Baby shoes

I found this pattern for baby shoes here 

http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/blog/cloth_shoe.pdf

 and since my newest grandson will make his appearance in the next two weeks, I just had to try it.   

Aren't they cute?   My little Parker will look so cute in these.     And since they weren't too terribly difficult to make, I may just try another pair.   Hug

Trudie

Embroidered Quilt Block Quilt Top

Finished putting the blocks together this afternoon and it is really striking.   Standing back and looking at it, I see it is going to need a border.   If I can't find the "perfect" print in my stash I will use the green mottled fabric that I framed the blocks in.  Here it is, borderless.

And here is a close up of one of the blocks.   Isn't it pretty?

When I begin the quilting, it will be my first attempt at custom quilting in the blank blocks.   I sure don't want to take away from the embroidered blocks.   Wish me luck.
 
 

Busy weekend

It feels great to have accomplished so much this weekend, all while going to my grandson's baseball game.  First I finished the cancer donation quilt.   I had sewn the jelly roll together many months ago and it sat in my "what do I do with this pile?".  

 And this is the back.

It's not fancy but its full of color and someone should love it!   At least the money it draws goes toward a good cause.   More in a few minutes!

Trudie.  
 

New Weighted Blanket

Got up around 3am to the thought of "why haven't I done that weighted blanket for my friend Sandy's grandson?   Sandy owns a great quilt shop here in Joshua and donated fabric for about 60 pillowcases for my church group's Christmas project.  In talking, I found out she has a grandson who is autistic and needed a weighted blanket.   These blankets contain small beads that are used in bean bags to give weight to them making the children feel secure.   It took me several tries to get a method that works for me and this is what I came up with.  

 This is a close up of the blanket where you can more clearly see the pockets.  

I sew up lots of pockets about 3x4" filled with the beads and then put them in the quilt sandwich.  They are so heavy and really put a drag on my machine but other than that, they are not hard to make.   I've heard they cost upwards of $200 or more.   The foster care program that first approached me about doing them cannot afford those prices, thus I volunteer.  If you've ever had any experience sewing these, I'd love to hear how you do them, pros and cons.  Thanks

I hope your Easter weekend is full of blessings as we remember the sacrifice made for us by our Lord and Savior!

Trudie

 

Scraps Pillow Form

Forgot to show you the picture of the pillow form.   Easy and affordable!

Once the form is inside your pillow, no one can see or tell it is scraps!  YEA!
 

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Wonky Pinwheel Pillow

A few months ago I saw on a blog (click here ) how to do a wonky pinwheel block by taking a 4" square of fabric and drawing lines from one corner to each side and sewing another color fabric onto those lines, like you do with paper piecing.   I grabbed 4 beige squares and some purple scraps and made a block with them.   I was impressed how cool it looked so I tried 4 more squares, this time using some orange scraps and put both blocks together.   Then realized I needed two more of each color to form a very large block, about 14x14.   Today, I made this little cutie into a pillow.  Whatcha think?

Another hint - I save all my scraps of fabric and batting, cut them into small pieces and keep them in a bag.  When the bag is full, I cut two squares (for this project 15"), sewed together three sides and stuffed it with 3 bags of my scraps.  Viola! - a pillow form.   Saw this HERE  
I hope this inspires someone else to save and recycle!
Have a wonderful weekend and be creative!


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Working on the chevron

 My youngest daughter, Lily, is pregnant and expecting a boy at the end of April.   Lily has fallen in love with the chevron patterns so popular right now.  A month ago, I found a quilt pattern on Lecien called Super Zig.   It is a chevron pattern formed by using strips.   Here is my sample

 Its really pretty and was really easy to do using strips 2 1/2" x 4 1/2".   Doing only one row made me use ALOT of setting triangles, which would not be necessary when you do more than one row.   I think this one shall become a table runner!


Then I saw a tip on an easy method of making HST.  (half square triangles).   You take two 5" charms squares and sew them together like this - 

 



 After sewing them together all the way around the square, you must press to set the seams - then take them to your cutting table.




They will be cut twice like this:

You will then get this:

Now, take them to your ironing station and press them open - viola! you have 4 HST's completed.  Do remember to carefully press as the outside edges are on the bias.

While pressing them, press half of the squares towards the light and half toward the dark.   This will help immensely when you begin to put them together.

Now you can begin to sew the squares together to form the chevron pattern and it is very easy.

When you make more than one row, you would need to sew another 2 1/2" strip of white between the two rows to create the chevrons or you could offset them for a different look.  I will have to let Lily decide which look she prefers.   Since she is going with a navy and white theme, I will keep this sample in case she likes it and incorporate it into the quilt.  When she decides, I will get busy and then share the finished quilt with you all. 
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