Baby Quilt Finished and A few YoYo's to boot

I finally switched everybody's sheets from flannel to cotton yesterday. It usually happens a little sooner, but the weather has been weird here. I washed and dried my baby quilt yesterday after finishing the satin binding. I figured if it all stayed together that it would be alright to give it away. I sat with my family last night talking about college and vacation and ended up making quite a few yoyos. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet. I have also been cutting strips of scraps to make a Gracie Jane Quilt. http://thegraciejaneproject.blogspot.com/p/graciejane-pattern.html I have MANY scraps that I would like to use up. This looks fairly simple. I might also make one of these belts. http://3punkmom.blogspot.com/2009/05/tutorial-calico-belt.html I also cut out a bathing suit top last night. I have never tried to sew swimsuit material but it does roll alot even when cutting. I have to get some tricot lining material before I can start it. It was a remnant piece, so it was cheap. That is the best way to practice I think. We have a graduation open house and a wedding to attend this weekend, so I doubt I will get much sewing in. Our air conditioner isn't working even though the repair man was here yesterday. He will be here again today. Thankfully it isn't hot, but it makes the house feel damp since it is so wet outside. I am rambling now so that means it is time to end this post. Have a lovely productive day!

The bridesmaid and the baby

I finally finished altering a friend's bridesmaid dress today. I had to take in the hips, shorten the straps and cut off the bottom and make a new hem. I just have to say that I love my serger!!! It just tackles every kind of material with ease. I serged the cut bottom and then did a simple machine hem. I also serged the slip and didn't have to hem it. This was the first time I have worked with this type of satin. It was not too bad. The scariest part was cutting into the dress. I then took a bit of a sewing break and weeded my blackberry and blueberry patch. It was horrible due to all of the rain. It looks much better and I have quite a few blueberries and several blackberries as well. They aren't ripe yet, but they look so good. I then proceeded to quilt the baby quilt for my sis-in-law. I did a simple grid (stitch in the ditch) on it,but it was still a little difficult due to the different fabrics in the quilt. It is a mixture of cottons, flannels, fleece, butter suede and chenille.I used the walking foot on my old Kenmore. I don't have a walking foot for my new machine yet. So I have finished that part and now I will add the baby blue satin binding later this week. I cleaned my fridge today which also makes me feel better! A little laundry and cooking rounded out a pretty productive day. I love having those every once in a while!

Berry Bliss Batiks by Hoffman

I was just talking to a friend of mine the other day about some beautiful batik fabrics I bought while on my retreat. This is a Bali Pop from Hoffman Fabrics. It is basically the same thing as a jelly roll. I have sewn my strips together in rows of 4. I graduated the colors from dark to light and then cut them in 8 1/2 squares. I am not quite finished yet, but once I have them all sewn and cut I will decide how I will put them together. Quiltjane at quiltjane.blogspot.com put together a beautiful (picture above)one out of the Spumoni bali pop. Mine is Berry Bliss. My mom bought the same one. I wonder what she will do. Batiks are just beautiful hand-dyed fabrics and I am looking forward to putting mine together.

Finished baby lap quilt

Even though the new mom won't make it to the shower/scrapbook party we have planned for this evening, I did manage to finish the tiny baby quilt to go with her little hoot owl. This is the first time I have worked with blanket binding. I watched several videos and there are obviously 2 ways to do it and I think I chose the more simple way, but I don't really like the results. I don't like the way the corners turned out-not nearly crisp enough for me. On the larger quilt I am making out of the same blocks for my sister in law, I will sew the edge of the blanket binding on with right sides together and then pull it around to enclose or sandwich the quilt. I think it will look better and I can get nice crisp corners. This is cute enough for a mini quilt though. It would be great to carry along if she needs a diaper changing mat. I used wool batting in between and super soft light baby blue cotton on the back. I love the cotton and I am probably going to try to get enough to use on the back of the other one in place of the fleece (to bulky). I like the way the quilting shows up on the cotton. I also discovered that I will need to drop my feed dogs or get a walking foot for this machine. I did use a decorative stitch on the binding and I really like the added touch. I will do that on the other quilt too.

Baby lap quilt

We have another new baby in our congregation as of Sunday night. A sweet little baby boy that I hope to get a peek at this week sometime. I recently cut out tons of quilt squares for my sister in law's baby quilt. It is a mixture of cottons, flannels, suede and chenille. I had quite a few extra squares so yesterday I got a top put together. It still needs ironing and squaring up. It will just be a small lap quilt, but I think it will be cute just the same. I think I am going to use sheeting on the back and the same baby blue blanket binding to finish it off. The squares look cute together. I am not a quilter but want to learn to make them. My mom quilts constantly and I am once again looking forward to my quilt retreat in April with her. I was glad to have a 1/4 inch foot that came with a walking foot for my Kenmore machine. I couldn't use the snap on 1/4 inch foot because my Kenmore is a screw on low shank machine. So yay that I kept it because it was a huge help yesterday!

Progress, Progress, Progress?

It has been a busy week and weekend for me. We had school co-op this week and my son took his driver's test Friday and is now an officially licensed driver-Yeah! We went to Red Lobster Friday night to celebrate. I also stopped by Hancocks to pick up a couple of 1 yard pieces (not that I don't have gads at home-but hey any excuse to go visit a fabric store) of fabric to sew up a few nursing blankets for the Saturday baby shower. It was relatively easy to put one together, but the second one is still waiting to be started. I will post more detailed instructions this week. It just got to be too late and I was a little tired. I will definitely make more of these for gifts though. I am also posting pics of my Simplicity dress. It is hanging on Shirley (my husband named her) waiting for more attention as well. I have also finished cutting all of the squares plus some for the baby quilt I am starting for my sister-in-law. I have them laid out in the floor to see if I like the set up of the squares. Any feedback from you readers who quilt???? Any squares I should move around?

Well I hope those of you who attend church services tomorrow have a blessed day of worship!