August 4, 2014

Quilted Drawstring Play Mat - A Gift For a Friend

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A friend recently had a teeny tiny, precious baby girl.  I knew I'd make her a quilt - quilters just seem to do that!  My dilemma was that she herself sews and makes quilts, so I wanted to make something unique and unusual that she wouldn't likely make herself.  Ah ha, I thought, I have just the pattern on hand - Tickle and Hide's Drawstring Playmat.
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
Reversible, no less.
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
Draw up the ties, and it's a bag to hold a toy stash ...

Pull out the edges, and it's a playmat!
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
I have been watching Strip Your Stash, a Craftsy class, and learned a simple technique for creating straight seams on strip sets like this.  It worked like a charm, and my strip sets were straight even before ironing and remained that way.
I ♥ the 3D look of the backing fabric!
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
There is a layer of batting between the two layers of fabric.  Somehow the batting scrap that was inside of a fusible batting bag in my closet was not fusible, and so as not to waste it since I had already cut the six edges, I had to pin the layers, which is not normal for me.  I use fusible batting for baby-sized and smaller quilts and regular batting on the long-arm for lap size and larger.  

To quilt the playmat I used my walking foot and the wavy stitch as wide and long as possible, stitching on both sides of each seam.  I survived the pins but once again confirmed that I ♥ fusible batting!
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
I now know why Tickle and Hide sells these quilted bags for $152...!!!  There are a lot of steps to the binding and drawstring sleeves!  
Quilted Drawstring Play Mat / Toy Bag
Quilt Stats:
  • Pattern:  Drawstring quilted playmat by Tickle and Hide on Etsy.
  • Fabric:  That luscious fabric is a Technicolor Strip Roll by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller, along with a few Kona Solids, a Flower Sugar by Lecien, an Amy Butler print, and a Happy Tones print.  
  • Size:  40-ish inches across
  • Batting:  100% cotton
  • Backing:  Technicolor Cubix
  • Binding:  Kona Pink
  • Drawstring and Sleeves:  Technicolor print
  • Value:  Uniquely one-of-a-kind and so practical!

Linking to: 

Fresh Poppy Design Sew Fresh Quilts Needle and Thread Thursday
Let's Make Baby Quilts June 2015

August 2, 2014

Custom King-Sized Phoebe's Flower Box Quilt - Progress #1

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Just out of the fabric closet is this fantastic collection of Phoebe by Another Point of View for Windham.  This is a custom king-size quilt for my sister.  I bought the fabric last year !!  and am just now beginning the quilt for her!  I thought about keeping its progress a secret from her {she reads this blog!}, but I always make progress posts for custom quilts to share with my customers the process of creating their quilts, so I'll do the same for her quilt. 
King-Sized Phoebe's Flower Box
The strips are all cut, all 112 of them, prints 3" wide and solid gray 2".  I have 21 yards of Phoebe fabric for the quilt top, backing, and binding, and it looks like there won't be much left after making pillow shams.  The wide outer border and the backing will be the navy flower burst shown on the right in the picture above.
The pattern is Phoebe's Flower Box which handily happens to be a video on Missouri Star's YouTube channel.  The written instructions are found in this Quilting Quickly magazine.  
Because this is a huge quilt, and I want to speed up the process, I am altering the pattern somewhat, though the final result will be similar to the pattern shown.  I am increasing the finished block size from 6" to 8" which reduces the number of blocks from 208 to 120 {I think that's right!}.  I was going to make the inside of each block just two strips rather than four rectangles, but I will make it as shown.  Otherwise the pattern will be quite different, and I don't want her to be disappointed that it isn't as wonderful as the original Flower Box pattern.  So the only change is block size.

This video can be found HERE if it doesn't appear above in your reader.

Linking to:
Freshly Pieced

August 1, 2014

Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt

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Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt
Lovey Dovey by Riley Blake is a super sweet collection of flowers, dots, stripes, and lovebirds mailing letters!
Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt
I am falling in love with layer cakes!  They are so open-and-go!
Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt
This is a great Missouri Star YouTube quilt pattern!
Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt
In my stash were two perfect Lecien fabrics for the backing - a Flower Sugar with tiny pink and white checks mixed with flowers and a lavender/white check.
Lovey Dovey Baby Quilt
Quilt Stats:
  • Pattern:  Double Slice Layer Cake by Missouri Star Quilt Co.
  • Size:  34" x 40"
  • Fabric:  Lovey Dovey by Riley Blake, one 10-inch stacker
  • Batting:  100% cotton
  • Backing:  Flower Sugar in Pink and Lavender/White Check, both by Lecien
  • Quilting:  Allover small meandering stitch in white thread on Mrs.Bernina, my old 830 which was my grandmother's.
  • Binding:  Double fold in Lavender/White check by Lecien, attached by machine for durability with mitered corners.
  • Value:  Soft and sweet, ready for some drool!
This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop, BusyHandsQuilts!!

Linking to:

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