Today I finished up a dolly diaper bag with two miniature minky burp cloths.
I used my scraps for this quilted rag quilt bag that turned out really cute. The cotton fabric squares were cut at 4" and the batting was cut at 3.5".
I sandwiched one batting square between two fabric squares and sewed an "X" on each square. I found THIS YouTube video that was very helpful. The creator has it broken down into three videos. You'll have to search for the other two or they might pop up on the right side of your screen.
I have always been hesitant to try making bags because it looked too complicated. But...........it was really easy! Wish I would have tried it along time ago!
I went a different route for making the straps than what is in the link I shared. I decided to make the handles with the same technique as the bag.....
This was a great project to use some of my scraps. I also made two mini minky burp cloths to go in the bag. A coral dimple dot and a white solid. Each has a print fabric on the other side.
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I can now check off faux chenille blanket from my to-do list !!! Aunt Betty sent me directions to this blanket over 3 years ago. It really was not a difficult project. More time consuming than anything and hard on the hands with all the cutting.
I chose Riley Blake's Sasparilla in teal for the print and three coordinating flannels in red, teal and blue for the "chenille". I purchased 1.25 yards of each.
My first step was to wash all the fabrics. Since flannel shrinks quite a bit, I did not want any excessive bunching of the fabrics when I washed the final product. I then laid the Sasparilla print face down on the carpet, stretched and smoothed it in place, then laid down the three flannels and did the same with them. Once I had the four layers stacked and smoothed, I carefully flipped them over and smoothed out any new wrinkles.
The first step to start the sewing process is to draw a diagonal line through the middle of the fabric. I used a measuring tape, a yard stick, two bottles of laundry soap and a fabric marking pencil. The soap bottles were to hold the measuring tape in place. I used the yard stick to get a straight line.....
After I had my line drawn, it was time to start sewing the 168 diagonal lines it would take to make the chenille blanket. I first sewed over the blue chalk line and then used the edge of my walking foot as my guide to finish the other lines.
I thought this was a lot of work, until I got to the cutting part. This was actually the easy step.
I bought a pair of chenille cutting scissors from Joann's. You have to cut through the three layers of flannel but not cut into the fourth layer (my sasparilla print). I was nervous with every line and had to flip the blanket over and make sure I was not getting into the fourth layer. The cutting process was very tedious and hard on the hands. The chenille scissors are very, very sharp. I'll spare you the picture of where I stabbed myself in the thigh with them. On accident of course! I was working on the floor, and the scissors were under my leg. Somehow when I reached to grab them, I pushed them into my leg and made a good sized gash that will take a while to heal.
After getting all the lines cut and squaring up the blanket, I rounded the corners using a dinner plate as a guide.........
I chose a teal colored satin binding. I stitched it to the flannel side first and then to the cotton print side.
Two of my rounded corners turned out really well. And the other two not so good. The two where the lines ran this way were the prettiest.
This corner.............not so good !
I ran it through a wash/dry cycle twice and here is how the flannels did their "chenille" magic.......
I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt.....
Lessons learned for next time:
I will use four layers of flannel instead of three. But i will only cut through three of them. You can see the white of the back of the printed fabric through the cut lines, so I want to try to avoid that next time.
I will also make my lines a little further apart. This will make it easier for the cutting process and I'm hoping give a thicker and taller "chenille" look to the blanket.
I won't double the satin binding. I think it's too thin for this blanket and will look better if it's wider.
I used this blogger's tutorial as a visual reference. She gives an easy to follow step by step.
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It's time once again for Amy's Creative Side Quilt Festival. This entry is for the Spring 2013 festival. My other entry is under Throw Quilt category.
I finished Patti's memory quilt today. Patti is my late mother-in-law's oldest daughter and carries on her name. I decided she needed something a little more fancy than a quick block quilt. While surfing the Internet for quilt ideas I found several types of flag banner quilts and decided that would be something I could use my mother-in-law's clothes for to make a nice quilt for Patti. I also came across a bird quilt on Pinterest and decided to add a bird to each row.
I found some navy blue trim at Hancock's to use for the "clothes line". I cut each triangle out of an 8 1/2" X 11" piece of paper. If you like the birds and want to make your own, you can go to my Pinterest (top of the blog) and follow my Quilt Idea board where you will find a link to these cute birds where you can create your pattern.
While garage sale shopping a few weeks ago I got this two yard cut of blue cotton for 50 cents ! The blue represents a beautiful blue clear sky. I first arranged the trim and triangles on the background fabric to get my spacing then sewed one row on at a time.
Sewing on the trim for the clothes line using a wide zig zag stitch....
I used a light weight bonding adhesive for each triangle since the clothes were out of so many different fabrics. I did not want any shifting of fabrics while sewing the triangles in place.
I added the bird to the row after the triangles were sewn on. I used a zig zag stitch for everything.
The quilt top was not quite wide enough so I used some blue floral fabric that my mother-in-law had in her sewing closet. I wanted to use as much of her fabric, thread, etc as possible in the memory quilts. She was a great seamstress and crafter who taught me well ! I made these border strips 4" wide.
I used a quilted mattress pad for the backing. Since Patti lives in Michigan, this will give her a nice heavy quilt for those long winters!
Lots of safety pins were used to sandwich the two pieces together....
I used a free motion quilting technique to give this quilt lots of "puckerness" goodness...
I used an old pillowcase for the binding. I cut the pillowcase into 3" strips, folded in half, top stitched to the front and hand stitched to the back.
Today was an overcast day, so it was perfect for taking outdoor pictures in the backyard....
I'm sure Patti will love this quilt as much as I do and it will give her some tender memories of her mama as she looks at these fabrics from her 50th wedding anniversary dress, shirts, jeans, hospital scrubs and pajamas. The birds were cut out of Pat's pajamas that she wore the last couple of months during her battle with cancer. Pajamas that Patti gave to her mom. Patti said she loved wearing them because the style of them made them look more like regular clothes than p.j.'s. She found them comforting.
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