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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A Quilting adventure

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This post is very delayed…mostly because the gift-giving was delayed so I couldn’t share it until the special little-ones received their gifts.

 

 

Last summer I made pillowcase-dresses for two of my friends’ daughters. Here’s one of the finished dresses (lets call this Fabric 2012-06-15 18.11.58no.1) –>

 

I had some fabric left over from each dress and designed to make each little girl a blanket for their First Birthdays.

Let me first say I have never quilted before.

I learned how to sew the seams so that the fabric lays flat, and how to make borders…thank goodness for You Tube!  There are so many great resources on the interwebs; I’m a very visual learner so while reading a book with instructions is great, watching videos is much better for my learning style.

Here’s the quilt top to the blanket using Fabric no. 2)

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The quilt tops take the most time, all the cutting, piecing, arranging and then sewing. For the backing I decided to use one large piece of flannel.   I sandwiched some cotton batting (I used Warm and Natural) between the flannel and the quilt top and started to quilt the blanket.

I decided to keep the lines on a vertical/horizontal plane, and quilted in straight lines, at equidistance to each other.  My sewing machine came with a quilting guide, I was very happy to have it as I can’t cut/sew a straight line on my own to save my life.

Let’s go back to Fabric no 1 (I didn’t take any finished pictures of Fabric no. 2 blanket).

DSC02891I like the ‘crinkly’ look of quilts, so I didn’t wash the fabric before hand to preshrink it, I wanted that to happen after it was sewn.

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Both blankets are lap-size, perfect for the car or stroller or little naps on the couch.

Overall, I`m pleased with how they turned out…I’m less intimidated by my sewing machine now, am very friendly with my seam-ripper and well…I vow to conquer the elusiveness b*tch that is binding. (I used this amazing tutorial…sewing the binding isn`t difficult, but you do have to go slow and learn to sew a straight line…hence my frustration)

These little blankets are basically warm up for my next quilting adventure…a quilt for my Queen size bed.  I bought the fabric last summer on a birthday shopping trip to Michigan and bought the Alice Quilt Pattern by Red Pepper Quilts

I don`t know when I’ll be starting, but I’ll be sure to post the process…maybe you can give me tips on sewing straight lines?

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

Monday, February 18, 2013

Clean lines, bright colours

Happy Family Day!  Here in Ontario it’s our first long weekend of the year, Family Day. I’m grateful for an extra day to get things done…sometimes the weekends are just not enough time to get everything done.

Last year I made some cards and invitations for a bakery in a small town outside of London.  I kept the design simple, but I loved the impact the white space and the bright colours had.

I love this turqoise and pink card, the little scalloped edge, the patterns on the presents…love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made another card to coordinate with the pink and turquoise and this time, I used the balloon stamp from the set.

 

I don’t often use bright colours, I tend to stick to the earthy colours, but I love how these looks and need to remember to branch out from my routine.

 

Both cards are available in the A Paper Buffet shop and I’ve got more to list and share with you.

 

 

 

Happy Monday!

 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

I’m here, I promise

Things have been quiet here in blog land…I’ve been busy with work, custom orders and Knitley Road and life outside of work, custom orders and Knitley Road. 

I’ve a number of projects to share with you, so many I don’t really know where to start!

The first one I’ll share is a knit project I actually made for myself.  Knit items for me are few and far between…I started this sweater last June, put it down for months and months and picked it back up over the Christmas holidays and finished it up a few weeks back.

I saw this pattern in Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller, it’s the Lore Hoodie by Cirilia Rose- the hoodie on the cover. 

I picked a Peruvian wool close to the yarn used in the original one and I love how it turned out.

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The lighting in the living room is much better than in front of the mirror, so I’m having Twiggy model it for me.

For my first (adult) sweater, and first item I knit for me that’s not a scarf, I’m so happy and have completely caught the “knit-myself-a-sweater” bug.  I have a few patterns earmarked for the next one, but I haven’t picked one just yet.

I’ve a few more projects to share with you, some paper, and some fibre, and a few others…

Happy Saturday!

 

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