Category: Quilting (Page 2 of 3)

New ironing table

August 11, 2013 / Patty

I have a new ironing table. Make that I’ve created a new ironing table. It works very well and I’m pleased. My sewing space is very small and compact and my big ironing board will not also fit in the space where I sew. I usually have it set up in my office in the room down the hall. For many things that’s just fine but when I’m in a hurry I just don’t like to get up and walk down the hall. I have used a small ironing board that sits between my sewing machine and my serger. This is ok for small pieces but hard even for longer or larger pieces.

As I’ve read blogs I’ve seen many folks using old wooden tv tables and transforming them into portable ironing tables. They have just purchased these at the local Goodwill store. We have a new Goodwill in my neighborhood and that was my plan. Soon however the lightbulb went off! I had several small plastic folding tables that I had used in my office to hold scanning equipment. These are adjustable height and have been very useful. My office needs have changed however and I had a table I wasn’t using so I decided that I could transform this table to an ironing table.

I started with the table and covered it with quilted ironing board fabric I taped it down on the sides with duct tape.

The next layer was a piece of colorful fabric. I’m very pleased. It works well and is the perfect size.

Zig Zag quilt.

July 14, 2013 / Patty

A new zig zag quilt has been finished! This has been on my design wall for a while as I contemplated what I was going to do. The new parents are Florida Gator fans and wanted this to be a nod to their Gator loyalty. When I looked at the Florida Gator colors however I just couldn’t see making a baby quilt with just blue and orange which are the main colors. Now I actually am fond of both blue and orange with a touch of green but for a baby this seems a bit intense especially when the gender has not been disclosed. Mom and Dad have chosen not to find out ahead of time.

I knew I wanted to use half square triangles but was undecided about the zig zags or make them using arrows. I also wasn’t sure about the colors. This is version number 1.

I ended up using a royal blue, a green an orange and a fabric that was mixed but included those three colors. I had all of these in my stash. I did end up buying a different orange because I wanted one that was brighter with all the white. Once I got the zig zags done I had the dilemma of the border. I cut the half square triangles with my Go cutter and the finished pattern made a 12″ square so I knew that I wanted the border to be about 4″ total but I really didn’t want to use another fabric or re-use one of the fabrics. I stared to play with some quilting software that I had received for Christmas.. EQ7 or Electric Quilt and ended up with alternating squares and rectangle of the white and colored fabrics. One day when I was walking through JoAnn’s in search of something else, I found this stripped fabric that had all the same colors in it as well and knew this would be the perfect fabric binding. The back I also ended up purchasing and that was a piece of yellow flannel with green alligators Finally the baby quilt was ready. Mom and Dad were pleased, I was satisfied and the baby is due in a couple of weeks. Nice to have this one finished and nice to be pleased with the result.

Red, white and blue.

July 4, 2013 / Patty

Red white and blue is the theme for today. Yes, even here in Edmonds it’s a holiday. Our little town has a children’s parade, a regular parade, a holiday run, activities in the park and even fireworks. It’s been fun to drive around town the day before these activities and see the people preparing for this big day. This photo was taken yesterday morning.By 10 pm last night the chairs were elbow to elbow. Too bad it was too dark to take a picture because it certainly made me chuckle.

It has been a quiet day here at our house. I finished the binding on the red, white and blue table runner. It was cut from a remnant that I found at JoAnn’s last summer. It was nice to have it in my stash so when the motivation struck, I was able to pull the fabric, use the AccuQuilt Go cutter and get to work.

We did have some folks stop in the afternoon. Soon we’ll have some barbecued hamburgers and beans. A traditional kind of 4th meal. The sun is out and I may go and finish the baby quilt that is sitting waiting for some batting and quilting. That needs to be finished by next Friday so I’ll have to get in gear. Second choice is to sit in the sun and read. Hope you are having a wonderful day too.

Big zip pouch

April 3, 2013 / Patty

A big zip pouch has been created. I’ve done many embroidered dish towels and this bag has been created specifically for that purpose. It’s about 16″ across the top and with the boxed bottom stands about 10″ high. It’s about 5″ across on the sides and will be perfect for holding embroidery floss, dish towels and assorted tools to create the embroidery. These tools of course include a needle book, a pair of scissors, an embroidery hoop, a tape measure and the embroidery floss. I do have some ribbons attached to the inside of the pouch and will attach the needle book and scissors but today isn’t the day. I’m planning on taking this big zip pouch with me tomorrow when I leave for Portland and I just don’t have time to find the extra tools and attach them. That will be a later project. For now, I have these items in another smaller pouch that I have in a separate bag but I’m looking forward to having these items in one place so I can just pick it up and go.

A Christmas Stocking for Raegan

January 8, 2013 / Patty

A Christmas stocking for Raegan was a necessary addition for holiday sewing. This sweet little girl ventured into the world on December 5th. The grandparents and Mom and Dad were excited. Of course all the family and friends were pleased to have such a sweet addition to this family. I didn’t want Santa to overlook this new babe however so a stocking was created. I used a combination of a McCall’s stocking pattern and some AccuQuilt dies. The name was cut with a Slice Fabrique die. If I do this again I will make a few changes but overall, it was a successful completion. Merry Christmas Raegan.

Another finish!

December 11, 2012 / Patty

Another finish! There have been several more but it’s getting closer to Christmas and the time is slipping away. This finish is a baby quilt for my daughters friend. The new mom isn’t really a pink person so I found some other fabrics that I thought would suit a little girl so it was girly but not pink. These colors I am fond of myself. I cut 5″ squares and followed the pattern on the Accuquilt guide. I guess I didn’t take a picture of the back but it was just a tiny pink and lime green polka dot fabric. I love the way this one turned out and think the new mom was surprised and pleased.

Thanksgiving is done and now it’s holiday sewing!

November 23, 2012 / Patty

Thanksgiving is done and now it’s holiday sewing. I have made several items in the last couple of weeks but not had the time to blog about any of it. I’m going to start with a really fast and easy project that I had fun with. That would be pot holders. We were invited to Aaron’s for Thanksgiving dinner this year. That was a treat for me. I usually cook all holiday meals. He had help from his sisters and they cooked a delicious meal of salmon, stuffing, mashed potatoes and salad.. We had vegetables and dip while we were visiting before the meal. It was great fun and I’m ready to do it again. Today they will all be here for dinner.

I did decide I should take a hostess gift so I bought a few new dish towels, a new paring knife and made some pot holders. I know that he doesn’t cook very much and I wasn’t sure what he really had. Although it all got left in the gift bag, I imagine that he will use all the items. I know they are having a holiday party at their apartment soon so I suspect they will all have future use.

The pot holders were fun to make. I cut them 8″ square and put in a layer of warm and bright and a layer of insulbrite. I quilted a square pattern on the top and used rayon thread on one side and cotton on the other. They are bright and cheerful and I think I’ll be doing more of these soon.

A triangle quilt..

October 21, 2012 / Patty

A triangle quilt was in my future. And now the first triangle quilt is in my past as well. It was a bit of a learning curve but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to another one. I think the next one will be a black and yellow creation.

I learned that it takes many triangles to create a small quilt. This one ended up being 40″ square and I used 160 triangles that I cut with my AccuQuilt Go cutter. The biggest challenge was getting them lined up when I sewed them together so that the top and bottom were even. If they were not even, when they were joined to the next row, they didn’t always line up and match evenly. I also wasn’t sure how to press the seams for the first couple of row, and pressed them to the side. I did learn that it was better if I pressed them open. There were some mistakes in this quilt but I was proud of my self when I didn’t point out all the errors at the baby shower. I decided that probably no one else would notice, or care and the fabrics were pretty. The mother to be was pleased so it everything was good. I used a Winnie the Pooh print on the back so it felt a bit more babyish.

It’s a hectic month with my mother being ill. I also decided near the shower date that I wanted to finish this quilt for the shower and make another gift when the baby is born. The meant a few long nights, and maybe not as high quality work as I like to think of myself creating. Once again, we are our own worse critics. One of the chuckles I did get was the night I finally got the top pieced. I spread the Winnie the Pooh backing out and anchored it down and went to add the batting when I realized that I had never purchased the batting! Thank goodness I was able to shake my head and laugh and head to bed. It was probably just as well because I tend to make mistakes when I’m tired.

Shower done, gifts delivered and now on to the next project.

A new little coaster

September 7, 2012 / Patty

A new little coaster was made for a friend. And it was good. There is a woman who I have worked with off and on for at least 15 years. Our lives have changed over the course of the friendship and we are both interested in crafting. She is very creative and has a great eye for papercrafts, decorating etc. I love to sew. Recently when she was in my office she saw one fo the over sized coasters that I was using and decided she really needed on and did I sell them? This is on my list of things that I want to do but of course my head is swimming with ideas and more things that I would like to do than I realistically have time or energy for. In the middle of the night however, all things seem possible and I do have an Etsy store set up and have visions of filling it with all sorts of cute hand crafted items. For now however I had some tumbler shapes leftover for one of my frenzied cutting sessions with my AccuQuilt Go cutter. Since I have cut these out I knew that’s how they were going to end up but it wasn’t at the top of the list until last weekend. I sewed them into a little coaster, took it to my friend and she squealed with glee at how perfect it was and how much she loved it. Oh, I do love those enthusiastic folks and I was filled with smiles at her pleasure. Such a little thing but it made my day.

Multi-tasking..

September 6, 2012 / Patty

Multi-tasking.. it seems like a good idea but I think but for me this is one that has gone gotten out of hand. I have so many ideas, and have collected so may lovely fabrics and I want to sew all kinds of projects. This time, I have used my AccuQuilt Go cutter and I have several new dies. I want to try them all out so the cutter is sitting on my table and I have piles of fabric and piles of cut shapes and now I have a huge mess! When I picked up the fabric for my nieces quilt and then used the wrong die to cut the fabric I decided I need to change my ways. I’ve taken a picture to remind myself of the disaster and started to pick things up and put them away. I do have piles ready to cut for quilts but now it’s one at a time and it goes into a clear plastic box with the pattern. The leftover shapes are in another box along with the oops cuts and I’ve decided that I need to sew up what I have and then I can cut more. Do you have a problem multi-tasking? If you do multi-task, what is your secret to stay organized? I’m ready to try some new ideas.

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