My little buddy, Sebastian, just got his own bedroom. He loves superheroes, especially Spiderman. So I made him a pair of Spiderman curtains.
I invested in an inexpensive serger sewing machine. Boy what a wonderful investment. I can zip right through curtains, pillow cases and garment sewing in no time at all. Best $200 I've ever spent.
With the leftover fabric I made a matching pillow case.
Every Christmas season our local Department of Human Services asks for donations to help families in need. This year they requested pillow cases, pillows, books, socks and pjs for children.
Did I hear pillow cases? Pillow cases have been a thing for a few years and I've made plenty. I decided I would make six pillow cases - three for boys and three for girls. I included with each pillow case - a pillow, pjs and a book.
When choosing a book I went to Kohl's. Not only are they great children's books, but they're priced great - only $5. These same books would cost at least two to three times more in a book store. But there's more - the money goes to the Kohl's Cares program. Now I call this a win, win, win!
I'm sending a little warmth to a child.
November rolled around and again the AuSable Quilt Guild offered another great project - wool mittens.
Remember the song "These are a few of my favorite things"? Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper package tied up with string. These are a few of my favorites things. Well, these mittens are one of my favorite things.
The lady teaching us prewashed/shrunk wool for our mittens. She also supplied fleece for the lining and an array of buttons for decoration. In return she asked we make a donation to the quilt guild.
After a couple hours I had a completed a pair of mittens. With only three pattern pieces assembly is quick - just have to make sure you cut and sew a right and left hand. All the participants had different wool to work with and added their own personal touch The finished mittens were all marvelous.
They are very warm. I will be searching for wool sweaters and jackets from thrift stores to make more. Let it snow!
As October comes around fall is in full swing. The smell of fall and the changing colors of leaves is always a highlight, but it ends with a fun holiday - Halloween. It's a time that adults have fun and turn into their inner child. I think everyone has fond memories of Halloween pasts.
So this is how my October played out. I joined another quilt guild this month - the AuSable Quilt Guild. It's a large group of ladies that meet once a month and boy are there lots of great ideas and support. One of the ladies offered to teach how to make warped clothesline baskets. This has been a project on my wish list, but I hadn't jumped into yet. So this was a great opportunity to try something new. We made Halloween themed baskets. Actually, they are simple to make and once you wrap your clothesline it goes pretty quickly.
It took a couple nights of watching television to wrap 50 feet of clothesline. Maybe a little longer than some people because I had two cats that just couldn't resist fighting with my clothesline. Here's my pile of clothesline all twisted up as I wrapped.
Our instructor offered clay molded embellishments to add to our baskets. My basket embellishment base was stitched to the beginning of my wrapped clothesline. Then the zig zag coiling began. As I came to the top I decided to add handles. When all done I added embellishments to the inside side.
It is a perfect size to hold my Halloween treats. I'm extremely happy with the final basket and I will certainly make more in the future with different themes or holidays.
Speaking of Halloween - I found a cute Pinterest post for skeleton treats. These treats were so easy to assemble that I let my little friends that are ages 3 and 5 put them together. They are made with large and small marshmallows, white chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate (for painting the faces). And they tasted good too!
Painting the faces on the skeleton heads with melted chocolate was the most challenging. I'm sure there's an easier way to do the faces and I will check out the baking sections at craft stores to see what they offer. For my display I added some faces without bodies as skulls.
For a few years I've been interested in the quilt blocks that are hanging on buildings and barns. I live in a barn shaped home and I'm ready to make and hang a quilt block. So when an opportunity to go on the guided 1st annual Roscommon County Quilt Block Trail, which was held this past week, I was ready to participate. For a small fee participants were able to bring a quilt for viewing, have lunch and boarded a bus to tour blocks in Roscommon County.
The tour started at a rustic barn building venue where we ate lunch and laid our quilts around on tables for display. Each touring participant got one vote for there favorite quilt - people's choice. There were 20 some quilts to choose from. I stewed for a couple weeks trying to decide which of my quilts I should bring. Finally, I decided on my Bargello quilt I call the "24 yard quilt" (for more info on this quilt check out my past blog from March 21, 2020). Frankly, it is one of my least favorite quilts, but I thought it was something different.
So we toured 21 barn quilts, ate lunch and won door prizes. After the event was done we gathered our quilts and went on our way. The next day I received a phone call from the director of the event that my quilt won the People's Choice Award. Go figure. I feel so honored that of all the quilts on display mine was chosen. Below I'm sharing a picture of my winning quilt.
The barn quilt tour was great and inspiring. After touring the barn quilts, it lite a fire under me to start designing my own barn quilt. I have some researching to do to learn what supplies work best - but a barn quilt will be coming soon.
In the meantime, the weather is cooling down, the sun is setting earlier, and as you can see in the picture above, the leaves are falling quickly. My sewing studio has been waiting for me - time to get sewing.
I've always been fascinated with prayer flags. In pictures of the Himalayas in Tibet - beautifully colored prayer flags are whipping in the wind off the peaks of mountains. So a few years ago I decided to research more about these prayer flags and who made them and what was their purpose.
After reading about prayer flags and the Buddhist monks who make them I decided to conquer flags of my own. About six years ago I made about 50 flags and strung them around my vegetable garden. Traditionally prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. Although I did write blessings of peace, compassion, strength and wisdom on each flag I also added some flags for protecting the bees, butterflies, bats - rain, sun, wind - protect our planet, etc. My messages are short and positive. As the flags whip in the wind the wind horse, Lung-ta, sends the blessings to all. Those flags flopped in the wind and eventually have shredded their blessing across the universe. So it was tie to make new flags.
This time I made over 200 flags. I love their beautiful colors whipping in the wind around my garden. There are five special color fabric that make these flags: blue which represents sky/universe; white represents air/wind; red represents fire; green represents water; and yellow represents earth. The flags are to be hung in that order starting with the blue on the left. They are also supposed to be hung on special days and today being a Monday with a slight wind was perfect.
Here is my vegetable garden with the flags flying high. An awesome thing happened to me while I was hanging my flags - a butterfly landed on my ladder. When I got off the ladder to move it the butterfly followed. A few of my flags ask for protection for the butterflies. Seems like good karma.
I hope my blessings reach you and your family. Peace to all.
My little grandson loves Mickey Mouse. When he comes to my house I put on the Disney channel and he loves watching Mickey Mouse Club House. And when the Hot Dog Dance come son at the end of each episode he is laughing and bouncing. Since he's not walking yet I hold him up to help him jump. Hot Dog it is fun.
While I was shopping at the fabric store I came across some fun Mickey Mouse knit material and decided that I would make him overalls.
Since they are red, white and blue his mother decided that they had to be his Fourth of July outfit.
It's fun to make clothes for my little ones. I do find it hard to use the required 5/8" seam allowance since I've been quilting and not garment sewing for some time. And with these small clothes the seam allowance is almost wider than the actual garment piece. I purchased an inexpensive serger which makes seam finishes a breeze. Although, I do have a sewing machine that will finish the seam edges, I love that the serger trims and finishes the seams all in one step. I have a couple more garment pieces I'm working on. Pattern sizing is a little bit of an issue. Trying to measure a little one vs using the size of store bought garments can be challenging.
I have two special little friends that come to my house each week. I watch them for the day while their mom is at work. I like to have special things for them to do such as cooking, gardening and crafting. When they arrive they always ask what craft will we do. They are only three and four years old, but crafts occupy them for an hour or so. Besides crafting we also bake cookies, pizza, Rice Krispies squares, muffins, etc. and work in the gardens. They love going to my garden and picking strawberries, flowers and wild blueberries (huckleberries).
It seems like I'm constantly chirping at them to be careful not to get stuff on their clothes. In fact, a couple times I took off their tops and had them wear one of my husbands t-shirts. Well, that didn't work the best because the shirts were too big and got in the way. So finally I decided to make them their own crafting/baking aprons.
When they came to my house this past week I showed them their new aprons. Boy were they excited and couldn't wait to start creating.
First we went out in my backyard in the woods and picked wild huckleberries. Once they got about one cup full we made blueberry muffins. The kids said they were the best blueberry muffins ever. Next, with the Fourth of July holiday, we made cupcakes and decorated them with red, white and blue sprinkles and little American flags. The kids were excited to bring their creations home to share.
Not only were the bake goods a hit, but the aprons worked great. I can't believe I didn't think of them sooner.
It's summer and the grills are fired up. Quick simple meals are hitting the spot.
I decided to fire up my sewing machine and make my two boys grilling' aprons. I have a Butterick pattern from the 1980s for the perfect grillin' apron. And to top it off, it's quick and easy.
This apron I gave it to my youngest son on his birthday - June 21st. Happy birthday Bill.
My eldest son will get his apron soon. It's waiting to see him.
Both boys are good cooks so I'm looking forward to be invited for an outdoor grilled dinner.
The first day of summer has finally arrived. Unfortunately, the temps here in northern Michigan haven't arrived with daytime highs in the 50s and nighttime lows in the mid 30s it feels like fall. But regardless, I'm pushing forward in summer mode.
When I think of summer, watermelon comes to mind as one of my top favorites. For my two new grandchildren I decided to celebrate summer by making them matching watermelon fabric outfits.
So the fashion show begins
Now this is a kid that loves watermelon too. Probably a little more than me. I've never sat in a tub of watermelon while I was eating it.
Summer is surely a fun time. Now bring on the heat.
Spring always brings new babies. A good friend's granddaughter is having a baby girl later this summer. Since sewing in the summer is not my thing I decided I'd make a quilt before the temperatures warmed up.
With leftover fabrics from previous quilts this will be my gift for the new edition to their family.
Using Art Gallery Fabrics (AGF) fabric and one of their patterns from their Lookbooks, Pacha, this quilt came together rather quickly. I improvised with my own color palate.
I love AGF fabrics. The fabrics are very soft and of great quality. But the icing on the cake is their Lookbooks. I could spend hours getting inspired to sew some great projects. And their directions are user friendly.
My finished size is 38" by 54" to fit a crib mattress.
I love making a fabric tote to fill with my quilt and gifts. A great gift, but also no waste with wrapping paper. With left over llama fabric I made a soft toy tote with pink trim.
Back to the sewing room. I have some random projects to bust through.
As spring springs ahead spring cleaning traditionally becomes a ritual. As I was reorganizing and cleaning my quilting stash I came across a partially constructed quilt called Friendship Rings. I watched the construction of this quilt on televisions PBS program Fons and Porter. It instantly got me interested in sewing this quilt.
First, I had already constructed a bunch of string strips that were left over from my quilt, Snow on Pines. Second, the construction of piecing the polygon blocks together was so much easier than I have done from previous patterns, such as Paperweights. Fons and Porter constructed the blocks in half (three sided) than put together in strips instead of construction the whole ring and than putting the blocks together. When the strips were sew together, viola, perfect polygons and just straight seam sewing. This will be my new adapted technique when sewing any circular blocks/rings.
Fons and Porter's Friendship Rings quilt was constructed with 30s reproduction fabrics. Their outer border was appliquéd with vines and leaves and there was a red ric-rac trim between the blocks and the border. My intention was to copy pretty close to what they showed, but I ended up with a little different variation. Below is the Fons and Porter quilt version.
First, I did not use 30s reproduction fabrics. My fabric choice was more contemporary - remember I'm busting through my fabric stash and using previous constructed string strips. As I was constructing my blocks together I of course decided I needed it bigger - queen size. Once I made enough rings to cover the top of my queen-size bed mattress I absolutely loved it and with my fabric choice I knew I would not use the ric-rac. Since my color choice in the rings is green I thought appliquéing just the leaves and vines in greens in the outer border would work. I could even use my string strips for the leaves. Well, once I laid the pieced quilt top on my bed, it seemed too contemporary for the addition of the appliqué. Instead I added more rings that would extend it to hang over the side of the bed to finish the quilt top. In place of the appliquéd border I used up the rest of my stringed strips to finish off the edges making a piano key design.
My finished size is 85" by 85".
It's a great feeling to finish a UFO. I have so many other quilts/challenges I can't wait to tackle. I have a couple more quilts to finish piecing together, so I better stay focused and get busy because summer is just around the corner and my sewing time come to an end as I focus on outside projects.
Sew back to the sewing machine.
When I was in elementary school (over 50 years ago) I got a desk for Christmas. I loved my desk. In fact, I loved gathering my desks accessories, such as a pencil sharpener, desk mat, stapler, pencil holder, lamp, not to mention all the gadgets that went inside the drawer. But one of my favorite accessories was a glass paperweight. It was clear with a beautiful blue design in the center. I still own the desk (although it is stashed away in my basement) and I still own the pencil sharpener ( it.still works great and I use it all of the time), but my most treasured of all these items is that paperweight and it now sits on my bedroom dresser. Paperweights are a thing of the past with computers and the trend of going paperless, but I will always cherish mine.
Mentioning this paperweight brings me to my net quilt. Quilt Mania is one of my favorite quilt magazines. In 2012 the September/October issue had a quilt pattern named Paperweight by Pamela Goecke Dinndorf. When I saw the picture of this quilt with the name Paperweight it brought back great memories of me spending hours busily at my desk doing my homework or drawing and gazing at my glass paperweight. I knew that this was a quilt I had to make.
I had fun picking out funky fabrics to match together to form my hexagon shapes that represent paperweights. I love the vibrant colors, but most of all I imagine these hexagons as paperweights and it brings back fun childhood memories. So here is my version of Paperweights.
As always I made this quilt larger than the original pattern - mine measuring 92" by 92". The directions for this quilt pieces these whole constructed hexagon blocks together in rows which was difficult. The construction reminded me to be similar to piecing double wedding ring blocks. However, I did enjoy the challenge and mastered the process.
My next quilt that I'm ready to quilt is similar, but is pieced together with an easier method making the process quicker. Learning new blocks and methods makes quilting fun and challenging. So stay tuned for the finished results of my next quilt.
Tulips are one of my favorite flowers. In fact, when I think of spring - tulips always come first to mind. Although they are short lived, they usher in warmer temperatures and the beginning of our growing season. After a long cold winter their pops of colors of reds, yellows, oranges, purples and pinks are like a party.
I've enjoyed hanging quilts on my front porch to share with passersby. During a shop hop this past summer I came across this pattern, "Totally Tulips" from Missouri Star Quilt Co. I knew this would look great hanging on my porch to welcome spring. Since I used parts of the pattern but added my own size and a different border I'm calling my version "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". As a child I remember a little song from Tiny Tim - "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Such a catchy and fun little tune and I've never forgotten it. This quilt makes me smile.
My finished size is 72" by 58".
March is an exciting and busy month with National Quilting and Crafting Month, the time change, and Easter is around the corner. The days are longer and the sun is shining with temperatures rising and melting our snowbanks. I'll be busy busting through my fabric stash for a couple more months before summer, so come tiptoe through the tulips with me!
I've enjoyed displaying quilts on my front porch during this past year. So I decided to up my game and and embrace more holidays by making more quilts for my porch.
During the frigid cold of February we celebrate Valentine's Day. What better way to get a warm fuzzy feeling inside but with the celebration of love. One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is the corny messages. As a kid in school Valentine's was a pretty big deal. We would make mail boxes/envelopes to receive Valentine's from fellow students. I loved signing my valentines and sealing them in their envelopes to distribute. I'd save the Valentine's I received for months reading them over and over.
To help warm the February chill outside I made a heart quilt to display on my front porch. I call this quilt "All you need is LOVE". And yes I'm a huge Beatles fan. The idea for this quilt came from a Pinterest post by Wendy Williams. Since I've been focusing on using up my stash, the strip quilting technique was a great way to help bust through some of my stash.
Construction of this quilt was like doing a crazy quilt block but on a larger scale - scrappy and spontaneous. I made a crazy quilt, without the embroidery, several years ago. To start this heart quilt I made a pattern by drawing a large heart on a piece of paper, then cut it in half down the center. I started building each half of the heart in reds, strip by strip, until it was built to the size of my pattern. Adding a couple lighter fabric strips in the heart helped give a rounded movement.
After trimming the heart to match my paper pattern it was time to start adding strips in whites to achieve the finished size of 52" by 50". I sewed the two halves together and trimmed around the outside border to square it up. The smaller hearts around the large quilt were machine appliquéd and added to the movement.
This was such a fun project. I love the fun whimsical look of this quilt. As people drive by my house I'm hoping they'll get a message of love. Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love.
With the beginning of Spring just a few weeks away - I'm working on a new quilt to hang on my porch to welcome spring. Make sure you check me out in a couple weeks. Back to my studio.
I made my little buddy, Sebastian, a quilt when he was born in 2016. The quilt evidently was lost with his parents moving so many times during the first four years of his life. When he comes to visit me every week he always grabs one of my quilts to cuddle with, make tents, wear as superhero capes and for an occasional picnic blanket. I decided I needed to make him a new quilt.
Being a four year old he loves his bike and rides it every opportunity he gets. So when I came across leftover Maywood Studio's "Cycles of Life" fabric in my stash I knew he'd be thrilled with these bicycle motifs for his new quilt. I have made two previous quilts for young boys with this fabric group so I had leftovers. Using my leftover stash, and luckily I found a jellyroll I was able to purchase, I proceeded to make his new quilt. Maywood Studios offered a free pattern for this fabric line which I decided that I would sort of use. I used the pattern for the construction of the blocks, but I used my own layout, fabric selection and of course made it bigger. The quilt is big enough for Sebastian to use for years to come - 58" by 72".
Boy is this little guy happy. He dragged it around with him all day. When his mom came to pick him up he was excited to show her his new quilt and made it very clear that this was his quilt and he wasn't sharing it. Making this quilt for Sebastian was so much fun. I don't usually get to see how much one of my quilts is loved. This quilt will be loved!
As I was gathering up the leftover fabric (shown below) I realized that I have quite a bit still leftover for my stash. All together there is over five yards of fabric. I will find an opportunity to make another quilt using this fabric in the future.
In the meantime, back to the sewing machine - I have another quilt I will be sharing with you.
Our expecting mom decided that our granddaughter's nursery will be decorated in purple/lavender. Beautiful color, but have you tried to find fabrics in lavender that are infant appropriate? I found that it wasn't an easy task. And to top that off when I asked my daughter-in-law if she had any theme in mind to go with lavender, she found a ready-made quilt that was adorable, but in the wrong colors.
I love challenges, so I unrolled my ream of paper and started sketching a similar quilt design. I did add more embellishments than the original, but I think the finished design came out well. Using my drawing I made appliqués for the quilt.
I machine appliqued the woodland animals and flowers/leaves. Fingers crossed that when washed multiple times the fabric holds together and doesn't fray. I usually only use machine appliqué on wall hangings and not on quilts. Regardless, I guess it is what it is.
I quilted a daisy type flower and leaves around the animals and quilted designs in the actual animals and flowers. It's finished - it's everything I hoped it would be and I'm loving it.
The finished size is 42" by 54"
Since it was a challenge to find lavender fabrics - I purchased a few fabrics that auditioned for this quilt that didn't work to my liking. Now I have some lavender stash. But to use up some of this extra fabric I sewed a cloth toy box tote. This tote has dual uses. First, I can fill it with gifts goodies for the newborn and I filled it up quickly. Second, it will be useful to store and carry toys.
This tote was a free pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics called Pine Toy Box. It measures 10" square. I love Art Gallery Fabrics and their Lookbooks are so inspiring. If you're not familiar with their Lookbooks take some time and check them out - your head will spin with some great ideas. Also, their fabric is of great quality. I seek it out at quilt shops.
I can't wait to fill it up. I think this is a great way to give a gift - a gift in a gift.
So January came to a close and I feel I accomplished some great projects. Now with February starting I have a couple quilts I'm ready to tackle. I'm thinking I'd like to make a heart quilt to hang on my front porch for the month and second, I have a quilt for my special little guy to make. He wants to help (he's four) so I'm going to cut out the squares and let him help me arrange them around. Gotta get busy. I'll keep you posted.
As the new year kicked off I started at a snails pace. It was hard to get motivated..but as the month dragged on the days started getting longer and the sun would peak out from the clouds. That put wind in my sails. I finished January flying through some projects.
Our family is expecting a new granddaughter next month so I've been busy sewing for our new arrival. I decided to make a small cuddle/minky fabric baby throw. I've never worked with this kind of fabric before so to get my feet wet I purchased a kit. The kit was from Shannon Fabrics - pattern called Bunny Hunny.
Luckily I watched a couple tutorials and got some great pointers before tackling this project. Shannon Fabrics website has many great tutorials to help with a successful project. Working with minky fabric has its challenges. I love learning new techniques and this was a learning challenge.
The baby throw came our great. with a finished size of 28" by 37". It is so soft and cuddly that I'm sure it will be a hit with our granddaughter
Working with cuddle fabric was certainly messy. I spent more time cleaning up after cutting the fabric than actually sewing. After cutting my rotary cutter mat was. mess. Back to my computer for some suggestions for cleaning my mat. I came across a technique that works like magic - using a pencil erasure. It worked so great that I now have included an erasure with my daily sewing tools. The erasure not only cleaned the cuddle, but it also cleaned batting that stuck to my mat.
Presto - before I knew it my mat cleaned like new.
As I reflect back at 2020 the pandemic definitely changed our social interactions, but all in all it wasn't that bad of a year. In fact 2020 was a pretty great year for our family. My older son is now married and expecting his first child this March. October we were blessed with our first grandchild - Beck. Of course he is so precious. Being around family and friends has been limited, but social media helps us share pictures and stay in touch.
Our quilting group is on hold for our weekly sew-a-longs. I miss quilting with my friends, although we still keep in touch in a group chat - it's just not the same as meeting face to face. It always fun to share our sewing projects and of course we always give our two cents to help decide each others finished quilt. It also helps keep me on track - no slacking.
I must admit that for the last two months of 2020 I've occupied myself with other projects than quilting. I'm now hunkered in for the winter and ready to tackle some of my quilting projects.
For my 2021 New Year's resolution I want to stay focused on making quilts that are on my to do list. I have the fabric and the patterns - so no excuses.
First on my list is to finish a baby quilt for our new arrival due in March. It's a girl and will be named Modestina. Mom found an idea for a quilt with appliqué animals. So I've been busy at the drawing board to design a quilt similar to her idea. Now it's time to finish assembling.
My to-do-list also includes making a new quilt for my little guy, Sebastian. He's 4 year old now and wants to help with the quilt. I figured that I'd cut out the pieces and let him help arrange them on the floor. He'll be excited. I made him a baby quilt when he was born, but somehow from moving here and there it's been misplaced. So his new quilt will have bicycles on it. He loves to ride his bike.
Third will be a quilt my sister asked me to make for her. She is not a sewer, but wants to help construct it. It's a simple block construction design so it should go pretty fast even though it is king-size. She lives about three hours away so it will have to be a marathon sewing weekend or two.
Well, let's see how January rolls out. I'd better get busy. I'll keep you posted on my projects. It's great to be back.
Happy New Year's!
