Bib Overalls, Coming Up

Have I ever shown you my bibbies?   I love wearing them!   I've been making bib overalls for a few years now, and they are just the most comfortable thing to wear.   No waistband, no tight restrictive feeling when you squat down to garden, lots of pockets to hold.......well, whatever you want to keep on your person.   And the design possibilities are endless.    The pockets can be a different coordinating fabric, and don't even get me started about buttons and other closures!

Well, here, I'll just show you what I mean.....

 I had an entire bolt of this palm tree fabric and was determined to use it rather than buy more fabric (we all know I have enough fabric for the next 10 years!).   I love the bright blue background sky with the greens of the palm fronds against the blue.

 Somewhere in my stash was this brown that worked great for the front hip pockets and then I used a bright blue for the bib pocket.  But first, I inserted a lime green zipper.....just for fun.

The back pockets are also made from the same brown fabric....the green lining didn't exactly match the outside, but you don't see it when the bibbies are on you. 

 These bibbies are  my old favorites.....I think I made these at least 5 years ago.  The cotton is nice and soft from so many washings.   The main fabric has beautiful roses on a soft pink background.  I used a soft pink with red dots on it for the bib pocket, the front hip pockets and the back pockets.   Dark red buttons were the only contrast needed on these bibs.

 These bibs were made just for camping trips.  They're cut off as crops, so, they're cooler to wear. 

And check out the "trailer" print fabric.   When I saw this in the fabric store, well, let's just say it had my name all over it!   The bib pocket is made with the trailer fabric and I added lime green rick-rack at the top.   For these bibbies I used traditional farmer's buckles and rivet  buttons to hold them up.

These bibs were just screaming out for some pink fabric and then I used the same rivet buttons for the side closures.   Lots of top stitching keeps them looking "authentic" and helps them wear after many washings.

So, the next time you wish you had something really comfortable to wear, why not whip up a pair of bib overalls for yourself?

Farmer girl wanna be,
Debbie

The Icing on the Cake

The monster quilt was such a hit with Nate and I had a lot of leftover fabric........so, I decided to make a matching pillowcase to go with the quilt.

And since I had a few more silk triangles already made up, I made sure to put them front and center where he can touch them as much as he would like to.   Don't you just love the little monster hands holding the letters of his name?   Nate looks ready for a nap in this photo....

No time like the present to check out the snuggly quality of the pillowcase,
Grammy

Little Monsters Quilt, Done and Delivered

I know it's been a long while since I posted here.   We had a death in the family, our son joined the U.S. Air Force only to be medically discharged 8 weeks later(much angst involved in that one!), our house sold, our Tin Can Cabin sold and we moved all our belongings to a rental home, my mom took a terrible fall and is still recovering months later from fractures and other issues............and those are just a few of the things we have lived through this last 6 months.  So, I apologize for such a lengthy space in between blogs.

Whew!   But, all is calm now and I'm baaaack.   Here are some pics of the previously much mentioned Monster Quilt, which I somehow got completed despite all our recent craziness.

 I just love the bright colors and all the details in the monsters, the triangle border pieces and the quilting.  The center panel has 12 monsters in amongst the hundreds of varying sized circles.   Surrounding the panel are four different borders and then the large outside border is made up of strips of fabrics sewn together and then cut out as triangles and sewn to a wide white border.   See the small triangles randomly placed around the quilt edges?   More on those in a minute.

 The monsters were so much fun to make.   Choosing fabrics from my stash was a blast as I tried to capture a different personality for each little guy.   Good thing I have lots of stash!

 They all got topstitched in matching threads and their smiles were made using a tight zigzag in black thread.

 Then after the quilt was "sandwiched" with backing and batting, I used "swirly" free motion quilting in between all the circles and monsters.

Here's a close up view of the multiple fabrics required to make up each triangle in the border.   They were blanket stitched down in dark blue thread and then I used white thread to free motion stitch tight swirls in the white relief areas behind the triangles.   Now THAT part took a really long time.  You can see one of the three dimensional triangles I mentioned earlier peeking out of the upper left hand of the photo.

 Jarrad and Dawn, our son and daugher-in-law were really excited to finally see the quilt in its completed state(it's their youngest son, Nate, who is the recipient of the quilt).   Good grief, I've only been talking about finishing this thing for almost a year now!

 This is one of the outer corners with layered circles stitched in spirals to hold the three layers of the quilt together.   A darker bright blue anchors the quilt as the binding around the edges.  And I couldn't believe my luck when I came across this circle fabric in my colors!!!!!    It became the perfect fabric for the back of the quilt.

 Nate likes to fondle soft fabrics to soothe himself as he falls asleep.  So, I used some hand painted silk pieces I had in my stash and created three dimensional triangles and inserted them strategically around the quilt edges.   They are so smooth and soft and he found them right away upon his first inspection of the quilt.  

 

Jarrad had to give the quilt a test run, making certain it was up to standard for Nate before taking it home.  Ha!     I think it passed the test.......

 

 All I can say is that I don't think I have enjoyed making a quilt more than I did this one.   Hats off to the designer, Kellie from Don't Look Now! in Melbourne, Australia for an awesome pattern.   She has quite an imagination, wouldn't you say?

Wait'll you see the quilt I'm going to be working on for myself over the next few months.   It's a real brain teaser.  Until then,
Debbie