Applique-my first attempt!

I don't know about you, but I love looking at Pinterest.  I drool over all the beautiful quilts I see.  I seem to go in phases.  One week I love looking at jelly roll quilts.  The next week it's quilts for the men in my life, then I'm on to baby quilts, purple quilts, vintage or modern quilts.

 Right now I'm fascinated by applique quilts. I just love the look of applique on a quilt.  It can take a boring quilt and make it shine.  One that caught my eye was a simple jelly roll quilt with a name appliqued on. 

I haven't had a reason to make one until recently when my DD mentioned a friend of hers was expecting a baby boy.  I think I've only met her friend Sarah once or twice, but hey, why not make a quilt for her precious baby boy!

Sarah told my DD they were going to do the nursery in yellow and gray.  Since DD is in Chiropractic school, she's broke so we headed to Walmart to see if we could find fabric.  I was pleasantly surprised by what we found.  Their Waverly brand actually seems to be good fabric.  This is what we picked.

The darker gray with white polka dots is going to be the backing and the stripes at the bottom are going to be the binding.

Now, I've never appliqued before but I wasn't going to let that stop me. It couldn't be that hard, could it?  We decided to put his name, Ollie on one of the larger strips.

We found a simple font and cut out the fabric on my Cameo machine.  It was surprisingly easy, it worked on the first try! I had researched and knew to use heat n bond lite.  I got it on the quilt and his name looked great!

Now came the part I wasn't so sure about...actually sewing around the letters.  I can honestly say I learned a lot in the process.  It's not perfect and if you look close you can see all my mistakes.  But...what's the saying?  From a galloping horse it looks great!

After appliqueing his name.  I realized I had a lot to learn about applique.  As luck would have it,Prairiepoint Quilt and Fabric Shop,a quilt shop near me was having a class on applique.  I was lucky enough to get one of the last spots available.  I wish I had taken the class before I did the quilt but I feel much more confident for the next time I attempt applique. 

The two most important things I learned from the class were:  1.  Use tear away stabilizer behind the applique and 2.  Have an open toe applique foot for your machine.    I didn't have the special foot when I did the quilt and it was very hard to see what I was doing, especially around the curves and corners.  I ordered one online and it was amazing how much it helped.

I quilted it with my walking foot and did wavy lines.  I learned this technique from Jacquie Gering at Craftsy.  I first talked about her class here.  I honestly think this is the best class I've taken from Craftsy.  I learned so much from Jacquie and frequently refer back to the class.

One thing Jacquie really emphasizes is using tape for registration lines so you don't veer to the left or right. 

   

I tend to just plow ahead and hope for the best, but this time I took my time to measure, use my painters tape like Jacquie shows and I think my quilting it starting to look much better.

Another first for me on this quilt is using striped binding.  I was a little nervous, what if I didn't cut it straight?  What if it look crooked on the quilt?  But, I discovered I love striped binding.  I love the way it frames the quilt. I will definitely use it again.

Here's the finished quilt:

What's a new technique you were nervous or scared to try?  I'd love to hear from you.


Happy Sewing,

Lori

Wacky Web Quilt

When I first starting quilting, I starting following Jenny Doan and Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I faithfully watched her videos and thought I needed to make every single one.  One of the first videos I watched was the Periwinkle Quilt so I ordered the template, the papers and some fabric.  At that point I had no idea about fabric designers or fabric manufacturers.  I just picked something I liked, probably a daily deal.  I went to my local Hancock's (they went out of business a couple years ago) and looked for white fabric to go with what I'd purchased from Missouri Star.

Again, I must remind you, I had no idea what I was doing.  I looked at all the white fabric and found some that was cheaper than the others.  Turns out it wasn't 100% cotton, but that's okay, right??  So I bought it and went home and started on the Periwinkle quilt.  Somewhere along the way, I realized that I probably shouldn't have mixed cotton and whatever the white fabric was, so I put it away.

It sat in a drawer for awhile until I realized I needed a quick baby quilt.  I pulled it out and thought "why not?"  I had all the triangle pieces sewn together, I just needed to trim and put them together.

This is the way Jenny put them together in her tutorial:

Notice the white?  You can tell it's not 100% cotton.

 My sweet hubby isn't into quilting but he loves helping with designs and placement.  He suggested I try something different.  This is the design we decided on.  Notice the double wedding ring quilt underneath?  My husbands grandmother and great aunt made it.

I quilted it with the walking foot and did wavy lines. You will notice the binding isn't finished.  I finished sewing the binding on the drive to the baby shower!  Boy was I cutting it close, thank goodness it was a two hour drive.  We got it folded, wrapped in tissue paper and stuffed in a gift bag as we drove up.

More close up pictures:

 My points actually match up pretty well!

 The back is a plain pink.

Because I cut it so close, I didn't have a chance to wash it before I gifted it.  I sincerely hope when the new mom washes it there won't be uneven shrinkage because of the different fabrics.   I do have plenty of blocks left over so I need to make another small quilt and wash it myself to see how it holds up.

Now I know to buy quilters cotton and I try to buy from a quilt shop whenever I can. I feel like there is always something to learn with quilting/sewing.  My next projects are another baby quilt (my first time trying applique), burp cloths, changing pads, and then on to Halloween costumes.  I'm going to be busy the next few months!

Happy sewing,

Lori

Car Seat Quilt

I've been tossing around an idea in my head for a while, trying to come up with a quilt for my grandson's car seat that he couldn't constantly kick off.  I got my inspiration from http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/sophie-car-seat-quilt.html    After trying several different ideas, this is the final design.

 I wanted it to be warm and cozy since it was going to be used in winter.  The fabric I chose was left over from several other projects.  All the fabric is soft and cuddly and also difficult to sew.  Every time I sew with minky or any of that soft, stretchy, cuddly fabric, I swear I'm never going to sew with it again....but I always end up loving the final product and decide it wasn't so bad after all. 

 I wanted to make the quilt a quilt as you go (QAYG).  I thought it would be quicker and easier with this fabric.  I cut my backing approximately  30 inches by 35 inches since I wanted the finished quilt to be about 25x30.  I cut the batting the same 30x35.  For my strips, I cut varying widths making sure I had enough to go the length of the quilt.  I laid the first piece down and sewed across the top close to the edge.  Then I laid the next piece right sides together on the bottom edge of the first fabric, sew and fold down, repeating this process until the batting is covered.   Missouri Star Quilt Company has a great tutorial https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/how-to-quilt-as-you-go

Use lots of pins with this fabric, it likes to move!

Almost done!

Last strip added and sides trimmed.

 The Moda Bakeshop tutorial used ties to attach the quilt to the car seat.  I was afraid they would come undone or take too long to tie and untie so I used velcro and made wider tabs instead.  I made the tabs about 1/12 inches wide by 5 inches long.  I measured around the handle of the car seat to get a length I felt worked.  I'm sure each car seat may be a little different.

I measured down about 13 inches and sewed the tabs close to the edge of the quilt.

 Things I learned from making this quilt:

Basting spray is your friend.

Pin, Pin, Pin.

Using a walking foot makes sewing this so much easier.

Binding with minky is no fun.


Let me know what you think of my car seat quilt

Happy sewing,

Lori