Happy Easter everyone. We are kicking back after a wonderful Easter dinner and my husband Tim is snuggled down under the very first quilt I ever made. My daughter we rather young at the time so the first strip pieced quilt I ever made was a twin size flannel scrap quilt I made for her with my friend Ulla. Some of the fabric Ulla provided and some of it was from a very old receiving blanket that had been given to Meagan when she was a baby
Apron #1 and apron #2 that have come out of the pile of fabric (see previous blog entry). Apron #1 (on the left) uses the turquoise pear fabric on one side and the green fruit punch fabric with a small amount of the lime green pear fabric on the bib and pocket thrown in for good measure. Apron #2 is a tri-colored apron using the same color way but with a bit of a twist.
Ended up with 10 hot pads total from this fruit punch/pear fabric medley. These are the last two I made out of the scraps. The block is called crayon box. I found it is Judy Hopkins" "501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks". This book is my Bible! Since this medley of fruit inspired fabrics is the center piece of my Spring collection and I have several yards of the green fruit punch fabric and some of the blue and green pear fabric left, I shopped around today and found a few more coordinating colors for aprons.
Ever though we got 6" of snow yesterday, it was time to bring out the Spring fabrics and get to work on some hot pads. I made a baby quilt out of this medley of prints and I love how cheery they are. The fabrics around the border came in 2- 1/5" width cuts. ALL fabric should always be washed before one starts sewing with it, RIGHT?. Not these strips! They raveled like crazy and ended up shrinking a bit. The patterned called for a 6 - 1/2" square in the center. If I started out with a 6" square, that would compensate for the rectangles on the outer border not being 2 1/2" long.. Unfortunately I had already started sewing the inner green border onto some of the squares before I realized this
As I indicated in my last post, the item isn't finished until it is labeled. Each label has information about me on it (name, phone # and website address). They are printed up in sheets and then cut using a paper cutter. These are the labels for the balsam.
Yesterday's post was about making the balsam inserts that I invented. I didn't want the post to go on for EVER so I saved this post for today. Once the inserts were done, there were still a few more sachets and pillows that needed stuffing. I don't know who came up with the idea of having a muti-positioning needle on the sewing machine but whoever did, they should get a some sort of Nobel prize since it is genius! When I was first making balsam pillows and sachets, my old machine's needle had ONE position. Sewing these puppies shut was a real challenge. Now, I move the needle as far to the left as it will go and WOW, it is SOOOO much easier. LOVE IT!
As you can see, I spent yesterday morning (a very rainy morning) making the inserts for the balsam hot pads. When I first started making balsam gifts, I loved the idea of a balsam hot pad that would release this wonderful aroma when you place a hot pot on it. I also wanted to make something both useful and attractive. So, I started doing research.
Ever had one of those days? That was me yesterday afternoon. I was busy working on my scrap challenge and was cutting out and pressing the backing for all the balsam pillows. sachets and hot pads that I had made the fronts out of from the scraps and that was going well. Then it was time to start sewing the backs onto the balsam hot pads. The backing is a black solid so to make the backing 2 pieces that will overlap need to be cut out and then hemmed. Next I placed them properly with the overlap and placed the black ribbon I use for the hanger in the corner and attached it. After ripping the backing off of the first hot pad 3 times do to various and sundry problems, I quit for the day
You may have noticed a new logo on my site. I am pleased to announce that I am now a part of the Artful Quilters Web Ring! A big hearty WELCOME to everyone who finds my blog via this link. Make yourself at home and browse around the site!
My trip to Babybibville took a bit longer than expected. Once the fabric was spread out it seems a shame to make just one so there ended up being 4 baby bibs.
It just wouldn't be right nor to post a picture of the final result of all that playing with scraps. My friend Margaret, who saw the photo of the pile of scraps, said what she sees when she sees something like that is a fabric bowl, since that's what she makes. I guess I am the same, when I go into a fabric store what I see when I look at all the bolts of fabric are aprons.
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Happy Easter everyone. We are kicking back after a wonderful Easter dinner and my husband Tim is snuggled down under the very first quilt I ever made. My daughter we rather young at the time so the first strip pieced quilt I ever made was a twin size flannel scrap quilt I made for her with my friend Ulla. Some of the fabric Ulla provided and some of it was from a very old receiving blanket that had been given to Meagan when she was a baby
Apron #1 and apron #2 that have come out of the pile of fabric (see previous blog entry). Apron #1 (on the left) uses the turquoise pear fabric on one side and the green fruit punch fabric with a small amount of the lime green pear fabric on the bib and pocket thrown in for good measure. Apron #2 is a tri-colored apron using the same color way but with a bit of a twist.
Ended up with 10 hot pads total from this fruit punch/pear fabric medley. These are the last two I made out of the scraps. The block is called crayon box. I found it is Judy Hopkins" "501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks". This book is my Bible! Since this medley of fruit inspired fabrics is the center piece of my Spring collection and I have several yards of the green fruit punch fabric and some of the blue and green pear fabric left, I shopped around today and found a few more coordinating colors for aprons.
Ever though we got 6" of snow yesterday, it was time to bring out the Spring fabrics and get to work on some hot pads. I made a baby quilt out of this medley of prints and I love how cheery they are. The fabrics around the border came in 2- 1/5" width cuts. ALL fabric should always be washed before one starts sewing with it, RIGHT?. Not these strips! They raveled like crazy and ended up shrinking a bit. The patterned called for a 6 - 1/2" square in the center. If I started out with a 6" square, that would compensate for the rectangles on the outer border not being 2 1/2" long.. Unfortunately I had already started sewing the inner green border onto some of the squares before I realized this
As I indicated in my last post, the item isn't finished until it is labeled. Each label has information about me on it (name, phone # and website address). They are printed up in sheets and then cut using a paper cutter. These are the labels for the balsam.
Yesterday's post was about making the balsam inserts that I invented. I didn't want the post to go on for EVER so I saved this post for today. Once the inserts were done, there were still a few more sachets and pillows that needed stuffing. I don't know who came up with the idea of having a muti-positioning needle on the sewing machine but whoever did, they should get a some sort of Nobel prize since it is genius! When I was first making balsam pillows and sachets, my old machine's needle had ONE position. Sewing these puppies shut was a real challenge. Now, I move the needle as far to the left as it will go and WOW, it is SOOOO much easier. LOVE IT! 
As you can see, I spent yesterday morning (a very rainy morning) making the inserts for the balsam hot pads. When I first started making 
balsam gifts, I loved the idea of a balsam hot pad that would release this wonderful aroma when you place a hot pot on it. I also wanted to make something both useful and attractive. So, I started doing research.
Ever had one of those days? That was me yesterday afternoon. I was busy working on my scrap challenge and was cutting out and pressing the backing for all the balsam pillows. sachets and hot pads that I had made the fronts out of from the scraps and that was going well. Then it was time to start sewing the backs onto the balsam hot pads. The backing is a black solid so to make the backing 2 pieces that will overlap need to be cut out and then hemmed. Next I placed them properly with the overlap and placed the black ribbon I use for the hanger in the corner and attached it. After ripping the backing off of the first hot pad 3 times do to various and sundry problems, I quit for the day
You may have noticed a new logo on my site. I am pleased to announce that I am now a part of the Artful Quilters Web Ring! A big hearty WELCOME to everyone who finds my blog via this link. Make yourself at home and browse around the site!
It just wouldn't be right nor to post a picture of the final result of all that playing with scraps. My friend Margaret, who saw the photo of the pile of scraps, said what she sees when she sees something like that is a fabric bowl, since that's what she makes. I guess I am the same, when I go into a fabric store what I see when I look at all the bolts of fabric are aprons.