My Sewing Space

A couple of years ago I started assembling these quilt blocks with my daughter. It was a good project to work on together and my scrap bins were over flowing. We worked on it on and off in between other projects, usually eight or ten blocks at a time. I figured we'd do it until we had enough for a twin size quilt and then see if we wanted to keep working on it. This is twin size and we are done. The original inspiration is here and the accompanying tutorial for paper piecing the blocks is here . We made our blocks 8.5" square because we used the 8.5" x 11" printer paper we had on hand. I just eyeballed the placement of the white strips, so those don't all line up precisely, but I'm okay with it. I really like the variety of colors combined with the white strips. The diamond shapes and variety of stripe widths keep the eye moving, but the white provides some grounding, too. I don't have plans to finish this in the immediate future because...

A couple of years ago my mom gave me this kit to make a quilted Christmas wallhanging. This year I was determined to get it made up so I can enjoy it. I bumped it up on the to-sew list over some other things that had definite deadlines. The sewing wasn't at all complicated and assembling the top went very quickly. I followed the layout guide as exactly as I could. Some of the fabrics included were different than those used in the diagram. The red for the ornament was different from the blue and green, so I put it in the middle. But, I didn't consider how that would affect the border blocks. There is a lot of green in the lower left hand corner that I didn't notice until I had it all together. I haven't put the binding on yet, but I really like the candy cane stripe fabric included for it. The ornament tops are machine appliqued. I started hand embroidering the hooks, but it was taking a long time and wasn't looking that great so I ripped it out and stitched...

Yay! The quilt is done! I worked on finishing the binding in lots of small chunks of time last week. Some of those chunks looked like this: My kids love doing workbooks. I don't require this - really, I don't. But, I'm quite happy to sit and help them while I stitch. So many things I love about this quilt... ...the stitch pattern and texture ! ...the colors ! ...the back (which I will want to see as much as the front)! ...the stitch pattern and texture (did I mention that already?)! ...it's both useful and beautiful ! ...now that's it's done I can start thinking about the next big thing!

I quilted! There is a lovely quilt shop near my mom's house that offers a Gammill longarm quilting machine for rent. So, I took my flimsy , quilt back and batting along when we went to visit her. Before you can use the machine, you have to take a one-on-one class where they teach you about the machine and different quilting patterns. After the instruction, you're left with some time to practice the patterns. I went back another day to do my quilt. A very minimal amount of the class was about loading the quilt on the machine, so most of that was new on the second visit. I don't remember exactly how all the quilt parts are put in the machine, but I do know I thought it was quite genius. The quilt back and top are attached to separate rollers that keep the fabric straight and taut. The quilt sandwich gets rolled or unrolled in order to quilt certain parts. You stand at the end of the machine and move it instead of the quilt. The speed that the machine stitches is regulat...

The top of the quilt is complete! I still can't get over the size of it. You'd think I'd never seen a queen-sized blanket before. I have. I've just never made one. Pardon that stray string.  My excitement level over this quilt has varied a bit. I was pretty excited with the pile of fabrics before I started. Assembling the blocks was enjoyable and soothing (straight seams, lots of pressing, well-behaved cotton, etc). When I started arranging the blocks to determine the layout, I wasn't happy with the look. That was disappointing. The pattern for the quilt has the rectangles arranged vertically, while the quilt that I was inspired by (see previous post ) has them horizontally. I initially planned to follow the pattern since it was the colors and "feel" of the inspiration quilt I was after. But, after being unhappy with it, I recalculated and switched them to vertical. That was an improvement and my excitement rose again when I got some distance f...

I've been wanting to give my bedroom a bit of a makeover for awhile. A month or two ago, we got a good deal on some new furniture and that was a good impetus for me to get moving with the rest of the project, starting with a quilt. After much online searching, I came up with a plan. The inspiration: Marimekko Tilkkula Spice Bed Linens from Crate and Barrel The pattern: Same as the one for this quilt , "Plain Spoken" from The Modern Quilt Workshop . The fabrics: Right now, I'm actually well into the project. The pattern is so simple that it comes together quickly. But, a queen-sized quilt is big. Bigger than anything I've made before. So, the number of blocks needed does make it a bit of a time suck. Tonight or tomorrow I'm hoping to get the blocks arranged in a layout I like.

Just like last year at this time , I was asked to donate something for a charity auction at the school my children attend. I used this pattern to make a set of placemats. The background fabric is a sand-colored linen. I bought five yards of it a few years ago when I happened upon a fabric store that was going out of business while on vacation. I've been using pieces of it here and there - never really a big chunk at a time - and now I've got about a half of a yard left. I'll be sad when it's all gone. The backside is a clamshell printed quilting cotton. The binding is finished by hand (took a long time, but looks really nice) and the vertical quilting lines are about  3/8" apart - pretty dense. These two factors multiplied over six placemats meant that they weren't finished as quickly as the "so simple and easy" endorsement on the pattern had me expecting. But, I'm really happy with how they turned out. The extra effort was worth it. I...

When I made this quilt , I made it a little different than the pattern suggests.  Mine was four feet square and the pattern includes directions for one that is four feet by five feet. That was bigger than I wanted on the wall, but I still made the number of squares as directed in the pattern. That meant I had four leftover from where the bottom row would be, but there were four more also - just extras, I guess.  I took those eight leftover squares and made two small wall-hangings with them. Pardon the shadows in the picture, but I thought the blue sky in the background was too lovely not to capture. I'm not entirely sure that I like them on their own or if I just see them as a smaller variety of the larger one and like them because of that.  They'll go in the box of things for the art sale , I'll forget about them and then re-evaluate at a later date.  Maybe I'll try to sell them, maybe not but I knew for sure that if I didn't finish them now, I never would. ...

Today was the first day this week that we didn't have rain or snow, so I headed outside to photograph the quilt . I'm quite happy with how it came out.  I hope I like it on the wall in our living room.  From a little more distance, you can see the different patterns in the squares/diamonds.  Almost like one of those Magic Eye things (that I have to admit I have never, ever  gotten to work for me.  Not even once). The part of quilting that I like best is the precise piecework.  I just love all those neatly matched seams. I quilted the entire thing with a random meandering/stippling pattern in a medium gray thread.  For this quilt, I like the contrast of the curvy lines with all the straight seams.  It also gives the quilt a cool overall texture.  The stitching is most easily seen from the back of the quilt. When it came time to finish the binding, I was torn about whether or not to do it by hand.  I think that doing it by han...

I've started on a quilt to hang on the wall.  I do have some quilting experience, but haven't done much at all recently.  That previous experience told me that a kit was probably the best way for me to go.  I chose this one. When the kit arrived, I was disappointed with the colors of the batiks, but now that I've been using them I really like them.  Half of the triangles are predominantly darker and half are lighter.  One of each gets sewn together to make 12" squares. This week I got all of the triangles pieced.  The bisecting seam still needs to be sewn on all the blocks.  And that's how it's going to stay for awhile since I'm leaving tomorrow and will be out of town for a few days (spring break!).

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments on my last post.  I really appreciate it.  The online sewing community is fantastic.  I'm glad to be a part of it. This scene in my backyard made me smile today.  I liked the combination of the bright flowers in the quilt on the clothesline and the crop of real flowers (zinnias) in the garden below it, both in the sunshine. I made this quilt just over five years ago while I was waiting for my daughter to be born.  Two weeks before my due date I was restless and anxious and needed something to focus on.  I nearly finished this before she was born.  Now it sits on her bed.  It is throw or lap sized, so it works as an extra blanket for her. My shirt is coming along.  I'm using McCalls 5522 .  It feels like it is slow going, but I'm closer to the end than the beginning.