Sew Thinky Thursday: My Sewing Beginnings

I caught wind this morning of a new linky party going on at Mommy's Nap Time and was intrigued.  I've been thinking about what I would say and decided to go ahead and join in!  Emily is asking a quilting/sewing related question each week and asking people to link up their answers.  It will be a great opportunity for us to talk quilty talk without boring our husbands to death!  :)

Here is this week's question:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked?

My mom sewed a bit when I was  little, but I never took much interest in it myself.  She made lots of clothes for us as babies, which we later used for our dolls.  Both of my grandmas (now passed on) were very much into traditional quilting.  There was always a quilt on the frames upstairs at Grandma J's house and one year Grandma R made quillows for every single one of her grandkids - which we all cherish because they were the last things she made for us before she died of cancer.  I also have a quilt on my bed that Grandma J made when I graduated from High school.  I wish they were still around to see me learn and become engrossed in this new quilting movement. 

My Quillow from Grandma

When I was around 8, I went with two of my cousins to spend a week with my Aunt.  She taught us how to crosstitch and transferred some simple designs onto dishtowels to keep us busy during the week.  When I got home, I begged my mom to buy me more crosstitching supplies.  Crosstitching has been a major hobby of mine ever since.  My family watches a lot of movies and I loved having something to do with my hands.

 

It wasn't until after I got married that I started getting the itch to make a quilt.  The Hubby hates watching movies with the lights on, so my crosstitching hobby was slowing down (plus I was leaning towards learning new skills that actually produced useful things).  I have always wanted to make a jean quilt, so we saved our jeans for a year or two and then I spent practically a whole summer (in between school years - since I was teaching at the time) working on a quilt.  Since I really didn't know what I was doing, I spent most of my summer at my mom's house, using her old all metal Bernina since my cheap Kenmore couldn't handle all of that denim.  That quilt is probably still my husband's favorite.  

I tied it, because at the time I had no idea you could quilt a quilt with a sewing machine.  I thought you had to use frames every time, like my grandmothers did.  But then I started doing some research and learned about denim rag quilts.  

About a year later, my husband went on a trip to Peru (with BYU) for a week or so and I needed something to keep me busy.  So I bought a fat quarter bundle of flannels from Joann and made my first rag quilt in 2010.  I think I started to become hooked when the Hubby came home and I showed him my new rag quilt.  Then I asked him if I could make another one and he agreed!  He even agreed to let me look for a new sewing machine.  

Then the real clincher came when I discovered the world of quilt blogs and from there learned how to make and quilt a quilt completely by machine.  

First machine quilted quilt made in 2010

Some of the very first blogs I found are Oh Fransson, i Have to Say, A Few Scraps, Jaybird Quilts, PS I Quilt, Tallgrass Prairie Studio, and Amy's Creative Side.  Now I have almost 100 blogs (eek!) in my reading list and I don't plan to quit being inspired OR making beautiful quilts anytime soon! 

 Now go check out the linky party!

Something New: Folding

The second block in the Something New Sampler was the Folded Block.  This block is HEAVY (especially if you fold the strips in half like I did)!  But once I got the hang of it, it was fun to make.  My first try was a complete disaster.  I tried to adjust my block a little bit to get a slightly different look and just ended up all confused.  I figured it all out, but my block was just a little scary looking.  SO I cut off all the edges (rather than rip out all that stitching) and started over, making my strips 2 inches longer and folding them in half, rather than just 1/4 inch, but otherwise following the tutorial EXACTLY as it was given.  MUCH BETTER.

My goal is to make two of each block in this sampler, with the second block having some kind of twist to it to make it more "my own."  So I sat down and meticulously planned out my own version of a folded block.  And it almost worked out.  Almost.  I overlooked a few things and in the end wasn't able to weave my strips to get the look I wanted.  So I ripped them out and sewed them each on to my foundation one at a time.  I think I liked this method better anyway because it seemed more stable to me.  I'm not sure I'll make many more of these in the future, but it was a really fun block to make and I'm excited to see how it looks with all the others!

Here are my two folded blocks.

Also.  I never got a chance to blog about the second Bargello block I made.  For this one, I just made it so the design ran across the long side of the block, rather than the short side.

Here are my two Bargello blocks.

Up next, reverse applique, Sashiko, and a scraptastic block!

Soccer Ball

My babies' babysitter is about to have a baby boy of her own.  (Say that 5 times fast...).  Some friends put together a little shower for her and I wanted to make her something amazing because she is amazing.  I didn't have enough time for a quilt, so I decided on a couple burp cloths.  I wanted to make her something boyish, but not cutesy.  Her husband is Mexican and is a HUGE soccer (futsal) fan.  I searched and searched the web for ideas and finally found THIS paper piecing pattern.  It's quite a bit different than your average burp cloth design, and it turned out about twice as big as I imagined it would, but I'm pretty sure the recipient LOVED it (she says maybe her husband will actually WANT to burp the baby now).  Whew.  Here it is:

Since one burp cloth is never enough, I threw in another one with these cute little trucks.

Something New Sampler: Modern Bargello

There sure are a lot of new quilt-alongs starting this month, aren't there?  Luckily, I wasn't really too tempted by any in particular (too much commitment for me!), except for the Something New Sampler.  It's going to be relatively short, and a lot of the blocks will be incorporating new techniques that I have been waiting for a good excuse to try. 
Then last Sunday at church, one of the ladies announced a new project going on in our area - "Quilts of Valor."  In a few months there will be a new Veterans Memorial Hospital in our city and they are in need of quilt donations.  Normally the idea of using up my precious stash and making a quilt for someone I don't know and probably will never meet makes me nervous, but I've talked myself into it.  It will be the perfect opportunity for me to join this quilt-along, knowing that the blocks I make will be part of something useful, rather than just sitting around waiting for me to figure out what the heck to do with them.  :)
So here's my first block.  The Modern Bargello.  I've been thinking about making a whole Bargello quilt one day.  Maybe now I will...

It was really fun to make and came together during one nap time (THANK YOU BABIES!).  I'm liking this instant gratification thing.  I'm planning to stick to a red/white/blue color scheme (which seems to be what the Hospital is hoping for), with one other random color in each block.  I've got a lot of those red stars stashed away - I was saving them for who knows what.  Might as well use it up, right?  Maybe I'll use a bit of it in each block, to tie everything together.  We'll see.

As for the rest of my week - I've been plugging away at making two more rows for my Storm at Sea quilt. 

Thanks for visiting!

Pan Pads

I got a new set of pans for Christmas.  SUPER nice pans.  8 of them.  Restaurant quality, Titanium, nonstick on both sides.  Expensive.  These pans will last the rest of my life.  They are that nice.

My mother-in-law has these pans too.  She has a set of hot pads that she uses specifically for keeping in-between the pans when she stacks them.  So they won't scrape each other.  Kind of genius.  The hubby decided we needed some too.  He asked me to make some.

Wahoo!  The hubby actually ASKED me to sew something!  He loves it when I sew "useful" things.  It's been nice working on these the past few days (weeks), because he wants me to finish as soon as possible (so we can actually open our new pans) and gives me plenty of time and space to work.  :)

I'm calling them "pan pads" and I made 5.  I thought it would be a fun chance to try out a couple blocks I've been eyeing lately.  Especially since probably no one will see them.  *Even though* probably no one will see them.  It's probably silly that I went through so much work to make something no one will see, but hey.  I had fun with them and now I know which blocks I don't like and how much I really like paper piecing (with freezer paper, of course - I'm still not converted to the regular method).  :)

I also got to try out my new WALKING FOOT!  Wahoo again!  My awesome mom finally broke down and bought me a super nice walking foot that will fit my Bernina (and I'm super grateful.  I know those things are expensive).  THANKS MOM!  I used it for all of the machine quilting, and the binding as well.  It worked out great!  I'm excited to try using it on something bigger.

The bindings were all sewn on completely by machine.  I felt like I needed more practice with this technique.  I'm getting there (and the walking foot seems to help a lot), but it's not perfect yet...

Here are my pan pads!  The awesome thing was, they are all made entirely from my small scraps drawer!  I used every LAST BIT of white that I had.  Good times.

This one is my favorite.  Circle of Geese paper piecing pattern found HERE.  Simple outline quilting that looks cool on the back.

Chevrons.  This one was a quickie.   Paper piecing templates HERE.  Outline quilting that took about a minute and a half to do. :)

DON'T LOOK TOO CLOSELY AT THE NEXT ONE!!!  I've been dying to try this block for so long.  However, the tutorial I found was for a 12 inch block and I wanted mine to be smaller.  Long story short - lots of tiny pieces + a bunch of them cut 1/4 inch to small + attempting to use them anyway rather than cut new pieces (or go to the store for more white fabric) + rushing through the final steps and choosing not to square up each piece before assembling the block = DISASTER.   It looks a little better now that it is quilted.  I went for a super tight spiral in hopes that it would help hide the imperfections in this block.  It turned out okay.  The hubby admitted that it's "not my best work," but I suppose I will keep it.

Snail Trail block tutorial found HERE.  Amazingly, this one is NOT paper pieced!  It was also really quick!  I'm thinking of incorporating this block into the borders on my Storm at Sea quilt.

 Starburst pattern found HERE.  The middle seam ended up SO bulky, though.  I wonder how I could have avoided that?

I probably should have used white instead of brown for the snail trail block.  Then it would have matched better.  But that's okay.  Remember how no one is going to see these anyway?

For the backs, I chose 5 larger pieces from my stash and used the stack and slash method to make 5 matching blocks.  Hubby says they look like fronts.  I guess my pan pads get to be double sided then.  Especially the one with the spiral quilting - it's my favorite one. 

Now we can finally bust out those new pans and finally have something yummy to eat! 

2012

Holy cow, 2012 was a great year for sewing!  Once I finished the school year and retired from teaching, my sewing time skyrocketed (I think I was the kind of teacher who spent WAY too much of my free time doing school stuff.  I really loved it, but retiring was really refreshing for me).  I made two queen size quilts, three baby quilts, 25 wall hangings (almost), two table runners, a sewing machine cover, two growth charts, a bunch of towels, and more!  Check it out:

 

2012 was also a great year for winning giveaways.  I have been incredibly lucky and won some amazing stuff.  I don't think I would be able to fund my quilting obsession at this point in my life without the extra padding (alright - more than just "padding") in my stash.  I should probably document my winnings too, since I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about most of these (other than giving credit to the contributer in my final posts).

Here they are (I borrowed all of these pictures from the blogs I won them from - their pictures are better than mine, especially now that half of these are sewn into quilts):

1. From http://www.fromthebluechair.com and Pink Castle Fabrics, 2. From http://www.pileofabric.com and C&T Publishing, 3. From http://www.redpepperquilts.com and Robert Kaufman Fabrics, 4. From http://www.redpepperquilts.com and Robert Kaufman Fabrics, 5. From http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk and Oakshott Cottons, 6. From http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com and Burgundy Buttons

I used some of the sketch fabrics to make my Sunburst quilt, and I used those leftovers in my Rummy Royal mat, as well as a whole bunch of other things - they were great for my Hello Sun Wall Hangings.  I still have a bunch of pink and red (and blue) FQs left.  Just hoping someone I know will have a baby girl someday. ;)

I based my Rummy Royal mat design on one of the patterns from "We Love Color" and I'm still dying to make that quilt on the cover.  Maybe I will break out that Oakshott Colorbox.  It's the only bundle I've been afraid to use so far.  It's such nice fabric I feel like it needs a really perfect project.

Most of the Kona Solids bundle has gone into my Storm at Sea quilt.  It has been really fun fabric to work with.

I haven't made anything from the Modern Patchwork book yet, but I would love to make the Roller Rink quilt someday.

A lot of the Give Thanks fabric went into making my mom's fall table runner and towels.  There is still a lot left - maybe next October or so I will make something for myself!

Whew!  What a fantastic year!  I hope 2013 turns out just as great!  How was your year?

A Holiday Table Runner and a Few Towels

GAH!  This post is SO wordy!  But I'm keeping it, for my own personal documentation purposes.  If you want it, here's the short version:  I made a double sided table runner with four matching towels.  Plus a few more towels and a couple of pillowcases.  Phew!
 
My mom has been hinting for quite awhile now that she would like some table runners for Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I finally took the bait and made her a little something for Christmas this year.  She LOVED it.  I love how she really appreciates all the work that went into it because she knows what it takes to do each little step.
I got a little creative and made the runner double sided.  One side is for Christmas:

and the other side is for fall:

I quilted each side separately on its own piece of fusible fleece.  That way I could quilt each side differently without having the different quilting styles showing on the opposite side.  Then I fused the two pieces of fleece together.  Clever, eh?  Well, I think it worked okay.  It took quite a bit of pressing to get the heat from my iron to make it all the way through the layers to the middle of the runner where the fusible part was.  I really like using fleece for a table runner, though.  It's nice and stiff.  At least, that's how I think a runner should be...
It's a little small, because I was using leftover fleece and didn't think it would be good to go to the store just for a few more inches of the stuff. ;)

I used this Holiday Lane pattern as inspiration for the Christmas side.

I quilted each house differently (one with "bricks," one with "logs," and one with "stones" - can you tell?) and used a blanket stitch to stitch down the applique (except for the doors - I think it looks a little like lights or snow, don't you think?).  I'm really loving this applique method lately.  As long as I have plenty of Heat N Bond!  I planned to quilt the sky with pebbles (like THIS pillow that I LOVE), but I didn't have any blue thread, wasn't willing to make a late night run to the store for some, and when I used white thread it totally overwhelmed the design on the fabric.  So I went for simple wavy lines with a few snowflakes thrown in.

For the fall side, I mostly used the Give Thanks Layer Cake that I won in THIS giveaway (thanks Melissa and Leah).  I just printed a few pumpkins from google images and copied them for the applique.  I ran out of regular Heat N Bond, and had to use my Ultra Heat N Bond, which is supposedly "No Sew."  I decided to risk it and sew my pieces down anyway.  I think we are okay - I just had to wipe the gum off my needle after each piece. ;)

The middle section was just little bit of improv piecing.
I got lucky with the binding.  It just so happens that I had a big piece of already prepared binding left over from another project that was just the right size for my runner!   And it was black, so I didn't have to worry about attempting to match both sides.  I wanted the binding to be extra durable, so I machine stitched it down on both sides.  I used about a million clips in an effort to keep everything even on both sides.

And then, since a table runner wasn't quite enough, I made a couple sets of matching towels to go with it.  I'm kind of obsessed with towels lately.  They are really cheap and really easy to embellish.  I made a few for a wedding gift a few months ago and they were really fun.

I did have some issues with the Christmas towels.  I REALLY didn't want to have to sew down every single one of those tiny roof appliques (the snow), so I used my "no-sew" Heat N Bond, assuming that the fabric would fuse like it is supposed to and wouldn't require sewing.  However, I must have done something wrong (note to self:  I think I held my iron down too long when I fused the paper to the fabric in the first step and melted all the stuff that is supposed to fuse fabric to fabric in the second step).  When I got up to check on them Christmas Eve morning, most of the little pieces were peeling off!  So I did a little bit of quick Christmas Eve morning sewing - just enough to make sure none of the pieces actually fell off.  :)

The fall towels came out great.

I even made a set of towels for my college age sister-in-law.  Next time I think I will just do circles, rather than flowers with 10 petals.  Eek!

I used verigiated thread, so that I wouldn't have to switch thread colors for each piece.  I kind of like it.

Although, next time I will use more solids and no more of this "prints on top of prints" business.

Korina loved them, thankfully.

Oh yeah - one more thing.  I made a couple pillowcases for my music loving sister and her fishing loving husband to go on their super long pillows that nobody seems to make pillowcases to fit.  :)  I mostly referred to THIS tutorial and THIS tutorial (the tube is amazing) and made them long enough to fit a "King" size pillow.  I think they turned out really nice and the recipients were super grateful. :)  And amazingly, the fabric all came from my stash.  Score!

And now I am excited to jump into my post-Christmas sewing adventures!
How was your Christmas?