Charity Quilt Top

A couple weeks back, my brother-in-law asked if I'd be willing to make a quilt to donate for a silent auction. There's a little boy in his neighborhood with Cerebral Palsy. The whole neighborhood has banded together to raise money for this little boy and his family. At various times in my life, my family has been the recipient of such kindness and I wanted an opportunity to pay it forward.

I bought a Frolic jellyroll a few months back without a specific idea of what to make with it. After the call from my brother-in-law, I set out on trying to figure out what sort of design to use for this charity quilt with the jellyroll. At our July quilt guild meeting, one of the girls brought a string quilt. I loved the look, but I'm totally intimidated by paper-piecing. Then I saw this pattern, which just so happened to use the Frolic line. After searching a bit more for inspiration, I read through Cluck Cluck Sew's easy double hourglass tutorial and knew I could find a way to fuse all these looks together. Here's what I came up with:

Note: The photos link to flickr so they're cut off a little on the right side.


I constructed each block using CCS's directions for the double hourglass blocks, but I made mine using three jellyroll strips.

I started by separating the jellyroll strips into sets of three, making sure to create contrast in the pattern and color, but also making sure the strips went well together. Then I took out my trusty ruler and cut each strip at 45 degree angles, alternating the direction of my ruler.



I was able to get five triangles from each jellyroll strip set. I paired four of them together as shown below. I reserved the leftover triangle for later use. Sewing the triangles into a block was tricky because of the cut being on the bias. When you sew something this way, you have to make sure not to stretch the fabric or else your block will bubble.



The 42 jellyroll strips gave me 16 12" blocks, 13 of them looked symmetrical like the one above, and other three were comprised of the leftover triangles, making them look a bit more scrappy.



Each strip set had a bit more leftover so I cut a few smaller triangles and paired them together like so.



I had enough smaller triangles for six 8" blocks, but I only used four blocks as the corner posts at the ends of the borders.



The quilt top measures about 60 inches square, a good size lap quilt. I need to pick up the backing material still and my deadline is swiftly approaching (September 15) so I best get crackin'. Hopefully the quilting and binding will go fast and I can hand this quilt off for the silent auction ASAP.

Linking up:

Finished Scrapbuster Pillow

After making the front of the pillow, I had to trim the edges to determine the size of the final pillow.


I took some scrap strips of fabric to make the back. I decided to do this one all of the same fabric, but I think it would look cute using different sized strips of a variety of fabrics for the envelope back.


After making the pillow cover, I started making the pillow form. (This was probably the backwards way to do it, but it worked fine for me.)


Before making the rainy day pillow last month, I probably never would have attempted to make my own pillow form. It just wouldn't have occurred to me. But then Kati showed some pillows she made at our Modern Quilt Guild meeting a couple months back and she totally opened my eyes to the possibilities of pillow forms.


I took a pillow from my son's room that I didn't care for, ripped off the fabric cover, and used the stuffing for my new pillow. Closing the pillow form after it's been stuffed is always a challenge for me because of the puffiness of the pillow, so I think next time I'll just close it by hand with a needle and thread.


I thought it would be fun to use piping around the pillow edge (I've never done that before and it would be fun to try), but I wanted the pillow to be a bit simpler to appeal to more of the sisters in my ward for a project they would want to attempt if they have little or no sewing experience.

I plan to make more covers too. It'll be fun to make one for each month of the year, or at least for different seasons or holidays.

Now, head on over to AmyLouWho's for more show and tells.



And make sure to check out Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.

Rainy Day Book Bag and Pillow Tutorial

A niece of mine is turning 10 this month. Tonight is her pink, girls only sleepover party. Since she loves to read (and since she obviously loves pink), I made her a rainy day book drawstring bag and pillow to match. The idea is that she can go to the library on a rainy day, bring her books home in her drawstring backpack, then curl up with her pillow and read the day away.



I picked up this Alexander Henry fabric at Joann's a while ago for a skirt for me and a quilt for my daughter. I didn't care for the skirt and never got around to making the quilt. But, luckily enough, I had plenty of fabric to work with for this pink birthday gift.

I don't have any process photos because I was trying to get these done in a hurry last night (can you say procrastinator?). But, I'll walk you through the process. Note that the images below don't correspond to the steps of making your own bag.


To make a drawstring bag of your own, you'll need:

1 yard quilting cotton weight fabric (this serves as the outside of the bag and the lining)
2 yards cording (for the drawstring)

If you want to use fabric for the drawstring instead of cording, you'll need 5 extra inches cut with your yard of fabric (so 41 inches of fabric).

Square up your fabric, then cut 4 2.5-inch strips the width of the fabric (WOF). With your remaining fabric, fold it in half one way and then in half again the other way. The rectangle you have now should have a ratio similar to an 8.5x11 piece of paper.

Now onto the sewing part. Start by making the drawstrings out of the four WOF strips you cut earlier. Sew two of these pieces together on the short end, and then repeat with the other two pieces. You should now have two double WOF-length strips. Fold in half length-wise with right sides together, then sew a 1/2 inch seam the length of the strip near the raw edge. Repeat with the other strip. Using a safety pin, clip one piece of the fabric at the end and guide the pin through the fabric tube to turn it right side out. Repeat with the other strip.

I appliquéd my niece's initials and an umbrella onto the front of the bag. If you want to add some appliqué, make sure to do it at this step. Prepare your appliqué as desired. Then unfold your fabric and place the appliqué pieces as desired in the upper right-hand "panel" of your fabric.


Once your appliqué is done, refold your fabric, making sure the appliqué shows on the front, or "right" side. The bottom of the bag should have the main fold of the fabric. Take the front and flip it down and under the main fold, so your "right" sides are together. Sew a 1/2 inch seam down the long sides of the bag. However, leave yourself about 3-3.5 inches at the top for the casing and about an inch at the bottom for inserting the ends of the drawstring.

Now you're ready to make the casing. On the sides of the bag, you will have the 3-3.5 inch section that is unfinished. Turn the fabric in 1/2 inch and sew a "U" down the left side, across the bottom where your previous seam ends, and up the right side of the unfinished edge. Repeat on the other side of the bag. Now you can fold the top of the casing area down so your edge slightly overlaps where the bottom of the U was sewn a minute ago, just slightly more than folding in half. Sew all the way around bag. You can repeat this step if you want to reinforce the casing. Turn the bag right side out.

Now that the casing is done, you can string your drawstring through the casing. With the first piece, use your safety pin again to guide the string through the casing. Start on the right side and string it all the way through until you come back to the other half of the right side. Repeat with the other drawstring, but this time start on the left and return on the other half of the left side.

At this point, you can decide if your drawstrings are too long or just right. If they're too long, trim the excess fabric. If they're just right, then you're ready to enclose the loose ends of the drawstring. Remember the bottom inch or so that you left unsewn when you sewed the sides of the bag together? Insert about 1/2-1 inch of the drawstring into this part of the bag. Fold the the raw edges in and top stitch the drawstring ends inside the bag. I did a zigzag stitch for reinforcement, but you can just backstitch several times if you'd like. Just make sure the drawstring pieces are securely stitched in place.

There you have it: a finished, sturdy drawstring backpack.


Next, I made the pillow, and started by making my own pillow form. I had a strip of fabric that was already the perfect size so I didn't have to cut anything. I turned the fabric right sides together, then sewed 1/4 inch all the way around the raw edges, leaving 3 inches open so I could stuff the fluff into the pillow form. Make sure to turn the pillow form right side out before stuffing it. Once it was fully stuffed, I folded the raw edges of the hole under and then top stitched that section closed.


Next, I took the fabric for the outside of the pillow and sewed the pieces together so that I had one long rectangle piece of fabric. At this point, I stopped and added some more appliqué to tie the pillow and bag together.



Once the appliqué was in place, I put the fabric on the pillow form to see where the pieces overlapped so I knew where to make the envelope enclosure for the back. Then, I took the pillow form out, and finished the raw edges on the short ends of the fabric rectangle. I sewed the sides 1/4 inch and turned the pillow cover right side out. At this point it was time to insert the pillow form for a finished pillow.


I have a baby shower tomorrow so I'll be making a rag quilt tonight. I'm also looking forward to next week as I'll have four nights of sewing time. I hope to make more progress on Jessica's Freebird Picnic quilt.

Hooray if you made it through this incredibly long post. Don't forget to head on over to AmyLouWho's for another Sew & Tell Friday!

Weihnachtsstollen (Christmas Fruitcake) Quilt Top

Not Quite Nutty as a Fruitcake is too long for a quilt name so I'm calling this quilt Weihnachtsstollen (pronounced "vy knocked shtolen"). I was thinking about the recipient and tried to find something that would fit her better. She loves Stollen, a traditional fruitcake in Germany. Since this is a Christmas gift, Weihnachten (or Christmas) seemed to fit.


I took the disappearing nine-patch blocks and separated them with Moda bella solids in milk as the sashing. I'm tempted to add another border in one of the Fruitcake prints, but I'm not sure yet.


The backing and binding will be an elegant diagonal stripe from the Fruitcake collection. This last year I made a goal to make most of my Christmas gifts. I want to do it again this year so even though I'm not quite in the mood for Christmas since it's July, it's nice to be getting a head start.

Head on over to Sew & Tell Fridays with AmyLouWho to see all the great finishes this week!

Finally Finished: Life Is What You Make It

Sunday was a great day! I got so much sewing done. At my family quilt bee on Saturday (more on that when I get the pictures from my sister - I forgot my camera!), I didn't do a ton of sewing on my own projects as I was busy helping others or letting others use my machine. So on Sunday I wanted to make up some of that time. I finally finished my Life Is What You Make It quilt. And just in time for Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, and I'll have something to contribute to Amylouwho's sew & tell this week too!








This quilt measures about 67 by 84 inches. I opted to use a wavy stitch in parallel lines about an inch and a half apart for the quilting. I really like how it turned out. I'm learning though that the "quilting" part of quilting is not my favorite because of how time-consuming and awkward it can be. I love the look of it and feel that the scrunchy look is what makes a quilt a quilt, so I guess I just need to keep practicing and hope that I improve my technique over time.


And here's the back.


I did the binding a little bit differently this time. I made it 2 1/4 inches wide instead of 2 1/2. I definitely liked the smaller binding, but it was a beast when I got to the corners. Two of them I had to stitch by hand because the bulk wouldn't fit under the foot. I also found it helpful to make the binding ahead of time - not at the beginning of the process, but after the quilting was done. In the past I've pieced the binding, pressed it, and added it to the quilt all in one night. But this time I made the binding the day before and then wound it up. Then, the next day, all I had to do was pull out the roll and get to work binding the quilt. I think I'll do it this way from now on.


I really love how this quilt turned out. I was starting to get sick of looking at this fabric for so long and on a few separate projects. But, now that this quilt is finished and put to use (first time snuggle on the couch with the mister last night while we watched the LOST series finale), I love it as much as I did when I first saw it. Thanks Missouri Quilt Co. for the quilt idea.

Sew & Tell: Make Life Baby Quilt Is Finished!!!

Holy smokes, a quilt started and finished in eight days! Granted, it was a very small quilt, but I am so impressed with myself for finishing something in a relatively short time frame. You have no idea. That never happens.

The binding for this baby was nearly the death of me. I must have just been missing my sewing mojo this week because I struggled with the binding and then with piecing block 5 in the jelly roll quilt-along.

Here are a few shots of the finished binding, pre-wash.


Those mitered corners are a little less than stellar.


After the quilt came out of the dryer. It's amazing how much washing really does hide so many of my free-motion mistakes.



Despite a request to gift this quilt (sorry Megan, but I will make you one just like it when you have a baby), I'll be keeping this for baby #3 (that's not an announcement...just thinking ahead). I like how it turned out way too much to part with it. Maybe once I have more finished quilts under my belt I'll be able to make quilts and then give them away. Someday...someday.


If you're interested in participating in Sew & Tell Fridays too, visit Amylouwho's blog and link up your projects with the rest of ours.