Saturday, July 13, 2013

Dotty Chevron Euro Shams

Hi!! (hand waving)

It's been such a busy summer so far!  Our house has been in need of lots of TLC for a long time and we're finally getting around to some of it this last week in the form of painting. Hopefully we can keep the streak alive and get a couple of other things done while we're at it! 


Remember back in January, when I found some yummy yellow and gray fabrics and a Honey Honey project sheet from Kate Spain at my fave not so LQS and started collecting yellow and gray FQs? I'm still collecting them to someday make that quilt for the end of our bed.. but in the meantime, I found some yummy yellow and gray home dec fabrics at JoAnns for half off the other day.  So cheap!!  And one of them combines chevrons AND dots!!  Win/Win!  I used that one to make up some Euro shams this weekend for our bed.  


It's a Waverly print called Trend Spotter and it even comes in other colors.  It would be such a cool quilting fabric.. Oh, and I covered a canvas (that was from a botched former project) in some batting and home dec fabric with the staple gun and hung that over the bed.. Still contemplating what to do with the other two fabrics.





...so happy to have finally found the right color of gray paint for the walls.. it's called Hazy Stratus, and it took a while but we finally found a gray that we like.  Not too blue, not dirty looking, just light and relaxing. Gray is a tricky paint color!! This is much much better than the icky country-ish green color that we've been living with since we moved to this house six years ago! Finally.. it feels like us. Ahhh..

Anyway, to make the shams, one should probably measure (I googled the size of a Euro shame and it said 26x26) .. but I just laid the fabric over my pillow, did a rough estimate and cut a square.  









(peekaboo!!)

Then I layered it with batting and muslin, and quilted it along the line of the yellow dots, and then on each side of the dark gray dots in between.  It turned out to be wonky chevron quilting, and I kind of like it.. here's the back after it was done being quilted.






     
I washed it at that point so it would be crinkly, you can't see the quilting so much on the front, but I like the crinkly-ness.

Then I laid out some white solid, and used the front to guide my cutting for the back, WOF x width of the front.


Then I unfolded it and cut along the center fold to get the two halves of the back. Then laid them out to figure out how big of a hem I wanted to put into each side.  I did an envelope closure.  Hemmed each opening side, and then pinned them right sides together to the front and sewed them up.





The moment of truth.. turning it..



..and making sure the corners turned.. with my wooden spoon and pencil to get them all the way turned. I don't have a fancy tool for that. ;)



And it fits!! Yay!!  



I love how they turned out. And they didn't take that long to do and were super easy!  And it only took one yard of fabric to make both of them.

Chevrons + Dots = Happy! :D




Now, if I could just get my hub to agree to hanging a little chandelier over the bed. haha!

Hope you're having a stellar and relaxing weekend.. off to keep the streak alive by decluttering and cleaning some more.


xoxo




links: think pink sunday, your great idea saturday, show and tell saturday, six sisters' stuff, a vision to remember, sew and tell saturday, nifty thrifty sunday, sundae scoop, submarine sunday
Sunday, July 7, 2013

EXCITING news!!




Since the Make it Right Challenge, I've been working so hard to write Mod GeoCruiser into a pattern. (I don't know if the above photo will be the cover or not, I was just playing with it.)  And I have tons of new respect, in addition to the respect I had already, (Beth Helfter) for people who write patterns for a living!  I can't even count the hours it took, just to get it all written down and the diagrams drawn.  At times, I wondered what I'd gotten myself into!

My son even started to wonder if I'd abandoned him. Near the end, he was sticking to me like glue, making it even harder to get anything done, and telling me to stop working on the pattern. ;)  But, after I'd printed out a couple of pages to proofread, he finally jumped on board, making his own instructions. :D I kind of want to save this piece of paper forever. haha



I plan to make another Mod GeoC, to test out my pattern, and it's also off to two pattern testers, to see how it fares. I was working on it for several hours a day.. but since it's off to be tested now, I had the best carefree weekend! :D  So, someday soon it will be finished and available. Squeal!  Who would've thought!!  

I've never done anything like this before.. so it's all new to me.  Fingers crossed!


I still can't believe it won the Make it Right Challenge!!  Thank you, thank you to Art Gallery Fabrics and all of the other sponsors and to everyone who voted. Such an exciting experience.  I've even made some new blog friends through the experience.  I love making new blog friends. :)


Nedra, from Cactus Needle Quilts, and Triangles on a Roll was so sweet, she liked my quilt so much she sent me some products that will make the next one go together so much faster.  Since it has so many HSTs in it, I think this will not only make it faster but also easier and with less waste, not to mention more accurate b/c the lines are printed right there for you to sew on.  I'm all about that! I didn't even know about this product, did you?   Sometimes I think I must live under a rock.  Thanks Nedra! She even sent along a roll for 22.5 degree spikey triangles, and a ruler.  That might make a fun border.  




Also, Christa from Christa Quilts has been very encouraging.  Thanks for your support Christa!  She just got Angela Walters' complete Textures line into her online shop, including the panel. And not only does she have yardage but she also has a FQ set of these nine FQs.  They are so soft, and I love the colors.



Here's a link to her shop where you can find these yummy prints, and she's even blogging about it today.. you can read her blog post here. (and she may or may not have included a pic of my quilt--thanks Christa!!)

Aside from this and the two little baby quilts, not much else has been happening here, so I'm completely behind on the x&+ Bee, and am looking forward to making some of those blocks this week and getting caught up on that. They are fun blocks to make. Hope you have a great week, and it's not too hot where you are. (We just came off of a week of above 105F temps and now that it's in the 90's again, it almost feels downright springy compared to last week! Ugh!)  Unless you're in the southern Hemi in which case, and it feels weird to say this when it's been so hot here, I hope you're staying warm. ;)

Happy Monday!  :D
xoxo




Saturday, July 6, 2013

Trash to Treasure: Another Baby Quilt for PNG

(If you'd like to make a quilt for PNG, visit Melody's blog post here, and it will point you in the right direction.) 

After making the baby quilt out of the Gautamalan fabric and one of A's crib sheets that I had, I remembered some blocks that had come into my possession while we were on vacation.  There were nine total, and they were sewn into rows of three already.  I went digging for them, and sewed the three rows together, as is, and put a border on.  As luck would have it, I had another scrap of batting that was the perfect size, and just enough white minky left from backing my MIL's bird quilt.


Where did these blocks come from? They were in a box of scraps and books that my parents' neighbor was getting rid of.  His wife had passed away some time ago and was an avid quilter.  He had all of her stuff bagged and boxed up in his garage and had invited us over to look at it since he'd decided it was time to get rid of it.  We came away with a big bin of scraps, and a box of some older quilting books, and a couple of big cutting mats and a few rulers.  It didn't even make a dent in what was still in his garage.  



These three rows  and some matching scraps were in there.. they were all wonky and stretched and crooked, and looked to be one of her earliest, "learning to quilt" projects.  What an ambitious block to start on.  I hated to get rid of them, but didn't really know what to do with them.. so I was excited to dig them out, and whip them up into another little baby quilt that will wing its way to PNG.  (There was enough of a matching scrap in there to put a small matching border on.) I'm sure a baby who needs to be kept warm won't care that the blocks don't line up, or that there are a few tucks in the quilt.  



And in all its crooked glory, it's even kind of cute. I think Jan would be happy to know that her orphan project is going to keep a baby warm and possibly save its life.  As they want the quilts sent to be labeled, I think I will put Jan's name on the label, too.

I love how minky is so soft, and the white makes the blues look so much brighter.



I sewed this one up envelope style, also, I love not having to worry about the binding. So much quicker, and makes for a very sturdy edge.  Turning it is my favorite part. :)






Some of the seams in the blocks needed reinforcing or repairing, I don't know how long ago they were made, but now it's a little baby quilt. Another upcycle. :D

I love a good upcycle.

Hope you're all having a good weekend.
xoxo


linking up: Anything Blue Friday
Monday, July 1, 2013

Fireworks, a baby quilt, and nail biting!

In an effort not to chew my nails off while waiting for the winners of the Make it Right Challenge to be announced, I thought I'd write a post about our weekend.

First up, I made a baby quilt.  Nothing super fancy, just a quick and functional baby quilt, but it was super fun to make, nonetheless.  

I first read about the quilty needs of children in Papua New Guinea here on Melody's blog, while I was on vacation at my parents' house, and just finally got my act together and sewed one up!

I have had a pretty big piece of this Guatemalan fabric for a long time, and I love it.  But didn't ever know what to do with it.. I thought it might make a cute and warm quilt for a little one, so I cut off a piece of it, and used some light green gingham to back it.



The light green gingham was one of A's old crib sheets that I had saved.  I know, I'm too sentimental to get rid of some things.. but I was happy to upcycle it to back something for another sweet little baby.  Now I feel less like a hoarder and more like I did the environment a favor. ha! That's what I tell myself anyway. ;) I hope the baby who receives this will grow up to be happy, healthy and most of all, warm on chilly nights.

I had a leftover piece of cotton batting that was the perfect size, and stitched it up envelope style, and then quilted along the lines in the print.






I even made a label by printing on fabric, a first for me, since the recipients request that the quilts be labeled.



If you'd like to make one, too, go check out Melody's post, and it will direct you to the right place. :)

In other news, last night was our neighborhood fireworks show, which always happens on the Sunday before the 4th of July.  It is well documented that I have no photographic talent, but somehow my camera, all on its own, without me doing anything to the settings managed to get a couple of really great shots in complete darkness.  Thank goodness it took matters into its own hands. :)



Happy 4th of July week!!




xoxo



P.S.  ACK!! I won!!! So excited!!! Thanks for voting!!  And thanks to Art Gallery for hosting the challenge!  :)  Off to work on the cruiser pattern..  So fun!



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