a blog about my quilting life...mostly

a blog about my quilting life...mostly
Showing posts with label new project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new project. Show all posts

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Hooray, the slump is gone!

 Hello again, 

After last week's melancholic post, I am back to report that I'm back in the swing of things once again!

Do you know what did the trick? Cleaning up the giant pile of mess that was cluttering up my space!  I had Easter items sitting out, as well as closet doors blocking my floor ( more on that a little later), and I think all that clutter inhibited my desire to sew. So after a great big clean up and removal of closet parts, PLUS having an easy pattern sitting out and waiting, I was ready!

And here are the results:






This was a super easy pattern to make, especially with the help of my Go!cutting machine, plus it used some leftover layercake squares, so it was a win-win. The striped border gives it a little beach-hut vibe, don't you think? If you are interested in the pattern ( it is FREE), you can find it in this link ( click).

(please note that I sometimes use affiliate links in my posts. These do not add to your cost in any way, if you purchase through one)

After finishing this quilt late Friday afternoon, I was inspired by a member in my FB group who makes a different quilt from her scraps once a year. I happen to have just a few ( ahem) overflowing baskets and bags of scraps so I set to work with my cutter once again and created a lovely little pile of 3.5 inch squares, which I am planning on sewing together to make another quilt! 


While I was sorting through my scraps I also found a pretty big pile of 2.5 inch squares ( obviously leftover from another project, although I can't recall from what!) and I have put those aside to sew another little quilt. So you see, lots of new ideas to inspire :).

And then I must really get to quilting some of these quilt tops! They have been piling up and I think it is time to do something with them. Back in November I treated myself to a  Cutie quilt frame, which lets you use your domestic sewing machine almost as a mini longarm. I have only played with it once, as it requires my regular sewing table as a surface to sit on, so I want to keep the switching from sewing to quilting to a minimum. Here is a picture of it in action:


I will share more details on how this setup works sometime in the future. It is a pretty cool system, and I like that I can use the BSR function of my Bernina to get pretty professional looking quilting done.

And finally, in case you were wondering about those closet doors I mentioned at the start....
As many of you know, our current house was a bit of a fixer-upper when we bought it almost 5 years ago, and it had wallpaper EVERYWHERE. We finally removed the very last of it over the past month or so while redoing our teenage son's bedroom. He was not bothered by the wallpaper ( he had huge posters covering most of the walls), but I really wanted him to have HIS own room for a few more years before heading off to college. So after installing new flooring, painting the ceiling and walls, and adding a bigger bed, everything is now complete and back in place...yay, no more closet doors to trip over in my quilt room :). 


Alright, that is all for now. Next time I will share a fun SLOW sewalong that I have been hosting for the members of my FB group, AND I will share which sewalong I'm joining this summer ( and I invite you to join in as well!) 
If you would like to join my FB group, click here ( click)
And if you would like to receive my blog posts when I publish ( never more than once a week, and usually much less frequent), just send me an email here (click) and I will get you added onto my list.

Until next time~happy creating!
Monique


Monday, January 3, 2022

Happy New Year!

 Hello friends, 

I hope you all had a nice, relaxing, and rejuvenating Christmas break! Ours was wonderful, with all our kids home for Christmas. We enjoyed each other's company, played games, watched movies, and ate way too many yummy food and treats. So now it's time to get back into a post-holiday mindset...goodbye chocolate, I will miss you!

I had so many good intentions of finishing up some of my Christmas quilts before Christmas, but I didn't do one stitch on any of those projects! That's okay, because I am planning on working on these quilts now, and then I will have them finished for sure by next Christmas ;). 




One new project that I have decided to add to my list is my embroidered journal. I recently read about someone who kept a journal of embroidered words and images for an entire year ( 365 of them!) to have as a keepsake of that year at the end. I loved that idea but,  being a realist, knew that I would NEVER keep up with that many embroideries. So I am making it simpler on myself by just doing one embroidery per week. That is 52 images or words, and that is a much more doable number for me. Want to join me? All you will need is some background fabric, a hoop,  a little notebook, a pencil, and your favorite embroidery floss, so there is really not a lot of prep. 


 Here is what I'm using/doing:

  • Fabric: I prepped two pieces of muslin ( cut a little larger than 18 by 24 inches). You can make yours whatever size you want, but make sure it is close to a standard poster -size frame, because you will want to frame this, right?! I stitched my muslin pieces together around the outside edges, like this: 
Why 2 pieces? Because I don't want my thread to show through to the front if I "travel". Normally I use batting behind my embroidery, but I'm planning on framing this and I wasn't sure if the batting would be an issue.

  • A hoop~ if you use one to do embroidery: It can be a small one, because you will only be embroidering one item at a time, so your hoop can move wherever you need it.
  • A little notebook: This is to jot down ideas or happenings from your week. You can pick one at the end of the week that you choose to use. 

  • A pencil: For recording your ideas and to draw your design on your fabric.
  • Embroidery thread: Use your favorite. I'll be using my absolute favorite thread for embroidery and big stitch quilting: Sulky Cotton Petites ( click). The reason why I like it? One strand is equivalent to 2 strands of regular ( DMC) floss, but you don't have to separate anything...just cut and sew.
That is really all you will need to sew along on this project with me. I am going to be sharing my "entry" into my journal every Sunday on Instagram, so you can check it out there. I might even remember to share some of them here and in my Facebook group. If you are going to sew along, use the hashtag #journaling2022withembroidery when you post your photos so that I can find you, and also feel free to tag @farmhousequilts. The more, the merrier!

Alright, that is all for this week. Next week I'll be sharing a little home improvement project I started this week...oh the joys of living in an older home ;).

Until next time~happy creating!
Monique


Thursday, March 11, 2021

Li'l Twister~ what is it and why do you need it?

 Hello friends, 


Recently I was tidying up my quilt room. I started sorting through all my rulers and gadgets, and realized that I have a bit of a problem! I love getting new rulers and specialty templates and gadgets, but I'm not very good about actually using them. So I am going to remedy that by learning to use all those gadgets and rulers and templates and sharing the results right here on my blog once in a while!

This time I am sharing a new- to- me gadget, the L'il Twister.  This has been around for a few years, but I only recently got my hands on one. The idea behind this tool is that you sew your squares together, add borders, and then place and cut around the template to make your twisted blocks. Super simple and very fun! 

For my first attempt I picked out a charm pack by Lella Boutique and set to work sewing the squares together. 



Then it was time to add a border....I found this cute fabric that I thought would work well... 


And then it was time for the fun part: Using the L'il Twister tool to cut squares! 


The instructions are super easy to follow and you just place your template on the correct seams and cut away...
The only thing I found a little tricky was moving around my work area to cut on all 4 sides of the template. Next time I might choose to do this part of a table so I can more easily walk around.
 You work your way all along your first row and then move onto the second row. Really, the instructions couldn't be simpler! As you cut your squares, you can straighten them out and lay them ( in the exact same order you cut them) by your sewing machine . When you are all done, your worktable will look like this: 
And after you trim off the little bits and bobs so that the leftovers can be used as scraps in another project, you will be left with this look....
Hahahahahaha!
Okay, your squares are now ready to be sewn together into their little pinwheel blocks!

Don't they look fun? 

You sew all your blocks into rows and then sew your rows together, and you end up with something like this: 
At this point there are no more instructions with the L'il Twister tool so now you are on your own! I decided to add some borders to my little quilt so chose a fun grey stripe and some more floral fabric that felt Spring-y to me. 

Fun fact: The striped fabric and the floral fabric both came from my stash, and are all by the same designer as the charm pack I used in the center, but from different fabric lines. I had no idea they were all by the same person, but got suspicious when they all went so well together and so investigated the selvedges. I would have preferred a mitered corner on my borders, but seeing as I only had a FQ of the striped fabric, and there was NO way I was going to piece that and try to match those stripes to make a longer piece, I decided to go with this look instead!
Because I really, really wanted to finish this quilt quickly ( and because I have just a few other handquilting projects on the go already (*insert eyeroll here)), I decided to quilt this one by machine. 
I used my circle templates and my blue water erasable marker to mark 2 concentric circles on every other pinwheel, and quilted those, as well as quilting next to the ditch on the border fabric. 

 I found a dark grey that I thought would go well with my stripey fabric to use for the binding( and yes, you guessed it, it was made by the same designer!) and had a marathon binding section so that I could take pictures to share with you! And here is the final result! 







Turned out pretty cute and I am excited to make another one with different fabrics!

By the way, did you know that this Twister template now comes in 6 different sizes?? You can use a piece of fabric as small as 2.5 inches ( or mini charm square) all the way up to a 10 inch square! I saw some awfully cute patterns  to make pouches using the mini twister tool! And there is a pattern to make a gnome ( squeal!!) twister quilt!

I know that this Twister template has been around for a while so am curious as to how many of you have made your own Twister quilt? Tell me in the comments!

For your convenience I am providing the links to the products I mention in this blog post. If you purchase something through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting me in this small way!

L'il Twister template ( click)

Blue air erasable marker ( click)

Lella Boutique fabric ( the ones I used don't seem to be available anymore, but this link brings you to some other great choices by the same designer) ( click).

Bigger Better Circles templates ( click).

Until next time~happy creating!

Monique