Sunshine 16 Midarm Demo on Purple Quilt

I pieced together this quilt top in purples and lavenders a couple months ago and added some borders today.  I'm trying out my new GoPro camera which attaches to a head band allowing a person to take videos while engaged in activities.  Here we go:

 It's short because it takes a little while to load up even this short video.  Hopefully I'll learn and be able to give some good presentations if needed in some tutorials in the future!  This is fun!

Trying Out A New Toy!

I was talking about my blog one day when I was asked if I had videos on my blog.  I said, no because I couldn't hold the camera and sew at the same time.  

It was suggested that I get a GoPro.

I mentioned it to my husband and got it as a Christmas gift!

 Here's my first attempt:  Waving into the window (since it's dark-- it's sort of like a mirror).

A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a video may come in handy!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I'm still managing to squeeze in some last minute crafty/sewing things.  It's been especially fun to go drop little gift bags off (must be how Santa feels!)

Christmas Cards (I made use of some stamping/cardmaking supplies which was one of my favorite hobbies before quilting.)  This snowy village stamp makes a very simple and quick (but lovely) card.  It works out perfectly that the ink on the stamp doesn't apply a solid blue and so it looks like it's snowing!  It would look so pretty with glitter, but my daughter says "glitter is the herpes of arts and crafts" and once I heard my neighbor complain about it so I don't use it anymore.

Quick and simple gift tags.  The pearl cotton thread makes a perfect lovely string for tying on the gift tag.

A little sewn gift bag (on the left) holds the crystal angel book mark you'll see in a minute.

Finished Potholder (put it in gift bag with a jar of Chocolate Chip cookie mix for a friend)

Another potholder.

The is the back of the previous pot holder.  If you make quilt sandwiches to practice your free motion quilting, be sure to add a couple extra layers of batting and then you can sew on a binding and make a potholder.  This star and loop design is so good for many projects.

Another favorite prequilting hobbie (jewelry making).  This is a book mark made for a friend.

Don't you just love Swarovski crystals!

I linked up with Inspiration Monday Party at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/

Last Minute Christmas Sewing and some mitered corners tricks!

I'm still working on a few Christmas Projects. 

This just needs some binding and it'll be a cute potholder.

And it even has a recipe!

Did you see this table runner?

I love this 9 patch Table Runner made by Sherri McConnell of a Quilting Life.  She has a great free tutorial that is easy to follow.  Click anywhere here to go to her tutorial if you want to make one.

 Here are my versions in more traditional colors, in process:

9 Patch Table Runners

I was so excited today.  I have long been admiring mitered corners especially with striped borders!  I've read numerous tutorials on the subject but have been too imtimidated to try it.  I don't know why I got brave today! I just got this striped gold metalic fabric from Connecting Threads (on sale) and it's perfect for the border (and thank goodness because everything else I tried looked terrible!)

I was pretty surprised to see that this corner turned out well!

The trick seems to be:  to sew your border on and then line up the 45 degree line along the bottom of the sewn edge and make a diagonal cut as shown above and in the next photo.  (Note:  I cut two 2" strips the width of the fabric and cut a 45 degree angle on one end and sewed that onto the first side.)

 

The other trick is to stop and start sewing 1/4 " from the end (I remembered that from one of the tutorials I read but don't remember whose tutorial it was-- maybe Saltwater Quilts?  Yes, I just checked and she has a good tutorial, except I didn't want to waste so much fabric because she has you cut your borders much longer than I found to be necessary).

Here I'm pulling the corner down because I'm going to line up the upper border with right sides together as you'll see in the next photo.  (The diagonal was already cut from one of the other edges.)

Again:  when I begin sewing, I'll start and end 1/4" from the edges.  I forgot to take a picture of sewing the mitered corners together but it wasn't too hard.  Just line up the mitered edges and sew up to (or almost up to) where you've already sewed but don't sew over your previous stitching.

Each corner turned out pretty good!

Ready for Quilting.  I placed the backing and top right sides together and with the batting on the bottom, sewed all together around the edges, leaving  4 inches open for turning.

I top stitched a scant 1/4" form the edge and did some free motion quilting.  I wanted to leave the striped border without quilting but it was looking distorted so had to do some stitching there to make it lay more smoothly.

I guess I should call it, "Glitter Red and Gold Table Runner".  I wonder if I made the backing very slightly smaller than the front if it would lay more smoothly?

 Finishing up the Row Houses Christmas Quilt.

Finishing up the Machine Quilting

This was the first time I was able to go from edge to edge and not have to finish up on the small machine.  The tension was good but I did have quite a bit of trouble with the thread breaking.

Quilting all complete and ready for binding.

Quilted with red thread.

Red, green, and cream colors.

Binding complete.

Still toying with label making.  Maybe if I had a different printer it would turn out better.

Sewing in a Winter Wonderland!

Earlier this week, RBD said, "There's a 100% chance of snow on Friday night, let's go!"  So I packed up my quilting stuff and we took off on Friday morning.

I sewed and watched for snow out the kitchen window on Friday.  I put this quilt top together which is made from a Mary Engelbreit panel.  I used red polka dot sashing and black polka dot corner stones.   Not sure what to use for outer borders.  Next I worked on this lap quilt or table topper, which looks quite nice on the coffee table, don't you think?

When we arrived, it was 34 degrees inside, so RBD got a good fire going in the wood stove!  After a couple hours, we could take off our coats.

I had completed the houses borders earlier in the week, but added the red sashing yesterday.  It's now ready to quilt!

The snow began to fall at about 6:30 p.m on Friday night.  When we woke up this was the view from the dining room window where I was sewing!

We aren't skiers, just walkers.  This was yesterday.  This morning before we left, we walked up the hill again and it was sunny and the snow covered trees were glistening against the blue sky and it was sooo pretty!  Forgot to bring my camera though, so no photo.

Mug Rug and Row House Update

I admired this little mug rug by Julie the Crafty Quilter.  Check out her other samples and free tutorial.

  I wanted to make one but do it a little different.  You can see I added an Ohio star on the right and a checkerboard border along the bottom.

I liked it so much I decided to add a tree and an Ohio star on each corner of the lap quilts with the row houses that are in process.

WIP: Row Houses Under Construction

I've been a little panicked lately.  Christmas coming, so much to do, so little time....   (I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet)

So I went ahead and put away the fall fabrics and put some Christmas fabrics on display.

And I've been watching  Christmas movies and "building" houses!

I started the Christmas tree 2 years ago (I saw this one:  which is a pattern from About.com) and the little patchwork quilts last year.  And recently, somewhere I saw someone made rows of little house for a border (but can't find where I saw it so I can give them credit) and I knew the little houses would be just the thing to finish off these projects!

Barking Dog Leads to Big Charm Square Tote Bag

A couple days ago I opened the front door and my dog ran out and started barking at a lady parked in my neighbor's driveway.  I scolded the dog and apologized to the lady and noticed she had a big quilted tote bag.  I've been wanting to make a big tote bag and she kindly let me see how it was constructed.

Size is 18 x 14 x 4"

Made from Charm Squares -- 4 across and 3 down.  Pocket is also made from charm squares (4) plus one folded into the triangle shape.

The Bag has a zippered pocket on each side.  Lined with ticking.  Don't you just love ticking?

Looking inside the outside pocket.

 I have a tutorial for the bag in process.

Christmas Craft Mug Rug Class

Do you love to share your love of quilting by teaching?  At church we had an Old Fashioned Homemaking Night to make some gifts including these mugs rugs and also Soup Mix and Cookie and Banana Bread Mix in a Jar.

I had the kits ready and the sewing machines set up!

I laid out some of the 3 1/2 inch squares so people could see how they'd look and choose their kits.

Don't you just love Christmas fabrics!

Laid out with right sides together, ready to sew.

Finally I got a couple ladies to teach.  We had fun!