Forgot This One

Somehow I forgot to post pics of the T-shirt quilt I made for Jeremy using his karate and quotes shirts.  He has been sleeping under it ever since I made it, so, I guess he must really like it!   It is a queen size with black borders, cream borders, and "karate chop" quilting.  At least that's what I called it because it looked like someone knocked my arm as I was quilting it on the longarm machine.

Here's a portion of the "karate chop" quilting.

Molly just had to get in this shot of the whole quilt.......what a ham!

I decided to put some of his special karate shirts on the back.   The quilt is nice and heavy and should help to keep him warm in South Dakota this winter.  And it makes me feel good that he'll be reminded of how much his mom loves him as he drifts off to sleep each night.

Missing him already,
Debbie

Indian Rocks Christian School Quilt

If you've been reading my other blog you will know why I haven't been doing much sewing this past couple of weeks.   But I'm back at it again and this week I took 50 hand painted blocks from the fourth grade class of Indian Rocks Christian School and pieced together a quilt for them.   Each year the fourth grade art class does this project and this is the second year I have turned their blocks into a quilt.   Last year's quilt won a blue ribbon at the Florida State Fair!

Each year the quilt is auctioned off at the Fall school fund raiser and the buyer is usually a parent of one of the children that helped paint the blocks.  I hope this year the quilt helps to raise a lot of funds for the school.  Last year I arranged the blocks so it was more of an art quilt, but this year I choose to arrange them symmetrically with the four large blocks in the corners, the map of the U.S. in the center and the state flag blocks filling in between them.

I'd also like to say a big thanks to Robin, the art teacher who organizes all of this and who so graciously works with me on this project.  She does all the leg work and makes my job a lot easier because then I can concentrate on just doing the sewing.

Every quilt needs a label as the finishing touch and to help document a little history of the quilt.  I couldn't believe I had this fabric with a dark navy field and small white stars in my stash.   It was the perfect material to frame the label and I also used it as the binding around the quilt.

Ta-da!   Done!
Debbie

Monograms, Easy Peasy

Ha!    It only took an hour to program this new monogram.   Unfortunately, my learning curve on the computer can be really long!   My old sewing buddy, Barb, is visiting from Alabama and she asked if I could do some monogramming for her as her machine won't do it.    We thought it would be a great way for us to do what we used to call "spend the day", which meant we would get together at one of our houses and paint, sew, or garden all day long.

Barb has been busy sewing and painting and "nesting" at her new house in Alabama since moving there 3 years ago.   One of the last projects for her is making a bolster pillow for her bedroom.    That's what the monogram above is going to be used for.

In between all her projects at her own house, she is helping a friend up there to redecorate her home.    This monogram is for Andrea's bedroom and will be a pillow to match the soft teals and whites in the room.

Wow!   I wonder how many hours Barb and I racked up sewing together over the years?   It's a lot, I know that much!   We sure had fun together this week, too.   Even when we haven't seen each other for months, it's like riding a bike; we just fall into the same familiar rhythm of sewing and chatting.

It's good to have a sewing buddy,
Thanks, Barb, for visiting!
Debbie

Le Fleur

Sewing is fun, but so is scrapbooking, needlepoint and knitting.   Lately, I've been doing a lot of knitting and wait till you see what I played with this weekend.    I took a class at Flying Needles and you'll see the final results in a couple of weeks, but here is a sneak peek at a work in progress.

 I know, I know, it just looks like a blob of yarn right now.  You should see the directions!   Holy cow!  Well, the "blob" will eventually have 6 petals and is going to be a flower.  The black blob in the middle is going to be the center of the flower with stamens and the stem is lime green but hidden by the petals.

There was a lot of increasing and "knit yarn in front and back" in order to get the ruffles.   When the last petal is knitted, the whole thing gets felted in the washing machine with hot water and it shrinks up and the wool stitches get matted together and it shrinks.   When it's dry, the flower can be pinned on a jacket or a purse or whatever you want!    I'm excited to see it completed.  

More pics to come,
Deb

Don't Look Now

Yup, Kellie at Don't Look Now in Melbourne, Australia is responsible for the monsters invading my sewing room over the last couple of weeks.   I saw her quilt pattern recently and it was one of those times that I had to buy it because it was so darn cute.  Our youngest grandson, Nathan, is going to be the recipient of this quilt and I'm anxious to complete it to see how it turns out.

But, OH, how many pieces it has!   Good grief, I think Kellie is a sewing masochist......there are so many circles and each one has to be cut out individually.......from different fabrics.........in different sizes........in increments of 1/8"!   Yikes!

You'll see what I mean as I unveil portions of the quilt over the next few weeks.  For now, here's a sneak peek at the monsters.

The shapes were traced onto Steam A Seam Light2, then ironed onto the back of the fabric.  Then the shapes are cut out on the drawn lines.

The shapes are put in place over the original pattern, which is underneath a piece of teflon pressing cloth so I can press the shapes together using the Steam A Seam as "glue".   The shapes can then be removed as a whole after they cool and placed wherever I need them and they don't stick to the teflon sheet.

The whole monster is then positioned over the colored circle and the pieces are zig zag stitched using matching thread.

Are you still with me?    These 12 monsters took me almost 2 days to cut, iron, stitch and encircle!   And, I'm just getting started!

The only thing left to do on all 12 is to stitch in their mouth shapes.  I think I'll use a narrow satin stitch for that, but first I have to draw on their smiles.

They're kinda cute little guys, don't you think?   Wait'll I show you what's next!  

Stay tuned,
Debbie

Pajama Monday

Hey, I think I just invented a new holiday........Pajama Monday!   Wouldn't you like that?   I know I do and that's exactly how I spent my Monday...........in my jammies..........sewing...........and drinking cappuccino.
I've been gradually making a mini-quilt for each month of the year and now have 7 done.   They hang from a cute metal holder that is up at the river and helps me remember what month it is!  ha!

I decided today was a great day to sew something for myself, as all my work for clients was completed.   It's so rare that I can spend an entire day sewing whatever I want to and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.   I even got to use my new toy, the Sashiko machine.   It's amazing how pretty the stitches are and how much they look like hand quilting.   

First I used a blanket stitch to go around all the letters in black thread, then I straight stitched around the acorn.   I used matching threads to "draw" veins on the leaves which held them in place on the quilt.   Then I used the Sashiko to outline everything.  Oooooooo, what fun!

So now I have October and November completed.  

Um, yeah, I still need to read the manual every time I put the bobbin in, and adjust some of the stitching.   But the more I use the machine, the more comfortable I am getting with it.  One thing I realized today, I need more bobbins.  That's on my list of things to buy this week.

I took the advice of the ceramic sign that sits on top of my sewing room tv.  Can't wait to do it again, maybe next Monday?

Finally dressed,
Debbie