chimesblog

Yay!  I finally finished it.

A while back my grandpa had given me a bunch of quilt blocks that my granny (my great grandma) had made some time ago before she died in 2002.  She was kind of the queen of WIP, so I’m still collecting some random crafty things she’d started and going through to see what I can do to finish them or turn them into something else.

Mom and I went antiquing in March and found another set of blocks that went well with the ones my Granny had made since there weren’t enough to make an entire quilt. Even with these, it’s a pretty small lap quilt, but it’s really pretty anyway.  I ended up tea staining all the blocks since some were more aged-looking than others — they’re all about the same now.

As you can tell by the crappy quilting, I did it myself on my machine. I have a ton of quilt tops waiting to be turned into quilt sandwiches, but I need to send those off to somebody professional to do them. I probably should have done the same with this one, but I was impatient and wanted it to be finished — not to mention, I wanted to be the one to do it since my Granny had hand-pieced the blocks.

I have a couple more blocks she’s done, but I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with them still. This is a really neat quilt, and I’m really glad I have it.

Yay … I broke down and ordered more fabric. I probably shouldn’t have because my stash is kind of ridiculous, but I needed some new stuff. I had a custom request come through Market Day last week for a black and white wallet. I didn’t have any wallet-worthy black and white fabric. I like using oversized prints for my wallets, and all I’ve got in black and white is quilting fabric (for my black and white quilt that I have yet to post anything about).

So, I visited etsy, fatquartershop.com and fabric.com. Nothing really to be found on the latter two. Lots to be found on etsy. But, I realized they were all from the same seller, and that it was a familiar seller, so I just went to her website instead — Fabricworm.

Here’s what I picked up for the wallet … plus a few other things that I’ve been eyeing for a while.

Not sure what I’m going to make out of some of the stuff, but I had to have it for my stash. I also picked up a random fabric scrap bundle which gave me a couple other goodies. I wish I would have picked up more of the top black and white fabric. It is gorgeous. It’s going to make fabulous wallets.

… a growing pile of new camera cases I’ve been crafting. Look at all those fun fabrics. Lots of my favorites in there … and a lot of them are the last bits of some of my favorites. I’m looking forward to making things from the leftover scraps.

It’s been a while since I made anything, so I decided to make a few things last night.

I haven’t had much of a chance to unpack since the move, and thus, not much of a chance to decorate. I bought some vintage (or at least used) frames from Salvation Army for 99 cents a while back and they’ve just been sitting around waiting for me to do something crafty with them.

So I did.

Nothing super exciting.

I rummaged through my fabric that I’ve been hoarding and found a really cute print from Echino that pretty much matches my bedroom decor perfectly. 10 minutes later, I had a cute framed print.

Easy.

All you need is a frame, a piece of fabric and some masking tape. Cut the fabric about a half inch bigger than the opening of the middle of the frame. Take masking tape and adhere the edges so the fabric is taut. Ta. Da.

As you can see by the back of my frame, I didn’t really measure anything. Seriously. It doesn’t get easier than this. Just make sure you’ve ironed your fabric.

Ta da! If you want to get super fancy and put a piece like this to use, you could use a more permanent adhesive (like hot or super glue) and hang earrings and use stick pins to hang necklaces.  But I like this, because I can easily change out the fabric and I can even use the piece of fabric for something else if I choose.

Here it is in my bedroom. Totally cute!

I’m still working through Denyse Schmidt Quilts and I’ve decided to make one of the actual QUILTS instead of one of the mini projects.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m kind of in love with square blocks created from strips (mendocino, wonky log cabin and repro fabrics). They’re easy. They’re fun. They’re practically effortless. Just cut the strips and go.

There’s a quilt in the book called What a bunch of squares which isn’t quite as effortless, but it’s a very clean and modern quilt. It caught my attention because it isn’t too far of a venture from what I’ve been doing, but it’s different enough that I won’t end up with yet another set of wonky log cabin blocks.

I’m also stepping out of my comfort zone by using colors I don’t normally use (blue, beige and brown) and by using mainly solids. I’m big into patterns, and I haven’t really delved into solids just yet.

I began this project last Friday night — the night I had set aside to finish a bunch of other WIPs (the boy was at a bachelor party canoe trip all weekend and I like to be a hermit from time to time). Of course, as per usual, I managed to start YET ANOTHER project instead of finishing all the ones I had intended to finish.

I think I got a bee in my bonnet when a co-worker mentioned that she might ask me to make a baby blanket but she didn’t know if her friend was having a boy or a girl. I realized that I haven’t really made anything that looks “boy-ish” and I thought I’d try my hand at it.

I’m making 25 blocks — then I’m going to put a 3-or-more-inch border of white around them and sew them together. Not sure what size the final blocks are going to be, but the idea is that each of the inside squares are a bit different so that they look more like they’re floating when the quilt is put together.

These aren’t too exciting yet, but I wanted to post what I’ve got going just to show colors. Seriously guys. No pink.

Just in case you were wondering, I ACTUALLY finished a project. Meet my new best friend: My Dayrunner.

Ta. Da. Is it ironic or coincidental that one of the first projects I’ve actually finished in a long time is a device to help me get organized?

I’ve been obsessed with Wonderland by Momo ever since it came out. So, I’ve started working on two new projects with what I’ve got left.

I bought a jelly roll a while back and decided to make Thea’s Puzzle Quilt (a pattern by Amy Butler). I’ve got the middle section done, so I just need to create the border of solid color that goes around it — and for Mark’s sake, I’m going to do brown instead of pink (apparently he hates pink … and I’m hoping that both him and the quilt stick around for a while!).  Then I’m going to add an oatmeal-colored fabric for the border and possibly the backing.

Above is a close-up of my favorite block. I love how the scissors pattern is echoed a bit smaller in the patchwork fabric.

I’ve also been wanting a DayRunner for a while, but I didn’t want to just buy a pre-made one. It’s not as fun if you do things the easy way! So I bought the “guts” for a DayRunner and figured out a pattern (which I will post eventually after I do a testrun with it on the road).  Of course, I used Wonderland.  Here’s how it turned out.

I need to sew a button on the front yet and I need to add some binder rings and sew those in, but otherwise, I’m loving it.

I’ve decided to drastically reduce the price of my Butterflies in Wonderland quilt on etsy.  This quilt is made from a now-discontinued line of fabric (my absolute FAVORITE) by momo from Moda.  The machine quilting is done in a contrasting yellow stitching and is in a butterfly pattern — which, when seen as a whole, turns into a centered flower pattern.

Original price: $300
Sale Price: $85

It’s almost killing me to do this — I love this quilt so much, but I’m moving soon and need some of my items to go.  I love this quilt and it’s hard to get rid of it, but it’s just got to go!

… I was on vacation in Chicago last week … but I managed to sweatshop some lovely camera/iPod/electronic cozies. They’re not quite finished, but here they are in the  making.

I decided that before I went to Chicago and to The Needle Shop (the highlight of my trip of course) that I had to work through the scraps I acquired last time I was there. So, enter, easy peasy camera/iPod cozies.

Of course, these will have button closures, but this is how far I’ve gotten for now, so I thought I’d share!

I’ve been reading the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book that Adria let me borrow and saw the heating pad project and just HAD to do it. I hardly make anything for myself, but it annoys me that I have my heating pad out in the middle of my living room and it’s so not cute. It had some weird 90s pattern on the cover.  Not a fan.

Well, now, it’s stylin’!  I used the original cover for insulation and quilted the patchwork piece to it. The original cover had a snap closure on it, so I didn’t have to mess with putting a closure on the new cover.  Pretty smart, eh?