Easy Jelly Roll Race to Postage Stamp Quilt

Two bucket list projects from 1 jelly roll, and I highly recommend! This began as a jelly roll race (a blast for every quilter or quilting dabbler to try), and then became my Holy Grail postage stamp project. This was so satisfying because it was so much easier than it looks and I think the natural stripe pattern is quite pleasing. I used a tutorial I had seen on Pinterest (here) where the finished jelly roll was joined at the ends to make a tube, the tube was sliced into 2 inch square strips (rings), and then the seam was ripped according to the pattern. For example, if one strip was topped with the cherry pattern, the next strip would be topped with the blue and turquoise brick fabric to keep with the diagonal pattern. It requires organization for keeping all the strips in order of cutting, but made the postage stamp teeny squares come together very quickly. I made this for our beloved neighbors and babysitter to our son. See links below for directions.

(Postage Stamp Quilt using a Moda Eat Your Fruits and Veggies Jelly Roll. Started as a Jelly Roll race and turned to Postage Stamp quilt when the material looked too busy. Great project, even for a beginner!)

Reupholstering with Burlap

Reupholstering was something I thought a Renaissance gal should know how to do, like chopping wood or hemming pants. But it can get expensive, so why not try it with something frugal like burlap?

These ghastly chairs made the perfect victims. Getting them apart was easy, just unscrewing the bottom from the back and making a simple slipcover. (Ahem, I did not follow any proper upholstery protocol at all!)

Sticking burlap is a little tricky due to the wide open weave and fraying, not to mention if you are doing weird patchwork tricks to jury-rig a wider piece of fabric.

This was done with absolute beginner sewing skills on the machine. Tidy hems will make it all the more polished and kick the shabby chic up a notch.

Here you can see the seam where more fabric was added, but I don't really mind it. In fact, I think it adds some personality.

This was an easy way to dive into reupholstering. What else could you burlap?!

My First Quilt Square

One small step for the community quilt ladies, one giant step for a fledgling sewer!

My First Quilt- In the Works

Ever have a craft project you've been planning for months? How about years? 

For me, the corduroy quilt has been in the making since high school, when a dear friend of mine made a duvet cover and an overnight bag out of mismatched corduroy pieces. She has always had a knack for sewing and crafting and busted those projects out like nobody's business. What made the pieces so interesting was the different sizes of squares, and the colors and textures of the corduroy. I also loved making something so functional out of scrap pants, and my inspiration has been stewing ever since.

I must admit, collecting the right pieces of corduroy was the first challenge.

And also, learning how to sew. There was no way this would be made by hand. But I was running out of excuses once I had my grandmother's machine for over a year, so I finally got cracking.

Ironing the fabric and cutting out the squares is the first step. I was wisely advised to make my first quilt with same-size squares. (So glad I listened!)

Because I had different amounts of fabric, I wanted everything cut before I started to design my layout. I liked the softness of the pink and light blue with the brown and tan color sequence. I'm thrilled the cords are all different widths and textures to make it more interesting and touchable.

This is the fun part- making the design! Here's an experiment with the random look. Hmmm.

Then I tried laying it out into more of a steady pattern.

Yes, this is so much better! I arranged based on the number of squares available, and now I can start sewing the strips.

My main goal with this project is to get more comfortable sewing simple, straight lines on the machine, as well as loading bobbins since this uses so much thread. All the stitching is on the back, so there's a lot of leeway with mistakes, making this a perfect project for a beginner. Even if it's a big one!

After several afternoons working on the stitching over the course of two months, I have finally sewed all 12 strips of 10 squares, and combined them all for the front of the quilt! It is a huge accomplishment for me, since there were "sessions" where I couldn't get through more than a couple squares without the bobbin acting up and my temper flaring to a string of obscenities sure to make my dead grandmother blush.

The worst was when I had all a panel of 3 strips attached next to another panel of 7 strips, only to find they didn't match up. I had to rip out the seams of all 3 strips and reattach them. This mistake took 10 minutes to initially sew together, and about 3 hours to rip out. Ripping out seams is now my greatest personal hell.

Sewing is nothing if not a serious test in patience.

Next will be finding a border, the backing, and figuring out how it can be fitted over a comforter. Happy the end is in sight, but don't mind putting it aside for a few weeks so I can recharge and get my bearings.

Remind me if I ever want to work in a sweatshop that my skills would be put to better use elsewhere.

The Old Sewing Box

For most of my life, it seems I've been in a constant battle to organize my craft projects. This year, I made the goal to approach learning to sew on my grandmother's machine, a terrifying prospect for many reasons. Particularly because it means opening the floodgates to even more demands for materials, tools and space to a hoarder-in-the-making.

Yes, it's an actual fear of mine that I may one day be buried under my own craft projects if I don't rein in my hobbies soon. Maybe whittle them down a bit. (Hey, whittling! That's another thing I've always wanted to learn!)

I appreciate that my fairy godmother sought out a bona fide sewing box for me to use instead of stacking wicker baskets and shoe boxes full of random needles and thread. Consolidate, consolidate. I don't like having multiples of things just to have multiples of things, but the essence of crafting requires having a stock of materials. Knowing where to find them is kind of a big deal.

And I really like that having this sewing box makes an official statement, like an academic's regalia. Like, hey world, look out cause I'm a sewer now! Maybe I'm over thinking it.

So here's my basic start into my sewing stock, and the work in progress for perfecting my craft room (of which there will be a post, just as soon as I can get it into presentable shape for the "after" portion of the before and after transformation!).

-pin cushions
-thread
-bobbins
-rotary cutter
-thimbles
-extra machine needles
-tracing pencils
-seam ripper
-seam gage
-extra machine light bulb
-good fabric-only scissors (these live on my machine table, since the moment I put them away, I immediately need them out again)

What's in your craft basket?

What do you like to make?

Gnome Doors

Last night, I had a little shindig called crafts n' drafts. Just in the nick of time, I've been going stir crazy. Some special gals came over to work on those projects crammed in a corner (mending and finishing for me). We got to work before relaxing and watching The Sound of Music.

Wish I'd taken more pictures, but the highlight was 'gnome doors' made by my roomies. We live in the trees, so they're decorating with adorable mini doors at the tree bases to make them look occupied. Here are some accessories:

I love that I live with ladies who can bust out a Dremel in the living room on a random Saturday night.

Here is one of the finished products, with hinges fashioned from Copenhagen containers. Cute, right?

This is how we live it up on weekends in west county. Just saying.

Fun with Finished Projects

Here are some shots of my two finished aprons after an all day marathon of learning some sewing machine basics.

Daisy made a gorgeous slipcover for her ottoman.

And pillows, which her dog quickly claimed. He has a thing about pillows.

Here are some other beautiful things she's made for her school. She knows how to make a space pretty and inviting.

We found an old vintage pistol and thought it would bring some pioneer edge to our photo shoot. Unloaded, of course, Ravenous Woman is an advocate of gun safety!

Sewing, Take 1

Last weekend, I embarked on an amazing adventure with Daisy. I'm learning to sew! My grandmother's sewing machine has sat in its box patiently waiting for me to get motivated.

I went to Daisy and Trout's place, where she set up two machines for us to work across from each other. First things first, I need some basics. Good scissors, a tape measure, lots of pins, an ironing board set up, and white pencil for drawing are an absolute must. As is prosecco.

This is a seam gage. I'm still not totally clear what all it does, but it's helpful in helping you mark where you need to cut, pin, or iron fabric. Daisy's being a stickler about me ironing everything before and after I cut and sew it.

Get your bobbin threaded. This is going to take some practice.

The "easy" plan for the day was shortening an apron and adding pockets to another one. That meant measuring three times and cutting once. Then with a seam ripper, I detached the lace from the bottom to reattach to the shorter one. I liked the ripping part. The lace needed to be held in place with lots of pins. Lots and lots. I don't like the pinning part, but Daisy won't let me cut corners, especially on my first day.

We have liftoff! Learning the machine is definitely the hardest part. At home, my machine is going through some major bobbin issues and troubleshooting is an intimidating as a just-starting-outer. First I made a seam, and then set to work attaching the fragile lace.

On to the next project. (Disclaimer, this first part took several hours- not for the faint-hearted!)

Daisy helped me pick a tasteful color combo for the pockets.

... and made a template.

Once I got going, it didn't go as well. This is exactly the same problem I keep running into at home. See how the thread is going bananas? I didn't load it properly. Thank goodness Daisy is a million times more patient than I am. I threw out some c's and t's, which helped a little, but not much.

That's when we decided it was a good time for cosmos. It helped a lot.

All done! Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of the finished pieces.