maddie quilt top

top for baby quilt finished, using the scraps from these vintage aprons.

give away 

 here is what's left of this fabric after 2 projects.  I'm ready to give away the scraps of this beautiful vintage line, purchased recently from Hobby Lobby.  If you'd like them, leave me a nice comment :)

GIVE AWAY CLOSED . . . Karen H, please send me your address.

all linked up:

crazy mom quilts

pippa's patch

whoop!

link a finish friday

off the wall fridays

Double Slice Layer Cake Tutorial

I'm finishing up the top of this quilt this week.  It's a fast, scrappy easy quilt if you have a layer cake and want to use all the fabrics in it.

1.  Take your layer cake and cut a 3 1/2" strip, off each block leaving a 6

1/2" strip.  

Keep the fabrics in order.  Cut 4 or 5 at a time, and add to the bottom of the stack.

 2.  When you're all done, go to your sewing machine with your 2 stacks.  Turn one stack upside down, this will create a truly scrappy quilt . . . no peeking, unless you have 2 fabrics of the same color, then switch them out.

 Pull off the top of each stack and with right sides together, sew that 3 1/2" piece back onto the 6 1/2" piece, to create the same block that you just cut up as shown.  Chain piece the whole stack.  Press open.

 3.  After all pieces have been sewn back together, cut all blocks in 1/2 as shown, 5 inches on each side.

 4.  Now you have 2 stacks, each 5 inches across.  Flip one stack again, for the scrappy affect and sew back together again with the smaller piece opposite the larger piece as shown.

 Your finished block will look like this.

 5.   Lay out your blocks on the floor in the desired shape you want your quilt top to be.   Check to make sure you don't have the same fabrics touching each other.  Piece into rows.  Sew rows together.

Add borders, sandwich and quilt.  Easy peasy!  I used this video tutorial from Jenny at the Missouri Quilt Star Co.

all linked up:

needle and thread

sew much ado

skyfall finish

skyfall is finished! . . .  DONE! . . .  my second and hopefully last kingsize quilt.

A little history:

I hope you got to watch Skyfall with 007 this past year . . . 

The movie takes you back to Scotland where 007 grew up.

Though they didn't bother to tell you that it was the ugliest time of the year there.

This is what it looks like in the summer, after lots of rain. . .

Glencoe Scotland . . . it's gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking, a bit eery yet spiritual and very historic, with some tragic stories you can read about here.

ANYWAYS . . .  That's where this quilt gets it's name from.

You can read about it's making here and here

 and about it's quiting here.

The pattern came from Carrie Nelson's "Spice of Life Quilts" book.  You can see the inside of those pages here.

all linked up:

crazy mom quilts

confessions . . .

richard and tanya

vintage aprons

4 vintage aprons for the servers of a wedding reception are finished.

Pink and yellow fabric is from Hobby Lobby.  

lace roses dress up and add a nice vintage touch . . .

 The first 2 aprons are a modified version of Simplicity #3544.  The top piece is squared up more than the pattern calls for . . .

more lace . . .

This apron is really cute on.  The design comes from this picture (so darling!).  You can't really see the scalloped edges very well in this picture like you can in the above link (note to self, strongly contrast the bias binding).  The skirt is actually 2 full pieces (for future reference).  

The next apron is made to look like this apron:

I used this tutorial to help make it.

Ties are extra wide for maximum show.  (simplicity pattern)

Back to quilting.

Last night I bought "British Numbers" from Ikea for a backing.  

all linked up:

finish it up friday

TTIF - Crafty Shenanigans

Whoop Whoop

link a finish friday

garden apron

garden apron for the kitchen is done.  I used this easy tutorial, pattern included.

 All those curves are a cinch if you make your own biased binding.  Learn more about that in this post.

 WARNING:  The next part of this post may be detrimental to your pocket book and psychological well-being.

I've found a new addiction.  It only took a little search in pinterest for "washi tape" ideas, a couple irresistible pictures, a couple hours of running around to my favorite stores and boom!  I'm addicted.

If for nothing else, just so I can have a cute jar with rolls of colorful washi tape.  They average about $3.99 a roll, but you can use our 40% off coupons.  What'll they think of next?

all linked up:

finish it friday

a stitch in time

whoop whoop (she featured my teakwood quilting!)

wip - aprons

A friend asked me to make some aprons for a wedding reception with this beautiful vintage fabric.

So, of course, I got distracted and pulled out some fabric I purchased for another apron

 

Don't you love this newsprint?  I've already ordered more.

I've written myself some notes on how I did the binding.  You're welcome to tag along if you'd like:

Cut binding fabric on the bias, 2 inch strips.  Fold in 1/2 lengthwise and press like you would on a normal binding.

Sew raw edges of binding to the back of your apron edge as shown with a scant 1/4" seam allowance.  (needle setting 8.0)

Press binding, creating a crease so that the folded part of the binding is furthest from apron, see below.

This is what it looks like from the front.

Now fold the binding over onto the front and sew down close to the edge.  

Use "still dottie's" apron diy tutorial, found in my Pinterest under the "current" board.  Cut pattern wider on the sides for a larger size.

This was what I was going to work on tonight, sewing a new quilt together.

 And this is my pathway to the ironing board.



all linked up:

freshly pieced

sew much ado

Needle Thread Network

teakwood

Teakwood is finally finished! . . . in the wash as we speak.

I got the idea off this Moda bake shop blog post.

Process slide show:

I found the only way to make the letters and numbers look good was to fish in a LOT of strings.

Along the borders, I quilted the addresses of some of the houses we've lived in.

Each house is quilted different then the one next to it.  

Empty lots here and there.

Wow, the washing worked really well, you can hardly see "teakwood".

Washed:

all linked up:

finish it up friday w/ AmandaJean

fresh sewing day