Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Two for Tuesday

Number One: Finished my Modern Crosses quilt.  Finally.
Because I screwed up in the beginning, this thing spent more time under the seam ripper than the sewing machine.
But I used up scraps, and made something from my new book  Modern Log Cabin Quilting (love the book), and that was the point.  So why do I feel like I just got finished paying the bills or emptying out the dishwasher? 
It was machine tied in the center of each block.   That's all the quilting there is!!!  Then your supposed to sew a button over the stitching.  I still have 30 more buttons to sew on.  Sigh.   Since the quilt is bound and washed,  I'm going to take my time on this last part.  But it's done.  Technically.  The End.

Number two: I either need to stop eating/baking/cleaning or start wearing more aprons, because I'm ruining my clothes.  Almost every shirt I own has a souvenir from the sink, oven, plate or chicken coop, and I need to get into the habit of covering up.  So I made a new apron.
It's reversible, so you can change with your mood, or if The Food Network comes to your door with a camera crew,  flip it around, fluff your hair and you look like Nigella.  Or Giada.  I would look like Emeril.  Anyway, I just made a pattern from an old butcher style apron that I had, shortened it a bit, (story of my life) and rounded out the bottom corners.
I didn't want to mess with bias tape edging, or hemming the whole thing, so I made two, sewed them right sides together with the little ties tucked in between, and left an opening for turning.  A good pressing, some top stitching, aaaaand done.   Now I'm going out to get the eggs in my new apron.   I'll look so spiffy I bet the chickens won't even recognize me. 

6 comments:

  1. Great quilt and cute apron!
    I'm gearing myself up to attempt a quilt this year, but I DID make a wee apron last week from an old tea-towel (that has never dried things properly) and a couple of meters of nice thick cotton heading tape. Would love to try one like yours.
    Have a great week,
    Sandra x

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  2. Love your quilt and reversible apron! Clever!

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  3. Great apron and love your modern cross quilt! It's 'on my list!'

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  4. Love the apron!! Gingham and floral make me happy!!!
    A question...how do you machine tie a quilt??? Sounds interesting. And your quilt is fabulous! Worth every hour of seam ripping :) xoxo Debbie

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    1. Hi Debbie. To machine tie a quilt, you set your machine to the zigzag stitch and adjust the length and width to "0". Place the needle over the spot you want to tie and make several stitches. While sewing, adjust your width upwards to about 4 or 5, take a few stitches, then adjust back down. It works good if you can adjust easily with a dial, my machine is digital and I had to keep pressing the button constantly (I stitched in place at 0, stopped, turned it up to 4, took a few stitches, stopped, changed back to 0. Kind of annoying, but faster than hand tying. You need to use a batting that allows quilting from 8 to 10 inches apart. I used Warm and Natural for this quilt. You will need to hide the stitching though, that's why the pattern calls for buttons in the center of each block. I think hand tying is prettier, but this was worth a try! Thanks for asking :)

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You guys are awesome! Thank you for the comments!