Alexis - A Conversation

May 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

“Let’s play spin the chapstik!”

Apron Strings tied!

March 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’ve been busting my butt trying to get this quilt done for the silent auction and my daughter’s school. This is the first quilt I’ve ever machine quilted, and I’m pretty happy with how it came out. It was definitely faster!

The colored fabric (except for the binding) is Moda’s Apron Strings line from a few years ago. I bought a charm pack back then, cut out all the triangles, and shoved it all in a bag and left it there until about 5 weeks ago. I’m not sure what I was thinking trying to do a pattern with this shape, but it seems to have come out ok. I only frogged it about 3 times.

The binding was a major pain. I walked around my local quilt store for hours looking for something that would work because the main fabrics were no longer available. Finally, I admitted defeat and asked for help. The binding was the third fabric the awesome ladies at the quilt shop suggested. I didn’t notice it until I got it home to cut, but it’s actually a Christmas fabric. I’ll have to find something to do with it this year, since I’ve got a good 3/4 yard left.

I was thinking the other day, that I have made 3 baby quilts (though this last one could be categorized as a lap quilt) in less than a year. There’s another one in the works though, my friend Rebecca is expecting now!

Rolling for Pencils

December 23, 2008 | 3 Comments

I was going to get all sappy and tell you how six years ago today was the worst day of my life, but it’s just too close to Christmas to get all gloomy. So instead, I’ll show you the one handmade gift for Alexis this year.

I’ve been thinking about this project ever since I saw the one over at Pink Chalk Studio. And I decided it would be a great inexpensive stocking stuffer for the oh-so-spoiled Alexis. Besides, that kid loves her art supplies. I didn’t even have to go shopping for any of the stuff. The fabric all came from my scrap bin - which seems to grow exponentially every month, I should really find some more stash/scrap busting projects. And I confiscated the pencils from Alexis herself. When I spent SIX hours last week cleaning out her room, I found more markers and pens and pencils than anyone person should be allowed to have.

I’ve seen these things all over the net, and they’re all beautiful, but I really love the ones that have the graduated rainbow pattern for the pockets. I’m a sucker for rainbows. I also really liked the look of the linen for the background fabric. It’s the perfect compliment to all the busy colors, and it’s classy. I adore linen. Unfortunately the scraps of linen I had left were not wide enough to cut the backing fabric from one piece, so I used a small strip of the pieced fabric to connect two pieces of linen for the back. I love how it turned out. There is just a hit of what you’ll find inside when it’s all rolled up.

I had a couple of false starts when I was making this. I actually had to piece the stripes twice because the first time around I made them too narrow for the pencils to actually fit in the pockets. THAT was annoying. I thought I might actually have to go fabric shopping because the orange and that yellow-green (what’s up with yellow-green/green-yellow and blue-green/green-blue anyway? Who can really tell the diff?) were tiny little scraps to start with. Somehow I managed to squeak out just enough for the two stripes, though, and so my stash was busted. Yay!

Now. Seriously. Pass on the list of scrap stash busters, my room is a huge mess.

Alexis - a conversation

December 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

Alexis has been practicing reading the story of Jesus’ birth. It’s a tradition in our family to read that passage instead of saying grace before the Christmas Eve meal. The youngest member of the family who is able to read is the lector.

When she finished reading the passage tonight, Chris asked her if she knew what the book she was reading from was. Smartly, she closes the book and reads the title aloud. “The Chocolate Living Bible”

That’s my girl!

A Hazy Quilt

December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Don’t faint. Two posts in as many days! I told you there’d be much to talk about during the holidays.

Here is little Baby J’s quilt all quilted up and in desperate need of a wash. I’ve had the quilting done since Thanksgiving, but I never think a quilt is “done” until it’s been washed and gets that wrinkly puckered quilt look. I should really get that done so that I can take it over there before she goes off to college.

I really love the backside fabric on this one. No, it’s not cut on the bias, it’s actually printed that way. And it is so silky soft that you almost wouldn’t know it is just quilting cotton.

I’m not the only one who loves it either, I took the unbound quilt to my local quilt store for advice on binding. The ladies there couldn’t find anything they liked with the front of the quilt more than the backing fabric. So instead of selling me something, they all agreed that I should “fake” the binding and roll the back over to the front. I’ve done this before, but never on something where the back would be readily visible. The one that comes to mind immediately is the tree skirt I made several years ago (total PotteryBarn knock off, I should really take pictures). Anyway, I digress… I didn’t want the edges on the back to be “flat” as if there was no binding, so if you look closely the quilting I did in a straight line around the edges is visible. It’s not perfect, but it presents a good enough illusion, I think.

You can also see that I did a somewhat more interesting quilting pattern than the straight lines on the last quilt. I did start to get bored with it toward the end but at least it went quickly. I also discovered on this one, that I really only like one kind of hand quilting thread (Sulky 100% Cotton) and only one kind of quilting needle (PieceMakers betweens). I tried a thread from JoAnn but it was so thick and it really was hard to get through the quilt. I ended up picking out several pattern repeats and re-doing them with the new thread. Never again. I’ll pay the extra at the quilt store for the good thread and needles!

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Alexis - A Conversation

Apron Strings tied!

Rolling for Pencils

Alexis - a conversation

A Hazy Quilt

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