Revisited: Baby Shower gift basket

Sometimes a friend is having a baby and I don't know what to make or what to give.  My original plan had been to make a quilt for my good friend's first child, "Baby G."  A few mutual friends decided we would all get together and make items using similar fabrics to  make them match or seem more like a collection.  One of the ladies in the group really wanted to make a quilt so I thought I might stretch myself and see what else I might be able to come up with...

Burp rag made from a cloth diaper

Two versatile burp rags/lap layers

Burp rag, misc layers, & 3 cloth blocks

I already had new unused colored cloth diapers and white cloth diapers so I started with those items.  The two lap pads have a layer of cloth diaper in them to be more absorbent and can be placed on one's lap or under a child at changing times just in case. I made three cloth blocks from a square print one of the ladies was using in her project.  My favorite part of all these items is the 3-D Butterfly on the pink burp rag!

WIP Wednesday

I've seen others who designate Wednesdays on their blogs as a time to talk about "Works In Progress" or sometimes called WIP Wednesdays.  It' a great way to get one on a schedule for blog postings or just to get the chance to alliterate.  I am currently working on a project where you sew the squares together along with  3" sashing all around and then you use a tool to cut squares out of it.  I ends up making a sort of wonky pinwheel.  Now this is the first time I have used this tool so I am still not sure that a) I know what I am doing or b) that I will be successful, or c) that I will still know what I am doing when I am finished.  In an effort to use more alliterations I am hoping to show you a finished project by Friday; maybe called "Friday Finishes".  Hmmm...I may have to work on that one.  Now I do have other projects that I have in progress, but this is the only one I have started in the past week.

Revisited: Quilt for Co-worker's First baby

This is one of my favorite accidental Quilts!  I had cut pieces to make this quilt for my co-worker's first baby.  This pattern was born from a mistake.  You see I was trying to repeat one of the layouts of the two boy's Quilts.  I made the blocks, and had them piled up with some extra fabric I had on hand for reworking any issues I had with any of the blocks.  One day I was laying the blocks out on my bed and I noticed that a orphan piece of fabric had made its way into my design and it was turning out another pattern all together.

I gathered up some other scraps, played around with how I laid out the blocks and this is what I came up with.  When I quilted the Quilt I just used straight lines to outline the stars.  I love the beautiful green stripe fabric on the back which came from a roll of cotton home decorating fabric I had laying around.  This is the sort of Quilt pattern that I will repeat in the future!

Lap Quilt Finished!

I finished the binding on lap quilt this morning (I am attempting to get up at 7AM every day).  I tried to take pictures out in the courtyard of my apartment building at lunch time when all the children and their Mothers leave the area for the AC inside.  I learned two things, a) it is hot and sunny, I should go inside too, and b) I really am not that great at taking pictures.  I used some of my precious "Lovely" fabric designed by Sandy Gervais.  I have a few blocks left of the Stars that I will perhaps make into a table runner.  The pattern is from The Moda Bake Shop, called Charming Stars Quilt.  I modified it a little to use the green fabric with white poka-dots instead of white.  I might try to take a better picture tomorrow; I am not sure if you can see the Stars in the middle.  For the back I used a yellow/white check print and scraps of fabric from another quilt using the same fabrics.  I was inspired by Julie at Jaybird Quilts to do something with my Quilt Backs.  I am hoping to do more interesting things in the future.

Psuedo TV and a little handy-work.

I was planning to put projects on hold this week while our church had its annual VBS.  I made it there Monday for the opening, but yesterday (Tuesday) morning it took us 27 minutes to drive about 3/4 of a mile from our apartment.  That's when we learned that there was an accident on the major expressway that was about 15 miles from where we were currently parked in traffic and that the expressway was backed up past our Church.  So we turned around and went home.  There are certainly some disadvantage to living in an area that has more population within 5 miles all around us than the entire population of the State of Alaska.  Which at moments like this I sorely miss more than ever!  

By last night I had come down with a cold or virus and I was glad I had not exposed the children to me.  I am still feeling poorly today; a little feverish, a little congestion and other sick-type issues.  I let my VBS partner know she would be missing me once again today.  So being a little stubborn at staying once again in our apartment, I set out to work on one of my many projects (yes, honey, I did take a  nap). 

I finished the machine stitching on the Quilt in the corner of my crafting room.  I have the binding on, clipped, and ready for hand sewing the binding on.  My husband is going to put Hulu on the computer (we don't actually own a tv since we can find out favorite shows online).  We are going to watch a marathon of shows (my husband is trying to get me to rest on the couch)!

1. The Voice  (So much better than American Idol I think)
2. Master Chef  (Such a funny show)
3. Master Chef  (two episodes!)
4. America's Got Talent  (some do, some don't)

Maybe I will get the binding done and I then can show you the finished project tomorrow and enter another project into the FYPC (Click on the icon on the right hand side to find out more about this contest!) drawing.

What am I doing next?

 What am I working on next?  Two boy quilts using a tutorial from Moda Bake Shop which is designed by Mary from The Tulip Patch.  The fabric picked for the first of the quilts is a charm pack of Moda's Chrysalis, 1.5 charm packs of Moda's Basics charm pack in natural.  For the second quilt I have decide to change one aspect of the pattern which is to change the connecting squares to brown.  The fabric chosen will be a charm pack of Moda's Chrysalis, 0.5 Moda's Basics charm pack in natural, and 1 Moda's Basics charm pack in Brown.  When my Parents-in-law were visiting a couple weeks ago we went to JAF to look at some fabrics to match.  

The Blue fabric almost seemed made for this line of fabric and I was delighted that my FIL found the Orange fabric.  I am still debating which to use for sashing and which for binding.  Perhaps I will show the inner pieced pieces and you all might give me your input.  I have already put these two quilts on my Projects in Progress list along with the two quilts that are ready for me to begin machine stitching them.  I may not make much progress this week however.  Happy crafty to everyone out there!

Finished: A Pair of Baby Girl Quilts

 Several movies later, my binding is completed on both quilts.  Well, I get to cross two more things off my "Projects in progress" list!  I am very please how these two quilts turned out.  I am not normally a pink kind of girl, but I think it works well with the purple and the yellow.

I did not use any designer prints per se on these quilts; just scraps of fabric from my stash.  I tried to match the border fabrics in their brightness.  The lime green sashing/backing is fabric that I bought a bolt of about 5 or 6 years ago and I think I may still have quite a few yards left, so it may make its appearance in several more quilts along the way.  I had a 50% coupon at JAF back when solids were $1.99/yard.  So a $1/yard is not bad at all!

It's time to bind...

So yesterday I overdid it a bit and I am exhausted, but the quilting is done on these two Jacob's ladder quilts! Now it is time to put the binding on them.  I used a meander stitch on both quilts and with my gloves the stitching went so much quicker than it used to.  I had already cut the strips for the binding at 2.5"X WOF (Width of Fabric).  My friend Grace came over late yesterday afternoon to help me figure out which binding looked best with which quilt.  You might be able to tell that the same block pattern and fabrics were used in both quilts, but I switched where I used them a little bit.  I find it really interesting that they sell this item called "binding clips" and they turn out to be just like my hair clips only much, much cheaper!  Another item my husband loves because they are not pins.  So the next time I need more hair clips I will run over to JAF!

My original idea was to make two girl quilts and two boy quilts for whatever genders our children were going to be.  I finished piecing these two quilt tops in early January and they have been tucked into a box since then.  I figured that I should get them completed and perhaps put them up for sale when ever I get a store set-up.  It's really nice to get some of my projects completed.  I am glad for the contest to get me going last month.  It is nice to have something little to do each day that I can accomplish.  And now to choose a movie to watch while stitching the binding on by hand and resting!  Any suggestions of what I should watch, this will take a few days.  What are your favorite movies?  As you may be able to tell I do like Jane Austen adaptations (I even have a couple more that are not in the pile)!

Basting Day

 It's Basting Day here in my craft room.  I spray baste my quilts because a) it's easier, b) my husband has a hate/hate relationship with my pins, and c) did I mention how much easier it is?  The first lesson I learned about spray basting is that everything needs to lay flat, so I iron everything including the batting to make sure that wrinkles have been removed.  About 4 days ago I started using spray starch to keep my blocks from shifting around.  I usually spray the blocks before I have squared them up and before I have attached them to the sashing and/or other blocks.  In the case of the Pink/Purple Jacob's ladder Quilt here on the left, I starched the whole top.  A moment here to tell you what a difference the starch has made!  Now I have not yet machine quilted my tops that have been sprayed with starch, but I can tell you that block assembly and squaring them up is a whole lot easier.  I learned this little tip whilst putting together the scrap blocks together for the Quilting bees I am/was a part of (my part is finished). 

In the corner are three more quilts basted and ready for machine quilting.  The quilt standing up measures at 50"X50" and so I used an empty upholstery fabric tube to keep it from wrinkling.  Both my second Jacob's ladder quilt (Pink/Yellow) and my attempt at modern quilting (bright colors/black) are measuring at 40"X40".  I tucked them both onto empty cardboards for a regular bolt of fabric.  I already like these storage methods better than the fold and stack on my desk method.  Especially since I have someone coming over tonight that needs a hand with a quilting project (a scrap quilt using her son's old clothes).  I like to baste a couple quilts at a time; today I worked on both of my Jacob's ladder quilts.  Since I just have a regular, cheap sewing machine, it takes a lot of arm strength for me to machine quilt.  I am trying to get projects ready for my good days and hopefully soon, I will be all better!  Since the basting spray can be sticky if one gets it on themselves (and I almost always do), you can do clean-up for multiples rather than having to clean up after each individual project.

Revisited: Quilt for my Mother-in-law

This lap/nap Quilt was made for my mother-in-law for Christmas last year.  I love the country colors.  The blocks were made using the idea of a modified log cabin; although now they called these log cabin blocks as well I think.  I made them using fabric from the Kansas Troubles' line called Summer's End.  I can't remember what my original plan had been, but as it ends up every time I find myself using many colors, I put them in color order or close to that.  The back and binding/sashing was a thick green Khaki material so I decided not to use batting for this project.  I wanted the lap quilt to be warm enough to knock off a chill but light enough that one did not feel like they needed to sleep 10 minutes after they put it on.  My husband always feels like Quilts are too heavy because he tends to get hot all the time.  I figured since this was to primarily be a gift for the MIL's living room it needed to fit in there in the colors.  She has a few other light blankets in the living room which is why I also went without the batting.  My sewing machine had a cute little flower stitch that I used to quilt the blanket and the edging.  Since Thanksgiving (when we had out family Christmas) my husband has wondered when I will make him a nap quilt of his own!