The new wedding quilt: Does it look like a quilt?

Does it look like a quilt yet?

This is the pattern that I have to follow to piece together the triangles and rectangles to make the pattern come "alive". It is rather complicated but if you mark them correctly with the numbers then you can follow along and piece it together.

A headache waiting to happen!

So here is what I have so far. It really is coming together. The major thing is to get the pieces correctly cut out (the right sizes) and to piece it together slowly to make sure the corners match up. Some of the rows are not perfect, but they look pretty good! I am looking forward to continuing along and see how it looks once the top is all finished! More to come!

Not too shabby!

It's another wedding quilt!!!

Well! It has been a while since I posted anything on my sewing blog! Some life changes, a move back East and work has really taken over.

But I am starting a new project and it’s another wedding quilt! My son Connor and his wife Kristen are having their wedding in January so mom has to make a wedding quit! They decided they wanted a more contemporary quilt with solid colors (black and shades of gray). So I have found the following pattern which I thought was going to be not only really lovely, but challenging as well.

I can’t remember where I purchased the pattern directions (it may have been at Keepsake Quilting) but I knew when I saw it that it was exactly what I had in mind. Managed to find all the quilting cotton at local Joanne’s fabrics, although I probably will purchase the backing from Keepsake Quilting online (they have some great 100% cotton backing fabric that is 108” wide.

This is going to look lovely!

Black, gray and light gray!

Stay tuned for updates on how the quilt piecing comes along. In the meantime I am also planning several trips in the coming future and that will be discussed on my travel blog!!

A baby quilt! (for a gift!!)

Well! It has been a little while since I posted anything. I had actually finished this quilt a few weeks back but couldn't post anything until it was packaged up and shipped and received!

So a good friend of ours is expecting his first child so I just had to make up a cute baby quilt. They know that they are having a girl so I went with a very "girlie" pink theme! Since I am currently not traveling for work the last few weeks I was able to work on this in the evenings at home and finish it up in no time!

As you can see from the pictures, I went with a very pretty selection of pinks and greens purchased at Joanne's Fabrics. I know that the pattern for the quilt blocks probably has a name but I just kind of "winged it" to create the look I wanted based on how the fabric went together!

How cute is this fabric?

A photo of the block before it is stitched together

Yay! Completion

 The finished product is really cute and I am so glad that I decided on the bright pink for the fabric backing. I wanted something very feminine and also bright because babies like bright colors! The teal green I chose for the binding was not my first choice. I wanted a pink binding but couldn't find the color that I wanted so I chose the teal. I am SO glad I did. It really "pops" and brings the whole quilt together and also the darker color won't stain as easy!

The bright pink back!

All 100% cotton fabrics with 100% cotton batting for ultimate softness! Machine pieced and hand quilted by yours truly! I really like making baby quilts because they go together so quickly and you see results much faster than bed quilts.

And the parents-to-be notified me that they received the quilt and love it so it was a success!! Until next time....

How do you store your fabric?

A recent thought came to be concerning fabric storage. How do you store your fabric stash? Everyone has different ways to store their fabric, based on their individual circumstances.

The way I store my fabric is based on what type of sewing space I had over the years. When we lived in base housing on Camp Pendleton years ago, I only had a small table stuffed in the corner of our bedroom dedicated to sewing. So I used those plastic tubs you can get at Target to store fabric under the bed. It wasn’t really efficient, as you had to dig through the tubs when you needed something. But for the time being, it worked. When we bought our first house in Temecula, I did have a little more room, but still no dedicated sewing space. I would set up a table in the bedroom or use the dining room table if necessary.

Now I find that I have an entire bedroom upstairs to dedicate to my sewing. Yay! (Although I do have to share a closet with my husband’s military uniforms!) I have space for both my quilting fabric and my fashion fabric. So I thought I would share some of my ideas for storing that fabric stash!!

1:             Separate the fabric for quilting and the fashion fabric (also called dressmaking fabric). It is easier for me to keep them separate as they are used for such different projects.

2:             Prewash. Whenever I bring new fabric into the house, I always prewash it before I store it. If it is machine washable, it gets washed and dried and then folded and put away. Always. This way I never have an issue wondering if I have pre washed and shrunk a fabric.

3:            I always run an iron over the fabric to get the worst of the wrinkles out and then fold the fabric and put it away in the drawers.

4:            If for some reason I can’t prewash that day, I leave the fabric in the bag I brought it home in on my sewing table. This reminds me that it is unwashed.

Currently I have two “dressers” for storing fabric. The one I use for my fashion fabric is an older blue 4-drawer dresser that used to be in my son’s bedroom when he was little. It is not the prettiest thing, but it serves its purpose. All the fabric is folded and then placed in the drawers organized by type.  (And the drawers are lined with tissue paper). One drawer for wool, one for silks and silk like, one for linings and one for misc. It works out really well and it is easy to find something when I need it.

For the quilt fabric, I use a plastic 3 drawer-rolling cart (like you get at Target). I keep solid quilting fabric in one and the printed fabric in another. The top drawer is used for misc quilting stencils and perhaps some unfinished quilting blocks.

I also have a large metal shelving unit that I use for books, sewing magazines and all my notions. I use the colored printed boxes that you can get a Michael’s very inexpensively. (Perhaps 5 for $10?). They are called photo boxes and used for storing pictures for scrapbooking. I label them and it keeps everything organized. One each for thread, ribbons, sewing notions, zippers, bias tape, etc. They look really pretty sitting on the shelf and it is so easy to find what I am looking for.

So that’s my way of organizing my sewing room and fabric stash. Everyone has different needs for their sewing and is at a different place in their life. This works for me, but might not work for everyone.

So how do you store your fabric??