Camera case

The camera case is done! Now I am all matching and set to go:) I used Amy Friend's iPhone cover design and adapted it for the camera size. There is even enough room to fit a couple of batteries at the bottom of the case.

Another thing to hang off the old belt buckle:)

Camera wrist strap

Loving my new camera, but I hate the wrist strap. Who has a wrist that big anyway?! I had a quick look online to see if I could find a tutorial, but most of them looked like they used some sort of metal hardware. I don't have anything like that in the house at the moment.

What I did have was lots of this beautiful purple fabric, which I used for the lining of my purse by the way, and some leftover natural webbing stuff from an upholstery project. I used the elastic that looks like string, and sewed all the ends together, leaving the edges unfinished for lack of a better idea.

I think I actually like the unfinished edges. Usually I am really particular about that. But this webbing fans out really nicely and gives it a beachy sort of look. Time to make a padded case for it and I'll be all set!

Nintendo DS game case

So we finally broke down and got a used Nintendo DS for the littlest one. Now they all have one and the games are scattered here and there throughout everyone's individual cases. The hard plastic case we got from Walmart last year has long since been broken and the games do not stay in Rachel's case very well. The solution? Make my own case, one with loads of space for present and future games:)

I looked online and found this tutorial. It gave me a good idea of what I wanted to make, but it wasn't very specific as to sizes. I was thinking more along the lines of the kindle cover design, book like.

I dug into my stash and found some black and white upholstery fabric and some black linen (I'm guessing). The solid black was something I had picked up in the remnants bin at Joann's and wasn't very wide, so I just cut the width I could and guessed at length. It ended up being 10 x 22. Next time I make one, I'm thinking it should be taller, rather than wider. Easier to carry I think. Anyway, I cut the same size piece from the black and white and then fusible fleece for both, minus 1/4" all around the sides. Then I fused the fleece on.

I had bought some large pillow forms from Ross a while ago and still had the plastic bags they came in. I used the plastic for the game sleeves. I could have gone with fabric, but who wants to dig out each game trying to find something in particular? This way, the kids can just grab what they want. It was surprisingly easy to work with too. Didn't have any trouble with my machine and just used a regular sewing foot. I was afraid to poke holes in it with pins, so I just held it in place as I sewed, hence some of the uneven rows.

 

I cut out 9 x 1 1/2 lengths for the DS games on the right. Turns out I could have added an extra game space if I had gone with 9 1/4 x 1 1/2. You can see where there is extra space on the right. I just started sewing from the left and measuring with a game as I went along. The space between each DS game is 1 1/2". They fit snugly in and won't fall out.

I corrected my mistake on the left side and managed to fit 6 games in a row instead of 5. The bottom row on the left was a little larger (9 1/4 x 2 1/2) to fit the Game Boy Advance games. The spacing between these was 2". I ran out of space for an extra game on the left and decided to sew some narrower gaps for styluses. The kids are always losing those. Better to have some on hand than left in a drawer at home.

Once I had everything sewn onto the black fabric, I cut out a shape for the velcro flap and sewed a piece of velcro onto the white and black fabric.

Then I layered the black fabric, then the velcro tab (velcro side down, facing in) on the right, and the black and white piece, face down (with the velcro face down on the left). I sewed all the layers together, leaving a 5" gap at the bottom for turning. Clipped the corners, turned the whole thing inside out, and top stitched. Voila! Hope they like it:)

Susie's quilt

Susie didn't want heavy quilting on her beautiful Christmas wall hanging, just some accenting.

I think I've just learned an important lesson about double checking photos before I send the quilt back home. The way the sun was facing the quilt has made it shadowed on the left. The colors in these photos really don't do the quilt justice.

Susie brought me some red thread for the light red borders and wanted black stitching on the rest. I outlined the bells in the center panel and quilted some holly leaves throughout all the black.

I quilted Christmas ball ornaments in the light red and simply weaved back and forth through the staves on the music fabric to create some variety.

I use the black thread to outline the floral paisley outer border to accent the pattern.

Thanks Susie:)

Starry Night finished!

I've been working on this for a while in between customers' quilts. I might make another one some day that is more involved. Still not sure I am totally happy with the ground.

I decided not to go with paint. That is something I might try in the future, but I was wary of messing it up:) I don't have a lot of experience with paints. I can draw, yes, paint... not so much.

 

I sketched the houses onto Steam-a-seam 2 paper and fused them onto the blue. Then I thread-sketched over them with black thread. A friend of mine who paints, suggested adding a bit of extra white under the buildings.

 



 

 

The moon and stars are also fused and then quilted over using a combination of white, light yellow and a darker yellow.

 

I didn't fuse the tree on, just topstitched over it and then used brown thread for the shadowing on the inside.

My 'artist' signature. I'm lucky that Ls are easy to quilt. I sign most of my quilts this way.

Adele's quilt

Adele made a neat labyrinth wall quilt for her son. She wanted straight lines to emphasize the pattern.

Having worked so closely with this quilt, I was surprised to see it from a distance. You can really see the labyrinths in this photo.

 

I started with the walking foot, thinking it would be easier for straight lines. I had measured and marked them all beforehand with a Frixion pen, but I found I kept swerving off the lines without realizing it. I'm used to the free motion foot, not the large, over cumbersome walking foot. I took it right off, and popped my familiar free motion foot back on. It was definitely a challenge to keep the lines straight and the stitching even, but I learned a few tricks to help myself.

 

 

Another challenge was the border. I thought about continuing the straight lines all around, but I wanted something that would fit with the labyrinth feel, without detracting from the rest of the quilt. I found this Chain Squares pattern in Angela Walters book, Free-Motion Quilting, and switched it up a bit by alternating squares and rectangles.

 

Two of the corners were going to be cut off, so I stitched in some triangles.

Thanks Adele!

Christy's quilt

Christy saw me at the Bloom Craft fair and asked if I would make her a custom made baby quilt. She is bringing a little girl home from China, and wanted something special to give her for Christmas. She picked out both the gorgeous main pattern (found at Joann Fabrics) and the soft flannel backing. I added a border and put it all together.

I tried this swirl pattern for the first time and I love it. Super easy to do and looks great!

The swirls fit nicely in between the 'sunbeams'.

Christy really liked the medallion on my butterfly quilt, so I expanded it a bit for this quilt and centered it.

Annette's Quilt

Annette brought me this beautiful Christmas quilt that she had made using Laurel Burch fabrics.

She wanted lots of detail and variety. At first, she was thinking maybe a string of Christmas lights on the red background in between the ornaments. I got out my piece of Plexiglas and dry erase marker and sketched it out. By the way, this method is brilliant! Someone had posted on Pinterest about using clear Plexiglas as a 'drawing board' of sorts for quilting. I like it because it is a great way to test ideas before you quilt. I always have an idea in my head, but I'm never quite sure exactly how it will come out once it is quilted, and by then, it is too late. This is so easy, you just place the Plexiglass over the quilt and mark on the glass with dry erase markers to see if you like the design. Just wipe away with a paper towel after.

 

 

 

When I sketched out the Christmas lights, they didn't look like they belonged. Annette saw this pic on one of my Pinterest boards and liked this idea. I used this pic, which I believe is a stamp from shop.sweetstamps.com, as the basis for the red background fabric. Each ornament is unique. There are no two the same.

 

 

Each of the larger ornaments have their own design as well.

 



 

'NOEL' is spelled out as ornaments.

The letters of 'Joy' hang down like ornaments from the swirly branches.

 

When Annette first gave me the quilt, she said she'd like a Santa face in the red somewhere. I thought, hm, could be difficult. I started pinning Santa faces I liked and she told me which one she liked. Here is the Santa face she picked. It is the picture in the top left corner.

 

 

It was a little more challenging than the simple Santa faces I had been thinking of, but I think it turned out well. I'm slowly discovering that if I can draw it, I can probably quilt it:) And Sewingly Yours has introduced me to the most wonderful pen that makes marking super easy. It looks like a ball point pen, but all you have to do is swoop an iron (and not even a super heated iron) over it and, poof! Gone!

 

 



This is the pattern Annette picked for the outer borders. It is difficult to make out in the photo, but you can see it better in the following pic.

It is available at TK Quilting.

Each of the corners had a Christmas tree pattern. Annette asked if I could quilt some presents under the trees. I also decorated each tree. The tree in the pic above has a string of lights on it and the one below has little pearls hooked together like garland.

 

And if you look very closely under the right side of this tree, you can see the outline of a dog with reindeer antlers and ornaments hanging from them.

 

Thanks Annette for letting me quilt this beautiful wall hanging! Really had the creative juices flowing for this one!

Carrie's Quilt

And yet another beautiful quilt from Carrie P. with beautifully embroidered blocks. Carrie asked for an overall floral motif across the blue and purple strips and some tight stippling to make the embroidered blocks stand out. She chose the Sulky blendables thread which has variegated blues and purples. I've discovered this thread gives out LOADS of lint, but the colors are perfect for this quilt:)

I unfortunately chose a windy day to photograph this quilt, but you will be able to see the finished product better on Carrie's blog once she gets the binding on.

I should have zoomed in on the topiary on the top left. I think that one is my favorite embroidered block. You can see the floral motif more closely in the next 3 photos. The pattern is called Botanical Blossoms and I found it on quiltingmama.com.

 

Thanks again Carrie!