Stash Project – Pennant Flags

A friend the best wedding photographer in Orlando asked me to make these for her to advertise her business, and I found (after drawing lines for an hour!) that they’re the PERFECT fat quarter project. Really! You can cut exactly six 8×10 flags from each, or ten smaller flags. (I don’t remember how small. 8×10 is perfect so stick with that.)

All the instructions I could find online were vague about the cutting and mostly no-sew. I wanted to back the flags in pink felt (um, because it was in the remnants) so the flags wouldn’t flap in the wind. After all, these need to be reuseable!

So I started by folding the FQ in half on the shorter side (you’ll have 9″ showing) and cutting that in half (at the 10.5″ mark.)

Next, mark each 10.5×18″ section at the 4.5″ and 13.5″ point on the top, and the 9″ and 18″ at the bottom. Slice and dice between the marks. (OK, so they’re more like 8.5×10″ flags. I’m allowing you a half inch for error.)

And there you have three flags! (I stacked here, which is why you can see the flowers under the stripes.) Rinse and repeat with as many FQs as you want. I used four for a total length of 27′ of flags. Don’t worry about the half-flags. We’ll get to them later.

Cut whatever backing you’re using, as well. Sew the front to the backing (make sure you keep front sides together if the backing has a front side!) Leave the top open. Trim tops/sides/the tip of the bottom.

Turn the flags right side out and iron them nice and flat. If you’re using felt, don’t iron the felt side. I’m just saying.

Get whatever binding you’re comfortable using – I bought half inch double fold. Since I had four FQs and we wanted at least 4″ in between each flag, we decided on three packages of 3-yard binding. Unfold it, pin it down, and sew across the first fold line on every flag. Just for added security in the Florida hurricanes.

Once all the flags are secured, fold the binding back over and top-stitch along the entire binding, even between flags, so everything stays where it should. If you’re being fancy, use a pretty stitch. I thought about doing rickrack, but it didn’t look right to me. Form your own opinions.

And there you have a cruddy picture of the finished flags! It was snowing and I wasn’t going outside to hang them up, and I have no where attractive indoors to hang 27′ of these things. I’m begging my friend to send a picture from her event.

BTW, she choose the fabric based on this wedding. Which is my favorite wedding ever. The next time I get married, I’m totally doing the carnival. It’s Michael Miller Plain Jane Aqua. So cheerful! I love the way the big flowers look on the flags, especially that red one in the middle right. Adorable!

Oh, and remember the half-flags? Put them back together and you have a FQ again!

OK, actually, I’m going to sew them together, sash them, border them, quilt them and bind them, and send them off to Project Linus in my friend’s name.

My Stash

See that? Right there? That cost me $600.

No, not the fabric. That cat.

*sigh* Two rounds of antibiotics, X-rays and surgery removing a bladder stone. A reoccurring bladder stone. That’s the cost of the Brother Innovis 900 I was drooling over at the OKC Quilt Show a couple weekends ago.

In case you’re wondering, that’s the third shelf he’s sleeping on, about 4.5-5′ high. It’s good to know bladder surgery didn’t slow him down.

Anyway… A friend from high school asked me to make a crochet hook holder, and I told her I’d take a picture of some fabrics to give her a choice. After laying some out, I decided to take pictures of most of my fabric, instead, just to have around if other people are wanting something. It’s not everything I have – there’s a lot more scraps and usually most previously-pictured-projects have leftovers. But it’s the good sized chunks that can be used for various projects.

(As an aside, the shelf Tycho is sleeping on has my various collections-in-progress – Cars fabrics, Wizard of Oz fabrics, Monet/Renoir fabrics, and Cinderella fabrics. All of these, minus Cinderella for my sister, are personal projects, so I don’t mind if he sleeps on them!)

Some prints:

Greens and reds:

Pinks and browns and purples:

Pinks:

Yellows and tropical:

Blues:

Novelty:

So if you see something you like, and you have a project in mind, let me know!

Stroller Bag & A Vacation Passport

Goodness gracious, I was gone for a while! I have excuses, of course. My husband went TDY to San Antonio, so the Wee One and I had to go visit him! Which killed the car battery. Coming back, I was sick for a day, followed by an immediate need to pack and get out of town before a snowstorm shut down the airports. Luckily we were on the 6 a.m. flight. And, if the battery hadn’t died in San Antonio, it would have died sitting dormant in airport parking for 19 days, so, um, at least we didn’t have to deal with that after getting back from Christmas/Disney World.

Yes, Disney World! Not for Christmas, though. First we ran around the Eastern Seaboard visiting family. We had to go to Disney to get a vacation from our vacation! My husband and I “ran” the half-marathon in the coldest, wettest weather ever. Seriously. Florida. 32 degrees. Icy rain. I set the bar for future half-marathons reallllllly low.

On the plus side, we got a good amount of looks at the stroller bag and a decent amount of comments.  We bought little 12-ounce bottles of water and stuck them in various pockets – perfect fits! And wipes and napkins and other various child-related items fit neatly in the bag. Items like gloves and hats and scarves. Did I mention it was cold?

I didn’t finish lining the stroller bag (though I will…someday) but I found fun Mickey ribbon at a JoAnn’s in San Antonio to tie off the top. See? It was totally worth the drive! (I also saw some great Mickey dangly-sparkly-trim, but I restrained myself. For some reason.)

Another fun thing we did for the Wee One was a vacation passport. Idea totally stolen from the DIS wedding boards.

I bought a little 4×6, 99-cent photo album from Walmart and cut some Mickey scrapbook paper to fit. On each page, we wrote the park we were going to, important events (three o’clock parade – 3 p.m.), and our dining reservations. The Wee One and his auntie decorated it with stickers on the airplane, and he checked it every day to make sure we were going to the right place. (“Mom, this page says M-G-M, but the tram driver said ‘Hollywood Studios.’”)

Each page slips out of the sleeve, so minus the stickers, it’s reuseable for the next vacation. Take out the first page and it’s reuseable for ANY vacation. (Just kidding. Where else is there to vacation?)

So, I’m back and I’m sewing. I have three new projects, plus four quilts to make by April. And I’m taking the plunge and starting to display my wares for sale among friends. Not to mention a big surprise coming in March. Stay tuned!

Homemade Christmas (Ribbon Blankie)

Another Christmas present made from scraps! This is a ribbon blankie for my new niece (not the Gator.) The pink edging and the satin are from a quilt I made two years ago and probably from Joann’s; the flannel is Hobby Lobby and from the Butterfly Baby quilt. The un-pictured backside is the same pink pre-quilted as the previous couple of crayon rolls.

Instead of pinning and worrying about the pins inside while turning the blankie, I pinned and sewed all the ribbons to the backside first. Then I sandwiched everything and sewed the sides together. I think this gives an extra bit of hold to the ribbons, with two sets of stitches holding it in. And it eliminates the worry of stabbing yourself with a pin while turning.

And yes, I know that’s not the most perfect of intersections, despite using the sew-then-slice quarter square triangle method. I’m going with satin is way hard to sew with. Yep, blaming the fabric.

Homemade Christmas (Another Two Crayon Rolls)

Nothing too special about these. Made completely from leftovers from the PiP Cars Quilt. (Which will NOT be done for Christmas. Maybe his birthday…)

So I don’t remember where any of the fabric is from, but you can likely find it at Joann’s, Hobby Lobby, Fabric Depot, Walmart… The checkered flag (here I come!) is from Hobby Lobby – that one I remember because I bought it last month when I thought I might actually work on the PiP Cars Quilt for Christmas.

I actually had another blue Cars fabric that I was going to use instead of the checkered flag (here I come!), but I cut it the wrong size. Back in the scrap bin!

They both have interfacing inside since I didn’t use pre-quilted fabric on the back – and not fusible interfacing, just the regular stuff that I bought for about a $1.50 at the local thrift store. Love that place for random scraps!

The first one, I sewed the interfacing in the last step, while sewing everything together. The second one, I sewed the interfacing to the backside of the up-and-down lines. For some reason, I think the second method works better.

Another Two Crayon Rolls

Mostly to note, I love my chalk writer. Love, love, love, love, love it! Because you know what you can do with it?

That’s right, you can draw perfectly straight lines exactly an inch apart! Woo!

The other thing I changed up was sewing the ribbon into the side with the first seam instead of the final seam. I think it worked better, in that I didn’t have to worry about that staying in place while sewing close to the edge. I did backstitch over the ribbon to make sure it’s secure.

These are for the girl cousins on my Christmas list. I love the horse fabric – it’s Horseplay by Connie Haley for Elizabeth’s Studio, and I bought it at Jackman’s in Fairview Heights, IL, while visiting a friend over Thanksgiving. It’s muted and pink and horsey without being too much of it!

The princesses are from Hobby Lobby, and it’s a very stiff fabric (in contrast, I have a “glittery” Fairy Frost by Michael Miller that is so soft!) I cut out another Princess Aurora between Snow White and Cinderella, so that all three would get to be seen. Look at that, prior planning!

Oh, and both of them have some pre-quilted pink for the back. It was in the remnants section. What can I say? I love cheap backing!

Christmas Jammies (for the Gator)

Finished the Gator’s Christmas jammies today! Yay for matching jammies! (Poor, poor children.) The only changes I made from the Wee One’s was to make her’s shorter. Much shorter. My kid is tall! And went through another growth spurt after I made his jammies… Hmm, did I ever get around to hemming his pants?

I did learn from my mistakes on the Wee One’s. I sewed the accent edging on before sewing the sleeves together – wow, isn’t that much easier? I also tried “overlocking” the edges with my zigzag stitch. I’m not sure it worked great. Have I mentioned my desire for a serger? And a Pfaff? (But that’s another post.)

“What do you mean, can I get any closer? Is that a challenge?”

Finished! Minus the hemming. But since she’s there and I’m here, hemming has to be done by someone there. I have a feeling there’s going to be very little red accent when the hemming is done, but I wanted to make sure there was enough in case!

And yeah, the stupid V at the neck came out bad on her’s too. Next time, I’m skipping that. (Assuming they can get it over their heads without it!)

Not a Rhinestone Cowgirl…

This year’s holiday party theme is Hoedown. I don’t do cowboy boots and cowboy hats. In fact, I pretty much don’t do cowboy.

So I decided to make a skirt out of bandannas, with some vague asymmetrical pattern in my mind, and call it a day. Except then I saw some cute bandanna-like fabric at Hobby Lobby, and a yard was cheaper than the amount of bandannas I would need to buy anyway. And I did have that skirt pattern from the 99-cent sale a while back…

I bought a yard, and boy was it barely enough. I did plan on cutting it shorter in the first place, and make a lining out of cheaper muslin, so I didn’t actually need to cut four. (Well, I did, four total, two on folded fabric.)

I like where I stopped – there’s just a tiny bit of the flip in the bottom instead of a whole lot.

I cut the lining about five times, making a ton of adjustments and errors, and finally realized, um, the pattern worked exactly as it was (except shorter.) Good thing it was just the lining!

The pattern gives the same seams in the front and back. Which works perfectly fine over my butt, but I don’t need butt seams in the front,thankyouverymuch!

So I drew a chalk line straight down (love the chalk pen!!) and then actually pinned and checked it before sewing! I know, I know, me, actually checking something before sewing it. It’s odd. Just to prove it’s still me, I took a crappy photo with flash.

The most nerve-racking part was the zipper. I’ve only done one once, and it wasn’t to both the liner and skirt at the same time. Mom freaked me out last time I bought an invisible zipper, so I didn’t attempt one for this one. I wouldn’t say it turned out great, but it’s not terrible except near the bottom. And my shirt will cover it!

And the semi-finished product!

I still need to cut the bottom of the liner, and decide on the hem. I’m thinking black sparkly beads or white lace. Something fun! The shirt has black beads, so if I can match them… And of course, I need to hem the top. I’m thinking about being lazy and just doing black double-fold binding.

Quilt Class Christmas Quilt – Fabric and Some Blocks

Did I mention I was taking a quilt class? Like, finally? Always wanted to in Spokane, signed up for one in San Antonio but no one else did, and finally, finally, in the smallest town I’ve lived in since, um, college, I get to take a class. But it’s okay because my teacher is awesome! It’s just me and another lady, so it’s very hands on. I’m learning a lot….and spending a lot. But for stuff I totally need! Love the chalk wheel. Who would have thought it was that easy? Really could have used it on the Cowboys quilt! Not to mention how much I want a Gypsy Gripper! And yet, I have yet to buy a 1/4″ foot for my machine. Christmas is coming, I’m told…

Let’s see if I can remember all the fabrics I’m using. Lots of Moda Crazy 8s, but my teacher encouraged me to look outside of one collection when planning.

The green is Moda Crazy 8 Christmas Mint. I completely forgot (and tossed the selvage) what the gold is – but it’s from the Christmas room. I thought it was a Benartex, but… I’ll check the bolt after the next class. The red is Twelve Days of a Froggy Christmas by Winky Wheeler (South Seas Imports.)

This block demonstrated strip sewing, which I already knew, but I did learn that it’s useful to plan out which way you’re ironing seams. And knowing what I was doing means I can brag about those awesome seams! Look at how nice they match up! If you look really closely, you can see that a lot of the “strands” on the lightbulbs follow along between the blocks – at least in my head. My comment on this caused my teacher to realize I’m OCD. If only she knew…

Not quite as awesome seams here… It took three tries to make the middle match up. But I did learn that you can take out about a half inch on each side of the seam instead of the whole thing! Saved a lot of seam ripping. I also learned the incredibly useful “sew then cut” method of half square triangles. That plus the chalk wheel to mark said lines, is so far the best thing I got out of class. Considering I’m planning pinwheels on the Jungle Babies quilt for my cousin’s baby, this method will make life so much easier!

The back side is more Moda Crazy 8s – the reindeer panel with Christmas Berry on the sides. I still need to decide how to do this – I’ll need it to be about 38×38, and the reindeer section of the panel is 31×24. There’s 11″ of fun squares under the reindeer, so I’m thinking about cutting those off and sewing them onto the sides…with some sashing…or maybe just cutting them off, using them elsewhere and just bordering the reindeer with the Berry…

Not pictured yet, but the sashing, border and binding for the front of the quilt is Moda Crazy 8s Berry Ornaments.

I Just Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby Quilt – Finished!

Updates will be sporadic this month – it’s Nanowrimo and I’m writing! No words to spare for a blog! You want blogging, do Nablopomo.

Anyway, I did the backside of the Cowboys quilt in simple blocks. These were 8″, so in order to make the thing big enough, I added strips of muslin leftover from Speed Racer’s costume.

I knew I was using 2″ pink satin blanket binding, so all the muslin would be covered.

I basted it in one direction with thread like my mother taught me. I could almost hear her yelling “Don’t pick up the fabric!” with every stitch. Hand-basting like that takes me forever, though, so I decide one direction was better than nothing.

Then I quilted it, using stitch-in-the-ditch on the major block lines on the front with dark blue thread, then a series of stars 1″ apart inside the stars with pink thread. BTW, don’t baste right where you know you’re going to be SITDing. Duh.

(Yeah, I managed to keep that cat off the quilt the entire time…then he walks across it in the final pictures before shipping. Argh!)

I think the quilting of the stars really worked nicely and added a lot of detail to the quilt. Very happy with the end result!

The finished front, with satin binding:

And the finished back:

I loved using satin blanket binding for this, because it adds texture and man, is it way easier than hand sewing the binding. I’ve been working on binding the Ashley quilt in my spare time for a couple weeks now and it’s still not done!

OK, now back to my regularly scheduled Nano!