Maggie's Christening Wall Hanging

Christening wall hanging for Maggie

     Next month our granddaughter will be baptized.  When her big brother was baptized I made him a wall hanging to 'decorate' our home for his party.  It now hangs over his crib at home, keeping him safe in God's love.

Template placement

     I bought the fabric at JoAnn's.  I used the same designs from Embroidery Library that I used on her brother's wall hanging.  I printed the templates for her name and date and arranged them on the background fabric along with the templates of the other designs.

Stitching all done

     After doing the stitching, I pressed and then cut the background fabric to size.  I cut the background fabric to 24" wide and 29" tall.  The first and third borders are the same fabric with a skinny 1/4" border of a different fabric in between.

Border detail

     The first border cuts were (2) 1-1/2" x 29" and (2) 1-1/2" x 26".  The second border cuts were (2) 3/4" x 31" and (2) 3/4" x 26-1/2".  The third border cuts were (2) 3-1/2" x 31-1/2" and (2) 3-1/2" x 32-1/2".    I sewed on the side borders first and then the top and bottom borders.

Pressing detail for narrow border

     Usually when you press your borders after sewing them on you press towards the border.  However when sewing on a very narrow border you need to press towards the inside, away from the border.  Then when you sew on the next border you use the edge of the 1/4" foot along the stitching line on the left so you get a nice even 1/4" border.

Using left side of the foot along the stitching line

     After sewing on all the borders, I used fusible quilt batting and ironed it to the back of the quilt top.  I then ironed the backing onto the other side of the fusible batting.  I then added my binding.  I stitched it on from the back and then topstitched it in place from the front.  Afterwards I did a bit of quilting.  Usually you do your quilting and then your binding but with it all fused together I decided to do the binding first.

Quilt/wall hanging back

     I did very little quilting as this is a wall hanging and is not going to be washed.

Embroidery detail, lettering from MasterWorks

Embroidery detail, designs from Embroidery Library

     I made sure to document all the sizes this time around so that when the next grandbaby comes along I won't have to measure an old one to remember what I did.

Maggie's Pillowcases

Happy New Year, Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras pillowcases

     Our granddaughter Margaret Rose, or Maggie as mom has nicknamed her,  arrived in February.  A couple of weeks later was my annual quilting retreat.  On my way up to retreat I stop at a couple of great quilt shops.  This year I was actually shopping with a purpose, to find just the right fabric for Maggie's year of pillowcases.

St Patrick's Day, Easter and Baseball.  I love the peanut fabric on the baseball one

     Before I left, I 'shopped' my stash to see if I had anything that I could use to make her holiday pillowcases.  I found fabric for her Happy New Year pillowcase and her Valentine and Mardi Gras pillowcases.  I also had some fun fabric for her Halloween pillowcase and lots of 2 inch strips for the accent strip.

Summer time, Fourth of July and football pillowcases

     I found some cute fabric at JoAnn's for the St. Patrick's Day and Easter pillowcases.  I bought the fabric for her football, back to school, Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthday pillowcases all at Patched Works in Elm Grove, WI.  The fabric for her baseball, summertime, and Fourth of July came from Mill House Quilts in Waunakee, WI.

Back to school, Halloween and Thanksgiving pillowcases

      After I cut all the fabric I then spent some time at the computer getting her name ready for embroidery on each of the pillowcases.  Fortunately I had saved everything I had done for her brother so I was able to just edit the letters for the most part.  A week or so spent doing the embroidery and then I was ready to sew.  I used the 'hotdog' method to make these pillowcases.  This blog of mine describes how I do it.

     I plan on giving them to her for her first birthday, not that she will be using a pillow yet.  A fun, fast project that gets to use some of those great themed prints.  Check here for the ones I made her brother.

After School Sewing April 2015

Michelle and her sewing bag and belt

Aviva and her purse

Grace and her pants

     On Mondays I have a new girl, Michelle.  She is a friend of Ellen and Cara's.  She has finished her sewing bag and belt and started on a pair of flannel pants.  Bella was out for a while with a broken wrist but is back now and working on her purse.  Aviva finished her purse and is working on a square neck blouse.  Grace finished a pair of pants and is working on the purse.

Emily and her sewing bag and belt

Christine and a coat for her dog

Ellen and her tank top

Ellen and an apron for her dad

       On Tuesdays I have Emily who is new.  She has finished her sewing bag and belt and is working on a round neck blouse.  Christine finished a coat for her dog and is now working on a hobo bag.  Ellen finished her tank top and made an apron for her dad.  She designed it herself just using an old apron as a guide for size.  Cara is working on her coat, she now has the lining almost together.







   

Lindsey and her tank top

Samantha and her peasant nightgown

   

Reese and her round neck blouse

       On Wednesdays I have Lindsey who had finished her tank top and is working on her sport shorts.  Natalie is working on her peasant blouse while Samantha finished her peasant nightgown.  Reese finished her round neck blouse.

Sarah and her purse

Hayley and her purse

      On Thursdays I have Sarah who finished her purse and Hayley who finished her purse and is working on some drop waist pants. Greta unfortunately had to stop lessons because she made the high school soccer team and has practice or a game every day after school.  

     Just about a month and a half left of classes.  Wow the time has flown. Soon summer camps will start.

Easter 2015

Me and Maggie

     After all the cold and snow we had this spring, Easter actually was sunny and warmer.  Not many flowers blooming though due to the cold spring.

Hunting for eggs in Prairie Crossing

     The day before Easter our daughter brought the kids over and Cltn enjoyed hunting for eggs while Maggie nursed.  They came back to our house to play for a bit and Cltn tasted his first jelly beans.  It was so funny to see him take a few bites of the first one and then after that he just popped them in his mouth.  We did have to put them away because he would have just kept on eating them.

Hunting for eggs at great aunt Mary's house

     The next day we went to my husband's sister's house for dinner.  Cltn enjoyed another egg hunt there.  This time there was a chocolate egg and a coin in each egg.  He would take out the egg and put it in the bowl with the other chocolate eggs that was on the table.  Then he would put the coin on one of the shelves because at home his piggy bank in on the shelves.

Cltn and Maggie

     Little miss Maggie either ate or slept.  Next year she should be toddling around and maybe helping her big brother search for eggs.

Fixing Dolls' Faces

Three smiling dolls

     A neighbor came to me with some dolls that someone had made for her daughters.  They were beautifully crafted rag dolls except the person had used long satin stitches for the eyes and nose.  As a result the little girls were getting their fingers caught in the long threads and they started coming undone.

Pulled stitches on the eyes

Broken threads on the nose

     As you can see in the photos, the poor dolls didn't look so friendly any more.  In fact the youngest one was scared of the doll.

Hand stitching the eye in place

     I decided the best solution was to cover over those long satin stitches.  In some cases where the thread was pulled a lot I had to cut the stitches to allow the fabric to relax and eliminate the puckers.  I hand sewed felt pieces in place using a small blanket stitch.  By choosing thread that was an exact match the stitches just disappeared into the felt.

A new smiley face

     A much more friendly face and mom reported three happy girls.