Quilt Teaser

Last week I was hard at work on my sweet quilt and amazingly, it is all finished....all except for hand sewing the binding on. So instead of spoiling the surprise of the finished product, I am just going to post this, a hint of the glory that is to come:

laptop case

As promised, here is the laptop case that I made for the husbands new laptop. I used a pattern found here, and he picked his fabrics and I went to work. I'll tell you, my sewing machine sure did not like the zig-zag stitches to attach the velcro, but I made it through. I did have my needle snap in half when I was sewing all the bottom layers together at the end which was odd. Anyway, the big point here is that the bag actually fits the laptop as intended! This is a totally new thing for me since I am so bad with measurements, no matter how hard I try. It was a fun project though and it went quick and with all the pieces cut, it was sewn in an afternoon.





Today I will be cutting fabric for a quilt that I have been waiting for months to make! I can't start sewing until I get my new thread (finally making the switch to cotton....which I should have done ages ago but I didn't know) but once I get it, it shouldn't take too long to make. It will be my first attempt at making my own bias tape binding, and probably hand sewing the binding on. So on second thought, maybe it will take a bit longer than I'd like haha. I also have another quicker project I may sneak in, but I guess we'll see :)

Cat Quilt

Well here I am again, back from a long break from crafting, necessitated by a long stay in NJ, including a wedding and honeymoon that were delightful :) The past week or so, after we finally got all our new things settled and got back into our routine, I was able to start back on my projects. I decided that I wanted to try binding a quilt, and that instead of starting with something that I really liked and was afraid to mess up, I would start with a scrap quilt for the cat. I had been thinking about making something for a while to go in his little cube, in case he ever decides to use it or something. So I designed a simple pattern, which incidentally did not use nearly enough of my scraps, and off I went. It is a 26"x27" quilt that when folded fits perfectly in his little box (it was supposed to be 27"x28"....close enough). I just stitched in the ditch around the rectangles for the quilting and used pre-made double fold bias tape from Joanns for the binding. It worked surprisingly well and I think after reading a lot and after this practice run, I am going to try to make my own bias tape and I am going to hand sew the back of the binding on my next quilt. More on that when I get to it. Anyway, aside from a few..um...imperfections (*ahem* crooked rectangles...and borders...*ahem*) I am really proud of it. It is small and was a great step for my quilting.







There are about a bazillion and six other quilts I now want to make and I know that every time I will get a little better at it. I have to be willing to overlook my inability to cut or sew straight, but other than that it is getting easier and more fun even :-P Tomorrow I have a laptop bag that I made to post, and get this, it actually fits the laptop! So there you have it, something to look forward to.

wedding goodies part IV

One of the first things we bought for the wedding, and don't ask me why, were some 9 inch wooden letters. They were on clearance at Michaels and I had a grand time imagining what I would do with them. We got an F that was turned into an L, and O, V, and E and figured we could put it on the cake table...back when we thought we might have a cake. I finally decided to cover them with a layer of batting and then some fabric so they would be kinda squishy. It was not the easiest thing I've ever done, but it came out well. I did two letters in all one fabric and two in patchwork. Let me just tell you, elmers craft bond glue is the best stuff you will ever find. Seriously, it adheres anything!

This is the final result. We still have to figure out where we are going to put them....details, details ha!

I don't think I have any projects lined up that will be finished in any sort of short time frame, but you never know what I'll come up with!

Tote Bag

My new purse is finished! I managed to get it done last week but then slacked on uploading pictures and such, but here it is!







I followed a tutorial on this blog, but kind of modified it to fit my needs. Mainly I made it smaller since I wanted it as a purse, and I added a few pockets inside. I put two smaller ones for my cell phone and chapstick and whatnot, and then a longer one for my recipets and coupons and so far it is working out really well. I also used a layer of flannel inside instead of fusable fleece because I had it already and I didn't need it to be too thick. I really like the way it came out.



I don't know yet what my next project will be. I don't have anything pressing so I think I am going to collect some coupons and go to joanns periodically and get some fabric for a quilt. I have one fabric already that I want to use and the other day I saw some others that would go with it perfectly. That will probably be a more long term project though. And I think I need to make myself a pin cushin if I can find a cute pattern I like. That's all for now! I will put up a wedding craft later this week :)

covered boxes

I know it may be hard to believe, but I actually think I am going to get both of my intended crafts done this week! Hopefully I will be finishing up number two before dinner.

I know that this is not new and I must be the last person to do it, but I decided that I needed to cover some ugly boxes in fabric. See, I have been storing momentos for years in this ugly box:

And it needed a new life. It was dirty and kind of falling in, but behold! it has new life! I just never knew how to easily attach the fabric before and after looking through Your Space, I was inspired and off I went to Joanns. I ended up getting some Heatnbond iron-on adhesive and let me just tell you, it is fabulous! So easy to use and now my box looks like this:

Weird fabric choices, absolutely, but I wanted to use what I had and I kinda like it. And it is still much prettier than it was before. Oh the possiblities! The things I can cover in fabric with this stuff! Man, I am so excited haha. Anyway, that is my first project for this week and maybe tomorrow I will put the other one up.

restart!

Alright, it has officially been forever since I posted any of my crafts. Tax season just kinda ate my life and I didn't get a whole lot done or have the time and energy to post about it. But, that is all over now and I am settling into a summer of crafts :) Hopefully there are a number of things I will get done this summer, but before I start on all that (the two projects already lined up for this week) I have two very important projects that I did manage to get done this spring.


The first is a set of curtains. We moved to a new place the end of February and I really wanted to make some curtains for the bedroom. They are huge and block a lot of light and it is delightful! I used 3 fabrics, a stripe one for the front, a plain brown for the back, and a blue and white design across the bottom that goes all the way around. I kind of made up the design from a number of things I had seen and just threw it together and I am really happy with them. I opted for tabs on the top and, while not the easiest hanging solution, I like the way they look although next time I think I would make them a little wider. The picture is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.

The other project is what I consider my first real quilt! Mostly because it involved actual quilting ha! Anyway, for my cousins baby girl, I thought it would make a nice blanket for her to play on the floor using an old snoopy t-shirt (they wanted a snoopy theme) as the center piece and I found a pattern that is basically waves of triangles. Let me start by saying that as cute as it turned out, I will definitley limit my work with triangles in the future, I hate them. I took a pattern for a single quilt square, and just enlarged everything so that it ended up about 40" x 40"....I say about because well....I'm not even sure how close it is. Have I mentioned I have a problem with measurements and exactness?? Well anyway, I am really happy with the result. My quilting was very simple and I just stiched in the seams to hold it together through washing. Good thing too since the batting did bunch a bit when I washed it. I also decided not to pre-wash the batting so it would get a slightly puckered look (I used 80% cotton batting) and I like it a lot. I thought it was a good start.

I have two other small quilts that I would like to make sometime this year, but I haven't decided exactly when or for whom said quilts will be made for. They also require minimal quilting, but I figure starting basic and small will help build my confidence up in case I ever get crazy. My project for this week has me using piping for the first time so hopefully that will go well. Hopefully there will be one, if not two, finished projects to post this week or early next week. I also have a wedding craft or two that I finished. Alright, that's enough out of me for now, but I promise I'll be back and it won't take 4 months.