Saturday's Quilting Job

Today I've been quilting Jess' baby quilt. I'm using my Mega Quilter and I just love it!! Baby quilts are fun to quilt because they are a manageable size. I can do up to a twin, but a twin can be trickier. This one just flows right through. I think the hardest part about free motion quilting is keeping your stitches the same size. I think if you go with a speed you are comfortable and take your time, most of the time that is possible. However, the beauty of handmade are the quirks that come from a human making your item. It's a pleasure that I'm grateful I can do! :) Do you notice the Trader Joe's peach boxes stacked? They make great project holders! What are you working on today??

Teardrop Bag in Patchwork

I had a custom order for the Teardrop bag from Amy Butler in patchwork and adding a flap and inside zippered pocket. I was up for the challenge! Nellie wanted purples, pinks and blues and so we decided on Heirloom & Ginseng by Joel Dewberry, Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner & Flower Power from Jennifer Paganelli.. I cut 4 1/4" squares for the body and 4 1/2" squares for the strap. The trim piece along the top as well as the 'hips' are all Wilflowers fabric. I had a flap pattern I use for my diaper/wipes case and it was the perfect size~ it just needed to be a little longer, so I went with that. I put a magnetic button in the middle of the front pleat and the flap for closure. Inside Nellie wanted a zippered pocket, so I used the Mail Sack pattern~ (one of my all time favorite bag patterns) to construct that. The other side is a patchwork pocket that is divided. I'm really happy with the way it came out & I hope Nellie is too! :)

New Ironing Board Cover & Iron

Here is the ironing area of my sewing room. I used a quilt rack with shelf above and had my husband modify it so that the bar hung lower so I could get fabric in and out easier. I either hang fabric to be ironed or fabric that has just been ironed on the bar. I store books and specific projects (my ongoing hexies) or supplies (scripture fabric) in the bins above. My daughter made the little bird that hangs on the peg. Finished purses and diaper bags will also hang from there until they get mailed out. My ironing board was in desperate need of recovering, so I used Jona's tutorial here . She has a great blog with lots of helpful info. Her blog link is on the sidebar. I used Velentina in cocoa from the new West Indies & solid brown for the string to go through. It was easy enough to make and pretties up that side of the room. To the right is the cutting table I blogged about previously. I've had so many irons I don't like and I finally found one I really like! It's a Rowenta Pro Master DW8080 that I purchased on Amazon. In reading many many reviews I found out that if you buy a Rowenta it needs to be made in Germany, not China for it to be reliable. The steam is awesome and the tank  is bigger and lasts longer than my older irons. Hope it lasts! :)

Wall Pocket

Well, my hours on flickr and pinterest have finally paid off! I've been seeing these wall pockets and realized that one of my sewing machines is located next to a wall and how cute would this be next to it to organize??? Speaking of cute, I was finally able to use my Sherbet Pips fabric because Aneela's fabrics are the definition of cute! The gingham is from Darla. Had to add the selvedge edge~ any opportunity to do so is fun in my opinion. Another hexagon glued on a framing nail (see previous post). This took less than an hour to make & now I feel even MORE organized in my sewing room!

The Cutting Table and a Craft!

Voila! You have a message board!

Use 1.5" strips after you peel off sticky adhesive

start with a blank canvas

hot glue roofing nail to the back of a hexagon for hanging

I'm trying to get used to this new format on blogger and can't get the photos in the order I want them, but you get the general idea! Last fall I purchased this white board at Joann's and on both sides of the frame you can peel off a paper which reveals a sticky surface that you can apply things to. Naturally, I thought of fabric! I have a bag of 1.5" strips that I pulled from and just layered going down. On the reverse, I then peeled the back of that and stuck the fabric that was wrapped around to it and then used some packing tape to hold it. The green cardboard with the white board attached was trimmed so we don't see in then I used the package tape again to attach the white board to the fabric frame. I decided a cute hanger was in order, so I got a framing nail that has a large, flat head on it and hot glued one of my hexies to the head. Next, fuschia grosgrain ribbon was glued to the back and now I can keep track of the orders I'm working on that day, but a Bible verse or sentiment. Fun & functional!! I don't think I posted about my cutting table because I was waiting to make that as well as I wanted to skirt that table. The drawers were originally underneath my daughter's bed for under bed storage under a trundle, minus the mattress. My husband made a shell to fit it and my MIL made the faux painted top. I skirted it because its just 2x4's for the legs and so I can store stuff under it. What kind of stuff? Flat rate mailing boxes, my supply of in stock blankets and a huge green garbage bag of all the little bags my fabric purchases come in. I recycle those when I package up someone's orders. The top drawer contains grosgrain ribbon, mailing tape, pinking shears and safety pins. Middle drawer is miscellaneous sewing notions and the bottom has ziploc bags with fabric squares for my made to order blankets. The storage drawers to the left have fabric designer names on them with a color so if I need red Tanya Whelan fabric in 8" squares, I have a drawer for that. I have many of those all around the sewing room that you will see on later posts. I love being ultra organized and try to keep all my blankets with the same size squares so that I can cut down on the organization. I keep my rulers, rotary cutters and Melissa's cute pincushion next to my cutting mat. The bin on top of the selvedge dresser has scraps cut into specific sizes where I will file them by color later. I hope to list in my shop a precut destash. I have 4x4, 4x6, 4x8, 6x6, 6x8 squares & rectangles as well as 1 1/2", 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" strips. If you are interested in  purchasing anything before I list it, email me at sewfunbymonique@gmail.com.

West Indies Blankie

Had to play with my West Indies stack and came up with this baby blanket. Its almost like instant gratification with this size. The brown Chandler damask will be seen all over my home shortly. Just love that one! As you can see West Indies blends well with Jennifer's other fabric lines~ great for a fan like me! :) This one will be in the shop shortly.

Guitar Blanket for the boys!

I love this Jam Session print from Michael Miller! I'm always on the search for cute boy fabric, and this is definitely a favorite. I thought it would be fun to take some photos with Dylan since he plays guitar. The pictures came out really fun. Hope this blanket goes to a music loving home. :)

T Shirt Ruffle Pillow

Another pillow made for Holly's room. This one we made out of a kids XL long sleeve tee. I've been so inspired on pinterest with all the diy ruffle tutorials posted, that we did one using a tutorial from this blog. It is the softest pillow and perfect for her new dish reading chair. :)