Completed X Pillow

In this post, I showed pictures of the X pillow that I was working on.  It is a paper pieced quilting project which I love.  The post linked above shows the 16 blocks sewn into 4 larger blocks to make the 4 X's on the pillow.

 

Then, I sewed on a cream border because I wanted the pillow to eventually fit a 24x24 pillow form.

I don't think I did it exactly right because I got too much puckering.  I've since been reading about how to attach borders and sashing so I think I can do better next time.

 

After adding the cream, the block still wasn't big enough so I added a bright green border.  I did this one better and I don't think there was any puckering with it.

 

I then added piping that I made using the same fabric as I had planned to use for the backing.  It is one of the Summer House prints by Moda which is the main fabric line I used in this pillow.

 

Here's the back:

I also used a chevron cotton duck print that I had in gray to make a companion pillow.  I didn't add a piping to it and you can really tell the difference.  The piping really makes the pillow look "finished".  I may take the gray chevron pillow apart and add piping.

By the way, this is what the sofa looked like before these pillows. 

This is my newly remodeled living room that we finished last fall.  My husband and son had to help me finish painting it and the dining room because I just couldn't physically do it.  Then I got the new sofa, rug and coffee table.  Isn't this table HUGE?  It didn't look so big in the store.  When they delivered it, I called my husband and told him we would have to take it back because it was too big but he was all, "wait till I get home.  It's probably not as big as you think".  So, he and my son LOVED it.  I couldn't believe it.  They hate the sofa but love the table. 

Anyhoo, those 2 pillows that came with the sofa are pretty but the problem with them is that they are feather pillows.  Which means they collapse when you use them as pillows. (I HATE feather pillows)  Also, the feathers just come out - right out of the fabric.  There is no zipper or closure so that I could remove the feathers and insert a pillow form.  So my only choice was just to get rid of them.

One WIP done and a million more to go.  What have you finished lately?

 

Fabric Box day

Don't you just love fabric box in the mail day?  You get that big box and you just can't wait to open it and see all the goodies inside.  It's so great.
Here is a little eye candy for you:

 

And now here is some real candy!

Isn't it pretty?  My son had to make a handmade treat for a classmate as part of an English project.  His time period was 1860's-1880's.  During and after the Civil War.  I was trying to help him come up with something to make and we finally decided hard candy would be good.  The soldiers carried it in their pockets during the war and ate it for something sweet.  I think peppermint was the most popular at the time but my son doesn't like peppermint, so he made butter.

It turned out fairly well and it was easy to make.  The only hard part was holding the thermometer in the candy mixture until it reached 310 degrees.  My son made me do that part.

For anyone interested, here is the recipe.  He used butter extract and yellow food coloring and it turned out very buttery and was really good.

Ingredients     

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

•                         
  3 3/4 cups white sugar
•                         
  1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 cup water

•                        
  1 tablespoon orange, or other flavored extract
• 1/2 teaspoon food coloring (optional)
•                        
  1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting                                                 

         Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads.
2. Remove from heat and stir in flavored extract and food coloring, if desired. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet, and dust the top with confectioners' sugar. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a quick post to say Happy Valentine's day to everyone!

And a little update.  Here is my first finished quilt top.  It's called the Strip and Flip quilt.  I'm going to piece a back for it and then (fingers crossed) quilt it myself on my machine.  We'll see how that goes.

 

 

Hope everyone gets to spend today with someone they love.  And maybe watch my favorite movie Love Actually.  That would be great.  However, I'll be spending the evening at my son's first baseball game of the season.  But my hubby is taking us out to eat after :)

New quilting class

At the beginning of the year I signed up for a beginner's machine quilting class at one of my local quilt shops.  This past Tuesday was the first class.  It will be once a month for about 8 or so months.

Our first class went over a lot of basic stuff, some of which I already knew but it never hurts to hear it again or hear it from a different teacher.  We also learned the proper way to use a rotary cutter and ruler and how to cut our fabric into strips and squares.  I bought a new Creative Grids ruler which I had been wanting for awhile.  In all the quilting classes that I took at the Houston Quilt Festival, the teachers all loved Creative Grids.  So far I've loved it too.

Our block for the night was a simple nine patch.

I think mine turned out pretty well.  I'm getting better at matching up my seams and keeping things straight.  Also, I'm trying to sew my seams slower so that I get a proper 1/4 inch seam.

This is the rest of the fabric that I'll be using with the different blocks.  Our next class will be the Shoofly block.

When I finish the quilt, I may donate it to a local children's charity mostly because there is so much pink in it and my house full of men won't like it.  I'll keep you updated on the progress of the quilt.

PS.  I haven't forgotten about my Handmade Whimzy shop.  I've made a bunch of eye pillows which I've been listing a few at a time.  I'm currently working on 4 new aprons for the shop and I hope to get them finished so I can start listing them by Monday.  They are all springy patterns.  Very cheerful.  Keep a watch out.

Also, if you've been wondering why I make my print so big on my blog, it's because I've been having trouble with my eyes lately and this size print is easier for me to see.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!  If you're into football anyway, which I'm not.  I actually don't like football at all.  Sshhh!  Don't tell anyone or they'll kick me out of Texas.

I've had a fairly productive day today.  How about you?
So far I've done a zillion loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen about 3 times, vacuumed and dust mopped most of the house and tried to take care of my sick 14 year old who has the flu.  He's trying to act all tough and not let me baby him because he says that's what men do.  Sniffle.  When did he stop cuddling with me and letting me baby him?

I've also gotten some sewing done.  In this post, I alluded to a project that I was working on that is really good.  It's going to be my first completed quilt.  I found the tutorial over at the blog Cluck Cluck Sew which is one of the awesome quilting blogs I follow.  She calls it her Strip and Flip quilt.  She says it's quick to put together and great for beginners. 

Well, she sews a lot faster than me so I don't know how quick it's been to put together.  But I'm through with the strip piecing and I've finished the pressing.  Here's a pic of the strips all laid out the way I wanted them.  Sort of in a rainbow pattern.

There are 30 strips.  Some are already sewn together in this pic.

I'm using a jelly roll from Moda and the Simply Color line by V and Co.  I LOVE this fabric.  I think it's so modern and cool.  This quilt is going to be used as a throw on my sofa so it will get a lot of use.  It won't just be for decoration.

I'm back to sewing.  Hope everyone enjoys the game!

How are my works in progress going?

It's a semi warm (68 degrees) and rainy day here today.  Perfect sewing weather or napping weather.  I'm trying really hard to stay awake though.

I've been trying to spend some time working on items for my etsy shop.  In particular, eye pillows.  They sell really well this time of year and all year long really.  I spent 2 days cutting 60 rectangles.

 

This is about half of the stack.  I've already started listing them in my shop.

I've also been working on some of my WIP's.

I finished my January block for the Lucky Stars BOM.  I decided to make the 6 inch squares because I wanted to use a charm pack that I already had.  It's Eat Your Fruits and Veggies from Moda. 

 I like the way it turned out.  Although, I did make a mistake which I didn't even notice until I started taking pictures of it.  Can you see it? 
I meant to alternate the star points of the blue fabric so that the cherry fabric was on opposite points but somehow it didn't turn out that way.  And I was being really careful too.  Oh well.

 

I've gotten all my half square triangles made for my Saturday Sampler BOM.  I just need to finish trimming them and sew them into the square.

And finally, this is how far I've gotten on my paper pieced pillow.

I've got a white border going on but it's not big enough.  I need it to fit a 24x24 inch pillow form and I think it's about 18x18 now.  So, I ordered some solid green fabric and also one of the damask prints that's in the pillow.  I think I'm going to make a border with the green and then use the damask for the back.  Also, I'm thinking about doing a cording but I'm not sure.  I'll keep you posted.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Works in Progress

Today I thought I'd share some of my works in progress (WIP's). 

I'm trying to keep a list of everything that I'm working on so that I can stay organized and actually work on each project in the hopes of one day finishing it.  Isn't that sad?  Hey, don't judge me.  You know that you have WIP's too :)

So, here goes:

1.  Lucky Star BOM - so far, I've printed the pattern and decided which fabric to use.  This is the original fabric that I was going to use and I was going to make the 12 inch blocks:

 But I've since changed my mind about the fabric.  I'm going to use a charm pack that I have - Eat Your Fruits and Veggies by Moda - and make the smaller 6 inch squares.  But that's as far as I've gotten on that project.

2.  Saturday Sampler BOM - no progress.

3.  Quilted Wall Hanging for my son - I have this book of really cool paper pieced blocks.  They've basically taken quilt patterns that have been around forever and skewed them just a little.  This block is called Toppling Log Cabin.  It's the only block I've finished so far.  Isn't it cool?

 

                                    
 
4.  X Pillow - I originally found this paper pieced pillow on Pinterest. 

It was pinned by Fashioned by Meg and I thought it was wonderful.  So bright and I love the piecing.  I tried to find where the pattern came from but all I have is this - "X Marks the Spot by Kim Noblin - BlockCentral.com" - which was on the top of the downloadable pattern.  You can download the pattern from the blog post on Fashioned by Meg above.

I decided to use a charm pack I had been saving called Summer House by Moda.  I LOVE the colors in this pack.  But I wanted to punch up the colors a bit, so I added yellows and oranges from my fabric stack. 

 There are 4 paper pieced squared per block.  First you complete each small square and then you sew them together in the order you want to make your X.  Getting the seams to line up is a bit of a challenge and you can tell mine aren't perfect. 

Here is where I'm at right now.  I have all the X blocks completed and I'm ready to sew the white strips between each block.

 

 

Ignore my lint.  I didn't realize there was so much until I took the pics.  This is going to make a 24x24 inch pillow, by the way.  I'm still trying to decide on the backing fabric. 

5.  Table skirts for the tables in my sewing room.  - No progress except that the fabric is setting on my cutting table.

6.  I have one more project that I've started but I'm going to save it for a later blog post.  It's really good too. :)

Okay, that's it for today.  See you next time - same bat time, same bat channel.