Quilt for Josephine Marie

Quilt for Josephine

 

     My husband's nephew and his wife had their first baby!  A little girl!  

Block detail

     I found a fun fat quarter bundle and pattern at the Sew Expo in June of 2021.  I cut the pieces at home so I could sew it up at retreat in October 21.  Unfortunately I cut my first square wrong so I had to refigure the other pieces.  Then at retreat I realized I had cut another one too small.  Overall the quilt turned out to be a lot smaller than it should have been.

Border and binding

     I went on-line and found the same fabrics so I bought enough to add a border and also some for the binding.  

Backing with the meandering quilting design

     Bought some pretty, soft flannel at JoAnn's for the backing and had it quilted by Second Street Stitch.  Then I made the labels and stitched on the binding.   A cute quilt even though I messed it up a couple of times.

Baby info quilt label

Quilt label

Autumn Falls Quilt

 

Autumn Falls Quilt

     I love fall colors and when I see a quilt kit or fabric that says fall to me I tend to buy it.  I bought this kit in October of 2019 at Patched Works on my way to quilt retreat.  The kit had nineteen different batik fabrics.  

Block detail

     

     The directions were to cut squares to make the HSTs (half square triangles).  I prefer to make my HSTs using Thangles.  This method uses strips of fabric, pinning on the Thangles paper and then sewing.  You then cut then apart and remove the paper and have perfect HSTs.

Borders

     I cut all my strips and placed them in labeled sandwich baggies at home.  I then was able to sew the blocks at retreat in October of 2021, making sure I kept them labeled.

Backing

     In January of 2022 I had time to put the blocks together with the sashing strips and borders.  For the backing fabric, I found the perfect piece in my stash from my friend Joni.  I took it all then to her and she quilted it using a falling leaves pattern.

Quilting detail

     Then it was time to do the label and add the binding.  I finished the last of the hand sewing of the binding while on vacation this summer.  Not too bad for me, less than three years from buying to finished product ;-)

Label

Brisbane Top

 

Brisbane top in a floral knit

     I found this fabric at JoAnn Fabrics back in August of 2021.  At the time I also bought a McCall's pattern to use with it.  I didn't get it made right away and when I did think about making it, I realized I really didn't care for the very close fit of the top.  What did draw me to the pattern was the keyhole opening in the front.

Pattern

     Then this pattern came up in my email and I liked the close fit without it being bodyhugging.  It also had the keyhole opening in the front.  I bought the pdf pattern and printed out the pieces.  I spent at least an hour cutting and taping the pieces together only to realize I can done so for the larger sizes.  Back to the start.  

Close up of the keyhole opening

 

     I did find the directions a little confusing when doing the opening but once I figured out how it worked, it went together well.  I love how it fits and the knit fabric is so soft.  I would like to make this as a dress but I think I would go up a size in the the waist and hips so it skims the body more.

     I am looking forward to trying more of her patterns, I just need to remember to watch which sizes I print out and to allow plenty of time to construct the pattern pieces.

New Striped Cushions

 

Chair with horizontal stripe pillow back

     I had a client that had a couple of metals chairs on her front porch.  The cushions were faded and flat so they needed to be replaced.

Before cushion

     I figured out yardage requirements and the client went shopping for Sunbrella fabric.  She found a pretty blues and yellow striped one.  She wanted a slightly thicker cushion so we went with two inches for the thickness.  I made a template of the seat and sent it off to have Dacron wrapped Dryfast foam cushions constructed.  After a few snafus, I finally got the forms.  The client also chose to have a single welt in the middle of the side edge, no boxing strip.  It also needed to have Velcro tabs to wrap around the back posts to keep them in place.  

Chair with vertical stripe back

     She wanted the covered cord the same fabric as the cushion, no contrasting welt.  Also she did not want zippers.  The welt cord fabric was cut on the bias so it could go around the curves.  There is no covered cord in the back of the cushion.  We did add some lumbar pillows for comfort and style.

Chair with multi directional stripe front

     

     The lumbar pillows were left up to me to play with.  Originally she just wanted vertical stripes but I suggested that they would have to be lined up perfectly all the time otherwise she notice quickly they were off.  She did agree that that would drive her crazy.

Chair with pleated center front

      I had some navy Sunbrella fabric in my stash and added some to the pillows.  I used the stripes vertically, on the bias and horizontally with solid navy in between on one pillow.  On the other pillow I pleated the center section and placed the stripes horizontally.  The back of that pillow had horizontal stripes while the other pillow back was vertical stripes.  I did make sure the same yellow stripe was in the center of the pillow as was on the cushions.  She can now choose which look she wants.