cruly vintagine

Thứ Năm, 5 tháng 1, 2012

Hand quilting

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I used to hand quilt everything. Back in the days when machine quilting had the look of a mattress pad. It's been years and I've kind of missed it. Of course I haven't missed the length of time it takes to hand quilt a quilt.

So I've decided to combine a bit of machine quilting with some big-stitch hand quilting.

It's really the perfect winter evening, relaxing activity.

I'm using size 8 pearl cotton and size 5 embroidery needle. I like the slowness!

To answer a few questions:

My collages were done on a free photo editing site ~ picnik

My bowls came from anthropologie (one of my favorite places :)

word for 2012

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The past 2 years, like many others, I've chosen a word for the year. One little word to focus on. This year my word may surprise you. "effortless"

I like the definition: achieved with admirable ease

Does it mean I'm not going to try anything difficult or new? On the contrary. I have some challenging new and exciting plans for 2012!

It's more about an attitude. A knowing that whatever comes my way can be handled with ease.

And allowing the creativity to flow instead of forcing it.

And letting go of perfectionism, knowing the best of what we are is more than enough.

And appreciating what is right in front of me

And slowing down to... well, you know...

Here's to a fabulous 2012! Thank you for going along for this ride with me. I truly appreciate you coming to my corner of the internet.

2011 Quilts

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30 quilt projects in 2011! Some are small and I really had a goal of finishing up all my unquilted tops.

That didn't happen, but there's always next year! Have a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas

from my house

to yours!

Metro Link

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My Metro Link quilt is done! {except for a little more binding stitching tonight} In plenty of time for Christmas. I wasn't worried, were you? The pattern is from i like orange too and available on etsy.

The background is Free Spirit's Nugray - my new favorite gray. The fabric is soft and smooth and the color is perfect!

I paired it with lots of scraps - many snagged from a door prize and scrap swap at our STL Modern Quilt Guild - in aqua blue, lime green, yellow, orange and gray.

I tried to stay away from anything floral and stuck with geometric patterns and some fun fabrics - like these toasters and measuring cups...

Some cool ducks...

The back is a wonderfully soft flannel of gray with white dots and the binding is a Joel Dewberry herringbone blue.

I've been trying to find the perfect quilt for my city-boy son for a while and when my friend Mary Claire showed hers at our guild - I knew that's what I would do. I hope he loves it!!

How I make Chevrons

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Thought I would share today how I make chevrons. I'm sure there are other methods, but this is working for me and pretty quick and easy!

First the difference between a chevron and a zig zag (in my humble opinion). This is a chevron ~ the angled stripes are long and skinny, or longer than they are wider.

This is a zig zag ~ the stripes are not as long between the angles and can be made with triangles.

I've been strip piecing my chevrons. Start with a strips that are all the same width or vary in width - doesn't matter. Sew the strips together, off-setting each strip based on the finished size of the strip you're sewing it to. These strips are cut 1" and finish at 1/2". Each strip is off-set 1/2" as they're sewn together. If your strips vary in size the off-set will change based on the size of the top strip.

For each chevron you'll need to make a second set the same way, except that it will "step" in the opposite direction creating a mirror image set.

Find the 45 degree line on you ruler and place it along one of the seam lines of your strip set as close to the off-set edge as possible.

Trim the end - creating a 45 degree angle.

Your chevrons can be any width. In this example they are 1 1/2". Cut your chevron units parallel to the 45 degree edge whatever width you chose. Do the same with the mirror image set.

Sew your sets together alternating the two directions. then trim the top and bottom evenly.

This set was used for the eyeglass case I made.

Here are a few tips:

Press the seams in one direction on the first set and the opposite direction on the mirror image set. This way the seams will nestle when you sew the units together.
After you cut your first 45 degree angle, try not to move the strip set if possible. The edge is bias and loses it's shape easily. Think about this as you lay your strip set on your board to make the first cut.
If you make your first and last strips extra wide, you'll have room to square it up without cutting off any of the chevrons.

Here's how that might look...

And here's the result. You can see too that I alternated the background color in this example. It required 4 strip sets - 2 with color and white and 2 with color and gray.

Remember the pillow I made? The strips were varied in width on this one...

Here's my chevron quilt also. The colored strips were cut 2 1/2" and the white strips 1". Since this was a long quilt, I made the chevrons in sections, by doing about 6 colored strips and 6 white strips at a time. That way the section wasn't any longer than my ruler. Then I sewed the sections together to make long rows.