Monday, January 27, 2014

Quilt-Along Challenge - Race Car Quilt


One of my fondest memories of my Maternal Grandmother was the vision of her working away at beautiful quilts on a big wooden frame hanging from the ceiling in her den!

 

I was just amazed at the beautiful fabrics and intricate stitching that went into those creations and I never dreamed that one day I would attempt one myself!

But...that is exactly what I did!

Last year in April and May, Two of my favorite bloggers, Jill from Create Craft Love and Sarah from Becoming Martha hosted a "Quilt-Along" online and when I heard about it...I just had to join in as I felt like it was the perfect opportunity for me to learn this craft while having a "support" group around me to help!


At almost exactly the same time, I discovered an old friend of mine (Debbie) who I used to work with was on Facebook and she was an experienced quilter, so I would have local "hands-on" help as well.

How lucky for me!

This quilt-along was "self-paced" and even though the goal was to try and complete a quilt in a month, most in the group didn't finish in a month, so I didn't feel so bad when mine was no where near being finished after 30 days!

There was no real "deadline" but  Jill and Sarah did provide a "link-up" party at the end of May to show off our creations when we completed them.

I must admit...making my first quilt was truly a "labor" of love...(if I may use a play on words here)...it took me 9 months to complete...like giving birth! Not quite as painful though...thankfully!

Here is the fruit of my labor:


I made the quilt as a gift for my precious Grandson Adrian and I was hoping to have it done by Christmas, but alas that didn't happen, so it will get to him in time for his birthday for sure!

The first week consisted of gathering supplies and tools for the project:


When I was planning my quilt, I knew that my Grandson loved cars, but I wanted to be sure the quilt would be something he'd want to use when he was older also 
(he is only 2 now...almost 3).

For that reason, I picked a car design that was a bit more sophisticated rather than a nursery type design.

The main fabric was from Timeless Treasures and the design was called "Michael #C9865"


Rather than make this post unbearably long...I just made a quick collage of some of the steps I did in making this quilt:


The top stitching on the quilt was too big of a job for me to handle on my first quilt as it could not be done on a small machine and if I had tried to "hand" quilt it...well...my poor Grandson would be a grown man before I ever got it done!  LOL!

So...on the recommendation of my good friend Debbie, I took it to a local long-arm quilter in the area, Michael Schultz, Samish Quilting, who is known for his quality work and he did an amazing job!


I am not a great photographer, but I tried to capture some close-up's of his beautiful work.

He used a stitch pattern that had race cars and racing flags and it was just perfect for this project!

I made a personalized tag for the quilt and it was the first time I had tried applique and embroidering on my machine (Singer Superb 2010) so it didn't turn out  perfect by any means and even though I practiced before I made the final tag...I messed up the alignment on my name!

Of course "Grandma" and "Lisa" should have been on the same line, but at that point I was at the very end and did not want to try and make another tag as this one took me forever, so I let it go as I'm sure my sweet Grandboy won't know the difference or care for that matter.
He will just be happy about the cars!

If you need details on how to make this quilt or a similar one, you can go to the original blog posts from the quilt along by starting here or here.

Also, the pattern that was used for this project was from All People Quilt and can be found here along with directions.

I want to say a very big "Thank-you" to my good friend Debbie for being such a tremendous help on this project and letting me use her awesome Janome sewing machine!

Hope you enjoyed seeing my first quilt and I would love for you to visit my blog again soon!

Thanks!


This post/project is linked-up to the following sites/link-parties:

   

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Valentine Pin/Brooch - Craft Lightning Valentine's Edition

It's that time again!

Another round of Craft Lightning and this one is in celebration of Valentine's Day!

For those of you who are new here..."Craft Lightning" is a craft that you can make in 15 minutes or less (minus drying time) and it is hosted by the awesome Carolina from 30 Minute Crafts and Angie from The Country Chic Cottage!

I wanted to make something that could be "worn" on valentine's day, but with a time constraint of 15 minutes, I wasn't sure what I could make that would fall into the "wearable" category.

After perusing the local craft store for inspiration, I came up with the idea of a Valentine's Day Pin/Brooch.


At first glance, it might appear as if this pin had to take more than 15 minutes, since there is a crocheted backing on it, but that is where my inspiration came from...I was shopping at JoAnn's and spotted these adorable crocheted doily pieces in a bin!
They had several sizes and two colors, white and ecru or off white.

I immediately thought of valentine's day and of course a pin seemed feasible if I kept it small.

As you may know from my previous posts...I am a hoarder of all sorts of household items that can be recycled or upcycled into crafts, so I used a plastic food container lid for the backing on the pin.
(Just a note here...if you are going to put a lot of jeweled pieces or heavy pieces on the brooch, you might need to use a heavier backing than I did...such as thick cardboard, metal or wood)

I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper to attach to the plastic on the side that was going next to the lace doily, as I didn't want the red plastic to show through on that side.

A bar pin was added to the back of the plastic piece.


I layered a piece of dark red felt on top of the doily and then added the bling!

I have been collecting tons of jewelry pieces at yard sales, flea markets and estate sales just waiting for the perfect project to come along to use them!

The piece I used here was a vintage "clip-on" earring.
I removed the clip from the back using some of my jewelry making tools, so that the piece would lay flat.

For the final touch, I added some metallic red cord around the heart and some shiny gold/bronze ribbon behind the doily and my Valentine brooch was ready to wear!



I would like to thank Angie and Carolina once again for allowing me to be part of their great Craft Lightning Series! It's always so much fun!


Hope you enjoyed my post and if you'd like to make a pin yourself, here is a photo summary of the steps:


Here is a photo of the tools and supplies I used with a detailed list following:


Tools/Supplies Used:

Darice Crocheted Lace Doily, 100% Cotton (Purchased from JoAnn's)
Felt (Dark Red)
Plastic Food Container Lid
Old Jewelry Piece
Bar Pin, 1.5", Gold, Jewelry Craft
Heart Stencil, Assorted Design Template #TMP-4, Pioneer Photo Albums Inc.
Scrapbook Patterned Paper - Bitty Scrap Pads, Heritage Post, Provo Craft
Ribbon, Sheer, Bronze/Gold, (wired)
Metallic Cord, Red
Paper Weights (to hold down pieces while drying)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Aleene's Jewel-It Embellishing Glue
E6000 Glue
Fons & Porter Mechanical Fabric Marking Pencil
#2 Pencil
Chain Nose Plier
Round Nose Plier
Heavy Duty Cutco Scissors (Used to cut plastic lid and the wire ribbon)
Small pointed Scissors
Toothpicks (to help with gluing the metallic cord around the heart)


Thank-you for visiting my blog!







This project/post is linked up to the following sites/link parties: