Bracelet

This bracelet is another project from my high school metals class. I absolutely love it.

Quilt Block #4

This orange fabric is another great find from the Joann clearance rack. This block would have been faster to piece if I hadn't made sure all the little hearts lined up properly.

Star Sapphire

This is my most favorite piece that I made in all of my metals classes. My mom had a star sapphire ring that I always loved, so I made one for myself. I love the star sapphire and I love the design. You can see the star a bit better in the second picture.

Teapots

I saw this teapot pattern at Pink Penguin and I just had to make one! This time I was smart and sent the link to my mom to see if she wanted one too, because I knew she would of course. I didn't bother with the paper piecing as the tutorial shows though because that just seemed like a lot of work, so I just figured out what scale I wanted (finished project 7x9") and cut the fabric as I went. Since they are small, I actually hand-stitched the binding, something I am not usually patient enough to do. I made use of the last of this fabulous flowered fabric that has been featured in other projects. Now I have only a few scraps left, so we'll see where they turn up!

Quilt Block #3

I love this block, both for the design and the great fabric. I got the blue print on the clearance rack at Joann. It also appeared in the owl ornament and dragonfly potholder I made for Julie.

Enameled Dish

This dish is another project from my high school metals class. This was my first project using enamel, the chairs and tree came later. I use it to hold jewelry.

Diappearing Nine Patch

Yay! Amanda got her wedding quilt this week! This is the very first wedding quilt I've made, so I picked a design that's quick to piece so it'd be ready for the wedding. The end result looks very impressive though, and I found this great tutorial to which I've been directing everyone who asks me about it. Of course I ended up finishing it a couple months before the wedding (even after 3 weeks of procrastinating on the actual quilting part) but I just couldn't wait to send it! I picked Carolina blue because Amanda's quite the Tar Heel and it has a flannel back to make it extra cozy.

Finished size: 62"x82"

Quilt Block #2

In this block, I'm putting to use some leftover purple star fabric that shows up in so many of my projects to match the lovely orange star fat quarter.

Enameled Christmas Tree

I made this tree for my mom for Christmas in my high school metals class. It is one of my favorite pieces.

Quilt Block #1

This was the first block I made for the Quilt Block Project. I was very pleased with it because it took me forever to realize how well these fabrics went together. I tried and tried to match each fabric with others, so I was thrilled when it finally dawned on me to pair them up.

My Stash

Sew, Mama, Sew is asking about stashes, and since I've only recently started accumulating a stash, I'd thought I'd do a post to see if it helps me organize mine.

I used to only buy what I needed for a quilt, but now that I have more time to sew, I frequently buy a bit more than I need. And now if I see something I like without having a project in mind, I will buy at least a yard. I always wash it right away and iron it. I would love to be able to sort by color, but in a two bedroom apartment where I share space with the computer, there's not enough room to organize all the bins I'd need, so I sort by size.

The medium-sized (fat quarters to a couple yards) pieces of my stash are stored in this basket:


I also have another basket for odd stash pieces, such as clothes that will be recycled. The tiny, truly scrap pieces go in this drawer:


The other drawers hold various sewing/crafting accessories. When my husband's clothes got too heavy for this plastic closet organizer, I started using it to sort out various projects:


Right now, this is my favorite print in my stash, but I'm getting down to the very last of it.


Currently I'm working on a quilt block project to use up some of my smaller pieces, and I'm planning to try string piecing and start a cathedral window quilt to make further use of small pieces.

Bats

I saw a pattern for knitting bats, but I don't know how to knit. They were just too cute to pass up, so I decided to make some up out of felt.

The Quilt Block Project

In the summer of 2008, I decided to start a new quilt. All my quilts so far feature repeating patterns, and I wanted to do something that would incorporate blocks of various designs. I found this fabulous multi-colored fabric on clearance at Joann's and bought the rest of the bolt (a little over 3 yards) to use for the back of the quilt because it would go so well with so many colors. I started out trying to make each block out of my stash, but quickly realized I would need to purchase at least some solid colored fabrics if I wanted to use up my scraps and have the blocks be color-coordinated. I originally planned to make 12-15 blocks, but quickly got carried away, so now I have enough for 2 quilts! Future posts will each feature a block, and you can also see them rotating in my Flickr badge.

Mini Metal Chairs

I made these little chairs in my high school metals class. I loved metals and spent all my study halls in the auto shop. I do not remember the inspiration for the chairs, but a couple us ended up making chairs and one on the ceramics students made a little room to display them in.

WMU T-Shirt Quilt

These are shirts from my college years. Since Western's colors are brown and gold, I decided not to go with a school colors theme since that is not a very attractive combination. Unfortunately the thick black borders seem overly dark, but many of the t-shirts themselves are not overly colorful or attractive and didn't really coordinate well.

Finished size: approximately 60"x72"

Flannel Quilt

When I saw this design, I knew I had to try it. It was an awful lot of work to sew through 5 layers of flannel and it required a lot of turning, but the result was worth it! I just wouldn't want to make a larger one!

The pattern is called "Ruffled Flowers" and is from the Fall 2003 issue of Quilting Ideas from Better Homes and Gardens. It uses bias cut flannel to create the fraying. I did not assemble it according to the directions. You were supposed to quilt each square and then join them with a zigzag stitch. I didn't think this would work effectively on my machine, so I joined all the squares with normal seams, folded down the corners, and then quilted it. It also said to bind it, which didn't seem necessary.

Finished size: 30"x42"

Star Quilt

I started this quilt in 2003, right after I got my rotary cutter, the best tool ever! I finished the blocks, but then a couple of events conspired against me: my sewing machine broke and I started grad school. I didn't have time to sew or money to fix my machine until after graduation. So two years later I finally got my machine fixed and finished this quilt. Somewhere along the way I also learned a new binding technique that looks a whole lot better.

Finished size: approximately 60"x72"

Scrap Quilt

This quilt is my absolute favorite quilt! It is always the first to be added to the bed (well, my side of the bed) in the winter. By the time I was in college, I had enough leftover scraps of fabric to actually do something with them. I finished the whole top over Christmas break, and without a rotary cutter! I know it's not a terribly complex design, but I made up for it with the nifty design I quilted into it.

Finished size: 60"x82"

My First Real Quilt

This quilt was my first attempt at a twin size quilt. I designed it the summer before I made it, and I spent forever picking out fabrics. Selecting fabrics is not my favorite part. It is overly purple, and I don't think the tiny flower print goes well with the geometric design, but I was really tired of looking for fabric. I used cotton batting instead of polyester so it is really heavy, but I love the quilted design. Overall, I was very pleased with how well it came out.

Finished size: 62"x86"