Windblown Quilt

Although I should be sewing pioneer dresses for the Pioneer Trek my two daughters, my husband and I are going on  this July, I’m not.  I really just want to be quilting.  It seems the older my kids get, the busier I am and the less time I have to quilt.  And I really want to quilt!  So, I finished my girls Easter skirts (I even made one for myself.) and decided to finish up a quilt I had been working on for the past few months before I moved on to Trek dresses.  I saw a vintage quilt with this pattern and loved it.  I flipped through my handy dandy 501 quilt blocks book and the closest pattern I could find is called ‘Windblown’.  The only difference in the pattern is the outside corners have half square triangles.  So, I’m calling the pattern ‘Windblown’.  If you know it by another name, please let me know.

I really love this quilt.  I picked up the solid blue last summer with the idea of making a vintage looking quilt.  I just love the old quilts that used solid colors as the background. The blue in the Sweetwater line “Road 15” matched perfectly, so I used two charm packs to create the half square triangle blocks.  (Also, I was so excited to find that my street address was on this fabric I had to make a quilt from it!)  Each block is a finished 16” so the final quilt size is 64 x 80.

I did learn a very valuable lesson while making this quilt.  I felt so guilty sewing this quilt when I should have been sewing dresses, I hurried through and thought it would be alright to not square up my half square triangles.  I know it was an awful thing to do and I paid the price!  When it came time to square up my 16” blocks, I had to chop off the tips of the triangles to make each block square.   Argh! There was nothing else I could do.  I felt awful.  So don’t look too closely, but this quilt is far from perfect.  On the good side, I was happy to try out a new quilting pattern without too much stress about not liking it and I figure this will be a great cuddle/play quilt.  I don’t know about you, but the better, perfect point, high effort quilts I make are hard for me to let people use.  They are display only.  It’s the practiced on, points cut off, mistakes a plenty quilts that are the good cuddle, tent building, sick child comforting quilts.  I know that I am the only one who will care about it’s lack of perfection.  This quilt will join the pile with the other much loved, movie nights and popcorn quilts.   So I’m happy.  Lesson learned.

Stormy

Finished Tic Tock Embroidery

It’s finished!  I’ve got another fun embroidery to hang on my wall.

I made a few changes from the original pattern and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I hung it right over my sewing table for inspiration.  I love the dainty little flowers, the polka dots, stripes and the colors.  It was a bit like scrapbooking with fabric!  Great fun.

Stormy

Easter Skirts

For Easter this year I let my girls pick out their own fabric and skirt patterns for their Easter outfits.  My younger two daughters still wanted to match, but my teen girls had their own ideas.  (Go figure) I think they did a great job picking out fabrics that showed their individual tastes and personalities.  For my lone boy, he got an awesome mustache tie!

It was a little more difficult this year because the girls pointed to pictures of skirts they wanted, but only one of them had a pattern.  So, it took a little longer for me to sew them.  They had to try the skirts on again and again as I was trying to make it up as I went along.   I learned a few things I would and wouldn’t do for next time, so it ended up being a good experience for me too!

The one skirt I did have a pattern for I highly recommend.  This wrap around skirt pattern found here on makezine.com turned out so cute, I’m going to make one for me too!

Maybe now I can get back to a little quilting.

Stormy

Tick Tock Embroidery update

I had a very successful weekend. My daughter and I had great fun picking out colors of floss for my embroidery. Then I stitched and stitched.  It was a fairly simple project, but the buttons and trim add flair.  The pattern is for a pillow, but I’m planning on turning it into a mini quilt and framing it. 

Today, I’m deciding on the fabrics and pattern!  My favorite part!  I’m really liking these mini projects.  I feel so accomplished.

Stormy

Tick Tock Embroidery

I haven’t been doing a lot of quilting lately.  Mostly due to Easter sewing.  Luckily, I still have almost a month to finish all the cute skirts my daughters have picked out for this year’s Easter outfits.  Meanwhile, it is time for me to pick out my  LDS General Conference hand sewing project.  I love General Conference weekends.  We all get in our most comfy clothes, cuddle up together under my quilts and watch all the terrific, uplifting talks given by the church leaders.  It is great family time!  It is also hours and hours of guilt free sit on my fanny and sew time. 

So, this Spring’s project is a clock embroidery pattern I picked up while quilt shopping in Utah this summer.  It’s three things I really love: clocks, embroidery, and sewing.  I just love picking out the colors, fabrics and trims.  It’s almost more fun than the sewing!

I hope you have some fun spring projects in the works too! 

Stormy

Postcard Embroidery

Every year for Christmas my mom, sisters and I make little gifts for each other.  Last year, I made cute little stuffed frogs.  This year, I stitched everybody’s favorite flower and turned each one  into a postcard embroidery.

I love the way they turned out.  They were super fun to make, so I hope my family is enjoying them!

Stormy

Pretty Pinwheels Table Topper Tutorial Part 2

Now for the instructions….

STEP 1

To make the pinwheels:

Take one patterned square and one solid square of the same size and lay them on top of each other RST (right sides together). Sew 1/4 in. around all four sides.

STEP 2

Using a ruler, cut corner to corner both directions to create four blocks.

STEP 3

Press open with seams towards the dark fabric.

STEP 4

Lay out your blocks to ensure the pinwheel is going the correct direction, then sew the top row together, then the bottom row (always using 1/4 in. seam allowance).

STEP 5

Sew the top and bottom rows together to form the pinwheel block. Then, trim the large pinwheel to 9 1/2 in. square and the small pinwheel to 6 1/2 in. square.

STEP 6

For the small pinwheels only.  Lay the 2 in. x 6 1/2 in. strip on top of the pinwheel RST and sew along the edge. Press outward. Repeat on the other side.

STEP 7

Lay the 2 in. x 9 1/2 in. strip along the top of the pinwheel RST and sew along the edge.  Press open. Repeat for the bottom strip.

STEP 8

You should now have all your blocks sewn together.  Lay them out starting with a large pinwheel for the first block on the first row and a small pinwheel for the first block on the second row and continue in that pattern.

Sew each row together in strips.  Press the seams of each row in opposite directions.

STEP 9

Sew your rows together making sure to pin the corners and your quilt top is finished!

Quilt as desired.  (I used a meandering leaf stitch for the larger quilt and a plain meander stitch for the smaller quilt.)

(As always, I am writing these tutorials with children in tow, so if something doesn’t make sense or you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I’d be happy to get back to you!)

Stormy