A Scrappy Half Square Triangle Quilt!

Time seems to have flown by!  Since getting my bionic knee in September, several holidays have passed, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, and even MLK Day!  I didn't work full time during my recovery, but I did go to physical therapy five days a week!  I'm happy to report, finally, that I have graduated (again) from therapy!  Yes, I even have a t-shirt to prove it!  The downside to this, however, is that I have been released for full duty work!  So, for the past few days I have been working...NIGHTS!  I haven't worked the night shift for a very, very long time.  So, not only am having to get used to work again, I have to adjust to vampire hours!  Anyway, I wanted to update you on a few of the things going on in my personal life.

As for things going on in my sewing life, you should know I still have the quilting bug.  As you may know, I made my first quilt a few weeks ago.  It was appliqued.  After that, I made a small art quilt.  So I decided I should try a traditional quilt next.  After looking through many books and searching the internet for inspiration, I decided to do a scrappy half square triangle quilt using white and colored fabric from my stash.  Once I started cutting the first several squares, I could see a hot pink color theme beginning.  I decided to go with this.

  

Sorry, it's a weird angle shot.  Here I have laid out 88 half square triangles.  I actually cut 104, but  decided 88 was the best layout design.  Next I sewed them together.

Starting to look pretty cool right?  I decided to add borders.  First, a scrappy border.

See it on the left edge?  I also added hot pink borders to the top, bottom, and sides.  

The top and bottom borders are wider than the sides.  The quilt top is now complete and measures in at 42 1/2" X 60."  It's my biggest quilt so far!  Now I just need to get started on the backing, which will be white.  Then, make my quilt sandwich, baste it, and then start quilting!  That's the scary part.  Do I want to attempt quilting this one?  If so, how?  Straight lines?  Stippling?  Free motion?  Any suggestions?  

I hope you all have a terrific Monday!  I'm off to bed!

Tootles!

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An Art Quilt

It's official.  I've got the quilting bug.  Since finishing my Baby Bird and Bunting quilt, I've been searching out and reading up on directions, designs, and patterns for my next project.  I've checked out library books and even watched a few quilting shows on television.  Honestly, I've wanted to make a quilt forever, but have been too scared of messing up to even try.  Since finishing the baby quilt, however, I've gotten a bit of a confidence boost and am now ready to go "all in" on quilting.  As a matter of fact, I've made my first art quilt.  It's a small wall hanging that was inspired by this mini quilt I saw on the back of one of my Sew Somerset magazines.

Isn't that adorable!  I've probably seen that picture a hundred times, but never thought about attempting it until now.  I started by sketching the girl and table.

Next, I had to decide on colors and fabrics.  Again, for me, the hardest part of the process!  I traced my sketches onto freezer paper and ironed each piece to fabrics.  I pieced the red and white fabrics together and then ironed fusible batting to the backside.  I then used a decorative stitch on my machine to "draw" soft gray lines vertically on the white fabric.  I stitched straight black horizontal lines on the red fabric.  I positioned the freezer paper pieces on top and determined placement and then stitched the black lines for the bunting.

The bunting triangles actually took forever to sew around.  Before sewing, I adhered them to the fabric using fusible web.  Big help!  After completing the bunting, I sewed around the girl, table and cake.  

I eventually sewed more lines to add depth and texture to the dress.  I stamped "Live for Today" on a piece of fabric and sewed it to the bottom of the quilt.  I spray basted a back piece of fabric to the top and quilted it using invisible thread.  I bound it using the fold over technique.  And the result....

See the little button on her waist?  It is vintage and was a gift from a super special friend of mine.  Love it!

Have a great weekend!

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My First Quilt: DONE!

It's done!  I worked all week on it and finished up my first quilt Saturday night.  I ran into a few hiccups along the way, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out.  My hiccups?  First, I tried basting the quilt sandwich using Heat N Bond "tape" as described by Nancy Zieman in Sewing A to Z .  This did not work.  I guess my sandwich was too thick to heat all the way through.  I went out and bought basting spray.  It rocks!  Problem solved!  The second problem...the yellow flag, above the bird, frayed and came away from the satin stitched edge when I washed the quilt. I tried "patching" the spot, but, to me, the flaw is obvious.  I'm still glad I started my quilting journey with applique.  Next time, however, I will cut my pieces a little larger and make sure to watch all fabric prior to cutting and sewing!  

Even with the flaws, I'm still happy with it...and pretty proud of myself for quilting it myself!  All those (straight) lines!  I didn't use my new walking foot for the quilting, but I did use the transparent thread I bought.  Wow.  It is like fishing line!

Quilt back (closeup)

I folded the back fabric over to the front and used it for the binding.  I found this method pretty easy and will use it again for my next quilt!  

Fold over binding

So, what do you think?  Thanks again to Polly at Helping Little Hands for the great Bird and Bunting Quilt Tutorial.  Any good ideas for what I should do for my next quilt?  I'm on the hunt for another great pattern!

Have a great week!
Tootles! 

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My First Quilt: Appliques Attached

I'm so excited about how my first quilt is coming along!  It was quite a long process, but I completed attaching all the appliques using a satin stitch!  I've never used this stitch on my machine before!  Here are a couple of close up views:

I am very happy with the results.  I had no idea my machine, a Janome 4618LE, was capable of a satin stitch!  I guess I should read the owner's manual more often!

When I started this quilt project, I didn't realize  that a quilt top is actually several inches smaller than the chosen batting and backing fabric.  I assumed the top, batting, and backing would be the same size.  My batting size is 34" X 45."  My quilt top is 31" X 41 1/2."  I bought my backing fabric today.  I purchased 1 1/3 yards.  I hope to fold over my backing fabric to use as binding.  In case that doesn't work out for me, I bought a few packages of quilt binding.  No, I'm not being negative about it, just realistic.

My other purchases include a walking foot, quilting needles, transparent thread (and natural colored machine quilting thread), and labels.  I've never used any of these items before!  Wish me luck!  I'm going to start quilting as soon as my backing fabric comes out of the dryer!

Tootles!

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My First Quilt: Cut and Ready

This past week, I began work on my first quilt!  After much searching for the right first quilt, I decided the bird and bunting quilt I found at Helping Little Hands was perfect!  Polly's quilt is larger than mine, but I've followed her free template for the triangle banner as well as the bird template she provides on her blog.  She also provides a well written tutorial for the quilt.  I cut 28 triangles out of various fabrics.  Choosing the fabrics was by far the hardest part of this process so far.  In the end, I decided on blue, red, and yellow.  

Since I'm partial to them, I made mine a blue bird!

I think the background fabric is perfect!  I'm going to start attaching my triangles as soon as I'm happy with placement.  Then, I'll attach the bias binding and then the bird.  Then the hard part right?  Actually putting it all together and quilting!  

Have a great Sunday everyone and a fabulous week!

Tootles!

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Where To Begin?

Charlotte's Fish Transferred to Canvas and Embellished

For the past few days I've been wondering how to begin this post.  It has been so hard to start since I haven't written a post since before Christmas.  I haven't stayed current on anyone's blogs either.  My reasons?  Chaos of the the Holidays?  The physical demands of total knee replacement recovery?  The challenge of returning to work at the same time?  I'm not sure.  Probably a combination of all these, including a little bit of a funk I've gotten myself into.  Luckily, with respect to my knee, I'm starting to see a little flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. I've been going to physical therapy four hours every day of the week!  I have a way to go, but I'm getting stronger with every hour!  

My physical recovery has been frustratingly slow.  It's also been very tiring.  I haven't sewn or started any other art project since Christmas.  I guess that's another reason for my lack of blogger posts.  Forgive me?  I've got big plans to start and finish my first quilt before February 13.  Stick with me and hold me to this goal!  I will begin this week!  In the meantime, here are a few of the projects I completed for Christmas presents:

Charlotte's Knit Poncho

Freezer Paper Stencil Hoodie

Freezer Paper Stencil Hoodie Back

Sam's Bookmark

In all seriousness, I am truly sorry for being so blogger neglectful.  Thanks for sticking with me and I promise to get my sewing act together! 

Tootles!  

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P.S.  If you are interested in a super giveaway, head over to Georgie's blog!  She's celebrating her mom's birthday!

Letter Coasters: A Tutorial

As promised, I'm posting a "how to" on making your own ceramic tile coasters using individually printed letters.  The method is very similar to creating coasters using scrapbook paper, but, if you want to use printed letters, there are a few extra steps.  First, let's gather the materials needed:

• ceramic tiles (mine are smooth, off-white, and measure 4 1/4")
• felt or cork (for these I used sticky back felt)
• Mod Podge (glossy or matte)
• super glue (optional) 
• foam brush
• letters
• high quality (acid free) paper
• printer
• spray clear acrylic sealer (I used glossy)
• brayer (optional)

Buy your tiles.  I found mine at Home Depot and paid $.16 each. Now, find your letters.  Through Pinterest, I found a Flickr collection of letter photos.  There are hundreds of photographs of all letters of the alphabet.  The collection's owner states they are free to download for non-commercial use only.  

Sizing the letters

Now that you have found each letter you want to use, download and save each to your Desktop (you can find them easily here).  You'll have to size them before printing.  Start by opening a blank WORD document and then insert your first photo.  Look in the upper right on the photo above.  You'll see the Crop tool.  Use this tool to size your photo to a little smaller than your tile size.  By using this tool, you will achieve an exact size for each square.  I cropped my letters to 4.1". 

Print the letters

Decide if you want your coasters to be colorful or not and then print in color or choose black and white.  Print your letters on high quality paper.  I used acid free resume paper, but you could used plain scrapbook paper or even card stock.  In order to avoid smearing, make sure you allow the printed papers to "dry" before the next steps.     

Trim the letters

Trim each letter and make sure each square will fit on the top of your tile.

Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge on tile

Adhere each letter

Adhere each letter square to the tiles.  Using a foam brush, "paint" a very thin layer of Mod Podge to the top of one tile.  Next, place a letter square on top of the tile.  You won't have a lot of time because the thin layer of Mod Podge will dry quickly.  So, make sure your letter square is straight.  Use a brayer or your fingers and gently rub the paper onto the tile.  Bubbles are the enemy here, so take your time and make sure there aren't any under the paper.  Adhere each letter square in this fashion.  Once you've completed each letter, go back to the first square and double check there are no bubbles.  Then, "paint" a thicker layer of Mod Podge on top.  Complete another layer on each tile.  Let dry between layers.  For "LORA," I  used two layers of Mod Podge.

Sticky back felt

Once the tiles are dry, it's time to prepare the backs for a felt or cork covering.  I used cork for one set of tiles, but I found it a bit harder to work with than sticky back felt.  One package of Prestofelt costs less than $2.00 and is enough to cover four tiles.

Prepare the backs

Adhere the felt

Although the felt has a sticky back, I decided to use a couple of globs of super glue for extra strength.  I placed globs of glue in each corner and one in the middle.  I cut the correct size before removing the paper back from the felt.  Then place the felt on the backs of each tile square.  Super easy!

Seal each tile

It's time to seal the tiles, which will make them water proof.  Take them outside if possible for this step.  The sealant is pretty stinky.  Spray a layer of sealer on each tile.  Let dry and spray another layer.  I used two layers, but you can do however many looks good to you.  Keep in mind, however, that the more layers, the more tacky it may feel.  Also, you run the risk of bubbles...they are the enemy!

Let the tiles dry completely.  That's it!

Obviously you can make more tiles if the name you want to spell out is longer.  A black and white version would also be very attractive.  Really, the possibilities are endless...imagine using photos of a bridal couple to give as a wedding gift or photographs of your kids to give to the grandparents as gifts.  These are a very simple and inexpensive project that makes a great personal gift!

I hope you give this project a try!

Tootles!