Finish It Up Friday

I have finished several projects this week. It is so nice to work on smaller things such as bags. I feel like I have accomplished so much unlike working on a quilt.

I also started a new BOM (even though I have kept up with the first)! It is the Modern BOM 2 from Sew, Mama, Sew. The blocks are designed by Alyssa from Pile 'o Fabric. We will make six large blocks which will be a nice change. I chose Auburn colors hoping to make it for Philip, but I had to add a gray and light blue. I hope he likes it!

Trying New Things

After reading other quilting and seeing blogs for several years, I have seen lots of amazing free motion quilting. This means that the quilter (most of them) does not use the machine to help move the quilt to make stitches. Because I don't draw well I always assumed that it would be too hard. I think I did try a looooong time ago, but I didn't know what I was doing and tried to stitch over.a piece of paper with a pattern while using the feed dogs on the machine. What a disaster!
I have, in the past few, weeks watched many YouTube videos from Leah Day's The Free Motion Quilting Project. She has many, many videos in which she demonstrates quilting different designs.
I also was inspired after watching the videos from a QAL at Pile O Fabric. She also includes lots of helpful information for newbies (and made me want to join in with the QAL). However, I have a lot already on my plate with moving. I also don't want to make and then ruin by quilting all those blocks.
Yesterday while Collin napped, I got everything set up. Well, I should have ordered a few more tools but went for it without them. Below you can see my first attempt at stippling. There were a few places where my lines crossed. I am still very proud of myself for attempting this. I now know that with a little more practice, it is do-able!

Spools Quilt Finish

I finally finished the Spools quilt that I have been blogging about! I am so excited that it is finished and can't wait to give it back to Nana complete!

This is the whole quilt! It ended up being about 60x65.

Another picture of the whole quilt. I had a great time putting each block together and also putting the rows and columns together. It was pretty difficult to make sure that it was all balanced.

A lady from Nana's quilt guild quilted this for us. She quilted back and forth through each spool and loops in between. It really looks like thread on a spool and tangled thread. She did a great job!

For the backing, I chose to make another column of spools to line up with the front. The long-arm quilter did a great job of matching it up so the quilting would be the same. I know Nana can't wait to get her quilt back. She plans to keep it on her bed. :)

Not Much Action

I haven't sewn too much since Christmas.  We got the Spools quilt done by a long-arm quilter.  I am waiting for my mom to bring it this week so I can get the binding sewn on.  My grandmother was so excited and surprised when she opened the box with the quilt top in it!

The story behind the quilt: My grandmother has been quilting for almost as long as I can remember.  She has sewn for most of her life, but after she retired she learned to quilt.  One Christmas, I asked her to buy me a beginning quilting book.  After I got the book, she helped me make a very simple patchwork quilt.  It is not big at all, but it was my first quilt and is still special.  From there, I started reading blogs and finding patterns online, always calling Nana when I ran into a problem or needed an opinion.  She taught me how to use a rotary cutter, how to tack a quilt, how to make and attach border, and how to make and attach binding.  Without her help, I would not know anything about quilting nor would I have ever looked into getting started.  I owe all of my quilting to her.  I wanted to make something special for her to thank her for teaching me.  When I saw the Spools quilt pattern, I knew it was perfect for Nana since it related to sewing and quilting.  I can't wait to finish the binding up and attach a label and give the quilt back to its new owner!

The other quilt was for my mother-in-law.  I took the batting and everything to finish it when we went home for Christmas, but I did not have ANY time to do it.  I accidently left the batting there so I am waiting for that to come with my mom this week too. 

In other news, I am excited to say that I am in the process of testing a new pattern for Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns.  After the pattern is released, I can show more.  :)

Christmas Presents

This year I decided to make two quilts as presents. Here are a few pictures of one of them.

Baby Girl Quilt

After finding out that some close friends of ours were expecting a baby girl, I knew I had to get to work on making her a quilt. (Because I want her to have one and because I know I will have to finish it before Collin is born.)  I knew I wanted to use the Skittles pattern by Kate Conklin Designs.  After being told their nursery would be centered around anything pink, I went searching for fabric. One day last week, I took P to the quilt shop with me while I was looking for fabrics for this quilt.   I setteled on Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille and chose three gray prints and three pink prints.  I paired it with Kona Snow which was the perfect match! 

Here is a bad cell phone picture from before I basted it.  (Not a good idea to be 36 weeks pregnant and crawling on the floor!)

The quilt top was easy to make.  It only took me a day.  I decided to make the quilt top a little longer and added a 1.5" (1" finished) section between each row.  Since I made the top, I have been out of town and I am just getting back to work on it.  Today I had a new adventure.  As usual, I used my walking foot for the quilting.  However, I decided to use the guide bar that came with it rather than tape to make the straight lines.  About a quarter of the way through, the entire bar fell off.  Obviously this did not make a very straight or accurate line.  I ended up "unquilting" the entire thing.  :(  I wanted to be happy with the results of the quilt and I knew I would not be happy with a very crooked line.  The photo below shows where I was taking out the stitches. 

 Because the blocks finished up at almost 12" wide, I was able to quilt three lines about three inches apart.  I also quilted down the center of the 1" sections I added and then on either side of these sections. 

 I am not crazy about the quilting through the middle of the sections but it was the first part I did.  I am hoping it will look better after it is washed.  It just looks quite indented to me right now.  Overall, I am very happy with the quilting.  

   Now I am off to make true bias binding using a print from Ruby by Bonnie and Camille so I can get it attached and the quilt sent on its way.  :)

Sewing for Sister and Baby

After enjoying a nice, long weekend in the Upstate, it was back to our world on Tuesday.  Since then, I have worked on making two bags for my sister.  She loves her gathered clutch I made her over a year ago.  Unfortunately, it looks dingy and she has too much in it.  She requested a larger bag that can hold her money and receipts.  After seeing the Wide Mouth Bag on Noodlehead, I figured this may be the one.  The zipper is attached in a special way so that the top of the bag opens very wide.

Below you can see the two different bags I made.  The top one follows the original tutorial as far as size.  However, I decided that it was too tall for her to keep her money in.  I decided to make another bag two inches shorter.  The bottom is what it turned out like.  I am happy with the bag, but do not like the way the divider did in the middle.  I will have to keep working on that.  Overall, the bag will serve its purpose.  Now I have to make another one for her friend just like the little one. 

Since coming back home, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what we still need for baby.  One thing I knew we needed were some burp cloths.  I have been saving this blue, green, and gray flannel for a special project, and I believe this is it!  The green I am using to make some cloth wipes that we can use for anything.  I also found some white chenille and some blue terrycloth that I am going to use for the back of some of the cloths.  I can't wait for baby to be here and be able to use all these things!  Only 8 more weeks until his due date!  :)