This, That and Oops!

I have been doing a bit of this and that lately.  A little machine embroidery, quilting etc.

I put this cougar from Urban Threads on a jacket for DS. I did change it up a bit, eliminating some leaves etc around the cougar.  The mascot from his alma mater is the cougar. ;-)

I hope he likes it!

Next I quilted a quilt (that I can't show you yet) and yesterday I worked on the binding.

The binding needed to be this color and wouldn't you know, I ran out with 5 inches to go!

That's the oops!  :-o

 

 Oh no!!!

I only had a few little scraps of the fabric left that were 1 7/8th's inches. 

So I tried a little magic~

I think it will work out ok.

I am trying to decide if I should add in a little piece of muslin or something to fill in, or just fold

 and stitch it down.

What would you do?

Today I am working on a gift and then I will get back to my BOM's

and stuff. LOL

I hope you have time for a few stitches today!

Happy Quilting!

Hungry Sewing Machine~ Part 2

In my last post we talked about sewing mini projects and how to avoid having your sewing machine 'eat' your little pieces.  Here are a few more thoughts...

Instead of marking the line on squares if you are making mini flying geese, use a sheet of fine sand paper under your squares, or~

 

I like to use a nail file. I use the straight edge to draw a line.  The file holds down the little piece, and keeps it from distorting.  This works especially well when you just need a couple pieces with lines.

Generally though, I don't draw any lines. :-)  I put a piece of painters tape straight out from my needle on my sewing machine bed and use it to line up the diagonal corners.  Yes, you can purchase all sorts of plastic templates to tape to your machine, but because of where my bobbin is located, I'd have to remove those every time I change a bobbin~ no thanks! ;-)

When you feed the little piece into your machine, start sewing from the largest edge~ in this case it is the straight edge of the flying goose rectangle.  Try to avoid feeding things in from the pointed corner if at all possible~ that is when your machine is most likely to 'eat' the corner.  If you must feed the corner in, doing HST's or something similar, then chain-piecing is your best bet.  Even running a little scrap of fabric ahead of the corner helps to keep things going through smoothly.  Above I am chain piecing the flying geese with the largest part of the white rectangle leading in first. Kind of hard to see that rectangle. :-/

I made these little mug coasters using the above techniques, and the flying geese came out perfect. My machine didn't get a single 'bite'! ;-)  The pattern is from The Patchsmith. 

Do you have any mini tips to share? I'd love to hear them!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Hungry Sewing Machine?

Do you drag your feet to work on mini projects because your sewing machine 'eats' the tiny blocks?  Pushing the fabric down into the throat plate?  Whenever I begin a mini project the first thing I do is change my needle~ a dull needle will feed your sewing machine! ;-)

Another tip is to look at how you sew the pieces together... try to sew from the 'straight' edge.

When sewing these triangles together for my Circa 2016 blocks, the leading edge is the straight edge, not the pointed edge.  (I'll explain why my machine is taped together in my next post.) ;-)

Here are my two pinwheel blocks for the next part of the Circa 2016 Sew Along by Temecula quilts. 

I have a few more tips which I need to take pix of and then I'll do another post.

Until then~

Happy stitchin'!

~Sewing~Sewing~ Sewing~

I love sew-days!  

Yesterday afternoon I took a little time to catch up on my March BOM with my Groupbox friends.  We are doing 10 inch blocks this year~ you can see my previous blocks and center medallion a few posts back. ;-) 

 

 

 This block is called Broken Dishes Variation from Quilters Cache.  I strayed from the group a bit as the chosen block for March is Broken Arrows. I kept with the 'broken' theme, but chose another block this time. ;-)

I also got my Temecula Quilt Co Circa 2016 mini blocks all caught up~

These little guys are just fun! They finish at 3 inches and we are doing 2/week.  I only had to do last week's yesterday, but realized I hadn't taken photos of the previous weeks.  This is a great way to use up tiny bits and pieces!

Today I am going to work on a bag for a pattern test.  It looks pretty easy and I'm anxious to play with it~

Until next time!

Happy stitchin'!!

~Pillows~

Last year I had the pleasure of testing a pattern called 'Blue Sapphire' by Connie @ Freemotion By the River.  I knew I wanted to make something for my DS and he suggested pillows for his couch.

I didn't have enough of the batiks to make the whole quilt, so pillows it was!

The pattern was very easy to follow and makes such a fun design!

 

I usually make lapped backs, but this time I put in zipper backs with a flap covering the zipper. 

I followed a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. Easy peasy!  (I did change the measurements a bit.)

He came by and picked them up yesterday and loved them. :-) Be sure to check out Connie's patterns on her site~ lots of fun quilts and I just love the batiks!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Circa 2016 progress~

I am following the Temecula Quilt Co's 'Circa 2016' Sew Along.  I'm not sure how long it will last, but I am enjoying the posts to their blog every Friday and have had fun playing along. 

We just had that one little 3 inch block to do last Friday. In the previous weeks we made the center blocks and then assembled our center medallion. I chose that grey-green for my background and I think it makes all my scraps light up.  :-)

What are you working on?  Have you joined a BOM or sew along this year?

Until next time~

Happy stitching!

BOM's and Sew Alongs~

Have you chosen the BOM's and Sew Alongs you intend to follow this year?  There are certainly a lot to choose from!  I decided to take it real slow and just do a few. ;-)

 

The first is the BOM that my friends from the former HGTV message board (we now have a Groupbox home) run every year. If you remember I hosted it a few years ago.  This year Angela and Pat are doing it (no blogs) and they have decided to do a center medallion block and then 10 inch blocks to go around it.  Well,.... it is no secret that I love stars. So I decided instead of doing the block they picked out, I would draw one in EQ7 that included a star. :-)  I have no idea of the name of this block, it is just something I played around with and for all I know it has been 'out there' for years.  I rarely take the easy route. ;-)

Since there is no name for this BOM, and I plan to do mine in all Civil War prints, I am calling it my CW BOM for now. LOL

I think I already showed you the January block~

 

It is called  Alpine Cross from Quilters Cache.

 I did change the color placement a little bit. ;-)

And this is the February block. It is called Goshen Star and is also from Quilters Cache.

 

I am really enjoying playing in my CW stash!  

Tomorrow I will show you my Temecula Quilt Co's Circa 2016 progress.

Until then~

Happy stitchin'!!