All Done

Well here's the finished quilt. All in all I am happy with the way it turned out. I will however never attach photos to another quilt with this method. The edges keep fraying no matter how many times and ways I attach them. Perhaps after some time when the edges are good and frayed I can say that it was designed that way, now however I am just annoyed.

As I always do brought the quilt to work for show and tell before I dropped it off in the mail. One of my friends and co-workers said that although she liked the quilt, she thought the pictures took something away from it, it was prettier without the pictures. My answer, it's pretty hard to have a family quilt, without pictures of the family, isn't it?

Creative Grids Ruler - My new favorite tool

Here is a video of my newest tool. I just love tools and shortcuts that allow you to make complicated looking blocks that are easy and quick.

The ruler it looks like a regular ruler except that it has pyramids on top (actually 60 degree angles).

You cut a single or multiple strips that equal 4 1/2 inches, lay the ruler on top and cut the angles. The video shows this in more detail.

Ta dah! My completed blocks - once cut the blocks go together fast and because of the ruler they are really accurate. I am making a bed warmer, essentially a small quilt for the foot of the bed. Wider than a throw but not as wide. They are used to add a special touch to the bed, throwing across your feet or shoulders, etc.

For Pam

My latest quilt is a present for my sister. She asked for it for Christmas but was willing to wait because she knew that it would take some time. I have finished the top and now just have to quilt it. Here are some "progress" pictures. I will post the completed quilt when it's done. It has family photos on the quilt, I didn't realize how popular the photo quilts would be. They are a pain to do but worth it - I get better at the process for each one I do.

Spring Cleaning

Like many crafters my workroom is usually a mess. I have been trying for years to organize it. At least a couple of times a year I clean, declutter and give away things that I do not need or haven't used. It stays "cleaned and organized" until my next project.

This year after I attended the annual craft festival I discovered some fabric organizers.

Previously my fabric was stored in Rubbermaid containers and plastic bags. Good for storage but bad if you ever want to find anything; the fabric was just stacked, I could never see the fabric on the bottom of the pile unless I wanted to empty the container. So mostly I just went out and purchased more fabric. My resolution for 2012 is to use more of my stored fabric to do that I have to see the fabric I have available.

Here's some before and after pictures, ( I have a lot more fabric, this is just some of it). I'm happy with the way the organization came out. I found types and themes of fabric I did not even remember buying. I will still have to purchase fabric to complete projects but hopefully I'll get to use more of my stash.

Before . . .

After, yea! Look how pretty (lol).Hopefully I can keep it this way and find what I'm looking for without destroying everything I just organized. When I was wrapping the fabric around the boards, I got a little frightened I had no idea just how much fabric I had. It was an eye opener, and so far for 2012 I have not purchased any fabric; of course before I get too excited, I haven't really started any new projects either.

The small containers hold "fat quarters" and fabric 1 yard or less - I had at least a hundred of them, in different places so I didn't realize how much I had; I filled 6 containers.

I still had to use one of the Rubbermaid containers for my fleece and some of the other really large pieces of fabric and I have more fabric stored in another room, but this is a start.

What I've been doing . . .

Been pretty busy lately with work, home, Life!, etc. But I have been sewing so here's a couple of the quilts I have been working on.



This a quilt I designed and quilted for my niece. She sleeps whenever she gets a chance. We have taken several road trips together and just like many little kids (she's not a little kid, lol) whenever she gets into the car she falls asleep no matter how hard she tried to stay awake and keep me company.

The quilt uses a premade center panel - the photo is called "Blue Monday." Appropriate don't you think?




This is a strip quilt, made up of strips of different African material no wider than 1-1/2 inches. Each block took me about 45 minutes to sew, I got impatient so I stopped after about 30 blocks. It really wasn't big enough for anything other than a wall hanging (which I don't do), so I added 18 inches of black fabric for the border which made it big enough for a throw; and yes I quilted it on the frame - it is still cool!

Quilts for Kids

This is a baby quilt, the smallest quilt I ever made as a baby quilt; mine tend to be much larger for a charity organization that provides quilts for kids in the hospital. They are all handmade and the kids get to take them home when they leave the hospital. I always wanted to volunteer and an added bonus is to be able to use my hobby.

Mary's Quilts

My friend and co-worker saved her daughter's baby clothes with the plan of making a memory quilt for her to take to college with her. Although she has a few more years to go, she brought me the clothes and I cut, ironed, added stabilizer to the pieces and made two quilts. It was a challenge because there was different type of fabrics, different thicknesses, etc. They were both quilted on long/short arm machines, if you look closely you can see the pattern of the stitches.

I am happy with the way the quilts turned out and will probably never do another!