June | 2013 | Books quilts and sewing

Archive for the month “June, 2013”

30 Jun 2013

New Baby Blanket

Looking through various quilting magazines I searched for my next conquest but didn’t want to tie up my time with a large project. I have several requests for quilts at this point but wanted to get a few quick ones stashed away in case I needed to send one as a gift. I came across this pattern and fell in love with it right away. To be completely honest though, I was looking for a pattern that would include some fabric that I already had. Using up part of the existing stash was definitely a prerequisite for the pattern.

The pattern is only about 40” X 40” which makes this more of a baby blanket size, but took a lot longer to put together than I thought it would.

Let me know what you think!! It will be sent out for quilting soon.

Some of the stages of construction to the finished quilt top.

Posted in Blogs, Daily and tagged beginner, blogging, crafts, Fabric, joann, Joann Fabrics, learning, manage, mini quilt, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sew, sewing | Leave a comment

15 Jun 2013

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Persian Plum gone Wrong

The sabbatical is over and I’m making some changes to my site in the near future. It is said that the only constant is change and with that I’ve decided to change from my slothful nature and get back to posting what I’ve been up to.

All of the monthly blocks of the Persian Plum block of the month square are completed. When I opened the setting kit it was with a lot of trepidation. As I flipped through the fabric I was extremely disappointed that some of the fabric hadn’t been cut properly. I promised that I wouldn’t go off on a rant about it and proceeded to just make it work. It was so disheartening that I have taken a lot of time to put this together only to find more work for myself to correct the manufacture’s mistakes.

Because of this and my general nature of needing to have multiple projects going at the same time, I completed what I’m calling my “Chopsticks Quilt” and am still plugging along with the “Oh Canada” quilt that I started the year before. I found while going through fabric with my wife a mini-quilt that she started but hadn’t bound and asked that I be able to hand quilt it for her. Yes, another project!! It brightened my mood and I’m almost a third done with that one now.

Back to the Persian Plum however, she’s been helping me piece the other squares together in return for hand quilting her mini. We’ve just about completed all of the other squares from the setting kit and should be finished piecing those this evening. I’ll post up Blocks 11 and 12 over the next couple of days to give an idea of what the collection looks like.

Until next time,

Posted in Block of the Month, Blogs, Daily, Reviews and tagged block of the month, blogging, crafts, Fabric, joann, Joann Fabrics, learning, manage, project, purple, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Review, Sew, sewing, shopping

15 Jun 2013

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The White Sale and the Sewing Room Remodel

The white sale

For this curiosity seeker the title has enabled me to compress the two things I wanted to write about into one topic, that of white and the impact it has on me and the trade of quilt making.

I have discovered within myself a great penchant for using white as a choice of fabrics. I did not start out that way; in fact you could say that I avoided it through most of my initial quilt projects. Having a great love of quilts, my wife and I purchased a lot of magazines, went to a lot of quilt shows, and visited a host of online sites to view finished quilts and patterns.

As I pointed out the quilts or patterns that I liked the most it became clear to me the thread of commonality among my choices, there was a lot of white fabric in my list of favorites.

I started using white in the quilts I was making and voila! I became happier with the finished quilts. I honestly think it’s the stark contrast between colors, or how the white can extend a lighter colored block of fabric beyond its borders.

The white sale II

After shopping online and in stores I came to the conclusion that no one except for specialty stores were selling what we needed for the sewing room remodel. The specialty shops were so far out of our price range it was incredible. Yes, there products were perfect for use and would definitely improve anything we had in mind, but the cost was most definitely prohibitive.

Back to the drawing board I went searching hopelessly for something that would satisfy our space requirements and our pocket books. IKEA had just what I had been hoping for on their website. People may read this and say “DUH”, but I’ve never been to an IKEA store and no, I haven’t been living under a rock. The problem with this store was that I had never been there but needed to see and measure each piece we were considering for purchase.

My great idea was to go there about noon on Saturday and wrap up no later than 2pm… anyone who’s shopped at an IKEA store is laughing right about now. I’m a good sport however and am laughing with them at my own ignorance. For those of you who have never shopped there, well let me just refer to the phrase rats in a maze. The cheese by the way isn’t along your journey through the place, just like a rats maze you’ll have to wait to reach the end before you can find satisfaction.

When we arrived home at something approaching 5pm, exhausted as I was Sunday was Mother’s day and I wasn’t going to have my wife waiting to use the new furniture when I could “easily” put it together that night!

The dread of messing something up washed over me as I opened the first box of parts and began assembly. By the end of the first two hours, not only had I completed sewing table it had gone together so well hope sprang from within at the thought of the three other pieces of furniture waiting for assembly.

By midnight, all the pieces were assembled and positioned in the first of many configurations.