New quilt project

Having made two quilts now got started on the next. This is addictive. I ordered the Dena Design Kumari Garden line for fabrics from Hawthorne Threads. This is my second quilt with Dena Design fabric. I love the fresh happy colors. I want to showcase the fabric so decided to go with the Kitchen Window Quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. The filler will be linen but haven't decided on the backing yet. I want flannel backing and am leaning towards the Folksy Flannel collection by Anna Maria Horner. Let's see. I am real excited to get this project started. This time I need to make sure I make a standard size quilt, targeting queen size. The fabric arrived yesterday and can't stop looking at it.

Kumari Garden by Dena Design

Quilting Inspirations

I recently purchased 3 quilting books for inspiration and ideas. I think I made a good choice. I would rather walk to a bookstore and leaf through the book before buying it but thanks to disappearing brick and mortar stores I ordered these online from Amazon. Since I am ranting.. the same goes for fabric. I would rather walk into a brick and mortar shop, touch and feel the fabric before buying it. But there are hardly any stores around where I am and am forced to buy all my fabric online. It's so hard to get the right feel for the fabric on your computer screen.

Here are the books that I ordered and love every one of them:

Finally completed my original quilt

I managed to complete my original quilt. Which now brings the total count to 2. Pretty pleased with the way it turned out though it could do with a little more color.

A big thank you to my helpers for holding up the quilt :)

I quilted it vertically and along the jagged edges. The back shows it a little more.

Binding for my original quilt

Made some more progress on my original quilt. Here is the binding for the quilt. The quilting will take sometime for me to complete. Let's hope I can put this together soon. Time is money during the holiday season.

2.5 inch binding

Related links:  quilt start quilt continued quilt top quilt basting backing

One more baby trouser

I remember wearing trousers like this as a kid and have been thinking about making one for a while. This time I tried making it with denim. Broke a few needles in the process. Either I am not using the right size needle or the machine is not good at handling this type of sturdy material. Did I mention before that I use a low end Brother sewing machine that I bought off eBay. It has done a great job so far. No complaints. A bad carpenter blames his tools as my grandmother would say. Anyway hope this keeps my little niece warm through winter.

Trouser outside

Trouser inside

Close up of the detail

A few things are apparent..I did not consider the direction of the print when cutting the second leg of the flannel fabric inside.  I like the way the detailing came out. So simple yet effective.

Related links: Baby Pants

YEAAAAH made my first quilt!!!!

Travelling to NZ next week and thought a quilt would be a great gift for my in-laws. Began to furiously work on the quilt and 3 days later here are the results.

Really don't feel like giving my first quilt away, but then it's meant to be used.  I used straight line quilting. Apparently I can sew in straight lines quite well. It's free motion quilting that I have a problem with. :) I have a question how does everyone manage to control the fabric from fraying while making the quilt??? 

Related posts: quilt start quilt top

Autumn sewing

I made some hot pads with a Thanksgiving theme improvising from this tutorial.These would make great gifts for Thanksgiving. Purchased some autumn fabric and coordinating duck cloth from Joann Fabrics.

The final outcome.

Not bad for an hours worth of work. It took more time to pick the fabric.

More fabric shopping

Got some more flannel and denim from the local Joann Fabrics store.

Quilt backing and basting

Finally got down to creating the quilt backing. Quilts are supposed to be mades from scraps of cloth, so took the pieces left over from the jelly roll and pieced them together to create two strips that I attached to the back. Better than plain white. 

Basted the quilt and prepared the quilt sandwich.

On a bright sunny autumn Saturday got down to the most difficult aspect of the quilt. The actual quilting. I decided to go with simple straight lines considering this is my first quilt. I tried free motion quilting on a sample cloth....I have a long way to go before I get any good.

Related posts: quilt start quilt continued quilt top quilt basting

Pieces for quilt top

Couldn't wait to start on the quilt top from Joel Dewberry heirloom collection. Still guilty about not finishing the first quilt. I cut up pieces from fabrics marked A to I. Got the golds to go. This fabric is very brightly colored.

Finally completed cutting the pieces.

Starting on new quilt

In true crafting style I have started working on my second quilt instead of completing my first quilt. Here is the fabric I ordered for my second quilt. I may give this to my mother so asked her to pick the color palette. She chose the Heirloom in Ruby palette by Joel Dewberry. I would have picked the Citrine or Sapphire palette but she feels that bright colors really make the quilt pop. I found this free quilt pattern by on the blog. Decided to just use this pattern instead of stressing over the design myself. I might replace the white swatches with some other solid color. To me the white seems abrupt on the quilt front. I ordered the required material from Hawthorne Threads. They have the preassembled kit. The material arrived yesterday and the colors do look brilliant.

Joel Dewberry - Heirloom in Ruby Palette

This time around I plan to wash the quilt after it's made. I am not going to prewash the fabric like I did for my first quilt. Just trying things out for myself and see what works best.

Duck fabric

Finally took a trip to Purl Soho in NYC. They have some lovely stuff. Tons of wool. I am not into knitting yet but here's what I picked up.


Some really nice duck fabric with webbing.

Duck fabric

Also picked up some brightly colored felt. Want to try out applique work or make a stuffed toy.

Felt fabric

New fabric

There was a huge clearance sale at Joann's fabric. Picked up a few pieces to use for spring sewing.

It was a good weekend..

Got a lot done this weekend. Need to finish the quilt I started. Went to Joann's fabric and spent a good 2 hours looking for batting and fabrics. Got this batting from a bolt of Warm & Natural. It's 100% cotton, with 3% shrinkage and requires 6" quilting width. Also picked up fabric for the quilt binding. This quilt is really getting technical now.

Pin cushion

While I was busy sewing realized that I needed a pin cushion. Found this pattern by Heather Bailey and used it to make one. Skipped the button as I thought it took away from the real estate for pins. It does take away from the look though. Anyway here it is.

Baby pants

Created some baby pants for my niece from the corduroy I had bought earlier. Thanks to these instructions by make-baby-stuff.com. Here's the outcome. I love working with corduroy, it's so easy to work with as a beginner.

Front of the pants

Back of the pants

The seams and the signature

Inside seams

The elastic