Christmas Tree Skirt

My work in progress that I shared yesterday turned into this:

I convinced my husband that instead of a big real tree this year, we have a smaller fake one.  Our condo living room is quite small and the big tree takes up a ton of space (and blocks part of the TV).  I also didn't feel like cleaning the pine needles out of my convertible that we use to bring it home in. :)  This year I bought a super cute small pre-lit 4' tree and needed a new skirt.

I sewed together strips of fabric, alternated cutting them into 45 degree triangles, added tree trunks (they are a dark brown Kona), sashed each tree and sewed them into a circle.  It finishes at 30" wide which is perfect for our 4' tree.

My absolute favorite part of this skirt is the binding. I love how the stripes look.

It was complete luck that the tree above has a snowflake positioned as if its a star on top. :)

I ripped off all of the clear pre-lit lights and added multi-colored twinkle lights.  I could stare at it for hours.  We both love it!

Happy Sewing!

Work in Progress

I had the urge to work with Christmas fabrics... so I started cutting and sewing these last weekend.  The result was a pile of these triangles:

I'll share what this turns into soon! :)  It's hard getting good pictures with limited daylight hours!

Vintage Modern Quilt

My work in progress is complete!

With much inspiration from Film in the Fridge's FMF version of the Swirling Medallion quilt, I made my own Vintage Modern wall hanging.  The swirling medallion quilt pattern can be found in the Quilting Modern book.

As I mentioned before, this quilt was made for the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild's Bonnie and Camille Quilt Challenge. The rules were simply that we can use any B&C fabric and make any quilt we want.

 
This quilt finished at 34"w x 46"h.  It will make a perfect wall hanging as I slowly replace all the boring brown and beige colors in our home.

The white binding was a suggestion from my husband.  He usually runs out of the room if I ever ask him anything design related... so I'm not sure what prompted his input this time.  It brightens up the quilt - he made a good choice!  I also successfully hand stitched the binding on.  I'm getting much better at it and I love having something to do while watching TV.

I added two stripes to the back along with my standard embroidered name/date stamp.  I love how the quilting is highlighted on the back.

The awesome news is that my quilt won in the 'Best Use of Fabric' category!!  I received a Jelly Roll of Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade! :D

Work in Progress

The Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a Bonnie and Camille Quilt Challenge.  We can use any B&C fabric and make any quilt we want.

I purchased a charm pack of Vintage Modern and was on my way!  Here was my happy little spot this past weekend:

Our projects are due at our November meeting, so I will share photos of my finished project after that. :)

Cat Nap Pad

My friend is a huge comic book fan.  He's also a gamer who's cat always sits right next to his computer while he's on it.  For his birthday I made him (and his cat) a Cat Nap Pad.

I sandwiched 4 layers of warm and natural quilt batting in between the comic book print and a layer of Minky on the back.  If he wants he can flip it and use the cotton side so its cooler in the summer or use the Minky side so its warmer for the winter.

I went through four needles making this.  I snapped three in the four layers of quilt batting but the last needle survived! I really wanted it to be soft as she's currently laying on a glass table.

I sewed the layers the wrong sides together and flipped it inside out and hand stitched (*gasp*) the opening closed.  I don't remember the measurements but the fabric piece I used was about the size of a fat quarter.

He said as soon as he put the pad down on the table she immediately plopped right now: 

Action shot!

r/aww  :)

New York Beauty Mini Quilt

I saw a friend post a Mini New York Beauty and absolutely loved it.  I've never paper pieced before so I wanted to give it a shot.  What ended up was this mini wall hanging (aka Cubicle Quilt):

Fabric: Silent Cinema - Front Row in Yellow,  Meadowsweet 2 - Henna Garden in Raspberry,
Kona White, Kona Cerise and Petal (triangles), Kona Berry (binding)

 I had a lot of firsts on this mini quilt!  The paper-piecing was fun, but I disliked picking the paper off the back. I used a shorter stitch length with regular printer paper and then tweezered that stuff out of the tiny points.

I also used my Bernina stitch regulator (BSR) and made up the quilting as I went.  I was worried that it was not going to be consistent.. but as a whole I love it.

 (It was super hard to get that berry color to show up accurately in my photos.. this is the closest to the correct color)

This was my second shot at hand stitching on the binding.  As suggested before, I used a smaller needle.  It took me a while, but I'm getting a little better.  I'm still struggling with how to tie off (hide) the end of the thread.  Especially the very last binding stitch...  (any tutorial suggestions?)

Here's a crappy picture of all of the quilting on the back.  Nobody is going to look at the back so it doesn't bug me that my thread knots are showing.

Happy Sewing :)

Washi Lunch Bag

I made another because I loved the Berry Lunch Bag I made so much! I used the Lunch Bag Tutorial from Pink Penguin.

I am a huge fan of this Washi fabric line by Rashida Coleman Hale.  The colors scream me. :)

As with the other bag, I added a layer of duck cloth and waterproof polyurethane laminate (PUL) on the inside.

To both bags I added stitching on the top and bottom of the rim as well as one just below the bottom rim.  This sealed in the inside raw edges of the top cover as well as looking more finished on the outside.

Happy Sewing!