Kristen's Quilt Completed

Wine of the Day: Cavit - Sauvignon Blanc

 I don't know what they think is happening but as soon as I turned on my sewing machine I had 3 very eager helpers ready and waiting...

Moments later, I had 3 very lazy helpers sleeping and watching...

So this is how I worked as I finished Kristen's Quilt for Baby #3.  We're getting close to Baby's arrival and still don't know the gender.  I was hoping Kristen would crack and open the envelope to reveal the gender but she held strong!  No matter though, because the quilt will look just fine in a baby girl or baby boy's nursery.  I even tested my theory.

Girl

Boy

After this lovely photo shoot I finished up by washing and drying the blanket and it is now ready for delivery!  I cannot wait to meet the little one and hope he/she enjoys the blanket as much as my little furry ones do.

Front

Back

Sleeping cats

Cheers,
k

 

 

New House = New Projects

Wine of the Day: Truth - Cuvee de Fume

Brian and I will be settling on a townhouse at the end of the month.  For those of you who know me, you know what that means... LOTS of new interior design projects are brewing.  We have already bounced around a few ideas that we would like to start out with once we get the papers all signed.

First off though, we need to get the condo in order so we can rent it out.  We have already purchased kitchen cabinets and while we wait for the to arrive we contemplate taking on the demo and redo ourselves vs. hiring a contractor. 

While these new projects are very fun and exciting, it looks like quilting might get put on hold for a few months.  Don't worry though, the crazy cat lady will be working hard on her first love; interior design!

Here are a few images I like for the new house:

Charcoal gray basement lounge

Dark wood stairs with white painted risers

Built in window seat and shelving

P.S. We also just got engaged!!!  So many fun things to look forward too :)

k

Quilt for Kristen's Baby #3

Wine of the Day:  The Winery at Olney - Montepulciano

My lovely coworker Kristen is pregnant with her third!  Which of course means I am embarking on a new baby quilt adventure.  She and her husband have decided not to find out the gender, so neutral palette it is.  I decided on gray and yellow for a number of reasons.  First, she told me she was thinking about painting the nursery a light gray.  Second, I like gray and yellow together.  Third, I thought I could make a mature baby palette out of these colors.  Upon fabric selection I decided to include light tan as well to add interest while staying neutral. 

I once again am making up the pattern as I go along.  This will include 3 strips of 2"x6" fabrics in grays, yellows and tans with strips of a yellow/gray patterned fabric between and around.

AKA this:

I decided all of this and cut all my 2"x6" strips in the same day.  Then, I laid it out how I wanted the colors to look.  Clearly, Kahlua approved so now I can move forward.

Here is a close up of the fabrics so you can get a better sense of the patterns.

I do think the fabrics are mature for an infant quilt but I didn't want to go too baby or cartoony with this one.  Also, I find that a lot of baby fabrics are not gender neutral so that eliminated a good deal for me.  I think with the light yellow as the dominate fabric though, it will still give it a softer, babier feel to it.  Thoughts?

Bria helping was a rare sight so I had to make sure I captured it!  That's her hiding in the hole in the background.  Actually, she is the most helpful because she stays out of the way!!!  

(I think I made up a few words in this post, no judging)

Cheers,
k

Nothing New to Report

Wine of the Day: The Winery at Olney - Amarone

It's been so long since I've worked on a quilt that Kahlua had to find a new place to sleep. 

Lucky girl has such a good dad to take care of her though.

Hopefully I can get back to work soon.  Until then, I hope you enjoy the cat pictures!

Cheers,
k

Patriotic Quilt Top Done

Wine of the Day: The Winery at Olney - Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel

I have finally gotten back to work on the Patriotic Quilt after months of it being on hold.  It felt really good to start work on it again this weekend.

Brutus was eager to help again this time.  He has gotten so big!  His enthusiasm is a little overwhelming though.  He is very quick and very persistent, but also gets bored and tired easily as he is still a kitten, which led to this:

  

Not helping!

And then this:

Definitely not helping!

Somehow through it all though, I managed to get the entire top pieced.  I decided to start with strips.  I sewed all of my squares into long strips and then went to work sewing the strips together. The most challenging part of doing it this way was getting the corners of the squares to align.  I managed to get about 85% of the corners to line up perfectly.  Those that weren't perfect were so close though that there were only a few that I redid.  Some of the fabric needed to be folded to perfectly align though so I need to go back and make sure it all is laying flat in the back.  

This is the largest quilt I've done and I was surprised by the weight of it. So far, I am pleased with my work.  Here is a close up of one of the corners where 4 squares come together.  If anyone has a suggestion of another way to piece this type of quilt, please let me know for next time!

Now I am scheming on how to piece the back!

Cheers,

kara

Airplane Mini Quilt

Wine of the Day:  The Winery at Olney - For Your Eyes Olney

I stumbled upon this tutorial today and have the perfect idea for following it.  It comes from The Fat Quarter Gang but I discovered it through Diary of a Quilter so thank you both for the great idea!

I love Diary of a Quilter's twist on it to make a pillow.

My idea is to use leftover fabric from my Patriotic Quilt to create matching pillows.  It will be a perfect set, especially with Brian being in the Air Force.  I could even modify the design to look a little more like a stealth plane.

Now if only I could finish the quilt...

Cheers,
k

Holiday Banner

Wine of the Day: Running with Scissors - Cabernet Sauvignon

This year for Christmas I decided to make a few presents that I gave people.  My favorite of these I gave to my mom.   The idea for the holiday banner came from a few different locations but I put my own twist on it. 

The letters are cut from felt and glued on with no sew type glue.  Felt worked well because it doesn't fray, but the burlap is another story.  I cut the squares out along one thread on each side so there wouldn't be any little pieces to fall off.  This wasn't enough though.  So, I used a no fray glue around all of the edges and it worked like a charm!

Sewing on the burlap proved easy enough though.  I just used a wide zig zag stitch to ensure that each stitch held onto the burlap.  A red ribbon was sewn onto the back of each piece to string them together.  I just looped the two ends of the ribbon to create a way to hang it.  And then of course I signed it.

After I made this one for my mom I decided to make some for a few other people that said "JOY".  I then wrapped and gave them out without taking any pictures. oops!

Where were the cats when this was happening???

Oh... just hanging out in the Christmas tree!  No big deal.  We're lucky the whole thing isn't on the floor already.

I hope everyone had a lovely and peaceful Christmas this year!  See you in 2013!!!

Cheers,
k

Baby Blanket Completed

Wine of the Day: DeLoach - Cabernet Sauvignon

The baby blanket is all finished and ready to be delivered to Wes and Kristy!  They still do not know that I made them a quilt so I am nervous and excited to have them open it. 

I am so glad that I went back and redid some of the quilting.  The fabric laid perfectly (well, almost perfectly) flat for me as I sewed on the edge.  The edging I decided to use is white to blend with the border so that the zebra print will stand out. Here is the finished product:

Front

Back

I think the fabric I used for the back was a good choice.  It has flowers in it without being super girly or too baby.   The color should be perfect to go in the nursery as well.  I know one baby that already loves it!  Here is Brutus taking his last snuggle before it goes into the wash. 

 Washed, dried, pressed one last time, and finally signed; the baby blanket is complete. You may notice that I signed this one 2013 when it was actually completed in 2012.  I consulted some crafty friends and the general consensus was to date it for the baby.  She will be arriving in January 2013, so that's the date I used.  I will be delivering it to the soon-to-be new parents this Thursday night at book club (which got rescheduled to Dec. 6, 2012).

kara

Signature: Adventures in Embroidery

Wine of the Day: Flying Fox - Viognier

I have been trying to come up with some sort of signature for my quilts ever since I finished my first quilt.  I looked into everything from sewing on a tag to simply signing the back.  Instead, I decided to embroider my signature.  This way it would be more finished looking than a fabric pen and I could do it in any color to match the quilt.  So here is what I originally came up with:

It's simple enough that I could easily adjust the size to fit the quilt.  I simply wrote a k on the fabric and then did a back stitch over it.  This seemed ideal too so that it is still in my handwriting.  I then moved on to the baby blanket and decided to add a heart like this:

Since it is a gift I wanted it to be more like "Love, Kara" than just a signature.  After consulting some fellow crafters, we decided that all quilts are made with love so I decided to incorporate the heart into all quilts, not just the ones given as gifts.  We also decided that they should really be dated too.  I picked a different color for the date so it would stand off as it's own piece and let the signature be separate.  I also used thinner thread for the date so it would be easier to read since it is so small.

So here it is; the official quilt signature!

Brutus's First Time Helping

Wine of the Day: Zenato - Cormi - Corvina Merlot

Well I did what I said I was going to do and ripped out most of the quilting I had done.  I only left about 3 lines, unstuck the backing from the batting, laid it really flat, pinned the crap out of it and started again.  Who knew that seam ripping would actually take longer than sewing???  I had plenty of help though.

 

 

 

 

My usual helpers: Lucy and Kahlua.

 

 

My new helper: Brutus.

They were all kind enough to lay on the quilt and hold it flat for me as I pinned it.  Then Brutus got distracted.

And, Kahlua decided to lay down on the job.  Unfortunately, she wanted to lay behind the machine as I was trying to quilt causing quite the backup.

I think it's safe to say that she was done being a helper for the night.  Somehow I managed to get all my lines sewn though.  The back fabric is much flatter with hardly any puckering now.  I am very glad that I took the time and effort to redo it.  I think the edging will be much easier to sew now.  Not to mention that the quilt will look much nicer too!  Here are some close up images of the fabrics used.

Lastly, I trimmed all the edges so they are ready for the edging.  I am hoping to complete it by our next book club date, which is November 29th.  Wish me luck!

kara

Quilted Holiday Saying Banners

Wine of the Day: Nothing.  Donated blood.

I've had another holiday decoration idea! 

Quilted Holiday Saying Banners

This one comes from Basket Full of Cherries on Etsy.  The burlap is a great natural material.  I think this would look lovely hanging from a mantle with maybe some pine cones and garland to add to the rustic, natural feel. I also like that it is red and green without being "christmas red and green".

This is another great example using the burlap natural look.  This one is from Thrown Together on Etsy.  It looks like this one has the letters painted on too.  This could be a fun project to do with friends that are not big into sewing or quilting.  I have a few friends in mind!

This is a great idea too!  Paper Junkies on Etsy made this out of paper.  I could easily do this out of felt I think though. Make each letter just like these ornaments and then just string them all together. 

Happy Holidays y'all!

k

Welcome Brutus

Wine of the Day: Potomac Point - La Belle Vie

We have added a new member to the family.  His name is Brutus.  He is a 9 week old gray tabby.  Very sweet and always purring.  Lucy has warmed up to him quickly but Bria and Kahlua are still getting used to him.  I know his sisters will love him as much as we do soon :)

Happy Veteran's Day

Wine of the Day: Hard Cider

Thank you to all the Veterans out there!  We appreciate all that you do for this country. 

Issues!

Wine of the Day: The Winery at Olney - Cabernet Sauvignon

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with this problem, at least I hope not.  So, I have started to do the quilting part for the baby blanket.  I am using this:

I used this on my first quilt and it worked great.  I don't know why it isn't working as great for this one.  Maybe the batting wasn't as flat to begin with...  I have no idea.

Anyways, I am now in the process of taking out half of what I have done b/c the backing fabric has bunched up.   I have already redone a few rows.  Now I have noticed that if I were to try to sew on the edging there would be places that I would have to fold over the fabric.  Back to the drawing board. 






Plan B is to leave in half of what I have already done, redo the other half and then reevaluate the first half.  I still like the idea of this spray so I am going to combine this with pinning and see if I can get the back flattened out as desired. Also, maybe iron all of it together before pinning??  Any ideas are welcome!

Let's hope I don't need a Plan C!


Cheers,
kara

Halloween

Wine of the Day: Yellow Tail - Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend

happy halloween! 

love, Kahlua