A New Year......2011

Gosh, the last year went by so fast!  I didn't get to do near as much in the sewing room as I had planned, here's to hoping 2011 will get more projects started and FINISHED!

First of all here is the finished Mama's Boy Quilt that I started back here. 

Backing

Backing and binding..all machine stitched



Quilt front - my first machine quilted quilt using free motion quilting

And here are a two items that I scored as Christmas gifts that were sewing related!  A Moda jelly roll

And my quilting group had a gift exchange and I received this fat quarter bag that was made using 6 fat quarters. I have the pattern but now I don't need to make me one! There is even paisley fabric in this....

For now I have my dress and jacket cut out.

 I'm using this pattern McCall's 5890

 which I have made before here.  That version is now too large and can't be altered to fit because of the depth of the armholes.  So I'm making again in a smaller size and I already knew what alterations I wanted to make to the fullness of the skirt.

 The serger is all threaded with the purple thread and is ready to sew.  But first I have to get the home dec fabric sewed together for my SIL. 

I had some trouble getting the patterns to match at the seams, so I've had to get some fabric glue and I'm hoping this does the trick.  The fabric seems to be an open weave and even using the walking foot, the pattern goes out of wack towards the end of the seam.  Fingers crossed that the glue does the trick. 

And of course I HAD to buy a new pattern This is from the McCall's Spring 2011 book.  I have several pieces of knit that I want to make either a dress or a top.  So the plans keep going!  I'm really going to try to NOT buy any fabric for quite some time since I have a LOT in my stash and it is time to use it up.

You will notice a link on the side to MPB Men's Shirt Sew Along...I'm not participating by sewing; only by promoting and reading all about it.  It should be a good read as Peter always adds a bit of humor to his sewing as well as some wonderful insight.

Bye for now so that I can try seaming the home dec, here's to hoping the glue works so that I can move on to the purple dress!

Sorry for the massive absenteeism!!

I have been very, very absent from posting, not sewing...but posting. 

I left off after I wore the dress I had been working on.  Since that time I have finished another dress, with the same pattern

AND took my trip to London!  We had a great time - we did have a chance to see the Grace Kelly exhibit

at the V & A.  It was wonderful. Sewing related, I went to a nice fabric store (I don't remember the name) I didn't buy anything there.  They did have the fabrics displayed a bit different than I've ever seen.  They had strips of the fabric hanging from  pants hangers and then those were on round racks with the price/content/location on a cardboard piece on the hanger.  If you wanted a swatch, you just cut a piece from the bottom.  All the actual bolts of fabric were stacked on top of each other along the walls.  Not the most appealing way to display, but efficient.  Then we went to the Liberty Dept. Store....beautiful fabrics!  I bought 3 different fabrics there and it was very hard to decide on just those 3 (limited luggage space).

Once home, I had to begin my next project...an A, B, C baby quilt

for my soon to be born Great Niece.  The shower is in 2 weeks and all I have left is to stitch the binding down. I just can't decide if I want to try the stitch in the ditch with invisible thread, or hand stitch it. I decided to hand stitch!  It came out really nice, for my first "real" quilt.  A few stitches are showing since I did the stitch in the ditch - I wasn't always in the ditch....I was even using my machine magnifying glass.

As soon as I finish this quilt, I'm going back to the "Mama's Boy" quilt that I started in January.  I feel more confident to be able to finish it now that I had success with the baby quilt.  I'm also taking a machine quilting class next Saturday.  It should really help me a lot.  I'm looking forward to the class so much.

One other thing that I almost forgot to mention was my first vintage machine that I purchased on E-bay from a seller in Canada a Bernina 121 born somewhere around 1957. She is a beaut and she purrs like a kitten. I have had some trouble with the stitches but I'm sure it is a threading problem.

Mama's Boy Quilt

I have finished the quilt top and I really like the way it looks.
I went to several quilt shops yesterday looking for a product that has quilting stitches already printed on a sticky back paper so that I can "cheat" quilt. I'm just not that good at stippling, so I thought I would be able to find this product...not so. One of the shops said they could order it, but I can do that myself from a catalog.
But on the way home I had this great idea! I think I might be able to use the sticky back plastic wrap and just stick that to the quilt, then trace a pattern onto that. Then I can do the quilting and just pull the plastic wrap off. Doesn't that sound like a plan?? I'm just not sure how it will work. I'm afraid it might gum up my needle, but I'll give it a test run. Till then....

Catching up on projects - Wall hanging

I've been away from this blog for awhile, so I'm going to catch up with the projects I have finished, started and planned!
I finished the wall-hanging and it is on the wall! I think it really looks like the picture that was on the pattern. I give a big applause for all the quilters out there, this is HARD. I didn't expect it to be so hard to match seams, etc. I thought the actual quilting would be the hard part, but it seems the piecing is much harder. Anyway it is finished and I am glad it is done. I did use my BSR to do the quilting along the borders and I used the embroidery for the quilting in the triangles.

Wall hanging project

I received my Rust Autumn Harvest Wreath Quilt wall hanging kit yesterday! Since I put the concrete floors in the sewing room and repainted, I needed something to decorate the walls. As you can see from the picture of the project it will look really nice against the gold of the room.

Here are the fabrics in the kit and I bought the Floral Trellis Tonal for the backing fabric as well. There is some applique involved which is the wreath, I've never tackled that so this will be a learning experience!

The kit list the fabrics as Golden Vines, Rust Wheat Stripe, Brown Packed Ditsy, Rust Focal Wheat, Rose Packed Ditsy, Sage Packed Leaves and Rust Ditsy. Don't you just love the names of fabric! I purchased the kit from Connecting Threads on sale for $19. When finished it will be 36 1/2" square.

I have several other projects that need to be finished before I can start on this but will post the progress once I get started.

Quilt shop in San Diego

I've just returned from my 4 days in San Diego with my Sister. We had a wonderful time doing all the usual tourist things. We both decided that we WILL lose some weight before next trip. Our feet and legs were killing us from all the walking we did.

I did get to visit a quilt shop called Rosies Calico Cupboard....and I have to say, I've never seem so many bolts of quilting fabric in one spot in my life!!!! It was referred to me by someone in my Bernina group online site.

I only purchased 1 piece - a creamy gold paisley to go with my other paisley collection for my quilt as you go quilt. Almost there! I know, all that fabric and you only bought 1 piece! I was having stomach issues that afternoon and just couldn't get into looking through it all. My Sister did buy 2 pieces so that I could make her a nightshirt. Another project to add to my list!

Projects

I went to Hobby Lobby Thursday on my lunch hour to use my gift card that my son gave me for Mother's Day and I found 5 pieces of fabric on sale that I had to have. I decided to make pillowcase dresses for a friend of mine's granddaughter's first birthday. Of course this was NOT part on my list of projects already started! I also bought 2 pieces to go with my never ending "paisley" infatuation for a quilt as you go project. I keep gathering fabrics for this project with no beginning date set. I have to decide on the pattern I will use so that I can finish buying the stash. I still have money left on my giftcard so I can return for more to add to my stash!


I did go straight home after work and cut all 5 dresses out and finished them all this morning.

Project List as of today

• princess seamed dress for sister (still in the muslin fitting stage)


• paisley quilt as you go quilt


• embroidered sewing motif clock for sewing room


• Continue to organize sewing room


• baby blankets for son's friends baby - born this week 2 weeks early!


• Quillow for my Mother's birthday in September


• Curling Iron holder


• Embroider luggage tags