Quilted cover

Sewing is one of my more regular craft-type pursuits.  Quilting is a more recent one and I’m willing to experiment with my sewing machine.  Specifically the quilting, free-motion, or darning foot.

Without getting too technical when using this particular foot, the feed dogs are lowered and the pressure on the foot is set to light.  This allows the sew-er to gently maneuver the fabric in any direction while sewing, not just in a straight line.

I wanted to experiment with free-motion quilting and our heating pad needed a new cover.  No one would ever see this so what better way to learn than to practice!

I layered a piece of 100% cotton batting between two pieces of cotton fabric and pinned this all together before taking it to my sewing machine.  The total size was 12 inches by 27 inches. I began stitching in the center and made my way out toward the edges.

My stitches aren’t even as I moved the fabric around.  Going slowly gave me better control of stitch length.  You can see some longer stitches and very short stitches as I tried to make this star.

I drew a leaf with pink chalk and tried to go over the lines here.

More leaves and a heart.

Can you see the hidden messages below?

 

All quilted.

I added binding around the entire piece (don’t look at the horrible corners!) then folded it in half to make a padded envelope for our heating pad. I also made a new flannel cover to conceal it all and make it removable for washing.

I do need lots more practice using this foot on my sewing machine before I tackle a regular-sized quilt. It was fun and I learned a few things.

Do you sew and have you tried using all of the feet that came with your machine?Patti

What I’ve been doing

I finally finished the quilt for my Colorado grandson!  Happy Dance!!!

I love it, I Love It, I LOVE IT!

Once the top was pieced together, I added two borders to make it bigger to fit a twin-sized bed.  The finished size is 72 X 94.  I think I may have made it too large but, well, it should still work.

This is before the outside border was quilted.  I just ran a line of stitching next to the white border and again next to where the binding would be sewn.  I hope that area won’t shift without much quilting to hold it together.

The front.  Shout out to Mr. Aitch for standing on a stool and holding it up for the picture.  It was raining and the front porch was the only option.

The bottom right corner has a surprise for our grandson – his name (machine embroidered).

The back.

The bottom right corner has the dedication: To Lennon with love from Nona 2020 PJH.

And another surprise on the blue stripe running down the back – his initials.

Here is the quilt on a queen-sized bed. It’s plenty long enough! You can see the variations in the blues and greens better in this photo.

Windmills

or could these pass for propellers?

Though I have been sewing as long as I’m been knitting, I still don’t feel comfortable with precision patchwork.  Half-square triangles to be specific.  It’s all about sewing on the bias or any angle that could stretch out of kilter.

So I decided to make the windmill block for my grandson’s airplane quilt symbolizing a propeller rather than half-square triangles using this tutorial.  This block still involves an angle but doesn’t have to be spot on with precision points.

Once all the blocks are sewn together, deciding on their placement will be the next challenge.

Happy belated New Year!

2020 is here and I hope it brings you much happiness, joy, and good health!

I have a new sewing project: a quilt for our soon-to-be seven-year-old grandson.

When I was visiting him in November, I noticed that the quilt he was using was starting to fall apart.  He loves airplanes and his favorite color is green.  This fabric was perfect for the backing!  I purchased backing fabric and blue fat quarters several years ago and there they sat. 

Going through my fabric stash, I found several greens that would play well together with the blues.  Solid white will round out the color scheme.

The quilt front will be blues, greens, and white.  The backing fabric will tie it all together.

Les Monsieurs by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller Fabrics #DC6095

Knitting projects are still hanging in there.  More about them soon.

What are you working on?