Floral Photo Gallery

I've been on a flower craze lately, I just love the way they photograph, and now that it's spring there are so many varieties in full bloom. This weekend we visited Santa Barbara and I discovered several beautiful roses there. These are my two favorites.

Sewing for Newborns

http://www.newbornsinneed.org/

Learning to quilt

FIRST QUILT SQUARE

Recently I've made 3 baby quilts to donate to Newborns in Need (http://www.newbornsinneed.org/). Although I have many years of sewing experience I'm discovering that quilting is a craft unto itself and even though I'm pleased with the quilts I've made so far I would like to learn the art of quilting. I can see a lot of room for improvement in my quilts.


Yesterday I took Quilting 101 at Joann's Fabrics. It was a 2-1/2 hour class with just me and one other student. I had originally signed up for the class in February but it was cancelled twice since there weren't enough students enrolled. I was surprised considering how crowded the store usually is and by how much quilting fabric they sell. Maybe most people have already taken the basic quilting class. Judy, the teacher, was experienced, patient and nice. She taught us how to make a square design by using the rotary cutter and mat, the importance of cutting straight, sewing straight and ironing seams. I learned many shortcuts I would have missed if left on my own. She also taught us how to make a binding to use when finishing a quilt.

SPRING PLANTING

This is the second annual family vegetable planting. To see the results of our first year go to http://6ptstar.blogspot.com/p/vegetable-garden-2009.html .

Because the garden isn't at my house I didn't participate much last year once the seeds and plantings were in the ground. I usually would "bop" in once a week to see how things were growing but it was my sister Sandra who did the daily watering and weeding. I missed not participating in the daily activities of the garden but since we don't have room or the sun on our condo patio I was happy to participate in the initial planting at my sister's garden.

This year I've decided to plant seeds ahead of the in-ground planting as a way to participate a little more. We have enough space and warmth for this. So this week (3/17/10) I've planted seeds to grow 6 tomato plants, 6 zuchinnis, 6 bell peppers, 4 watermelon & 4 cantalope . The weather has warmed considerably, reaching in the high 70's, so it's the perfect time to begin. We'll see how it goes.

Easy Baby Quilt Tutorial

This easy baby quilt is made with flannel, but cotton will also work, and only takes a few hours to make. You will need the following:Prewash fabric.

Cut 2 each 19" x 3-1/2" strips. Stitch to the long edges of the center piece, right sides together, to create first border. Use 1/4" seams. Iron seams open.

Cut 2 more strips and stitch to the other two sides of the center piece.

Iron all seams open.

Cut 2 strips of the fabric to be used for the second border the length of the long edge and sew rights sides together. Repeat for the other two edges.

Cut 2 strips of the fabric to be used for the third border the length of the long edge and sew rights sides together. Repeat for the two other edges.



Cut the backing fabric the same size as the finished front side. Pin the batting to the wrong side of the backing fabric using safety pins. I find that curved safety pins work best.
Trim batting to match size of backing fabric.
Pin back and front fabric rights sides together. Remove safety pins. Baste edges.

Stitch front to back using 1/2" seams. Trim seams and corners. Turn inside out and push out corners. Press edges.


Top stitch 1/4" from edge of quilt. Top stitch 1/4" from edge of each border. Baste first for best results. Top stitch center piece 4" from center piece edges. Photo shows top stitching on back of quilt.

I learned how to make this quilt by watching the video on the following site: http://www.ehow.com/video_4437824_making-sandwich-quilt.html .

If you'd like to make a baby quilt but don't have a baby to give it to, Newborns in Need, http://www.newbornsinneed.org/,would love to receive it.A variation of the same quilt.

Thanks for visiting me.

Baby Blanket

I completed this baby blanket this afternoon. It took me a couple of weeks to finish it. It wasn't really all that difficult but finding time to sew comes in spurts. I'm enjoying sewing again without deadlines, sewing at my leisure allows me to savor the creating of what it is I'm making rather than rushing to have a finished product. I'm finding that I'm a lot more patient than in my younger years, both with myself and with churning things out in general.

Getting Serious

At first I thought I'd just get my feet wet with my sewing machine before purchasing any other new tools. After all I had asked for a sewing machine for Christmas without really knowing whether I'd actually use it or not. I just felt like I needed to be creative again. So, I've made a few wristlets. Is that enough? Am I ready to put my machine in the closet? Hardly.

I've begun sewing a baby quilt although it's probably not technically a quilt but more of a baby blanket considering I don't really know the difference between sewing and quilting. I do know that I need a sharp pair of scissors though and even though I still have the ones from twenty years ago I allowed them to be used for cutting paper since I thought my sewing days were over. And anyone who sews knows that cutting paper with sewing scissors is like death to them. Somehow I managed to cut out the fabric for the small wristlets using these old scissors. Really it was more like hacking away at the cloth but with wristlets the fabric can be a little off here and there and it will turn out to be good enough. But since I'm ready for larger projects I decided to splurge and buy myself a good pair of sewing scissors.

Which ones to buy? I searched the net and found that the favorite amongst seamstresses seemed to be Gingher. I ordered a pair on line, a beautiful floral handled pair. They arrived in a cool metal box with a safety guard for the tips. I've never owned such a lovely pair of sheers.

After I ordered the new scissors, I found an on-line tutorial video on how to make a baby blanket. http://www.ehow.com/video_4437824_making-sandwich-quilt.html .The instructor didn't use scissors at all but a rotary cutter. Cutting out the strips of fabric seemed so much easier with this new tool. I don't think rotary cutters existing 18 years ago. At first I thought, "I just bought these cadillac of scissors, I'm going to use them, I've always used scissors, why would I change now?" But in the back of my mind I'm thinkig that rotary thing really does look faster and slicker. Should I change and embrace the new or be stubborn and do it the way I've always done it?