blessings Crafts flickr quilting sewing: craft room diy houndstooth ironing board
by Blabby
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Craft Room: New storage!
There’s a corner of my office/sewing room that is getting a little Hoarder-y. I’ve finished a couple quilts lately and kind of thrown all the cut away batting/scraps on top of this bin. And then I bought some fleece and felt for doll construction and some wovens for scarves and some vintage table cloths and I think you’re getting the picture. That pile is getting CRAZY.
So we got this pretty dresser this weekend. It was brand new - possibly the 2nd brand new dresser I’ve ever bought in my life. I don’t know what came over me! But there we were, in the pretty princess little girls section of Rooms To Go, and the sparkly knobs were just calling my name.
It was right next to the Cinderella carriage bed with the sparkly netting. Do you know what I’m talking about?
So here it is (imagine angels singing):
When I started the dresser search, I went to Goodwill first. They pretty much never have any good furniture at our Goodwill, but I wanted to try. So of course, they didn’t have any good furniture, but they did have a roll of home dec-weight pink and brown houndstooth fabric for $10! I can see the original Hancock’s tag inside that says it was originally $17+ a yard. There are at least 5 or 6 yards on this roll!!! SCORE! Who knows what I’ll use it for - at this price, I might use some of it as stabilizer! Who cares?!
So with my new houndstooth, I have the perfect canvas to make my own ironing board to top whatever dresser I find.
So we got the dreamy dresser, and I got some 3/4″ plywood at Home Depot cut to the right size and my handy staple gun out…
And 4 layers of cotton batting and one layer of insul-bright and one layer of bargain basement houndstooth later, and I have an AMAZE-BALLS new storage dresser and ironing board!
Can you tell I’m excited?
addictions blessings Crafts embroidery fabric flickr quilting sewing tutorials: 2012 christmas handmade holiday
by Blabby
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Handmade Holidays underway
Got a little sewing done this weekend. I’m finishing up the binding on baby Erik’s (my gorgeous new nephew) quilt - finished pictures coming soon on that - but here’s a little preview.
Also made some ornaments for family members. I used the awesome pattern and tutorial by Elsie Marley posted here. Super cute and simple. The best part about her pattern is that she sews the gingerbread man down to a felt rectangle and THEN cuts him out! So much easier that cutting two gingerbread men and sewing them together around the bite marks. Very smart!
And finally, I got to work on a zipper pouch - I needed a gift for a man…hope it’s manly enough! I used this super simple tutorial by terrabytefarm.com posted here. I’ve made quite a few box pouches, and they were all kind of a pain. This tutorial was super easy. The key is that the inside is unfinished. But since I’m not crazy about all those little threads and stuff, I think next time, I’ll add a 1/2 inch to the length on one side when cutting the fabric and do french seams. I also added a handle by jamming a little rectangle of fabric into my corners before I squared them off. I’ll definitely use that tutorial again!
I also made these pillow cases a few weeks ago for some ugly leather pillows we have. It’s funny, now we use those pillows all the time - it seems like someone is always putting one behind their back. I swear no one ever used them before. So that makes me happy!
Surfer Dude Quilt
Katie over at Katie’s Corner made this super cool Super Hero Quilt. So I started making my plan based on her photo.
Here are my initial sketches and measurements. I decided that I wanted the quilt to be about 60″x80″, and worked in from there.
I knew I wanted to make one for each of my nephews with a surfer theme. Then, for the backs, I used their favorite team colors (FSU and UF). Here are the fabrics I picked out for the surfer side. I’ve been collecting surf-themed fabrics for a while, so I had everything I needed. I have some awesome hula girl fabric too, but I left that out because they’re still a little young.
I pieced all the top and bottom strips, and next it was time to do the name applique. So I printed BIG letters in ‘mirror-image’ format on my printer.
Then I traced them onto the paper side of Heat-n-Bond Lite. Then I cut each letter out and ironed the glue side to the back of my fabric. Then I cut them out from the fabric and peeled the paper backs off and glued them down to my kona khaki piece that would go into the quilt. I just kind of eye-balled the spacing.
Then I just did a straight stitch around them about 1/4″ inside the edge. I tried a couple different stitches - zig zag, satin, but they didn’t look that great. The straight stitch looked great and was fast.
And here’s the completed top!
The backs are all done and Nathaniel’s is sandwiched. I’ll post some pics of the completed quilts soon. These were supposed to be Christmas gifts, but now they’re early January gifts :)
blabbery moxywares quilting quilting patterns sewing: boo davis dare to be square deer modern
by Blabby
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Deer Quilt Complete
This quilt was for my dad’s neighbor who helped build the screened-in porch. When I started it (about 5 months ago) I didn’t realize how Christmasy it was! Now I wish I had made the deer’s nose red. I hope he liked it!
It’s made from a pattern in Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis. The fabrics are mostly Kona solids with some random blue prints (Lizzy House, Jay McCarrol) and some random plaids. I also got a yard of the brown plaid print for the back from Joanns.
sew deer pt. 2
Well, I got this quilt all sandwiched and half quilted before I realized the bottom was bunching up. Such a bummer. That’s what I get for using discount basting spray that’s at least 2 years old. I spent two hours with a seam ripper removing half of the stippling I’ve done, and I just don’t feel like taking a picture of it. So instead, I’ll just share my finished quilt top before it was marred with a zillion needle holes.
I’d love to be doing more sewing. Let’s hope that now that school has started, there will be more time. Hope everyone had a great summer!
Teacher Gifts
teacher gifts-1, originally uploaded by Beaty Family Fun.
I made these little zipper pouches for my son’s preschool teachers. Tucked inside each one was a matching coffee quilty, a key fob with a charged up Starbucks card on it, and a card. I think these little gifts were a hit!
The floral fabric was a find at Joanns. I found three precut fat quarters and THAT’S IT! I’d love to find more. It’s got all my favorite colors in it.
addictions blabbery fabric gems on the web quilting sewing: Castle Peeps Far Far Away II free pattern heather ross LizzyHouse Quilters Home
by Blabby
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gems on the web
We’re reading Skippy Jon Jones around here - have you read it? It’s awesome. So in the spirit of Skippito Friskito, let me say, “Holy Guacamole!” There is so much awesome stuff on the web. Here are a few beans from my pinata:
Latifah Saafir, co-founder of the LA Modern Quilt Guild, has reinvented her blog. Her new home on the www is http://www.thequiltengineer.com/, and it’s looking awesome. I especially love her latest quilt.
Tons of awesome new fabric on the way. I’m greedily eyeing the new LizzyHouse line, Castle Peeps. And not just for the awesome name! I especially love the castle-scape prints, although I truly love the whole line.
Castle Peeps - Gallant Green Castle Town by LizzyHouse
It looks like Fabricworm will have it on sale any day now. And look at this Villagers Rejoice quilt! Super awesome. You can read all about it and download the pattern here.
And of course, I’m counting down until Far Far Away II is released. Can’t wait!
bee happy update
I got Leslie’s blocks done on time (whew!) and Alison’s blocks done early. Yay, me! Here are some pictures.
Leslie wanted Denyse Schmidt-esque log cabins.
Alison’s blocks are for a Liberated Wedding Ring quilt from Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. Paper-pieced. I was happy with the finished results.
And in my non-sewing life, we’ve started swimming lessons!
blabbery Crafts fabric flickr gems on the web quilting sewing: ikea sew mama sew
by Blabby
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Gems on the Web
How awesome is this fabric? It’s home dec weight canvas from Ikea. This is a one yard cut - the fox is huge! And so perfect :)
New to quilting? Check out this fun little pdf download over at Sew,Mama,Sew! It’s a Quiltalogue, a printable mini-book of quilting terms. How handy!
Need some more inspiration to get sewing? If you didn’t get your fill browsing the Quilts of the Day on Sew, Mama, Sew!, check out my new favorite group on Flickr: { Handsome } Hexies.
Or how about Elizabeth’s new potholders?
Seriously. So much inspiration everywhere!
Bee Happy quilting sewing: block swap virtual quilting bee
by Blabby
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how cool is my quilt?!
My virtual quilting Bee, Bee Happy, is so awesome. Look at the blocks I’ve gotten so far!!!
And look at these special extras…a pin cushion from Natalie:
And this super awesome package from Lori:
Those gummy lightning bugs didn’t stand a chance against my 4-year old.
