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Sunday 11 August 2013

You show me your's, I'll show you mine!!

Sarah Quilts is hosting a fabric stash link party, and fortunately, I just cleaned up my sewing space (for the most part). Once I got all the fabric all folded and put away, I realized I don't have as much fabric that I thought I did. Ugh. A little depressing. I repainted these two shelves--just for fabric storage--and really, two shelves is more than enough! I could've gotten by with one. Show me your quilt fabric stash I don't really have my fabric organized in any particular way...except I do I have a shelf dedicated exclusively to Bonnie and Camille fabric... Show me your quilt fabric stash --Bonnie and Camille shelf But most of the fabric is just folder and shoved together. You can tell what my favorite colors are. Show me your quilt fabric stash Show me your quilt fabric stash I have a few stacks that are separated for specific projects, like my Indian Summer fabric Indian Summer fabric--show me your stash And Lori Holt's Bake Sale--there are so many things I want to make with this Show me your quilt fabric stash--Lori Holt Bake Sale And you can see here in my Solids stack that I have about 7 shades of aqua in my quest to find the perfect one Show me your stash--solids I should probably buy some more fabric so my shelves don't look so empty!!! Oh, and as an update to an earlier post, I found a 20% off coupon for the Fat Quarter Shop, so I ordered the fabric I had been wanting. That can help with the empty space on my shelves, but just don't tell my husband ; ) Show me your quilt fabric stash

Summer Beach Quilt

I have been talking about my dad alot lately, but I wanted to show you my latest creation, and this just happens to be all about him. The story begins with this quilt I made for him last year...

Dad's nautical quilt
 

 He works as a Harbor Master in Rockport, Texas and has always loved sailboats and sailing. When I was a teenager I would get so mad because he would wake me up at 5am on Saturday morning so we could get out to the sailboat in time to watch the sunrise. At the time I thought it was stupid, but now it's one of those things I appreciate more as an adult. Anyway, I made him the blue and white nautical quilt with a pinwheel pattern. I think it's a great quilt for a guy that sails, but this summer I went to visit him down on the coast, and I started to feel like this quilt didn't really capture what the summer, or the beach, or sailing was all about--at least not in Rockport. Rockport is full of color--there are flowers blooming and cute little cottages everywhere.

rockport cottage


cottage in rockport


flowers in rockport


 I told my dad (at the time) that I would like to make a quilt that really reflected the beauty of where he lives. A couple of weeks after I returned home to England, he called me and he asked if I would make a new quilt for him to give as a gift. Apparently the quilt I made him is very popular at the marina store where the air-conditioning is too cold for the employees. He keeps the quilt at his job, but his coworkers are always stealing it. In order to get his quilt back he wanted to start giving the employees their own quilts, and one of them is having a birthday soon, so he requested I make it in time for that. The only requirement, he told me, was that it was pink. I'm a pink-lover myself, but I know that too much pink can get a little nauseating, unless you're under the age of 5. So I decided to use Marmalade fabric by Bonnie and Camille. It's colorful, summery, it has pink, and overall it's just pretty. I was just going to make a magic jelly roll quilt, but I started thinking about it, and I knew this would be a perfect time to make the quilt that would really capture what I wanted to achieve. I didn't have a pattern to go by, so I started kinda drawing out what I wanted, and then drafted it up on the Threadbias quilt tool. Then came the fun part!

Summer beach quilt


Summer beach quilt sailboats


Beach Quilt


Summer beach quiilt



I used the jelly roll to make the striped sails and scrappy border, and used other cuts of fabric I had to make everything else. I would have really like to get some "pinterest-worthy" photos, but alas, I'm not at that level yet. You can see all the wrinkles when the sun is so bright!!! But anyway, I really am in love with this quilt. I want to make another one for myself, and I'm going to be adding some tutorials for the sailboats, cottages, and fish, so in case anyone ever reads my blog that actually wants to make one, they can! :)

Sunday 4 August 2013

Little Ladies Stitchin' Society

Doll pillows and pillow cases

 When I was about 4 or 5 years old, my dad gave me $5 for cleaning my room and took me to the mall so I could spend my hard-earned cash. We went to K-B toys and I saw a pretty little doll pillow that I really wanted, but my dad told me it was too expensive, and instead I should get the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. I knew, even back then, that this didn't make sense. How could a tiny little doll pillow cost more than the Sno-Cone machine? Well I didn't realize until many years later that it was really my dad who wanted the Sno-Cone machine, and convinced me to get it just so he could play with it!! We got the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine and I never did get the doll pillow...but I'm not holding grudges. So, when the Little Ladies Stiching Society had their first meeting today I thought a doll pillow would be perfect. You're probably wondering "What is the Little Ladies Stiching Society?". Well, it's an integral part of my master plan to get my daughter to spend more time with me. Pathetic maybe, but it worked. She's 7 and is incapable of doing anything without her friends, and as she gets older and becomes more social, me and her spend less and less time together. So I told her I wanted to start a club, and I would teach her and her friends how to sew. She was very excited, and invited her best friend Cora to join. They both love American Girl dolls, so the pillow idea was perfect.  I let them both pick out their own fabric from my stash, and then I cut all of the pieces for them. But they ironed...

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 and pinned....

Little Ladies Stitching Society--just pinning

and sewed....

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and when it was all done there were two little happy girls that were very proud of their work...

  Cora's Doll Pillow

London's Doll Pillow

and one mom that was just happy to spend some quality time with her daughter. I can't wait for the next meeting.

 London and Cora with their Doll Pillows