More instant gratification.

As I mentioned a while back, free time had been at a premium.  So, along with the couple of mini quilts I posted, I experimented with a case for my new glasses.

Basically, all I did was make a mini quilt and roll it up.  Too easy.  I'm not going to dare to call this a tutorial for something so simple (especially since I just kinda wing everything), but here are the basic steps:

1. Determine size for your glasses. 

(All I did for this was roll them up in a piece of fabric and measured out what seemed to be right. For mine, it ended up being 6 1/2" h. x 6 1/4' w.)

2. Piece a mini quilt top.

(You see below, I went kinda modern with some solids.) 

3. Before you quilt it, make sure to trim the batting about a 1/4" shy of 3 of the edges. Leave the top edge normal, you'll just bind this one, but trimming the batting back from the others will keep it from bunching up too much when you stitch it together.  ( I thought I was real smart for thinking of this before hand, but Ang told me that's pretty much standard practice for what I was doing...oh well)

4. Bind the top edge.

5. Fold the little quilt right sides together and stitch the bottom, then the side together.

6. Turn it ride side out, and there ya go.

Ang liked mine and asked me to make one for her. Of course, none of that modern stuff for her! "I want mine cute though!" 

Ugh.....

Okay, people...

I put a quilt into the Quilting Gallery "Weekly Themed Contests."

This week is "miniatures" and so I sent in my mini "Improv 1" 

(such an artsy name for it, more like lazy).

Anyway, click the "Quilting Gallery" button on the right, go take a peak at the weekly contest and vote for me!  Well, vote for what ever one you like the best, really, it's cool. 

(The last time I put one in, I didn't vote for mine either!)

Voting is Friday through Sunday.

Sneak Peek!

Okay, here's a sneak peek at something we're working on.  Well, at this point only Ang is working on it, but I will be soon as well.  

I just had to put this up, I'm very proud of her work.  Look at this, it is nowhere near done, but already very cool. 

That tree is one piece. I can't believe she was able to cut it out, let alone applique it on like that.

This section is about 30"x30", so we gotta big one brewing here.

Been a long time...

The last month or so has been pretty crazy, not a lot of time for quilting or blogging.  But, things have slowed a bit and I've had a chance to have a little fun in the basement.

Since it had been a while and time was at a premium, I decided to make a couple mini quilts.  I've had some solids laying around that I was wanting to play with, here was my chance.  The pic on the right is an improvisation I did.  Just picked some colors, started cutting and piecing.  Lot of fun!

I really enjoy a lot of the Amish quilts, there's something so appealing about the simplicity of design and their use of colors.  So, in search of some instant gratification, I decided on another mini, this time "Amish-ish."

Working on these mini quilts has been great, I just kinda dive in and see where they go.  I guess that's one of the beauties about not really 'knowing' what you're doing.

Dog for Luke

A while back I showed a picture of a baby quilt I'd made for some friends. (here's that post, it's the yellow one at the bottom)  Well, I wanted to make sure to do something for their little boy who is about to become a big brother.  He's got a lot of work ahead of him and deserves a little something special in anticipation of the headaches of a little brother!

This is my take on Denyse Schmidt's  Scottie Dog pattern.  Not a bad little project, though I do have to admit, the gusset gave me a hell of time. Ang had to bail me out a couple of times. (Nothing new there though I guess.)

Some Gifts

We've made a modest entry in the Quilting Gallery weekly contest again with the quilt on the right.  This is a design called "Simply Charming" by Lori Smith and actually serves as the cover for her book Fat-Quarter Quilting.  (Her version, not ours!)

This and the quilt below, also from Fat-Quarter Quilting, were the first projects Angela and I worked on together.  Since I had picked up her hobby, and was invading her stash anyway, we wanted to try some projects together.  These wall hangings were done as Christmas gifts to each of our sets of parents.  Angela did the applique work and the quilting, I did the piecing and binding.  It turned out to be a great idea, we got to work together, make some special gifts for family and have some fun.

Since these two, we've completed two more together and have another we've just begun.  So, you can imagine our sewing room is a bit crazy with each of our multiple projects in progress, the new one we're working on together, ugh.  Just watch your step and careful where you set that coffee.

So, now what?

Up to this point, our posts, the few that there are, have been about completed works.  I guess we're sort trying to catch the blog up to where we're at now and figure this whole blog thing out too. While we do have some other completed projects we'd like to share, we both have a couple of projects under way so a post about what we're working on now might be in order.

Found this old Singer in a thrift shop a couple of days ago.  It works great and was really cheap!  I even got the cabinet (needs minor repair), the original buttonholer kit and a box full of feet with it. What a kick.

                                         

The wiring is old and a bit worn, so it needs to be replaced.  But, other than that, good cleaning and lubricating, it should be good to go.  I've been doing a little homework on fixing these old machines up, but if anyone has any experience with them let us know.

That quilt on the design wall in the background is something Angela is working on.  She did a great job with the applique on the left side and there is another applique panel she's wrapping up that goes on the right.  I don't have the info right here on the designer or source, but we will get back to it.

This... this is one of my messes.

It started from this doodle:

I got this idea for a small, wonky house quilt driving down the street.  So, when I finally parked, I torn a scrap off of something in the glove compartment and made this doodle.  I don't know, we'll see what happens.  The goal is these odd little houses, bright colors (hence the note: Burano It., not to look like Burano, but to remind me bright) and just, I don't know...odd. We'll see where it goes, the fun part is trying to figure it all out.

Just finished:

I wanted to make a baby quilt for some friends, but knew time was going to be at a premium, so I chose this City View pattern from Connecting Threads.  It is a simple design, but I'd always liked it, so here was a chance to use it.  I know this is going to seem like a commercial for Connecting Threads, but so what, I found their "Kit Builder" tool very helpful and kinda fun to use too.  I know it isn't anything revolutionary, but I'm still new at this and I got a kick out it.  So if you haven't played with it, give it a try.

Jay