Charmed Prints Quilt Along- Diamond in the Square Block

Our first block for this week was a simple Diamond in the Square Block. I love blocks like these. Easy to put together-but an endless stream of possibilites! I think this block is great for showing off favorite feature fabrics or designs.

Since I am using Moda's Pampered Pooch fabric line I have been calling my quilt "Pampered Pooch" (I know original right?!?) We have a two year old lab mix and he is pampered to the max! In fact he is so pampered, spoiled and loved that I decided he needed to be in the quilt too so I found a way to include him!

Embroidery Library had an embroidery design that looks JUST like our doggie! I embroidered it on my fabric and used one of my favorite Pampered Pooch prints.  I am really happy with how it looks. I can't get over how much it looks exactly like his face!

Charmed Prints Quilt Along- Star Block

I finally decided on the fabric to use to make my second Charmed Prints QAL block. It is a Star Block. I wanted to make sure I introduced red into some of the blocks so it wouldn't look odd to use the red charms in the fabric line when everything else was softer colored. Luckily some of the blue charms had some red accents.

The bottom part kept popping up every time I layed it on the counter. It isn't as wonky as it looks. Can't wait to see what the next feature blocks are!

I am having alot of fun making these little blocks. I think I may make a few more to sprinkle in my quilt.

Charmed Prints Quilt Along

I joined Gen X Quilters Charmed Prints Quilt Along. It is my first one and I am excited! I have been hoarding, er, safely keeping two Pampered Pooch by Moda charm packs and a jelly roll. I'm using those plus some other charms and scraps I have, but mainly Pampered Pooch. You can make either a child size (36 charms) or a lap quilt (81 charms). I'm going to do the child size. The quilt design keeps alot of the charm squares whole, but there are fun feature blocks tossed in and the design is really customizable. If you want to join in on the quilting fun go HERE.

This week we had the first two feature blocks to do. The first one is the Greek Cross. Here is mine.

I'm hoping to get the second one done tomorrow. It is a star block. I just couldn't decide on what charms I wanted to use. I'm going to sleep on it and make my decision in the morning.  If I stay on track with the schedule I'll have a finish quilt by December 13th!

Simple Halloween Wall Hanging

I made a simple Halloween wall hanging for my sister. I used Fairy Frost in a cream color for the background so it would have just a little shimmer.  The fabric is so pretty in person and I my picture doesn't do it any justice! The binding fabric is a scrap of black with gold stars. I was lucky and had enough of it to bind it and use it for the backing. 

I didn't miter the corners when I did the binding. I put on the two sides first and then cut the binding to be level with the top and bottom. For the top and bottom I cut two pieces of binding and then hemmed the raw edges under. That way when I sewed it on I could slide in ribbon to use as a hanger. Since the ribbon goes through the binding and is tied when it hangs it tends to make the top corners "curl" into the middle. A wooden kitchen skewer cut just a little smaller then the finished edge and slid into the binding give the piece stability and weight so the ribbon doesn't pull the edges. (That was my fun tip of the day! ;) )

I made this for my sister who doesn't do much Halloween decorating and has a small apartment. A little something to hang on the wall.  The design, which came from Embroidery Library, is so her as well. She loved it.

Milk Money Bag

One of my friends recently introduced me to Embroidery Library.  I quickly fell in love with alot of their designs and what good deals you can get. I've since become addicted to their site and have put my machine through its paces doing machine embroidery.

Every Tuesday my Mom picks up fresh raw milk from a dairy farm in South Carolina for herself, me and some family friends. While cruising through Embroidery Library I found a vintage milk sign that made me think of my Mom's milk trips. Since everyone gives her money to pay for the milk I thought it would be nice to create a little something for her to put it in- a zippered pouch. First zippered pouch I ever made! I think it turned out great!



The front of the pouch. The back is the same fabric, but no design.





The inside lining of the pouch.



I followed the lined zippered pouch tutorial by Skip to My Lou. It was easy to follow, although it took me a minute to make sure I was sewing the "zipper sandwiches" correctly.

I did make a change to the directions. I wanted it to be stiffer, but didn't have any interfacing. Since I had used an iron on stabilizer when I embroidered it, I left that on and ironed a piece onto the back fabric. Then I used fusible webbing to fuse a piece of warm and natural cotton batting to the stabilizer. I fused it since I didn't want to quilt it. Next time I think I will quilt the fabric and cotton batting first then do my embroidery design. I left the lining as it is. It turned out great. It is still soft, but stands up better in a purse.

This is a great project. So quick! After the machine did its thing embroidering it took me about under 30 minutes to put together.

p.s. The Quilting Cats were banned from the room during this project, which is why it probably went so quickly. Mr. Helpful decided that he couldn't live without laying on the ironing board and kept jumping on it no matter how many times I put him back on the floor. Normally this wouldn't have been a thrown out of the room offense but the iron was on and hot and he would NOT leave it alone! So he and the other one sat outside the door and reminded me of their displeasure by howling and pawing at the door, which they eventually got open, but by then the project was complete.

Remember these?  The pink, purple and cat blocks that I put together for a quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest. Well she has finished combining them with the other blocks that were sent in. You can see the quilt top HERE.  I think it looks great so far and can't wait to see it quilted!  It feels good to know that scrap fabric I had laying around was used for a good cause and will brighten someone's day!

The Quilting Cats In Action

One of my good friends, JS, and I found a great deal on a papasan chair at a yard sale. $8.00 for the frame and two cushions. SOLD! We cleaned up both cushions real nice and I made covers for them.

One was snuggly fleece that we used to cover the worst of the two cushions. It became a dog bed for her huge doggie and he loves it.  The other one was fun brown and cream zebra print minkee with a brown pasiley minkee backing. We have a mutual friend who was going nuts trying to find a good deal on a papasan chair and we thought we would surprise her. I made the cushion while JS and her family spruced up the frame.  It turned out great! Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the dog bed or the finished papasan chair, but I will soon!

The real reason for this post is to share my quilting cats in action and show you how...adventourus...quilting can be for me.

I was putting binding on the raw edges of the minkee cushion and it wasn't going well. For some reason it seemed like my sewing machine was trying to go faster then the binding was moving. It felt like it kept getting stuck. After taking out a few stitches, cleaning, oiling and re-threading both the machine and bobbin I found the culprit! It was.... (que dramatic suspense music!) None other than Quilting Cat #1 who was trying his best to help....or hinder...not sure yet...

Don't you love his innocent "Who Me?" face? And as always Quilting Cat #2 was right there, now on her new high cat tower, giving me directions and pointing out what I was doing wrong.

In this shot she is watching Mr. "Helpful" chase around a bobbin I dropped.  She bosses everyone around.  I have also discovered that ever since I was given this cat tower I have to be careful when I sew. When I sit at my machine my back is to the cat tower and more then once I have felt something hit my ponytail (which she can reach if she sits on the level where that little blanket is) and swipe at it. but when I turn around she either is on another level or is "sleeping." She is a crafty one... Quilting with these cats is a real adventure sometimes!