Raggy Quilt - Sarah

My Friend Sarah's version of the raggy quilt:

She made a sweet baby quilt with Minky, chenille and a flannel - Lots of texture and really cute!


And she made this one too:


She got really fancy with the quilting on the squares, it really looks beautiful. I love the fabrics she choose.

Quilt repair 4

This part was badly damaged, the fabric was coming apart, the bating was missing, and there was a huge rip on the back:

BAck:


I sewed up the back first, removed the entire square of damaged fabric, and replaced the batting using batting from th edge That I had cut off.




I used feedsack fabric to make a new square and hand sewed it in:

Quilt repair 3

Now this one was tricky..


I only had to remove 1 inch from this side as well.
I had to cut out a bit of the damaged part, and replace some batting





Here again I used a patch of feedsack fabric salvaged from another quilt, Sewed the patch by hand, and then refolded the binding and re-sewed it.

Quilt repair 2

Another area of the quilt:


Still working on the edges, I cut off just a inch off this edge to allow for rebinding

Fix:


more of the rebound edges

Quilt repair 1

Repairing an old quilt is a painstaking progress..
A friend of mine asked me to do a few fix ups on her grandmother's quilt.

Here's one part of the damage:



And the fix:

The fabric had just disintegrated here, so I had to patch over it. Since the batting here was gone, I used a little batting from a part of the edge I cut off and padded it before adding the patch. I used a piece of feedsack material salvaged from another old quilt to handsew a patch.

Next problem:


Fix:


I removed the fabric at the tear on that edge, about 3 inches, to allow enough room to cut off the damged portion of binding and rebind the edge. The back of the quilt was a lovely blue polka dot fabric and the quilter had folded over the edge of the backing to bind it..I wanted to keep it true tp the original , so I did it the same way.

The Roc-Lon people

A few days ago, I entered a blog contest on Kelly's blog, I have a Notion.
http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/2009/09/roc-lon-challenge-photos-and-winner.html

The Roc-Lon company ( Rockland Industries) sponsored the contest and even had a very nice prize package for the winner! I was familiar with Roc-Lon from using their Total Light Control Blackout drapery lining for curtains - and was very pleased with how much the curtains insulated the windows.

The contest was fun, each person was sent a 8 1/2" by 11" piece of Roc-Lon Multipurpose cloth to use in a project.
here was my little project - I made a small puppet theater for the kids to play with:


I didn't win, but I did have fun making a tiny little puppet theater that my kids have really enjoyed playing with, and I loved seeing what everyone else came up with.

This morning I got a very nice e-mail from an Administrative assistant at Rockland Industries thanking me for entering the contest. What a lovely personal touch!

Paper doll Quilt

I love this fabric! Snippets By American Jane for Moda. It's so sweet, paper dolls, and little dolly clothes! It was the perfect choice for a friend's baby quilt:



Back of Quilt:

Watermelon hat and dress

After I finished the hat, I decided to make a little watermelon to applique onto a dress so she'd have a matching set:



I even thought ahead - I can take the applique off and put in on another dress for next year, and make the hat a little bigger too, if need be.

It's all pieced!

Okay so I didn't get it all sewn together that day. I ran into a few problems- I had to re-piece two blocks that I somehow put together backwards. That and I had laundry screaming at me too. But It's done.


All I have to do now is send it off to my Quilter, Becky. Thank God for Becky! After becky works her magic on it, this quilt will go live with my mom, and have a special spot in the "grandkid's room" at her house.

Finishing this quilt meant a lot more to me than I thought. After I had the last seam sewn, I laid it out out on the floor to take a picture of it - and I cried.

Why so sappy over a quilt top? I don't usually cry over finishing one, I'm usually happy to have it done and out of my hair. But this one was more than just a sewing project. It was a huge mess that I had the chance to fix!

Here is what I started with I messed this up really bad, and it is one of those rare moments in life when you get a chance for a do over.


Most importantly, this quilt is proof that I finished a project! One thing I do not like about myself is that I had a habit of starting a lot of stuff but didn't always see it through. Heck, the main reason I started this blog was to motivate myself to finish up my UFO's! And look, it's working!

All the blocks are Done!

I am on the home stretch! I have all the blocks pieced, and Now I just need to arrange them and sew the blocks together. The quilt will be 9 blocks by 7 blocks, but my design wall isn't quite big enough for 7 rows until they are sewn together. So now I just have to fiddle around with how I want the colors to line up, and with a little help from my son, I should have this together today!

Blue and White tea set

I finally got 'er done. This one is up for sale in My Etsy Shop



These are so fun to make. Hopefully I will bring in a little extra cash for Christmas!

Fabric finds

I always love adding to my fabric stash.. here's a few of my latest finds..A little more of the Snippets by American Jane. I like everything in that line. Oh how I adore the paper dolls and sweet toys! And the batiks, just like candy, so hard to resist. I don't think I'll ever buy a solid color fabric again.




I especially loved the chicken fabric. I think I may make a zippy little retro apron out of them , and a dress for Mollie with the ladybugs.

Progress on feedsack Quilt

Moving right along with the "Ugly Quilt" Remake.... my quilt is growing..


Friday, 4 rows done, and the rest of the pieces sorted into baggies:


And my progress for Sunday:
Five rows finished!


And I pieced the rest of the blocks this far:


I did cheat a bit and hired out the ironing..sure did make things go a lot faster.


Monday and Tuesday's work:

Crochet watermelon hat

I finished another project!!
Here's a crocheted watermelon hat I made for my little girl:

Ugly Quilt contest

Oh, the things you stumble upon on the internet!


Doesn't everybody have a quilt that just didn't go the way you wanted it to? Maybe it was your first quilt, the one that you learned all the "rules" on..Maybe you've hidden that thing in a closet too embarrassed to hang it on a wall.



It's time to trot out that that trainweck and put it to good use! Get a good pic of that sucker, and enter it in "What was I thinking?" The Ugly Quilt Contest . Let's have a good laugh, learn from our mistakes, and maybe win a sweet prize for your uh..creation.

Here's the quilt I entered
If you enter one, let me know in the comments!

Stained Glass Quilt

Another UFO done! I know it wasn't on my list of UFOs but, well, I have a lot of UFOs laying around. This is my Mother's Christmas Present. Yes, I mean last Christmas. Yes, I know it is June. Technically it was all finished a few months ago ( but not before Christmas), but I decided to add a quilt label on the back.

I got the idea for this quilt from a church in Grayson County Virginia. My Mother does a lot of genealogy research, and tracked down a slew of our Ancestors in that county. There is a pretty little church there, with beautiful stained glass windows, and a few of the windows had our ancestors name's on them.




I started with a foundation fabric, and sketched out the lines of the pieces, and sewed blocks onto the foundation:


Then I added bias tape for the leading:




It was hard to quilt on my machine, and next time I will hire that part out. It was the first stained Glass project I've done, and I'd really like to do more. Overall I was pleased with it. And it's for my mother, so I'm sure she'll like it. Your mother has to like your artwork, it's some sort of rule.

Quilt Qua

I came across this wonderful new Quilting site recently :

Quilt Qua

Oh my , what a lot of resources.. My favorite is the Giveaway page, several contests and giveaways just for quilters!

There is a page of Quilt blog links, to find other quilters; a page to find Quilt shops and museums across the US, and plenty of useful articles.

Right now there is a giveaway for a lovely Holly Taylor Fat Quarter bundle for telling a friend about the site!

UFO for the summer

I always have several projects going at once, and The very reason I blog is that I hope to push myself into actually finishing all the things I start. Here's the latest round of UFO's ( besides the feedsack quilt and the Rug below) but Hey, I did finish the Silk Tie dress, so that counts, right?

This dress is very comfy, and I wear it around the house because it just feels good on. But I really don't like the flowery print, and I want to make it a bit longer, so I thought I'd try to copy it in a bright happy loud tie dye fabric. I have the skirt cut out..


I saw a really cute Watermelon hat at my favorite kids clothing store, and thought I'd try to make one for Mollie. It's a small project, I keep it in my purse and take it along to the park and work on it while the kids play.


I have been hanging onto some of My daughter's clothes to make into a little quilt. Most of the pieces are knit, and I thought the pieces and patterns would look cute in a charm quilt, with hexagons. I don't really sew a lot with knits, so this may very well be a disaster, but at least it will be a small disaster. I even cut some small squares for a matching Dolly quilt.

Recycling T Shirts 1 : a rug

This projects started as a swap for some fabric with a friend. She wanted a rug, and I wanted her stash..So I learned to make a rug.

I started with a pile of old t shirts in bright colors, washed and dried them,and used a rotary cutter to cut into strips about an inch wide and 4 inches long:



I cut up several shirts at a time, and sorted into bags by color. I used the mesh that is used for making latch hook rugs as the base:


And used a latch hook tool to pull one end of a strip of fabric through the mesh


And then tied a knot


Trial and error proved that I didn't need to put a knot in every row, I did two rows, and skipped a row, and skipped a row diagonally as well. the t shirt material will full up space and stand straight up, giving a nice thick, fluffy rug: