Hashtag Quilt

I got the patterns for a few simple quilts done by Camille Roskelly and decided that this one would be a great place to start. The design uses 2.5 inch "jelly roll" from any line and I chose a cute little old fashioned line by Moda called Chloe's Closet.  Reminds me of my Grandma Kelly, or her kitchen, or something there about.

I had some white on white floralesque fabric that I thought would set it off well and so "a cutting we went." A lot of 2.5 inch strips (which a jelly roll comes prepped for) and 7 - 9.5 inch lengths cut then it was all ready to sew.

All sewn together with 2.5 inch white borders and then a 5 inch floral all the way around.

 A little machine embroidery for the inscription on the back of the quilt with a little information sets it off well.

 I took the quilt into my standard long arm quilter Jenny at Finally Finished Quilts. We decided with the playful geometrics and 1930's style floral fabrics, a nice little flower quilted all over the quilt would compliment it well.  Turned out just right.

Keeping me warm while watching a little television in our outdoor living room. This is the best place to be.

Independence Day Quilt

 I started this quilt last year a month or so before the 4th of July. I quit working on it after I didn't get it finished, in leu (is that how I should spell it?) lieu (thanks to my niece Megan for helping me be a little more literate) of finishing the next projects on my so called table.

Then this year there was a big wedding in our lives, and life got in the way of getting back to the quilt in time to finish it for the celebration of our Country.

I bought the pattern at a cute quilt store in Livermore, CA and it is by Verna Mosquera at "The Vintage Spool." Called Faded Glory if you want to look at her things.

 The pattern calls for hand stitching all the appliqués on by hand, and I had completed a few of them last year, but I decided I didn't need to take the time and effort to do them this way now.  I used iron-on backing on each individual piece and then machine stitched each design with a blind hem stitch or a satin stitch when I thought it would look best. This quilt is not going to be going through wash even once per year, so it'll hold up just fine with the iron on. There are 12 main designs and I think they are so cute that I'll probably make a few pillows or table runners out of some of the patterns eventually.

 The design above is Uncle Sam's hat with a bouquet of flowers in it. A few of the flowers are just cut outs of fabric flowers in a particular piece of fabric. This method of piecing is called Broderie Perse and is basically just fussy cutting a section of fabric that you want to place onto another fabric for a pretty addition to the quilt. You can see the red/pink flowers above are not pieced with stamens and petals, but  cut all in one already printed flower. Apparently they used to do this with Persian or English chintz fabrics for a specific look.

 The firecracker above had bugle beads hand sewn on for the burst of fire on the end. Very cute, if I do say so.

 Same on this wagon full of firecrackers. The blue and red sparklers are beaded.

Another technique I've used on the quilt is my own idea of using my cool embroidery machine to make a couple of sectioned flowers, cutting them out and then sewing them together. Nice new type of embroidery I've never tried before.

The whole thing turned out very well, even if it is the middle of August.

Better luck on my Thanksgiving quilt?

Katz is 27 - Apron Time

I never made Kathryn an apron and I think she is the last one of my girls to get one, so here it is. I found this great fabric last year when the Hubby and I went to the quilt garden display in Livermore.
the chevron is my fave. I wrote a little about that beautiful nursery garden here. The ancient oak trees were probably the most impressive part of the whole event.

This picture is of the front pocket and I made a funky large pocket with just one initial and a new whisk embroidery pattern that I had purchased previously.  I was excited to move the whisks around and change their sizes so that they fit on the pocket and around the "K" just right. I'm getting more and more comfortable with my Bernina 830 embroidery machine. IT IS AMAZING.

Katz is pregnant right now, so the apron will have to wait a couple months to be worn.

All kinds of funky embellishments make it look both retro and modern at once. It was a fun one to put together. 

Dedication

Yesterday was a temple dedication that was wired in to all of the Utah congregations.

My Mom and Dad sent all their progeny (except half of my kids who they apparently don't have in the family email list,) this little note.

We just got home from the 3pm dedication session.  We, of course are in Utah. (St George) Want all of our family to once again realize that all of you living in Utah were invited to the Brigham City Dedication.  In our afternoon meeting Elder Nelson was the voice for dedicatory prayer.  We, as the singing of "The Spirit of God" was sung mentioned to each other that all of you were singing along with us and had waved the hankie together.  Now, 139 temples are in service.  When Joyce and I were children, there were 4 in Utah, 1 in Arizona, 1 in Canada, and 1 in Hawaii.  The Church will continue to grow and assist us with our righteous activities - whether it be in school, in our homes or at our work.  Even those of us who are retired will be blessed.  

Love you all this Sabbath afternoon, GPs Kel 

Never has the church done a dedication like this before, and my DD lives in Orem, so I made her this special temple hankie and sent it last week. I used 2 different white thread types. One was a bit shinier than the other and I use that for the leaves and flowers. In the pix below you can turn your neck around (even though I can't) to see the "S".

Here is the nearly finished piece as I gathered and sewed on the ruffled lace edging.  This kind of French val (cotton) lace has a thread on its header that just needs to be tugged on for a gathering affect, and it doesn't need much of a gather to make it very pretty. 

 These 4 surrounding mitered borders were completed about 20 years ago and saved in my lace bucket. I have meant to use them for before, but usually this gets put on the back burner when I'm busy with other things like a wedding gown or something. (right Kathryn?) So now they have been put to good use. I guess that's why I don't throw things away and why my sewing room looks is out of control.

 I had an extra mens handkerchief in my socks drawer so I put Steph's boyfriends initials on one and sent it too.

 Here is the end result.  I love it. So did Steph.

Couple More Baby Blankets

These minky blankets are becoming my signature baby gift. Although I never seem to quite learn my little lessons from one month to the next while making these things.
I always look for a creative edging stitch to use around the binding, and by the time I finish I wish I had just used a simple zig zag stitch. For some reason the fancier ones don't stitch as evenly on the satin blanket binding as I would like, so I am always disappointed with the outcome.

 We have a couple of cute new baby boys in the ward. I had never used this monkey alphabet embroidery that I downloaded several months ago, so it was time to try it out.

 I used long minky fur fabric for the beard on this one. Kinda fun.

 And I've been adding these ribbons in different widths around part of one edge for the baby to play with. Also added some crinkle noisy filled fabric on this one. I'll have to ask about that in a few months as baby Spencer starts to become more inquisitive.

These animal inspired fabrics work with the monkey on the front don't you think?

Note to self - use simple zig-zag stitch next time!

Pillowcase Dresses

Talking about making some easy little pillowcase sundresses for the granddaughters since spring, I finally made the first one for July 4th.
Lex had asked me to make her something for the 4th because both her sibs had something red/white/blue and she didn't. Perfect opportunity for a summer frock, I thought.

 So I made a little pillowcase sundress for her and put a little embroidered rocket on the front, rick rack around the hemline and stars and stripes ribbon for the neckline ties. We went to the beach and celebrated a friends 60th birthday and David's family came along for the day. It was a cool one at the coast, but we had fun.

I really didn't take any pictures of it and I need to really start taking more shots of the construction of these things.
I looked at a tutorial from a pretty nice website that you could find here if you'd like.

 A couple weeks later I made the other girls each a dress. L-2's is black and white with a little pink thrown in for interest. I have a bunch of b/w fat quarters that made for a nice assortment, and the animal print is a leftover from a baby blanket made long ago. (I think I made it for a baby girl that is now 17 years old)

 This one has a bow made of one of the main fabrics, that ties in the back.

A rick rack flower pin was made to go either near the hem, or anywhere she pleases.

All happy and ready for pre-school. I bought the matching leggings at Costco. I love Costco.

 I sent the Colorado girls a couple of them too. Coke's is a 8 x fat quarters juvenile prints one.

 Ells is little girls on swings fabric. Don't you love how the little one looks to her big sis for an example? So cute.

 Coordinating fabric and a closer look at the swing in the trees.
These dresses were pretty simple to make and they should be able to wear them for years. The dresses will grow as they get shorter, but won't be too small.
An old retro addition to a little girls summer wardrobe.

More Baby Blankets

WHO-WHO??

Seems like there is a steady supply of little ones being born in our ward this year.
I failed to take a picture of ELI done with an embroidered dinosaur "E," but this little owl is a cute take on another animal that is also popular for the 2012 year. All done up in old "Oklahoma" costume fabric from Kathryn's 6th grade play at Fisher Middle School.
Still loving the soft minky fabric and silky satin border for babies.

Corduroy

I haven't sewn with corduroy for 40 years, I think.
The first time I used it was on some dark green pants for myself in the 7th or 8th grade. I was so excited to have pants that would be long enough for my legs, that I didn't pay too much attention to which way the nap lied as I was cutting them out. Inevitably I had the front of those pants with the direction going down, and in the back the direction was going up. If you looked at them from the side, they looked like two different colors of green.
Live and learn, right?
Well, this time I thought about the correct direction, and I made a couple of cute little dresses for the two Hill girlies.

 Here, GPa is trying to get them to pay attention to a couple directions. "Put your arms out."

 "Turn around, so we can see the back of the dress."

"Now you're twirling pretty."

This is just before Ellery fell into Cossette, causing her to fall into the glass candle holder on the side of the hearth stone and miraculously not break it.

The red fabric on the side of Ells dress and bottom of C's is red ruffle fabric left over from a skirt for Lena.
The white jumper is a wide wale corduroy and the polka dot and owl print are narrow wale corduroy. Ellery's sleeves are attached red cotton knit ribbing, and Cossette's got a red onesie turtleneck under her jumper, which will fit her for at least 2 more seasons I suspect.

I need the mom (my DD) to send me a couple more pictures. One with the machine embroidery for the jumper close up, another for the closeup of the buttons on E's bodice, and again one for the hair bows.

Random Happenings

I've been trying to finish up some little things and get them out of the way.
Here is a random list of things I've been up to.

 Knitting Christmas ornaments for next year. I'm planning on an advent banner over the fireplace.

 Tiny sweaters, hats, mittens, and other wintery knits.

 Baby blankets for new little additions. Isn't Lincoln a cute name?

 Invitations for an upcoming bridal shower.

 Another blanket. I also made a turquoise one for a little "Evelyn", but I failed to take a picture. Congratulations to Brett and Jessica. The great grandchildren of Joyce and Sam (my parents) are really multiplying. They must have about 35 now. Crazy.

Checking on Michael's Visa finally shows some advancement. Go Elder Michael!!

A Valentine purse with a cute little embroidered birdie with a love letter.
More embroidered pillowcases for a primary in our stake, as I finished the initial 44 that we ordered. I'll get to the others later on in the year when we figure out how many of which gender we need in the end.

Choosing tile for our pool surround.
These 1" x 1" tiles are beautiful glass. We've also ordered a fireplace insert, all our BBQ equipment and various other things that are above and beyond our contract.
Ouch!

Pillowcase Quotes

My friend in another ward (congregation) at church asked me to help her with a pillowcase project for the children in the wards' birthdays.
The Primary theme for this year must include something about Choosing the Right and so she is having me print with my handy dandy sewing machine on each of the cases, "I Can Choose the Right." They will be given to the kids for their birthdays throughout this year.

We decided to use a font that comes with the machine, and so hit set up fairly easily as soon as we figured out just what it was that we wanted it to look like, and its size, etc.

Now I just have to decide which color of thread to use for which color of pillowcase. Such a hard decision I know, but wanting the kids to enjoy the individual case that they receive is a bit of a concern.

Here is my beginning assortment. I'm going to have the gal that requested these do all the thread clipping and ironing, etc.
I'm whipping them out between all my other projects and it's going to work out just fine.
I think I'll make some for my own grandchildren too. Always getting ideas.