Bow Tie Baby Quilt and WIPs

I am very excited about the positive response I have received for the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop.  Updated info can be found here.  If you are participating, please grab a button and let other new bloggers know about it (I think the button works correctly - please let me know if it doesn't.)  I used this straightforward tutorial by Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts to create the HTML code box.

I finished up this baby quilt yesterday (it is raining again today so I can't get any pics of it outside - I thought it was supposed to be April Showers - isn't it May???)  I think it is called a Bow Tie quilt?  I basically just cut out large squares of the pink and small squares of scrap fabric and stitched them together HST style.

I put the smaller HSTs away for another project and I squared the larger blocks.  I then cut some more blocks from the pink, stitched the blocks into rows, and stitched the rows together.  I thought the quilt was too small after I used up all my blocks and since I didn't have any more of the pink fabric, I just improvised with some scraps for the bottom.  I free motion quilted it with a meandering stitch - it is my second time doing so and I really enjoy the process - it is fun deciding the stitch pattern as you go.

And I used more of the Momo Wonderland fabric that I cut into for the My Precious QAL.

As for WIPs, I started making some scrappy, wonky little houses - not sure if I am going to make a quilt (the plan being to make a bunch of the small ones for the quilt top and put the big one on the back or the reverse.)  But I might just do something smaller like a pillow or a bag.

And I started making some HSTs for a chevron quilt (or pillow or bag.)

I haven't been crocheting but I've been taking pics of things I've already made like this blanket (which took forever!)

I guess I also can consider finishing up the navigation bar a WIP  - I finally have everything linked up correctly but I still want to finish up the pages.  I also want to work on the actual projects for the links I put in under the Participating In tab.


Fabrics used in Bow Tie Quilt:
Amy Butler Love Cypress Paisley Lime (backing)
Erin McMorris Wildwood Flower Shower in Fuschia (binding)
Erin McMorris Wildwood Flower Shower in Gold
Momo Wonderland Tweedle Dee (Sugar?)
Amy Butler Midwest Modern Honeycomb in Sand
Heather Bailey Nicey Jane Dream Dot Clementine
Heather Bailey Pop Garden Sway in Lime
Sarah Jane Children at Play Summer Gardens Lilac
Kona Cotton Petal

Please check out my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.

Little Crocheted Bags and Free Motion Quilting

After spending the morning troubleshooting my uncooperative sewing machine, I was so happy when the baby took a late afternoon nap while the girls were at a friend's house thinking I'd be able to get some sewing in today.  All was looking good until I noticed my iron was not warming up - sadly, I don't think I can fix it so my sewing will have to take a break for a few days.  What to do???  Crochet, maybe?!?

 
Actually, I made this little bag with the purple flower over the weekend (and the pink one years ago) - if I'd only known, I would have waited.

These bags are a relatively simple and quick project.  I've been giving these out for birthday presents for a few years and from the feedback I've received, I can say - little girls LOVE them!

To make the bags, you just need to make two Granny Squares of your choice and a big flower.  For the grannies, I recommend making two identical ones - you can vary the yarn color for the middle but I think it looks nicer at the end if your outermost row is the same for both.

Put the two squares right side together (if you have a right side) and starting in the middle of one of the sides, use single crochet to stitch around the rest of that side and the next two sides.  Then make a chain of your preferred length (mine was about 100 stitches) and stitch down the rest of the side you started with.  You can really attach them anyway you want but using this method gives the bags a nice boxy look.  Flip the bag around so the right sides are showing and attach your flower (or flowers.)

You can leave the bag like this or you can add a lining.  To make the lining, you need to first measure your granny square to figure out what size you need.  Your fabric should be about 1/2 to 1 inch wider than your square and double the length plus about 1 inch.  For example, if my square was 5x5, I would cut out two pieces of fabric measuring 6 x 11 inches.  Remember when choosing fabric, that the exterior will show a bit though the crochet - you might want it to stand out or you might prefer for it to blend in - I usually hold it up behind the square when deciding which fabric to use.

Put your two pieces of fabric right sides together and sew around all four sides leaving a gap on one of the sides for turning.

Turn it so right sides are facing out and topstitch around the rectangle enclosing the open gap while doing so.  Take the rectangle and fold it in half so that the short sides touch and sew down the two sides forming a little bag.  The seams will be showing but the raw edges will be enclosed because of the first step.  (You could also sew the fabric bag with no seams by sewing the exterior into a little bag and the interior into a little bag, putting one inside the other (right sides facing) and sewing around the top leaving a gap for turning.)

Then just put the fabric bag inside the crochet bag and hand stitch using your preferred method for invisible stitches around the top to attach.  Make sure to put your needle through just the interior side of the crochet stitches so that the thread doesn't show on the outside.  

I also made some of these little bags last night using some granny squares that I had made awhile back (I think I was originally going to make a blanket.)  

But back to quilting:

I've been building up to free motion quilting - using it in smaller projects and trying sketch stitching but I finally quilted a whole quilt (well, it was doll/baby size) using a meandering stitch.  I love the scrunchy look the quilts get when made this way.  

I used my go-to wonky log cabin for the blocks and appliqued the hearts using a zigzag stitch.

And here is the back:

I definitely want to make more quilts using FMQ.  My WIP this week is a little houses quilt that I started before my iron broke and I guess I'll take this opportunity to organize my stash and go blog hopping!

A Little Scraps Bag and A Precious Quilt

I've decided that little tote bags are one of my favorite handmade gifts for kids - they are relatively easy to whip up and the kids can actually use them.  I also like making them because I can experiment with different patterns and techniques without having to commit to making a whole quilt.

And that is my middle daughter's foot in the photo staking claim to this bag!

I put this together by taking the linen-y fabric and a piece of batting and, using a strip of masking tape as a guide, stitched a grid.  I then cut out little rectangles of fabrics to fit in each box and used my free motion foot to applique the shapes to the background.  (Is it still called applique if I use the free motion foot to outline the scraps???)

I used home decor weight fabric for the back and straps and then lined it with regular quilting cotton.

I also got started on my first QAL.

When I read about the My Precious Quilt -A-Long on Kelbysews, I knew I had to join since I've had a yard of Momo Wonderland in my stash pretty much since I started sewing that I've been saving for some reason even I don't know (Kelly even mentions Wonderland as an example - guess I'm not alone!)

As I'm completely hooked on HSTs, I decided to try another HST quilt.  I added in many of my other favorite fabrics and this is what I came up with.  I only used a small bit of the Wonderland maybe I'll make a trio of small quilts with it?!?

There is also some Mendocino in this quilt.  The Mendocino is another one of those fabrics I bought when I first started sewing.  It was on clearance and I only bought one yard!!!  Well, and one yard of the orange.  I think it was less than $5 - oh, well.  Live and learn.  I definitely didn't realize what a find it was.   My daughter loved the fabric and at her request, I immediately used it to make a skirt for her - um, the first skirt I ever made so it wasn't even a good skirt - just great fabric.  Well, the skirt is a bit too short now so I reclaimed the fabric and upcycled it to use in this and a future project.

To make this quilt, I first cut up a bunch of squares and randomly put together fabrics to make a pile of HSTs.

  I put those to the side and cut out strips from the same fabrics.  I pieced the strips together.

And then cut it into strips.

 I then took the strips and the HSTs and arranged and rearranged until I liked the pattern.

Then I added in the white fabric as sashing to piece it all together.  It was kind of like figuring out a puzzle.

I wanted to try something new with the quilting so I did diagonal lines of varying widths along the whole quilt, horizontal lines about 1/2 inch apart along the bottom third of the quilt and vertical lines about 1/2 inch apart along one of the sides.

Oh, and I used some Jennifer Paganelli Pinwheel stripe fabric for the backing.  

And here is the very beginnings of my next small quilt using my "precious" fabric:

Linking up to 

Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Sew and Tell Friday at Amylouwho

Serenity Now

Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Once Upon a Link Party at Family Ever After

Quilting with Kids - free motion sketching

As I recently wrote, I got a new sewing machine in December and passed down my old one to my daughters.  As excited as they were to have their "own" machine, the cool features I have been discovering on my new machine have definitely piqued their interest.  My 9 year old is especially taken by free motion quilting and has sat so patiently by my side watching me practice this new skill these past few weeks that I decided to let her have a go at it.  And 4 mini quilts later, she is even more hooked than I am!  Thus inspiring my first post about crafting with kids.

I got her started by making a quilt sandwich using cotton batting in the middle and ironing it together (which must have made it hold together well enough because she didn't have any puckering issues.)  I didn't want to use any quilting pins to avoid her having to worry about accidentally sewing over one but if you need the sandwich held together better, maybe long basting stitches might work?  I also set the stitching speed to medium for her and explained that she should push the pedal down all the way but that she would have to experiment to figure out the speed that she needed to move the fabric around to avoid too short or too long stitches.  And reminded her to reinforce the stitches at the beginning and end.  I then basically left her on her own to design and stitch.  

I don't know - maybe because she is 9 and doesn't obsessively read quilting blogs and books, she didn't go into this thinking it would be any harder than regular stitching so because of mind over matter, it wasn't???   

I don't know enough about free motion quilting to know if there is a better answer to this but we also realized that if you make a mistake, it is better to redesign to fix the mistake rather than remove the stitches.  Maybe it is because the stitches are in the middle of the quilt or maybe it was the fabric we used (which also is impossible to iron) but I found that ripping out the stitches just left obvious needle holes.  

I'm still not comfortable letting a 9 year old use an iron so I made the binding for her but she wanted to sew it on herself.  I showed her how to make mitered corners and told her where to stop sewing to leave enough of an opening so that I could put the ends together.  I then folded the binding over to the back of the quilt and ironed it for her.  It was good that I did this because I noticed that she missed in a few places either because she got too close to the edge or because the raw edges weren't lined up correctly especially near the corners.  This was easily fixed at this point and we made a note to always check before moving on. 

For her first quilt, she attached the binding to the quilt top and used a zig zag stitch with the quilt top facing up to sew down the binding.  I haven't been using pins when attaching the binding so she didn't want to either (which works fine for me since I wouldn't want her accidentally sewing over the pins and breaking the needle.)  So, for her first quilt, she missed the back of the binding in several places.  For quilt #2, we attached the raw edges of the binding to the raw edges on the back of the quilt, folded over and with the quilt top facing up, used a zig zag to attach.  This worked better and was much easier for her to manage (and she didn't mind or really even notice that the binding was a bit uneven on the front.)  We decided this was the way to go but on quilt #3, we mistakenly attached the raw edges of the binding to the front of the quilt again.  Since the binding on quilt #1 didn't work out as well as quilt #2, we decided to have the quilt back facing up and sew near the middle of the binding - voila, this was our favorite method!  As you can see from the photos, the binding is certainly not perfect but we were both happy with it so for quilt #4, she used that method again. 

This was how we did it.  I'm curious as to your suggestions for machine sewing with kids.

Linking up this post with Craft Schooling Sunday.

  

Try Something New

In one of my first posts, I wrote about how my husband bought me my original sewing machine when he misunderstood a joke I had made about wanting to sew.  Now, 10 years later, he again surprised me over the holidays with a new sewing machine (one that I had been not so secretly coveting.)  My old one was doing just okay - it wasn't working so well and it was very basic - so I was very excited to get the new machine (and my daughters are so happy to no longer have to share the old one with ME!)  My new machine has many great features - the auto thread cutter alone has revolutionized my quilting - but I've yet to use many of those features.  A few weeks ago (after using the machine for over 2 months), I read somewhere online that many machines have the ability to change the needle position - seriously?!?  I got out my manual and, lo and behold, my machine has the feature - wow did that make a difference in sewing on bindings!   So, to motivate myself to start learning the ins and outs of the sewing machine, I've decided to commit myself to trying something new at least once a week.


Up first - free motion quilting.  Well, free motion quilting drawing, is it called?  Or free motion machine embroidery?  Freestyle quilting?  I don't know the official name but I love the look of the quilts I've been seeing around blogland of mini quilts created by drawing with thread.

I really liked making these quilts - which is good because I agree with everyone who says that free motion quilting takes lots of practice!  I've made three so far and have improved tremendously with each but I still have a long way to go.  In trying to find a good rhythm between the speed of my hands and the speed of the stitch, I found that keeping my maximum stitch speed set to medium fast was best so that I can can press the pedal all the way down without the needle going crazy.  This also enables me to move my hands a little slower without getting super long stitches (which happened a lot during my first try.)  I don't have any other tips yet but I'll blog about it as I figure out what works for me.

In honor of my first Try Something New (TBD day), I tried a few other new things as well.  As you can see on my quilts, I machine stitched the binding.  I've always had a hard time doing so and as I wrote about in an earlier post, once I tried hand-stitching the binding, I realized how much I preferred both the process and the end result.  This was partly because I could never quite get machine binding to work - I tried several tutorials but it never took.  However, I recently stumbled upon this tutorial from Stitched in Color and it finally clicked (I realized after I finished that she uses a 3/8" seam - not sure how I missed that but I'll try next time.)  My first attempt didn't work well at all - I think it was because I am not usually very careful about attaching the binding with the 1/4 inch seam to the quilt top since it is easy to make up for this when hand-stitching.  But for the second and third try, I went with the premise that slow and steady wins the race and indeed, it did (I'm not posting any pics of my third try because I actually think I am satisfied enough with it that I'll be giving it as a gift.)  I was very careful to evenly stitch 1/4 inch from the edge all around and then carefully pressed the binding to the other side.  And then went slow and steady again when using the zigzag stitch.  I'm not saying that I am going to abandon hand-stitching but even going slowly, this still was super quick - leaving me time to make more quilts!

My third new thing of the day was learning how to make a blog button but I'm still working on it so I'll save that for another day.


And lastly, my 6 year old was busy drawing and decorating a few days ago but I just noticed how much I love this - not just for the obvious reasons but because we apparently share a color palette aesthetic - so lovin' aqua and red right now.

Actually, one more thing to add.  I finished the binding on my wonky, log cabin, improv mini/doll quilt.  I really love how the binding just brings it all together.  This one I did handstitch.