Aliens for Sarin

Here's an older one.  This is a quilt I made for my friend Bethany and her baby boy Sarin.  What I love about Bethany is how non traditional she is, and so she let me have free reign on his baby quilt. Naturally, I had some alien fabric that I was itching for a reason to use, so I used it here.

I just drew up the appliques based off the aliens on the fabric.

I needed something fairly quick because I didn't manage to start it until the week before Christmas because of course, so this is what I came up with.  Very simple, but pretty cute.

I didn't have the time or cash to have it quilted professionally, so I just did a simple all over with stars and loops.

And by all reports, he loved it.

Perpetua Patterns: Mount Hood

I finally got around to doing one of Perpetua Patterns' patterns!  I have to say, I'm biased...I think Perpetua Patterns is a great pattern company, because not only are they local, but I know the dynamic duo behind it and they're really great people.

We've carried their patterns for a couple years now, and it's taken me this long to get to it, but I chose to do the Mt. Hood pattern

The cool thing about Perpetua Patterns is that these patterns are based off real photographs that Brian and Heather take and digitize themselves into applique patterns.  So, this quilt of Mt. Hood really is from one of their original photographs.

But as always...I never quite follow the pattern.  I decided to make the mountain at night,

I added in some wispy clouds with Angelina fibers....those are pretty fun to work with!

Sweet Pea Manor

Well here's a throwback Thursday for you...

This is an oldie.  I got the pattern back when Judith owned the shop, and started it a few years ago.

 Let me start by saying, it's a (really) cute pattern.  It's got good bones!  But, and this may be shocking to hear out of me, that cover sample is just too much.  There is so much stuff going on, and it's all bright and while the colors are all very different...the tones are not.  Excluding the yellow (light) and the blue (dark), everything else is tonally similar and I think some neat details get lost in all that.

So, I changed it up.  I kept the bright colors, but added some more mid tones and black and white. I omitted the stars in the sky, And no, the sky isn't freakin' pink.

Almost there...

The center is complete!

The baskets kicked my ass for some reason.  I guess subconsciously I wanted them to be bear paws.

Well executed, but wrong. 

All that's left now is to get the borders on, which, I haven't decided what those are yet, and to quilt it up. 

Dino Dig!

Every now and then a pattern finds its way to me more than once, and more than twice.  It's not necessarily a bad thing!  That just means that A.) I know what I like, and B.) my family and friends know what I like.

This pattern found its way to me three times. 

It's a cute pattern!  The dino on the middle right has something strange going on (a long-necked herbivore with carnivore teeth? Exsqueese me?), but overall, it's cute.  So I made it and we kitted it up.

Nevermind my face...I was vexed at shorting myself just shy of 3" of border on that one side.  Damn it. And yes, the dinos all got button eyes after it was quilted.  No eyeless dinos here!

But, I do have to brag for a minute...

THAT CORNER, Y'ALL.  It is so sharp and so clean!  So much so I had to take a picture of it, because otherwise it may not have actually happened.  (Pics, or it didn't happen!)

Bucky McFinn

It's pretty rare where I find a book and I like every single quilt in it.  I think you probably can relate there, I can't be the only one!  Usually I will like a couple of things in it, but I also usually see a few stinkers.

Well, I have found one of those rare books in which I like every single quilt in the book.  But...it just so happens to be a kid's quilt book.

Animal Parade By Cheri Leffler is full of really cute quilts targeted to kids, but I fell in love with the sea life quilt in there.  I made it for no other reason than I liked the quilt and that we had the perfect, silly sea fabric to go with.

Most of you have seen this hanging in the shop already over the past few months, but I'm just now getting around to posting it on here...

I call the quilt Bucky McFinn because if you look at the shark in the border, he has a CRAZY overbite.  Mom and I named him Bucky McFinn - no one's afraid of him because he can only bite himself!

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Applique

Pinterest is AMAZING.  There is so much to see there, so many great patterns and ideas for the pinning.  The downside to it though, is sometimes things get pinned without a link to a pattern, or any credit to the designer. 

Such is the case with this quilt. 

I have no idea who designed it, what pattern it is, if any.  All I know is the blocks are made from Moda's Spooktacular line from 3-4 years ago, and probably a layer cake of it.  So, if anyone knows what pattern this is or who designed it, please speak up! 

But the point is, is that is is a very simple quilt.  Just squares and sashing.  But look what happens when the single appliqued spider is added over the top of the finished blocks?  WOW!  The spider and the quilting took this quilt from basic to brilliant! 

So there's some food for thought...for any quilt, not just a Halloween quilt. The addition of a large scale, single applique over the top of a simple quilt really takes to the next level. How cute would it be to add an ornament, or reindeer over a simple square Christmas quilt? 

Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that we are already having to get ready for fall, etc, in summer. It's 94 today...I'm certainly not thinking of crisp fall air!  But since I work in a quilt store...I had to start thinking about Christmas in July. 

But aside from Christmas and Halloween projects...Thanksgiving gets lost in the mix. For a holiday that begs for table decor and whose themes are good all season long, there are certainly a real lack of cute Thanksgiving patterns. But we found one and it is cute as hell. 

This pattern by Kimberbell Designs is definitely a Thankgiving themed pattern, and while there are turkeys, there isn't a cooked one in sight. No cornucopias, etc.  I think this fits well into any fall decor, and so it has a longevity that the few other Thanksgiving patterns don't.  I have to admit though, the only think I wasn't wild about were the color choices. Personally, my eye went right to the black int he quilt because of how much it contrasted with the lighter cream that was used, so I changed mine up a little. 

Please excuse my toes.  No one will ever accuse me of being a great photographer. 

Product Review: Heat n' Bond Feather Weight

If you do fusible applique, then at the very least you have heard of the brand Heat n' Bond, if not used it yourself. There are a few good fusibles out there on the market, and I have found through trial and error that Heat n' Bond products work the best for me. Not that the others, like Steam-A-Seam or MistyFuse, don't work well; they do, but I like the results I get with Heat n' Bond better.

Anyway, so Heat n' Bond has developed and released their response to MistyFuse and the other very light fusibles, which is their Feather Weight brand. We got it in at the shop for Carol and I, since we do a lot of applique, to test and see what we thought. Our opinions differ. I like Feather Weight, and actually I prefer it to Heat n' Bond Lite (my previous staple). I concede, however, that Feather Weight has some...idiosyncrasies. But once you know how to deal with and counteract those quirks, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing to have on hand.

Feather Weight really is just that...it is light as a feather! I have a tendency to go for patterns and designs that pile layer upon layer, and so the thinner the fusible, the better. But like I said, there are some idiosyncrasies. When the fusible comes off the roll, Heat n' Bond has affixed the plastic instruction sheet to the inside (fusible) side of the roll. The adhesive is so thin that trying to pull that instruction sheet off without tearing a wide swath from the middle is both an exercise in patience and dexterity. I have found it difficult not to lose an inch or two from the end that I peel the sheet off of, but I have also found that once you get it started and it stops tearing, it can be ripped right off like usual. Also, if you pull the sheet off just a few inches past where you're planning to cut your piece off, the fusible won't tear when you go for another piece and have to tear the instructions off again.

Speaking of instructions, this is the one fusible where I do in fact follow them. You absolutely cannot use a higher iron setting on this stuff, because the fusible is so thin it'll just dissolve away if you do. It on;y takes a second or two to adhere it to your fabric, but once it's on there, it's fabulous. Because of its thinness, it's able to be repositioned on your applique. The drawback on that thinness though is that repeated ironing, when you assemble your applique, makes the fusible dissovle a little more each time so you may find your corners coming up as you stitch everything down if you're working on a more intricate project.

So with Heat n' Bond Featherweight, its assets are also its liabilities. I have found, however, that it is more beneficial than not and it's definitely a product worth giving a try.

I give Heat n' Bond Feather Weight...

Top 5 Quilting Notions and Tools I Can't Live Without

1. Omnigrid 4" Needlecraft Scissors

I LOVE these scissors. Seriously. I carry them with me always (well, except on planes) because they are useful for so much. While I don't care for their rulers, one of the great things about Omnigrid Scissors is that they stay sharp for a very long time and these little guys are no exception; we use Omnigrid scissors at the shop and after 7 years they have not dulled. These are great for cutting out applique, because the tip is so sharp it cleanly gets into any of the teeny corners your applique may have. They're perfect for keeping by your machine for snipping threads, because they stay out of the way. But most of all, these have replaced my seam ripper and my seam snip scissors. The tip of these scissors is so small and SO sharp it gets in under the stitches of a seam easier than a plain ol' seam ripper, in my opinion. We do carry these at The Cotton Patch, so if you want to give 'em a try, come on in!

2. Atlas Gardening Gloves

Here's a secret - the best quilting gloves I have ever had were a pair of my Mom's gardening gloves. She turned me on to this, too! These are Atlas brand gardening gloves, and the palm surface of the glove is rubberized from the tips of your fingers to the heel of your hand. This gives you a greater surface gripping area while you're quilting your quilt, therefore you have less slippage and greater control than you do with quilting gloves that have finger grips only. The back of them are cloth so they breath very nicely - no sweaty hands! Plus, you can get them very inexpensively (less than $5 at Fred Meyer here in Oregon, comparably priced at places like Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, etc) and they last for a long time. They seriously facilitate the quilting process on a domestic machine.

3. Bamboo Stiletto

We have these at the shop. They're exactly what they sound like. It's a stiletto. It's made of bamboo. What I like so much about it is that it's double ended; there is a thicker side for more heavy duty tasks, and a thinner sharper side for normal stiletto duties. I like these better than the metal ones, because the metal ones have a tendency to dull over time and separate from their handles. Bamboo stilettos come in one whole piece, it's durable, keeps its point and it's a very sustainable and renewable resource. They are inexpensive so you get a lot of bang for your buck, because they are great for more than just guiding fabric through your feed dogs. I use it for applique, scrapbooking, working with polymer clay...it's great.

4. Emery Board

Yes. A regular, plain ol' emergy board. Dollar Store, Rite Aid, Target...they can be found everywhere, eveb gas station quickie marts. For one, I break nails all the flippin' time, even quilting, so I need 'em. But what I really use them for most is after ripping out a seam, it gets those stray threads out better than anything else I have tried. There is no way I'm going to pick those little things out by hand, so running an emery board over those threads (gently!) works like a dream and a $2 pack will literally last you years because the surface won't wear down quickly on snipped threads.

5. Applique Pressing Sheet

We have these at the shop. If you do fusible applique, this thing comes in handy like you wouldn't believe. You can build your appliques up and fuse them together before positioning them on your background. It helps ensure that you get your image put together correctly before it's fused to tha background and it's too late to fix it. It's transluscent so that helps you see your fabrics and lines as needed. It's also great for fusing Angelina Fibers, using to catch hot glue, or using any glue on because it'll peel or wash right off, no problems. They are reasonably priced and last for ages.

VICTORY IS MINE!

Happiness is finishing a project you didn't think you had the skill to do, and not only that, but doing it well.
I'm really, really happy with how this tunred out, and I don't have any [major] oopses. The hand embroidery is a little shaky, but that too will get better with practice and maybe a little stabilizer too.

It's "Tippy Tuesday!"

So I've decided that this blog filled with only my projects can get boring and monotonous (I'm sure some of you out there will scream if you have to see one more BooVille photo!) so I'm going to start doing a few episodic (weekly) posts and hopefully it'll jazz this up some and stay around! So...let's start with some tips to make your quilting life easier with Tippy Tuesday!


*Not all of us are lucky enough to have the space for a pre-fab Design Wall. If you have limited space, a large piece of white cotton batting/white flannel is a great substitute! Hang it up  or drape it where you need it while you're sewing, then fold it up (even with your blocks still on it, they'll stay put!) and put it away when you're done.


*I'm a bad quilt girl and I don't pin my binding while I'm hand stitching it on. If you too hate pinning, a great alternative is to your the snap hair clips (you know, the ones you bend and they snap open) instead. They keep your binding in place and you don't have to watch where you stitch (or sit!)


*If you're looking for use applique ideas but don't want to draw them out yourself, check out your local scrapbooking or craft store. They have lots of stencils, punches and die cuts that might be just the design you're looking for.


*Do you like the idea of saving scraps, but then don't know what to do with them after the fact? Try cutting them into manageable sizes that you know you'll use down the road. For example, if you have enough cut some 2" strips, 2"-3"-4" blocks, half square triangles, whatever you think you'd use. whatever's left you can keep in a box for future applique projects - as we all know those applique projects can demand some tiny pieces, and a scrap earmarked for that may be just the thing you need.


*If a piece of fabric is the right color but a few shades too dark, there's nothing wrong with using the "wrong" side! If you have a good quality fabric, the print will still be visible, bit it'll be a paler version of the "right" side of your piece. No one will know the difference unless you tell them!


*"To help determine the value of a color (light, medium or dark) look at the fabric through a clear piece of red glass or plastic. The red neutralizes the color allowing you to see only 'black and white'" This is a good one! I don't know where to find a plain piece of red plastic, but my best guess is that an art supply store is a great place to start looking.


*Quilters are extremely skilled at dropping pins on the floor and forgetting about them, especially if it' s a carpetted floor. At the hardware store you can find telescoping magnets, and they are fantastic for pullin gpins off the floor/carpet without you having to spend a while bent over picking them out by hand.


*If you're travelling and can't have little embroidery scissors with you (yeah, I'm looking at you, TSA), wind a bobbin with the thread you are working with and put it inside a dental floss container (they're very simple to take apart and the center spindle is the right size for MOST bobbins). The cutter in the floss container is sharp enough to cut through most threads without fraying them.


*If you're having difficulty threading your needle try one of these methods if a needle threader isn't available: If you're having trouble seeing the eye, thread it with a white piece of paper behind it - that makes the eye much more visible. If the eye of your needle is large enough, you can use a thin piece of paper folded in half the same as a traditional needle threader. If your issue is the thread catching on the needle and not making it through, cut the tip of your thread to a beveled edge and try that - that will get rid of any little fibers that might be snagging. Also, every needle nowadays is stamped out of a larger piece of steel when it's made, so every needle has a front and back side; usually the front is easier to thread than the back, so just flip your needle over and try threading it again.


*Napkin holders are a great way to store the rulers that you use the most by your cutting mat, if you don't want to poke holes in your walls to hang each one




Well, that's it for this week's Tippy Tuesday. check back next week for more, or if you have any tips you'd like to share (hint hint hint) comment on this post and I'll post them for everyone next week!

'Tis the Season to be Spooky, Part Tres

ALMOST DONE. All that's left to do is the little bits of embroidery, then put on the borders. I'm debating whether I want to do the scrappy pinstripe border or not, and I'm thinking this needs a tone-on-tone black border rather than just a plain solid...nothing too flashy but just enough to give it a little interest.

Here's what's together so far!

My favorite one! What can I say, that glittery fabric is awesome. 

Here's the whole kit'n'caboodle. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I'll get the embroidery done in the next couple days and get those borders on, then it'll be off to Loretta to get it quilted! She's got all kinds of really really cool halloween patterns. I'm thinking jack-o-lanterns and candy corns!



'Tis the Season to be SPOOKY, part dos.

More pictures! I'm moving right along...of course, yesterday I had to take a break to go see Horrible Bosses with my roomate Lauren. Very, very funny movie, and I completely forgot how attractive Jason Bateman was until now. Woo!

Anyway, on to the pictures...

The graveyard is finished! My applique is definitely getting better...it dang well should after all those curves and points. Good grief.

Can you see that purple? Yeah, me neither. So I decided to outline the lettering in the Hot Fix Ribbon. Not easy to do with a regular sized iron!

MUCH better. The purple pops much more in real life though.

Yeah, I always intended to applique it down. My thought was that with the ribbon plus the blanket stitch, it would look like stripes. Success, I feel!

Cute little candy corns. I decided that in all the pieced blocks, instead of doing solid black, I'd to a nice polka dot. Actually, this quilt is filled with polka dots. Whaaat? I like polka dots... <3

Ghosties! Their faces will be embroidered on later. Right now, they have such blank expressions! Oh yeah, gotta love the [candy]corny jokes! I'm on a roll! lol

Just a basic Card Trick....that took me 3 (non-consecutive) hours to do...some moron *ahem* kept cutting it wrong.

Right-o! So that's where I'm at there. Tonight I'm thinking I'll start on the houses and the flying geese. Should be cute! 

This one is for "Pearl's Potions" I'll probably re-name it. I think this one is my favorite so far!