Sewing Room Addition

Today my husband installed a wall mount swivel unit to hang my tv.  It will be nice to have the top of the file cabinet back and to be able to swivel the tv to any direction that I want. Plus it's on a wall that would otherwise be wasted so it's not taking up any prime real estate like my design board does.

My husband is a perfectionist so I'm sure the cables will be tucked away and his little helper will keep him on his toes. I am so happy with the progress of my room!

Solstice Star Series: Ribbon Star

I've been following the Fresh Lemons quilt blog and I came across a post for a quilt series called Solstice Stars.   The first tutorial was for a block called the Ribbon Star.  It was pretty and simple plus I could pull fabric from my stash so it seemed like a good way to spend a cold, wintry Saturday afternoon. I pulled out some bright, happy colors and started the series.

Softies

I bought a Softies book about a year ago and I finally decided to try one out. I am looking for something new and fresh to add to the craft fair booth and maybe this will be it. I will make a few and test them out by leaving one for Chloe.  If she gravitates towards it, I will make some.


The book is called More Softies Only a Mother Could Love. It's full of cute stuff.

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose

A co-worker of mine was crazy about his favorite pair of jeans but they were wearing out. He hated to give them up so he asked me if I could turn them into a dog bed for his precious pooch. He thought that since his little doggy weighed in at a whopping 10-pounds, that there would be enough fabric to make a nice little snuggly spot for the dog.

So I got the jeans, bought 3 shades of blue thread and a bag of fiberfill. It was most difficult to make that first cut into these jeans; if they were mine I would consider them still wearable. So I started slow, took the waistband off, then cut the legs off. As I worked my way around them, it got easier to cut them into logical pieces. Then the fun part began. I stitched them back together into pieces of fabric. I wanted to make sure the pocket with the Ralph Lauren Polo label was in tact and the focal point of the top piece of fabric. (It would also make a nice place to store doggy treats.) After I had a main center piece, I felt it needed contrast so I dug out pieces of jean fabric from 3 other pairs of old jeans I had cut up previously. It made nice little alternating shades of blue patches around the center fabric. I then reversed the fabric on the back, making a piece of darker jeans the center of the fabric and placing the Polo jean pieces around it.

Once I had a nice 25 by 25 inch square for both the front and back, I stitched them together, turned it, stuffed it and hand sewed the opening shut. I also had stitched my custom label on the back to give it a nice designer look. Doggy can squish down nicely in the middle of the soft, lofty cushion since I made sure not to overfill the thing with stuffing. It is much softer than it looks and it should be snuggly for his treasured pet.

Quilts N More - Pick-It Fences

Using my most recent issues of Quilts and More, I decided to make the Pick-It Fences quilt that is on the cover.  The instructions state to use 26 different fabrics besides the solid for the background. 

I was very happy that I could find almost all of the fabrics from my stash.  Or maybe it's a sign that I am a fabric hoarder. Completing this quilt top was rewarding and it felt good to purge some fabrics for the nice results. It was also my first opportunity to use my design board to ensure I had the blocks point in the right direction.

Table Toppers

Since we refinished the furniture in the guest room, I've been concerned about setting things on the dressers. So I decided to make some table toppers to protect the wood. I found some Susan Winget fabric with sand dollars in a shade of turquoise that matches the room perfectly. It only took me an afternoon to design, sew, quilt and complete these two custom-sized table toppers for the dressers.