I’ve been sewing quite a bit this year, but I’ve been delinquent in keeping up with my blogging about my sewing. Between alterations, I squeeze in time to have fun making a quilt. I discovered Kaffe Fassett fabrics and love the intensity of the the colors and patterns. They’re wild! They remind me of the 70’s, back when I was a “younger” woman. So far, I’ve made two quilts using Kaffe Fassett 10 inch squares and a pattern from one of my Quilting Quickly magazines. A pack of 10 inch squares, an accent fabric, border fabric and backing are all that is required. I used a turquoise for the accent and inner border and yardage for the outer boarder. My youngest granddaughter claimed this one and so I gave it to her for her birthday. I’ll blog about the other one when I get back from vacationing in AZ.
Squares are organized on my design wall
After the squares are sewn together in rows, the borders are added.
I free motion quilted it on my domestic machine
My quilt was displayed in our local Center for the Arts during the month of September ’18
Happy Sewing and Quilting!
I unpicked the sleeves first. This garment had finished serged seams so I carefully cut the seam edge with pinking shears before I began taking it apart. My battery-operated seam ripper came in handy.
I removed the yoke very carefully, admiring the delicate hand-embroidery and the little mirror decorations as I unpicked. The dress was made in India.
Once the yoke was separated from the dress, and the side seams were unpicked, I folded each piece in half. I noticed that there was a grease stain on one of the panels, so when I folded that panel, I made sure to leave the stain outside of my cutting line.
I used New Look 6652 to cut a new back and front. I added about an inch and a half to the center front fold, cut off about 8 inches on the sides, so the dress wouldn’t be as full. I also ignored the dart because it would be gathered along the top and fall nicely over the bust area.
I narrowly folded and stitched the lower edges of the armholes and made two rows of gathering stitches along the top edge. Then, I pinned the gathered edge to the facing of the yoke, stitched, then topstitched the outer decorative side of the yolk to the dress.
While my youngest daughter was visiting during the summer, I had her select coordinating fabric and a quilt pattern from one of my quilting magazines: Quilting Quickly by Fons and Porter’s July/August 2016.
She chose 
The back is a coordinating peach Bella solid also from Missouri Quilt Company. My daughter relocated to the beautiful city of San Jose, CA. for a teaching position. So, for a very special birthday/congratulations/and new apartment warming gift, I made this quilt for her. 
I free-motion quilted it with an all over design of a cabbage rose design. I used white thread on the top and peach thread in the bobbin. It took several days to quilt, which took a toll on my shoulders and neck, but the result was fabulous! The body pain quickly disappears with a few stretches so don’t worry!
However, I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t just invest in a mid-arm. I have been doing a little research and so far I like the Juki 2010 and the Grace frame. I’d love to know what other quilters might suggest.
I made this quilt for my daughter’s bridal shower gift a few month ago. She’s getting married at the end of September and I have another surprise for her so I thought I should share this one before I have more quilts than updated posts!
I started this quilt back in the 70’s with great intentions of making this fabulous fun quilt for my girls when they were little. It turned out to be harder than I thought and more time consuming than I expected. I completed the center part and the bottom panel, all by hand (note that this was way before rulers, rotary cutters, and fusible appliqué paper). The pattern that I followed had blocks of appliquéd carnival rides all around the center of the quilt. The thought of hand turning and hand stitching all those itty-bitty pieces was daunting. That’s when I stored it away for another day.
So 2017 rolls around and all my girls are grown up. While organizing my stash, I came across the unfinished carnival quilt top. I’m a quilter and semi-retired, so now I should think about how I might finish it. I ended up trimming it with rulers and my rotary cutter and eliminating about 4 inches between the bottom panel and the center panel. I completely removed the top panel. It was not that interesting and made the quilt too long. Finally, I made a variation of a pinwheel out of vintage fabrics for the vertical borders. For the top and bottom, I pieced together borders with the left over vintage fabric.
I added vintage buttons to the center of each pinwheel, then I sandwiched it, and prepared to free-motion-quilt using my Elna 680. It does a pretty good job, but I’m the one who struggles to keep my stitches even. Despite the imperfections, I had fun using different colors of thread and coming up with the quilting designs. I always use bobbin thread that matches my quilt back so it blends in nicely.
I’m really happy that I was able to finish what I had started over 20 years ago! It needed to wait until I had better quilting tools and more experience. I’m a person who likes to finish what they start and this quilt is certainly proof of that!
Happy Sewing!
Happy Independence Day in the USA! I’m celebrating our western themed annual local Frontier Days in my hometown with this Little Cowboy quilt. It’s made using a panel of batik like images related to the Old West.
Each little motif was carefully cut and then sashed with coordinating fabric.
To make the quilt a suitable size, a pieced block was set in each corner.
I used my Elna 680 to free-motion quilt with stitch-in -the-ditch and loops around the the boarder.
I applied my go-to binding method (two strips sewn together, one is the flange at 1 1/4 in. and the outer binding is 2 1/2 in.) to finish the outside edge. I love this type of binding because you can sew it on with the machine and it looks great!
This little quilt was one of four of my pieces that were recently displayed in our local art gallery and also will be joining the home arts display at the Redwood Empire Fair next month.
Needless to say, I’ve been enjoying the art and design of quilting lately! This quilt is a gift for my new grandson, the first boy in our family of all girls.
Have you ever had clothing that you just could not part with? The fabric just begging to be kept and eventually made into something else?
This little lap quilt is made from pieces of dresses and shirts that I just couldn’t let go of. I’m very pleased with the result of this particular combination of fabrics. It’s sweet and happy looking.
For a change of pace, I enjoy a good upcycle of fabrics over purchased fabrics. It’s a great way to save the resources of our planet, even though it is such a small contribution.
Our local group of charity quilt makers, make hundreds of handmade quilts for the children in our community. We purchase most of the materials and greatly appreciate donated fabric.
If you would like to donate fabric to our charity quilt makers, please contact me. We use only 100% cotton fabrics. Thank you!
My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on a cruise in the Caribbean. One of my favorite tours was on the island of St Kitts which is known for its batiks made on the island since the seventies. Caribelle Batiks is located in the historic Romney Manor, “Once home to Sam Jefferson II, the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of U.S.A.) the great house was renamed Romney Manor following its acquisition in the early 17th century by the Earl of Romney”. You can visit the website here: 
The grounds of the Romney Manor are quite lovely, with a 350 year old sprawling tree that spans over a half acre as a focal point. Colorful island flowers and plants complete the magical garden.
Within the Manor, rooms filled with expertly dyed batiks of all colors and patterns are made into scarfs, garments, bags, pillow covers, napkins, tablecloths, wall hangings, etc. Just about anything you can imagine is made from the expertly designed and dyed batiks. I purchased a bag of scraps and a large table cloth.
With the bag of scraps I wanted to make something special and representative of our trip to the Caribbean. Once home, I looked through the scraps for inspiration. The colors reminded me of the turquoise water and waves, the amazing sky and picturesque sunsets, and the ships and boats.
I researched quilt blocks of sailboat patterns and when I found just the right one, I started to cut and sew. My mini quilt came together quickly, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had used just about every inch of the scraps except for the yellow/ purple pieces that just didn’t fit the color palette. 
I added white sashing and a turquoise border with a tiny border made from the bits and pieces left from the nine sailboat blocks. 
I free motion quilted the little wall-hanging with designs that resembled waves and sails, and used my favorite sew-by-machine binding method to finish it.
It presently hangs on our living room wall, a sweet reminder of the wonderful trip we took together. It was a fun and exciting trip that I enjoyed more than anything. I look forward to more adventures together with my husband in the years to come. Meanwhile a quilting and a sewing I will go as I love that too!
