Pyramids

This is from a class I took at Seams Like Home about 2 years ago I think. So it's really a newbie to my UFO pile, but quilting a lapsize quilt seemed really appealing after that flannel beast. This pattern is usually called either 1,000 Pyramids or 10,000 Pyramids, I forget which, and has a ton of bias to deal with. It didn't stretch too bad although next time I will use a heavier hand with the starch before I cut my pieces out. And yes, you heard me right, I liked it so much I think I will make another one! Not right away- I'm not ready to give up on my battle against the UFO's- but I am starting to plan.

You can sort of see my quilting lines if you look really closely. I did a zig zag pattern following the same angle of the triangles (it reminds me of Charlie Brown's shirt).

And for the back I found a really cool varigated striped batik. All the fabrics on the front are batik too.

I've decided to give this one to a family member with a birthday in June- I hope she likes blue!

Flannel Finale!

It's finally done- and weighs in at just over 4 pounds! As you can see what started out as a full size quilt covers the top of my king size mattress.


I did swirls in the inner border and at my mom suggestion I went around the moons & stars in the outer border in a blue thread that just disappears. It's certainly not perfect but it's done and I'm happy!


You can sort of see the star in the center and the straight lines going through the bow ties.

On to the next UFO!

Home Imporvements

I painted one wall in my house blue- it's about the same color as that painter's masking tape. I have been wanting to paint for a while but I couldn't decide what color, but just over a week ago I decided blue is what I want and just went for it- stayed up all night and into the wee morning hours (5am to be exact) just to get it done in one night. I'm quite happy with it- it makes me smile every time I look at it.

That project went very well so I decided to tackle another project I have been dreaming of for a while: an awning. My back deck has a roof over it that has exposed beams showing. These beams turn into a breeding ground for spiders in the summer so I usually end up avoiding spending time on the deck. Here's what it looked like before:


So I decided to order some outdoor fabric from JoAnn's and staple it to the beams. I loved the idea of a black & white stripe- it it reminds me of a restaurant awning.

I also love looking out the window of my blue wall at the striped awning.

Next up on my list of things to tackle: sand down my kitchen cabinets and paint them white and spray all the hardware silver (currently I have medium to darkish wood cabinets and brass hardware).

P.S. Again I apologize about the blurry photos. I am trying to track down my old digital camera until I get this one fixed but apparently I put it somewhere REALLY safe in one of my cleaning sprees.

Sewing Studio Update

Okay, I did a little straightening up. But I wanted you to see what it really looks like when I'm sewing in there- it never stays this clean. The best part of a clean sewing room is messing it up again right?








I apologize for the blurry photos- I dropped my camera the other day and now I can't get it to focus =(

Studio Tour

Sooooo... Here is a guided tour of the mess that I call my sewing room:

This is the view when you open the door

That cabinet you see with all the junk on it? That's my cutting table. And inside the cabinet?:


Piles of fabric and a serger that I've only used once or twice (the serger is in the red bag). And just incase you missed it here's a close up of the mess on top of the cutting table:


On the far side of the cutting table under the window is another shelf filled with fabric and a rack for my pressing pad and cutting mats in the corner:



Here is my sewing table- you can see my little helper pushing various buttons on my machine for me. When sitting in front of my machine my back is touching the edge of the cutting table:

Above my sewing table is a peg board that holds some of my threads and rulers:

To the right of my sewing table is my bookshelf:


The bottom 2 shelves are filled with quilting books, the middle shelf is patterns (I'm not a big pattern buyer) and some fabric and the top two shelves are all fabric. To the left of the shelf is a roll of organic batting that I bought but haven't used yet, so it's still in the box, and on top of the bookshelf (not in the picture) is a case of stuffing (for a puff quilt that I'm going to make someday in the future). The right side of the bookshelf buts up to the closet:


I took the doors off the closet for easier access. On the left is my Bernina ironing board with a built in vacuum so your fabric stays put (I almost never use this) and behind that is a cabinet with 2 shelves. The cabinet has about 6 yards of terry cloth that was for a robe I never made and the drawers hold various fusible webs that are probably dried out and brittle by now. The shelf/drawer system on the right is mostly filled with unfinished projects and the bottom area (mostly out of the picture) is holding 10 bolts of linen that I purchased to make quilts yet but currently are still in their plastic wrap.
And last but not least is a cabinet in Audrey's room that I never emptied out when we switched rooms (I used to have a much larger sewing room but for some reason that I'm finding hard to remember right now I decided she should have the larger room, so we switched)

This cabinet is mostly filled with fatquarter packs that are still wrapped up exactly as I purchased them. It makes me happy to see all those pretty little bundles though. I hope you enjoyed peeking in my sewing room- I can't wait to see everyone elses!

Kinley's Quilt

I've been feeling a little under the weather and I didn't feel like wrestling with the jumbo flannel quilt yesterday so I put the binding on another project that has been sitting around for awhile.





It's pretty small (39.5" square) but it's a gift for an infant, so that's ok. It started out as an experiment to see how our slash and sew method works with charm squares. I did 2 cuts in each charm and then put four of the squares together before I quilted them. You may recognize the quilt from a previous post about the organic thread and backing fabric I used in it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and am very glad to have another project out of my sewing room.

Snowball Quilt

I found a fabric to use on the back:

(the one on the left is the new one, the one on the right is the one I already had)
And I started on the quilting. It's kinda hard to see, but I'm putting stars in the snowball area with yellow thread.

I'm not completely sure how I'm gong to quilt the bow tie area. For now I'm just glad that I'm still working on it and not shoving it back in the closet for a few more years. =)

Oh, and I almost forgot:



I saw this quilt at Seams Like Home when I was shopping for my backing. I'm not sure who made it, but I love it! (It's from the pattern Bright Idea from my book)