Thursday, August 19, 2010

Quickie Quilt Fix

Argh.

Yup. That is what I said: "Argh."

No, I haven't turned pirate. Just desperate to get some quilting in! I sewed this summer, but no quilting.

Then a few weeks ago I took advantage of some wicked good coupons for JoAnn's and the girls and I went up to pick out some moleskin for church skirts, and get some fabric for everyday jumpers for Jerusha. It went well, and Gutterman's thread was on sale as well, so I got some of that as a treat.

While we were there, there was a man there demonstrating the AccuQuilt machine thingy. It uses die casts to cut fabric. It even trims the dog ears! I wish I had the money for one, as it would work well on my scraps, as well as strip cutting.

All the girls got to try it, even Jerusha. They are safe even for a 5 year old (okay, with supervision for setting it up). The man gave her some of the scraps she cut and she brought them home. I didn't think much about it. She went on and on in the van about "my fabric" and I didn't really pay that much attention to her jabbering until she said:

"Mama, will you make me a quilt?"

Of course that got my attention. I took a look at what she had, and knew I had some contrasting remnants that would work, and told her I could do a doll quilt for her. She was ecstatic. However, I had to finish the wall hanging for the boys' room first. (First come, first served, ya know.)

I was thankful I decided to do some Seminole piecing for the border on the wall hanging. It would help satiate some of my craving for piecing at least. Then I realized I didn't have the metallic thread I needed for embellishment. Of course, this was like the day after we were at JoAnn's. I groaned. I didn't think I would be able to get back up there for a few weeks due to our intense schedule at the time. So, I did what I could, then had to stop and wait for the opportunity to get that thread.

I turned my attention to the fabric Jerusha brought home. After some measuring, eyeballing, and a general prayer, I started a process of "design as you go" type of piecing. I made a strip of "Streak of Lightening" for the center with some of the triangle from the "see, no dog ears" demonstration, then just added the rest in. All the blue fabric was mine. The rest is from the demonstration. If you are interested... you can go to the AccuQuilt website and check out that nice (spendy) little toy.

Meanwhile, back at the sewing pile, I finally managed to get some more metallic thread. You'll never guess where.... Walmart! They are doing away with their fabrics and stuff, but there were two spools of the thread I wanted left and I grabbed them, laughing and doing the goodie goodie dance like an insane woman. So, now that the doll quilt is finished, I will get back to the Seminole piecing for the wall hanging.

Here is the doll quilt, with flowers from my sweetie! :)




Here is the busy little mama using the doll quilt about 2 seconds after I finished it.





So, since I have been getting a little bit of quilting in, why the "ARGH"? It's addicting.

I want more!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Aww...that doll quilt is so nice! :) I made Annie one with some leftover squares of a baby quilt that I had from a quilt I made for my niece. It worked great! :)
Our Walmart actually had so many complaints about the planned fabric dept do-away-with that they KEPT it!!! Albeit a smaller version! I'm glad though as it is nice to be able to just grab something quick. We have only 1? other fabric store near here and it is pricey!! Otherwise, JoAnne's is 1 hour away! :)