I have been busy switching back and forth between projects and not really getting any completed. But I'll show you what I've been up to anyway. First, I made a couple of these blankets. They're very basic -- green dotty minkee on the top and white flat minkee on the bottom. I basically bought a metre of 54' minkee in each colour and divided it in half. Then I stitched them together, flipped them inside out and topstitched around the edges to make a little soft baby blankie. I THOUGH this was going to be a quick, easy way to make a blanket for my friend who just had a baby and a friend who is due in March. But I underestimated how fussy minkee is to work with. The outside is super soft and fuzzy, but the inside is this slippery synthetic stuff, so you have to cross pin every inch along the entire blanket edges so it doesn't bunch up while you're sewing it (that means you put pins both vertically and horizontally instead of just perpindicular to the edge of the fabric). Then you have to pull all those pins out as you go . . . . Then, just to make things more fussy, my cat decided to jump up and sleep on the second one when I was in the middle of pinning it. So I didn't realize that she had caused the bottom fabric to shift until AFTER I pinned and stitched it all together. Then when I flipped it inside out, I noticed that the white fabric was really awful and bunchy. So I had to pull the whole thing apart, re-pin and sew it. So: In theory, two little minkee blankets should be a quick one to two hour project. In reality they took me about five or six hours. Bu they are really really soft and snuggly.
This is the roll of layers that will be a little baby quilt for Arden and Judith's new little one, Jon. It is a really sweet, simple pattern from the book "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilting Gifts" and I found some nice, snuggly flannel for one side and a cute nursery rhyme print for the other side. I did all the pinning for it, but then I decided to do the minkee blankets first, becuase my friend Taryn was having her baby any day . . . so there it sits, forlorn and unfinished.
But before I finish that, I have to turn this stack of fabric into a quilt for my dad. He turned 70 on January 1, and I decided that he should get an old man lap quilt in honour of that prodigious event. So I have been gathering these fabrics for a while, and perusing the internet and the book mentioned above for a nice, fairly quick pattern. I decided that I'm basically going to take the fabric you see at the bottom and cut it into three 10 inch strips. Then I'm going to cut freehand strips of the fat quarters and make two long "coin" type strips to be sandwiched in between those strips. Sounds confusing, but really its not. Again, I was waiting to finish the minkee blankets, and now this is next on my list of things to do. Especially since we are going to Winnipeg on Sunday, and I would like to have this finished so I can tie and bind it while we're there.
I was also very excited because I got these in the mail the other day. One of my favorite fabric shops, Keepsake Quilting brought in some Freshcut fabrics as a web exclusive. But I guess they're shop is mostly only visited by old ladies, because they were selling off the fat quarter packs for $11 each. Since you can hardly find this fabric anywhere becuase it is in such huge demand, I decided I had to buy some. In fact, I loved it so much when I got it that I then proceeded to get the farics on your right in half yard cuts as well. The ones on my left are really pretty, but not really in "my" colours, so I'm going to have to find someone who likes pretty pints and magentas and greeny-blues (what would you call that colour, Lisa?). I also got another yard of the brown - pink - green flecks, which finishes off the fabrics I need for my almost all paisley quilt that I'm going to make for myself someday.
Oh yeah, and I've been waiting until I finished these to post them, but I don't seem to be getting around to doing the embroidery on them (Andrew wants to "help" me sew and Aaron wants to try pull all the bits of felt off as I try to embroider them on), so I will post them anyway and then post the control panels later. This is ARC-1 (Andrew's Robot for Christmas -1) and BJ-1 (Beefy Jim 1 -- the grey robot actually has less stuffing thatn the multi-coloured one, but he just looks big and beefy, so I decided that his name should reflect that). These are some of my favorite fabrics in my super-bright and funky fabic stash (as opposed to my funky yet sophisticated fabric stash). Apparently I have to make a lounge suit for Rich out of the rest of the lime green.
Well, speaking of craftiness, I should be off doing some sewing intead of sitting here typing. I want to finish my dad's quilt top and make a laptop cover before I leave for Winnipeg on Sunday. Probably wishful thinking, but a girl can dream, can't she?
This is the roll of layers that will be a little baby quilt for Arden and Judith's new little one, Jon. It is a really sweet, simple pattern from the book "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilting Gifts" and I found some nice, snuggly flannel for one side and a cute nursery rhyme print for the other side. I did all the pinning for it, but then I decided to do the minkee blankets first, becuase my friend Taryn was having her baby any day . . . so there it sits, forlorn and unfinished.
But before I finish that, I have to turn this stack of fabric into a quilt for my dad. He turned 70 on January 1, and I decided that he should get an old man lap quilt in honour of that prodigious event. So I have been gathering these fabrics for a while, and perusing the internet and the book mentioned above for a nice, fairly quick pattern. I decided that I'm basically going to take the fabric you see at the bottom and cut it into three 10 inch strips. Then I'm going to cut freehand strips of the fat quarters and make two long "coin" type strips to be sandwiched in between those strips. Sounds confusing, but really its not. Again, I was waiting to finish the minkee blankets, and now this is next on my list of things to do. Especially since we are going to Winnipeg on Sunday, and I would like to have this finished so I can tie and bind it while we're there.
I was also very excited because I got these in the mail the other day. One of my favorite fabric shops, Keepsake Quilting brought in some Freshcut fabrics as a web exclusive. But I guess they're shop is mostly only visited by old ladies, because they were selling off the fat quarter packs for $11 each. Since you can hardly find this fabric anywhere becuase it is in such huge demand, I decided I had to buy some. In fact, I loved it so much when I got it that I then proceeded to get the farics on your right in half yard cuts as well. The ones on my left are really pretty, but not really in "my" colours, so I'm going to have to find someone who likes pretty pints and magentas and greeny-blues (what would you call that colour, Lisa?). I also got another yard of the brown - pink - green flecks, which finishes off the fabrics I need for my almost all paisley quilt that I'm going to make for myself someday.
Oh yeah, and I've been waiting until I finished these to post them, but I don't seem to be getting around to doing the embroidery on them (Andrew wants to "help" me sew and Aaron wants to try pull all the bits of felt off as I try to embroider them on), so I will post them anyway and then post the control panels later. This is ARC-1 (Andrew's Robot for Christmas -1) and BJ-1 (Beefy Jim 1 -- the grey robot actually has less stuffing thatn the multi-coloured one, but he just looks big and beefy, so I decided that his name should reflect that). These are some of my favorite fabrics in my super-bright and funky fabic stash (as opposed to my funky yet sophisticated fabric stash). Apparently I have to make a lounge suit for Rich out of the rest of the lime green.
Well, speaking of craftiness, I should be off doing some sewing intead of sitting here typing. I want to finish my dad's quilt top and make a laptop cover before I leave for Winnipeg on Sunday. Probably wishful thinking, but a girl can dream, can't she?
1 comment:
Um. Slate green? Pale Forest Grey? What shade is it? (My computer isn't showing anything of that colour in your photo). Lake-Superior-on-a-cloudy-but-bright-stormy-day?
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