Project Complete... well mostly!

The summer of 2011 has flown by. School is just around the corner. It is so close I almost feel like my summer is already over or sometimes I feel like it never started. I have been at Southeast working on various planning projects and teaching summer school more days than I have not been at Southeast.

However, in the midst of actually working really hard this summer, much harder and longer hours than I probably should have, I have spent a good amount of time diving into many sewing projects this summer and have enjoyed each of them.

So with school just around the corner, I wanted to get the rest of the quilt top finished up that I posted in the last blog. I knew once the school year got started that finding a chunk of time to get it finished up would not be easy.

Yesterday, I cut out all the borders, swayed from the pattern just a bit for the corners and got the quilt top finished. I have a huge sense of accomplishment with this as it is the first true quilt I have ever completed (well mostly completed, it still needs to be quilted and then put the binding on).

The Mostly Finished Quilt

My Favorite Two Blocks

The corners of the quilt were supposed to be one solid square, but I decided to do a four-patch square to use some of the fabric I liked from this line that wasn't included in the jelly roll so it didn't make it into any of the actual quilt blocks.

Just Wing It

Recently I joined a club through A Joyful Soul Fabrics. Joining this club was a big step for me because with the club membership I would be getting a jelly roll of a different fabric line each month as well as a book of patterns that use strips from jelly rolls to complete the patterns. I had never sewn with fabric from a jelly roll and had never really figured out any patterns on my own with the exception of the throw pillows I made last week.

The club actually started in May so I was a few months behind but decided to go ahead and purchase the fabric from the months I had missed.

The package arrived on Thursday! There is just something special about getting mail.

I instantly loved each line of fabric. You can go to A Joyful Soul Fabrics site to see each line if you'd like.

I perused the pattern book, Let the Good Times Roll and decided on the Fresh Linens pattern which also called for a charm pack to use with the jelly roll. I called my favorite quilt shop in Wichita, Material Girls Quilt Shoppe, to see if they had the Just Wing It line of fabric which they did.

Yesterday I went down to Material Girls. Unfortunately they did not have a charm pack for Just Wing it, but they did have a layer cake that can be cut into the squares that I needed for the pattern. I also picked out some of the fabrics from the line for the borders.

Last night I dove in and got all the small blocks cut out (cutting out was easy using the jelly roll and layer cake) and sewn together. Today I tried a couple of different layouts for the larger blocks and got the entire quilt top, minus the borders, sewn together!

I am hoping to get the borders on tomorrow, but we'll see! My mom even suggested maybe I could quilt it on her longarm machine sometime... not sure if I'm ready to jump into that endeavor, but it might be fun!

Quick and Easy Afternoon Project

Last summer after deciding on the quilt pattern and quilt design for our bed quilt, I came across a book of patterns for pillows and throw pillows called Shams with Style from Anka's Treasures (picture below).

I had bought fabric to make some of these pillow shams when we bought the fabric for our quilt so today I decided to try one of these out for the 20" x  20" square pillow form that I had from another whim along time ago. I was pleasantly surprised how quick this pillow sham went together, how easy it was to make and how cute it turned out! I even got to stitch in the ditch for the first time!

So with two coordinating fabrics and some fusible fleece you get style and comfort! Pictured below is the 20" square Flange Pillow Sham.

Newest and Cutest Project YET!

I really wanted to make something for my mom since she always is sewing and making stuff for other people and hardly ever takes the time to make something for herself. Last weekend, I came across a cute pattern for a pin cushion and an attached scrapbag so I bought the pattern for The Abbey Bag.

Yesterday, I went to Hen Feathers Quilt Shop to take advantage of their First Friday Fenzy sale which they have all their pre-cut fat quarters on sale. I picked out fabric from Riley Blake Designs that coordinated, but would also allow me to make two pin cushions and scrap bags. I also had to make a trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics to get fusible fleece, fabric glue and heavy duty button thread. I was hoping to also find emery sand which is what most pin cushions are filled with because it sharpens the pins and also keeps them from rusting, but I had no luck.

When I got home, I spent some time on Google to see where I could buy emery sand and quickly realized it was not something that a lot of people shop for and was not easily available anywhere in Wichita or online. I did further research and read a few blogs to discover that you can use crushed walnut shells (Walnut Litter for Bird cages) to fill a pin cushion. Philip checked at a pet store close to us and Wal-Mart yesterday and neither had the walnut litter so back to google I went to find that PetSmart carried the walnut littler in stores.

So guess where the closest PetSmart store is... right next to the Jo-Ann Fabrics store! So back up Rock Road I went this morning to get the walnut litter. Unfortunately, the smallest amount I could buy was seven pounds, but even buying way more than I would ever need to fill all the pin cushions I could ever want was still cheaper than ordering the four cups of emery sand online.

The funniest part about this whole trip to the pet store was when the cashier asked me what kind of bird I had. I paused, not quite knowing how to respond and said, "Well actually I don't have a bird." She gave me a puzzled look so I went on, "I am making a sewing pin cushion and they recommend using this to fill it." She replied, "Oh, well, I guess that would work." I think I caught her a bit off guard and she was just trying to have good customer service.

So with all the necessary supplies...

I spent the afternoon and early evening conquering this project!

The Flower Pin Cushions are my favorite part! Making these required the most time but I probably learned the most while putting these together. I took some "creative liberties" on the buttons, but I can't reveal my secret!

The addition of the scrap bag really does bring the whole project together! I haven't decided which one I want to keep for myself and which one to give to mom! The fabrics on both are so cute!

I also tried out this really simple burp rag pattern and am excited to have these as another option for baby gifts for friends and family!