Older Project Revealed

Ok, here is the "big" reveal of the older project that I posted about yesterday.  A nice Christmas table runner!

It was the first project from a Thimbleberries club I did back in 2006.  Yeah, you read that right, 2006!  I discovered Lynette Jensen, and her "Thimbleberries" beginning 1998.  There was a point in time when I just had to have everything she came out with through her company, including books, patterns, and fabric.  Then I discovered the Main Street Cotton Shop.....they had everything Thimbleberries, including clubs and her annual BOM (sometimes in two color ways).  I don't mean to ramble, but it kinda is the lead in to this post.

This table runner is from a Main Street Cotton Shop called Christmas Countdown Club 2006.  This book was based on Lynette's new book at the time called "Christmas Countdown.  The Main Street Cotton Shop put together a 6-month club from July 2006 to December 2006.  This is a picture of her book.  

This is a really bad picture (the one I took not the publisher's picture) of the table runner inside the book.

 Here is a close up of the quilting I did for the runner.  I did shadow quilting around the appliquéd stars on the green prints, spiraling inside each red triangle, and cross-hatching on all the light background print areas.

Here is a close up of the binding.  I am only showing you this because I learned how to sew on the binding by machine.  Usually, I machine stitch the binding on the right side, then hand stitch it down on the back side of the item.  But, looking through Pinterest the other day, I saw how to machine sew it down on the back side and make it look nice on the front side.  I was tickled pink on how it came out!

This is the table runner folded up next to the book.  It shows how thin it folds up, and that is because I did such intense quilting on the runner.  I use poly batting (cheaper) for table runners, but it has a higher loft.  So, to get it to lay flat and be thin enough to set things on so that they're not wobbly, I do this kind of close quilting.

Here is the back side of the table runner with the label.  Thimbleberries even had matching quilt labels to go with their projects.

Just for kicks, I took a picture of the label the Main Street Cotton Shop sent with the kit.  Before the blog, I used to keep these kinds of things for the scrapbook/record of the projects I completed.  I think I used to like doing the record keeping of the projects as much as making them.  Weird, huh?

Older Project

I found another older project when doing the reorg of my sewing room.  I found it with the top done, batting and backing pinned to the top, and on a hanger waiting to be quilted.   This is just a peek at the quilting I have started doing on it. 

As we all know quilting the quilt takes forever awhile, so I am only about half way through completing it.  Look for the finished project soon....

Making It Right

I have been doing some straightening up in my sewing room, and have come across some unfinished projects. Now there are many reasons for this, I get bored, a newer, greater something else grabs my attention, I get frustrated when something doesn't go right, I've ran out of one or more pieces of fabric, etc, etc.

I could go on forever, as evident of my UFO (unfinished object) list. I have even, in past years, set a goal of completing a old project before starting a new project, that lasted for about three projects. But, that was while I was working outside the home, because I wanted to "get in as much sewing time as possible" for the few precious hours of time I could set aside.

Now I don't feel as rushed. I am getting my house and yards/gardens in order, laundry and other duties are caught up all the time, and we eat at home way more (so we are not spending a lot of time eating out). Also, these last couple of weeks, I finished 4 commissioned orders out the door, so I began a little reorg of the sewing room, and came across a couple of projects that were in need of completing. So for the next few days I will be posting some of my old projects.

I posted about this project sometime last year here. It was a local quilt shop BOM, that was designed by the shop owner. After putting it all together, I realized that the background fabric did not match, because the first two blocks had a different background than the next ten blocks. Then, I remembered the shop owner switched to another background because the original one she chose ran out, and she couldn't order/find any more. See, it things like this, that makes me frustrated, and causes a project to be put on the back burner.

So, I bit the bullet, and removed the two blocks with the different background from the quilt top. Looks a little strange, doesn't it? Maybe if you are a quilt restorer it might look fairly normal?

It is really hard to see in these pictures, just how different the background really is, but trust me, I can tell. I knew I wouldn't be happy until I redid the blocks. I have it all sewn back together now, but my two guys who hold up the big quilts for me, were really busy this weekend, so I didn't get a picture yet. I'll try to get one done tomorrow.

The block on the left in the pictures below is the background that doesn't match the rest of the blocks background fabric.

P.S. I really like not working outside the home, even though I work harder staying home......

2012 FQS BOM Top Done

Well, I finally put together the 2012 Fat Quarter Shop BOM quilt top put together, complete with the sashings and borders.  It looks like it will be about the size for a twin bed or maybee a little bigger.

I have trouble photographing the bigger quilts, so I asked my son and hubby to help.  The breeze was no helping much, and then the shade didn't work out well either, and having the sun behind me wasn't much better.  Hopefully between the three pictures, you can get an idea of how awesome it turned out!

New notion help

So, after it's all said and done, I thought I would share a most amazing new notion that helps in bag making.  They are called Wonder Clips by Clover!  And wonder clips they are...

If anyone has ever sewn any type of bags, you know there many layers of thickness that regular straight pins are difficult to use.  Most of the time, I have gone through a whole box of pins, either having them bend out of shape, or breaking under the machine.  So to the rescue, here comes wonder clips!

They have the strength to hold the fabric in place, just like straight pins do, they don't leave pin marks, you never forget to remove them and break a sewing machine needle (only because the needle and foot can't sew over them, tee hee hee), and they don't poke your fingers.

They come in packages of 10, 20, or 50.  I started out with 10, and realized I liked them so much, I picked up a package of 50.  They even come in a nice container box to keep them in!  

Here is a close up of the little wonder.

To be totally honest, I bought the original 10 clips to use when binding my quilts, and the box was open one day, and I grabbed one to use while making a bag, and the rest is history.....

NOTE:  Clover now has jumbo wonder clips (green).  Go figure, I might have to give them a test run, too.

Third One Done

I completed my commissioned order by getting the third bag done yesterday.  I have sent off pictures and the customer is pleased and excited.  It is so nice to have good customers!  As soon as i sent the pictures and listed it in my Etsy shop, she immediately paid for the bags.  So, hubby and I found a box, taped it up, labeled it with the postage, and he graciously took it to the post office on his way back to work from lunching at the house.

I won't bore you with the details of this last bag, because the other posts about the bags should explain this one, I'll just share the pictures.

Second One Done

Here is the second of the three commissioned bag order I am working on.  I didn't think the Snoopy print was going to look very good made into this bag, but I am quite surprised on how cute it turned out!

I used yellow as a contrast color and for the zipper.  The main print has just a touch of this yellow, so I picked using it and I think it works just right.

This is the bag's lining, in the cute yellow contrast, and a pocket using the main Snoopy print.  I like to use light colors for linings, because it makes it easier to find things in the bag. 

The reversible bucket is made with a dark purple ( even though it looks like a dark blue), and the same yellow as the lining.