Cathedral Window Pillow

I recently had a finish! Lately it seems like I have a ton of unfinished projects or projects that "need" to be started.

I finished this lovely pillow:


for my girl Heidi:

whom I was so lucky to visit last month on my little trip to Utah. This pillow is super special because it is made using fabrics from her husband's ties. The red fabric is from the first tie she ever gave him, and the silver fabric is from the tie he wore at their wedding

I finished it last week but I couldn't post pictures until I was sure that Heidi had received it. I mailed it out Wednesday afternoon and it made it to UT on Saturday, just in time for Mother's Day!

I had been working on this pillow for about a month. It really isn't horribly difficult but it was my first time making the Cathedral Window pattern and I was just too afraid of ruining the ties! I finally just took the plunge and finished it up. I must say it turned out beautifully. I basically followed the instructions on A La Mode and can be found here (part 1, part2) Instead of pinning all the window fabrics and the arcs, I used a fine line of Elmer's glue and heat set it with my iron. I glued all of the windows and arcs down before heading to my sewing machine. By doing all of the gluing I was able to do continuous stitching from one arc to the next with minimal starting and stopping.

Before sewing but after all the windows were glued down
This is how I did continuous line stitching

I love the finished product and I have always admired the Cathedral Window quilts. I don't know if I have a queen size quilt in me! I may just have to compromise at pillows!

Hand Piecing

ME???!!!

I never thought this day would ever come, but I am loving all of the hexagon quilts I'm seeing (or "Grandmother's Flower Garden" as they are traditionally called.) I'm not in love with the traditional versions, oh no I'm in love with the ones made using modern fabrics, bright colors and bold prints. And white, lots and lots of crisp clean white.


It really wasn't hard at all to make each of the individual hexagons. It wasn't even hard whip stitching them to the center of the "flower." It was, however, a challenge (at least for me) to stitch together 2 of the petals after they had been stitched to the center hexagon. I think I've figured it out now. I'm ambitious and want to make this into a queen size quilt for my bed. That should only take me... oh 5 years! Actually I think I might make a center panel out of the hexies and then add borders etc because I know me, and I know I will eventually get bored of this project. {I'm pretty sure I have mentioned how utterly slow my hand sewing skills are.}

I used the tutorial here to get started. This is by far the easiest tutorial I have found because you only stitch at the corners and there is no knotting involved. The block pictured above was done with a 2.5" hexagon template (this is the measurement of one side of the hexagon, not the height or width.) The actual measurements of each hexagon are 2 5/8" tall x 3" wide. The completed block measures approximately 7.5" x 8"

I made my own paper piecing templates out of some medium weight card stock using my nifty
new toy tool: the Quickutz Silhouette SD
I love this baby! I will be sharing a full review in a couple of days so check back if you want to hear my unbiased {not to mention unpaid} opinion on this nifty little tool.

If you own a Silhouette you can purchase the file from me and make as many hexagons as you like! I'll be listing the .gsd files for sale in through my Etsy Shop. Just click on the "Quickutz Silhouette .GSD" tab of the right to see all of the .gsd files available for purchase. I hope to expand this section of my store real soon!

Bada-Bum!!

In my house a bada-bum is given (like a drum roll, or a ta-dah) whenever we accomplish something or we just want to receive some praise show off. In my daughter's case it's usually given when she wants to show of her outfit or a cute hair style, in my case I usually want my husband to notice something!


I have finished adding color to my Peacock Quilt and I lurv it! I'm definitely, positively, 100% in love with the process and will be pursuing it further.


It took a couple of hours to tint it but it was so relaxing and vegitating (meaning I didn't have to think about it, or anything at all for that matter.) This is pretty much how I spent my afternoon (after running a 5k this morning - pictures soon) while waiting for my migraine meds to kick in: color in, paint with textile medium, heat set, repeat, and repeat... and repeat. You get the idea.


I'll have to do a tutorial on the process... maybe... if you're nice to me... ok you twisted my arm! Tutorial to come soon. If you are interested that is.

Now all I have to do is decide on the border. I'm thinking a scalloped border ... although I dread doing a scalloped binding. Anyway I think a scalloped border would go along very well with the whole elegant grandeur of the peacock theme. I'm also thinking this little guy is either a king or a prince - I can't decide which. You do know that the pretty peacocks are all boys right? The name of the quilt will be .... wait for it ... King Julian or maybe Prince Julian, maybe king Benjamin - the most noble king I know but somehow I don't see him as being a showy kind of guy.


Now I have to wait 7 days, 7 whole days! before I can wash it. I want to wash it in hopes of the "poofiness" coming back. When you heat set the color you have to press it with an iron and the "poofiness" has been flattened - somewhat. I am a little nervous about washing it, that is why I'm waiting 7 days - exactly what the instructions on the textile medium say to do. I'm not taking any chances of the color washing out or worse, bleeding.

Peacock quilt update

Well I am on the fence as to whether to send this quilt of to my partner or not. After stalking browsing through my partner's blog I have come to the conclusion that this certain person prefers more traditional pieced blocks over artsy blocks and quilts. In my mind trapunto is very traditional... but I can't decide if my chosen subject is too artsy for my partner's taste.

I think that who ever receives this little quilt will appreciate it (hopefully) and all the hard work that went into it. But if it's not your taste, it's not your taste and there is nothing you can do about it. If you are like me you won't display it (at least not anywhere prominent) but might keep it tucked away because you still like it and appreciate it... or you might let your kids claim it.

Soooo.... I have decided to finish it up and hope to get some feedback from my unsuspecting partner. Once it is finished I will decide what to do with it. Besides there is plenty of time to whip up another quiltie if needed.

front before washing the blue ink away

reverse of quilt

Tips about using water soluble blue marker:

• spray ink with a spray bottle until saturated
• let it air dry - do not use iron or blow dryer to dry - heat will set the ink
  
• allow to dry completely - it may look like the ink is gone but it may reappear!
• once dry look it over to see if the ink has reappeared anywhere on the quilt - if so, wet again. If not, you are done and can know use an iron on your quilt.

Friendship Quilt v2.0

This is a surprise quilt for someone very deserving. I don't know if they read this blog or not so I can't mention who it is for. It is a "joint venture" between a good friend (can't mention names) and myself. The top has been pieced by my friend, I think she did a super job, and I get to do the quilting.

Yes I know this looks very much like my daughter's quilt I've posted before (here.) That's because we fell in love with the fabrics, found a great deal on them, and ordered them at the same time. We thought the fabrics were very cheerful, bright, and perfect for our recipient.

I'm a little anxious about the thought of doing the quilting on such a special quilt. I really want to try something different besides stippling or quilting it in the ditch. So I snapped a picture and imported it into Illustrator so I could "try out" a couple of quilting motifs before actually committing to thread.

The top half of the quilt was drawn out with a "pumpkin seed" motif, and the bottom half was done in a quasi pinwheel motif. I think I have fallen in love with the pumpkin seed motif. I love the way it forms circles and flowers at the same time. I'm still undecided on what to do with the borders, I think I might do the borders in the ditch or echo just slightly to the inside of each "piano key." I'll definitely stick to the free motion cherry on each corner block.

(click picture to enlarge)

Oh yeah, I'm trying to get this done within the week! Yes, including the binding. Yikes! I also need to figure out what I'll be using for the backing so I can get started. Wish me luck and stay tuned for progress pics!

I've been productive

I was so excited to post today, actually I could have posted sooner but Little Sister got sick this week. She's been running a fever for the last 2 days. Hopefully we have seen the worst of it. Yesterday evening her fever hit 103.5F! Of course I panicked and called the Dr. I got the after hours answering service and the Dr called me back within 5 minutes, which was great (I've had other Dr's that would take forever to call back.) Basically she told me not to worry, toddlers apparently tend to run fevers a lot higher than adults (up to 104-105) and still be ok. That seems a little high to me but I was reassured nonetheless. She gave me some instructions on alternating Tylenol and Motrin. After a nice bath my daughter went to bed with a much lower fever. I was relieved! Today she has woken up a little warm but in a much better mood than she was in yesterday.

This morning one of our toilets started bubbling! Yikes I have no idea what that means! All I know is we have a septic tank and I don't want any problems! My husband thinks we just have a clogged vent. Or maybe something to do with all the rain we've gotten, he thinks the lines might just be water logged (for lack of a better description.)

So anyway I've been thinking all week long about what to post and believe me, I came up with plenty of ideas. I better save some for future posts or I might run out of things to post!

First an update on my DQS6 quilt. I need to get an updated picture because the one below is a bit old.
The good news: I have finished all the quilting around my shapes and now need to do the background quilting. The bad news: Somehow, (I have no idea how) I got a mystery stain on my quilt top! It's like a black grease stain. One minute I'm quilting away and the next thing I know... wham a stain on my quilt! I was so mad when I saw it, but try as I might I could not locate the culprit of said stain. It pretty much hindered my progress as I tried to figure out a way to deal with the stain. The solution: Luckily my little crafty brain has come up with the perfect solution. I won't post my solution until I get a current picture (so you can see the problem) so stay tuned and you too may be able to one day save a quilt!

The other thing that has kept me busy this week is that I have been painting the trim in my kitchen! We actually never did it when we moved in about 1 year ago. Lately it's really been bugging me. Especially the laundry room door. It was disgusting, and no amount of wiping and cleaning it made a difference.

Before: Super dingy

After: Bright and cheery

Well I had a nice little tutorial all made up with tips on door painting... apparently it didn't save! Pooh! I could have sworn it saved, I'll have to search my hard drive for it. It's not that hard to repaint your trim or doors and it makes a world of a difference! So check back later in the week!

One more thing! Check back later in the week for a great quilting tip and my first giveaway!!!

WIP: Recipe for Friendship quilt and $5 design wall

This is #4 on my "projects list" I started this quilt a couple of days ago after I realized that my daughter does not have a quilt yet (she'll be 3 in may.) My son on the other hand has 2 quilts. I guess it's a trade off because I have made lots of little dresses for my daughter but only 1 shirt for my son!

The picture is taken on my new $5 design wall! I was tired of having my blocks "rearranged" by my husband every time he came into the office. So I bought a cheap vinyl tablecloth that measure 70"x70" and thumb-tacked it to my wall with the backing facing out. The backing is perfect for grabbing fabrics since it is meant to keep the tablecloth from sliding off your table. The only suggestion I have is to find one that is a neutral color on the front (white off white). Mine was a bright red valentines one and the color peeks through to the reverse side. I'll be getting a white one when I can find one! But for 5 bucks I can't complain because it works so well and keeps my blocks in the right order off the floor and wrinkle free! Hooray!

In this picture only rows 3-8 (all the way across) are sewn together.