Birthday WIP

I have pulled this quilt (slightly smaller than a twin, larger than a throw) off the hoop, and have been working to machine-quilt it to the end, to be able to present it to my son who is turning 13 in seven days. He's watched me working on it for about four or five years, and we both know... it's time. PAST time.

I had grand ideas of hand-quilting the entire blanket, which sports a 'TriForce' symbol, indicative of the Legend of Zelda video game series-- a series he and I have shared since he was a very little boy. But alas, given the size of the project, I only hand-quilted the center blue triangle (detailed photos to come) and found it extremely difficult to pick it up enough over the course of time to believe I could hand-quilt the entire thing before my son turned 30. Or maybe even 50. It has pained me to know that it's been incomplete for so long, as he watches my many other projects come and go through the sewing machine. So I have turned my focus sharply upon getting this finished, with the new-found skills I have only recently been using for machine-quilting.

I'll keep the blog updated as it is such a dramatic race against time. Here in my head, at any rate. Time to thread that golden bobbin...

Dressmaker?

Call it inspirational to have my honorary niece, Bethany, in the house for the weekend, but something grabbed hold of me and would not let go until I had made her a dress. Keep in mind, the only clothing I have ever made was crocheted and from a pattern... and made many years ago. Still, I had been eyeing all these lovely little, simple-looking sundresses online and in the fabric stores, and something in my head kept whispering... 'You can make one of those...'

So I did! I had the perfect model, a very slight-of-build, patient, color-loving and adventurous young lady at my disposal, and when I asked her if she would like a dress made for her, she lit up like the sun! She and I sat down with many choices of fabrics, and slowly leaned towards aquas and greens, which she assured me she loved. I let her pick out coordinates, suggesting slightly here and there... and VOILA!

(Disregard the garbage can in the background. I was so excited to be finished that I didn't set up the shot properly.)

Below is a glimpse of the back. I gave her two buttons to ensure that she will be able to wear it for many years to come.

The bow ties nicely! I was happy to see that I'd made the straps long enough! Below is a glimpse of the hem~ It was her choice to use this fabric over the darker batik in the yoke, and I'm so glad she picked it- it worked out beautifully! Dig her flip-flops! :)

I have to give Miss Bethany a BIG shoutout for being so patient with the process, for being such a gracious recipient and model, and also for sharing her time with us this past weekend. It was really special to have her in our home. We love you Bethany!  

Star Pillow

I know, you thought I wasn't quilting anything currently, right? :)  Last December or so, I took a machine piecing quilt class at Red Hen Fabrics, and the instructor, Alta, taught us how to decipher the 'quilt by number' approach to using a machine pieced pattern. The result: It makes relatively easy work out of a pattern that looks incredibly complicated! I loved learning how to do this, though as a beginner, it was very time-consuming. The resulting star pillow, however, is one of my favorites!

I have also been playing with a new quilting foot for my machine, for free motion quilting, though above is done with straight stitch using Sulky variegated thread. Fun colors! 

The back is made from an old, soft sheet and a strip of these fantastic metallic little stars I've had for years...been waiting for a perfect reason to use them again! 

I made my first 'sketched stars' with the free motion foot, detailed below. I also made a meandering stipple-type pattern for the dark part of the star square. 

With its insert, the pillow is soft and comfy, and now everyone will think I'm a quilt star genius. Well, except for those of you who have read this. I will definitely try machine piecing again in the future...