July is FLY

Hi everyone. July is here and I am flying off to Seattle to see my daughter Shara. Very excited to go on vacation but a bit nervous about flying. So I have been trying really hard to finish those 2 quilts you guys are probably sick of hearing about.  Do want to leave unfinished business behind.


My sister-in-law and daughter came to visit this week. Apparently Jesse likes the quilts. She to is a Skull person. So I promised to add her to my bucket list of quilts to be made. If I had know that in advance I would not have sewn ALL the extra skull fabric into the back of the quilts. LOL! There really was enough for a third quilt in double/queen size...To late. Sigh. I would not want to make the same quilt 3 times anyway. I have  an idea for a wall hanging for her....SHHHHHHHHHHH


Louie is doing great in day care. He is very happy and loves to go. Could we ask for more. I miss having him around.  He met his Great Aunt and second cousin for the first time this week and got on wonderfully with them .  They all went to the beach.  See that happy face! Thumbs Up!

 

I am taking fabric with me to sew while I am in Seattle. I had hoped to have it all cut out but that never happened because, I could not make up my mind what quilt I wanted to make.  I will figure it out while I am there.


Aileen in FL

June Adventures

I am starting this post today because I am very excited. My oldest daughter is sewing up a storm! Pillows, curtains and she has started her first wall hanging. Quilt Pox have been spread at last! She says she hates it but has been sewing all month. She has shopped my stash a few times as well. She likes a lot of what I like. Often as she is grabbing fabric, my brain is saying OUCH! I rather she sew than I sit on the fabric.

Today I finished quilting her quilt. Only have to trim and bind it. Her husbands flimsy is all together, sandwiched and ready for quilting!

 

Tough month for me. Left arm just not working right but I will push on! Made a little pillow for Grandsons new kitty.....now there are 2 kitties. He loves them!

Also made a carry bag for Louis. Everyday he brings his toys in a bag. He has worn out the bottom of several bags. The bags are bigger than he is and he drags them along. I bought some vinyl upholstery fabric and a canvas remnant. I made him a bag with his name on it. I didn't follow a pattern so it came out quite wonky, but he loves it just the same. I will be happy if it lasts him the summer!

 He dragged it all over the house after filling it with his cars and stuff.

 

Louis started Day Care this week. He really likes it. Always smiling.

 

Made myself a house dress. I am having rotator cuff surgery soon and need some loose fitting clothes. I made this with bits of fabric from my celestial collection. Was fun to make. Very comfortable. I need to make the next one with a Velcro on left shoulder for ease of dressing the first week.

 

 

 I spent the rest of that week cleaning and rearranging bedroom furniture. I don't know how I am going to be able to sleep comfortably after surgery so prepped for all possible scenarios. Removed stuff I trip over or bang into. Spring cleaning and purging stuff. Shredded 7 boxes of tax papers!

 

 Found a UFO of snowman lying around. I did some FMQ with regular foot. It needs green and red stuff appliqued to it. This was a prototype that I didn't like, so I started over. For finished second version click here. Scroll to bottom. It was from a picture I found on the web. Don't know who designed it. If you do, let me know so I can give credit to artist.  It was just the head on a white background and green boarder.  

 



 

 

 

 

TO DO LIST

 

Finish Daughters quilts.

Cut out fabric for next quilt to take with me to Seattle.

Make house dress with Velcro shoulder

Piece the sampler quilt. 

Happy Quilting

 

Aileen in Florida

 



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May M&M and Tomatoes

May seems to have flown by quite rapidly. I can't believe Mother's Day and Memorial Day has come and gone. Was great seeing all the flags flying high and proud.

Slow starts this month. Worked on DD quilt. It is mostly quilted but had to set it aside to make curtains for grandson #1. He turned 10 this year. My how time does fly.

I made Logan the quilt last year, days before they arrived from upstate NY. If you look real hard you can see him in bed playing with his iPad mini. That wall color is hard on my brain, but I don't live in that room! LOL!

So my GREEN for RSC14 is the  Pennants. I made 48 of them to use on the curtains. Have 8 left to put his name on.
 

Today, the last day of the month, I was able to piece the flimsy of my SIL matching  skull quilt. Can't wait to get these finished and go back to making "Smalls"!

Target date is June 25th. Would like this finished for their 11th Anniversary. I had intended this to be done for their 10th. Oh well, better late than never.

Other things on the burner this month :.

I made a Doll Swap Quilt and mailed it out to my partner Lynn. She said she really like it! So glad. The theme was "Modern", but after four attempts, I chucked it and did my own thing. I just could not getting something I like in miniature in the "Modern" flavor. Everything I tried looked better in full size.

Lynn in turn sent me a terrific Modern Quilt. I just love it! It is hanging in my dining room!

My grandson Louis spends a lot of time with me. He is 4 and sometimes hard to entertain. We have been growing tomatoes. I keep telling him is a good farmer. He informed me the other day that he is not a farmer, he is a gardener! LOL! He is too!

 

He also informed me that they are his tomatoes. He loves veggies, so I know he will enjoy eating his bounty.

This is Louie with cat ears, admiring the first tomato to sprout!

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April Showers??? NewFO

Well April is  over and there was one really ugly week of rain but on the whole April was a mix of cold and hot with just a few showers. To wear a jacket or not to.  So much confusing weather and I was not much better.

What to work on. What to set aside..... What to do for birthdays and holidays this month. My mind is a terrible thing to loose in my sewing room. Felt like a Magpie. The bird that gets distract when it sees something shiny. Me!

I pieced the back of my daughters quilt. It is big and I didn't have enough fabric. I was hoping to get it done this weekend. After pin basting it for hours. I discovered a big fold. Unpinned and repined it again. Flip it completely over. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. There was a massive fold in the very middle. I use to have those old wooden folding tables but I no longer had them. I'd basted it on the dinning room table with two mismatched folding tables. Why did I bother! After a massive anxiety attack, I went to Lowes and bought a 5 ft folding table to match the one I have and butted everything to dinning room table. I had to duck tape (Man Tool) the tables so they wouldn't slip and also cover the middle with cardboard and more duck tape to fill in the 5 inch gap. Took a quick trip to Harbor freight to get 20 nylon clamps that open  1 3/4 inches @ 99 cents each, to replace the office clamps I had. The new folding tales are much thicker than the old wood ones. After 2 1/2 hours of unpinning I was able to set it up and will pin baste tomorrow. It is very flat and looks so inviting!

BASTING IS DONE! It took 4 1/2 hours. I feel better. Quilting it very soon. Then I have to sew the second one!



Back of Quilt

 

++++++++++++++++++++

I finished my Doll Swap Quilt. Came out cute. I hope my swap partner likes it.

 

The quilt block is an Judy Martin design.

 

 

This month was also my youngest daughters birthday. She love mustaches. When I was visiting Seattle last year I picked up some Mustache fabric. I didn't get enough so I had to order more from Gossypium Quilt Shop. I just loved that store.  They are having a sale this month to get ready for Christmas!

 

 

Here is a picture of her pillow cases accompanied by her Orca bay quilt!. Fun Fun!

 

The beginning of the month I spent time cutting up scraps and bagging strings by color family. I worked on RSC2014 for April which was purple. I got quite a few string pieced blocks done.

 

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

Then there some of  this.

 

I mended my Grandsons pants. I have not mended kid pants in a very long time. He loves cars so why not a checkered flag. I think he liked it. He wears them often!

 

 

 

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April - Sun came out at last!

Happy 1st  Birthday!

 

 

Not a Quilt!??? LOL!

My granddaughter turned "1" on March 29th! Happy Birthday! She has outgrown her infant car seat. So we purchased a new one for mommies car and an old one so grandma can have one too.  My daughter found a tutorial on how to cover the car seat, so I gave it a shot. Thank you Crazy Little Projects for the TUT.  Most time consuming part was deconstruction. Using my better judgment I left one of the top wings assembled while making the other side. It brought back memories of  making custom fitted darts on a vintage fifties dresses to fit your bust line. I cut out fabric and sewed it with my Janome 6500. Sweet! However, when it came time to sew the bits back together..."SNAP", my needle broke on the first down stroke.  I was not happy. Now what? Well, I got on my Featherweight and assembled the layers there. Those needles on the Featherweight are like stakes in comparison to the Titanium needles I use on my Janome.
 I did draw a map of the pieces. Also wrote on the back of cover with white chalk pencil.  Top, Bottom, added hash marks to help in lining up the side pieces. The most invaluable item was the picture of the back of the car seat cover.  All toll it took me 8 hours from start to finish. Looks great!

 

Old car seat cover

 

 

Back of car seat cover. Invaluable!

 

 

Assembling

 

 

TA DA!! Cute!!!

 

 

 

Fits like a glove.

 

Try this and give new life to an old car seat cover.

 

Aileen in FL

March Down wind NewFO

Well today is only the 12th. I live in Florida and the ides of March are in full swing. Got soaked to my skin yesterday on way to doctor. On the way home the sun was out and the temperature hit in the 70's. This morning freezing and windy!!! Trees are bending over like a very bad ballet. So what does this mean....I feel  physically battered, so I am  spending more time in the sewing room. My sanctuary, my sanity. Even if I just touch my fabric, it is medicinal and calming.

I joined the Doll Quilt Swap. My partner is Pat. I was excited to start on her quilt. I went through my parts department and found the perfect blocks to put together and make her quilt. Only took two weekends of sewing. I hope she likes it as much as I do. My husband loved it and was a little sad that I was not keeping it for myself.  I think it is more fun to give things away that you make with love.

Since I am having problems with arm, my hand quilting really has deteriorated over the years. So I do everything I can get away with by machine. A while back I bought a box of those black binder clips in multiple sizes  at Walmart. They were $8.00 for 200 pc. I used those to hold the binding in place while I machine sewed it down. Worked like a dream! No gluing or hand sewing. Woot!

 

I received my quilt from Pat, my partner in the Doll Quilt Swap. Love my quilt!

 

What a beauty.  Spring has sprung!

She also gifted me a eyeglass case and lanyard.

Thanks Pat!

 

Still working on Bento Blocks for my daughters quilt. They now measure 20 inches each! I altered the pattern for this quilt several times instead of doing the Rip-rip two step! As with many of my quilts, I get derailed on occasion. I have to make two alike quilts and the amount of un-sewing was overwhelming. It was improvise time. They look good this way too. Because the blocks keep growing in size I will probably have enough for a matching baby quilt or lap quilt. I can even use them on the back of the quilt. I purchased 100% cotton batting. There will be some shrinking but I love that look on a homemade quilts.

 

Amber's Blocks

 

 

Flimsy

 

My bed is queen size and she has a king. She wants two separate quilts. Each quilts is going to measure 80 x 100 inches. I will not be putting a border on it because they are so big. Hers will have teal binding and his will have red binding. I was going to finish hers first but I figure I may as well do both tops and whatever I have left over, I will use on the backs of the quilts. I have my son-laws blocks all made but not web together as yet. (Note: cards on wall are to teach my grandson the month and what day of the week it is. The other wall has sight words on it. He is 4 years old and reads over 200 words. He loves to be tested on his words! )


Also made a silly thing to hang a Nook in the back seat of my car for granddaughter. Since she is in a toddler seat it faces backwards and she gets fussy. There is a loop in the backseat to secure a car seat when it faces forward. I made this to go there. Her daddy beat me to the bunch and actually put a Velcro strip on the back of his Kindle and weaved the other piece through the loop. His was higher so she couldn't kick it.  He won! LOL

I also cut out another 100 spools for my Spooling around leaders and enders challenge from Bonnie Hunter. I have about 260 sew already as leaders and ends. That was a challenge 2 years ago. Hey, it still counts. I think she is doing Lozenges leaders and enders chalenge now.

 

I found a pile of not so attractive 2 1/2 in squares and am sewing them into 4 patches. Building my parts department for future quilts. Since following Bonnie  and watching her Quilt Cam I think differently when it comes to my scraps. I have made quite a few quilts recently and barely touched my stash. I may use these for Maverick Stars or her latest Wonky wishes but with the tiny 4 patch in the middle. I do have a bunch or 1 1/2 inch squares as well. Which I guess is really Maverick stars. LOL

I purchase a bunch of little bins at the Dollar tree to make it easier for me to trim the little bits that are left over into squares. Bins were 2 for a dollar. How can you go wrong.  Anything small goes in barrel dog biscuit container  for crumbs and I have sorted Zip lock bags for strip piecing  by color. If I hate the fabric I just cut it up. If its still ugly I cut it smaller. LOL!!
No regrets because I am using it up.

BTW -The Dora the Explorer fabric in the background is really a crib sheet I made yesterday that is waiting for me to put the elastic in. This Crib Sheet tutorial was great.

Happy Quilting

Aileen in Florida

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Heating Pad

Heating Pad Tutorial

Here my heating pad.  I was half way through when I decided to do a tutorial, so you will see some of the pictures showing a blue one. The blue one is for tech who gave me the idea.

Prewash fabric so it will not run or bleed color on your clothing when heated. Since it is going to be filled with rice, it cannot be washed.

I cooked raw rice in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, stirred it and then cooked it for another 15 minutes. Let it cool and store in a container. I wanted to be sure that it was dry and had no bacteria etc.

Supplies - Prewashed 100% cotton fabric or muslin. Iron , no starch

     ~WOF x 15 1/2 inches or 2 pcs - 20 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (can be done in two colors)

Cotton thread                          24 inch ruler                            Raw rice

Small funnel                            sewing machine                       regular sewing foot

zipper foot                               pencil or  marking pen             Freezer Paper 

Scissors

 

 

 

Pattern

Draw your pattern on a 22 x 17 piece of freezer paper without seam allowance. After drawing, trim down paper. Draw lines approximate 1 ½ inches apart. Draw notch marks in the center area of neck. This is your area for inserting the funnel in order to fill with rice.

 

Freezer Paper Pattern size I decided on was 20 ½ in x 14 in.  Round the top corners and in the neck area.  The measurements from top edge to neck area is 7 ¾ inches. Legs are 5 ½ inches wide.  Iron freezer paper to fabric.

Cut fabric 5/8 inch bigger than pattern all the way around.  

Sew all the way around outer edge of freezer paper using small stitch. I used 1.8 stitch on my Janome. I sewed it twice for extra strength.

Sew all the way around inner curve leaving the 1 1/2 inch gap open for filling in center of neck.  Tack it for strength.  Do not sew the legs shut. After sewing, trim the center area leaving 5/8 inch margin of fabric. 

Clip rounded corners, taking care not to get to close to seam line. Set the seam by giving it a quick press, and turn right side out.  Finger press seam as you are turning it inside out. This will make it easier to press flat for the drawing of the lines.  Press seam allowance under on bottom of legs and center of neck area. Iron the Freezer Paper back onto fabric about ¼ inch from the edge. Use your lines as your guide and draw dots on the fabric on each side to use as a guide to draw the straight lines and notched area.

 

Draw your lines with marking pencil, Sharpie, etc. Lines will not show after heating pad is sewn & filled.

Sew directly on the line. Remember to leave notch area open for access to fill with rice.

 

Using a funnel fill one side at a time with rice.  Shake several times after filling. Rice will settle a few times. Leave at least 1 ¼ to 1 1/2 inches empty on every row.  This step is very important for 2 reasons. First, you need the empty space in order to sew the seam shut, with the zipper foot, without running over the rice. Second, it makes it easier to fold heating pad for placing it in the microwave.

Sew slowly, using your zipper foot to sew seams shut. If you have the ability to move your needle position to the left, this will help you with sewing the seam shut more easily. You can use a pin to help keep the rice in place.

 

You have finished the first row! Continue sewing until you get to the leg area.  When doing the very last line in the neck area sew straight across from one end to the other, leaving the notch in the center open. Fill this last tube and sew shut. It should look something like this. 

When you start sewing the legs, leave 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inch opening on the outer edge. Putting the opening on the outer edge makes it easier to fill with rice. Leave at least 1 ¼  inch space without rice.  Same as on the neck area. Use a pin to help keep the rice away from the needle and sew shut using the zipper foot.

 

 

Continue until you get to the last row. On this row you will have to sew the tube shut very close to the edge, leaving the 1 ¼ inch space open for filling. I had to hand sew the last 1 ½ inch by hand. Believe me I tried to do it on the machine because I am not a hand sewer. LOL.

 

 

 

You may ask why I just didn’t fill the tubes from the outer seam? Well on the prototype I did just that. The problem was that the heating pad was very bulky and also very heavy. I could not figure out how to put a binding around the edge to make it looked finished, unless I sewed it completely by hand. Because of the bulk of the rice, it was impossible to clear the needle shaft area without getting stuck. Since it is much bulkier it presents a problem when trying to fold it and place it in the microwave.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I will be making a washable sleeve to go on my heating pad out of terry cloth. Towels seem to hold the heat of the heating pad in longer.

 

Aileen in FL