It's all apart of life's pageant

Champagne Supernova | Quilt-A-Long

Not really Champagne Supernova but a Supernova Quilt-A-Long... yes, I am not even done with my Single Girl quilt and I am signing up to do another! Will you join me on this one?

For this quilt I am thinking of using either the same collection she used by Denyse Schmidt - Hope Valley or Anna Maria Horner's - Innocent Crush cotton.

I have been following Lees' blog for some time now and always enjoy reading about her quilting journey. I am going through many of the trials and tribulations that she experienced a year ago so it's good to know I am not alone. I also enjoy her W.I.P. Wednesday and hope to launch this on my new blog [hint-hint] soon - it will include all sorts of projects, not just quilting. 

 

 

Single Girl Quilt | Craziness part 2

I am still working on this and haven't given up yet... everything is so new to me I am feeling encouraged to keep on going! I have learned so much - here are few tips:

• Definitely invest in the rotating cutting mat - I bought mine at JoAnn's when they have their Olfa sale. I have been happy with the 12 inch size.
• Small rotary cutter - 28mm
• Clover white fine tip marking pen
• Temporary basting glue - or any water soluable glue like elmers. You just need a needle point bottle. I bought this with plans to fill it with Elmers when it's empty. 

I have put together my pieces - by chain piecing...

You need to pay attention to this task and always have a good seam ripper...

Traced my background template onto the pink background fabric...

Cut the background pieces with a straight edge & rotary cutter and hand scissors for the curves...

Then instead of pinning the curves I glue basted them - HUGE time saver! you just need a tiny tiny tiny bit. I learned this at the last quilt guild meeting from Rachel. It doesn't take any time for it to dry since it's such a small amount and it doesn't gum up your machine. It also washes out when you wash the quilt.

Sew and press...

The gals that are hosting this support group have great tutorials:

• Marking and cutting your fabric
• Piecing the rings
• Sewing curves

Ready to join in yet??

 

Single Girl Quilt | Craziness

Lots and lots of pieces, curved piecing and queen size - yes, I am crazy to take on thie quilt along Single Girl Quilt by Denyse Schmidt.

I have decided to put this one together for my niece - a single girl. Hopefully she will have this quilt until she gets married and can pass it on. It was pretty easy to come up with the color scheme - PINK.

Right now I am just cutting out the many, many pieces. The smaller rotary blade and the rotating cutting mat is making life WAY easier. I am behind the quilt along but hope to catch up - you can see the schedule here. Stay tuned!

Vintage Sheet Quilt | Sparkling Cider

Finally finished binding the vintage sheet quilt last night! See previous post here.

I machine quilted a wave pattern using the wave stitch on my machine and longated stitch. I learned about this easy quilting here.

Here are some previous photos of the process - this pattern looks intimidating but once you get going it does come together pretty easily.

Quilt top done and ready to be sandwhiched

My favorite part of the vintage sheets are the bright funky colors! Really looking forward to having it in the house on the rainy cloudy days...

 

 

Fun Friday Finds

Looking forward to the weekend - it will be filled with fabric, sewing, and reading...trying to take it easy this weekend since next week is looking a little hellish right now.

What caught my eye this week- with a DIY theme...

[directions here - saw it here]

[wool felt covered soaps! directions here - saw it here, again]

[kindle case - tutorial here]

[Stylish iPad case - tutorial here]

have a wonderful weekend!

Vintage Sheets | Sparkling Cider Quilt

A while back when I was surfing blogs I came across this blog In Color Order - I believe I found her through Flickr. You will be amazed at her talent for sewing and of course for thrifting. Her Pyrex collection is to die for and she has it all in her apartment!

As I followed her through blog posts, I was inspired by her to do a vintage sheet quilt. So dug through all my thrifted material and found I had some but not enough to do a quilt. Luckily she even sells fat quarters of her vintage sheets finds and is constantly updating it with new prints. After purchasing several FQs from her I finally had enough in my stash to do something - but what design???

1. Kirstys Circle Quilt, 2. My Circle Quilt, 3. Vintage Sheet Quilt, 4. monet's flower garden

I settled on the same one that she did [#3 above]- I decided that I wasn't ready for circles! The Sparkling Cider Quilt is by All Washed Up. It's definitely pushing my skills with the pointed stars but I am having a great time making it. You definitely will want to get the Large Flying Geese Ruler. The gals @ All Washed Up have them for sale so you can buy it with the pattern. The optional tool that has made life way easier cutting all the 'geese' parts out has been the rotating 12x12 cutting mat. I was able to get mine at Joann's at 50% off.

So far I have two blocks done and a pile of piecing to do...

and this kind of mess makes me happy:

 

Go Vols! | Quilt finished

Finally finished and I even tackled the quilting own my own! That was after watching video after video on Youtube.com - I was going to send it off to Christine but I realized, in my beginners haste that I didn't leave enough (4" minimum) on all four sides for her to put on the long arm. Next time!

There are plenty of tutorials all over the internet to learn free motion quilting. But here are a few tools that are a must:

• Machingers - I definitely couldn't have done it with out these. I am so glad that the gal at the sewing shop recommended them to me.
• Sew-Slip - this made my sewing surface so much easier to manuver all the fabric around.

The free motion quilting was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and you definitely do not want to do it all in one sitting. It's something that takes practice and getting to know your machine is very important.

I sent this as an early Christmas present to my MIL - wanted her to have it for the football season!

And here is Jesse in his best college football pose...

[quilt pattern by Oh! Frannson and inspired by Sunshine Girl]

UT Crazy 9 Patch Quilt

I have been on a quilting marathon the last few months - in fact every so slowly fabric is taking over my room! I found the quilt pattern for my latest project here. Oh Fransson! has a great blog to follow and tutorials if you are wanting to give quilting a try. I booked marked this pattern and knew that I wanted to 'some day' do one. Then I stumbled upon this gal and her take on the Crazy 9 Patch quilt with a University of Tennesse [UT] theme. Um HeLLo!!! this is going to be the perfect pressie for the in-laws - early Christmas present, as I hope to have it finished by the end of the month.

This pattern is very forgiving [hence the crazy] so it would be the perfect first time quilt for someone to take on, like myself!

I went back and forth of what color solid blocks that I was going to use - white, tan or orange. I have decided on white since the in-laws are pretty die hard fans. I know white isn't going to be great for keeping clean at the games but I am sure my MIL will figure it out. The backing is going to be solid UT orange and some of the crazy blocks. As I work on it I am also thinking about how to actually quilt it - not sure if I am going to do it [for the first time] or have someone else do it for me like Christina! ;)

Quilt Raffle | Don't forget!

[updated legal PDF Download Raffle flyer]

Twilight Themed Quilt | it could be yours...

Remember this post? Well my friend Aly has made another custom Twilight inspired quilt...

Now you have a chance to win this handmade one of kind quilt! All you need to do is buy $1 raffle tickets - buy as many as you want or can afford!!! The proceeds will benefit the Libby Teen Center in Spokane, WA. Winner will be drawn on May 8, 2010 and they will be contacted by phone.

Raffle tickets can be purchased by sending your full name, phone number & raffle money (CASH only) to: Spokane Rotaract, PO Box 1768, Spokane, WA 99210. You will need to purchase your raffle tickets by May 1st - so all submissions need to be postmarked by May 1, 2010. Again the DEADLINE is May 1st

Here is the Download Raffle flyer (must have Adobe Reader) please send to your friends and post at will. Good Luck!!!