Alphabet placemats

Here is a Christmas gift I made for my BIL's family:

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A t-shirt quilt

This is actually something I made way back, maybe 7 years ago, for my in-laws. They used to do the Jingle Bell Run every year and they'd get a t-shirt.

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What to do with the rest of the sweatshirt

I cut it into 4 in. squares and used it as batting in a crib-size rag quilt of 5 in. squares of quilt weight cotton. It worked well. It's not as fluffy as cotton batting, but it has a nice weight, is sturdy, and is green!

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Just a little receiving/swaddling blanket

I had a rather large price of Pooh printed fleece. This wasn't regular fleece, it was much thinner and the printing much more detailed. It was left over from a crib quilt back. That wasn't the best way to use the material, as the unprinted side was softest. I realized that this would be a great material for a swaddling or receiving blanket. Fortunately, I had just enough for one! Bound with some pink flannel scraps, I think it turned out quite cute for such a quick and easy project.

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Advent Calendars

I am free to show all these projects because they are safely in the hands of their new owners!

One of the shops I got some fabrics from has an absolutely astounding blog. It's full of contests, tutorials, and ideas. That would be Sew, Mama, Sew. Every craft store tries to get us started on Christmas projects in July, so we don't have that December insanity. Sew, Mama, Sew's blog did too! Among the Christmas project tutorials was this gem. Though I do like that Robert Kaufman fabric used in the tutorial, I didn't fancy buying more of it than I needed. So I took a look at the measurements, and I took a look at a Christmas "layer cake" I bought the previous November. (A "layer cake" is a Moda product containing 40 precut 10 inch squares all from the same line.) With some changes to the cutting, I could make TWO advent calendars from just one layer cake! And have barely anything leftover! YES! So that is what I did.

One for my sister and her kid:


One for DH's brother, his wife, and their kid:


Impulse buy makes good!

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Hoops and Yoyo

Hoops and Yoyo are characters from Hallmark cards, of all places. They also have a podcast and blog. I had the idea a long time ago to turn them into applique, but not the time or inclination to make it happen. However, in the course of teaching Sy to sew, I decided it would be a good, simple project for her to practice on.

The big advantages to having fleece as an applique material are that you don't have to finish the edges (it won't fray) and it doesn't show your stitches (if you match the thread). This makes is ideal for a beginner.


In fact, Sy did the template making (from coloring pages on the Hoops and Yoyo page), cutting, and most of the sewing on this one. She also did most of the piecing of the borders. Speaking of which, how perfect is that striped fabric border?

Instead of batting, we put a layer of white fleece in the middle so that it could be fringed and wouldn't require quilting in the middle.
It turned out really well, and it now belongs to the biggest Hoops and Yoyo fan we know.

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Silver Lining

Being laid off, while also waiting for parts for my apparatus at school, has its advantages - I have been working on a ton of projects I had been meaning to get to. Not just sewing: I cleaned out the file cabinet and digitized the CD collection! I have also been teaching my friend Sy to sew and waging War on Flannel. I've got so many projects running in parallel right now! Look for some finishes to start rolling out before the weekend!

Here is a picture of all the projects, in their various stages of completion, at once to tease you:

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Variegated Texture 2

Whipped this baby up in about 2 weeks. Most of the time was spent on the binding. It proved to be super-hard to photograph! It is the same as Variegated Texture, but with different fabrics.

And here is the back! I bought this fabric for a project I never ended up doing, so I was glad to find a use for it.

My walking foot proved itself highly useful for this project. It could be the best $30 I've ever spent. Certainly a nominee...

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New books!

I have gotten a lot of new books in the past month, some I bought and some were gifts. All are cool. Among them:

Quilts, Baby! - This book is really cool, offering fresh ideas for baby blankies! I recognize a lot of the new modern style fabrics from my recent searches online...

Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt - A book about the quilts of a group of Southern black women. Their quilts have a very interesting style, and they definitely aren't rotary cutter users.

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First Friday

Last night was First Friday in San Jose. It was better than usual, with more galleries delivering excellent art to view for free. One of the highlights was the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Their last exhibit was so-so (and I had to pay to get in), but their current one was awesome! Even the males in the group thought so. O.o

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300 demin circles and new discoveries

Here is what I started with:


I thought that cutting the circles for a long-planned project might make them easier to store.
After:

As you can see, this is not the case. The volume was not reduced. I did, however, discover that I do not need to collect any more old pairs of jeans. I seem to have enough circles for what I want to do! More on that later, I have other things to finish before I really start in on this project.

In other news, I solved my "Katie Jump Rope" problem. What was that, you ask? Well, my MIL gave me a packet of nickles of that fabric line. The only problem was, I had nothing else like it. Also, I couldn't figure out anything cool to do with only 36 nickles. Then I had an idea, so I could justify buying more of the entire line. $130 later, I have more orange and brown prints than I ever thought I would! So much for saving money... In the process, I discovered two very cool online stores: Cia's Palette and Sew, Mama, Sew. Great modern prints which would be fantastic for kid's blankies!

Today I am pre-washing a lot of fabric for four future projects:

Phew, that's going to be a lot of ironing when it's done!

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Use what you already have

DH had to take a pay cut, so my supply budget has similarly been cut. Therefore, I am trying to use up what I've already got, which is highly satisfying.

One of those projects was the baby gear I already posted about. Another was this pillow and pillow cover I whipped up in less than a week using leftovers from my friend's project.



That's right - I even made the pillow form! I became somewhat obsessed with finding a use for leftover batting scraps. The cover is envelope style, so that it can be removed when it is not February.

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Dragonflies everywhere!

Dragonflies and Butterflies has returned from being longarm quilted!

Can you see the dragonflies? I think I may have gone with too dark a pink thread color for the top. It's not photgraphing as dark as it really is. It's growing on me, though. Having this done wasn't even expensive! 44$ including the batting.

Hopefully I will get a chance to bind it this weekend. Look for a completed photo next week, as well as an update on Juno's Blankie.

In the meantime, I have managed to get a friend addicted to this stuff. Here is a preview of her first project:

We may have gone overboard with a theme. It has definately crossed the line from "appropriate anytime of the year" to "only in February." Whatever. It's beautiful, we're having fun, and I am trying out a bunch of new things on it.

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Very Hungry Caterpillar inches along and a quilt for the cat begins

Here is my progress so far on the Very Hungry Caterpillar. This project is now completely associated with Dexter - I high quality show I recommend to everyone! I have watched the first two seasons while sewing this guy. Is it wrong to sew a Very Hungry Caterpillar while watching a show about the trials and tribulations of a serial killer? ... Nah!... As I am unwilling to buy Showtime, I am going to need something new to sew to, though.


Here is my newest project (kind of). I've had this kit for a long time. My mom bought it for me after I lusted for it at Ben Franklin (where I picked up many crafts and lost many dollars!). I am finally getting around to making it. Currently, I'm making the blue and yellow squares. It's for Juno, one of the cats. She is really annoyed I gave away both of the blankies she was sleeping on. I think it's about time to make her one that won't go away. Also, if I don't, she will start plopping down on whatever I am working on at the time. Even when I have it in the machine. I turn my head, I look back, and there she is! So, yeah, it's a bribe. A very cute bribe. Just look at the giggling mice!

Hee hee hee!

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Moda

Moda has a fascinating video on how they make their fabrics from start to finish. Here is the link: video. They also have a bunch of pictures of magazines covers of issues in which they have been featured. One interesting headline: "McQuilting: Are We Taking The Creativity Out Of Patchwork?". Yup, we totally are. Patchwork is supposed to be hard. We are supposed to delight in the hunt for color-compatible prints, not be able to buy a set of designed-to-match fat quarters. However, I am not going to complain (that much). The former method, while challenging, can be very frustrating, and requires a huge stockpile of fabrics. I don't want to have a huge stockpile of fabrics - that's what the stores are for. Further, I find more delight in the skill side of piecing (precision points). So I am torn on this issue. Luckily, I don't sew enough to really worry tremendously.

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Dragonflies and Butterflies

So last spring I was looking for a specific black and white print to finish a certain project. I ended up visiting a number of shops in my area which I had never visited before. This had the unfortunate effect of causing me to pick up fabrics while I was in these shops. One thing I discovered is that Moda is king of the fabric companies right now. Boy, do they make some beautiful prints. What is worse, they sell sets of these prints in precut form for each line of fabrics. You can buy 2 inch wide strips, or 10 inch squares, or 5 inch squares. For someone like me, who is highly attracted to both sets of things, and scrap-type quilts, this is a nightmare. What this means is that I can buy a 5 inch square of practically every fabric Moda makes. I can collect them all! So far I have resisted. I still dream of a 5 inch square of every single 30s reproduction print ever made, however.

I did encounter a set of 5 inch squares ("nickles") that I couldn't resist. It was pouring down rain that day, and the prints were just so springy! I went home and decided to use a nine-patch crib quilt design from Quilt: Handmade Style. Too bad I'd need a second nickle pack! That gave me a chance to get the fabric for the back, anyway. Fortunately, I already had the white print. That had been for a project that never got off the ground. Thrifty!

I had to set this project aside at the begining of the summer to finish the signal flags one, but I was able to finish it off right after.

I decided to do something new with this one. I am getting it long-arm quilted at the shop. I am getting dragonflies stitched all over it! Another new thing I did: not pre-washing the fabric. Because it came in 5 inch squares, pre-washing didn't make sense. So we shall see what happens its first time through the dryer!

So that's the story! Here is the picture of the finished top, with the backing fabric:



I eagerly await the phone call telling me to come and pick it up!

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Frogs!

Sorry for the delay, dear readers! Here is the Froggie blankie. I can take no credit for the design of this - it was a pre-made panel. It has patches of chenille and flannel, and the frogs are that new stuffed animal fiber. It is really soft. I double batted it to be extra fluffy, too!

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