Sunday, March 20, 2011

Makayla's Giraffe

This was a very quick gift for a new baby girl.  It was fun to make and very, very easy.  The pattern is from Red Heart and is the Little Crochet Giraffe.






Sunday, March 13, 2011

New sewing table

The vast majority of my crafting supplies (fabric, machines, tables, etc.) are in storage behind a wall of stuff that would take a long time to get to.  And it's not going to happen while there is snow on the ground.  Also, I don't really have the room I need to use for one of my sewing cabinets.

So my husband surprised me big time on Friday with this new sewing table.  I saw it online and thought it would work perfectly for the space that I have (don't have) and the machine I'm using at the moment.  (I can't wait to get my Singer out and serviced)  I absolutely love it.  The well drops so the machine bed can be level with the table and it has a measuring tape right on the edge for quick measurements.  Here's a picture and I'm off to play with it.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Still quilting

I've just about got the left side of the quilting done, then it's on to the right.  I was going to take a picture, but changed my mind...maybe I'll post one later.  In the meantime, I've learned about Aurifil thread and I have to get my hands on some as it sounds absolutely wonderful.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Let the quilting begin

So today, I finally basted the quilt and started quilting.  I'm hand quilting the top and since I haven't done it in what seems like forever it took a little time to get my rhythm back.  Here's what I've done so far.  Just outline quilting the letter and inside and around the applique background.  Then it's off to the body of the quilt which should go fairly quickly because it's all straight lines.

Here's a picture.


My Ott Light is bleaching out the top of the photo and the angles a little weird, but you can see the progress thus far.  We're getting a bunch of snow right now, so I'm kind of hoping that tomorrow will be too much to get out so I can stay home and quilt.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Jaliyah's quilt update

Today I'm working on finishing the quilt top.  I'm up to putting on the borders.  Here's what I have so far.


This picture actually gives a pretty good rendition of the colors even though I used a flash.  I'll be adding white borders tonight.

"J" is for Jaliyah!



I'm not the world's greatest at applique, just haven't had enough practice, but I thought this came out pretty good.  I had to track down a font that wasn't all curlicue because I just couldn't deal with it...lol  And I wanted a letter that was a little more modern.  Considering I have a Baltimore Album quilt as one of my "to-do's" I'd better start practicing more.  I did needle turn applique on this one, maybe freezer paper would have made it easier.  Anyway...moving on to the borders now. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

A little glitch

Working away on the baby quilt.  Finally found a font that I could live with for the letter J that I'm putting on the quilt.  Trace and cut out the letter, pin it to the block and quickly discover that I haven't got any thread to match the letter.

Well, I do, but it's in storage with ALL OF MY OTHER STUFF!  Sorry to shout, but it was really frustrating.  So now I've put it aside until I return to work on Tuesday when I'll pick up the thread I need.  The worst part is that I know I purchased the color I need to work on some quilt blocks for a swap and not only can I not find the thread I can't even find the bobbins for my sewing machine.  One of which would have had enough thread for me to use for the applique.

Instead of continuing to pout I pulled out the afghan I'm crocheting for my sister and worked on it a bit.

Lory's Warming Stripes Afghan in progress

I really like this stitch, it's a crossed single crochet stitch. You skip one and then go back to crochet in the one you skipped.  It gives it some interesting texture.  But being single crochet, it takes a while to get some size going.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

First quilt start of the year

My cousin became a grandmother for the first time in September (of last year).  I decided to make the baby a quilt.  Chose the pattern, purchased and prepped the fabric and haven't touched it since then.

Today I cut all of the pieces and have started piecing it together.  Not a difficult pattern, but I love it.  I'm hand piecing it, which is actually my preference and will probably hand quilt it as well.  Here's my progress thus far.




The pictures aren't that great, but this is the center portion of the quilt and I will be appliqueing the letter "J" to the center of it in a shade close to the dark pink in the roses.

This is actually the first quilt I have pieced in about four years.  Way too long.  Time to hit the fabric stash with a vengeance.  Cutting out the pieces and sewing them have reminded me of how much I love to quilt.