May 31, 2014

I came, I saw, I quilted!



My wonderful local quilter, Richla, recently added a studio on to her home and began to offer classes where you could come and use her longarm to quilt your own.  Oh, the projects I have....   I decided to start with this cute quilt I made as a shop sample for Keepsake Cottage Fabrics.

The pattern is Fishy Friends by Ribbon Candy Quilt Company.  The fabric is a Northcott line called Shark Attack.  The quilt pattern is Van Gogh, which makes nice, wavy looking swirls.  It was a little nerve wracking, but a lot of fun to quilt it myself.  I have another date scheduled in July to quilt a second one.
Here is  close-up of the quilting and the binding.  Have you ever made a Magic Binding?  So cool.  I will certainly be using this from now on with small quilts, especially kids' quilts.  Here's a link to the technique - all by machine and you get a little flange of contrast color under the binding.  The first three times, I followed the binding cutting instructions as written.  Next time I'm going to make my 'flange' fabric a skosh wider so a little more of it shows.








My other project for the last week has been a complete sewing room redo that involved taking out 3 pieces of furniture whose only purpose seemed to be collecting piles of junk!

The bookcase holds all my favorite patterns and bundles of fabric, as well as cute pincushions and gifts from friends.

I got a smaller sewing table and a pistachio green rolling cabinet for notions. Now my machine is under the window with lots of natural light.  Maybe now I won't need 4 lights when I sew.  At least not until winter!

I decluttered the junk - 3 donation bags and 2 bags of trash.

The center of the room is now wide open!  I can pull my cutting table out or move my Big Board ironing board into the center of the room when I need to press those long seams!.

OK, but here is my very favorite part.  All my rulers are hung on the closet door.  No more hunting for the right size square or trimming tool.  And really?  Did I need three 6-1/2" squares?

Here's to happy, clutter-free sewing!






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6 comments:

  1. StrladyMay 31, 2014 at 7:14:00 PM PDT

    Ugh. I have sewing room envy right now. I have my sewing room in storage until I close on my new house. It feels like forever! In a few weeks I'll be able to figure out the layout on my new room, but until then, I'm so jealous.

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  2. AnonymousMay 31, 2014 at 11:27:00 PM PDT

    Lisa you are so awesome - you continue to amaze me!

    Mom

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  3. SueJune 1, 2014 at 9:35:00 AM PDT

    Doesn't it feel SO good to be organized ! I have been doing the same thing at my house Decluttering ! How wonderful that you can use someone long arm to quilt Your quilt is Adorable

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  4. CarrieJune 1, 2014 at 10:23:00 AM PDT

    Woohoo! Congratulations on the quilting and the uber-cool binding! And the redo is outstanding - it'll feel great until the first time you can't find something that you knew exactly where it was before you organized. But not too worry, it'll still feel great because it won't take long to find. :)

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  5. RCJune 1, 2014 at 11:29:00 AM PDT

    That quilt came out SO cute!!! I love the binding. Striped and flanged? Perfection!!! Ok, I totally agree - the ruler closet door is SO GREAT!!!!!

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  6. AnonymousJune 4, 2014 at 11:42:00 AM PDT

    First - yes, you DO need three 6 1/2" square rulers. Doesn't everyone? I'm glad you shared the binding link - I had a request from my husband to build a flange into the binding of our anniversary quilt and I have put off binding it because I wasn't sure how to go about it the right way. This made so much sense after I looked at the blog post from your link. I can't wait to see more on your SWOON quilt too - love the newspaper print background fabric! Jennifer G at Seams Crazy Quilts

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