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#2017FALQ3-PowerToolsWithThread

Jul8

I have a lot of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) and I’m very happy I found the 2017 Finish-a-long even if the year is half over.  It will give me the motivation to finish a few of them.  These are NOT WIPs.  They have been put down and walked away from for months…years and still need to be completed.

UFO #1 – Dinosaur QAYG from ShinyHappyWorld.com.  I’ve got the blocks cut, background batiks applies, and some of the blocks are quilted.  Some of the applique pieces have been cut by hand but I’m no where near even halfway through.  It’s been sitting for months and I want it done for Christmas.  I have a Cameo Silhouette and what I REALLY want to do is some serious magic with this.  Not only do I want to cut out the dinosaurs in fabric on the Silhouette, but I want to load the image into my Embrilliance embroidery software and then machine embroider the applique onto the squares in the hoop.  I’ve seen it done on YouTube and I really want to figure that out because I HATE to applique on the sewing machine.  I’m seriously wondering why I took this project on.  Probably because it’s such an adorable quilt and I’d had too much wine when I ordered it.  Hey, don’t judge.

#2017fal

#2 A Starry Night Quilt.  I started this before Christmas in 2015 with the full intention of finishing it before the holiday.  It’s one of those where you punch out the stars and add a little light pack behind it so the wall hanging lights up.  I got the wild idea that I’d do a small meander all around the outside of the tree.  I got about half way finished before I got bored.  You can see where I outlined the tree shape to meander around.  I started the meander on my sit down.

#2017fal - Starry Night

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#3  Lap size pink quilt.  This is a Villa Rosa Designs pattern but I’m not sure which one.  I didn’t think it was going to be THIS pink but it will make a nice gift for a young girl.  I still need to get backing fabric.  I made this top in summer of 2016.

#2017fal - Pink Villa Rosa Quilt

#4  Another Villa Rosa Designs – lap size.  This was a kit and the backing for it is around here somewhere.  This one I put together in Spring of 17.  I thought it would look good in my living room.

#2017fal - Villa Rosa Living Room Quilt

That’s enough UFO’s for this quarter.  I hope to get just one done but I’m glad to have finally put thoughts-to-blog in this #2017FAL to get me going on them.

Link up your UFOs.  I’d love to see them!

 

Bag Making Tips, Arabesque by SewSweetness

Jul6

Last weekend I made the Arabesque Bag from Sew Sweetness, by Sara Lawson.  You can get the free pattern here from Craftsy.  This is probably the 3rd bag I’ve made from one of her patterns and they never disappoint.  The instructions are always very clear with great photos and she takes you step-by-step to create a great bag.  The purpose of this bag was to have a special one to traipse around on quilt shop hops.  I changed up the pattern a tad to make it cross-body so I have my hands free to fondle all that pretty fabric.  🙂

I found this adorable fabric last week at my local quilt store.  I had a variegated teal thread I thought would be perfect and a bright blue zipper in my stash.

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Tip #1:  When you have to cut foam or interfacing that must match exactly in shape and size to form one piece when fused or sewn to another, cut the fabric to size and cut the other piece just a bit larger all around.  Then sew and trim.  You will save yourself a ton of wonky-seam frustration and the end result is a beautiful smooth perfectly sewn piece.  In the case of fusibles, I iron in the center first to within about an inch from the edges with the sticky side of the interfacing up and the wrong side of the fabric down.  Then I trim and go back afterwards with the iron to fuse the edges together.  This prevents sticky residue on my iron and ironing board.

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Tip #2:  When sewing the zipper, leave the pins in the pin cushion.  Sorry I didn’t capture photos of this but I NEVER use pins or clips on a zipper.  If you want to master zippers, 1/4″ Steam-a-Seam (Lite or Regular) is your best friend.  Put the SAS on the zipper, adhere the zipper to the fabric in perfect placement with your iron and then sew.  Easy and a perfect result every time.  I checked on YouTube for a video showing how to use SAS in zipper placement but couldn’t find one.  There’s a lot of SAS videos, but not one for zippers.  I guess I will have to do one myself!

Tip #3:  When sewing bulky fabrics, begin sewing in the middle of the stitch line somewhere to give yourself something to hang on to from the back to help the feed dogs do their job.  The box seam on a bag is the shortest sewn part of the bag.  If I had started on one end, no forward movement would occur because of the bulk.  I pin down the seam allowances on both sides so they don’t get all smushed up under the presser foot and begin a couple of stitches behind of center seam.  Pull the pins before sewing over them.

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Whatever the seam, either with foam or Soft-n-Stable, I begin the stitch a couple of inches down from where I would normally begin and sew to the bottom.  Then I flip it over and finish the seam from the other end.  It’s an extra step but I don’t need a leader and the seam is always straight and true from one end to the other.  Here I’ve done the first part and have flipped it over and starting  the finish.

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Here’s  the finished product.  I totally forgot to quilt the bag darn it.  Side #1.

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Side #2.  I fussy cut the center designs on both sides.

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See how straight that zipper is?  That’s Steam-a-Seam my friends.  It comes in sheets or rolls and you can get it everywhere from Walmart to Amazon.

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I cut the length of strap to fit me perfectly.  I’m ready for a Shop Hop!

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Embroidered BBQ Apron, Towel, and Weekend Projects

Jun27

Hubs spent last weekend at the coast with his buds so I was left from Thursday through Sunday without adult supervision.  Y’all it was BLISS!  I lived in my sweats and only left the house to get the mail.  The dogs and I weathered a storm that dumped so much rain I called hubs asking for an ark and prepped for sandbags.  This deck for my hot tub is 14″ off the ground.  During the storm I didn’t have any of my machines on at all because I learned that lesson once several years ago.  $235 later my first embroidery machine was back in business after a power surge during a storm blew out the internal power supply.  So during this storm, I ironed applique pieces to fabric for my grandson’s dinosaur quilt.  Anyhoo…

Before the storm, I made hubs a new BBQ apron with an embroidery design from Urban Threads.  I think it turned out great!  Their designs always stitch out truly top-notch.

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And a friend of mine has the most amazing garden and she cans like nobody’s business all summer long.  I couldn’t resist making this for her.

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We are leaving for the coast this coming Thursday for our 16th wedding anniversary weekend.  We got married on July 3rd so we’d always have a 2-day holiday and there’d be free fireworks.  Smart huh?  🙂   We won’t be back until Tuesday the 4th so I’ve already prepped a UFO, a WIP, and 2 new projects to keep me busy.

The UFO (Unfinished Object).  The very first quilt I ever made in 2010 is off the longarm.  It’s a hot mess but it’s mine and I can’t wait to hang it over the deck at the coast to show off our patriotism.  Hopefully, from a distance at the street, the tipped stars will be overlooked.  ha ha   I need to add a navy blue binding and it will be finished.  Finally…7 years later.  It was the first full quilt I ever put on my new longarm too so yes it has issues but I truly don’t care.  On the whole, it’s beautiful with a few flaws I can live with.

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I found some really cute fabric at my local quilt store yesterday that just screamed “MAKE ME INTO A NEW BAG!”

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Goodbye Valentino has inspired me to give a try to some bucket hats from Oliver+S.  The free pattern is here.  Now that Cars 3 has been released, I thought I’d make up two for my grandsons and I found some long lost fat quarters in my stash for one for my granddaughter.

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And last but not least, the WIP (Work in Progress).  I’ll put some time into the Dinosaur QAYG project from ShinyHappyWorld.com that I’m hoping to have ready for the grandboys for Christmas.

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I think that’s enough to keep me busy during the quiet hours this weekend (if there are any).  What do you have in the works?  Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

DIY Embroidery Target Stickers, Dexter the Dragon, and a Machine Embroidered Apron

Jun22

Those who know me know that I make no bones about being thrifty in my pursuit of my hobbies.  While I’ll spend money where quality is required, I’ll also DIY where I can to save a buck… or two…or twenty…or ten thousand as in the case of my longarm.

Let’s take Machine Embroidery Target Stickers.  Nice, but not necessary.  Most professionals just chalk a 90 degree crisscross and call it good.  But if you’re using a fabric that doesn’t take chalk well like a towel, or you don’t want to have to remove chalk lines like on a satin, or you can’t find said chalk, then a sticker works great.  It stays put and provides a great pinpoint to see where you want to start.   There are pre-printed stickers out there you can buy where you get 250 stickers for (sales pitchman voice here…) “An amazing low price of just $19.99!” ($24.99 on Amazon Prime)  Or…you can buy 525 Avery removable dot stickers # 6736 and draw your own 90 degree angle on them, for just … wait for it… $10.58.   More than twice the number of stickers for half the price.  And here’s a cool little tidbit – it doesn’t matter where the crisscross is on the sticker just so long as the lines are at a 90 degree angle.  Easy peasy.  I just penciled in a page of them here.

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Dexter the Dragon’s baby sister Darla.  Y’all remember my last post about the failure on the blue dragon from Shiny Happy World?  I gave it another shot with fleece instead of Minky and success!  Here she is!  I bought some blue fleece for her big brother and will finish him this weekend.  Don’t you love her rosy tummy?

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I did some extra stitching on those wings at the spine because if my granddaughter is anything like me (and she looks EXACTLY like me) then those wings will be swung like a boomerang prior to launch at her brother.  This pretty girl is double stitched everywhere!

Apron Embroidery.  A co-worker, Diane, is really into competition BBQ cooking just like hubs and I are.  She is hosting her daughter’s high school graduation BBQ this coming weekend and they are smoking 23 beef briskets to serve nearly 400 folks.  One aspect of BBQ cooking is Showmanship.  Her sister bought all of them matching aprons and she asked me if I’d embroidery hers with her nickname DeeDee.  She told me how she wanted it and I let her proof 4 different fonts via text prior to stitching.  I just love it and so did she.

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Her apron isn’t over the trash can ya’ll; that’s aluminum can recycle in my laundry room next to my front loader.  🙂

Have a great weekend!

Failure is Part of the Journey

Jun7

We all see the pictures of perfect stuff all over Facebook, Pintrest and IG of perfect sewing projects, perfect quilts, perfect lives, perfect this, perfect that, blah blah ad nauseum.  And so many of my friends think that when I sit down at a machine, miraculously perfect things happen immediately.  Well, I’m here to tell you that is not true.  While I might consider last weekend completely wasted because my project was a COLLOSSAL FAIL, I actually learned a great deal. The trick is not to allow failures to deter you from your goal, no matter what the task at hand is.  Try, try again.  Right?

I’m making this little guy.  Isn’t he adorable?

DexterDragon

He was going to be for my grandson’s 6th birthday this week, and I’d diligently planned it all out. I bought the softest, most cuddly blue Minky fabric for the body and had some gray Cuddle Bubble on hand for the belly. Someone put a pic of the blue/gray version on FB and I just had to make it. I found some awesome silver scuba knit at Walmart for the wings, I ordered the safety eyes from Amazon, and was all ready to go… on time.  Then I sat down at the sewing machine and every thing changed.

First of all, I cut the pattern wrong.  No biggie, I had plenty of fabric.  That’s normal in my world so I wasn’t discouraged.  Mind you, I’m covered in Minky shreds from hair to flipflops but that’s part of the adventure.  I was prepared for that.

Now the wings.  The pattern says to cut two pieces of fabric and one piece of foam in the shape of the wing, and then to sew them together.  Sounds easy enough but the result was a silver blob that no way resembled a wing.  See top wing in first image below.  Things shifted everywhere in the machine, pins/clips or no, and was a real beast.  Needless to say, I’m glad my grandson wasn’t around because a sailor appeared somewhere in the room.  On my 2nd attempt, I cut the foam and sewed it to two squares of fabric (2nd photo) and then cut out the wing around the foam.  Success!  See bottom wing in top picture.  This method allows the best shaping possible.  Also, if you do sharp points like this, there is a little garment sewing trick for collar points to take a small single horizontal stitch (or two) at the tip before beginning the next upward angle.  This single stitch gives the fabric room enough to make a beautiful point without a bunched up rounded wad.

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The hands and feet were no trouble and sewed together just fine (after I figured out I had to hand-baste the bottom of the foot to the top) and I placed them in the same location on each side of the body pieces.  I added the wings – no problem and he was coming along nicely!

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Now the tummy.  You’d think the biggest piece would be the easiest.  WRONG!   Much like sewing a sleeve into an armscye (arm hole), the tummy must be positioned perfectly to make it all match up.  There are points on the pattern for notches to match but I couldn’t see them in the Minky.  So I gave it my best shot and sewed the tummy gusset to the body.  The result was a lopsided, unbalanced, wonky kinda dragon thingy.

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My husband was a sweetie and said to finish him anyway because my grandson wouldn’t care, but oh no.  That’s not how I roll.  There’s perfection or close to it (which would be nice) and then there’s something that will embarrass me every time I lay eyes on it.   After 10 hours of this project, I tucked it all into a drawer, got myself a cold beer, and ordered him a set of binoculars on Amazon.   However, I’m not deterred.  I’ve already picked up a half yard of blue fleece to give the next dragon a try.  Cross your fingers!

Minky Clean Up Tip

May29

I’m blogging from the passenger seat of our F-350 Dually on the way home from the coast so I’ll make this a quick post.

I was cutting pieces this weekend for Dexter the Dragon out of some glorious cuddle minky I got from ShinyHappyWorld.com.  You know that stuff sheds like CRAZY! (Image courtesy of wearesewhappy.com.) No, Dexter isn’t pink, I just didn’t take any pics for this post. 😊

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Of course I got it everywhere.  I’ve recently jumped on the microfiber cloth bandwagon and if you haven’t yet, you definitely need to get on this ride! The trick to making these cloths work at their best is to use them when they are damp…not totally wet and they don’t work at all when they’re dry.

I used the microfiber cloth that is designed for screens on tablets or televisions, (it has a very smooth surface), because I figured that the ones that have the little loops on them like a washcloth would make the minky fiber embed in the loops. I got the cloth damp and then proceeded to wipe around and collect every bit of the minky that had shed all over my cutting mat, the table, and the floor.  The shreds stuck to it like glue. Then I took it outside, gave it one shake and viola’!  It was perfectly clean and all the minky was gone!

I love the other types of microfiber cloths for every other type of cleaning too but for minky the smooth one is the way to go.