Sew Lucky

I just got back from Babylock’s annual convention, known as BLT. I had so much fun and learned so much and I worked so hard because I was there as an educator and a worker. The event started on Saturday and ended Tuesday but I arrived on the previous Monday and left on the following Wednesday. That means sleeping not in my own bed for 9 nights.

Educators were able to showcase some of their work and work with Babylock dealers to provide classes and help with events.

Here is a quick look at my practice set up.

I was shocked that there was so much interest in my projects and classes. I guess all those hours at the sewing machine are paying off.

This guy probably got the most attention.

He started out as a clearance panel at a national chain store. Santa’s fur is all yarn couched and the snow on the tree branches is also couched yarn, but the yarn used for the snow has a little glitter in it. The snow inspiration happened last winter while I was in my sewing studio during a snow storm happening outside my window. And because I could not help myself and I did some fun free motion quilting to add more texture.

So now that I am home I am back at my sewing machine because I have so many new ideas and I need to get these ideas out of my head and into thread.

And did I tell you I got to meet some incredibly creative folks while I was away. I am just hoping that some of their incredible talent rubbed off on me!

The Easy Way Out

A long, long time ago, I can still remember…don’t worry, I’m not reciting song lyrics to you; I’m setting the stage for this next project.

Baby colors were different in my day. When I had babies, they were green and yellow. When my babies had babies, they were pink and blue. Now, my babies babies are having babies, and to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what baby colors are, so I guess all colors are baby colors.

Why is this conversation important to this project? Well, let me tell you.

I have an extended family member who is having a baby, and I’ll be honest: I don’t know what she’s having. So, as I contemplated what I wanted to get for her, I decided pretty early to make her a baby quilt. But then, time passed, and I thought I would probably get something from her registry from Target. And then, more time passed, and I returned to the baby quilt. Even more time passed (I have clearly been contemplating since before she even got pregnant), and I went back to the Target idea. When I looked through her registry, I decided I would make the baby quilt; it was easier. Finally, I had a solid decision, and I was ready to get to work. But remember when I said I didn’t know if she was having a boy or a girl? Me too, and I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I decided to use all the colors.

So I decided simple is best and started with the pinwheel block. This was easy until I sewed several of the pinwheels wrong and had things that looked interesting but not like pinwheels. So out came the trusty seam ripper and back to pinwheels. With all the pinwheels sewn and put together, I added some fun little prairie points around the edge to give the quilt a little interest and texture. I love adding texture.

With all the piecing done now, it was time to quilt it, and at first, I thought just simple lines, but then, like most things, I overthought it and decided more was better. So I hooped my quilt up with the batting and backing and loaded it onto my fancy embroidery sewing machine, and started quilting. One triangle was done, and I decided I liked it, so I continued stitching all 48 little white triangles. About halfway through, I took the quilt out of the hoop to make sure I really liked it and to get the motivation to finish. When I looked at it I decided that I more than liked it I loved it so finishing was an easy task.

Just a little more border quilting and it was done!! Yes, I added the binding, but that is a fairly quick process. I love this baby quilt, and I hope the mom does, too.

Couching Grannies

A little over a year ago I was shopping in a thrift store and found a nice Levi denim jacket. I quickly bought that jacket and knew I would come up with a way to make it unique to me. So, more than a year has passed and I was still waiting for that great idea to make this jacket truly mine.

And then my friend who is a machine embroidery digitizer extraordinaire, Karen Parker sent me a picture of the granny square she had just digitized for yarn couching with the embroidery machine. Being the kind of friend I am I begged and groveled for her to send me the design file. I knew when I saw the picture of that granny square that my jacket was going to be fabulous.

You may be scratching your head right now saying what is yarn couching……it is a technique that allows you to apply yarn fabric surfaces to create unique embellishments.  What you are seeing in the picture is yarn stitched on to the back of the jacket.

On the back of the back of the jacket I yarn couched the large granny square. And then I admired my work and my jacket but as I looked at it more, I thought that granny square looks rather lonely and the back of my jacket is great but the front looks rather plain. I knew the large granny square was too big for the front of the jacket but then I remembered another design for a bag that my friend Karen had created, the Charlie O Tote Embroidered Granny Squares, you can find this pattern here  Included in the Charlie O Tote is a single small granny square. This pattern makes an amazing bag but for my jacket I needed just a single smallish granny square.  I machine embroidered a granny square above each of the pockets on my jacket. And now I think my thrift store Levi denim jacket looks pretty unique.

And now I think my thrift store Levi denim jacket looks pretty unique.

So a great big thank you to my friend, digitizer extrodanaire, Karen Parker. And special thanks to my model.

Oh the things I can do, and a few I shouldn't

This week I gave a demo at my local Babylock Sewing Machine dealer to a wonderful group of ladies. My goal was to demo one technique but because I get so excited I showed them several techniques and features on their machines. I had very nice samples and instructions all written out for them but as I was demoing I kept coming up with more ways to make the project even more fun.

Now as I said these are wonderful ladies and they always indulge me as I keep coming up with another idea. So what started out as a very nice project to maker chenille hearts withe some fun little tricks along the way turned into a chenille flower with a couched center and stitched setting triangles. So when I left the demo they had all the techniques but no finished project to see because I was coming up ideas on the fly. So today instead of cleanning my sewing room, which is in very bad need of cleaning, I decided to put all the techniques I taught into a project.

I created the design on my sewing/embroidery machine and made one flower chenille and the other two applique. All three have yarn couched centers so there is a lot of textire in this.

Then I added a little more stitching the maroon fabric because why not add it if you can. And with my fancy sewing machine that does almost everything I can do a lot of fun things. If I could just get the machine to clean the sewing room it would be perfect.

So there you have all the parts and I have a fun runner.

Now you might have read the title and be thinking what did she mean when she wrote “and a few I shouldn’t…” Well you know what happens when you put your finger to close to the needle when the machine is stiching fast? I have the answer for you……the machine puts the needle right through your finger and breaks the needle into pieces. And gosh fingers seem to bleed a lot from such a small hole. So now I have a big bandaid on the tip of my left index finger but I also have a runner that I am very happy with! (the finger will heal, hopefully quickly because I have a lot more sewing to do and maybe a little cleaning).

Keep the Candle Burning

In the wee hours of the morning when almost everyone else in the world is sleeping I am laying in bed with my eyes open and brain going faster than a rocket ship I had a creative thought. Creative thoughts are so much better than worrying thoughts and only keeping the creative thoughts and letting the worry ones go is sometimes a challenge for me. I am most creative in the morning, do find you have more creative times than others? So its early morning and I am not sleeping and I am thinking. I remember I saw this really cool creation a friend of mine, Karen Parker from Threadhead and Company. This friend absolutely blows me away with her creations. Karen had made some really unique and stunning lamps using her Babylock sewing and embroidery machine and a lot of ingenuity. I wish I had a picture of her lamps for you but alas their image is only buried in my brain.

I knew I could not possibly reproduce her amazing lamps, but I thought how about if I come up with my own creation. And I did.

I shared my idea with my husband when he woke up and then made him a wonderful breakfast to soften him up for the request I was about to make. I had the idea, the fabric and the embroidery designs and know how, but I needed a lantern to put my panels in and I knew he could build it for me. So, with a little persuasion and a lot of ‘Monica speak’ that only he can understand when I am describing what I need, he built me a lantern. Isn’t he amazing?

Yes I know his shop is messy but considering the results I get, I think the mess is totally worth it. With the wooden lantern built a can of Hammered spray paint applied I had a lantern but now I need the panes for the sides. Like I said earlier I had the idea, fabric, and embroidery designs. So to the sewing machine I went. Hooped some organza fabric for my Babylock Solaris sewing and embroidery machine. Loaded up some files from the new Babylock Design Suite Zandra Shaw Collection and stitched away.

With my husbands woodworking knowledge and ability and lots of creativity and my sewing and embroidery skills my early morning creative vision became a reality. And I love it!

I embroidered a different design on each panel so they are all different. I think my favorite is the gingko leaves.

It is beautiful with the battery operated candle glowing and showing of the collaborative work of my husband and I.

Snap Bags with Thread Painting

I recently taught a class on creating a snap bag. But snap bags using tape measure tape as a closure have been around a long time. So since I can’t ever follow the norm and love to give my students a challenge to stretch therir skills and creativity I added a little thread painting, free motion quilting and just some fun non- straight line quilting. We used several different sewing machine feet that most have but had never used. I have to admit it was a bit of an adventure for some. But lucky for me all felt they were in good hands.

I had sample bags for the students to use as suggestions.

And these are just some of the bags my very creative students created.

This was such a fun project, and everyone seemed to enjoy the process. Students learned to listen to their sewing machines and harmonize moving the fabric with their hands, with their foot on the machine foot pedal. Some started out very slowly and learned to get faster and few of the pedal to medal kind of gals learned to slow down and enjoy the process.

Thread painting can be intimidating but it is not hard. We learned to use our sewing machines and thread like others use paint brushes and paint. A comment tat I frequently heard was ‘this is kind of relaxing’.

We made our snap bags with no raw seam allowances exposed on the inside, and they were completely finished by machine. When we machine stitched the last stitches the bags were ready to fill with goodies and use.

It was so much fun to watch students go from being afaid or at least very timid with their machines to being artist using many functions of the machine. I knew I had a winner class when one class turned into three and with requests for more classes.

Panel Magic

I am sure by now some might think that I have stopped sewing because it has been so long since I posted anything. The truth is I like sewing more than I like taking pictures and writing. And sometimes I get all the way to the end of a project and realize I have not taken a single picture but am also busy planning and creating my next project.

But I have been sewing, and I have been sewing a lot. I am currently teaching at least 2 classes a month and am loving the opportunity to meet others who enjoy sewing. In the classes we have been doing yarn couching, decorative stitching, piping, thread painting, quilting, and all kinds of applique. 

The other day I was organizing my fabric, which is a nice way to say I was picking up after myself after several sewing projects and not putting anything away. I found this panel that I have had for several years. I vaguely remembering buying it but when I looked at it a few weeks ago I thought, “why did you buy that and better yet what did you think you were going to do with it?” Of course I answered myself and said, “it will be great just wait and see!”

So here is what I was looking at. Very pretty panel but what the heck do you do with this. Not big enough to quilt and use as a throw or lap quilt. And of course, I did not have any of the coordinating fabrics.

So, off to my fabric troves I went to find the right inspiration and then, of course, one quick trip to a fabric store. A little cutting magic and a lot of head scratching and deciding on what should happen next, which included a texted picture and a Facetime meeting to get other opinions.

It is finished and I am enjoying the transformation

Can you believe this started out as that panel pictured above, I can’t. I barely even recognize it. I used almost every last bit of that panel -the butterflies and even the small borders above and below the butterflies. This is what I had left of the panel when I finished this project.

With this project completed, top pieced, borders on, quilted and binding applied; it is time for me to get my next project going since I just took another trip to a quilt store.

It's Easy Being Green

Unlike Kermit the frog this quilt makes me think it is easy being green. As you have heard me say many times before there is not a local quilt shop sale that I don’t like. And over the past year one of my favorite quilt shops has had several sales and since the owner is not a green fan, I get a lot of green fabric. What I have learned is there are more shades of green then I ever imagined and sometimes getting them all to blend can be a bit tricky.

As I looked at my stack of green fabrics, I knew I had to find a way to start using them because they were just too pretty to put in a tot and store away for another project. This pattern is not an original, I found the pattern on Art Gallery fabrics web site https://bit.ly/3AWlTYu. When I looked at the pattern originally, I thought this will be quick and super easy pattern and it was except those angles were a killer. They are mirrored angles and for someone like me who looks at the pictures and the measurements and starts cutting and sewing you will be guaranteed to be doing some rework. I have a pile of wrong angles laying on my studio floor and a new appreciation for reading patterns closely. But once I got my angles all correct the pattern really did come together quickly. 

While the pattern did stitch quickly the real fun came with adding texture and interest with the quilting. I almost always quilt my quilts with my embroidery machine and each time I do I find another clever way to get the results I want.

I filled each green color with a different type of quilting. In the white background areas, I used a simple straight-line quilting with my walking foot and a new edge to edge quilting pattern added to my machine with the latest upgrade

This quilt really makes me happy I have all this green fabric.

Now it’s back to my machine for another project for me!

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Fall

It is beginning to feel like Fall, my favorite season. I used to think that Fall was my favorite season because my birthday happens in this season but now that I have hit all those milestone birthdays like 13 (being a teenager), 16 (old enough to drive), 18 (old enough to drive) and 21 (being considered a real adult) and they are all a pretty foggy memory. Now I just like fall for the colors, the crispness in the air, the cooler nights that make we want to cover up with a blanket, the special recipes that I always make and the sweaters that I wear. Fall is always my favorite season.

I like to bring out some special decorations like a fall garland to put on my fireplace mantle, a table topper that represents the season and some pillows. This year when I pulled out of storage my old Fall pillows, I decided I could do better than what I had. So off to my sewing machine I went I started with a simple pumpkin image file…

and a leaf image file…

Sent these image files to my Babylock Solaris sewing/embroidery machine and this was the result…

I started with the leaves and using the Maple leaf image file and the magic of my machine I was able to create free-standing applique leaves. Using different fabrics for each leaf had me thinking of what the ground looks like in fall when all the trees start losing their leaves, the maple leaves with their golds and reds and the oaks with their browns. I considered making enough leaves in enough different colors to cover the floor of my sewing studio but that was just a crazy idea and then I would have had to rake them all up before the snow or next sewing project started. So I limited myself to creating two embroidery hoopfuls (I am guessing that is not a real word but an embroidery hoop filled with leaf designs is a hoopful in my world).

With leaves all sewn and scattered. I took the pumpkin image file and created an applique embroidery design. This machine has so much magic built into it that sometimes all I have to do is dream things up. One of the struggles that I have is not always seeing thing correctly in 3D. To explain this better when you look at the pumpkin is the stem on top or should it be behind.

My first attempt was to put the stem on top or in front of the pumpkin but I didn’t like the way that looked, so two more attempts and I got it just how I wanted it to look.

Adding the free-standing applique leaves to my pillow front gave it some dimension.

And because I like a little piping/cording on my pillow edge I found an upholstery fabric in my stash and some cotton clothesline also in my stash and using the Babylock Pearl & Piping Foot I made my own cording. And I like the way it turned out and of course the cost of $0.00 since everything was waiting for me in a tote of extras that has been with me for years.

Hope you are looking forward to fall as much as I am and your fall decorations make you smile.

Peachy Keen

If you have followed this blog at least a little by now you know I have very little will power when it comes to a good sale at my favorite quilt shop. During the COVID lockdown when we all went home and stayed away from others, I spent a fair amount of time with Coral the owner of River Banks Fabric & More on FaceTime picking out fabrics I thought I needed or just wanted. Coral had this lovely black fabric that I knew I could do something wonderful with and just a few bolts of fabric over was this peach fabric. On FaceTime it looked like a good match and as it turned out it worked out very well.

I found a pattern that required just 3 fabrics and with the black and the peach I was two thirds of the way there. I dug through my stash and found a fabric I have had for nearly 20 years and I knew this was the right project for this oldy but goody fabric. The pattern I used was Roman Holiday from the book “Quick As A Wink 3-Yard Quilts”.

The pattern really went together quickly just like it said it would but I thought it looked a little dull.

Big pieces of fabric with no interest. I new I could fix that problem so with my embroidery machine and some fun quilting I changed my blah Peachy Keen quilt to a look at that Peachy Keen quilt.

The quilting added some incredible interest to the grey/white fabric.

And just because I could I added a fun quilting design even in this small 1 ½” border along with a fun border design in the larger peach border.

My Babylock Solaris Sewing/Embroidery machine is my best friend when I am creating quilts.

For years I have made quilt tops and put them on a shelf telling myself I will quilt them someday. Some of those quilt tops sitting on the shelf are over 20 years old. I love sewing the tops together. The quilting has always been a little daunting for me. It is hard to quilt a large quilt on a domestic sewing machine and a long arm quilting machine takes up so much room. But with my Babylock Solaris and a large magnetic embroidery hoop the overwhelming task of quilting the quilt has become so much more doable for me. And I love the results and originality it gives my quilts. Now I need to start on quiting all those quilt tops sitting on the shelf, oh wait, I still have more fabric so I can make another quilt. Did I tell you I suffer from “OLAS” Oh look a squirrel!

Looking Both Ways

I stopped by one of my favorite local quilt shops River Bank Fabrics and More the other day and asked if they wanted any samples sewn. You might ask why would you do that sew something and not get to keep it. There are a couple of answers to that question; 1) I don’t have to make the final decision when picking out fabrics. 2) If I am using one of the patterns from the store it requires very little thinking and designing on my part, just follow the recipe/pattern.

The shop owner, Coral picked out this pattern Looking Both Ways by The Sweet Tea Girls Patterns and some luscious fabrics for me to work with.

I quickly got sewing and was loving the vibrance of the fabrics.

This quilt top comes together quickly since the blocks finish out at 12” square.

Now it was time to add my personal touches  --- how was I going to quilt this? I could do an edge-2-edge design which seems to be the current trend but the more that I looked at this quilt top the more I was convinced it needed some special attention. And since I love to impress myself with the things I can do with my Babylock Solaris sewing and embroidery machine I got started.

Starting with the light background areas I added stippling. I know this is easily done with free motion quilting but I like how the embroidery machine keeps all the stitches and spacing even.

Next step… those half log cabin squares, I could have just done straight lines or quilt in the ditch or something really fancy in each of the narrow strips but I did not want to distract from this beautiful fabric. I decided I was going to use and edge-2-edge design to just fill this block.

Some of this quilting is hard to see but I love that so the fabrics really are the focus.

Now those little purple squares and their triangle partners. With the Solaris fills I can change the size and layout to create motifs I can quilt.

And I did the same with a different fill for the blue squares.

Triangles next I found a great triangle quilting design and decided to use it in the purple triangles…

…and another design for the pink triangles.

Added a feather border in the large print border and was super happy with the results. And my friend loved it.

Pink-a-licious

I am going to start off by saying pink is not my favorite color and would never consider myself a pink kind of girl. However, when the stars align you need to follow the path. 

First star; a friend of mine who is also a Babylock Educator, an artist and, a phenomenal digitizer, Karen Parker sent me an edge-to-edge design that needed testing. The design was of daisies and leaves.

Second star; one of my favorite quit shops had fabric on sale. And this fabric had pink daisies

No way was I not going to keep those stars from aligning, but like I said the fabric was pink so, I decided to do a simple block so I could get over the pink quickly. Can you tell that pink is not my color?

Sewed the blocks together in a stair step pattern added a small border and I have a quilt.

Used the edge-to-edge quilting design and I have a quilt.

And interesting that I have rattled on about not being a pink lover, this is the first quilt I grab on cool mornings when I am having my first cup of coffee or in the evening when I am settled in with a good book.

Oh Spring! Don't Give Up

I know I am a Midwesterner for many reasons but one of the reasons is I love all the different seasons. I even love winter; all the beautiful white snow and the frost and the cold temperatures that make you catch your breath. I think it might be the very clear and clean air you get to breathe when you are outside in the winter that reminds me how wonderful things really can be. BUT, this winter has been different, I was not able to get out much so instead of enjoying all the winter wonderfulness I watched from my window. Not my way to enjoy the winter so I am ready for spring. We had a few really nice days with warm sunshine and temperatures that did not require hats, gloves, and scarves. So, I was ready to get back outside and start enjoying the outdoors again. Spring flowers were starting to peak out of the ground, all things were looking up and then this happened….

So, with winter not giving up I decided to spring things up on the inside. I went to my fabric stash and decided I was going to pick anything that reminded me of spring, purple for Hyacinths, yellow for daffodils, pink for tulips, and just a few other colors that looked like spring to me.

I cut a strip of each of the fabrics and started sewing. If you have been reading my blog you will see a few weeks back I made the No Strip Left Behind quilt. This is the same plan only with smaller and fewer blocks. I sewed fabrics together, cut the new pieces apart and sewed them back together. Added a checkerboard border and a second white border. Attached a binding and Ta Da! I have a spring look on my table.

As you can see from the picture there is a lot of quilting in this small project. My #Babylock Solaris machine makes adding the quilting so easy. I always talk about how great this machine is but it truly helps me make my ideas come to reality. And I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my brain.

Since my table is in front of the window I look out all the time, I am hoping that Spring gets the idea and chases old man winter away once and for all this year.

Black and White and Red All Over

As always, I was shopping at one of my favorite quilt shops that was having a wonderful sale. Come to think of it, I don’t think I have met many quilt sales that I didn’t immediately like. One of many treasures from this sale was a fat quarter bundle of black and white and red fabrics. The fabrics were from a Blank Quilting 2014 collection. When I saw all the wonderful fabrics in the bundle, I immediately knew I was going to use them in HST (half square triangles).

I added some black and white fabrics from my own stash.  With all my fabrics gathered I started cutting squares out of each fabric.

Squares cut, time to sew dark fabrics to light fabrics to make new squares that had both a dark and light fabric. It always amazes me how interesting the new squares look.

The fun and frustrating part was next taking all my two fabric squares and laying them out in an eye pleasing pattern. I laid them all out on my design floor which doubles as my family room floor. Moved about 75% of the squares around, then repeated the process several more times. It always seemed like a few of my squares with the same fabrics ended up touching or too close together. After a day and a half of moving squares I was finally either exasperated with the process or pleased with the layout.

Time to start sewing my squares together. As I have mentioned before I am a twosey, foursy kind of sewist. I sewed my squares in pairs. Keeping everything all laid out on my design floor so I could keep track of what squares went with others. With all square pairs sewn together it was time to make my twosys (2 squares sewn together) into foursys (2 sets of 2 squares).

With the center of my quilt sewn together it was time to add the borders. I knew I wanted to add red to this interesting quilt and I knew I want prairie points but had no quite figured out how they were all going to play together nicely. Originally I thought the prairie points needed to be red but as I looked at my piece center I could see that I had to stop all the pattern from the center so I thought add a black small border then when I auditioned this idea it did not speak to me like adding the narrow red border. And of course because I hoard fabric I found this perfect grey striped fabric that worked perfectly for my prairie points on top of the black border to finish off the quilt.

I am really happy with the way this turned out.

I did all the quilting on my Babylock Solaris sewing machine and it turned out great. Look at all those quilted feathers.

Placemats

A long time ago, in a quilt shop far, far away…I know this sounds like a fairy tale but it really is true and has a very happy ending. So back to the story...I found and purchased two fat quarters and a great matching stripe fabric.

Should I have gotten more fat quarters, absolutely, but this is all they had left. So , I quickly ran home and looked at my grand purchase. And then I looked at it some more. I looked at it for about 3 and ½ years. It was tough to decide what I was going to do with these fabulous pieces of fabric. After about 18 months of looking at this I decided placemats were the perfect answer. It took me another 2 years to cut into this fabric but at last I started. I knew I wanted the stripe to frame my coral heart fabric and so it started; measuring, cutting, sewing, pressing, sewing and pressing again.

That beautiful coral heart fabric in the center of my placemat was great but if you have read my blog before you know I own a Babylock Solaris sewing and embroidery machine.

This machine allows me to do great things with ease. I decided it was time to let this machine show off its stuff once again. So I added quilting in the coral fabric center of my placemats and was careful not to stitch over the navy hearts. The machine has a built in quilting fill that I used and just told it where I wanted it to stitch. Isn’t it amazing what the machines now days can do. This is the machine I learned to sew on many years ago

This machine was a work horse and I know my mother put a lot of stitches and did amazing things on this Necchi machine. But imagine if she had my beautiful Babylock Solaris machine …..oh the things she could have done.

Back to my placemats. I added the quilting in the coral center of placemat and liked the texture and interest it added.

With one placemat finished I started work on the remaining three. In not much more time I had all my placemats quilted and ready to add the backing. I did not quilt through to the backing because I was lazy and did not want to take the time to add a binding. So a simple stitch around leaving a turning spot and turn the whole placemat right side out.

With my placemats complete it is time for a quite dinner for two.

Or a louder dinner for four.

Can’t wait to show my next project! What is black and white and red all over?

No Strip Left Behind

I have admired two colored quilts for a long time but as much as I love their simplicity, I feel like some can be too simple. My solution to give my own two-color quilt a little more interest was to use multiple navy print fabrics.

A jelly roll was the perfect way to get strips already cut and in multiple prints in the same color family.

This jelly roll had 2 strips of 10 different prints. 

To the multiply navy print fabric strips, I added a tone-on-tone white fabric. The next step was to start cutting. I cut an equal number of white strips to the number of navy print strips I had in my jelly roll. I sewed one tone-on-tone white strip to each navy print strip.

Once I had all the strips sewn, I started cutting them apart.

With my simple block pieces all cut, I started sewing the blocks together and turning the pieces to make a Rall Fence block.

I decided I wanted a 5 X 6 block layout. So, with one block completed and 29 more to go, I kept sewing.

After finishing 30 blocks, I laid them all out on my design floor. Some quilters have design walls, but my floor works pretty well for me. And someday, when I have huge sewing studio, I will create a design wall bur for now I will keep using my design floor, which also is known as my family room floor. After I found a pleasing layout, I sewed a set of two blocks together.

With my pairs sewn together, it was time to sew them into four-sews. I know that is not a real word, but it is the way I think of it, sew two-seys, then four-seys.

Sewing this method lets me sew several short seams, rather than many long seams.

Next, I added a tone-on-tone white border to make the blocks look like they were floating. And then, with the rest of the sewn strip pieces, I created 4-patches for a pieced border. I followed this with one more tone-on-tone white border. My quilt was complete and I have fallen in love with it. Who knew that a simple block and just two colors could have such a great look?

With the quilt top finished, it was not time to make it a real quilt by adding batting and backing and start the quilting. This quilt said, “I need to be stipple quilted,” and I agreed that was going to be a perfect finish but since I am slightly below average free motion stipple quilter, my Babylock Solaris was an easy and beautiful solution. The stippling is so evenly spaced and looks so wonderful.

I stippled all the white areas in the blocks and the first border.

The second border, I added a border quilt pattern built into the Solaris machine

You can also see the border quilt patter I put in the last border. I am always amazed by the way the Solaris makes border quilting so easy. It took me a few tries to really understand this machine’s awesomeness, but when I read the screen, did what it said to do, and didn’t try to be smarter than the machine, the results were perfect on every border.

Time for binding and I had used all the navy print strips I had, so I went to my private hoard of fabric and found a great coordinating navy print. I cut my strips, sewed them together and sewed my binding on. Here is my finished two-color quilt. I am so happy with the finished project.

Port Pillows

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Nicole and I am Monica’s youngest daughter…2nd in the line of 4, and if I’m being completely honest, the very last one of us that I ever thought who would start sewing, and that’s saying something since the youngest 2 are boys.

COVID had other plans for me though. By April/May of 2020 I was bored out of my mind and asking my mom and sister for sewing machine advice and mom came through as she always does with the amazing machine I am currently using, the Babylock Soprano. The greatest part? It came with lessons as long as I was willing to travel…which I was, so off to visit mom I went and she did a great job of giving me the easiest blanket on the planet to learn to sew with…I made one for each of my kids that Christmas.

So here I am, a couple years later, and I can’t say I am a whole lot better at sewing, but I can say I am willing to try. I decided this year that my goal was to sew SOMETHING every month. It’s early February and so far, I am keeping to it. Now, I guess it would be important to point out that I have yet to sew anything in February and I finished sewing for January right around the 31st, but hey, I got it done so I am counting it a win.

I really had no idea what I wanted to sew in January, I was thinking small and simple to be honest. So when a very dear friend of mine found out her mom has cancer, I immediately started thinking about what I could sew for her. I looked around and found port pillows and chemo blankets. And then I do what I always do and asked mom if she had any place I could find a pattern. And mom did what she always did and had patterns on my phone in about 12 seconds. So I started easy with port pillows.

In case you don’t know, the idea behind a port pillow is to offer a little comfort and cushion for cancer patients who are receiving their chemo through a port that has been surgically inserted into their bodies. These are often placed right in line with where a seat belt comes across your body, and the port pillow offers some cushion so the patient isn’t in pain going to and from wherever they need to go.

The greatest thing about these is how easy they are to make. Well, ok, I guess the greatest thing is that they offer the patient some relief, but the ease of making them has got to be a close second. Mom sent me this link from Create to Donate. Seriously, so easy.

As with any sewing project, the first step after finding the pattern (so I guess it makes it the second step) is to find the fabric. Off I went to my Joann’s app to start looking, and deciding, and looking some more, and deciding some more, and…well you get the idea, but I ended up finding some fabrics I really liked in something that is smaller than a jelly roll, but I don’t quite remember what mom called it, maybe a cupcake or something like that? I don’t know, it’s a good thing I have her around to help me navigate these sewing waters. Anyway, I decided to work with these fabrics and then I picked up the hook and loop tape and some filler and headed home.

As you can tell if you follow the link to this pattern, it is not rocket sewing (get it? like rocket science!) which made it exactly perfect for a quick afternoon project. In fact, I liked it so much, I decided my friend’s mom needed choices for her port pillow, because, some days your mood doesn’t match the fabric, so you need options. And I made a couple more. All in all, I made 3 in about 45 minutes.

When I gave these to my friend, she was so excited. She had cancer herself several years ago and knew exactly what I was talking about when I said they recommended port pillows and was very pleased to be able to give these to her mom.

I like these so much, I think I will make some more and donate them to our local cancer care facilities.

If mom lets me, I’ll be back to share more with you all soon. In fact, I am headed up to see her this weekend so we can make a chemo quilt. So look for that soon. In the meantime, mom will continue to wow you with her fancy projects…I’ll just be over here sewing the simple stuff.

Panels

I always find panels a little tricky. Do I use them as a focal point of a quilt and add block and/or borders around them? What do I do with them? I have admired the Hoffman Dream Big Floral panels for several years now. And I admire all of the quilters who use their embroidery machine to quilt each petal of the flower, but I am not usually a follower and I truly love having something a little different than the norm. I found this pattern Fractured Flowers by Cindi McCracken designs and thought I can do something with this. So, I visited one of my favorite local quilt shops and bought one Dream Big Floral Aurora panel and a great batik fabric that coordinated. And started pressing, cutting, & sewing, and pressing, cutting, & sewing and pressing, cutting, & sewing and pressing, cutting, & sewing……….

This was an easy sew-together block because it was a half-square log cabin. But I knew I could not make one wrong cut because if I did, I would have to purchase another panel (and these panels are not exactly cheap). So I turned off all electronics, televisions, and music (sometimes I get so into the music I start singing and dancing around and lose focus of the project at hand). Once I had cut all the strips I just needed to keep focused to make sure I was seeing the correct strip on the correct block, panel strips on the last round of batik strips, and batik strips on the last round of panel strips. As I said, this is just sewing half-square log cabin blocks but keeping the strips in the right order is not for the distracted quilter.

I cut and sewed and pressed and sewed some more and ended up with 2 big blocks. Then, another scary cut. Anytime I cut a sewed block I am always a little frightened, but it worked just like the pattern said. I sewed the cut pieces of one block onto the other block and there you have it. A very interesting and pretty quilt. Now I am an old-style quilter, so this took me a bit to fall in love with because my brain says you need a dark, light, and medium fabric, and this quilt definitely does not have that. So, I am learning that some of the old rules can be bent, and you can have a stunning result.

With one panel now made into a quilt, it was time to try it again. Back to the local quilt shop and another panel. This time I purchased a Dream Big Dance Teal panel. This panel did not have as many color variations, so I decided to add more interest by using a stripe fabric with it. I wanted all my stripes to be going the same way so I drafted the blocks on graph paper and cut them up just like I would when I cut and sewed them and to my amazement, the stripes all worked. Hooray, because I was afraid this was going to be a big pain and end up on the shelf of ‘never touch again in this lifetime.’

Panel quilt number two and now I can’t decide which one I like better. I love the richness of the Floral panel but it seems like there is a bit of whimsy Dance panel.

Christmas Gift

Did you use your sewing talents to create unique Christmas gifts? I did and it reminded me of when my daughters were young and I made them faux fur coats for Christmas. I found those pictures and really enjoyed those memories from 35 years ago.

This year I wanted to create something unique for a granddaughter and I decided that the Pink Pony Patterns Denver Double Zip Bag was the bag to make. The first thing I had to decide on was the best fabric, so I went to my fabric stash and found this plain black vinyl that I have had for nearly 10 years and hadn't found the perfect project for it. So after looking at the vinyl for hours and changing my mind at least 10 times I decided I had the tools to make this vinyl look even better and give it some texture. I used my Babylock Solaris and embroidered large piece of the vinyl using one of the built in Fills. I hooped a piece of tear away stabilizer in my 10 5/8"x16" Dime Snap-Hoop Monster, floated the vinyl and let the Solaris do its magic and transform my plain vinyl into a patterned vinyl. Once the vinyl was stitched, I cut my pieces out and started sewing.

The Denver Double Zip is not a difficult bag to sew but in full disclosure my first attempt ended up in the trash. I did not read the directions closely enough and when I got to the final seam line I could see that this bag was doomed. So I pitched it into the nearest trash can and started over, this time paying close attention to the written instructions. I added some fun little charms as zipper pulls and a long strap to make it a crossbody bag .

As you can see my granddaughter did receive her super cute crossbody bag and it looks great.

And now I think I need to make one of these bags for myself.

The vinyl I used for the project

Look how the embroidery changed the look of the vinyl!

The finished product with one of my favorite models

When you just know

If you have sewn for a while, I am sure you have seen a piece of fabric and known exactly how you wanted to use it. When I found this fabric I knew I had the perfect pattern for it. I have used this pattern many times and I always love the results.

With the perfect fabric and pattern, I knew this was going to be the best gift for my book club friend.

This pattern is quick to put together and since I have made this one more than 5 times, it is a quick stitch together for me. I literally spend more time figuring out what fabric to use and where it is going to go in the quilt than I do cutting and stitching it together.

I used my Babylock Regent machine to machine quilt the interior pieced area of the quilt. Outlining the books on the shelves and quilting grain lines in the wood look smashing pieces.

For the border, I used my Babylock Solaris to embroider a border design. It took me a few tries to get comfortable using the border designs but now I get perfectly stitched borders each time.

I was pleased with the way this quilt turned out, and my friend was so speechless when she opened it, she had tears.

I think this one was a great success.