Sewing Room Update

Serious progress has been made in setting up my sewing room.  So far, we have ...

Shelving for some quilt books, patterns and supplies:

Peg board #1 and a magnetic bulletin board:

Sewing table #1:

Metal shelf that houses the scraps (green containers), quilting and craft magazines (finally organized!) and dyeing supplies:

Cutting station with containers that will house notions like zippers, buttons, ribbons, etc.:

What's left to do:

• Sewing table #2, which will be wider and eventually hold the serger.
• Peg board #2 which will smaller and on the other side of the room.
• Organizing the fabric closets.
• Organizing sewing and quilting patterns.
• Making the design board.
• Finding room for the rest of the quilt and craft books.

It's a small sewing room, but it's my favorite room in the house!  It's almost done!  I can't wait!

Baby Quilt #3 - Simple and bright!

Happy Halloween!

Lots of people around me are having babies, so I've been busy making baby quilts.  I'm working on my third baby quilt and it is for a boy.  I spent as much time selecting and arranging the fabrics as I did sewing.  Half of the green and blue fabrics are from my stash, and the other half are new.  Here is the quilt ready to be prepared for quilting:

The quilt design is super-simple.  I cut 5" X 6" rectangles and arranged the blocks by alternating green and blue fabrics.  The sashing and border were tricky because most of the fabric I had for this quilt weren't large enough to cut a 5 1/2" border for it.  It's amazing how the quilt changes when different fabrics are placed next to them.  I wanted to use a darkish sashing to contrast with the bright fabrics, but I have some concerns about the border, even though it was the best out of some very limited choices. 

The quilt is going to be backed with fleece, which I tend to do for baby quilts.  I wanted this quilt to be simple because I wanted to spend most of my time working on the quilting.  It's going to be quilted like the Hexie Sewing Kit, and since the quilt will undoubtedly be washed numerous times, I'm going to use cotton thread for quilting.  Usually I like to use rayon thread when I machine quilt.

The deadline is tight since L will be going on maternity leave any day now.  Hope I get it done before she has the baby!

Can you believe that it's November tomorrow?  Where has this year gone?

Ready to Dye!

The dye finally got delivered! Whoo-hoo! Couldn't dye fabric without it!  Everything else is in place.  Now to only find the time ...

I bought a little too much dye because I didn't think through what I was doing.  I was so excited about dyeing fabric that I bought whatever colors appealed to me.  Unfortunately, I remembered that the process I'm using requires only the 3 primary colors after I placed the first order.  So I had to place another order, which was annoying since the 3 primary colors can be mixed to create any color in the rainbow.  There wasn't actually a need for any of the extra colors I bought.  Nothing like thinking ahead!  :)

Nevertheless, I'm so looking forward to Saturday evening when I can begin this process.  Can't wait!



Hexie Sewing Kit - Done!

Well, here it is - the Hexie Sewing Kit!  It was pretty easy to make and I really enjoyed quilting the cover.  I also modified the pattern.  In the original design, the thread holder was velcroed down, but since I didn't have velcro, I used a coordinating ribbon; it works fine and was easy to sew in.  I also didn't make the scissor pouch since I didn't make the cover wide enough to fold into thirds.  The interior of the kit is simple, but it suits my needs.

If I made another one, I would definitely take a refresher tutorial on how to sew on continuous binding.  I thought I remembered how to do it, but by the time I realized that I really didn't, I was already facing my first corner!  Oh well, hope the mistakes aren't too noticeable.  Now, the kit only needs ... hexies! LOL

Hexie Sewing Kit

I've been spending a lot of time in the hospital lately, which is why I've been rather sporadic with my blogging.  My brother is in the hospital, and I've been looking for a portable project that I can do while I'm in the hospital.  Joining the hexie movement seems like a good idea.  Practically every blog I visit features some sort of hexie project in progress!

Not only is this project portable, it also gives me an excuse to buy more red and aqua fabrics.  I love this color combination, and I LOVE any excuse to buy fabric even more!  Is that bad?  Am I addicted? :)

Unlike those dedicated hexie-ers, I'm only making a small wall hanging for my sewing room.  Thanks to Texas Freckles, I figured out the number of hexies I need by using the hexie grid that you can download from her blog.  For my project, it looks like I need to make about 200 hexies, which is manageable.

The pattern for the hexie kit is from the blog, Lots of Pink Here, as part of the the 12 Gifts of Christmas Blog Hop.   I'm making the kit in the same way, but a little bigger to store the templates for the hexies.  I'll post pictures when I have a chance.

Trip Around the World - Done!

I spent some time today finishing up this quilt, and it's done!  Hurray!  While I was quilting it, I was convinced that my quilting was going to ruin it, but after I washed the quilt and put on the binding, I was happy with the results.

The finished quilt:

I machine quilted in pink thread so that the fleece could have some definition.  A close up of the back:

The quilt, all ready to be wrapped and given to Baby G!

Enjoy the warmth, Baby G!

WIP Wednesday

I've been going through my UFOs and found these three almost-finished squares, and decided to finish it.

This pattern is from the book, The Cat's Meow (I know, it's out of print too, but you can still get it from used booksellers.  If you love cats, this book is for you!).  I actually saw all the quilts in this book when I visited Seattle years ago, which prompted me to buy the book.  It has the cutest cat quilt patterns EVER!  This is one of my favorites.  The applique is simple, but what makes this wall-hanging adorable is the details.  Each cat will be entangled in yarn, and their faces embroidered with a simple running stitch.  I'm not up to embroidery today, but I'm going to put on a sashing and border.  Not sure which sashing and border works best, so I'm going to play with some fabrics.  So happy this UFO is now a WIP!