Month: March 2012

We had such crazy warm weather last week (in the 80’s, which is about 40 degrees above normal for this time of year!) that we have been dreaming a lot about returning to the summer cabin we bought last year. We bought it at the end of August so didn’t really get to enjoy it last year, given all the work it needed. But I’m glad we got all that done and can just enjoy it this summer. One thing I am NOT looking forward to is sewing cushions for the porch furniture. The previous owners left us some very large, maple furniture, probably from the 1950s or 60s, that we are going to use on the new screened-in porch, but all the cushions needed to be replaced. Of course, neither the chairs nor the sofa are a standard size so I will have to make the cushions. Ugh. Not particularly difficult sewing, but tedious and still rather pricey given the cost of foam, outdoor fabric, etc.

But, here is a camp project that I was much happier about. A cheerful quilt to throw over the back of the sofa. (We bought a sofa from IKEA and I dyed the white slipcover gray because the gray slipcover cost $200 more. It was not a complete success… quite a bit of it came out blotchy, so I’m hoping this quilt will cover up the worst of it).

I made this using the “Modern Workshop”  free pattern from the Oliver + S blog, and while it was quite simple given that it uses pre-cut “jelly roll” strips, the directions as written result in a HUGE amount of wasted fabric. This is what I had left over after making the quilt: (almost enough to make another entire quilt. Which I might do, but I would’ve preferred to have known ahead of time that there would be so much extra)

The problem is, the directions call for sewing each of 24 different jelly-roll strips to a 5.5″X width-of-fabric strip of white fabric, and then cutting the resulting strips into 17 2.5″-wide pieces. But there are only a few different colors where you actually need 17 sections.

So, if you’d like to make this quilt without wasting so much fabric, I made this chart to show how many time each color actually appears in the quilt. (Note: My quilt doesn’t actually look like this because I didn’t start with red as my #1 fabric, but you get the idea. If you want to have a rainbow/ombre effect, you need three shades of red, three oranges, three yellows, etc.) I did this calculation very quickly, but I THINK you only need about 2.75 yards of white fabric, and not the 4 yards called for in the directions.

 

Once you have all the necessary sections, you sew the sections into long strips in color order (A1-A2-A3….A8; B1-B2-B3) etc. so you end up with 27 strips. Then you follow the diagram to add pieces to the top and bottom, so the colors end up staggered. The shaded section below shows the 27 strips, the unshaded parts are where you add the other strips. (This won’t make much sense, but if you look at the original pattern, it makes more sense)

(Also, I just realized my quilt is upside down compared to this diagram. Oops!)

 

Since this quilt will be thrown over a sofa and used in the summer, I wanted it to be light-weight. So I used (pre-washed and dried) flannel instead of batting, which I think made it easier to quilt. I quilted lines roughly 1/4″ of an inch on either side of each long seam line. I was tempted to another line down the middle of each strip, too, but I was anxious to finish.

I find it easier to bring my sewing machine into the dining room for larger projects like this, which tends to attract my feline helpers.

Here’s Marmalade, who likes to flop down and demand belly rubs:

 

And even Tangerine, our eyeless, blind cat found her way onto the dining room table at one point:

I admit I am not much of a sports fan, but having graduated from the University of North Carolina, it is hard not to get caught up in the NCAA tournament “March Madness.”  This year, both my school and the school my twin sister attended  (Ohio University)  have made it to the Sweet 16 and are playing each other Friday night! So of course I had to make some t-shirts for Parker and my 7-year-old nephew to wear when we get together to watch the game.

I used the Silhouette flocked heat transfer material for both shirts. I didn’t have any white for the green shirt though, so I ironed the green design onto white cotton and then used light-weight fusible interfacing and stitching to applique it onto the shirt. I think the edges probably will fray a bit, but I don’t think my nephew will be too picky.

Go Tar Heels!

I have at least five friends who are expecting babies in the next six months or so, so I definitely am going to get my money’s worth out of this adorable swaddled baby doll pattern from Adirondack Patterns. I didn’t follow the directions exactly (I bought some organic cotton fabric for the “skin” instead of using a sock as the pattern calls for) and I made a little hat by reducing this free pattern by 50 percent.

This was a very simple project. In fact, I probably spent more time fussing with the swaddling blanket than I did making the  doll. (I kept tinkering after I took this photo and I think I achieved a better wrap). I was conflicted about whether to secure the blanket with stitches or leave it loose. On one hand, the future recipients might like to wrap and unwrap their baby dolls. On the other hand, the doll has no arms or legs, so it looks kind of strange unwrapped. My compromise was to add a bit of iron-on Velcro to the flannel so it will hold together but can be taken apart at some point.

The flannel actually is cut from one of Parker’s swaddling blankets that I’ve had stuffed in a bin of fabric for almost eight years! Though I sometimes miss that chubby little baby, I do NOT miss the swaddling phase one bit!

 

 

I’m starting to think that by the time I finish slipcovering my living room furniture I will either be sick of the “new” look or my cats will have destroyed the new covers. I finally finished the second slipcover a few weeks ago, and now just have to make one for the large, very beat-up “chair and a half” on the other side of the room.

This chair is the reverse of the sofa, which is gray with blue piping. I think I like the contrast, but am not sure I still like the red cushions I made for the sofa. Maybe something lighter is in order for spring…

 

 

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start writing cards and letters to my far-flung friends instead of relying on e-mail and Facebook. I had a vague plan to write a letter to a different friend each month, and maybe include some handmade notecards to encourage them to write back (or write to someone else!) I’ve failed to carry through so far, but I finally made myself some notecards… now I just have to send them!

The nudge to actually start comes from the Silhouette Plus forum, which has been a great resource as I start using my Silhouette machine more. The forum includes monthly challenges. This month’s card challenge was to make a card using recycled material, so I made these cards using bits of newspaper, a map and an Old Navy ad. I think I like the map the best, though as a journalist, I should favor the newspaper version!

The design is inspired by this bookmark project by Patricia Zapata at A Little Hut.

Are you sick of so-called Subway Art yet? I admit, I am starting to tire of seeing it on so many craft blogs. But, I did try a slightly different take on it for one of my Associated Press craft stories. Instead of a list of places, house rules or inspirational words like I’ve seen elsewhere, I used amusing quotes from my friend’s four-year-old twins (that he had posted on Facebook) and gave the canvases to him as a gift.  As I mention in the article, I’m as guilty as anyone else when it comes to posting cute things my kid says on Facebook. So why not take those quotes and put them on the wall?

The article includes a brief tutorial on how I made mine, and other options if you don’t have a Silhouette machine (you could get the same look just printing the art and gluing it to a canvas). The friend I gave these to liked them so much that he wants two more!