Monday, November 9, 2009

Spoiled Rotten!

Blogland and Flickr have really spoiled me recently. I'm always in awe of the generosity of this community.  First, I won a giveaway from Anne at Film and Thread and got this really cute cowboy fabric. Whoever is having a baby next should expect a quilt with this! I can't get over how cute the cowboys are!

As if the giveaway wasn't enough, she also sent this great embroidery pattern and thread! I'm just starting to try out embroidery and these patterns are perfect! I love the colors (could it be because they're so similar to the Neptune fabrics??)
 

I also won a giveaway over at By Small Means! April made coasters and was giving away the winner's favorite. I picked these ones and I'm really excited for them to come in the mail.


For Traveling Threads, I sent out Christmas fabrics and I've received almost all of my blocks! I need to make a couple and there's one set that's coming soon. I'm going to post more about that soon since I want to get some feedback and since I'm committed to finishing it for this Christmas season. I also joined LauraJ's Christmas Quiltalong to encourage me to keep at it.

The set of blocks I received from Leslie had an unexpected and wonderful extra! She made Jon and I ornaments for our tree. I think they're really cute and so thoughtful. I'm excited to put them up!

 
Thanks Blogland!! You've really spoiled me rotten!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Leaf Printing



After seeing Anne from Film and Thread's recent post that mentioned leaf printing, I knew I had to try it. She's got a great tutorial here.
Cherokee Leaf Printing

I wish I would've known about this a couple weeks ago since most of the leaves have dropped and are fairly dry, but my friend Alyssa and I still had fun. She put a bunch of leaves really close together and I spread a few out. I like both looks and I'm thinking about making mine into some kind of wall hanging for the living room.
Cherokee Leaf Printing
Cherokee Leaf Printing

I loved the way the tape looked after we pulled it off.
 Tape from Cherokee Leaf Printing
Tape from Cherokee Leaf Printing

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Pieced Flower Tutorial

As requested, here's a tutorial on how I made the pieced log cabin style flowers I posted a few weeks ago. First, I'd like to credit where I got the idea. Byneedleandthread made this awesome block for a quilting bee and I was completely taken by it. She mentioned that she did it like a log cabin, so I just tried it out and it worked really well for me. Aren't these trees so cool?!

So here's how to do it with pictures to help along the way.


First cut strips of fabric for the outer rings of the flower/tree. I cut 1.25" strips since I was using some leftover charm squares and that's an easy size to work with.

Cut a shape for the center of the flower. I did both hexagons and pentagons the first time and I like the look of the hexagon centers better, so I cut a hexagon shape. It looks like ByNeedleandThread used a octagon. I didn't worry about it being perfect or anything. I think the improvisational look is what makes these so fun! It's fairly small, but keep in mind that you are going to lose some of its size in the seam allowances.


Take a strip from your pile and pick a side of your shape to add it to and line up the edges. Sew 1/4" seam.

Instead of running to the iron to press each seam, I just finger-pressed each seam towards the outside and then pressed after I went all the way around. If you like to press each seam, go for it!



Grab the next strip and line it up with the next edge of the center shape (I go clockwise around) and trim the tail of the first strip.

 

If you look closely, you can see I already sewed that last seam before I trimmed. I prefer to do it before because it makes the seams easier to keep straight, but you can do it either way.

Keep adding strips around the center. When you get to last strip, it looks a little crazy and tricky to figure out where to trim:


Flip it over. It makes it easier to trim the other strips so they're not in the way.

After going all the way around the center, press with an iron.

 
The next step is where I think the fun comes in. In the tree block, you'll notice that ByNeedleandThread kept all of her logs parallel to each other. In the flowers that I did, I liked to rotate the logs a little bit so they had a little more movement to them. Trim your flower how you want it to look for the next round. I haven't done enough of these to have a good sense about what's going to look best, but they seem really forgiving.

Go around your flower just like the first time. I purposely started on a different side than the first time so that the shortest and longest edges are always in the same place. Here's what mine looked like after the second time around.
 
Two rings of strips looked like it would be enough, so I attached this whole thing to fusible web and trimmed it to a flower looking shape.
When you applique this on, you'll want to make sure to sew around the edge (either with a straight stitch or with zig zag). Because of the seams, not all the fabric is attached to the fusible web. This probably makes more sense once you do it.

I hope this is helpful and if you have questions or are having trouble, I'd be happy to help! Have fun!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Toad and Toadette Halloween

IMG_0737

Things have been quiet on the blog lately since I've been busy getting our Halloween costumes done and then having fun wearing them out! Jon and I went as Toad and Toadette from the Mario Kart and Mario Party games and the costumes were really well received and super comfortable!! Jon wore his costume to work on Friday and wore the hat for 8 hours and it was great! I used some of the ideas I originally had, and ended up revising others. Since I had a lot of trouble finding helpful instructions, I'll give you details, but I won't be offended if you just scroll through the photos. If you have questions though, feel free to let me know!




The dress went fairly well considering that I hadn't made one before. I used Simplicity 2485 and extended the bust pattern piece by about an 1.25 inches so it wouldn't be completely inappropriate for my proportions. It worked fairly well but I had some issues working out the placement of the darts since I'm clearly more busty than the model... but in the end I was happy for the experience since I want to be able to make my own dresses and shirts since I have trouble with clothing off the rack. If you use this pattern, I would definitely lengthen it, it worked out fine with shorts underneath, but it is fairly short.



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After looking around for a bunch of ideas on how to make Toad and Toadette hats and not finding many I liked, I decided to essentially make big pillows. I wished they had been smooth but this ended up being so easy for me, that I can't really complain. I made a hat using the pattern that came with the dress as a base (a store bought bucket hat would also probably work). I elongated the pieces so that the hat would be less of a beanie. To make the top, I cut a big circle (about 36" diameter) and basted around the edge. I pulled the threads on one side to gather the top, attached it to the hat and turned it right side out before stuffing it with polyfil. The circles are appliqued on my hand using Naptime Quilter's awesome circle technique since I didn't want to iron on over the gathered ripples.

For the pigtails I use the tutorial for cloth balls from Grand Revival. I used the biggest and smallest sizes. I was actually able to use fusible web to iron on the dots to the pigtails. I had no idea that would work as well as it did since I couldn't really press hard since the pigtails were basically pillows.




IMG_0753


The vests were done by tracing the back of a t-shirt and cutting 2 of them. I cut one of those in half and sewed it together at the shoulders. I did the rest of the fitting by trying it on and eyeballing how to get it to look right. My vest has darts coming from the arm holes. The trim is satin blanket trim that I bought in a little package. I really didn't like working with it since it was really slippery and didn't have any give at all. You can't see it in the picture, but the trim actually gathers a bit behind the neck. If I were to do it again, I would use bias tape.




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P.S. If you're looking for other ideas to make these hats, popular ideas seem to include
- paper mache (which is really heavy)
- sombrero with bubble wrap and fabric over the top
- half inflated beach ball with fabric over the top
- egg crate foam to create structure inside the hat

Sunday, October 18, 2009

More October Flowers

For Traveling Threads this month, I made these flowers for Jill (aka Spinster Sister). She wanted something fun and loves layering. I'm hoping it didn't end up too busy but I'm in love with the flowers.

Traveling Threads block for Spinster Sister


Edited to Add: I made these flowers in the same way that log cabin blocks are made. I randomly cut a center shape and then added strips one at time on each edge going around. If there's interest, I'll be happy to do a tutorial about it.

They're raw edge appliqued on with Steam-A-Steam Lite (a lightweight fusible web). I ironed them on (following the Seam-A-Steam instructions) and straight-stitched around the edges.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

October Flowers

This has been a month full of flowers, which is kind of funny since the leaves are dropping fast outside. It started with the Doll Quilt Swap 7 quilt that I received from Rhonda (aka Joyce's Daughter). Rhonda really outdid herself and I love it!!

DQS7 Received!

I love the hexes and the colors, but the detail are truly incredible! She handprinted the leaves and the embroidery details are perfect! She also sent some cute ribbons and buttons, which was a nice little extra. Ribbon is one of those things that I think is really fun, but never buy for myself.

DSQ7 - Received!


Then, Nichole (from Indie House) from snip.sew.send had us work on her "Midnight in the Garden" quilt. The idea was to randomly place 1-3 flowers from our stash on this awesome "Thunder" shot cotton that's almost iridescent. It seems to have threads that are blue and purple and it's just stunning. The blocks are 16.5" square.

September snip.sew.send block for Nichole

When I read the instructions, I was worried since I didn't think I had many floral prints. But it turns out that I don't have many florals, but I have lots of flowers anyway! So I ended up with more than enough for two blocks and sent a few extras with the blocks. I think Nichole is going to end up with a great quilt!

September snip.sew.send block for Nichole


I'm working on another block for Spinster Sister from the Traveling Threads quilting bee and I think that's going to have flowers too! I'll post it soon!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival


For Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, I thought I would share the quilt I made for my cousin's baby. This is the quilt that made me discover the online quilting world and inspired me to be a part of it. The first Blogger's quilt festival came along just as I was starting this quilt and it was a great first impression of this awesome online community. There are tons of great quilts this fall, so click the logo above to see all the other amazing entries.

Rocket Quilt for Little B


Me, my cousin and her little boy

When my cousin, Andrea, and her husband, Adam found out they were pregnant, I was thrilled for them. Andrea and I are just about the same age and when we were younger spent time together with another one our cousins who was about the same age. We called our selves "The Three Little Fishies" since we had bonded over making fools of ourselves singing that song at a family reunion.

Rocket Quilt for Little B

I knew I wanted to do something special for her and thought a baby quilt would be perfect. I had no idea what I was going to do and a friend of mine suggested looking around on flickr. I had no idea how amazing it was going to be! There were so many amazing quilters with modern styles that I fell in love with! I found tons of fabrics in online shops that I had never seen and that was so much more in tune with my taste than most things I had seen.

Rocket Quilt for Little B - label

So even though I made this little quilt, for Andrea and Adam's "Little B", it has turned into a great gift for me and my sanity. I've always loved making things and working with fabric but I got myself completely stuck in a box. As soon as I looked online, I realized that quilting and sewing is something that I can do in my own young and modern way and have it be a great creative outlet. I've tried so many different techniques in the last 6 months and I can't wait to keep trying new things!


Isn't Brady just the cutest? This is him at 4 weeks.

If you want more of the details about this quilt, click here for the original post.