Bargelo Beauty

I'm starting a new quilt today, well, I'm blogging about starting it anyway. Its called a "Bargello Quilt" I think it has something to do with the movement or pattern.

Again, I have to say thanks to Jenelle Kent at Pieces to Treasure, for spending so much time with me figuring out what I wanted to do, and she is great at picking colours out of her vast array of fabrics. I really don't think, I'd want to have to figure this out on my own! It would take twice as long and I'm sure I wouldn't be as completely happy with my own selections. She has such a gift.

So here is the pattern


















And here at the stars of the show. This quilt will be created with some deep blues and creamy colours.

































To begin this beauty, I'll start by cutting all this fabric into 2 1/2 strips...

I better get cutting... stay tuned!

Does inspiration ever take a break?!

There I was, minding my own business. On Sunday mornings I sit in the sound box at church and project the song words and scriptures from a computer for the congregation. I was keeping up fairly well with the Pastor as she called out the scriptures she was going to read.

Then in happened...

All of a sudden this gorgeous fabric that Janelle has at Pieces to Treasure, came to mind. I swear it was almost tangibly in front of my eyes. Crystal clear. For the next few minutes I had to really focus on my duties, but secretly, I started drawing.

There is a couple in our church that are getting married and their engagement party is this weekend. No, I didn't decide on Sunday to make a quilt for them, well, I did, but I don't plan to give it to them this weekend. I had already bought them some gorgeous towels and a game, but this latest inspiration was so meant for them. So I figured I would just give this to them as well, perhaps for a bridal shower gift or something.


This is the pattern that Janelle
deciphered from my drawing.

I also have to say that Janelle was an absolute life saver with this. I told her what I wanted and she figured out all the measurements and how much fabric I'd need of each colour, she's just amazing!

The stars of the show, aren't they lucious?! The white swirl was the culprit. You can't really tell here, but the red fabric has red roses on it and the gray has a leafy pattern. You can click on the pictures and they will come up in another window so you can see more detail, but you'll need to hit the back button on your browser window to come back each time.

And here's the progression. You'll notice there isn't a 3rd border listed, I guess I forgot to take a picture
Cutting, cutting
and more cutting

There's still a red binding to go on, but I need to get with Janelle again to get the batting and some final instruction as far as quilting goes. I'm not really sure what I want to do with the quilting, it really needs something, there are some ideas and inspirations wafting around, but I'll probably have to wait till next Sunday morning for them to show up! lol

Brand New Project!!

Yep, thats right! I've been looking forward to this project for months. 1 because its for ME, 2 because it looks like it might take a while to get it done, and who knows the longer the project takes, the less money we spend on other projects! lol

Anyway, to begin with, THIS is the new project. Hopefully it will end up a King size at 102"x102".

I got this pattern and all the fabric from Janelle's awesome shop, Pieces to Treasure. Honestly, she has some of the most beautiful fabrics you've ever seen. She puts other local shops to shame. She puts a lot of care into selecting each bolt.

The pattern is actually from Cozy Quilt Designs in California. As I looked through some of their other patterns I had to get my husband to remind me a couple times, that I haven't even gotten a quarter of the way through my current project yet. I'll just file some of these away. I really, really liked this one. May have to get Janelle to get it for me. Oh wait... I'm not even a quarter of the way through my current project. Perhaps that should be a mantra or something...

The easy way to begin this project would be to get these really cool things called "Jelly Rolls" made by a company called Moda.

Each of these handy dandy little rolls contains 2 1/2" strips of all the fabrics you could need for a project like this, all you'd have to do is cut them down to the smaller pieces you need, and sew 'em together...

but that would be too easy, only NORMAL people do things the easy way! lol

In reality, Janelle didn't have a Jelly Roll in stock that had the colors I wanted. I wanted to stay a little truer to the pattern. I liked the earth tone colours in it and since I'm going through a brown phase right now, I asked if I could just get fabric from the bolt. Janelle didn't even hesitate to say yes. It probably cost me more in the end, but at least I got what I wanted and I'll enjoy looking at it and working on it because I like the fabric.

Janelle suggested I pick out 40 fabrics that I liked (40?! yikes!) So I got to 37 and ran out of steam. Then after reading the instructions we realized that I could get away with 24-25. So I had to whittle them back down, which was almost harder than picking them in the first place. The following are pictures of the fabrics that made the cut... of course, pictures don't do them justice.










The strips above are actually a lot more chocolate in colour, the flash on my camera just doesn't cooperate much.

These are the fabrics I selected for the little middle squares and the strips between the blocks.

The darker one is more of a plum-y colour.


So after I chose them, I had a LOT of cutting to do. I needed to cut all of my 2 1/2" strips down to 3.5", 5.5", 7.5", and 9.5" strips, then the two colours above needed to be cut to 2" strips, sewn together then cut into 2" wide rectangles. I also needed several little 2" squares of the plum colour. I think I cut for about 3 days... really.

Here are some of the blocks so far with their 3.5 and 5.5" pieces put together. Janelle told me I just needed to mix all the pieces up, close my eyes, pick one and sew it on. That was ok for the 3.5"ers, but as I went to put the 5.5"ers on, I had to actually start planning them a little more carefully. The 7.5"ers and 9.5"ers are going to be tougher I think. There are 64 squares altogether.

So, I'll be posting as I go along, I hope you'll stop back by to check the progress, I'd sure hate to go this alone!

Done! Finally!

Well, here is the finished product.
















Its taken a while, and I have one word... ok, maybe two, or three words about flannel...

1. Stretchy
2. Stretchy
3. and Stretchy

I'm not sure exactly how to combat this, except for be careful and don't over work it. I learned a lot from this project, and almost promised myself that I would never do another one, but I've learned my lesson about never saying never.

















This is, of course, the back. I kinda wish it was a bit more interesting, but my quilt teacher, Janelle, talked me out of complicated. Good for her. Each time the quilting didn't work, or it bunched up the fabric, I would have to "unsew" it, and each time I unsewed it, the fabric would stretch a bit more. So I think the less work I had to put into it, the better.

You can also see the quilting here.

I finished it off with satin binding, and mitered corners. I really need to learn exactly how to do those. As I was sitting here finishing up the binding, I realized how warm and wonderful this quilt felt, and I thought about how it looks... even though some spots embarrass me, the warmth and feel of the fabric more than make up for the little things, and as a whole, it doesn't look so bad either.

The borders are on!

Here is the fun little quilt I've been working on with the borders attachedAnd now its all pinned together to begin the quilting process.I realized that trying to put three layers of quilt together by myself, while being picky as, is not the easiest thing in the world. It took me about 3 hours to get it to this point. Next time I'll ask for help! The back has three panels, the yellow with the hearts in the middle, then the green with the safety pins on either side... I can't possibly make things easy on myself! That's why I had so much trouble pinning it together. All the seams on the front AND back had to match up so when I go to quilt it it won't look wonky. Janelle suggested that next time I decide to make the back as complicated as the front, I should probably plan it a little better! yeah yeah... I told her to just expect me to do things the hard way from now on, that way neither of us will be surprised!

This will be my next project, and I'll probably use lots of rich dark greens, browns and blacks, its going to be gorgeous! However, I'll probably go light on the back for this one since the front is going to be really complicated. I'm actually looking forward to it. Perhaps its just being hopeful!

Ok, couldn't wait any longer!

I still didn't get a phone call from the sewing machine guy today. When I called him last Friday he said the machine he told me about may have electrical problems and that he'd call me on Monday to let me know the status. Its now 10:30pm... I don't think he's going to call today...

I couldn't stand the thought that I've got some of the most yummy baby flannel just sitting there begging me to run my hands over it, trim it down and make it into something that everyone is going to want to touch. I have never felt flannel like this. Brooke's baby is going to love it!

Here are some pictures of what I've chosen after its been ironed and squared up. I just need to start cutting the squares. I've decided that since this needs to be done before mid February, I'm just going to start it with my Singer and see what happens.

Well, its clear to me that PhotoShop and I are not cooperating with each other. This was supposed to be an upright picture, but its the only one I have with the pattern in the background. I'm changing the border a bit. There's going to be a 2" then a 5" border before the binding goes on. You can also find the pattern on Janelle's site. Since we obviously don't know what it is yet, only thats its a single baby (not twins), and that its expanding Brookes waistline, I've decided the safe colours are green and yellow.

Here's a better picture, you don't have to turn your head to look at this one.

After looking at Janelle's site, I discovered that the pattern I'm following is just a bit different than the one she has advertised at the link I've sent you to. But that's ok, have a browse around, she's got some beautiful stuff... I dare you ;-)

Ooooo!

Have you ever seen something that you think is so pretty you just HAVE to make one as well? This project pretty much took my breath away when I saw it for the first time. Now after doing 4 of them, grrr, I'm over them! Actually, what I'm really over is the binding part. Sheesh that part takes forever! Then because I tend to be a little on the "picky" side, if something doesn't look right to me, I'll take it all apart and start over.

These runners are simple as, till you get to the binding, then even that's easy, unless of course you want perfection. I tend to procrastinate emmensly when it comes to that part. I would say that start to finish, you could technically get one of these done in about 2 days. They're fairly Christmasy in color, but I've seen pictures where people have done them in different colors. One of my favorites was done in varying colors of black and gray. I MAY have to try one like that some other time.

The fabrics (selected and cut by Janelle in kit form, thank goodness!)

Finished

Pinned to begin quilting
I did the stitch in a ditch tecnique.

The back

Potholders for Christmas??!

Perhaps if they are this fancy people, won't mind them!

I've always wanted one like this, but who wants to go out intentionally to buy a potholder? Especially if you've already got some that work perfectly well already.

I suppose what inspired me about this particular project is the fabric. As I've said in past posts, Janelle at Pieces to Treasure has some gorgeous fabrics... I just had to. She has patterns that are very Christmasy, with jolly old St Nick on the hand pockets, but 1. thats not me, and 2. I wanted something not relegated only to Christmas. So she showed me another one that's not necessarily for the Yule season, and I said "sold"... then "sold", "sold" again, and yet again. I got enough fabric to make 4. Of course I had to have one for me since everything else I've been making lately will be going out the door very shortly.















The quilting














The hand pockets

Tote bag

This is a tote bag that I've just finished for my good friend Beth, for her birthday. The "front" picture I had to scan from the front of the pattern since I obviously can't hold the camera still enough to get a decent picture! Sheesh. The back and card pictures aren't that great either, but the front one I took was REALLY bad!

I was able to get this project finished in about 2 1/2 days, and although I know it wasn't as perfect as the teachers, I thought I did well for my first one. The inside lining was a bit wonky in that it was a bit too big and floppy, so I had to put some stitches in the corners and the bottom front and back.

Beth said she liked it and had some ideas on how to use it... something about a "baby bag"?! When pressed, she said not yet, but she's hopeful. She's a wonderful mother to her 2, or maybe he's 3 now, year old son, Jacob.

I've also attached the card I made for her.

Front

On the front is a pocket that's been embroidered. I really don't like to embroider, but the pattern called for it.

The two pictures of the tote look like they are different colors, but the actual color is closer to the "front" image. I love the fabrics Jenelle has in her shop at Pieces to Treasure, they're so rich and they yell at you to make something beautiful with them... well, maybe they don't "yell" at you... but they suggest strongly! ;-)

Back

The flower has Dimensional Magic on it to give it, uhm,
"dimension" and shine. I kinda like this card, but I know I'd do a couple things different next time.

My 2nd Quilting Project

This quilt was made for our niece Jessica for her wedding present. Again, I gave myself about a month to finish it, again a mistake... I always say that if there's not a deadline attached, I'm not interested! It's a queen size quilt that doesn't go over the pillows.

This quilt has been done by a few of the women in my quilting class and they told me it should only take about 2 weeks. Of course that was THEM! I had trouble with my machine and didn't actually know there was a problem, I just thought sewing was supposed to be hard. My quilt teacher pushed me aside one day and attempted to find out why my points weren't matching up. After a few frustrating minutes, and a few unmentionable words, she highly suggested I take it in for service, there was definately something wrong. She also said she was surprised that ANY of my points actually matched up on Michelles quilt, they were basically "flukes".

So I took it back to where I got it and when it was finished with its going over, I was told that the feed dogs were out of adjustment and it wasn't a wonder that I was having so many problems. The two pieces of material were not being pulled through the needle at the same time because the feed dog wasn't up high enough to help pull it through properly, especially when it came to the seams. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that it wasn't just me!

(THIS LINE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A LINE BREAK BUT ITS NOT COOPERATING!) This was also my first time trying a walking foot on my machine. At first it was horrible because I couldn't see where the stitches were going, and I decided to just use my regular foot, even after the teacher strongly suggested I not. The star part worked out ok, but when it came to quilting the borders I discovered exactly why the teacher wanted me to use the walking foot. It was kinda funny how the penny dropped at that point and everything seemed to work from there.

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Front

You can't really see them in the pictures, but in the four corners there are quilted stars. I also stitched around all of the individual pieces within the star with blue thread.

Back

You can kinda see the blue thread here and you can almost make out the stars in the corners.

I hope they are enjoying it!

Getting started with my new blog...

I am a crafty person. It hardly matters what the craft is, I'll give it a go. I've done, Victorian Christmas ornaments, cross stitch, teddy bears, quilting, card making, scrapbooking, crocheting, cook book covers, paper tolling, etc.

Seems usual when there's a gift to give, that I try something new. Most people wouldn't even think about doing something they've never done before for a gift in fear of failure. Not me! I dive head first with blind abandon into something, then worry about it later. I've spent many late nights trying to finish a project that when I started it, I had NO idea how to do it, but need to have it done the next day. Nothing like a deadline to keep the blood racing! Normally things turn out ok though and I've learned a new craft, if not something new about myself. I've always thought of myself as highly impatient, but doing all these different crafts shows me that I'm not nearly as bad as I think.

In this new blog, I will be posting pictures of my newest creations and how they came about.

My thing dujoir is quilting. I've been at it since July 2007 and I started with a lap quilt for my best friend. I didn't have a pattern, had NO idea where to even start or how it would turn out, but I went into with my usual full force. I gave myself about 6 weeks to finish it, which I learned later was crazy. I had a couple of blaring mistakes, but my new quilt teacher (whom I searched for only after I had sewn together the front and back panels and had no idea where to go from there) told me to claim that its an Amish quilt. Amish because they always purposefully include mistakes because no one is perfect but God. I liked that so that's what I claimed! Good enough excuse for me and I happen to agree with it! This quilt started out as a pillow, turned into a full sized quilt, then into a wall hanging, and finally ended up as a lap quilt. I called it "Chocolate Box" because Michelle loves chocolate and I used a lot of brown fabric. The back is unique because there is a design on it as well. Most quilts are one sided, but I saw someone on Simply Quilts (or here Alex Anderson Quilts) talking about doing a two sided quilt and being someone that doesn't shrink back from new techniques, I loved the idea. My new quilt teacher was impressed!

When I asked Michelle what her favorite color is, she said "you mean this week?" so I took that as I have free run to experiment with different colors all together. This is what I came up with:

Front

Back

In the center square on the front I incorporated something that meant something to both of us. On the cream color fabric I used a rubber stamp with archival purple ink that says "Celebrate Friendship" and I used a stamp that Michelle created herself of flowers in the corners. I happen to think it was very clever of me! In the corner of the back photo, you can see my little signature panel. I had a stamp created that says "Handmade with love by Shelly" in a circle and it has a little dove in the center of it. I had it made for my card making endeavors and have incorporated a way to use it in quilting as well. Of course you have to use permanent ink!