Quilt for Tracey, part 1

My beautiful niece, Tracey McDonald, visited recently and mentioned that she'd like a quilt. I recently received the gift of a box of fabrics and one of the pieces caught my eye, a dark green with butterflies. The butterflies are not prominent (they look like they are in the picture), so it's a nice subtle print. Of course, I always have denim. I recently purchased a Fat Cats rotary cutter ruler and thought that would make a great design for my animal-loving niece. Put that all together, and you have the trial block above. The plan is to create the rows, add 2" sashes across the bottom and top of each row, and then strip quilt the rows onto a piece of brown fleece that I have from an earlier project. Denim is fairly heavy, so having fleece as the batting and back combined eliminates a potentially very heavy quilt. I'm thinking it will be larger than lap sized, but not quite full bed sized. We'll wait and see on that.

Interestingly, I bought the ruler to create a larger Dresden Plate design with a scrappy look (using said box of fabric) and that's just going to have to wait. I'm inspired now!

One more thing to do with junk jeans! Coasters and mug mats.

Ever thrown away the seams and hems from blue jeans? I hate throwing away any part of an old pair of jeans. When I harvest the fabric, I have the zipper, waistband, and seams leftover. I give the back pockets to a friend who does projects with them, so they're not wasted. The zippers are sometimes saved and sometimes not. But those double seams! You would think there's something you could do with them. Well there is.

I was reading an article about uses for leftover denim and clicked this link - Polka Dot Pineapple: Recycling Fun  I've asked her permission to post a picture of her coaster to show you what it should look like, but in the meantime, here are a couple pictures the one I made, following the Polka Dot Pineapple blog instructions.

Mine has been machine washed. I wanted to test the fabric glue, and guess what? It was great. There is a little fray and I love it. I will definitely be making more.

I used this glue Aleen's Fabric Fusion glue pen. I got mine from Joann's, but it is sold many places online and off. The seams I used were from hems and the sides of jeans, as well as the seams from above the back pockets in the back. This particular coaster took two legs' worth of seams to make, so get to saving those seams!  I love when I can find a way to reuse denim. Though this is a no-sew project, it surely is a scrap stitching project!

What a great way to start the new year!

My harvested denim scraps are now separated into three piles - fabric, back pockets, and seams. What do YOU do with junk jeans?

My handsome great-nephew and his quilt

And this is why we do what we do when it comes to making things that we give away. Look at that smile.

This is my newest great-nephew. In this picture, he sure looks like his dad.

It surely makes me feel right about having made that quilt for him. I hope he enjoys it for years to come. I hope for all of us that our sewing treasures are enjoyed for years to come.

We'll leave you and the year 2012 with this happy photo and a wish that all your projects are so wonderful, be they gift or something for yourself. Take your scraps, your remnants, your yardage, your trims and embellishments, and sew in 2013 as if you were going to smile this big when you were done.

Happy New Year everyone!

Project - Mug Mats (Last Minute Gift Idea!)

Out of gifts for your friends for Christmas? Make these! I made them in an afternoon, including the picture taking and binding. All you need is fabric scraps, leftover batting (regulation batting, old towel, flannel, etc.), and some imagination. You can make your own bias binding or use purchased bias tape. I happened to choose Virginia Tech fabric for the strip quilting and M&Ms fabric for the back. Have fun, and get to stitchin! You have prezzies to make :)

Click here or click on our projects link on the right. 

Quilt done, time to deliver

It started as an idea. I thought I would make a banging hexagon quilt with red, blue, and hot air balloon fabric. Then I thought I'd work it into a log cabin quilt. Then I decided I liked the balloon hexagons too much not to go with that idea, so I combined them. I ended up doing a combined log cabin pineapple type thing with a hexagon in the center.

The solids are Michael Miller Krystal fabrics, so though they are solid, they're not really solid. There will be less chance of discoloration or problems with use and machine washing.

I did incorporate an intentional mistake You can see it in the second picture, but I won't tell you where it is. The tradition of an intentional mistake supposedly began with Native American weavings as a reminder that we are not perfect. I think it adds to the character of the piece! If I really told the truth, this one was unintentional, but I left it anyway; that makes it intentional, right?

I hope the baby gets years and years of use out of the quilt. It's super bright now, but with love, it will fade a bit and will have stories to tell.

The back is a fun snake fabric. The process was quilt-as-you go. The construction is about 90% machine and 10% hand work. I have changed my habit of using batting and now use receiving blankets/flannel as batting. It makes for a warm, but lighter, quilt. It also assists with machine washing and drying as it doesn't shift and is not bulky.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Now, what's next?

Recycling denim and a sweatshirt for a great jacket

Here's a work in progress.

Beware, this is heavy and warm jacket when you're done, so enjoy it!

I had an oversized red sweatshirt that was so yummy soft on the inside. That is the base for the jacket.

The second ingredient was a pile of denim scraps. I cut 2" strips first, and then embellished each strip with a piece of ribbon. I have spools and spools of ribbon that I've been collecting. I get it just about everywhere - Freecycle, yard sales, online, or from friends who say "I bet you can use this!" With the strips, I made 8" log cabin squares. Yours can be larger or smaller and you certainly don't have to use denim, but it is a scrap stitching project after all. You also don't have to use ribbon, but I had so much and it was begging to be used.

I cut the sleeves carefully from the sweatshirt, maintaining the integrity of the sleeve and armhole where it was to be re-attached. I also removed the collar band, cuff bands, and waist band, and cut a straight line up the middle of the front of the shirt.

With the sleeves, I added strips of squares with some machine stitching in-the-ditch around the squares. I then added strips to the back and noticed I had a lot of leftover space, so cut some 3" and 4" strips of old blue jeans and added them to the sides and in the back as a yoke. From the shoulder to hem, I added a couple strips of squares.

To finish, I reattached the sleeves, now covered with log cabin squares. I then added bands back to the hem of the shirt, the cuffs, and to the neck. My initial intention was to put in a separating zipper up the front, but the jacket was fairly bulky. I added a folded strip of denim and then created buttonholes and stitched on some buttons. This worked better than the zipper because it also served as a finish for the front opening without adding bulk.

The finishing is a bit tricky, but you can definitely reuse the fabric you removed; just put it right back where it came from. I don't have a photo of the finished product, but you get the idea. I made this jacket in 2007 and it has since been passed on to a friend.

The lesson here is that you can make something out of essentially nothing if you are creative. This is how I chose to use some blue jeans and old sweatshirt. What will you do with yours?

Travel time and sharing time!

On old online friend, from back in our Sewing.com days, Martha, made this wonderful set of pillows and I had to share (with her permission, of course). She has been running her own interior design business for some time now, and makes some of the most gorgeous items.

I love the way the stripes on the fabric match up as if she had done strip piecing. This is something you or I could actually try! The addition of the covered button and small tassel add an amazing professional look. But think of all the striped fabrics you have that you could manipulate like this! I know my mind is abuzz with possibilities. Thanks Martha for letting me share. They're lovely.

And, yes, it's travel time once more. I'm headed for Phoenix tomorrow. It wouldn't be traveling if I didn't have a hand project to take with me. I made some blocks by machine for a small Cathedral Window quilt. The rest is hand work. I have my hand sewing kit with me and the windows for the quilt - I have M&M fabric and Steelers fabric. I can't decide which one I'm going to use, so I'm taking both. The hexagon quilt I'm working on has gotten too big to travel with, so it will be here at home waiting for me when I get back. I work on it darned near every day. I will finish it in spite of it!

While I'm gone, my Bernina is spending her vacation at the shop. It's time for a cleaning and tuneup. My sewing room looks positive empty! She should be running like a top when I return.

The weather on the east coast is cooling and it's a perfect time to start a project. See you in November! And don't forget to vote!