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Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category

Baby Quilt Part 2

Posted in Crafts, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Family, Hand quilting, Joy, quilt, Quilting, Sewing on May 19, 2016| 4 Comments »

Not long ago, I posted about the quilt I was making for one of my granddaughters,
(To read about it, click here and here)

For the backing, I used a pretty pink floral which was very soft.

I made a matching little pillow to go with it…

I added a small lace on the pillow, just to add some softness and a little special touch.

And I hand-quilted both. It was fun, and as I stitched, I prayed for my granddaughter.
She’s a cutie and a joy!!

We weren’t able to be with her on her birthday, but we had a celebration when we did go to visit them. She was so excited to take stuff (gifts) out of bags, and when she pulled the little pillow out of the gift bag, this is what she did:

It was so cute! We all exclaimed, “Awwww!” and she smiled as if she knew she was saying, “Thank you, Abuela! I love it!”
It touched my heart and made it all the more worth the time put into sewing those tiny stitches and seams.
She captures my heart every time I see her.

Happy sewing & quilting!

Daisy

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Hand Quilting

Posted in Crafts, Gifts, Photography, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Baby Quilt, photography, Quilting, Sewing on March 17, 2016| 11 Comments »

I’ve been working on the baby quilt…

Here’s a little pillow case I made with leftover 2 1/2″ squares:

It’s been so much fun working on this!

I just did a simple pattern, nothing fancy.
Here’s a pic of the quilt before I started the hand quilting.

I’ve been working on that, too and I’ll post pictures when I finish both the pillow and the quilt.

On a side note, a few days ago I was able to get some quilting thread at bargain prices during a sale at both Joann’s and at Hobby Lobby!

I got some pretty colors for future projects I’ve been wanting to get done.

Happy sewing!

Daisy

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Quilt for Baby

Posted in Crafts, Gifts, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Baby Quilt, Crib Quilt, Fabric, Gifts, Quilting, Sewing on March 8, 2016| 39 Comments »

I’m working on a quilt for one of my sweet granddaughters!

The fabric is so cute!

I’ve had it for years and when I found it this past week, I realized it would be perfect for this quilt!

I love the colors, the fabrics, (they’re so soft!).

I just love how the all look together!

I didn’t want to cut the squares into tiny pieces, so I sewed them onto 2″ strips.

I debated which pattern to use and decided to make it simple and just framed the 5″ squares:

I finished the quilt top and now am getting it ready for quilting by hand. I would do it on my sewing machine but I like the look of hand stitching and I have a hard time quilting something that large on my machine.

I can’t wait to finish it and give it to my granddaughter! 😊

Have a great weekend!

Daisy

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Quilt Show!

Posted in Crafts, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Fabric, Quilt Show, Quilting, Sewing on March 1, 2016| 24 Comments »

Last week was Quilt Week in Daytona Beach, Florida!

I don’t often get to go to Quilt Shows – especially one this large,
so I was pretty excited!

Oh, it was so much fun!

I think I smiled the entire time I was there!

So many beautiful quilts!!

I think I learn new things,
just by looking closely at each quilt!

Did you see the pretty hexies?!!

They are tiny but add so much to the overall look of the quilt!

There was a “Winner’s Circle” where the different categories
were displayed with a beautiful work of art!

Some of my favorite quilts,
believe it or not,
were the ones displayed on the
different vendor booths.

I love this one with the campers!

So much fun to make one like that, right?!

There was a pattern for it, to save you all the time.

This vendor booth had my favorite mini quilts!!

It was Schoolhouse Quilt Shop, from Canton, Ohio.
I talked a little bit to the owner, and she said she made all
these herself, mostly by hand!

I spent a lot of time in her booth, just admiring all the cute little
mini quilts and doll quilts.

Here’s a close-up of one of the squares.
She took the trouble to fussy cut all the little squares!
So cute!!

I bought a bag of these “I spy” style, Aunt Grace,
and I can’t wait to use it for quilts for my granddaughters!

This is my favorite quilt from the larger size quilts:

Oh, I wish you could see the details, and the fabrics here!

All I had was my cell-phone, so I couldn’t capture it like I wanted to.

In this picture, you can see some of the details, the quilting,
the different 3-D materials used.

I just loved it!

Probably because of the scene it depicts, too.

This is the quilt the won Best In Show Award:

When I came up close to it,
I could not believe all the detail!
It was astounding — there were 27,000 svarowski crystals
sewn by hand!!!

Every time you moved, the lights captured the crystals
and the quilt would “twinkle” and sparkle.

Here’s a close-up of just a small section with the crystals.
The camera really doesn’t capture all the sparkle.

img_1706-1

The threads used were a variety of different kinds,
including metallic, which gave the quilt a whole other dimension.

I didn’t buy too much, as you can see.

Oh, it’s not that I didn’t want to buy a bunch of stuff…
I was trying to be frugal,
and I did get some new fabric for Christmas
that I’m planning to use in a quilt very soon.

So I was good, and just bought these cuties:
*A fat quarter to make a pretty little something for my daughter
(maybe a zippered bag)
*A fun, mini hexie ruler to make a doll quilt (can’t wait!!)
*3 primitive-era fat quarters
*A bag of 25 squares of 1930s fabric to make
my own “I spy” quilt for my granddaughters
I had such a good time, walking around, getting inspired
by all the beautiful workmanship and colors and fabrics…!!

As soon as I got home,
I wrote down some ideas of things that
popped into my head as I walked around the Show.

There were tea towels, aprons, bags,
travel zip bags, …so many other things…
not just quilts.

If you like to sew or quilt,
or if you like art in general,
you won’t be disappointed
at a Quilt Show —
especially one that’s as large as this one!

Have fun creating!

Daisy

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A Little Sewing Project

Posted in Crafts, Gifts, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Crafts, Fabric, Gifts, Sewing on July 10, 2015| 13 Comments »

I’ve been sewing lately…

Tiny little garments for my two granddaughters… so much fun!!

Today I wanted to post about one of the easiest projects I’ve done so far–
Burp Cloths

It was fast, easy, and I think they turned out cute.

I bought some flour sacks at Walmart,
I think I paid $5 for this set of 5:

They were large enough to cut in half and it still turned out to be a generous size for a burp cloth.

That means I got 2 burp cloths out of each flour sack towel —
so you can make 10 out of that set of 5!

I cut a piece of quilt batting the size of the center of the burp cloth.
After I measured it and cut it, then I placed it on the center of the flour sack towel.

Cutting the flour sack towel was easy because the fold lines were exactly on the center–
I didn’t even have to measure it!

Here’s a picture of the flour sack towel cut in half – the one on the left is done,
and the one on the right is just ready for the batting & fabric piece.

As soon as I cut the flour sack in half, I serged the long edges.
The shorter edges were already hemmed, so I didn’t have to do anything there.
I serged the edges of the print cotton fabric I was going to sew
in the center of the burp cloth,
Then I centered it on the flour sack, right over the batting,
I pinned it down,
and sewed it down each long edge:

Then I sewed 2 lines down the long edges,
just like the store-bought burp clothes have.

I wasn’t too picky about it.
I did pin the edges down before I sewed
and that kept the fabric & batting down nicely.

I tuned down the short edges and sewed a hem very close to the edge.
I ironed it once everything was sewn.

My daughter chose the rose fabric from a stash of fat quarters,
but it wasn’t long enough so I added a coordinating fabric at each end.

I thought it looked even nicer than the other burp cloth because the two fabrics
looked so nice together.

Because of the large size of the flour sacks, these burp cloths turn out
larger than the store-bought ones.
That was something I really liked.
We’ve used them already and it worked well because of their larger size.
It was a quick project and I look forward to making more like these.

I’ve made some bibs, tiny dresses, bonnets, blankets…
can’t wait to share those with you in the coming days. 🙂

Happy sewing!

Daisy

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Quilt Shop

Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged Fabric, quilt, Quilting, Sewing on August 28, 2014| 17 Comments »

Earlier this year, my husband & I were in North Carolina,
and while we were walking around one of the historic downtowns,
I found a cute little Quilt Shop…

It was in a town called Black Mountain,
it was a very pretty area
and the town was surrounded by…
mountains. 🙂

The store had some beautiful quilts for sale.
I asked the lady at the register if I could take a picture
of these quilts that were up on the wall right behind the counter.
I was so happy she said, “Yes!”

The store didn’t have fabric for sale like a Quilt Fabric Shop…

It only had Quilts for sale.

…So I was very surprised when I saw these Fat Quarter Bundles!

The fabrics in these bundles are usually $12-15 a yard…

Normally, these bundles cost $10-$12 each…

But these bundles had $3 on the price tag.

I thought it was a mistake, so I asked the kind lady behind the counter…
She assured me it was correct.

I was so excited.
Disclaimer: This was before I had decided to use up my stash
before buying any more fabric.

The fabrics are so beautiful…
they are also very soft, silky,
…and colorful!

I would never choose these, but together they looked so pretty
…and I am trying to break out of my blues/greens/yellows
into a more adventurous territory…

The individual fabrics have beautiful details and color.

I can’t wait to use them in a quilt!

So even though this store was not a quilting fabric store,
I got to see some very beautiful quilts,
and I did get the unexpected pleasure of buying some
pretty fabric for a fantastic price!

Now if I could just find time to sew! 🙂

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!

Daisy

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Fun with Fabric!

Posted in Gifts, Quilting, Sewing, tagged Fabric, Gifts, quilt, Quilting, Sewing on April 28, 2014| 14 Comments »

This week, there’s a great sale going on in one of my local fabric stores (JoAnn Fabrics).

I think of Birthday and Christmas gifts all year long…
(whether for me or a loved one) 🙂
and when sales come up,
I take advantage of them.

This (above photo) is a group of coordinating fabrics
that I think will make a very nice quilt!

These stacks are sometimes over $100 if you buy them as a set.
But I’m too much of a tight-wad —
(it sounds nicer when I say “thrifty” so that’s what I’ll say from now on)
— to spend that much… why, that’s just plumb crazy!

So…
I chose a pretty fabric that I thought was cheerful and fun…

and then began choosing coordinating fabrics that looked good together.

They’re going to be living together forever in this quilt,
so I have to make sure they can all get along, right?

Choosing the fabrics is so much fun for me!!
Looking through all those pretty colors & prints…
it’s actually therapeutic…
I hadn’t been feeling well, but by the time I finished choosing all the fabrics,
I realized I felt much better.
Some of these prints just make me smile and “ooh” and “ahh”
so I guess that takes my mind off everything else.

Here’s a close up:

And here’s the stack.
I bought a yard of the background fabric,
but all the others are half-yards.

In those $100 stacks, they’re only fat quarters (18″ x 21″)

All these fabrics were 50% off, so
I ended up spending only $17.75 for this entire stack!

That’s a whole lot better than $100!
And now I get to either use it in a beautiful quilt,
or give it away for someone else to have fun with quilting.

Happy quilting, folks!

Daisy

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Christmas Quilt

Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged Christmas, quilt, Quilting, Sewing on March 5, 2014| 15 Comments »

I’m either very late or
very, very early…

I’ve been working on a quilt I started at the end of last year.

I bought Christmas fabric at 60-75% off!
It’s been a lot of fun piecing these squares together.
It goes fast!

Here’s a few of the blocks I’ve pieced together:

I haven’t trimmed these yet, and
keep in mind
I’m only a beginner.
Not all the points are perfect,
but I figure that in the large quilt,
it won’t be too obvious. (I hope!)

I am hoping to have this one done
before Christmas this year! 🙂

Happy Quilting,

Daisy

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Notebook Cover

Posted in Gifts, Sewing, tagged Gifts, Journal cover, Notebook cover, Sewing on December 16, 2013| 9 Comments »

I’ve been busy making Christmas gifts for family & friends…
I’ll be posting them the next few days,
In case you could use some last-minute ideas
(Click on photos for a closer look)

I made several notebook covers for friends. The above photo is the outside front cover.

Below is the inside…

This is the outside back.
As you can see I put a little piece of elastic to wrap around the button on the front and provide a closure.

This is the finished inside,
With the notebook placed inside.
I had fun making some bookmarks,
And other scrapbook-style goodies.

Did you notice I also included
A small piece of chocolate?
I think that’s probably the first thing
my friend will notice 🙂

Happy crafting,
Daisy

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Shoebox Exchange

Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged Quilting on December 7, 2013| 17 Comments »

This year my daughter and I participated in a fun shoebox exchange with others who enjoy quilting and sewing.

All year we collect fat quarters in the colors our “secret quilter” requested; two each month. We also add fun little items such as a pin cushion, ornament, sewing needles, and …chocolate!

My Shoebox arrived this week!
Let me show you all the goodies that came inside: