Bright Ideas

As usual, when I am working on one project, my mind darts around thinking up other projects to do next..

I wanted to try to crochet a set of nesting dolls.. I haven't seen a pattern for any, so maybe I'll try making it up as I go.

That made me think of a little doll I had years ago..It was a little red riding hood, and when you turned her upside down, and flipped her dress over, there was a wolf in grandma's nightgown. That would be fun to crochet too..

And I can't quite get my fill of crocheting teasets. I picked up some embroidery floss in gold and Silver today so I could try making a crochet teaset fit for Sunday Dinner..Just like the gold-edged dishes my mom used for special occasions.

Oh, and Mollie wants a Skippyjon Jones doll..So I will need to crochet one of those too, I suppose.


Just as soon as I finish the two quilts, one pair of socks,2 crocheted purses, the rug, and the mini teaset I am working on now....Oh Dear.

Feedsack Quilt - Fresh Start!

I decided to use the Snail's trail pattern with the feedsack material I took apart. I set to work re-cutting the triangles:



And started piecing the blocks. I used a red from the Snippets line by Moda to contrast with the feedsack fabrics


I am so pleased with how it looks this time around!




I have decided I like it so much I am going to make a second quilt for me to keep.

Hello Kitty crochet bag - almost done!

I crocheted a Hello Kitty Bag for my Little daughter. You can see the beginnings of it here http://mamacatbluequilts.blogspot.com/2009/04/crochet-hello-kitty-bag.html

I've added a lining, Sewed on the eyes and nose and tomorrow I put on the whiskers..Maybe she'll get it before college.

Feedsack Quilt

I started this quilt about 10 years ago, when I was very new to quilting.

I got it about halfway finished and stopped in frustration, packed it all in a box and hid it. For years it has been bothering me, and finally I did something about it. Or At least I started doing something about it..


Before:




And the back..This is when I learned all about how important seam allowance is:


This past week, I took a Seam Ripper to it and pulled every bit of it apart, and threw out the horrid white material I had used:


After several hours of picking seams and ironing, I now have a motley assortment of triangles. 10 years of this quilt mocking me, and I had the last laugh! Now to figure out what to actually do with them..

UPDATE!
Here's how the remake of this quilt is going

Update again!
The finished top

Kameleon Quilt - two quilts in one

Here's an update on "Growing Season"..

Eldrid Royset Forde designed this Pattern. The name of the pattern is "Kameleon Quilt Night and Day". It can be found at her website Kameleon Quilt Tekstildesign


I love the idea of having a quilt that changes. Here's my completed version.
First the solids, which makes me think of the early days of spring, at planting time


Then the harvest season, when the garden offers it's bounty


Close up of the middle with solids showing


And the middle with the corn and chickens showing




The secret to getting two looks out of the quilt is the flaps that move back and forth and fasten onto a button in the center of the squares. The flaps have a different fabric on the back so when it is moved and buttoned in the opposite direction, you see the fabric underneath.

Mending Day and Guilt

It is so very satisfying to work through the pile in the mending basket. Especially when the things in the mending basket have been taunting me with cries of "But I've been in here a year" and "Hem me before the kid outgrows me already!"

I was feeling a little rotten for putting off so many little easy things that had grown into a huge pile. It would take forever to do it all..but it didn't.

So I took an afternoon and worked on the mending pile.. It felt so thrifty to hem the ragged edged pants into shorts..and to shorten the sleeves on a few shirts so my daughter could wear them from another season.I saved a lot of money on clothes! I got on a roll and sewed on 3 missing buttons, fixed a ripped strap on a dress, and several of the 5-minute fixes that I just put off doing for no real reason.

I worked through my guilt and procrastination piece by piece, my guilt started to melt away I started to feel pretty good about my accomplishments. I couldn't help but think of the other mending basket I have. The one nobody can see.

The phone calls I put off..the letter I should write, the friend I should make. The things I keep meaning to attend to, just put off- for no good reason. All these things I know I should do, and the longer I put them off the worse I feel.

So tomorrow, I think I'll have another mending day.
Join me.

Crochet Hello Kitty Bag

I absolutely loved this pattern! I saw it on a website, and when I started looking for the pattern, I found that the The pattern is published by Sanrio...In Japanese.

Now I don't read any Japanese, but I really wanted to try this pattern, so I tracked down the book here: Saucy Louise's Shop. The name of the book is Hello Kitty Pompom Mascots and Knit Goods Vol 14


The inside of the book looks like this:


Here's what I have done on the bag so far..



And I decided to line it with a coordinating fabric..

Raffle for Wii

A good friend of mine is raising funds for March of Dimes. Her beautiful baby girl was born 13 weeks early. Here's sweet Molly at 10 weeks


To learn how to support March of Dimes and Join in on a raffle to win an Awesome Wii Bundle, just go here:
Molly's Mission Raffle for Wii

Crocheted Miniature Tea Set

A while ago, A friend of mine showed me a picture of an adorable crocheted teaset she saw on Etsy. You can see it here, just click on this link:
GingersnapBoutique on Etsy


I immediately bought the pattern and made several for gifts and even sold a few. The pattern is very clear, well written, and thorough. My little girl was delighted with them and asked me to make her a tiny one..

Cupcake on the left is made from Simply Soft yarn and size E crochet hook, Cupcake on right is made with crochet cotton thread and size 12 crochet hook:



The doily is 6 inches across:

Moda Jelly Rolls

Oh My, are these ever delightful!
I purchased 4 jelly rolls of Moda's 5 Funky Monkeys Line, and made 3 quilts with the strip Quilting Method. These make up very quickly, since the fabric is already cut in strips:

Queen sized one for my Daughter:




One Baby Quilt That my son helped sew for a friend of ours:


And yet another Baby quilt for a friend:


All Patterns are from the book Strip Happy...Quilting on a Roll.

Working with Solvy

Using Solvy for Applique can eliminate a lot of headaches: You can avoid hand turning under edges, do machine applique with neater results, and it works out pretty quickly, allowing you the time to do more elaborate Applique pieces.

Here's how I used it a on Halloween kitty Quilt. Solvy is a marvelous product that looks like clear plastic, usually comes in a roll - and best of all, Solvy dissolves in water, so it will wash away when you wash your quilt.

1. I used or a window to trace my pattern onto freezer paper. ( who needs a light box?) Cut one pattern apart and used the second for reference. If you have a lot of pieces you may want to number them .





2. Traced each pattern piece onto the wrong side of the fabric, and sewed the Solvy onto the back of the fabric, using a 1'4 inch seam allowance.




3. Cut a slit in the Solvy and turned pattern pieces right side out..



4. Arranged pieces on background, and pinned into place. I used a close zigzag (satin stitch) to sew around edges.



Learn more about Solvy here: http://www.sulky.com/stabilizers/solvy.php

Pattern used was from The Book Kitty Capers by Carol Armstrong

Raggy Quilt Instructions

This is a great beginner project and great idea for gifts. They make up quickly and require little planning and the best part - you can hide a lot of mistakes. If seams get a little squiggly, and corners aren't perfect, the raggy edges disguise it well.

First decide how big you want your quilt. A nice kid size is is 35" square. For that you would want 5" finished squares. For a larger 64" square quilt you can use larger 8 " finished squares. Keep the math clean. This is not the time to fool around with decimals.

Graph paper is a good way to lay out color if you want a pattern. Denim and flannel work well for a raggy edge.


Cut flannel or denim into squares one inch bigger than you want the finished size to be. If you want 5 squares in your quilt, cut 6 inch squares.

If you have decided on 5" finished squares, cut 5" squares of batting. You want the batting 1" smaller than the size of the squares you cut, so you won't have batting sticking out of the fringed edges. This is a good time to use up scraps of batting from other projects. It would be fine to mix different colors or kinds of batting for this.

Now make sandwiches. Two squares of flannel, right sides out with a square of batting in between.


Now sew straight or curvy lines , or spirals onto each square. That is all the quilting you will do. You quilt it before you sew it together.


Sew squares together into rows. Use a 1/2 " seam to sew squares and rows together. For a larger quilt it may be easier to sew the rows into blocks, and then sew the blocks together:


Once your quilt is assembled - and it will surprise you how quickly it goes - Sew about 1/2 " around the outside of the quilt, to keep the edges from unraveling. Now it's time to clip it. Use a sharp pair of scissors and make little snips along all the edges of the squares, and all along the sides. This will make a huge mess.




the clipping takes the longest on this quilt. Plan to watch a movie or two while you clip edges. Once you have the edges all clipped, take the quilt outside, and shake the bejeezus out of it. This should get a lot of the little loose thread out, and start the nice raggy edge.

Toss it in the dryer for a cycle, and then clean the lint trap of your dryer. Really, it's a LOT of lint Then throw it in the wash, and dry again.

Now enjoy. Use it for picnics, playing on the floor. This isn't a quilt to store away. The more it's used and washed, the nicer the flannel feels, and the edges look.

Quilting Rules to Break part one: Size really doesn't matter

If you spend any time with a group of quilters, you'll hear the "rules" . When you are just starting out you google, you ask the professionals, you turn to the blue ribbon winners for advice and you will hear : Things You Must Follow To Be A Real Quilter.

At the risk of being tsk'd tsk'd, I say take the rules, see if they work, and if they don't, toss 'em. nobody will take your rotary cutter away, I promise.

1. Full size, Queen, Twin?
There is the assumption that when making a quilt, it must go on a bed. It must drape nicely over the sides and allow for pillows.

Pfooey on that. Maybe I want a quilt to snuggle on the couch and it needs to be just long enough for your favorite couch potato's toes to be covered and wide enough to accommodate two kids and a few small animals. ( He requested that it be exactly this size. On a side note, It's hard to measure around cats. They keep grabbing the tape)



Or maybe I don't even want it to be a rectangle at all. How about a hexagon shape meant to lay on the floor for baby to crawl on ?


You can make any size or shape you want, from teensy dollhouse size to great ginormous museum pieces. Make it round, or square, practically sized for the bed if you like , or absolutely impractical polygonish and enjoy the quirkiness of it.

Quilts I have loved

I made this one with and for my daughter. She is a band geek and we though Drunkard's path was an appropriate choice for a marching band drag-along-on-the-bus quilt. We backed it with a warm fuzzy flannel, and the black and white fabric has music notes on it.

Knit baby sweater

I taught myself to knit. I started the basics anyway, and from there I bugged anybody who knew how to knit to teach me more. I worked near a yarn shop a couple of years ago, and I would stop in 2-3 times a week to ask the ladies how to do the next stitch, what the abbreviations meant, what to do with circular needles?

I finally learned enough to make scarves, and I made a bunch. Everybody I knew got a scarf. Then I wanted to do more than That, so I bought a couple of books to figure out how to read a pattern. The best books I found were The Knit Stitch and the Purl Stitch by Sally Melville.
Really good for new or experienced knitters in understanding how those two stitches work together. Also I loved Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller. That book is really good for learning how to read a pattern, understanding gauge, using different kinds of yarn, and besides, the book is really funny.

Park City Girl Quilt Festival

Quilt for Grandma & Pop


This is one of my favorite Quilts, because I designed it myself, and it's so personal.. It's about 36" by 42".

My best friend helped me draw out my idea on a large sheet of brown paper, taped to the floor, and I cut it apart to use as pattern pieces.

It's a family tree, with apples on it, and the apples have all the names of my parent's children and grandchildren embroidered . The sun has my parents' names on it, and is a separate quilted piece attached after the body of the quilt was done.

In the background I appliqued an F-15 fighter plane zooming into the wild blue yonder as a nod to my Father's 20 years in the Air Force working on that plane. I used a silhouette of an F-16 to trace out the applique, and did my best to straighten up the tailfins, but I didn't fool Dad.

He liked the Quilt anyway.

Growing Season

I got the idea from watching "Simply Quilts". Alex Anderson gets a little snippy with her guests, but she has a lot of good ideas.

this is called a Kameleon quilt. Really cool. here is the website http://kameleonquilt.com/index.html Eldrid is from Norway , and I ordered the pattern directly from her website. The concept is adding triangles that flip back and forth, so a quilt can change it's look whenever you desire. Absolutely beautiful!

For my first attempt,"Growing Season" I kept mine pretty simple, and used solid squares on one side, and prints of chickens and vegetables on the other. So at first, you see reds, yellows and orangy reds, that when flipped, bloom into a garden. I liked this so much I want to do a few more.

All I need to do to this one is sew on some more buttons, and it's done and ready to hang.

new to blogging

My first quilt blog experience. I hope to use this as a way to keep myself organized, and possibly embarrass myself into finishing up projects!
So, I have to list all the projects I have going, and take pictures of the whole mess. I am excited to do this, yet where to start?