Friday Finish: Teacher Thank You Totes

So last night I had to sudden realization that today was the last day of school for my son.  And not only that, it's his last day at Montessori school because next Fall he'll go to the public kindergarten.

Anyway, I've been so caught up in all the last week of school festivities and looming deadlines (and maybe a little bit of avoidance), that I'd missed the class collection for gift cards, and hadn't even had the boy write out a thank you card.  But I really wanted to do something for the teachers because they are amazing.  Isaac is a very specific type of kid, and I could tell that while there were tough days in the class room over these last two years, they really loved him.  It's a big deal for him to go to kindergarten and ride the bus next year, but I'm really sad to be leaving this school behind.

So last night I pulled out a bunch of fabric and some batting scraps and made some book bags.  What teacher doesn't need more book bags?  I cut out a long rectangle, and then sewed the strips to the bag quilt-as-you-go style.  Once I had the whole rectangle covered, I sewed up the sides and boxed the corners.

I used some home dec fabric I had to line the bags and to make the straps.  In hindsight, I wish I'd added a pocket, but I was in such a rush, I decided to just make them as simple as possible.

Now to go deliver them.  I'll be that parent with glossy eyes awkwardly hugging the teachers.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Riddle and Whimsy for TGIFF!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: ROY G. BIV

I'm really happy to join in on the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy at Amy's Creative Side.  I've loved looking through all the quilts before, and now I get to enter my own!  You should really go check out all the great quilts linked up, there's so much inspiration.  I've already added a few quilt patterns and techniques to my "to do" list.

And now to my entry into the ROYGBIV category.  (It's one of my favorite categories, and I'm not alone.  It's probaby one of the happiest pages of links in the festival.)  This is one of my favorite, yet trying quilts to date.  I've written all about how to make the Quilt As You Go blocks here, the first time I thought I was finished here, the decision to hand quilt to mitigate lumpiness here, and the really finished post here.

It was a lot of work, but the end result is so happy.  It has a permanent place on the couch and has traveled with me when I've slept away from home.

The blocks are all Quilt-As-You-Go, done in dense straight lines.  Then, after piecing them together and backing it with flannel, I hand quilted with Perle cotton.  I loved those evenings, just sitting under it and adding stitches.  Most are just plain running stitches, but I got to highlight patterns in the fabric and outline things.

Thanks for stopping by!  Now go check out more quilts!

A Really Finished Rainbow Quilt

I'm officially calling this quilt done!  And I really think I mean it this time.  See, it's all bound and everything, that totally says done.

So the last time I thought it was done, I had only sewn the quilted top to the backing along all the seams.  It was then that I realized that all the blocks were warped from all that dense quilting, and that they bubbled in the center of each block.  I know that only I would ever be bothered by this, but I was really bothered.  

After hiding it away for a couple months, I busted it back out did some hand-quilting on each of the squares to attach the centers of the blocks to the backing and bound it in a bunch of black prints that I've been stashing away for just the right project.

I absolutely loved laying under this quilt and slowly adding all those little stitches.  There was a lot of just running stitches along the quilted lines, or following the pattern of the fabric, but there's also stars, x's, pluses, feathers and zigzags.  I may end up adding more when I'm bored and need something to keep my hands busy, and since the top has so much going on, I could probably fill it with stitches and it wouldn't look overdone. 

This quilt is going to get a bit more time on the couch before I run it through the wash.  I'm a little nervous about what shrinkage is going to do to this quilt, so I want to have some quality time just in case it spontaneously combusts in the dryer.

Linking up to Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

Rainbow QAYG: the Reboot

Well, since January really kicked my butt, I'm going to make the most out of February!  I've already made a giant list of everything I want to do, but I'm going to pare it down to just the things I want to complete this month.  And since my eyes are usually bigger than my sewing box, I'm going to try to be realistic and only have a couple things on my "Must Finish" list.

This is one of the first things I want to get done.  It's the Rainbow Quilt-as-you-Go quilt I "finished" a while ago.  I'd sewn it together and sewed the top to the backing when I realized that it was quite lumpy.  All my blocks were slightly warped (which might still work itself out in the wash) so they bubbled in the centers.  I was so frustrated at that all that work hadn't turned out perfect, that I just rolled it in a ball and stashed it in the corner of the sewing area.

After some grumping about it, I realized that doing some hand quilting in the centers would attach them better to the backing so there'd be less lump.  So I grabbed my collection of Perle Cotton and got to work.

With all these little decorative stitches, it's turning out to be one of my favorite projects.  I know I'm going to love cuddling under it and tracing all those stitches.

And this guy is loving sitting next to me while I stitch.  He gets to pull the needle as it comes up from the bottom.  A very serious job!

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday and Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Quilt As You Go Block Tutorial!

Want to know all about the magical world of quilt as you go blocks?  I thought you did.  It's pretty awesome and forgiving if you don't feel like measuring or thinking, and they go pretty fast, so you can make a bunch in one go and they're already quilted!

So first you cut your batting.  I cut mine 12.5 because that's the size of my ruler.  Of course, it's going to shrink on you once you start quilting and you'll want to square it up again when you're finished.  So if you want to have bigger finished squares, cut the batting bigger, probably by at least 1.5 inches.

Now, this is the fun part, and where I started to deviate from all the tutorials and how-to's that I found.  That first piece of fabric, just plop it down in the center.  Don't measure where it's going, or try to center it perfectly.  I didn't even care if that piece of fabric was actually squared off itself.  Just put it down and quilt some lines back and forth over it.  I used the outside edge of my foot as a guide, but I'd do some quilted lines wider, skinnier, or a mix of the two.

Then, lay the next piece of fabric down and sew it down.  Again, don't over think it, just make sure that when you sew, it's a straight line so that you're fabric will lay flat once you flip it over to quilt.  (Of course, if you botch that bit, you can just make your first quilted pass really close to the seam to really make it lay down.  Told you it was great if you didn't want to be accurate!)

Quilt it down!  

That weird zig zag bothering you?  I found a bunch of featherweight fusible interfacing and I'm using it to piece together my batting scraps, but I don't trust it, so I do a super big zaggle to hold it together.

I used every scrap possible, which meant that sometimes I'd sew them together to make up the length that I needed.  It's pretty fun to mash together all those little bits, and I got to do some fussy cutting to add cars and flowers to some of my other blocks.

The placement of each layer is different from a traditional log cabin block because I didn't add my sides in a consistent pattern, like always going clockwise when sewing down the next layer, or doing top and bottom then sides.  I just sew with whatever scraps looked good and require the least amount of cutting.  Sometimes, like here, it would get a bit rectangle-y and I'll try to even it out a little.  Other time's I'll just keep adding wherever.

Keep adding layers until the entire piece of batting is covered.  

Then you trim it down to the size you want.  Like I said, I initially made my batting squares 12.5", but I trim them down to 12".  

These are really fun to make, and the weirder they look, the more I like them when they're all together.  I just have four more to make then I can officially finish this quilt.  I'm pretty excited to finally get to cuddle under it!  

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday!

A Finished Rainbow QAYG Top!!

I'm so excited!  I managed to finish the top of this quilt last night.  (I would like to thank my wonderful quilting assistants: Coke, Ice cream, and Star Trek; without you three, I would have been sleeping well before this was finished.)

I'm quite happy with how this turned out.  I was worried that it would be dominated by all the pink and purple since I'd originally wanted the the quilt to only have a couple little on the corners.  Well, when I decided to go twin sized, I made three more blocks of each color, which worried me, but since the middle is mostly blues and greens, it doesn't scream "PINK!!"  It's more, "hey dude, rainbow!"

The only minor hiccup in this quilt was last night as I was trimming all those blocks up, I realized they'd shrunk because of the quilting.  I suppose I should have seen something like that coming since quilting a normal quilt usually ends up with the quilt shrinking or growing and requiring some squaring up.  But I just trimmed them all down to 12" instead of my expected 12.5" and everything was hunky dory.

When I finished the top last night and measures 58" x 92", which is a little scant on the sides and long on the bottom.  So I decided to just wait until morning to try it on the little dude's twin bed to decide whether I needed to add another row.

See all of it bunched at the bottom?  I think most of that will just hang nicely if I didn't have the foot board, and I could just tuck it under.  But it will hang much lower there than on the sides. 

See?  It hangs a little under a full block on the sides, but a whole block and a half on the bottom.  So I'm going to ponder for the day whether to add another strip of blocks to the side.  Luckily, I got all of those batting and purple scraps, so I don't think it will be a problem.  

One more, because I just love how they look all stacked up!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and over at Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day!

WIP Wednesday

I've decided to just punch this out.  To go completely crazy and sew like a mad woman until this Rainbow QAYG quilt is done.  All those blocks that are off center are the ones I've added since this weekend.  That includes three purple blocks that could not have happened if I didn't have two friend's with plenty of purple scraps to spare.

Still a little doubtful if I'll have enough to finish three more pink blocks.  I may have to start knocking on random quilter's doors begging.  Sure I could just cut into the stash, but where's the fun in that!

Of the sixteen I needed to add, I've finished ten!  Downhill skating from here!

And doesn't this lovely pile of knitting look almost sweater shaped?  It's so close!  I have a few more chest decreases left, and then I can start shaping the shoulders and knitting the neck ribbing!  It's so close and I want to wear it because I'm starting to get a bit cold sewing on the porch, and I could use another cozy sweater.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Chugging Along!

I finally decided that I needed to get started on this project again.  It's such an easy sew since I don't have to cut a bunch of pieces or match seams.  But I did need a small vacation from it after deciding I needed 16 (!!!) more blocks to bring it up to a twin size quilt.

Well, after sewing up a couple pairs of pants and some selfish sewing, I'm back at it.  I poured over my big scrap bin and dug out some more pieces from the way bottom.  And I pulled some scraps from my weekend sewing and added a couple spots of Anna Maria Horner to the two lighter blocks.

Also, can you find Darth Vader and C-3P0 on the dark blue block?  I found some scraps from my son's PJs and had to add them.

Plus, I managed to come back from Jess's place with this awesome pile of batting and fabric scraps.  My new block count includes three purple blocks and three pink blocks.  I'm not big on using those colors, so it was a stretch for me to even get the few that I already made.  Luckily, purple is the one color that Jess seems to always have in stock.  That bag will probably make up the purple blocks, and there's a few pink scraps that might get me part of the way to my goal there.

And seriously, that's probably all the batting I'll need for the rest of the blocks.  I'm going to cut it all out tomorrow to see where I stand, and then piece together the rest.  I think if I get all the batting blocks cut, it will be easier to just sew my butt off.

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and I Have To Say for Show and Tell Tuesday!

WIP Wednesday

I couldn't help myself!  I went into Joann's to get one very specific colored fabric for a swap block, and found this awesome sparkly teal corduroy on sale for $4/yd!  Who could possibly say no to that?  Plus, I had a half off coupon for the piping, so I'm in the middle of  making a seventh pair of Parsley Pants!  (Love that pattern!)

This is the stack of 24 Rainbow QAYG blocks.  I'll have to do some real scrap organizing to get the 16 more blocks I need.  And organizing might mean making these awesome color coded scrap buckets from Sunday Morning Quilts.  Of course, that could just be me procrastinating.

I think tomorrow these might end up being some quilted pouches.  Grown-up ones, for me that I don't have to fill with the kids' toys.  I definitely need a better make-up pouch, and maybe one for my EPP stars that I started years and years ago.  Carrying them around would definitely be incentive to work on them more.

For size reference, that's a giant 12 inch My Little Pony.  

And that is almost a whole second sleeve!  I've had more knitting time on my hands now that school's back in session and I'm waiting in the massive pick up line at the school.  I have maybe seven more four-row repeats before I can join it to the sweater, but I'm going to have to try on the sweater torso first to make sure it's long enough.  The more I look at it, the shorter it seems to be.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!