Decisions Decisions

Since getting a gift certificate for my birthday, I've scoured every page at The Fat Quarter Shop.  Sometimes, I've been on the site two or three times a day!  It's been almost a month since my birthday!  Okay, a little obsessive, I know, but with such a humongous selection, I just could not decide what to get....until today!  I'm so excited!  I picked the Ocean Waves Batiks by Hoffman Fabrics fat quarter bundle!   

Aren't they gorgeous!  I decided on this collection (finally) after committing to using the gift certificate for myself.  I was tempted to pick fabrics to use for making something for someone else...like one of my kids.  So when I decided on something for myself, I next had to figure out what I what use my fabric for.  Since I am about to start redecorating my bedroom, I have decided to make a bed runner with my new fabric!  My bedroom is going to have a beach theme!  You can check out my Master Bedroom Redo board on Pinterest if you are interested!

Tootles!

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P.S. Now I have to find a pattern!

I almost forgot!  Please check out Bonnie's giveaway at Living Life Creatively.  It's her Blogiversary!

Another Lesson Learned

Today is my mom's birthday.   With her birthday so close to Mother's Day, it makes this time of year especially difficult.  She died seven years ago.  I miss her so much everyday.  She was my best friend.  I am lucky, though, that I have some special ladies in my life that I consider like mothers to me.  I made the red Friendship Star/Disappearing Nine Patch table topper for one of those ladies.  I made another quilted topper for another.  I used the fat quarters I won from Annie's Ruby Slipperz.

My Aunt Pat loves bunnies and her home is decorated with very light pastels and romantic flowers.  These fabrics were perfect!  The topper I made measures 18" X 18" (finished).

Post Washed

The bunny image had printed so beautifully onto my fabric, but when I washed it, it almost disappeared completely! I could have cried.  I scrambled researching how I could fix it.  In the end, however, I decided the faded image just made the piece look more authentically vintage.

Pre-Washed

Pinwheels were a first here and I think they turned out pretty nice.  I also think the fabric is fabulous...love it!

I've learned a lot during my brief quilting journey.  The lesson here:  Make your fabric color fast BEFORE printing on it!  This only applies if you are printing directly onto regular fabric using freezer paper and you are going to wash your quilt.  (You might not feel it necessary to wash a wall hanging; like my Octopus Wall Hanging).  I believe if you use products designed for transferring images, that fabric is already treated.  I've done computer research and I have discovered that if you use something called Bubble Jet Set, you can use your own fabric and the freezer paper method.  I'm off to find that product and will give it a try!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there and all those "like" moms, too!  And Happy Birthday Mom.  

Tootles!

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A Birthday Quilt

In my last post I told you I celebrated ( celebrated may be a stretch) my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  While I haven't really been struggling with this birthday, I have reflected on being older and how I have experienced a few of the perks of being of a certain age now.  For example, I got a new knee this year.  Also, a few days after my birthday, I got one of those "age" moles removed.  Pleasant thought, I know.  Well, yesterday, as I was sitting in my house which was a balmy 85 degrees, drinking a cup of coffee, I realized this:  yes, I am indeed old.  Only old people drink coffee when it is super hot right?!  As I sat there sweating, I began to laugh at myself.  Another sign?  Laughing did make me feel a bit better.  I really felt better, however, when the repairman finally arrived and fixed the air conditioning! 

Another thing that made me feel better was that I finished the quilt for my sister.  Her birthday is Sunday when, once again, she will be older than me!  I started this quilt after finishing the Friendship Star - Disappearing Nine Patch table topper I made for a Mother's Day gift.  I selected the fabrics completely myself.  This is the hardest part for me!  I think I know colors, but deciding if patterns coordinate is difficult. I picked the focus fabric first and then picked out a dark, a light, and then two neutrals.  

I'm not sure what the block is called.  I saw it first at Red Pepper Quilts.  Rita called her quilt the Lifesaver.  Basically, it is a nine patch using two fabrics and half square triangles at each corner.  It was pretty easy and fun to make!

I quilted it with straight lines that run diagonally across the quilt.  The lines intersect in the center of each block center.  I folded the backing fabric to the front for the binding.  This time I "mitered" the corners.

Sissy's Quilt
58" X 58"

Happy Birthday to my big sister!

One last thing...I won five fat quarters playing Mystery Mondays at Annie's Ruby Slipperz!  The parcel arrived yesterday and can't tell you how excited I am to start my next project with the fabric!  They are absolutely gorgeous!

  

Thanks again Annie!

Tootles!

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(Friendship) Star Trek

Isn't she gorgeous?  What do you think I should name her?  She is a Trek Pure.  A pure cruising pleasure!  A bit over the top cheesy?  Okay.  Well, this bike was my birthday present from my hubby and I adore her!  I had so much fun biking when we were on vacation that I decided to get a bike of my own!  I've got a rack on the back and I plan on putting a basket on the front.  Remember putting playing cards on the spokes when you were a kid?  I won't go that far, but will accessorize her for sure!

Oh yeah, it was my birthday last week.  I spent it, and the weekend, working on a few sewing projects.  One being a birthday present for my sister.  Her's is coming up in May.  Until then, we are the same age!  Pretty cool huh?  Anyway, I've been piecing blocks for a quilt for her and I also made a table topper for a Mother's Day present for my other mother in England.  I used all fat quarters for this project.  It measures about 35" X 35."  

The middle block is a friendship star.  The other 8 blocks are Disappearing 9 Patches.  I discovered this block while surfing the internet for ideas.  I found a great step by step guide to creating this block at Cluck Cluck Sew.  Basically, just make a nine patch block then cut it in half vertically and horizontally.

Now you have four patches.  Rearrange your squares however you like.  The combinations are endless.

Next, just sew it back together.  This works.  Right?

Arrange all your blocks however you'd like!  I love that it looks a lot more complicated than it is!

I pieced the the back of the table topper, too.  I also used the technique of folding over the back fabric to the front to bind it.

My quilt lines are pretty visible in these pictures.  Oops, and some of them are a little wobbly!  Hey, I'm still a beginner!

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes and gifts...you know who you are!

Tootles! 

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Quilt Photography 101

Aren't these flowers gorgeous?  We have two of these plants in our back garden.  Both are climbing clematises.  They always look so pretty in the spring and their blooms seem to last a long time.

Do you want to hear a funny story?  Well, wanting to take a great picture of my finished Bali Pops Batik Quilt, I decided to hang it on the fence.  This worked well when I photographed the finished top, but yesterday was a wee bit too windy!  I was so excited that I finished the quilt, so I threw caution to the wind and tried hanging it anyway.  Not a good idea.  My lovely quilt ended up blowing off the fence and into my neighbor's yard!  I prayed my neighbors were home AND their little dogs were not in the yard!  I went round and rang their bell a few times.  Finally, an answer.  I had to formally introduce myself and request entry to their back yard where I retrieved my quilt.  Awkward!  

I came inside and hung the quilt over the second floor banister.  The quality of the picture isn't great, but you can get an idea of the color and size of the finished blanket.  

   

I'm really happy with it.  I think the border and backing fabric ties all the strips together well.  I did simple straight line quilting.  It was actually easier than I expected.  I suspect because I made the quilt sandwich a lot better and I was able to roll up the excess as I quilted.

Even though I am a beginner quilt (this is my third real quilt), this was the first time I used a pattern.  This pattern is called, Blueberry Hill by Villa Rosa Designs.  I found the pattern easy to understand and would recommend it to anyone wanting to try using jelly rolls, or, in my case, Bali Pop pre-cut strips.  

I took this photo earlier today.  I decided not to risk the fence trick again, so I draped it over a bench that sits in front of our no longer blooming lilac bushes.  Doesn't it just look scrumptious?  

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as much lately.  I'm still trying to get into a routine with my new work schedule, etc.  My daughter calls me, "nocturnal."  It's taking some time to get used to!  Bear with me!

Tootles!

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Winging It

The lilacs in my yard have finished blooming.  The clematis, however, is going mad!  I will post a photo as soon as I can pull my winter clothes back out of my closet!  I've said it before, but I still can't get over that it can be 90 degrees here one day and the next it is barely 50!  Seriously, our air conditioning was running on April 1st!  Today, I'm tempted to flip the heat back on!  The only way to keep warm is to keep moving!  I've spent the day cleaning and vacuuming my house.  It truly needed it!  I also started quilting my batik quilt.  I had put it off because I was nervous about doing such a large quilt myself.  I decided, however, just to start and not worry about getting it perfect.  After much thought (too much), I committed to straight line quilting.  I  didn't measure or draw lines, however.  I just followed the horizontal and vertical seem lines.  I just winged it!  That's a new quilting term!  I will show you as soon as I'm finished.  In the meantime, have a look at my Octopus Wall Hanging:

It's kind of plain, but, according to my daughter, "simple" is better.  I quilted this one using straight lines, too. I followed the seem lines around the inside and outside borders and then along the horizontal and vertical lines around the squares.  I'm pleased with the piece overall, but especially happy with how the octopus image transferred.  I got the octopus image from The Graphics Fairy.  Instead of transferring it onto the fabric using gel medium, I printed it directly onto off-white fabric using freezer paper.  

It came out so great!  It was so easy, too!  I'm definitely going to be using this method a lot more...especially for my bags!

Gotta run!  Tootles!

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The Sweet Smells of Spring

You know how some scents remind you of something, someone, somewhere, or even some time in your life?  Smelling cheap Stetson cologne reminds me of the teenage boys from my youth.  The odorous combination of fried food and diesel fuel makes me think of when I lived in England.  And the sweet, old-fashioned smell of lilacs reminds me of playing outside with my friends when I was kid growing up in Iowa.  I could smell these lilacs from my kitchen this morning.  My husband planted three bushes a few years ago in the far corner of our back garden.  I clipped this little bunch and smiled thinking of those playful times so many years ago.  

It wasn't easy going back to work after getting back from my Gulf Coast vacation.  Besides working at my day (I actually work nights) job, I have managed to finish my Blueberry Hill Bali Pops quilt top!  It actually came together rather quickly.  I chose the strips for each block randomly, however I was sure not to place like pieces next to each other.  

Blueberry Hill Pattern      Bali Pops in Watermelon Fabric

I hung it horizontally so I could take a better photo.  It measures 56" X 68."  I'm going to use the same fabric for the backing as used for the borders, which, I think, ties all the colors together a bit better.  I've got the batting and am ready to start quilting!  I know I said I wouldn't quilt my next quilt myself, but I think I can handle this size.  I am thinking about "stippling."  What do you think? 

I've got another project in the works as well.  I'm still in the planning stages of a wall hanging.  I want to do a  nautical themed art quilt to hang above a small antique dresser at the top of the stairs in my house.  I bought two "jellyfish" art glass pieces down on the coast and I've placed these, as well as a few other reminders of the trip on this dresser.

Boring wall above dresser

Aren't they cool?

Keeping the tentacles of the jelly fish in mind, I plan to transfer an octopus image onto fabric for the center.   I found this awesome octopus at The Graphics Fairy.

I'm still working on design, but I will most likely go with half square triangles.  I've chosen blue and cream for the main colors and have purchased my fabric, including this ticking remnant I found at JoAnn's for $5.00.

I'm also planning on getting some bags done for my nearly bare Etsy shop and also make myself a case for my new iPad!  Busy busy!

Tootles!
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