Another Baby Due Soon

A friend from high school also has a granddaughter soon to appear. I started another round rag quilt for her DIL and baby with scraps from previous projects and a little help from my neighbor's stash.

My folder for round rag quilts includes directions and fabric choices from previous quilts I've made. The book and author from which I copied the pattern are noted somewhere on this blog in an earlier posting.

My friend, Irena, who gave me some flannel fabrics to complete my new quilt pattern also set me up with a nice, large cutting board and a handy little gadget that cuts the circles.  I couldn't do it without these tools.  Irena cut her first granddaughter's quilt (and Irena's first quilt) circles after tracing each circle and cutting all edges with scissors.  Then she got online and found these tools. She ordered one of each for her and one of each for me.  Thank goodness!

 

After cutting out all circles, I put together a pattern for front and back. It's easiest to work on a flat surface so that you can view front and back with a flip. You also want to see the outside and middle border and the center. I pin after I'm sure of the pattern. Then flip and check a few more times to make sure I'm ready to sew.

 

New Year--and All Gifts Delivered?

I was so busy making gifts for my daughter's baby shower and Christmas that I didn't want to reveal on this blog, that you must think I've been doing nothing. Far from it!  I'll show you a project I started in the fall with my daughter for her baby due February 3rd.  We had so much going on with the holidays that we just got back to it last weekend.  She snipped and I sewed.  Then into the washer to fluff it up.

Here is Lily's rag quilt made with flannel circles:

 

The fabrics include Sara's baby shower color themes of grey, pink and green and her favorite animal--an elephant.  She feels like an elephant right now waiting out these last few weeks.

 

 

But any day now, just like the elephant's eye and tail in the quilt, Lily will pop out!

 

It can't be soon enough!

 

Here is Lily's smooth quilt back flipped over the front with the rag ruffles.

 

Entire back of the quilt reveals birds in the outer border, grey polka dots and white elephants in the middle border and pink paisleys in the center.  Come on, Lily. We want to see you front and back, totally revealed now.  We're waiting for that last gift from 2012!

 

 

 



September Birthdays Card Designs

A masculine card for my brother-in-law and my brother who both have birthdays in September.  Stampin' Up wood grain stamp inked in  Papertrey Ink's (PTI) Chocolate Chip dye ink on PTI Kraft paper was the base of the front of the card. The striped paper was from American Crafts Night Fall / Night Watch, a double-sided patterned paper I found at a shop called Beautiful Impressions in Westbrook.  I wrapped some brown grosgrain around the striped panel (Best Occasions self-adhesive 1/2 inch ribbon) and topped it with PTI Fine Linen Twill tape. I made a simple bow with the twill tape and added some hemp twine, attaching it all with a brown brad (JoAnn Craft Essentials neutral round brads).  I added a small metal charm to the bow with some hemp.  The charms read "Time, Time, Time" and "Time Is Measured in Moments".  Unknown source--from my stash!  I punched a real estate sign with an EK punch and distressed it with Chocolate Chip dye ink on a dauber and added the sentiment "Birthday Wishes" from Stampin' Up's Sincere Salutations set.  A corner rounder on the outside edges finished the card.

Inspiration card from Pinterest.  I like the changes I made. I thought I had some stitched ribbon but couldn't find it.

My sister and sister-in-law have September birthdays also.  I made this card for them.

The base of the card is PTI Fine Linen cardstock.  The frame mats are green on green gingham, and a  rust colored floral with some sparkle and shine from my stash (no known source).  These layers are wrapped with eyelet lace and jute string wrapped several times and tied with a simple bow. A Martha Steward satin photo corner anchors the top inside corner.  The inset background for the posie is cut with pinking shears from a brown on brown damask patterned paper.  The inner frame is Fine Linen. The flower is punched from a 1 1/2 inch circle and a 3/4 inch circle that were distressed on the edge.  The middle layer of the posie is stamped from a 5 petal Stampin' Up flower punch.  All layers of the posie were cut from a yellow and white polka dot paper with honeybees randomly printed on it.  The center of the flower is a button with jute knot.  The flower layers are dotted with a brown marker to simulate stitching.  The leaves are cut from a Stampin' Up die cut in the green on green gingham pattern.  The sentiment flys on a banner cut from yellow harlequin paper.  It has a vintage look with gingham and lace and a button.

Here's the inspiration card from Pinterest:

I liked the color combination in this card, but couldn't find the right colors and patterns in my stash. I didn't have the scalloped rectangle die cut and stamp or the small heart punch to make a border. I also don't have a 1 inch circle punch for the middle layer of the posie.  I like the banner on the longer stem.  It's great to have a starting place and then problem solve materials and techniques to accomplish something similar--but your own!

They were well received at any early celebration of three of the birthdays.

Card for a Special Girl's Baptism

These cards from Pinterest inspired a card I made for Samantha's baptism last weekend on Nantucket.

I made my own pattern and used a 1 1/2 inch circle punch to cut the neck and Stampin' Up eyelet border punch to create the trim on the hem and sleeves.  I used a Swiss Dots embossing folder to add texture to the the striped vellum overskirt. With a organza ribbon and a paper rose at the Empire waist, it was almost complete. The small pearls on the neckline reminded me of my Add-a-Pearl necklace from childhood.  And Samantha's paternal grandmother actually gave her one for her baptism!

I think she loved it!

Jelly Roll Quilting

I recently took a class in making a "jelly roll" into a "lasagna quilt".  I bought this jelly roll from Fat Quarter Shop. It's 30 strips of laser cut 2 1/2 inch wide fabric from my favorite fabric designer, Amy Butler. The roll contains several patterns and colors from her Gypsy Caravan line.

Here's the finished quilt which I gave my sister for her birthday.

It went together very quickly.  I added a border of  Gypsy Mum in Periwinkle to match the backing.

I added binding using Deco Dots in Periwinkle.

When it was done it reminded me of Suzy Latham's grandmother's front porch on 34th Street in my hometown. It was a large veranda in the Arts & Crafts Craftsman style that surrounded three sides of the house with deep overhangs and stone walls.  The wicker porch furniture was covered with florals and the awnings were striped. We used to play Canasta with her grandmother and drink iced tea and lemonade on summer afternoons.

 

Gypsy Caravan Hammock in Pesto

 

 

Nice memories wrapped up in a throw quilt!

 

 

Yellow and Black Theme Seems Like Late August

Today after terrible rains and winds and a microburst on Saturday, the weather settled down but was still hot and humid.  I opened the window and listened to the birds and watched the butterflies in the garden from my desk. I was inspired to make these cards with a yellow and black theme.

I used the new stamp set (a $5.00 special offer) from Stampin' Up:  Reason to Smile to create these cards. I did see a card by Rita Wright that inspired me. I used black, gray, yellow and white cardstock from my stash.  I had some black and white and yellow items leftover from creating my daughter's wedding scrapbook that came in handy also.  One of the items was the Silver Swirl design paper (brand unknown).  I used the Stampin' Up eyelet punch on the Making Memories Yellow Gingham paper and 3/8 inch yellow grosgrain ribbon to tie that layer together.  I stacked yellow and gray cardstock to frame the white centerpiece.  I inked the flower three times: first in yellow, then green for stem and calyx, and finally black for the outline.  I used a dauber to add some more color and to make the yellow fill shape more indefinite like a watercolor.

The companion card was the same color scheme with some different patterns.  I used Making Memories Small Dot in black for the background and gray for the eyelet trim.  I layered the yellow gingham, gray eyelet and mini polka dot background and tied it with yellow grosgrain ribbon.  I stacked black and yellow for the centerpiece frame and stamped it with the sunflower set. This set is three pieces:  the color smudge, the outline and the center.  I have already misplaced the center stamp so I used the dauber to make the center more colorful and also less distinct than the outline stamp. I popped one sunflower and the whole frame.

Spoiler alert!  Don't view the next card if you have an anniversary August 20th!

This card uses the Silver Swirl paper and some Wild Saffron adhesive paper ribbon on yellow gingham for the background layer on a gray card.  It's wrapped with 3/8 inch yellow gingham ribbon and 3/16 inch black satin looped ribbon tied up in a bow just like the tablecloths at my daughter's wedding six years ago.  The framed layer is yellow, gray and black cardstock. The centerpiece is stamped with the Reason to Smile sunflower.  I use a marker and a dauber to brighten and smudge the color.  One sunflower and the whole fram layer are popped for added dimension.

I had fun listening to an old, favorite Andrea Bocelli CD and using the leftovers from the wedding decor (great memories) to make some new cards on a yellow and black theme.

Other Card Designs from the August Workshop

Carol had a lovely design based on quilting. 

Very nice colors and loved the criss-crossing ribbon to cover up any mistakes gluing or positioning!

Bonnie had a similar idea but used postage stamp die cuts to form a quilt-like pattern.

This one reminds me of a beach towel with the flip flop brad and the twine ribbons.

Bonnie's other design was a floral in her new vase die cuts.

I loved the black, white and pink color palette.

Carol's granddaughter Kayleigh came to make cards with us--and to show us her crafts. She loves to make miniatures.  She is very creative, imaginative and talented--a future Martha Stewart!

Kayleigh brought a box of her creations including cotton candy made from cotton swabs that cleaned pink chalk off a chalkboard, cake slices made from sponges, a fortune cookie made with craft foam (fortune included), a felt chocolate candy bar and a tiny envelope containing a note.

Some more  Kayleigh creations up close:

Sushi platter with baked potato, noodles, California roll (small bead wrapped in black electrical tape) and toothpick chopsticks.

Parfait made from the top of a plastic bottle--with a cherry on top!

Miniature candy in bins. The wrappers were printed from Google images.

Veggies and dip from the soda bottle bottom!

And a little hard to see, but these are pencils made from toothpicks in their own clear pencil case.

We had a great afternoon of crafting--young and old alike!