a noteworthy quilt

I received a surprise package in the mail from Sew Sisters in thanks for participating in their Kona challenge- remember the pregnant doll tutorial?  Included were some more Kona solids and a charm pack of Noteworthy by Sweetwater.

Now, normally when I get new fabric, it sits out on the kitchen counter awhile so I could look at it, then progresses to the desk in the craft room, eventually to be put away in the appropriate storage bin in the Closet of No Return. Then, much later, I find it, wondering why I have never USED it?

Not this time.

It was no sooner out of the envelope than I tore into it and sewed it into a patchwork baby quilt top.  Just. Like. That.  I kid you not, the top was sewn and pressed within 20 minutes.

While I was at it (and totally because I was too lazy to clean up and put away my machine),  I grabbed a scrap of batting, my 505 spray and a piece of perfectly coordinating Nicey Jane dots (rescued from The Closet) and basted that baby.  Continuing on, I decided to quilt it with some pretty free motion flowers, one in each square, to add a little something to the simple patchwork.

I especially love how the quilting looks against the backing.

The binding is a pink with loopy flowers as well, just made for this quilt.  This stuff is from my local Fabricland, and has been hanging in The Closet since my very first quilt, almost 3 years ago!  I attached it and finished hand sewing it on that night while catching up on trashy t.v.

So there you have it, the story of a quilt, made in less than a day, completely unplanned.  Noteworthy, I think :) 

Sew Off Round 1: Asymmetrical Springtime "Peecoat"

It's time to Sew Off!  Voting is now in session until Sunday at midnight, so please hop over to Naptime Crafters and pick your favourite TWO entries!

Round 1 of the competition is kids's clothing, so I decided to design and make a jacket for The Middle Child.

I have a long wool coat, bright yellow, that I bought years ago on holiday in a little boutique.  It has an asymmetrical collar that I just love.  For ages, I thought about replicating it, so this contest was the perfect opportunity!  I went into my stash and found this teal corduroy that perfectly matched my daughter's eyes, and decided to make her a spring jacket.

Using the shape of the coat as inspiration, I created my own pattern using sweetheart lines, shortening it to hip length, and adding side pockets for stashing girly treasures.

I used big wooden buttons, sewn on with yellow thread, and lined it with one of my favourite floral prints from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection.  I was very proud of how well it turned out, and am happy to report that it passed the "daughter test"!

But, as is typical with me, a funny thing happened on the way to the contest ;)  I had laid the original wool coat out on the kitchen floor to use it inspect the seams.  The doorbell rang, and off I went.  When I returned a moment later, there was a HUGE puddle of PEE sitting right in the middle of the satin lining!  Turns out my old incontinent dog decided to seek some relief there, as opposed to somewhere on all the easily cleanable hardwood floors in the house.  I was griping about it to some of my quilty friends when Kaelin, who is always good for a laugh, suggested that I name it the "Peecoat"!  Why not, seeing as it was already Christened and all ;)

So there you have it!  Adventures continue :)  Now scoot off and vote, would ya!

fly, butterfly: a memorial quilt

My husband grew up in a small town; the kind where one group of 25 kids go through K-12 together, so they get to know each other pretty well. One of his classmates was Rebecca. I have met her a handful of times, and by some luck of fate she found me online via this blog and we chat from time to time. She is one with a golden heart- when I started to knit last year, she sent me a surprise package of knitting gift tags in support.

Last week I read the terrible news that Rebecca had suffered an unexpected stillbirth of her second child, a daughter. As a parent, or just as a human being, I am sure none of us can imagine anything worse than losing a child.

She has been on my mind and in my heart, and I wanted to provide some comfort. In the obituary for Olivia, they mentioned that donations were being accepted for a bench in a local butterfly park in her memory. "Fly, fly our little butterfly," the notice read. From these words, inspiration for a butterfly quilt was born. Something the family could keep in memory of the baby that they could not.

Simple. Grey for the grey skies that they are facing. A smattering of cheery pink butterflies making their way across the sky...and one wee butterfly veering off on her own path. Framed in a binding with cheerful flowers, to symbolize hope, a silver lining. Pink loopy quilting, like butterflies in flight. A few words incorporated into the loopy quilting...."Olivia," "fly" and "love."


More fluttering butterflies abound of the back, a great print by Valori Wells which was literally in my very first fabric order a couple years back....been hoarding it for awhile waiting for the perfect project.



The back also has a label and a quote, which I thought both lovely and appropriate to the situation:

The butterfly counts not months by moments, and has time enough.
-Rabindranath Tagore

I hope that the quilt can provide a small bit of comfort for Rebecca and her family during this heartbreaking journey.

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 26" by 31"

Design: inspired by this quilt. Butterflies from this template, raw edge appliquéd.

Fabrics: backing is Valori Wells Monarch, front scraps of Nicey Jane, Hunky Dory, DS quilts, Children at Play. Grey solid from local quilt shop.

Binding: Children at Play Meadow

Quilting: loopy stipple in pink cotton thread (note- tried this with my feed dogs up this time as I have seen others try, it worked great!)

Label: I used this product (first time, and I was quite pleased with it!)

Tutorial: Cathedral window pillow, two ways

Time to make use of those lovely cheater cathedral windows that you made using my cheater cathedral windows tutorial!

Two designs, two sizes!

First up: Making the pillow tops.

For a 21 inch pillow full of windows:

1. make 49 cathedral window blocks and assemble as instructed in cheater cathedral window tutorial and assemble them in a large square, 7 blocks long by 7 blocks wide.
2. Finish internal edges as instructed in tutorial, leaving all outside edges unfinished so the outsides look scalloped.

3. Cut a 21.5 by 21.5 inch piece of fabric that coordinates with your pillow top (I chose the solid grey that outlined my windows.
4. Pin window piece to the square and sew windows to square along outside lines of blocks, along the lines you drew.

5. Press rounded edges inward and finish.

The top is done. There should be a 0.5 inch periphery of fabric around your pillow top to act as your seam.


For a 14 inch pillow with windows set on point:

1. make 9 cheater cathedral windows as described in tutorial.
2. arrange in a diamond shape, with 3 windows on each side. Sew together as in tutorial, and finish these edges, leaving outside and inner edges unfinished.
3. Cut a 14.5 inch square piece of fabric for your pillow top. Center cathedral windows on fabric piece and pin down.
4.Sew along straight lines of outer and inner edges to attach to pillow top fabric, then press scalloped edges inward and finish as in tutorial. The top is done.



To attach pillow backs:

1. Cut two pieces of fabric for the pillow back. I chose a home dec weight fabric.
For 21 inch pillow: cut one piece to 21.5" by 18"; the second to 21.5" by 11"
For 14 inch pillow: cut one piece to 14.5" by 11"; the second to 14.5" by 8"

2.Take long edge of each piece and flip fabric over 0.5" and press. Flip again 0.5", press and sew along edge to finish. (Note- I used the selvedge for one of my finished edges because I liked the fringe look!)

3. Arrange 2 pieces so they overlap, right sides both facing up, with finished edges both in a vertical direction towards the center, and all raw edges outwards. Overlap to make a square of 21.5" and 14.5", respectively. Pin.

4. Take coordinating sized pillow top and align on top of pillow backs, right side down (so that right sides of front and back pieces are facing each other).

5. Sew with 0.5 inch seam along all 4 edges. For 21" full cathedral pillow, be mindful to sew only through the 0.5" peripheral fabric of the pillow top and not to sew the windows themselves. Repeat with a zig zag stitch for added reinforcement. Trim excess.

6. Flip right side out via flaps- be careful of the pins!

7. Stuff with pillow form and admire :)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Feel free to contact me with any questions at:
obsessivecraftingdisorder {at} yahoo {dot} ca

I'd love to see your creations in my Flickr group!

Tutorial: Cheater Cathedral Windows

I think Cathedral windows have to rank right up there with my favorite quilt blocks. They are simply gorgeous. But, when I read tutorials explaining the crazy fabric origami skills required to make a single window....yah, I am just too lazy for that racket, I admit it flat out. So, I decided to find a slacker way to cheat.

The great thing about this method is that as the blocks are joined, the backings have a finished appearance as the technique is similar to rag quilting. Also, the finishing of each block to produce the windows sews through the layers, so it doubles as quilting. If you are making a quilt, you can add batting between the layers, however even without, this would make a nice, light weight throw.

Note: While traditional cathedral windows finish up with the window in a diamond orientation, the cheater method finishes square- you can get the traditional arrangement easily by setting the blocks on point.

Here's what you do!

Each finished cheater cathedral window block will measure 3 inches by 3 inches.

To make each window, you will need to cut two 5" circles, one for the backing that will overlap at the sides, and the "feature fabric" that will be seen "in" the window. I used My Go! Baby with the circle cutting die and had the 100+ circles required for my pillow tops cut up in no time! For the grey backing I cut 5.5" strips of WOF and cross cut into 5.5" squares, stacked them into the Go! Baby and away I went. For my feature fabrics, I used scraps of my Nicey Jane from this quilt and sent them through. The Go! Baby can cut 6 layers of quilting at a time, so it was very quick and efficient. I was very happy with the performance. Wish I had been able to use this for the bazillion individually cut circles for my mixed sushi quilt!!

There are two ways to sew each block. Use whichever you are comfortable with- I did a combination of both to try them out and found them equally successful (though I personally preferred Method A).

Method A:
1. Placing wrong sides together, sew entire edge, using 1/4 inch seam.

2. Cut a slit on the feature fabric side, about 1 inch in length, and 1/2 inch from the sewn seam. Be very careful to only cut through the one layer of fabric!! Also, if you are using a directional fabric, think of how it will be oriented and make sure the slit is on the side or top, not the corner area.

3. Use the slit hole to turn the fabrics so they are right side out, pushing seams out from inside to make nice round edges.

4. Press.

5. Set aside for assembly (see below).


Method B:
1. Placing wrong sides together, sew with 1/4 inch seam but leave a 1 inch space.

2. Use hole to turn fabrics so they are right sides out, pushing seams out from inside to make nice round edges.

3. Press, folding over open area to make the outer perimeter a smooth circle shape.

4. Set aside for assembly (see below).


Assembly
You are now ready to join the circles together to make your windows.

1. Make a 3 inch square template from plastic or card stock. Center it on your circle block and use a fabric marker or pencil to trace (these lines will be covered once sewn).



2. Take 2 circles and align, back parts facing, so line on front of each are lined up.

3. Sew along this line as shown.


4. Continue to add blocks to end of row. Your rows should look like this:

5. Line up rows and sew together. You will have a block with edges all turned upwards like so:


Finishing:
1. Press the upturned edges as shown, to overlap on their own block.

If using Method A, note how the slits will now be concealed:

2. Top stitch by hand or machine, close to edge.


You are finished!

Check out the finished backing as mentioned above:


Now use your block of windows to make something beautiful- a quilt, placemats, or as I did, pillows! I will be doing a second tutorial on the construction of the pillows themselves this week :)


Feel free to email me with any questions or clarifications at:
obsessivecraftingdisorder {at} yahoo {dot} ca

And if you make some of your own cathedrals using my tutorial, be sure to add some photos to my Flickr group! Please. It is pretty lonely over there.....{sigh}

Hope you enjoyed "cheating" along with me :)