Scrapers pot holders

Here is another way to use up some of those quilting scraps we collect from quilt making.  I made this one for myself after noticing that my potholders were getting a little yucky.  I periodically make some for myself because its a fun quick project and it's nice to have something pretty in the kitchen.  For this one, I used 1 1/2 inch squares in 3 colors.  The colors are placed on the diagonal.  I used leftover cotton batting for the filling.  They also sell batting that is insulated which works very nicely.  If you use the insulated type, you don't need as many layers.  You can add the traditional tab on the corner if you wish but, I never hang them so, I skipped this step.

I might make more for Christmas.  They are great gifts.

Paper Quilting

I just bought a new Gelli Plate which is a way of making unique, one of a kind, paper in whatever color, patterns and variations you can dream up.  It is so much fun to play with.  I'm still in the learning process but, if you have any interest in this, there are a lot of videos on youtube on this subject.  Here is what the package looks like:

Package front

Package back with directions

View of a corner of the Gelli Plate

I pulled out some of my stencils (including quilting ones!) and just went to town with the paint.  Here is a sampling:

Using various colors and tools for Paper

I will use these for backrounds of ATC's but, while checking out youtube, I ran across a lady that used these for paper quilting.  I have enjoyed paper quilting myself so, I thought that was a great idea.  In mine, I used one inch squares and then cut those in half into triangles.  In her video, she used the one inch squares and did a graduation of hues and colors through the picture "quilt".  Here are a couple of my works.  I use foam board as a base and make grid lines before even starting.

This is a great craft that crosses over into paper and quilting so, if you love working with both, this is the project for you.  Just go through you favorite quilting patterns and give it a try.  Triangle and square designs are the best to work with for this but, you could easily do a paper applique using die cuts etc.

Rubber Stamp and Collage website

I was lucky enough to meet the artist who does wonderful Rubber Stamp sets.  She has some beautiful things.  I love all of the sets but with Christmas coming up, I will probably get one of those.  She also has collage packs.  Check out her website:

http://www.tweetyjill.com/

On the quilting front, I have completed about 11 squares of the vintage green quilt.  Each of the squares is made up of 4 mini squares with a total completed block size of 8 1/2 inch.   I'm not in a huge hurry on this one though.

I've mostly been working on Artist trading cards and concentrating on Halloween themed ones.  It's so much fun to trade with other folks and see the creative ideas people come up with.  Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and saw a wooden sign that said "The Witch is In".  That made me laugh so, I decided I'll have to make an artist trading card with that saying and with a witch on it.  I also have some swaps coming up different cards with these subjects:  skeleton, vampire, pumpkin, owl, black and orange and for non-Halloween, I have a vintage theme and a santa card.

I recently joined some swaps for Inchies.  Those are like Artist Trading cards (ATC's) but the size is 1 inch square.  I completed a Halloween one and just joined a flower one.  Here is a picture of the Halloween ones.

Well, that's it for today
Happy Quilting!

Dearie Paper Dolls

If you love paper dolls, here is a fun website for you

http://freedeariedollsdigistamps.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html

These are all FREE digital stamps which you can download, color etc your own way.  She imports at a very small size so, you may want to consider enlarging her once you import her into the computer especially, if you giving these to a child to color and cut out.  Here is a picture of the basic body and one outfit colored and cut out.  The surrounding papers are other outfits this website offers.  Be sure to add tabs to the dresses if you want to make them an actual paper doll.  Also, if you want to make it a paper doll, I suggest gluing lightweight cardboard to the back of the doll before you cut her out.  This will give her extra support.

There are so many things on this website that you can dig through so, be ready to spend some time there and really explore it.  I have a folder on my computer just for digital stamps like these.

On the quilt front, I've only sewn a little but, I do have a few of the blocks done.  I talked about the mini blocks in the last blog.  Four of these are sewn together to make a regular sized block.  Here is a picture of that.  I have a huge number to go yet but as long as I make steady progress, I'm happy.

Next quilt

I decided on my next quilt.  It's actually a combination of ideas from various quilts and patterns I have seen.  It's a simple design but it meets the basic goal I had for this quilt which was to make the top purely out of scraps.  I pulled out all my green and beige colors and began cutting 4 1/2 inch squares from the green and 2 1/2 inch squares from the beige.  The beige is then attached to one corner of the green, trimmed and flipped so I get a small triangle in each corner.  I started laying it so I can see if it will come together like I thought and I'm definitely going to go through with this design.  Since the squares are fairly small, I'll be cutting, sewing and ironing these small blocks for awhile!  I try to do this type of thing in batches because I want to enjoy the process and I don't want it to feel like work.  After all, this is suppose to be a fun hobby.

As I work on this quilt, I will keep you posted on my progress and possibly fit in a few more small projects in between.

Happy quilting everyone!

PS:  This will probably be a gift and the person receiving it loves vintage fabrics so, these are all vintage fabric designs.

Completed mini blocks as of today

Sewing the 2 1/2 inch square to the larger green one

After it is sewn, its flipped and trimmed to 1/4 inch

Now it's flipped back and ready to be ironed

Mini blocks laid together in 2 rows

Mini blocks in 4 rows and now the design starts to show

Dotee Doll Swap

I worked on another Dotee doll for a Thanksgiving swap.  When I think of Thanksgiving, I'm reminded of the wonderful ones that my mother did as I was growing up and for many years after that.  She always had a white linen table cloth and used the fancy dishes.  This doll is in white and off white symbolizing those beautiful dinners.  She has an embroidered body with gold hair.  Her hair was a golden braided cord which is often used in drapes.  I unwound it for the curly look.  As usual she has a cord to hang her with and the tradional Dotee tail.

I was so excited when I saw a youtube video on making paper out of plastic grocery bags.  It's such a wonderful idea to reuse items instead of throwing them out.  Here are some of the pieces of paper I made and painted.  They will be backround papers for artist trading cards.  If you want to give it a try, I also posted a video.  I love this kind of stuff!

Here is the how to video

It's done (well almost)

I finished the binding up today so, I took pictures of the completed quilt.  I will wash it next because it still has some chalk marking lines on it but, other than that, it's done.

For the binding, I cut 2 inch strips and sewed it on with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  I used the traditional method of mitering the corners.  Here are the final shots of making the binding strips and 2 quilt pictures.  I had to have at least one shot that included the back!

I have a few artist trading card swaps going so, I'll be busy with that in the next few days.  I'm hosting a Halloween one which ends tomorrow.  It's all fun stuff!

I'll be back soon with the next project!

Adding strips of binding.  Place at this angle and sew along the blue line

Trim to 1/4 after sewing

Once the binding was sewn down on one side, I flipped it over and used this stitch to finish it off.  You can also hand sew it down

Front

Front with lining shown

Next project??

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the quilting now on the black and white quilt so, it should finish up in the next few days.  After the quilting is done, the only thing left is the binding.

As this project nears completion, I'm already starting to think about what I want to do next.  I get inspiration from quilting magazines but, if I save everyone I bought, I would run out of room so, I tear out the pages that are my favorites and put them in sleeves in a binder.  I pulled out 3 possible choices from that.  I really want to work on a scrap quilt to lower my quantity of small pieces.

I'm also considering a Christmas tree skirt.  I bought a pattern this summer which is called Christmas Celebration by Judy Niemeyer quilting.  I wish the store had a kit because I may have bought that.  I'll have to figure out the fabrics though and I'm not sure I'm up to that challenge right now.

I took a picture of the choices I'm considering.  I also took a couple of pictures of my stash and how I organize it.  These are the smaller pieces which generally run about the size of a fat quarter more or less.  I organize them by color.  To keep them from getting all messed up in the drawer, I used foam board which I covered with paper and taped to the drawer bottom.  It works really nicely.  I used a heavy duty packing type tape.  It's clear but, you can't see it anyway because of the fabric.

Dresser drawer with dividers plus blue and green fabrics

4 possible patterns for the next project

Another drawer of fabrics.  There are 4 drawers (plus bins etc in other spots)!

I'm getting a lot of use out of this dresser.  I actually got it at a garage sale for only $10.00.  A coat of paint and some new drawer pulls and it was ready for use!

Quilt update and Lederhosen project

I'm a little over half way completed with the quilting on the Black and White quilt.  I put my three layers together (see picture) and I used basting spray.  I like that much better than pins but, it can be a little tricky.  I found that if I baste the back to the batting first then make sure that is smooth prior to adding and basting in the top layer.

I got all the lines, for quilting, traced on using a see though ruler.  My machine has a built in Quilting foot but, on my old machine, I just changed out the foot prior to doing a quilting project.

Layers sandwiched together ready for quilting

I put this project on hold again because my daughter called and said they were going to Oktoberfest and asked my to make a Lederhosen outfit for my baby Grandson.  He is 3 months old.  Since it's a costume, I used felt because I thought it looked closer to the traditional leather material used in Lederhosen.  I put a 2 inch strap which will go from the top of his pants, around his neck and back down again to the pant area.  My daughter will place buttons on the straps once she tries it on him so an exact fit can be obtained.

For the "bib" part, I enjoyed being able to use the decorative stitches from my machine along with bits of ribbons I have.  Since I'm obsessed with ric rac ribbon lately, I had to add some of that.  The bib is sewn to one side of the strap and on the other side is velcro.  I did it that way so it can easily be put on the baby without trying to pull it over his head.

Felt cut for straps and bibs

Ribbons and stiching in place.  I put the back of the bib on after I did the trims and stitching.  My maching kept jamming when I tried to do 2 layers of the felt and the dense stitching but, it worked fine with one layer and rayon thread.

The finished Lederhosen top

This shows how one side has velcro so the baby can be easily dressed

 Now, I can't wait to see him all decked out for Oktoberfest!

Halloween napkins and Black and White quilt

I finished up the embroidery project with the spider web.  I made these napkins:

Halloween Napkins

I think these would look cute a number of ways.  I thought you could even put one or two lining a candy bowl for the trick or treaters.  The link to the pattern is in the previous posting if you want to give it a try.  

The Black and White quilt top is now done.  I added in the extra column and that is exactly what is needed.  It looks in balance now.  I've got a few pictures showing how I cut the embroidery blocks.  All the blocks are 9 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches square.  On the embroidery blocks, those were rough cut for the hoop prior to embroidery and once that was completed, I used the see through ruler to make sure the design was centered in the black prior to cutting.

The next step will be to put my quilt layers together.
See you soon - happy sewing!

Black and White embroidery work quilt and other projects

I completed the embroidery squares for the quilt and will post pictures tomorrow when I cut them into squares.  I did decide to work on some other embroidery projects since I have the machine set up for that mode.

I found the cutest design for Halloween on a free design website

I thought it had an elegant but slightly creepy look to it with the spider.  I'm working on that project today and will have it completed tomorrow.  I'll post pictures of that also.  If you are interested in getting the design, it is free and here is the link

http://www.embroiderthis.com/spscbofrde.html#sthash.UoIuj8ov.dpbs

The site is named Embroider this and has many other cute free things.

Black and White Quilt

You may remember that awhile back I posted a picture of the black and white quilt that I had been working on.  I put it up because I got a little frustrated with it and knew it was out of balance.  It was not wide enough so, I'm fixing that now.  I'm going to add an extra column which involves making 3 more squares with embroidery.

To embroidery the squares, I use the 360/200 loop with my machine, black sulky embroidery thread, sulky stabilizer and white embroidery bobbin thread.  I really love this set of patterns and I'm still impressed on how the machine just sews it up for you once it's all set up.  I plan to finish the 3 remaining embroidery squares today.

Quilt before column is added

Supplies for embroidery square

Machine set up for square

Fancy Nancy continued

I think I will call her completed now.  After my last posting, I finished the clothes.  I made a skirt underlining with tulle.  I just made a very long rectangle, folded it in half, basted it along the top and gathered it together at the waist.  For the skirt, I did another long triangle and did some decorative trims and finishes.  The pink trim along the bottom I bought a long time ago and I guess it was just waiting for this doll because it seemed to go just right.  I decided to use my remaining feather boa material for an actual boa around her arms.  Lastly, I connect flowers to her hands and tied some ribbon it it.  I also put one small ribbon in the hair.

Sewing the outer skirt

Doll front

Doll side

Doll back

Fancy Nancy doll continued

The hair and underwear are completed now.  I varied from the pattern on the clothes.  The pantaloons are made from white eyelet material.  I used the same pant pattern as used in the Annie doll from a few weeks ago.  It's simply a rectangle shape with a slit up the middle to separate the legs.  I decided to add a corset so, I made a long rectangle shape for that, used eyelets to tie it and some decorative ribbon across the top.  I'll be tackling the outer clothes next.  The pattern does not have shoes but, I'm debating on whether to add some.

Pantaloon pattern.  Cut it 5 1/2 inches by 5 1/2

Rectangle piece of fabric (doubled, sewn and flipped right side out).  Trim and eyelets added

Back of corset

Doll with hair and underwear 

Fancy Nancy Doll

I got the body together for the free doll pattern listed in the last post.  She is coming along well.  I have not really made many changes.  The only ones I did was to skip the paddle stick in the body.  In place of that, I made sure the body was stuffed firmed and the head sewn closely to the body.   Also, I ran out of freezer paper so, instead of buying more, I just copied the pattern, cut it out and traced directly on the fabric itself.  This works fine but, if you have the freezer paper, that is easier.

Lastly, I decided I wanted her legs crossed so, instead of sewing each leg to the side of the body, one is sewn more toward the front.  I simply crossed the legs and saw where they fell against the body and sewed it down.  I does not matter too much because her clothes will be sewn on permanently.

Here is what she looks like so far:

Pattern traced on doubled fabric (right sides together)

Seam sewn on pencil line first THEN cut (it's easier that way)

Legs crossed (note how the one leg is more toward the middle)