Next blog series

After having blogged, and learned so much about thread in doing Thursday's thread, I think I'm going to continue with that same idea in my next blogging series. This time I'm going to tackle the entire quilting process, start to finish.

My goal is to post on the following steps to creating a quilt:

• Measuring and cutting
• Piecing and ironing (both quilt top and backing)
  
• Basting
• Quilting (going over how to free motion, how to use a walking foot, and how to quilt if you don't want to do either of these methods)
• Binding

I will share any short cuts or tips I have learned, and try out some new ones I have read about but not tried myself. Also I will go over common mistakes (ones that I made the first time around ;) as well as how to fix them (if possible).

Hopefully I will not only learn about the process on a more in-depth level myself, but can help give a beginner quilter the confidence to start a blanket or quilt on their own :) I will be starting next Friday, so hopefully between now and then I can finish Sentimental Me... I'm hoping the deadline will force me to sit down and finish it.

Happy sewing!

Janice

Etsy Store!

I just opened an Etsy store! Here is the link. I am so excited about this! So far I have posted my Little Blue Quilt and personalized burp cloths, with more items to come :)

For now I'm going to get my focus back on finishing Sentimental Me, tonight I plan on piecing the back, and then tackling the monstrous project of basting the big thing. I might try spray basting for the first time, especially since I've decided to quilt it in a grid pattern.

Also, I have made a major quilting decision. I will not machine stitch anymore bindings. After trying several methods I have decided it is just not worth it in the end. A hand stitched binding just looks and feels so much better.

While I love the speed and easy of machine stitching the bindings, I am just not happy with then finished product. After all the work of piecing, basting and quilting, I think its worth the extra effort to finish it off nicely.

So, Sentimental Me will definitely have a hand stitched binding :)

Happy Sewing,

Janice

Rainy day blues

The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer. It has been a wonderfully rainy day in AZ, perfect for finishing my little blue quilt :) Once I actually sat down to work on it, it only took a couple days to finish piecing, basting, quilting and binding the blanket.

I am totally in love with the built in walking foot on my sewing machine, this thing is AWESOME. It made the quilting and the binding a breeze!

Here is a shot of the quilting. I decided on a grid pattern on the diagonal. I think it really goes well with the random yet square piecing of the quilt.

For the back I went with a cozy flannel in a chocolate brown. The quilting is done in a blue thread that matches the blues in the fabric of the quilt top. It stood out really nicely against the brown flannel.

And the binding is done in a cream with a modern floral print, its a little hard to tell because the print was on a larger scale, but I think it fit the feel of the quilt well.

This is my first quilt I am not either giving away or making for my baby! I'll be posting it on Etsy! Here's hoping someone else likes this quilt as much as I do :)

Happy sewing,

Janice

Fabric book covers

This past week has been crazy, my sis-in-law had her baby shower, and we made these fabric book covers as the party favors. The theme was "hand made only gifts" so we did hand made favors.

We added ribbons as book markers, and a little fancy stitching on the binding. Since they were made to fit a specific book, I ended up having to hand stitch the edges over so they would fit. But I was very happy with the end result...

Not to be partial, but I thought they really looked beautiful on the table :)

Everything was beautiful, from the folded place cards, to the flowers. Definitely the best shower I've been to in a while!

Thanks again Sara and Sandy for all your help, couldn't have done it without you!

Janice

What goes around, comes around...

This is just a little message to the jerk out there who stole my diaper bag...

All I can assume is you must be the lowest life form on the planet to steal from a mom and a baby.

I can see the point in stealing a wallet, but a little boy's lunch box? A Baby blanket? A sippy cup? A personalized bib?

I think it was fairly obvious you were stealing from a mom and a baby, seeing as the bag was right next to a baby car seat. Oh, and it was a DIAPER bag. I can't even fathom what kind of a low life you must be to be able to justify stealing from a baby. I regret not having left a nice poopy diaper in the bag for you to discover.

All I can say is what goes around, comes around.

Janice

If you give a mouse a cookie...

This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I believe that it has become a recurring theme in my life. The story begins with a boy offering a mouse a cookie, and ends in him needing a glass of milk, a plate, a napkin, a comfy place to sit and eventually a nap! In short, what seems like a little thing turns into a massive undertaking.

What started out as a simple tidy ended up in a massive overhaul and re-organization of my entire office and closet. Needless to say, I have been completely sidetracked and consumed by this endeavor for the last week or so...

Here is the end result of a lot of work...

A new home for my sewing machines, tons of space and room for my future design wall...

My plan is to center the design wall in the middle of the wall, and have another set of cubes on the right hand side for more thread storage...

This has allowed me to get my sewing machines off my desk, and finally reclaim a little space for paperwork...

And finally, fabric storage:

While using the comic book boards to store polar fleece was not an option, I think it worked pretty well for everything else, especially my cotton prints. It really lets you see your entire fabric collection easily, and shows you how much you have of each fabric.

It beats digging around in a chest or drawer any day!

This weekend I hope to finish my shelving and design wall :) The one down side to all of this organization, is that it puts me in a mental block when it comes to making anything. I can't work until my space is all put back together again...

Happy sewing!

Janice