

I know this sounds like a lot of work but it's actually very easy and I will include better details and pics for all of this.   If you don't want to wait for a tutorial you can always follow the top lines of an A-line skirt you have in the closet and copy it.  Just don't forget to add a half inch to all your sides for seam allowances.  It's always better to take in because sometimes there isn't enough to let out!  Well here it is for a good laugh, my Fourth of July Skirt!

Yep, my Hubbie raised and eyebrow to this one!

I got this fabric from the Alexander Henry 2012 collection  called "Just Us for All", too funny!  He also has a 2013 edition called "Pursuit of Happiness".

As you can see it sits well, comfy, and the yolk waistband makes it flattering.  I myself dislike elastic waistbands on skirts because they can make me look bulky around the middle.  Now we will have to see if I actually have the guts to wear it on July 4th!

A new baby quilt

Over the course of the last year I have really fallen in love with the art of quilting.  I have tried to perfect my free motion quilting, getting my seams to match up perfectly, ironing with out steam , etc, etc, the list goes on and on.  I have also collected copious amounts of fabric over time that I am literally out of room for storage. I know I am not the only one who can count 12+ tote bins stacked beautifully so I can see what you've got at all times.  A fabric stash is usually sorted to ones favorite method, for me it's by style, season, and then color.  I know what I have at all times and where to locate it if I need it.

So the reason for all this is the simple fact that I need to start using it.  Sure I have been using some, but it's just so easy to buy new when it's freshly released from the quilt store!  I've made many quilts over the last year but now I have decided to let some of it go for someone else to enjoy.  This week I made a baby quilt.  I haven't done one of those in a while and I thought it would be a great start.  I have always wanted to make a chevron quilt but when it comes to a pattern and fabric, you have to find the right ones!  I recently acquired a mystery bundle containing Riley Blake's Willow collection that I thought would be perfect for the job as a baby quilt.  The collection is some pale pinks, yellows, grays, and aquas.  Like I mentioned previously I have been trying to perfect my seams so I did not take the triangle rout, I followed the tutorial provided by Crazy Mom Quilt!  Her blog and tutorial can be found here, http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2009/03/all-zipped-up.html.  She has a wonderful method to making a zig zag quilt using strips of fabric cut into squares and then arranged to make a zig zag.  Nice and easy and my seams matched up beautifully.  Now unfortunately I don't have any babies on the way for myself nor in my vicinity so I have decided to put this one up for sale in my Etsy shop.  I've always sold children's boutique clothing so this is something new for me.  But I think this is one of my best quilts yet, I love the clean lines and colors.

See!  Very pretty!  I had a lot of fun sewing this quilt and I can't wait to start on the next!  I also just got a new sewing machine for my birthday and I think that helped in the motivation department too!  Tomorrow I will show you all what I have made to wear on the 4th of July, it will give you a good laugh!

I'm back!

Well my last entry was gosh, eight whole months ago. I was going to take a little break so that I could get my Christmas presents sewn and I never came back! If I remember right I didn't want to post any of my work because my family just started following me and if they saw what i did they would have known it was for them. I made five different quilts, which I will post pics later but those were the last quilts I made. I am itching to start some new ones but I am waiting for some fabric to come in the mail. I've made some neat little things here and there which I'd also love to post but not tonight. I need some good lighting so you can actually see what's made.

It's been a crazy eight months!  We started the New Year off great and things happened.  For the short version I got a wake up call from my Dr. who informed me that I was well on my way to becoming a diabetic and that I needed BP medicine.  My Dr. said it's possible that if I loose 10% of my body weight I may not need the meds and my health would benefit from it. After that wake up call I decided to do something about it so I joined Weight Watchers and so far so good.  I hated it and everybody around me at first but results have made me very happy.  Since the beginning of April I have lost 27.6 lbs.  I now weigh 161.8 lbs and I have gone beyond the 10%.  I am not going to preach to anybody but for me it was a great choice.  I was also worried that if I didn't change my habits, what would my 4 year olds be like when they are 12.  Yikes!  We also unfortunately lost my Grandfather in May from thyroid, brain and lung cancer.  He survived the thyroid 5 times and I think he was just tired this last time.  He lived a wonderful long life and he will be missed.  We also got to take a fabulous trip to Kauai Hawaii thanks to my wonderful in-laws.  If it wasn't for them I don't think my hubbie and I could have done that for at least 10 years.  We had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect and the kiddos really loved the beach!  My parents also made a long haul (3 days) in their RV to come and visit us. It had been almost two years since I last saw my Dad so you could imagine how much I relished every second they were here.  I wish there stay could have been longer but we made it a vow to not let our next visit go that long.  After my Grandfathers passing we also had a blessing delivered from my only and baby Sister.  She made me an Aunt and had a Baby Boy named Zachary.  He is a cutie patootie and I will post a pic later on!  Ok that's enough of me, on with the crafts!

 Tonight was a night for a quick project I saw googling away a few nights ago which I'd love to share for those who have kiddies. Next weekend we will be spending a few days at my in-laws for my brother in laws wedding. I am trying to simplify the luggage and packing situation as much as possible so I set out to make some weekend bags and toy totes for the toys. I am trying to follow the motto "you can fill this bag but once it's full that is all you can take". On one of my late night google sessions I came across the blog of Project: project and a tutorial for a "Peeping Peeps Zippered Toy Tote".  Here is the link if you want to give it a shot. http://lemoncadet.blogspot.com/2011/07/hello-campers.html     It looked perfect for what I needed. Sure enough after they were done tonight I wanted to tell the world I found a good one! Here is a pic of the set I made.

Now all the toys that are coming with us will not only be contained but also limited.  It was a great project and I am really happy with the results.  The templates for these are made by using 8 1/2" by 11" paper so they are super easy.  Looking at these on my kitchen table it makes me want to make one for myself as a travel quilting kit.  I have been trying out some new things and one happens to be paper piecing hexagons so I can take it where ever I go!

Well now that it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 12:30 in the morning so I am going to hit the hay.  I still have some cleaning up to do and the kids will be up by 7, I don't even have to set an alarm! Imagine that!  If you are still following me thank you and I will be adding more soon!
Goodnight!

I did a lot this week! But there is still tons more!

All I can say is what the title up above has declared.  We got so many things done last week and that is one of the reasons why I haven't been able to post anything.  So as of last Monday we made it our goal to finish a few of the projects we had started some time ago.  The first was making a set of Halloween fabric pumpkins.   We did some Fall ones last time as you can see below but we wanted so spooky ones too!

We had some of this fancy Halloween fabric leftover from last year so we thought we'd put it to good use.  You will have to forgive my pics, they aren't the greatest with this camera.

Fancy Shmancy!

By the time we were done all the pumpkins had stems and were happy as can be!

As I said before Gracie loves to name everything so she named this one Trudy.  I don't know where she got the name but then again she's like that.  She named our freshwater crab Crabby Martin, go figure. 

The second thing on our list was to finish our Halloween quilt that we started last month.  I had this thought to a gathered patchwork quilt so it would be nice and fluffy.  So I know this isn't usually done but I got my serger out serged the sucker.  I set my machine to gather it and sewed all my patchwork squares together.  I added a border, free motioned quilted around the border and did X's through the middle of the patchwork squares.  This is what I got!

Pretty cute! My son absolutely adores it.

I don't know if you can see it but in the corner I wrote Boo.  I did trick or treat in one, Spooky in another and last but not least Happy Halloween.  I wanted to try a fold over binding because I had never done that before and this was going to be our quilt so I wasn't too worried about how it was going to look in the end.  It's backed in a flannel backing and I couldn't figure out how to do the mitered corners this way so I gave up and and made it as tidy as I could.  All in all I like it but I would rather do my regular borders in the end.

As if that wasn't enough for us we decided now was the time to purchase 11 pounds of pears and can them for the winter.  My local grocery store had them on sale for only $.39 cents a pound, who could resist!  We got to peeling, coring, and wedging, I think by that evening my hands felt like I had been crocheting non stop for hours.  Needless to say we are now set for the winter.

We also had a little bit of time to make some refrigerator magnets, which Gracie really enjoyed helping with.  I'm not going to tell you too much about them because I want to write up a little tutorial on them for those who would like to make some.  But here is a sneak peak!

Gracie loves doing what ever I am doing. I can't wait until she is old enough to learn how to sew!

Last but not least, our house.  I finally got the house dusted, vacuumed, swept, mopped, sorted, recycled, and decorated.  I also have to thank my dear hubby Ryan for rug doctoring our living room and dining area, it really needed it!  I'm not going to show you that one because who needs to see us in our grubbies trying to overhaul a dirty house.  Let's just say we are good to go for a couple of weeks!  Tune in later because I want to show you how to make those nifty fabric button magnets.  They make great stocking stuffers!

Thank you and Good night to all!