Quilting and Refashioning

I'm not going to type a whole lot because its getting late and tomorrow is my first day at my new job.  This have been getting quite slow at MTS, so I picked up a second job at Bison, where Big D is working!  Tomorrow is my first day and I want to be bright and fresh.  That being said, I made some new items for my wardrobe.  I took a rather plain black skirt, shortened it and added a ruffle over the kick pleat.  I also used some left over red wool melton from one of my costumes to make a new scarf.  Not all of my sewing has been clothing related.  I finally finished the nine patch quilt and it has been gifted to my friends who treated Big D and I to a lovely dinner on Saturday night!!

I'll leave you with pictures to enjoy, but not before sharing the inspiration for the scarf here and here, and the skirt ruffles here.  Yes, of course, all of these inspirations were pulled from Pinterest.  Would you not have figured that out by now?

Before.  You can see the pins where I had to close up the front slit.

Re-sized and shortened.

A close up of the ruffle over the kick pleat.

The red felt rose scarf.  I am in love with how it turned out!!

The finished product!

I used packaged binding because I hate making it myself!

The back of the quilt. I love how it turned out!!

Nine Patch Progress...

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are down to the quilt sandwich!

That's right folks, I finished the nine patch quilt top for my friends daughter tonight and have it all sandwiched up for quilting!!  I'm very excited with how this is turning out, especially since it all started from Pinterest. (Yes, I have a problem! I'm fully aware of it and loving every minute of this addiction!)

And now, for the best part!  Pictures of the quilt top and the backing material I picked up on my visit to Fabricland a little while ago.

The quilt top finished, 41" square. I added the center purple block for a little something extra!

Quilt top pinned with the backing fabric.  I thought it was perfect, not only to match the top but for a sweet little girl!

More Nine Patch Progress!

Tea has always been a staple in my life. When I lived at home, I don't believe there was a day when a pot of tea was not made in the house. I make it all the time at work but usually forget to at home. Tonight I broke out the loose leaf tea, put on one of my audiobooks, and went to town on the nine patch quilt. It was the most enjoyable evening I've had in a while!

I finished off the blue squares, although they still need to be pressed. I also did one pink square as my guide for the rest. I'm super pleased with how these are turning out! I do need some more purple fabric as I only have 6 varieties instead of the 8 I need. Perhaps I'll pick up some on Saturday when my mom and I turn in our quilt block for the month.

Before the sewing went down, I made dinner and dessert for Big D and me. I used the apron my mom made me for Christmas. I took a shot in the bathroom mirror, a very unflattering one, but the apron is so darn cute! Retro fabric complete with ric rac, and it can be worn with the bib or folded down into a half apron. Best Christmas gift EVER!!

Nine Patch Progress

Rule number one of quilting: measure twice and count to make sure you have the right amount of pieces needed.

No, I have not wasted precious fabric, I have once again bitten off more than I can chew. Seeing as how the Pinterest quilt did not come with instructions, I improvised. Those of you who have known me personally for years can commence shaking your heads now! Either I got a little too cut happy with my new Olfa cutter, or I just wasn't thinking and I have cut enough squares for roughly 6 queen sized quilts. Oops.

Despite that, last night at the sewing night and an hour or so tonight has resulted in nearly 30 completed blocks! I decided to work one colour scheme at a time and speedily put together the rows for each block. I'm guessing about an hour of sewing and pressing tomorrow night will finish off the "blue" blocks. After that, I'm moving onto the pink. With all the surplus blocks, and some good company from an old friend last night, I believe her daughter is in for a treat! Here are a few pictures for you then it's off to bed!

Block a Month Quilt

My parents had a New Years Day shindig at their place today and all of our friends that are taking part in the Block a Month quilt a long were there.  We were instructed to bring our quilt squares so we could compare and I managed to snap some shots of the products so far.  Everyone picked a different colour scheme so it was really neat to see how everyone's are coming together.

Left to right the blocks belong to Diana, my mom, mine, Marcia and Krista.  I tried to do a few panoramic pictures but they didn't turn out too well.  This is the best one, despite everyone's hands in there.  Everyone was ogling the quilt squares, even the menfolk! It will be really neat to see how everyone decides to finish their quilt with sashing and borders.

I cut up the 15 fat quarters, some fabric from my stash, plus some of my fabric from my trip for the nine patch quilt I saw on Pinterest.  A few of the girls from MLHS are getting together for a sewing night.  I've already packed up my sewing machine to head on over and start assembling this bad boy.  I laid out three different colour combinations to hopefully try and recreate the picture.  Here's what I have so far.

I have a ton more squares than I thought I would, so I might see if I have enough for colour themed quilts.  We will see what happens during this creative process!

Happy 2013 to everyone and keep on crafting!