Crochet, Embroidery, and Quilting

It is a beautiful Saturday night.  The older girls are outside playing with the neighborhood kids, the baby is asleep, the husband is grilling and me?  Well, I'm using this free time to pin, read my favorite new blogs, edit photos, and now to write a new post.  I could lie and say I'm sitting outside doing this but um, I'm not (I'm surrounded by windows though - does that count???)

I very much enjoy handstitching the binding on quilts but since I've been exploring and practicing machine stitching the binding, I haven't had many tv watching projects.  For the majority of my crafting years (it has been about 4 years since I first picked up a pair of knitting needles which I quickly turned in for a crochet hook), sitting on the couch in the evening with my hands busy crocheting, embroidering, needlepointing (don't think that is a word!), etc has been my normal.  But since I've lately been (overly) obsessed with quilting (and other sewing machine related projects), I've been thinking I should plan some projects that combine two or more.

Since I crocheted A LOT of hats this fall and winter, I had lots of little yarn bits left over but as with fabric scraps, I didn't want to just toss them.  Instead I used them to make lots and lots of little circles and flowers.  I used several of those circles and flowers to make the crochet mobile that I blogged about here.  I also used some to make pillows.  

I've made three of these crochet/fabric pillow and used two different techniques.  For this one, I cut a square of fabric and basted it to a piece of batting around the edges.  Using a sharp needle with an eye big enough for the yarn, I stitched the circles and flowers to it.  It was a little hard on my hands so I spaced this out over a few nights.  And then I just sewed on the back with an envelope closure.  For my second pillow, I used an embroidery hoop so that I could just sew them on to a piece of fabric and not the batting - it worked well for the first batch of flowers but when I had to move the hoop, it was hard to close it over the flowers I had already attached.  I then added the batting when I added the pillow back (I like adding batting to my pillow fronts - I feel it makes the pillow cover hold it shape better and not get too floppy.)  I'm not sure which technique I prefer - guess I'll have to make more - any suggestions?

As for embroidery, I made a set of these little houses recently - basically to practice the different flower styles.  This was all embroidered by hand but I wonder if free motion sketching on the machine would give a similar, but more interesting, look for the house and bunting and then I would use my tv time to hand embroider the flowers. 

I like these little houses as wall hangings but I think I'm going to plan a quilting project soon that involves embroidery - either a freehand design on a solid piece of fabric or using embroidery to embellish a printed fabric - or maybe both?!?

Linking to Annemarie's Crochet Blog, Serenity Now, and DIY Home Sweet Home.

Mixed-up Rainbow Brick Wall Doll Quilt

As I continue to work my way through the charm packs I ordered way back when, I put together a little doll quilt (by request) using the solids.  I started piecing in a similar fashion to how I pieced the Rainbow Striped Quilt.

I randomly selected colors as I went and did rows of 6 charms.

I then cut those rows in half lengthwise but this time since I have lots of charms but hardly any solid yardage, I sewed the strips to each other.

After I sewed together the seventh row, I decided I wanted to use the little bit of off-white I had left to break up the color so I sewed together a group of 5 strips and a group of 2 strips (in addition to the first group of 7 strips.)  I then cut each of those groupings into thirds and added the sashing.

For the quilting, I just did diagonal lines.  I used masking tape (I think others use painter's tape but this was all I had) and marked the first line down the middle and then used the first sewn line as a guide for the rest.

I had a few strips of dark gray left from an old project so I used that for the binding and then machine quilted using an aqua thread.

This quilt is very different from my usual aesthetic but I like it.  If I make a similar quilt in the future, I think I would add sashing around the border and probably use wider strips between the blocks.  I also wonder how it might look if I got some of the black and white fabric that I've seen around blogland lately for the binding.

Oh, and while I was looking through my stash to find fabric for the binding, I found my first set of hexies that I had appliqued poorly and put away in frustration (if you look closely, you can see all the trial and ERROR that is not reflective of all the time I spent on them.)  I decided to put it to use and sewed up a quick little bag that I hung on a hook in my crafting room - I think I'll use it as a crochet bag.

And I'm happy to announce "I've been PINNED!"  I saw an article about how to check if anything from your blog is on Pinterest and was so excited to see both my rainbow stripe quilt and my crochet mobile.  Not sure anyone in my offline life understands my excitement but I'm sure my blog friends do!

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, Amylouwho, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Rainbow Stripes Quilt

We just returned home from a spring break trip to my parent's house and this quilt top was sitting on my sewing machine calling my name.  I used a charm pack of City Weekend by Oliver & S that I bought on a whim a few months ago.  The fabric is so beautiful and I love the combined color palette so I knew I wanted to use all the charms in the same project and I wanted to make something special.  However, I only bought one charm pack so I decided on simple stripes with lots of sashing and was able to make a baby quilt (with some left over a very small project - YEA!)  I used Valori Wells Urban Flannel for the backing which is so soft and wonderful.  If I had more patience or forethought, I would have ordered some yardage of City Weekend for the binding (I don't have a LQS) but instead I used one of my favorite fabrics - Wildwood by Erin McMorris.

To make the stripes, I divided the charms into groups of four by color.  I then sewed four charms together into a strip.  

I cut each of those strips in half lengthwise and sewed the two strips together.  

I sewed the strips to the sashing so that the strips were always on top and I could see my seams while sewing.  This made it so much easier for me since I usually end up sewing some of my seams the wrong way when I can't see them. 

I did simple straightish lines for the quilting.  I just lined up the walking foot with the side of one of the city weekend strips to sew quilt lines on the sashing and then used that line to sew quilt lines on the city weekend strip.  I think my needle was set to 1/2 inch.

And I machine sewed the binding with the zig zag stitch again.  This time, I sewed the binding to the quilt top and then also did the zig zag with the quilt top facing - I only missed about one inch and I caught every corner - major progress!  

In other crafty matters, I've decided to start trying to decide ahead of time how I'll use my crafting time during the baby's nap to avoid wasting the precious minutes.  My plan for tomorrow is to start the granny square quilt that has been on my list for a while.  I started sorting through my scraps and cutting the squares tonight in anticipation.  

While going through my scrap box, I found these:

and a few more like it.  I made them when I first got my new sewing machine to try out the fancy stitches.  I think my plan was to make coasters (not sure if that was my plan for the top one - seems a bit big for a coaster.)  I'm glad I found them - I'm going to add some batting, backing, and binding and see how it works out.  

I also need to get a plan together to figure out what I am going to try to sell at my daughter's school craft fair in May.  I've known about the fair for a while but how did it get to be just a month away?!?  I made these bags a long time ago so maybe I'll make some of these.  

It is about time I put these zippers to use.  

And then maybe some simple tote bags, a few doll quilts, and some doll sleeping bags.  I also hope to include a few crocheted items - probably just some hats and maybe a couple mobiles.  Hmm, we'll see. . . Any suggestions?

New Look

One of the surprising things that I've learned about myself from starting this blog is how much I enjoy designing (and re-designing) it.  Two months ago, the thought of working with code (even using cut and paste) was not even in the realm of possibility but now I actively search out how to use the "advanced" features blogger allows.  As such, I wanted to share with you my sources for some of the recent changes I've made.

First on my list was adding a group of social media buttons.  I was able to figure out how to add individual buttons using "Add a Gadget" but I wanted to add a group of buttons together.  I also wanted to find cute icons.  The icons I chose to use were from Isa Maria of The Academy.  And to make this even easier, Isa Maria linked to Kira of her new leaf who wrote a great tutorial about how to add the buttons to a blog.  It was a simple step by step that worked for me the first try!  Yea!  I will say I was familiar with using photobucket to store images and get their html code from my original attempt last month but I think with Kira's tutorial I would have figured it out much easier this time.  (For some reason my icons had an extra /a> after each one but I just deleted that from the end of the code and it worked - not sure why or what I did but just FYI if that happens to you.)

I LOVE having the cute buttons.  Now, my RSS feed is all set and I've been using Pinterest for a while now so that link is good but I haven't quite gotten used to using Flickr yet (I have a few pics posted) and I'm really not sure what I'm going to do on Twitter.  Any advice from anyone on Twitter?  And I'll have to find (or make) a coordinating icon for Goodreads.

My other changes included a new header - I made the header using Picasa and some cute, free fonts that I found online.  Only problem was the header was too far to the left but with a quick web search, I found this post on Girlfriends are Like Shoes.  I just added the CSS where she said to and Voila! my header was centered.

Finally, I wanted to find a background that more suited my style.  I really am liking chevron right now so I did a search for chevron backgrounds and found Tinysea.  It took me a few minutes to pick a color but once I did, I had the new background loaded in minutes.

I have a few more changes I want to make design-wise but I think I need to put that on hold (at least for a few days) and get back to the sewing machine.  I haven't spent much time in my craft room lately and I'm starting to miss it.

Linking up to Lily's Quilts

Wow - has it really been a whole month since I posted my link on Lily's Quilts for her monthly March Small Blog Meet?!?  Lynne (of Lily's Quilts) posted that today is her 2 year anniversary of her blog - congrats to her!  And  I also want to again say thanks to Lynne for hosting this meet up every month.  Even though today is not the official anniversary of my blog, it is the one month anniversary of people reading my blog thanks to the meetup. I've enjoyed reading each and every comment and feel like I found friends in blogland.  I also found several wonderful and inspiring new blogs to follow.  I actually visited every blog that linked up in March and I hope to do so in April as well.  So, if you are reading my blog for the first time - Welcome.  It is still very much a work-in-progress - I'm learning along the way and enjoying (most) every minute.

I also figured I could start linking up to the Fresh Sewing Day since I had some finishes this month. Oh, and  my goal this month is to figure out how to take better photos of my finished quilts - I'm open to suggestions!

The Hexagons

Free-motion sketching

                             

Log Cabin Mini

Little Apples Baby Quilt

Crochet Flower Mobile

I'm away from my sewing machine this week so figured this would be a great time to do a crochet post.  I was actually motivated to do this when I saw this link you stuff post on Annemarie's Crochet Blog.

To make the mobile, I just took yarn scraps and crocheted flowers using various patterns I found online and ones that I made up myself.  I made the mobile last year so I don't remember all the patterns I used.  I am sure that I would have used patterns from one of my favorite crochet bloggers - Lucy at Attic24.  I also used some simple circles.  I strung the flowers and circles on ribbon yarn that I knotted at the end - if I was do a project like this again, I think I might try using a thinner thread or even something that would make it seem as if the flowers were floating.

I hung the strings of flowers from the center piece of an embroidery hoop.  To cover the hoop I measured the diameter and then crocheted a rectangle the same length which I wrapped around hoop to create a tube.  I then crocheted 6 individual chains and attached them securely to the hoop on one end and to each other in a giant knot on the other.

I have this mobile well out of reach of any little hands since I do not know how secure it is.  And I wouldn't put it anywhere near the baby's crib or let her sit under it without adult supervision.  It is just for decoration.  Although the baby does love staring at it!

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.