Fabric Notebook Cover Tutorial

While I was still pregnant, I did a lot of internet surfing. I was stuck in bed for much of the day because I was so exhausted and uncomfortable, and while I did a lot of non-computer things, too, I needed variety. Or a break for my fingers from hand sewing. While surfing, I spent some time hanging around The Red Headed Hostess's website. She has great resources for religious study, including some great items to purchase. A lot is geared toward Mormons, but much of it could be applied equally well to other religious groups, as well. I was really intrigued by her scripture study packets, but hesitated to purchase for two reasons. I wasn't sure how well I would use it for my studying, and I didn't feel like I needed "pretty" study sheets. So, I created a printed sheet for myself for general conference talk studying that had the sections I thought I would need (inspired by but not identical to hers), and I started a scripture journal following instructions she had on her blog here (scroll to the bottom for a link to a PDF with concise instructions and tips).

I bought a simple composition notebook at Target before school started, and started my journal. But I decided it really needed a cover. I looked around online, especially Pinterest (see note above about internet surfing...) but couldn't find what I was looking for. I wanted it to have a pen pocket and some sort of closure, I was leaning toward an elastic strap rather than a button and loop, but would have taken either. So, I decided to wing it. I measured the book and guessed at a good placement and size for a pen pocket, and went for it. And decided that someone else might like to make one, too, so I thought I'd write up a tutorial. I made my first one out of solids that I had leftover from other projects, as a trial, but I liked it well enough that it's the one I use. I've made one for my sister, one for my mom, one for my daughter, and one for a friend out of cute fabric now that I have the sizing and technique down!

First, you'll need a few materials.

Fabric

• inside cover 11x24-1/2
• front cover 11x6-1/2 and 11x16-1/2
• pocket background 11x2-1/2
• pocket front 12x2-1/2

elastic 12-1/2" piece of 1/4" elastic
Pellon SF101 fusible interfacing: enough to fuse to the cover pieces and the pocket background

Step one: Fuse the interfacing to the cover pieces and pocket background. I like to fuse a larger piece of interfacing than I need to an even larger piece of fabric so that I can trim it to size. You could use a heavier weight fabric instead, but I like using my quilting cotton stash, so interfacing helps make it a little sturdier. I know some people complain about rippling from interfacing, but I have found that if I press the front of the fabric well after I fuse it that it looks pretty flat. Trim the pieces to the sizes listed above.

Step two: Prepare the pocket. Press the pocket front fabric in half matching the short ends. Using an 1/8" seam allowance, sew the pocket front to the pocket background along the bottom edge (short end) with the raw edges of the pocket front at the bottom. This is technically unnecessary but will help keep the pocket pieces lined up in the next step. (no photos, sorry!)

Step three: Prepare the front cover piece. Using a 1/4" seam allowance and with right sides together, sew the pocket pieces to the front cover pieces so the pocket is to the right of the longer piece.

You'll want to be careful to make sure that the pocket opening is up. Press the cover piece with the seams out from the pocket.

Step four: Pin the covers together and place the elastic. Sandwich the elastic inside the cover and pin it in place with 1/4" extending beyond the edges of the top and bottom of the covers. Pin it 11" away from the inside edge of the pocket.

Step five: Sew the cover together. Using a 3/8" seam allowance and with right sides together, stitch all the way around the outside leaving a 4" opening on one end.

Clip the corners (being careful to not cut the stitches) to reduce bulk.

Turn the cover right side out and push the corners out well. (Note that a 3/8" seam allowance makes for a comfortable cover with a bit of overhang around the notebook. If you would like to fit more snugly, and be more difficult to switch out notebooks, you can use a 1/2" seam allowance but must be careful to make sure it will fit before clipping corners and top-stitching.)

Press the cover well, turning the fabric at the opening in to the same seam allowance. Your cover should be about 10-1/4" tall by 24-1/2" long. If it's shorter than 10-1/8", you won't be able to top-stitch to finish it and have it fit, and 10-1/8" is really pushing it. Ask me how I know.

Step six: Top-stitch the short edges of the cover.

Step seven: Prepare the cover for finishing. Wrap the cover around the notebook you are using and fold the edges over the notebook cover, making sure they are as even as possible. Check on pocket placement and elastic placement. When you are satisfied, pin the edge and remove the cover. Repin the cover through the middle of the cover pockets.

Step eight: Top-stitch the cover closed. Being careful to catch both edges of the cover at the ends, top-stitch along the long edges of the cover only. Do NOT topstitch along the short edges. Carefully sew near the elastic, ensuring that you do not top-stitch through the elastic by holding it out of the way of the needle.

Clip your threads and wrap your notebook with your new cover! The notebooks that I bought were quite flimsy and I found they benefited from slipping in a piece of cardboard cut to size. I slipped mine in right behind the notebook.

These make fantastic and quick gifts. Who couldn't use more notebooks?

Cutting Up My Kona Color Card {Tutorial}

Over the summer, I bought Amy Ellis' pattern for her Majestic Mountain mini quilt. I HAD to make it, and I'm so pleased with how mine turned out! But picking the colors was no easy task. I had a Kona color card, but it was so difficult to pick colors that would work together from the tiny swatches that were so far apart from each other on the card! If you have a color card, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. You do your best, but in the end, it's just impossible. This was the first time I was needing to use it to pick solids to go together instead of picking solids to match fabric I already had, and it proved too much.

So, I cut it up.

I know a lot of people have done this, but I was nervous and I wasn't sure how I wanted to store it exactly. I was worried about losing swatches, and I was worried about finding the easiest way to use them. I know lots of people punched holes in them and strung them on a chain, but the swatches are so small already that I didn't want to punch a quarter inch hole through the color. And then I saw a post on the Anything Pretty blog. She cut hers, mounted them on velcro and stuck them on a canvas. I thought it was brilliant! I didn't have to punch a hole in them, and it seemed like a great way to store them: as decor. It would be one less thing I need to find a place for me in my cluttered sewing room.

So, first things, first. I didn't find a whole lot of great tips for how to do this, so I thought I'd really spell it out. After all, "cut it up" seems like directions, but what's the best way to do that, really?

I don't know if the way I did it is the absolute best way, but it worked well for me.

I started with a dull rotary blade and used my rotary cutter and quilting rulers to cut it. It was hard, I'm not going to lie, and I did it over several days because it put a lot of strain on my hands. But, doing it this way meant that I got really straight cuts, and I imagine it was easier on my hands than scissors! Note that because the swatches aren't all the exact same size, you need to do rows individually. No short cut here--every piece has to be cut out. I cut rows the width they would end up (a fraction below the name) and then cut the strips into pieces.

Next, I bought rolls of velcro with adhesive backs so I wouldn't have to glue. I bought 3/4" wide velcro and I found it at Lowe's. Again, I think "stick velcro on the backs" isn't very helpful, so here's exactly what I did. I tried peeling the velcro and then cutting it, but this gummed up my scissors a lot faster than when I cut the velcro in pieces with the plastic still on. So, do that. I found that it was easier to keep the velcro from tangling up by separating the two sides of velcro, which come next to each other on the same piece of plastic. Cutting it apart was pretty quick, and then you can set aside the half you're not working with. And, I elected, like Anything Pretty, to put the loop side on the back of the color card pieces so that if I put them on fabric I won't risk the hook side snagging my fabric.

Last was the trickiest part for me: applying the velcro strips to the canvas. I cut a tiny bit off and stuck it to the back to test the adhesive, which seemed pretty strong to me while I was putting it on the color swatches, but the next morning, it pulled right off. This very likely might have been due to the face that I used a tiny piece, but I wasn't wiling to risk it after all the work I went to since I reasoned it could be due to the uneven and flexible surface of the canvas. So, even though the velcro had adhesive on it, I used glue, too. I didn't want the strips to peel off when I pulled color chips off.

I bought a 24x36 canvas from Joann's when canvases were 50% off. It still ended up being $25--this is not a cheap project! I used blue painter's tape to create a 1" border around the canvas to keep my strips even, and then I marked my strips with pencil and my 6"x24" quilting ruler to make sure they were evenly spaced and level. Make sure you use a light pencil line--after I glued down a few strips, I went back and erased the lines so they were fainter because you can see the pencil through the velcro. I spaced the lines apart by 2", so the strips are closer than that since the swatches are over an inch tall.

I started by finding the middle line and then measuring out from there--you'll need 13 lines total. And for the glue, I used E600. So far, it's holding well! I found a package of single use tubes at Target of all places, and bought that even though I had a large tube at home. My large tube was several years old and I knew it would be difficult to squeeze it out evenly.

After glueing the velcro down, I spent a bunch of time sorting the color swatches, but that part was fun, as I'm sure you can imagine!

I'm really happy with how this project turned out! I love that it's a prominent piece in my room and that I can see it all the time. I love playing with the color chips and picking out new color combinations. It worked out really well, and if you're looking for a way to cut up your card, I'd definitely recommend it!

Majestic Mountains Mini Quilt

I grew up here in Utah surrounded by beautiful mountains. I went to Olympus High, named not after the Greek Olympus, but after Mount Olympus on the Wasatch Front (okay, okay, so our mountain was named after the Greek one...). We had a great view of it from our front yard, and it's a central feature of the landscape of my childhood. No doubt this was due to my dad's love of the mountains. He loved the mountains. For him, it wasn't only that he appreciated the beauty of the mountains, but also that he felt God in the quiet of the mountains and appreciated the beauty of God's creations most while he was there.

This summer, my dad died. He had suffered for 9 long years from a neurological degenerative disorder and he finally died two weeks after having a mild stroke. It was heartbreaking, of course, and made even more difficult by the fact that I was pregnant with twins. I was a hormonal, emotional wreck. I was around 25 weeks when everything happened, and by that time, I was already struggling to get around. I yearned to mourn by retreating to the mountains, to honor his memory by hiking in his beloved mountains where I knew I would feel close to God and to him. But, my body wasn't in any shape to allow that. I was able to drive up the mountains a few times for picnics, but it was painful physically and just wasn't exactly what I had hoped for.

Around that time, Amy Ellis posted about her Majestic Mountains mini quilt and was in the process of developing the pattern. I had, for years, been searching and planning various ways to make a quilt to honor my dad and everything he gave me, and had never settled on what I wanted. I had wanted to make it before his death, but couldn't settle on a design. When I saw Amy's design, I knew it was what I wanted. It was modern enough to hang in my living space. It looked enough like mountains without being too pictorial. It was perfect. I ordered the pattern as soon as the sale went live and turned to my Kona color card to pick colors, hoping that sewing something in his memory would provide a way for me to properly grieve.

It was so much harder than I expected to pick colors from the color card, and I determined to cut up my card before I picked colors, which helped a lot. Maybe someday I'll get around to posting about that. I got my yardage ordered and set about sewing it. The pattern is paper pieced, and my only gripe with it is that she didn't specify any cutting instructions. I found this difficult to work with and ended up just cutting tremendously oversized pieces because of the sharp angles. I used my scraps to piece an improve backing. The top went together pretty quickly because there aren't very many pieces, and I loved it. But I couldn't figure out how to quilt it, and by that time, about 30 weeks, I wasn't even able to get to the store to pick thread. I was really in bad shape, and basically on bed rest (self-imposed). But, the whole process had really been therapeutic. I set it aside while I considered quilting, not really in a rush to decide because I didn't have any thread nor way to get any.

I delivered my babies the day before my birthday (yep, I got to spend my birthday in a hospital bed, hobbling around from my recent surgery), and my husband surprised me with an Aurifil color card! I'd never even sewn with Aurifil before, but I was pretty happy. It was a pretty thoughtful gift; he knew the only thing holding me up from quilting this mini was my inability to go buy thread.

A few weeks later, I had selected thread colors and finally settled on a quilting idea, and once it came, I got to quilting. It's funny that the actual sewing of this project was really so fast, but I spent months on the project due to my inability to make decisions. I decided to quilt the sky with horizontal wavy lines with swirls and loops to represent wind, I quilted pebbles on the rocky mountain side, and I quilted vertical lines (really long vertical zig zags) for the grass.

I bound it up and hope to get it hanging on my wall soon. I like to think that my dad would like it; in any case, I think he would appreciate the tribute. He was always a creative person and I think he'd appreciate that I used my creativity to create a mountain design in his honor. Truth is, I miss him terribly, even though he hadn't been himself for quite some time. He was a great man. And his death brought back all the grief we had experienced over the course of his illness.

Until we meet again, Dad. All my love.

Double Windmill Table Runner

So, in case you didn't know, I had twins! They arrived a tad early in mid-September. Towards the end of the pregnancy, I was increasingly sore and fatigued--imagine that! It was hard for me to do anything besides sit in bed all day. As you can imagine, I wasn't sewing much toward the end. I did a few things, here and there...sewing really is therapeutic for me. But, I just didn't have the stamina or strength to sew for more than a few minutes at a time.

After I delivered, I felt so much better and was itching to get back at the machine. And I realized that I had really made a mistake before delivering. I was determined to leave my sewing room in as good a shape as possible, and in my mind, that meant leaving as few WIPs as possible. What I didn't count on, though, was that without WIPs, I didn't have projects to jump right back into when I was ready. I did have a couple: my sampler project being a big one. I also had plans for a fall-colored version of Allison Harris's Shimmer quilt, but my progress on that was limited to picking fabric and sewing one practice block. I had nothing cut out. I had a Majestic Mountain mini quilt (designed by Amy Ellis) pieced and waiting to be quilted, but I couldn't get to the store to select thread (my sweet husband fixed that by buying me an Aurifil color card for my birthday).

I didn't have anything prepped to jump right into. Which proved to be a major bummer because I didn't have a ton of time to escape to my sewing room, I really only get 20 minutes or so at a time. One day, while flipping through some of my favorite quilt books, I came across a pattern in Vintage Quilt Revival that has been on my list for a long time. It's a cool table runner, but I've never been able to figure out what colors I wanted to use. Looking at it that day, though, I realized how great it would be as a Halloween table runner.

That afternoon, I auditioned some fabrics and printed the paper piecing pieces. The next day, I sewed the paper piecing together, and got the blocks sewn together the day after that. It went together so quickly, which is a huge benefit of sewing table runners! I elected to do wavy lines for the quilting, and that took a few days, but I had the table runner totally finished, including binding, just over a week after I started. I love the quick return on investment you get with mini quilts and table runners.

I really love how it turned out, even though there are few things I would have done differently. And it matches the Halloween banner I made last year. :-)

Holiday Banner {tutorial}

My oldest daughter has accused me of a being a Grinch because we didn't have any Halloween decorations. She's probably right...I don't put headstones or skeletons in the front yard, I didn't even have a wreath until last year. I did have a Halloween quilt, but it's a bit big to hang on the wall, so it just lays across one of the chairs. But, that's been it.

I thought that was good enough. 

But, I understand kids like to be festive. I sure did when I was their age. I went fabric shopping last year a few days before Halloween, looking for some very specific charm packs, and while I didn't find them, I did find that my local shop had their Halloween fabric on sale for 40% off. I picked up a couple cuts and planned right then and there to make a Halloween banner, like a birthday banner I made a few years ago.

And, I thought, since it's a really easy project, that I'd share here how I make banners! I know there are faster methods, but I like mine to be really finished. Quick, lightweight banners don't often have finished edges, and I like mine to be durable. It doesn't take that much longer to make them right.

Before I get to that, though, I wanted to point out two tools that I used with my second banner that made it so much easier. They aren't essential, and I certainly wouldn't suggest you go out and buy them for this one project, but I love them and they make a lot of projects I do a lot easier. And, no, this isn't a sponsored post in anyway, nor are any links affiliate. I just wanted to share about my tools.

The first is my Silhouette Cameo. I struggle with it, to be honest, but on the whole, I'm pleased with it. It doesn't always make perfect cuts like some people will have you believe, and I'm sure part of that is me and not understanding the settings. But, it does a pretty darn good job and it's far better (and easier) than anything I could do with a pair of scissors.

The second is my Bernina Top Stitching Foot, #10. I use this foot so much. I just love it! It helps me keep my stitching close and even. I use it anytime I want to be a little more precise, even if I'm not technically "top-stitching." 

Now, onto the banner!

First, decide what style and size you want. My birthday banner uses triangles that are 9 inches tall, and for my Halloween banner, I decided to use 5x7 inch rectangles. Think about your space and where you'll hang it. My birthday banner is probably a little big as it hangs down a little low where we walk. Also make sure to think about what you want it to say. Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween are what I picked, but for Christmas, you could pick a lot of different phrases. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Peace, Ho Ho Ho, Joy (that one would be super quick!), or anything else you could think of. 

Second, pick your fabrics. If you have a stash, this is a great way to use it, as you'll only need a little bit of fabric. I opted to get 1/3 yard cuts of the new prints I bought because I wanted to make sure I had at least 9-1/2 inches and sometimes the cuts get wonky. I always buy slightly more fabric than I need, just in case. But really, depending on how many prints you want to use, you really only need around a 6x8 inch piece of each. Perfect scrap buster. Cut out as many as you need, plus a backing for each. The backing can be plain as it shouldn't be seen if you hang it on a wall. I cut out 16 5-1/2x7-1/2 pieces for my Halloween banner and 16 backing pieces.

Third, pick your font and your lettering fabric. When I made my birthday banner, I printed out the letters from my computer and then traced the mirrored image onto fusible interfacing, then cut them out by hand. For my Halloween banner, I used my Silhouette Cameo and cut them out. You'll want to make sure that your lettering fabric has a good contrast to your banner fabrics so that your lettering will be visible (I missed the mark on a couple prints in this banner). Keep in mind a few things when you pick your font. It should be wide enough to top-stitch on, and if you're cutting it out by hand, you'll need something that you actually can cut out. I like to go for chubbier fonts so they are easier to work with, and so that they will be more visible on the banner.

Fourth, fuse the letters to the banner pieces. I measured up from the bottom and tried to center them as best I could, but since it'll be hanging and they won't be lined up and scrutinized, don't fret too much over this.

Fifth, topstitch the letters down. Technically, this is optional, but I like to make sure what I make is durable. If you're going to take the time to hand make something, you should do it right.

Sixth, sew the banner pieces to the backings along two sides and the bottom, right sides together. Leave the top open.

Seventh, clip the corners (but not the stitches!) to reduce bulk. Turn the pieces right side out and press.

Eighth, prepare your bias tape. Determine how long you want your piece(s) to be and cut enough 2-1/2 strips to be that length. I decided mine needed to be 120 inches for the longer one and 110 inches for the shorter one. You can always trim this down if it's too long, but it's more irritating to try to make it longer, and it needs to be long enough to have a couple feet of excess on either side of the banner pieces so you have room to tie it. Sew the strips together, ensuring the right sides are all on the same side of your strip, and press the seams open. press the two short ends in so the raw edges will be enclosed. Press the strip in half length-wise. Open it, and press both long edges in to the center pressed line. Refold the tape and press well so that the raw edges are enclosed. 

Ninth, Find the middle of your bias tape strip and the middle of the banner pieces. Working from the middle out, pin the banner pieces into the bias tape. Once you are happy with the position, take the banner over to your sewing machine and top stitch the bias tape closed, making sure you catch all the edges.

And you're done! Not too bad, right? And what you have is a banner that can be used for many, many years to come. I've pulled out my birthday banner for numerous birthdays for the past 4 years, and it looks as good as the day I made it. There won't be any frayed edges to worry about, or fusible peeling off. 

Terrazzo Quilt

I cut out the pieces for this Terrazzo quilt last year, and never got around to sewing it. Part of that was because I never took the time to prep my paper piecing pieces, but the other part was that other projects kept taking priority. And you know, then I got pregnant. And exhausted.

When I found out I was having two girls, I decided to use the Terrazzo quilt as one of the baby quilts because I had all the pieces for the top cut out except for one print, and the colors I picked worked for a girl. I didn't realize how much bigger it was than I needed until it was really all together, but in my mind, bigger is almost always better when it comes to quilts, so it doesn't bother me.

I really love this pattern and how the blocks work together to form the design. And because all the cutting was done, it really didn't take long to finish the top, though it took longer than the other baby quilt.

And I love that the two baby quilts coordinate enough, but don't match. I used the same Kona Silver for the background on both, and the magentas are similar, but otherwise, the colors are different, even though they are in the same tonal range. While I'm sure I won't be able to resist the occasional matching outfits, I want these girls to feel different and unique, and that their twindom doesn't make up their entire identity. 

Terrazzo Quilt

completed August 2016

quilted by Abby Latimer

Times Square Baby Quilt

I've mentioned here before, and I'm sure I'll mention it again, but I believe every baby deserves a handmade baby quilt, preferably made by her mother. And so, when I found out I was having twins, I felt immediate pressure. I knew I could definitely get one baby quilt made by the time they were born, but two? I wasn't sure how I'd be feeling throughout the pregnancy. Luckily, my second trimester was pretty good, and I still have good days, even now. Because I felt the pressure of time (I knew making baby quilts after having twins was going to be a long shot at best...), I opted to make a quilt I already had cut out even though it was a bit big, and a really simple quilt I'd been wanting to make from Vintage Quilt Revival, the Times Square quilt.

The Times Square quilt was a little bigger than I needed, so I opted to change the outside border sizes and I also assembled it differently than instructed, adjusting the block sizes as well. I chose to make flying geese 4 at a time, using differently colored squares, and it worked out really well. 

I had a hard time deciding on my color scheme at first. I was really sure I was going to do magenta, mint, and butter yellow, but on a whim I tried out navy in place of the yellow and loved it. I decided to bind it in the yellow to brighten it and give a bit of contrast, and I'm really pleased with it. All the fabrics, except for the backing, were already in my stash, and it didn't use much fabric since it's such a minimalist design. The one trick was that I ended up cutting up my entire fat quarter of one of the magenta prints because, with my crazy pregnant brain, I literally could not cut it the right size. I mis-cut it three times before finally getting it right. After that, I took a little break...wish I'd taken one sooner! :-)

I wanted to back it in flannel, and found some Michael Miller flannel on Fat Quarter Shop for only $8.50 a yard, and I was totally willing to try it out for that price! It may not be as super soft as some flannels I've used, but it's pretty good. We'll see how it washes up.

The quilt finished up at 45" square, and I had Abby Latimer quilt it with a wave design that I had had in mind since I started the quilt. I really love it and I feel like it softens the straight line design really well. 

Now the only trick is deciding which baby gets it...

Times Square baby quilt

completed July 2016

quilted by Abby Latimer

Arabian Night Quilt

So...probably two years ago, I won a bundle in a Fat Quarter Shop contest and received 9 yards of Cotton and Steel fabric. Yes, seriously. It was awesome! I was super excited about it and started thinking about patterns, and couldn't ever decide. And then Alison Glass's Handcrafted line took the internet by storm and I HAD to have some. I ordered a bunch of half yard cuts from Fabric.com before they changed their pricing model on quilting cotton, and when I received them, I realized how perfectly they went with the Cotton and Steel. And then I added in a bunch more fabric and ended up with a bundle and fell in love. And around the same time, I realized the perfect pattern would be the Arabian Night quilt from Angela Pingel's A Quilter's Mixology. I love her method for sewing curves, but cutting the fabric to sew those curves...not so much. So this project had a slow start.

And I was okay with that. I treated it like a back burner project and got it finished a lot quicker than I expected to, which is always a bonus! I started it last August, so it took me just about a year. I opted to use Kona Putty as the background instead of white because the AG Handcrafted really needed a non-white background in my opinion. The color isn't my favorite neutral, but I think it works really well with the fabrics.

I struggled with the borders and backing more than I usually do, and then again with the binding. With the fun prints of Handcrafted and Cotton and Steel, I didn't want to do something too crazy that would draw attention away from them (and my hard work at curved piecing) but I thought a solid border would be too plain.

I ended up taking the blocks to a local shop that carries more modern stuff, including Alison Glass, and while I was pretty sure I wanted Cotton and Steel, I ended up using a different Handcrafted print and I love it. I think it ties in the diverse colors really well without detracting from the design. I went with a simple Kona pink backing, and I bound it with some of the remainder of one of those Cotton and Steel prints.

I'm really happy with it! My husband thinks it's too busy, but I'm not sure I agree. I love the colors and the curves, and I'm pretty excited to have it finally finished!

Arabian Nights
Completed July 2016
long arm quilted by Abby Latimer

Sunny's Table Runner

While my blog and IG have been pretty quiet, I have gotten a bit of sewing done. Not a lot, but a bit. I've been wrapping up loose ends that have been started at various stages, and have even done a few more Sampler Shuffle blocks. But today, I'm going to share this table runner I just finished for my friend Sunny. I made her a table runner two years ago for her birthday, and she just loves it, which makes me so happy! There's nothing like having your handmade gifts appreciated and valued. But, she moved. Boo! She still uses the table runner, but not on her main dining table like she did when she lived here. She requested another one, and I can't say no to a friend like Sunny, so I set about choosing fabrics.

Her new house is in a snowbird town, and for years, that's how they treated it. They would winter there and summer here. But it got to be too much for them and they decided to permanently relocate. So, I've visited their house, but couldn't compare colors quite as easily...so I took over a stack of fabric in the colors she requested (lipstick red, black, and cream) to let her pick and all my reds were way wrong. So when I visited her new home a couple months later, I took my color card with me and she picked Kona Crimson. Not exactly lipstick red, but that's okay. ;-) She picked out a fabric I had that had black and gold, and since I didn't have enough of anything for the designs I was considering, I picked up a black and a cream that had gold in them.

I chose a drunkard's path design, and I think she'll really like it! When it came to quilting, I was lost. So I did some simple echo quilting in the crimson section. I kept it nice and simple. 

What's great about this layout is that precision isn't super important in the curved piecing--there aren't  any points to line up. And since it's a table runner, I only needed 24 blocks, so it went together pretty fast! I used templates in the size I needed from Angela Pingel's A Quilter's Mixology.

This is way not my style, the colors definitely aren't what I would pick, but I really hope she loves it. Sometimes, making a quilt for someone else means working with things you wouldn't ever pick for yourself.

Sunny's Runner
pieced and quilted by me
Completed July 2016

Christmas in July

Last year, I started a Christmas quilt and I used a bunch of fabrics from my stash, including several lines from Kate Spain. I picked the Seaside quilt pattern from Vintage Quilt Revival. Have I mentioned how much I loved that book?

When I finished it, I started trying to figure out a backing. I had some Christmas flannel I'd purchased years ago, but it wasn't enough, and honestly, none of the larger cuts I had were enough. So, I needed to figure out a pieced back or buy a bunch of yardage...I'd spent a lot on fabric around that time and decided I'd better just use what I had. And then I realized that I could make another quilt top to use as the back...and I picked another one from Vintage Quilt Revival. The Star Bright quilt finished up at the same size, so I just needed to add two extra blocks and extend the side panels. It was a great way to use up more yardage I'd purchased, including a couple of yards of a Kate Spain print.

Of course, I started the first top back in August, but I didn't get around to starting the backing until October...and with Christmas gift sewing, there was no way I was going to get it done in time for Christmas. I finally got it to Abby Latimer for quilting in January.

And then when I got it back, I was in my first trimester so it sat...and sat...and is finally bound now in July. I probably shouldn't have recounted that long history...it makes me sound so pathetic! But, it's more a matter of priorities, right? I've been sewing, but Christmas sewing wasn't my top priority in May, if you can believe it. But now that I'm trying to clear out my WIPs before the babies arrive, it finally made it back to the top of my list.

Anyway, a huge goal in making this quilt was to use up a bunch of my Christmas stash, and I was semi-successful...I still have a bunch, but I've gotten it a bit more under control. :-) Really, I've been trying to sew from my stash, not just use it up. I don't have a HUGE stash, but when I look at it, and see how many quilts I could make completely from my stash without buying more fabric, I feel like I really should use what I have before shopping when possible. After all, I bought it originally because I loved it! Of course, then I went out and bought a bunch of yardage of The Cookie Exchange by Sweetwater...I'm a sucker for Sweetwater Christmas fabric.

I love how this turned out. It's really different than my other two Christmas quilts, and I love it. I have plans to get a Sweetwater Christmas quilt made eventually...we'll see. Now that we'll have 4 kids instead of just 2, I'll need another Christmas quilt. :-)

Modern Christmas
completed July 2016
quilted by Abby Latimer