Tree of LIfe

"It is a tree of life to them that hold fast to it..."  These are the lyrics to a song I grew up with.  When I saw this pattern that is the first thing I thought of.  This watercolor quilt is my tree of life quilt.  It was made using fusible grid interfacing.  If you have not used this before it is amazing.  You just lay it out and start adding your 2 inch squares.  When you have your pattern set you iron on the squares and then sew down the rows.  I have been using this product for a long time and have found lots of wonderful uses for it.

Favorite Shirt Re-Invented as a Cardigan

This was one of my favorite shirts.  Then it mysteriously obtained a stain on it that would not come out.  I mean this was a stain like no other.  I really didn't want to part with the shirt so I decided to try turning it into a cardigan.  There are tons of blogs with info on how to do this.  It seems to be all the rage now.  I went to Joann's and bought some Heat and Bond Tape.  I bought two sizes because I wasn't sure what size I wanted to use.  I ended up using the 3/4 inch.  I measured (well not really, I just eyed and pulled it to the center) and pinned the shirt in the center.  I then cut down the middle.  I followed the directions and made two seams on each side.  I thought this is going great.  I am totally loving this.  Then I realized the stain was still visible.  This was a big stain.  So I added some buttons.  The center button is covering the stain.  Is it perfect?  No.  But it was a great learning experience and now I have a nice summer cardigan.  I think I may try this again with some old sweaters or a Goodwill find.  Try it.  No sewing required.

Tree of Life

This is my Tree of Life watercolor.  It is a work in progress (WIP).  My mom had given me all of her watercolor one inch squares the she had left over.  I searched around for an idea.  I am not a hearts and cats type of girl.  I wanted to do something more with my watercolor quilt.  I really like this tree.  I feel like some of the leaves are falling off and the ground is a little mossy.  At my local fabric store you can buy grid material that you can iron on.  So once you have your design complete you iron the squares on the grid.  Then you just have to fold and sew on the lines.  My mom says this is cheating but I say it is evolution.  Why should I sew each square to another square when I can sew an entire row all together.  This way at least I have a chance of getting straight lines.  I still need to decide on a boarder and a backing.  And then I need to decide what to do with it.  I may keep it or I may give it away to a friend.

Baby Girl Fun

My friend had a baby girl.  And what an adorable baby she is.  So of course I had to make some baby girls things.  Who doesn't want to make baby girl things!!  The dress is a onsie that I sewed a skirt on.  I used a blind hem stitch for the first time which was amazing and gave it a very nice finish.  I used a gathered stitch at the top.  I think this may be the cutest thing I have ever made.

Next I used my acuiquilt and some wonderunder to make these cute cut outs.  I ironed them on and then free stitched a rambling pattern to secure them.  So cute and super easy.  I also made the mommy a nursing cover.  I had made these before so it went together quickly.  I almost want to have another baby just so I can make tons of cute baby girl things.

Butterfly Strip Piece Quilt

Happy New Year to my 16 loyal followers. I have left you a drift for several months.  But have no fear I have a couple of new posts coming up.  We will start with this one.  This is a strip piece quilt, sometimes called a string quilt.  It uses all scraps and was made one block at a time.  This took some orchestrating as I had to make sure to make the correct number of colored blocks so that the pattern would work out.  This is my own design and I laid everything out like a map before I started quilting.  The scraps were sewn onto 10 inch blocks.  The base of the block was made from a white IKEA sheet.  I figured since only one strip of the sheet would show I didn't need to spend a lot on a base material.  I added some butterflies that I cut with my acuquilt.  I also added pink rickrack when I was binding the quilt.  This quilt possibly, maybe, has too many things on it.  But since I was making it for myself I decided to go all out.  I took this quilt to work as I felt by cubicle needed some color.  So now it hangs on the back of my chair and just blasts color.  I actually received a compliment from a male co-worker!

Moolicious

Don't you just love it? I do.  It is my farm quilt.  I have wanted to make this for such a long time.  I just couldn't find the right fabric for the background.  Then one day I was staring at this blue and white striped shirt in the "drop off at Goodwill" pile.  Lightbulb!!!!  However, the shirt was just a little bit too white.  So I tea stained it.  If you are unfamiliar with this process it is when you make a large batch of hot tea ( I use Lipton) and then soak your fabric in it until you get the desired color.  I had to soak the shirt for a couple of hours.  Then I let it air dry, ironed it, and it was ready to go.  I also did this for the cow and the pig.  Just keep checking the fabric so the color doesn't get darker then you want.  This gives the fabric a little bit of an old look, sort of country style.  It turned out great.  The animals were cut out using wonder under and a stencil.  The pattern calls for hand sewing around the animals and leaving the edges unfinished.  I can't hand sew anymore so I just machine stitched them.  I hung this cutie in my office cubicle.  And way I say cubicle I literally mean I work in a cube with three walls and an open passageway for a door.  This place needs all the sprucing up it can get.  This quilt makes my work space very homey.  Happy quilting.

My Maui Reversible Bag

I saw a pattern on Pinterest for this cute reversible bag.  I had some Hawaiian fabric that was just screaming to be made into a purse.  So now I have a super cute bag to take to Maui.