blood sweat and a few tears

I made this quilt for a friend who recently moved. Because it was a surprise, I couldn't post it till now. What is not shown on the picture is that each of the white pieces of fabric were signed by friends who will l miss her and her family.

The yellow "sun" circle says,"may the sunlight of faith ever warm your heart" -Gordon B. Hinckley-

The best part of the project is the tear of gratitude my friend gave to me. It's that sort of feeling that makes the time and effort of quilting worth it!

Crayon Art

I tried my hand at crayon art.

I didn't add instructions for this because you can find them almost anywhere by searching crayon art. But this second example was my idea...

This one I set the canvas flat on the floor. I held the crayon over the canvas. When I hit the crayon with the blowdryer the wax dripped onto the canvas. Then using a swirl motion with the toward the canvas.

Even more... My eldest daughter made a sample,

I love the energy she has captured!

Exciting Preview!

I have been feverishly working to be ready for my RileyBlake tutorial. Today I will spend some time scrubbing my article. On Monday it will be published! I am adding a preview picture of the quilt in a secondary colorway.

 

Sheepie and Bear

I have some exciting news! I have been accepted to design and present a tutorial for Riley Blake Designs. A little of what's to come...

I am using these fabrics to make two twin size quilts for my teenage daughters. Once the quilts are done we're planning on a bedroom makeover. Looking at the fabric gets me excited to sew. The tutorial should be coming out in the middle of March.
Because I love to look at the pictures on Blogs, I find that my Blog is mostly pictures. I wanted to add one more. In an earlier post I had a cute little bunny. I had so much fun with it I needed to make more. Here's what I did...

I used the Bunny Hill Designs: Baby Bear and Lollipop. Quick and fun! They also made some really great gifts for some younger girls in the neighborhood.

Christmas is past... but the gifts remain.

I made these gifts for my youngest daughter.

Matching dresses out of Cream Satin and sparkly pink Chiffon. I used Sister Smocks IJ803 by Indygo Junction for my daughters dress and Baby Doll 4707 by Simplicity for the baby doll dress.

I used the same baby doll pattern as previously mentioned and the pajama pattern 4910 by Butterick for these three jammies.

The best part? I paid for the patterns (on sale at my local fabric shop) and the Tinkerbell ribbon. But other than that every piece of fabric was scraps or chunks left over from another project.

Can I say that's a good deal!?



So I think I can quilt... it? Part II

This quilt was my first post. It has now been quilted and gifted the the newest baby in my family. I hope it brings love and comfort to the baby!

 These coasters were made by my sisters and I on a "Sister Saturday." We got the idea from http://lightrefreshmentsserved.com/?s=coasters via Pinterest. We bought the tiles from our local ReStore. When we added up the cost of supplies we figured we had made a set of six coasters for under $2. Now I have all my friend birthday gifts for the year. OK ladies act surprised when they come your way. ;)

DIY Easy Ironing Board of any size

I was tired of always having my full size ironing board up while I was quilting. But I can't live with out it. So I made myself this board to fit into one of my drawers. As you can see it fits just right because I cut it to the size I wanted.

Supplies
MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard)
Pelon Insulbrite (big enough to wrap around your MDF)
Ironing Board Cover Silver Fabric
Staple gun with staples

Step one:
Cut a piece of MDF  to the size of your choice. Then Cut Insulbrite big enough to wrap around the MDF.

Step 2:



 Starting in the corners wrap insulbrite around board and staple. Try to tug till the insulbrite is taunt but don't pull to hard, it will stretch and even rip.

Step 3:

Wrap all four sides around MDF and staple. Again making sure there are no bubbles on the front of the board.



Step 4:
Following same process as Insulbrite attach Ironing Board Cover Silver Fabric to the MDF. I cut the Ironing Board Cover Silver Fabric bigger than the Insubrite so that it would cover the Insulbrite and look like a smoother finish on the back.

I hope this will help someone out there looking for more space. I just take the board off the draw when not in use and tuck it under my table. It looks tighty and is easy to get to when I'm ready to pull out the next project.
Happy Quilting!!!!!