Quilt and Fish Tail Towel Hanger

I’ve got a gazillion projects either waiting to be finished or waiting to be recorded.  I’ve been trying to get myself organized again since moving into our first home and sending our oldest daughter to Kindergarten.  It’s been quite the struggle to manage schedules and I’ll admit I don’t like having to work my life around school now.  It’s always been nice to just pick up and go whenever I wanted.  The worst part is the schedule crunching is just beginning and I know it will only get crazier the older she gets and as her siblings join her.  Life sure is crazy!

Anyways enough with my rant…

Here are some pictures of a couple of projects I just finished:

This is the baby quilt I made for my sister’s little girl who was born last January (this tells you how far behind I am)

This fish tail towel hanger came out of necessity when the kids hung on the original towel rod and it cam off the wall (thankfully not damaging the kids or the wall).  This makes it so the kids (except the baby) can now hang their own towels after their bath.

I’m back and Last Minute Quilts

I’m back from vacation. It was great to spend some time with family. I was so happy the everyone liked the gifts I made, although for next year I really need to start making them much earlier so I’m not stressed for time. My one brother-in-law and my sister’s fiancé both loved the marshmallow guns we made (my husband did most of the work on those). I wish I had taken some pictures of them playing with them.

The last few items I had to finish up before Christmas were three quilts. I made an I-Spy quilt for each of my kids and a patchwork quilt for my husband. Patchwork quilts aren’t to sew but they are quick and easy.

As I piled flannel bolt after flannel bolt into my cart I received all sorts of looks and then was questioned by the associate what I was making when I asked for only 1/4th of a yard of each. It was so fun to find the fabrics. Oh and if you plan to do this don’t forget to check the remnants racks for a good deal. I backed both quilts with two microplush throws (they were only $2.99 at JoAnn’s on Black Friday). I had enough of the microplush fabric left over to make matching pillowcases.

I used boyish printed flannels for my son’s quilt.

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and I used girlish printed flannels for my daughter’s quilt.

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Then for my husbands quilt, I just pieced the quilt blocks together and then printed off the letters and pinned them onto a strip of grey fleece. I then separated the letters (not actually cutting the letters out) and then pinned the letters and grey fleece onto the quilt. I then did a straight stitch around the letters following the lines on the printed paper. After I sewed them down I was able to remove the paper and trim the excess fleece close to the stitching. It was pretty easy!!!

Hope everyone has had a Wonderful Holiday Season!!!

Collage Fabric Picture

I was inspired by Care over at Obsessively Stitching for this design.  She did an I-Spy Fabric Swap which I participated in and she sent me one of her I-Spy cards with my fabric squares.  So as I was doing some rearranging of my office again I found two frames that needed a purpose.  So I decided to use her I-Spy idea to whip up a couple of fabric collages to go inside the frames.  I used fabrics that I’ve used for projects for my two kiddos in the past and then some new ones that I plan to use in the quilts I’m going to make them for Christmas. 

 

Start off by drawing a square the size of the inside of the frame.  Then cut about an inch from that line.   You will use the line as a guide to where the fabric needs to cover.

Then just cut out random pieces of scrap fabric and arrange them so they fill the entire square area.

Pin the pieces down and then sew away.  I first sewed along the border and then just did random squiggles and loops all over.

Close-up of the stitching

Now cut out a piece of cardboard so it will fit in the back of your frame.  I then just used a little tap at each corner to attach the back of the collage to the cardboard.  You could also use a glue and permanently attach it.

  

I then trimmed the excess off.

 

Pop it into the frame and hang it on the wall.  Tada!!!!  It took me maybe 2 hours to do 2.

 

October is National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month

On August 18, 2009 our son Anthony was stillborn. The last two months have been rough, but I am so grateful for the programs that have been provided to us. One in particular is called Share Parents of Utah (click on "Share Parents of Utah" to learn more). If you wish, a couple of ladies from Share Parents come in after your infant has passed away and do feet and hand molds, take their hand prints and footprints, and give you a couple of outfits and a blanket. They also take pictures of your baby if you want. The blanket that they gave me to wrap Anthony in has brought me much comfort on some of my harder nights.
As many of you know I love to sew and so I wanted to give back by making quilts to donate. I contacted the Share Parents Group here in Logan and asked them what they needed. They said mostly small flannel quilts (12" square and 36" square), but then she said that she had looked at my blog and saw the doll diapers and asked if I would be willing to make some for the little infants that won't fit into the preemie size diapers.
So in honor of Anthony and National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month I would like to get a group together on Thursday, October 15th from about 3pm until we get tired to make diapers and quilts. If you want to join in you don't have to bring anything, but if you have any flannel material, thread, Velcro (1/2" white), or a sewing machine bring them along. The location is TBA** as it depends on how many people I have interested. If you are interested please send me an e-mail and include what you would be able to bring with you. Thank you so much.

** The location will be at 1336 W 800 S in Logan. **

Make your own Chenille Strips or “Fuzzy by the Foot”

I based my method of making these Chenille Strips or “Fuzzy by the Foot” off of this tutorial here.

There’s two ways you can prepare the squares to cut.  The first way is illustrated in this picture.  Fold the fabric in thirds and then draw a straight line along the bias of the fabric.  Then cut a straight line from the end of the line you just made to the other side of the fabric creating a square.

The Second way is to just cut three squares of fabric all the same size and line them up on top of each other making sure you have the bias grain going the same way.  Then draw your line connecting one corner of the square to another dividing it into two triangles.

With all three squares together make your first straight stitch down the line you made.  Then line the last stitch up against the left side of the presser foot.  Now depending on how wide you want your strips to be is where you want your needle aligned.  I had my needle in the middle for mine and that made them 3/8” wide once cut.

Now keep going rotating from once side to the other making lines always lining up your last stitch to the left side of your presser foot.

This is what it will look like when you are done sewing all your lines.

Now cut down the middle between each of your stitched lines.

Here’s what one strip looks like

I used my strips to go around my appliqués for my Rock-A-Bye Quilt.  Find a starting spot and start pinning your strips on.  I only pinned the starting point of a new strip and then lined the strip up as I sewed.  Attach the strip by sewing down the middle (you are sewing over the stitching that is already there).  When one strip ends just line a new strip up against the last strip and keep sewing (pinning at the beginning of the new strip will keep it from sliding on you as you keep sewing.

Here’s what it looks like at the end of one strip and beginning of another.

Now take a comb or rough bristled brush and fuzz the strips.  This makes a little bit of a mess, but is so worth it.

Here’s what it looks like after a little fuzzing!

I had so much fun doing this and it made my quilt look so much better.

Before

After

If you are uncertain about any of the steps or I skipped something that you feel is important to help other’s understand please feel free to leave a comment or contact me by e-mail.

Quilt Creations

So I've been doing a lot of brainstorming for some fun and unique quilt designs. It took some brainstorming, some revision, and some inspiration from my Hubby to put them together.

Drum Roll Please..................................... TaDa!!!


I would love to hear what you think.
Right now I have a mini version of this quilt available at my KrafyMum shop, but I will have a larger version available soon!

Jean and T-Shirt Quilt

I've been wanting to do this project for a while and have been storing the jeans and t-shirts in a tub. We've been doing some de-cluttering lately and that motivated me to get this project done so I can use the tub for something else. Basically I just used old t-shirts and jeans to piece this quilt together. I made it queen size for our bed and used a fleece sheet for the back. The large squares were 12 x 12, the small squares were 6.5 x 6.5, and the rectangles were 6.5 x 12 (everything is in inches).