Field Trips in Fiber

Placemats on the longarm - a tutorial

Today I finished the quilting for the bright QFAH quilt(the second QOV of 4). When I got the the end I realized that I had about 20 inches of extra backing and batting left. It seemed like a good opportunity to make some placements. All of mine are getting a bit ragged and I really need new ones. I also had enough of the backing fabric left to make matching napkins. I looked through stash and found a gray print batik that goes really well with the backing fabric. Here's how I made them:

Cut the batik fabric to the finished size of the placemats. Mine are 12" x 18". Arrange them on the batting with at least 3 inches between each placemat. Stitch each placemat around the edge to hold in in place and then quilt the inside of the placemant. DO NOT STITCH OVER THE EDGE OF THE PLACEMAT FABRIC. (This step goes really fast unless the power goes out with 8 inches of quilting left on the last placemat. If that happens this takes about 2 hours but you get a nice nap break.)

Trim the batting to the edge fo the placemat - do not cut the backing. This is really easy to do with applique scissors if the fabric is still mounted on the quilting frame. 

Trim the backing leaving about 1.5" on each side.

Now comes the only hard part - pressing up the hem. These directions are for mitered corners. Press the backing over the front with a double fold.

In this photo the bottom edge is folded up twice. Fold the corner of the next side to create the miter.

Open out the diagonal fold and trim about 1/4" from the folded edge to remove some fo the bulk on the corner. Remember to cut this to the outside of the fold!

 

Double fold the hem of the next side and then place a triangle of fusible web right on that mitered edge. I did this so that I would not have to stitch the miter.

Fold and press all 4 corners and sides and then topstitch next to the folded edge.

For the napkins I cut an 18" square of fabric,double folded a narrow hem (no mitering) and then topstitched the hem. Here are the final placemats and napkins. I quilted each placemat with a different motif so I think I could also use them with the back up.

Just another good reason to use extra wide backing fabrics! Not including the 2 hour power outage and taking instructional photos, I think these took about 2 hours to make, start to finish.

 

A few aprons

I a teaching a beginner sewing class at Quilting Adventures in a few weeks (and again in April) and I wanted to make some new samples. I cut them out last night in about an hour and a half and made them all tonight in about 3 and a half hours! They are all from Retro Aprons by Cindy Taylor Oates. They are all really cute patterns and terrific for a beginner sewer. I made the first one from some stash fabrics that I've had for about 4 years. I also have a 3rd fabric of cups in this same group. I think they are really cute fabrics and great for an apron.

  This purple and green one is made from fabric that I bought this week. It's a new line at Quilting Adventures called Floragraphix 2. The whole line is beautiful and I wanted to make one of the samples in something not vintage or retro looking. It's quite a classy apron don't you think? I'm pretty proud of myself for not buying more than enough fabric for this apron.

This last one is made to look truly retro from 30's reproduction fabric and vintage ric-rac trim. It's a very tailored apron with 6 pleats.

These were a lot of fun to make. I think they would be great gifts and they are a great use of stash because most of them use 1 yard or less pieces and offer lots of opportunities for mixing prints.

Now I can just hope that some people sign up for the class!

The final, final Christmas package

I made this for a Chirstmas gift but couldn't show it until I gave it to Kim. She got it today! It's basically a giant envelope. I made it as the packaging for a sewing book but wanted her to be able to use it as a project folder. For the base fabric I basically used the technique in the Fibre&Stitch Checkbook Cover. It's a free project on their web site. I used Timtex as the base and determined the size of the envelope from the book.

It's very pink. I'm over pink.

A Music Pillow

A few weeks ago Ellen (a friend I met through the LQS) read my post about my visit to see my nephew. She has an embroidery machine and offered to stitch out this music design for me. Today I made it into a 20" square pillow. the gray fabric and the music print fabric are left over from my nephew's graduation quilt. The red is left over from the quilt I just made for Anne. I love how it turned out and can't wait to send it to him when he returns to school in a couple of weeks!

Thank you Ellen, the embroidery is PERFECT!

It's just a box

but if you were getting birthday gift Wednesday would you rather have the gift in the plain white box or the black box with the red and silver dots?

I made this for my friend's birthday gift. She doesn't generally read the blog on a regular basis so I hope she keeps to that habit this week. I basically used the Fibre&Stitch Box tutorial. The inside fabric is hand-dyed. The decoration is foil fused to the box. I cut a top piece big enough for the top and sides and fused WonderUnder circles all over it and then fused the foil to the circles. I cut out the individual pieces after the foiling was done. I have one of those Clover mini-irons and it was really useful on this project. The thread is Sulky rayon that has been in my thread stash for years and the black fabric was a scrap piece just big enough to make the entire box. I love it. I might have to make one for myself! It took less than 2 hours start to finish.

A checkbook cover for the new pen

As I posted yesterday, I won this beautiful hand made pen in a UFO Challenge on MQResource. Today I also received a couple of spools of Wonderfil thread to try. I ignored my long sewing to-do list and decided to kick off the weekend and make an appropriate checkbook cover for the new pen. I think it turned out great - although I'm not sure red is the appropriate color for anything finance related! It looks good with my green wallet though.

I used this tutorial from the Fibre&Stitch web site. There are several really great projects there for free! The Wonderfil Rayon thread (2-ply, 40wt) sewed beautifully. I changed the pattern just a tiny bit. I positioned my pen pocket on the left so that I could pull the pen out with my right hand and I tapered the pen pocket in as I neared the opening to accommodate the bulk of the pen. Cool, huh?

If you haven't posted a comment for my fabric give-away be sure to do so by leaving a comment on this post! The drawing is Sunday evening (US EST).

I also made 10 more blocks for my next QOV Chinese Coins quilt - the blue and brown one. That project is really good for getting me back in the sewing groove. Now I'm ready to tackle the weekend project list!

Clay's Birthday

After I finished the Summer postcards yesterday morning I spent the afternoon playing with two other postcard designs. I'll report on those later - when they are done. But I also got this quick postcard and music pillowcase made for my cousin's son, Clay. We don't know where the music gene originated in our family but that generation seems to have a lot of music talent. Clay plays drums in his high school band. I used the leftover gray/red/black fabrics from my nephew's quilt because Clay's room is primarily red and black. I really like doing something quick occasionally!

I also signed up for the Mixed Media class and ordered my supplies - what fun!

Pillowcases

I wasn't in the mood to quilt last night so I decided to make my nephew a couple of pillowcases to match his quilt. I have LOTS of fabric left over! I also needed one to go with the Hour A Day QOV quilt. It only took about an hour to make all three.

There are several sets of instructions around the web but here's how I make them.

A simple pillow

Remember this list from Wednesday? Here's my first bit of progress.

• finish the binding and label on the baby snails trail.
• make my class notes and the class samples for the Snails Trail class at Quilting Adventures.
• finish my nephews graduation quilt
• make the pillow for my boss
• My Indygo Junction jacket
• My class project from one of the Carol Taylor classes
• I also have to finish the Hour A Day quilt that's currently on the longarm for quilting

My boss is a big sports fan - he loves all sports - but he's first and foremost a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I bought the T-shirt when the Cardinals won the World Series last year. I'm just getting around to completing this for him. This isn't a photo of 2 pillows - it's 2 sides of the same pillow. I fuse a knit stabilizer to the T-shirts to make them more table and I used blue Ultrasuede to make the corded piping. This is a really quick project and guys LOVE them - I can't believe I took almost 5 months to get this done for him!

WIP Wednesday

I'm feeling better today and the conference sessions today were actually interesting and valuable. Tonight there is fund-raising show featuring Dennis Miller. Should be fun!

You might think that because I'm out of town that I don't have a WIP report. One of the side benefits of cleaning out the sewing room was getting my WIP projects in order. So to try to get things a little under control, I've identified these projects that must be completed before I start another new one.  I am glad that Judy has decided to postpone starting another Hour A Day project for a couple of months! This last one has been fun and they are a great way to use stash and make a new charity quilt.

If I finish everything on this list by the end of May, my reward will be taking Sue's Mixed Media class.

Egads! Another UFO!

Thanks for all of the nice comments on the new blog format and my red specs. I hadn't even made the connection that I had changed glasses. I have a serious Jones for eyeglasses and have about 6 pair - these are the oldest but still my favorites!

Today was class day. The bad thing about taking classes is that you generally leave the class with yet another unfinished project. A few years ago I decided that I would not necessarily do class projects. I would allow myself to just make samples. The project from today's class  with Carol Taylor was a big wall hanging. I knew that I did not want another wall hanging but thought I might be able to translate the components into a padded case from my new travel laptop. So the good news is that I still think that the project is good so although it's a new UFO, it's one that I'm excited about. I want to get it done to use to carry my PC to MQX in 2 weeks. Here's the progress so far:

Silk Fusion Tissue Boxes

How nice it was to have the energy and desire to spend yesterday in my sewing room! I did some quilt piecing in the morning and will write about that later. Yesterday evening I went back to Silk Fusion class to work on my 3rd lesson - making a box. Since I spent the week hugging tissue boxes I decided that I wanted my tissue boxes prettier - so my boxes are tissue boxes! I made two - one for my car and one for the large tissue boxes that I use in the house. Let' start with the car box...

Directions follow..

Fleece Blankets and How To

I have finished all of the fleece blankets!  First, for my own memory, here are the directions:

1 - each blanket takes 2 pieces of fleece, 2 yards each.  First I square up each length of fleece.  I pin the longest piece as the "quilt back" to my leaders.  Then I full float the top piece and line it up to the top pinned edge of the back.  I pint it in place about 2" from the edge and smooth out the top over the back.

2 - Using the channel locks, stitch about 4" in from the edge on all 3 sides - this will leave enough fabric for a 4" fringe.

3. Do the quilting and as you progress through the quilt.  As you roll the quilt forward, stitch the 4" edge first before filling in.

4. Trim the edges to 4", cut out the corners and cut the fringe.

And here are the last 3 blankets.  Two of the are done as practice for Nichole  Webb /Jamie Wallen overall techniques and the third uses my new favorite panto - Square Spiral .  I used Superior So Fine thread on all 3.

I'm so glad these are all done!!

Fleece Blankets

OK, I know this isn't anything to get too excited about but they are great practice for the longarm and people love getting them!  Several people at LongarmChat have made these and I  basically followed their instructions.  I have 3 more to make and will take step-by-step photos for the next one so that I have the instructions for myself.  I frequently make something for a gift and then have no documentation on HOW I made it!  I hope the blog motivates me to track not only the end results of my projects but also the "how to" as well.

Anyway, here are the first 2 blankets.  This one is for a young friend - son of a former co-worker.  He's a Patriots fan and it's also the name of his school football team.  I just did a simple stars and loops design with a 4" fringe.  I used Superior So Fine thread in dark blue.  It took only about 3 hours start to finish!

This one is one of four to go to friends DH will visit in a few weeks.  On this one I loosely outlined the daisies and then did a leaf and vine motif in the solid rows.   I used   Superior Rainbows and Highlights   threads.  The time I spend picking thread color for this one was wasted!  You can't see it at all!  I think I will use the So Fine for the remaining 3 blankets, it seems to show better.

The next 2 are solid on both sides so I plan to practice some of Nichole Webb's all-over designs.  These are the perfect size for practice - just enough to get the technique down but not so much to become bored.  In the next installment I will detail my steps in making these.

Now I'm off to help Mom with her unpacking today.