Lizzy House Quilt Top & Pillow

I absolutely adore Lizzy House Fabrics.  My favorites by far are the 1001 Peeps and the Castle Peeps.  I hunted and hunted for a good scrappy lot of these prints until I finally found a set of 50 13X8" prints on Etsy!  The set also included some of her wonderful Outfoxed prints.  When they arrived I just sat and looked at them and organized them and looked at them some more.  I was a bit timid about starting a quilt.  I wanted to use up every last scrap of this yummy stuff.  And, I did!!!

I found a pattern in a magazine and used it as a base for my big blocks (some changes were required) then I made up my own borders.  It's about 60" x 50"  It'll be a nice comfy size when I'm done.  I used some flannel that I have on hand for the backing.  Now I just need to layer and quilt it up!

Just look at those yummy fabrics.... drool...... Above is the blocks about to be assembled.  Below is the finished quilt top.  Notice those HST's in the corners of the border.... I've come to learn that I need a LOT more practice matching up points.

With the tiny scraps I had left I made a pillow.  In both the quilt and pillow I used some of the selvages in the seams.  I'm really happy with them both. And, the pillow has already seen cuddle time.

Finished Solstice Star Series Quilt

I finished the top to my Solstice Star Series Quilt Along today.  I posted about 4 of the squares here.  I used a different pattern for the 5th block.  The 5th block from the series I'll make for the back.  I'm loving the top. Very crazy colorful and busy... but you can't help but smile when you look at it.   I found the polka dot rainbow batik at the Puyallup Fabric Show a few weeks ago.  It was a remnant at 52 x 44.  I needed it to be 60 x 44 so I added the rainbow up top.  For the backing I'm using a nice batik and am going to try and keep it very simple.   I'm planning on just straight line quilting it.

Dusting Off My Spinning Wheel

I've been busy the last 2 weeks spinning up tons of the fiber that I have laying around the house.  Some of these beauties will be heading off to my Etsy store.  Others will remain here with me to either be looked at or used.  I was planning on a lengthy post about my love of spinning, but I decided to just skip to the yummy yarn goodness!

First up is an awesome art yarn.  I had a bag of junk from my drum carder.  In the bag was also some random feathers and boa pieces.   I fluffed up the whole bag and put it into a box next to me.  Then I just grabbed pieces and let it spin up as it wanted to.  I'm crazy about how it turned out.  It's already about 3/4 of the way knit into a small bag.  Stats:  Various wools and about 80 yards.

 

 Next is 700 yards of SW BFL goodness.  So far BFL is my favorite to spin.  It spins soo nice and evenly.  I plied this with some cashmere and nylon stretchy lace weight recycled yarn.  It's extremely soft and squooshy.  I'm thinking of making some long arm warmers with it.

 

 This one was spun from my "Earth & Sky" Batt.  It's about 190 yards and I plied it with string and bead with some coils in it.  Mixed wools including bamboo.

 This one is about 50 yards and was just some random junky greens and some funky pieces of dyed corriedale bits.  It's another art yarn.

 

 This one just makes me swoon.  It's 70/30 Merino Silk.  2 Oz and and 210 yards.  I plied it with some thread and matching beads.  The oblong pinkish purple beads are left over from a necklace my hubby made our oldest daughter years ago.  Her favorite color right now is purple so this is destined to be a scarf for her.

 

 I wish I remembered more about what this one is.  I know it's Merino and the colors are soooo much prettier in person.  It spun up very lofty and squooshy.  It's alread a shawl.  I still need to block it and take photos of it.  That'll be another post.  It hink it had about 250 yards... maybe more.

 

 

 I think this one is my favorite. The deep plum is merino and the blue heathery one is merino / silk.  I spun this so I would have long pulls of plum and then long pulls of the blue/plum.  So, it'll stripe.  It's got 238 yards in just 3 oz!  I think this is my best job so far on even fingering - sports weight yarn.  I'm still needing so much work on making fine yarns.  But, I'm thrilled with this one.

 

 

Last but not least is this Merino / Tussah Silk blend two ply.  It's in southwest colors.  Not my favorite, but I'm very happy with my spinning and the finished yarn is extremely soft and very pretty.  4 oz and 225 yards.  I'd say it's a heavy worsted weight.

That's it for now.  I'm off to spin up some thick n thin while the boy sleeps!

Tutorial - Storing Board Puzzles

We've had many a board puzzle in our house over the years.  In between kids and when we move we always seem to loose pieces.  So, I came up with a way to store these puzzles with their pieces without loosing anything!  This will work with any board puzzle with or without the little nubbins.  For puzzles without nubbins just cut the contact paper to size and stick down.

Materials Needed:
Board Puzzle
Contact Paper (any will do... I just have clear laying around so I used that)
Scissors

Step One:  Measure and cut your contact paper to just smaller than your puzzle top.  No photo here...

Step Two:  Starting in the middle of your puzzle, use your fingers to find your first nubbin and cut an X with your scissors.  Slide it down onto the nubbin.  Continue until you have cut all your X's for every nubbin.  Note that the contact paper is right side up!

Step Three:  Starting on on side remove the paper backing and press it down onto the board.

 

Step Four:  Admire your storable puzzle!!

Step Five:  When wanting to use the puzzle again just peel it off and play.

*Please note that my puzzles have been storing like this for about 6 months now and they are still pealing off just fine.  I'm not sure however how these would do for years on end.  I would suggest checking them every so often to ensure that they are pealing away without difficulty.  I also want to note that I've pealed some of this stuff off wooden drawer bottoms that has been stuck down for a decade without it injuring the wood at all... so I would think it wouldn't be any different with these puzzles.

Solstice Star Series - Block Along

Monday night I happened upon this blog post over on Fresh Lemons Quilt Blog.  What a pretty blog!  And, those star blocks are to die for!  Tuesday morning I started on the three blocks that were from previous weeks and was able to get them all finished.  This morning I refreshed the page and found that week 4's block was posted.  During Cael's nap I was able to finish that one.

Week One Block

 Week Two Block

I'm using all batiks with white as my background color.  I wanted to do a rainbow of colors on each star.  But, I was really surprised to find a total lack of yellows and oranges in my stash.  (the fabric show next month will be the prefect place to fix this problem!)  So, for those colors I'm fussy cutting some of my multicolored batiks.  So far I'm really happy with these.  I'm thinking it'll be a small quilt.  Goodness knows I don't want anything to difficult to quilt on my machine.  I am planning on adding some stars from her Summer Sampler as well.

Week Three Block

Week Four Block

1930's Dresden Quilt

I saw this blog post at the beginning of the month and I immediately knew I'd found the perfect pattern for my 1930's reproduction print fabrics.  I've had these fabrics for a good 3 years now just waiting for inspiration to strike.  I purchased the Dresden ruler and began the work of cutting it all out.  I have to say that I was really excited to be working on this quilt.  I swear, it just put itself together.  I spent all my free time during Cael's naps and evenings after the kids went to bed for over a week.

I'm making the quilt bigger than the one in the Scrappy Plate Club.  I'm making it a queen by using 20 blocks and adding more borders to the outside.  Picture above shows over 600 4" plates cut out.  I did end up cutting out another 100 or so for the border.

 Finished plate above. I removed the dark red floral one.  It really stood out and looked funny to me.

 Finished Dresden block.  I purchased some Kona cotton in a vintage blue color for the centers and borders. And, the background fabric is a great white with red dot.   I used the blanket stitch on my machine to applique the plate down using red, green, and yellow embroidery thread.

Here's two nice views of the quilt top minus the final two borders.  It was so big that I couldn't get it all in the photo.  I used each of the fabrics for the little blocks between the sashing. 

Finished quilt top on my king size bed.  I can't believe how big the queen actually is. In the top picture I have it placed on the bed the right way.  I really love the red inner border.  In the bottom picture it's pictured with the long sides going over the sides of my bed. (wrong way that it would go on a queen)

Here are some bonus pics of the bottom corners and scrappy border.  I'm trying to use up as much of my fabrics as I can.  So, I used the Dresden ruler to cut out more blades and I sewed them up to make a scrappy border.  I really love how it looks.  The blue dot on the outside border is the same fabric that will be used on the backing.

I've had a lot of fun with this quilt. Now, I'm working on the backing.  I cut out 8" Dresden plates with the remainder of my fabrics.  I'm going to make an L shape with them on the backing.  I may have to add another fabric to the backing too as I'm not sure I have enough of the blue dot fabric.  Pics of the backing will come in the next blog post about the quilt.

The Year Of Quilts - Starting With Dr. Seuss!!!

I adore handmade quilts.  I drool over them on the Internet and sewing shows.  I oooohhhh and awwww at all the gorgeous quilting fluffy goodness.  I want to make them, I just don't.  I'm not one for perfect points, lined up seams, etc.  Quilts take a lot of time and need more attention than I can usually give.  However... I am a fabric hog.  I have a weakness for quilting cottons.  I buy them constantly.  Mostly for things like purses, toys, clothing, etc.  I have bought some fabrics specifically for making a quilts. Specifically the Dr. Seuss collection from Robert Kaufman.  I bought these at Boardwalk Quilts over a year ago.  And, have recently purchased the Grinch Fabrics too.  I've also been hoarding some vintage inspired 1930's fabrics for almost 3 years!

I decided after the new year that this year would be the year of the quilts!  It's time to actually get sewing with those yummy fabrics and make something that my family can snuggle up in.  And, first up is the Dr. Seuss Quilt.  I am sooo taken by the colors of these fabrics.  I knew this was a good one to start with because nothing about Dr. Seuss is straight.  All his books are curvy, ripply, and fun.  And, so is this quilt.  I had very little actual Dr. Seuss fabrics, so I pulled a few prints from my stash that worked as well as some Kona Cottons in co-ordinating colors. I made the pattern up as I went.  I wanted it to be warm so I used a high loft batting.  I won't do that again unless I'm tying a quilt.  It was a bain to quilt on my machine.  However, I'm very happy with it and so are the kids.  Even my oldest loves it and wants to cuddle in it.

Some closer up images.  I did scrappy squares and stuff to fill in the quilt.

For the back I used up my leftover fabrics.

Bonus picture of my son pointing at all the fun images.  He loves Cat In The Hat.  And, he loves this quilt.  It'll go on his toddler bed when he's ready for it.  Until then, it's just a throw.