A Self Binding Baby Quilt

My cousin recently gave birth to a beautiful little girl and I just knew that I had to make a quilt to celebrate her arrival. I got to work picking some fun prints to throw together. I decided to keep the piecing simple by using a simple square patchwork and outlining it with a border. 

I was loving the way it turned out but I found myself wishing that there was something more to it. So before I basted it I decided to add a little applique and embroidery. I drew out a large monogram letter and began hand appliqueing it to the quilt. 

I know this would have been much quicker to do at the machine but as I am nearing the end of my own pregnancy, sometimes it is nice to prop up comfortably on the couch and just work with my hands. Plus, I really want to continue to improve my hand applique. 

Once the letter was on I found that it just didn't pop as much as I had hoped. So I decided to add a blanket stitch all around the edges with some black embroidery floss.

Now it popped off the quilt beautifully! Some hot pink embroidery floss stem stitched in the applique letter was perfect for personalizing this quilt. 

Now the quilt was ready to be basted and quilted. I laid it out on my dining room table and got to work. 

Once it was all quilted I decided it was time to try yet another new method, self-binding! After all, 2014 is my year of learning. I laid the quilt out on the floor and trimmed the batting down so it was flush with the quilt top. I then trimmed all the side of the backing to be one inch wider on each side of the quilt top. I then folded the overhang of backing in half once and then in half again and pinned to the top of the quilt. 

When I reached my first corner I folded the corner in to form a 45 degree angle. 

Then I proceeded to fold the side in half. 

And then folded it over on top of the quilt top and pinned it down. 

You will notice that I used quite a lot of pins. My backing for this quilt was a dimple dot minky fabric which is very slippery so I wanted to be sure that everything was pinned down extra well. That being said, I am not quite sure that I would use this method again with a minky backing. 

Then I took the quilt back to my sewing machine and began stitching the binding down fairly close to the inner edge.

Speaking of stitching down multiple layers of minky . . . thank goodness for my walking foot! During all of the quilting and the binding it kept everything unbelievably even and smooth. So once my binding was secured all the way around I went back around with a second line of stitching closer to the outside edge of the binding. This was just to be sure that it would be extra secure to hold up to all of the washing that I know baby blankets have to endure. 

And with that, the quilt was finished! 

Until next time . . . happy quilting!

The Toy Box Quilt

Lately my quilting and sewing has been focused completely on baby items . . . so I knew it was time to make something extra special for the little man in my life. To make it one of a kind, I designed it just for him. 

I had found all sorts of wonderful Thomas the tank engine fabrics to use in it! He loves his Thomas toys more than anything else so I knew it would be the perfect theme for this quilt. 

Cutting went fairly quickly for this quilt too since I tried to keep all the pieces larger to showcase the fabric prints. 

Therefore, the piecing also went fairly quickly. 

The layout was perfect for showcasing his favorite characters! 

The quilting took a bit longer, however. Especially since I had a week where I was out of commission. I decided to do mostly straight line quilting to keep from taking away from the prints but I did add some squiggle quilting to the sashing (which added some great texture to the quilt). 

The funny thing is that I was not too happy with how this looked before the quilting but once the quilting was added I suddenly loved it! And apparently, so did he because I was only able to keep it set up for photographing for about 3 minutes before he came running to take it back! 

This was definitely one of those projects that goes to show that you shouldn't give up on a quilt until you complete it. The quilting can really make a difference in how the finished product looks. 

Stay tuned as I have 2 more quilts in progress right now. One is a surprise, so I can't share anything about it yet, but the other is going to be an experiment in trapunto quilting. I am really trying to stick to my goal of learning new techniques this year! Until next time . . . happy quilting! 

Playing with Hand Embroidery

I spent the last week battling a cold on the couch. Five of those seven days was spent with unbelievable sinus pain. Needless to say, it has not been the most productive of weeks in my household. It is going to take a few days just to clean up the mess my toddler enjoyed making while mommy was sick on the couch. However, I did have a few points here and there through out the week where my head would allow me moments of clarity. And so, at those points, I decided to play with hand embroidery.

The first thing I decided to do was continue practicing applique as I created a little needle book to hold all my hand sewing needles. I had seen a great needle book tutorial over at Nana Company. And so I followed along and had some fun with it.

Of course, I used some of my leftover fabrics from the baby's quilt so that I would forever have a piece of it for myself. I definitely still need some practice but I am having fun with the embroidery.

After finishing the needle book I decided to start working on some accessories for the baby. I started with a little something that I knew her daddy would love . . . a headband for her to wear during Blackhawk hockey games. I took some felt and decided to use some hand embroidery to create a feather head piece that could be attached to a headband. 

I was really pleased with how it came together. After all the hard work that it took, I decided to make it interchangeable. I would love if she could wear it on a hat, a headband, etc. So I attached some velcro to the back of the feathers. 

A little velcro sewn onto a headband and now we have the perfect headband, and possibly the perfect hat too! I absolutely love how it turned out. 

I have a feeling I will be doing a lot more hand sewing over the next few months as it is getting more uncomfortable to sit at the sewing machine for long intervals. I hope to have more to share next week!

Happy Quilting!

Creating an Ironing Board

As I have been sharing pictures of all of my projects I have found myself trying not to show too much of the ironing/pressing process. I struggle to crop my pictures just right or I am eliminating them from my posts all together. And why, you might ask?

This is why!

My ironing station is an old tv tray with some practice quilt layers on it. Definitely shabby but not at all chic! Finally, after months of hiding my tray/ironing board I decided to do something about it. I went up to my fabric stash and found some upholstery fabric left over from making a headboard for our bedroom. I also grabbed some scraps of cotton batting. I laid everything out on the floor and turned my tv tray upside down on top of it all. 15 minutes of staple gunning, a little duct tape to seal all the raw edges on the bottom from fraying and now I have a portable, store-able ironing board that I can be proud to photograph on top of!

It's nothing super fancy but it looks a lot prettier when I work and that makes me happy! 

Off to make more progress on the quilt I am making for my son. Stay tuned and happy quilting! 

Getting Creative with Quilt Labels

Remember that quilt I just finished for the baby's crib?

Well I spent the last week creating a very special quilt label for it. While browsing Pinterest, as I do every night before bed, I noticed some very unique appliqued quilt labels. Not only would it add a beautiful touch to my quilt but it would allow me to continue to work on one of my 2014 goals, learning! Why not take a stab at hand embroidery? I drew up a design, watched some YouTube tutorials and decided to give it a shot. 

I must say, I am addicted! This is a great way for to keep creating at the end of the day when my back is hurting too much to sit at the machine. I grab my hand sewing, put my feet up and enjoy some television with the family while still making progress on projects. And I love being able to turn my own sketches into a permanent fixture on fabric. After a few tutorials on needle turn applique I was ready to finish, and finish I did!

I was so unbelievably happy with how this label turned out. And it truly completes the quilt!

Now I am off to start work on a quilt for my little boy's new big boy bed! Stay tuned to see how it turns out. Happy quilting!

The Value of a Quilt

We are only a month into 2014 and this year has already proven to be starting off with growth, progress, learning and a lot of soul searching. I have been busy sewing as we prepare to welcome our new family member and also have had my Etsy shop closed for a few months now to help me prepare. I thought I would be missing sewing for the shop but I have actually been happier than ever. The more I have had time to enjoy my sewing the more I realized why I was so relieved . . . I was being grossly underpaid through the shop. Like $1-$3 an hour for my time. 

I find that I dread when someone approaches me and asks if I can create a quilt for them. And why do I dread it? They are wanting me to craft a completely unique, quality quilt for the price of the quilts made in sweat shops that are being sold in department stores. Or they are browsing Etsy and seeing the ridiculously under-priced handmade quilts . . . sorry to say, when one artist under prices their work it effects the whole community.

So as I worked on a very, very special quilt for my baby's crib I decided to keep track of all that goes into a quilt (not including all of the love)! Typically I design my own creations but for this one I had seen a quilt shared on Pinterest that I just loved and luckily the blogger had shared her pattern at Ricochet and Away!

Obviously, the first step to a quilt is shopping for the fabrics . . . luckily I had fabrics of my own that I had bought earlier in 2013 and had been stashing away for a special project. I couldn't think of a more important project to use them in. 

Next I had to cut into these fabrics (often the hardest step for a quilter dipping into a special fabric in their stash). In this scenario it took me about an hour and a half. 

The third step was piecing. For this quilt it took me an hour. 

Then it was back to the cutting board to cut these pieces into the triangles that I needed. Luckily, this step only took me 15 minutes. 

Once my triangles were cut it was off to the ironing station to press them out into squares. Pressing took 45 minutes. 

Then it was back to the cutting board to trim all the squares to be the exact same size. It took an hour and 20 minutes but I consider this a crucial step to be sure everything lines up correctly.

Next I had to lay everything out to prepare for piecing the top together. One of my favorite steps because it is now that you can actually see what the quilt will look like. The most fun 40 minutes of the quilt at this point!

Then it is back to the sewing machine, this time with the iron set up right next to it so I can piece and press as I go. Piecing the entire top took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Following this I moved it to my table (I am now getting a little too large to be crawling on the floor to baste) where I could layer and baste the quilt without too much discomfort. This was another 45 minutes as I basted with safety pins every 4-5 inches or so. 

Then I chose some threads, attached my walking foot and began quilting. It took a total of 5 hours to quilt this top with simple straight line quilting. 

Once the quilting was finished I was able to once again turn to the cutting mat to trim the whole quilt to be sure that each side was perfectly straight and the quilt was squared off. I also created my binding. All of this took another hour and a half. 

Finally I had to attach my binding. I do the securing of the binding by hand so at this point I had stopped keeping track of the clock as I just wanted to relax and enjoy the process as I watched television with the family. 

I definitely put over 13 hours of work into this quilt. I felt it might be fun to share the process with those less familiar with what goes into a quilt so they maybe wouldn't be as shocked to hear what a quilter charges when they ask about having a quilt handmade. You certainly cannot expect to get a handmade, quality quilt for $50-75 dollars when someone is putting that kind of love into it. That wouldn't even be valuing their time at minimum wage, not to mention the cost of the materials that go into a quilt. I can say the materials alone for this quilt would value in at around $60. 

I guess I am also using this post as a huge explanation as to why I will not be selling my quilts. I would much rather put the love and time into creating for those closest to me. I also know I would one day like to quilt for competition . . . once I feel like I am able to compete with the best of the best! So I am much better off using my time to design and practice, practice, practice! :)

I don't like the feeling of despising, almost hating, a quilt as I work on it for less than $5 an hour. It makes me feel just as undervalued as my item is. I put so much love into my quilts . . . I really love creating an item that will be cuddled under for years and years to come! A quilt is so much more special when I know someone is appreciating its value and cherishing it for what it is . . . something so much more than what a sweatshop and cheap fabric has to offer. It is a piece of me that is put into every stitch that will hug them over and over and over again as long as they keep my quilt close at hand! 

Now I must go work on a very special label for this very special quilt. Happy quilting!