Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Last Minute Gift

Decided to whip up this pretty Christmas table runner as a gift for a friend - it worked up pretty quickly.
Festive I think

This shows a bit of the backing fabric

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

New background

Playing with a new background template...


Saturday, December 10, 2011

Christmas Auction Quilt

Our church (Riverside Christian Church) is having a fundraiser auction to raise money for a short-term missions trip to Guatemala.  I decided to make use of a batch of beautiful Moda fabric Christmas fat-quarters I'd purchased from The Bunkhouse Quilt shop a while back and create something to donate for such a good cause.


As I posted before, I had the opportunity to take a long-arm machine quilting class and was very excited to be able to finish this quilt as my very first long-arm project.  Steve took the photos for me today after I finished the hand-work on the binding.
These two are cropped close-ups of a few different blocks to show the quilting & fabrics.

This shows the backing fabric & my 'tag' for identifying purposes.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Learning something new

Today was the first day of a 2-day class where I am learning long-arm machine quilting.  I had a BLAST!

The teacher is a dear woman who was so patient with me and very, very encouraging!  I was nervous but once I got to try it out and had a feel for it - it was so much fun!  I can see why people buy these toys!
I am SO looking forward to going back on Thursday!  And I'm beyond thankful that Steve sees value in my learning new things and allows me so much freedom to do so.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Clever!

This is so very clever!  I really want to try this soon.
Would be great with some of these fabrics I think.

They have TONS of quilting tutorials over there at Missouri Quilt Co.  Worth some time to watch!

Baby Girl Quilt

Here is our newest baby girl quilt from our church quilt ministry.

This was (like all of them) a labor of love.  Momma is one of our Pastor's daughters and such a lovely lady.  The new addition is absolutely adorable and I'm looking forward to being able to hold her in a few months - when she's big enough that I'm not freaked out by her itty-bitty-ness. :-)

Here are a few more pictures:  My camera is having issues with the flash, so they aren't quite as clear as I'd like.
 Close up of the quilting work done by a dear woman as a gift to our church ministry.

All cotton fabrics. Center medallion panel (pink, white & brown prints), bordered with a small scale brown & white floral, pieced border in a variety of pink prints, second brown floral border, (all set on point) with hot pink striped fabric setting triangles.  Machine quilted in two different all-over designs.  Double fold binding in backing fabric that is hand-finished.  Batting is cotton "warm & natural" and the entire quilt is easy care machine wash/dry.  Very important for a busy mom and essential in a quilt that is meant to be used well.
The back is a fun Debbie Mumm plaid fabric.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Testing

Testing a linking thingy. :-)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

First Batik Dress

Jess chose this fabric and I wasn't quite sure how a dress would look, however I was pleasantly surprised!
It only took about 6 hours to make and is quite possibly the most well-finished dress I've ever made.  Every inside seam is serged to prevent fraying, etc.



I think she looks lovely - even if she does loath my taking photos of her. :-)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Quilt Ministry

This one is a pretty girl project from our church quilt ministry.  We were a bit late delivering this one as baby A has already arrived - but she didn't cry until I started taking pictures, so I think she likes it.


 

Monday, August 8, 2011

Another Sundress

Finally finished the second sundress for J.

Once again had to find fabric to match to make the straps - but it came out pretty and she is happy with it, which is the most important part!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Summer Dress 1

After a disappointing search for appropriate summer dresses for Jess, we opted to make our own instead.
We found some 'cheaty' fabric that was already smocked at the top and was long enough to be modest so all we had to do was run a quick seam & hem and add some wide straps at the top.
This is the first of two like this that she'll have for the summer. I will post photos of the other one once it is done.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Deck Cushions

This is a partial sewing project and partial general project.
I found the furniture on craigslist and it was just what I wanted for the deck.  We were in dire need of something more substantial than the flimsy plastic Adirondack chairs we'd been dealing with in years past.  With about a half-dozen cans of white spray paint and a few hours of work - Jess & I had them spiffed up nicely.

Then it was time to tackle re-covering the cushions - they were a very faded and worn red floral so I dug out some random remnant of duck cloth left over from teaching a sewing class tote-bag project and was thrilled to find one piece long enough to cover both cushions. 
Of course Jess is horrified at the pattern and thinks it's hideous.  I think it's cheerful and fun and ...really... for deck cushions that will be sat on, feet on & probably dog'd on ...I don't much care what it looks like as long as it's clean and not dreadfully worn.

I think this may qualify as a post linkable to a very cool blog I follow:
round button chicken