First free-motion Quilt

I finally finished my first free-motion quilt. It was a gift for a close friends second baby. I really loved how it turned out, and its easily one of favorite creations up to this point.

Quilt Top

Quilt Back (my first time not doing a solid back- I like the look!)

Close-up of the free-motion stiching

Also my first hand-embroidery accent

The "Roaring Lion" Label

For the fans

To appease my readers (yep more than one!) here is a simple grilled chicken recipe that we made for dinner tonight for the first time and it was absolutely amazing (and so easy). Its from one of my favorite food websites, My Tasty Kitchen. (And while you are there check out the Pioneer Woman's Blog)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Chicken Tenderloins
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• ¼ cups Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Pepper

Preparation:

1. Put the chicken into a bowl.
2. Add all other ingredients.
3. Mix well, coating chicken on all sides.
4. Let chicken marinate for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, covered in the fridge (or longer if you wish).
5. Place chicken onto a screaming hot grill and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until the chicken is cooked through and has gorgeous golden brown grill marks.

Enjoy!!

A new toy

I have always read about sergers and they seemed to be pretty advanced. I figured I needed to master my sewing machine before I could take the step to owning a machine that made seams in clothes. Then every pair of pajama pants I made for my family fell apart at the seams-literally. Recently I mentioned to my husbands sister, who has done quite a bit of sewing, that I wanted to try a serger out. Turns out she had bought one used and it had been sitting in her closet ever since! In trade for figuring out how to use it so that I could then show her- I got to borrow it for a few weeks. Last night I got it up and running (after quite a bit of cursing) and its even better than I thought. It sews four rows at once! Here is what each side of the fabric looks like after one pass through the machine.

The search is on for me to find a great used one at a great price so that I can have one permanently.  Let the project runway clothes making practice begin....

Overboard?

I am sure when my son's daycare asked us to write our child's name on their towel for water activities they meant with a marker on the tag. But where is the fun in that? A very quick project with double sided fusible web and appliqué stitching. Yeah for summer and running through the sprinkler!

I am in love...

Lately most of the sewing I have done has not been working out well. It has been incredibly frustrating that nothing I have tried has turned out the way I had hoped. That has helped make my newest attempt, which I loved immediately in its own right, even more exciting. I have been working on a quilt for a  friend's newest arrival. While I have made a handful of quilts, the have been mostly basic strip quilts that I have finished either by hand tying them or simply stitching along the seams of the strips. Inspired by a pile of quilts that I need to make (that correspond with a slew of new babies born this spring) I decided it was as good a time as any to try free motion quilting.  I was anxious to try something new, but given just how much time I have spent admiring so many of the gorgeous quilts on-line that someone else had made, i.e. like this one....

it just had to be tried. The above mermaid quilt is from a quilting blog I love reading, Oh, Fransson. I poured over her tutorial on free-motion quilting several times and finally decided to give it a go. Practice makes perfect so I took a few scraps from the current quilt top and from my stash and gave it a try. Below is my practice scrap front and back. It was much easier and less intimidating than I had thought. I have already started working on the actual quilt and I just love how it is turning out. More pictures to come. I have a feeling I am hooked!

My (not helpful) sewing assistant

I didn't let this last all that long, but his intentions were good.

LPH's Art Bag

I just loved 2 little hooligans' tutorial that she posted on making a Tote Bag awhile back. It got me thinking that it could be the perfect bag for my friend LPH's new art room/studio in her house. So 1st step was to find the perfect fabric. I absolutely love Heather Ross's fabric designs. When searching for some of her out of print fabrics on Etsy I came across the Mendocino collection and knew it would be perfect.  The trick was going to be how to including as many of the prints as I could without it being too over the top. I also used this bag as an opportunity to use some new sewing gadgets I had purchased. First up was making my own bias tape. 

I cut out strips on the bias and used the above gadget and an iron and suddenly custom bias tape. This was the easiest of the "new" techniques I tried.  Next up was figuring out how to use one of my new feet, a bias binder foot. It took a bit to figure it all out, but very worth it. Not once prior to using this foot was I able to get bias trim on anything successfully sewing both sides. Using this foot you can not only get it perfect on both sides, but also only sew it once instead of the usual two passes.  I can't believe I ever sewed bias tape without this foot- it makes it SO much easier!

 

The tutorial was easy to follow, and the rest of the bag went together pretty easy. I made a simple pencil case to go with it. I was able to incorporate more prints by using different fabrics for the pocket interiors

I loved how it all turned out in the end. The perfect items to hold the first of the Roaring Lion labels.  Happy creating LPH!