Big Fat Bummer

Have you ever finished a quilt and are so disappointed in the final result? I tried something new, and it was not successful.

I am rather bummed with how this turned out.

I had this great idea in my head- appliqued circles with frayed edges, and I tried it.  It was supposed to be cute.

I 'm not even going to show you the quilt I was inspired by because my version faired so poorly that I would be embarrassed.

The Good:
I love the fabric I chose.
Those orange full moon dots are one of my absolute favorite fabrics.
I love the aqua/orange/tan combo and the varied patterns.
I LOVE the colored dots fabric on the back.
I actually love the back of the quilt- if only I didn't have to look at the front.

The Bad:
The stitching on the circles is too far away from the edges.
I didn't take the time to pull the threads to the back of the quilt top and backstitched instead, and it looks kinda messy.

The Ugly:
The circles didn't fray enough or frayed too much- either way it's not cute.
The fabric on the edges of the circles doesn't lay flat.
There's too much puffy space in between the circles - largely due to my inability to master free motion quilting.
It just looks messy.
It did not turn out in real life like the idea I had in my head.

Don't get me wrong- my sewing is never "perfect." I get puckers in my quilt sandwiches, my straight line quilting isn't always straight, and I sometimes can't get my blocks to match up exactly. But, I'm OK with that. Usually only I can tell and a good spin in the washer and dryer will take care of everything.

But this quilt fell short of expectations.
Doesn't mean it can't be loved.
Doesn't mean it won't keep somebody warm or a baby happy or a toddler snuggly on the couch.

Which is really the most important job of a quilt so I will be donating this one to someone that will hopefully love it and not care that it is not perfect.

Have you made something you weren't happy with?

Surprises and a Little Sewing

I love surprises.  Happy letters in the mailbox, finding a dollar in the bottom of my purse, unexpected afternoons off - you know what I mean.

So imagine my delight when I discovered I won a $50 gift certificate to Venezie Designs in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways. Somehow I had missed her post on Thursday and just found out today! Yippie!
Can't wait to pick out some new fabric- fun, fun!

When you have a chance, pop over to Venezie Designs and check out the fabulous sale she's having!  She has lots of cute clothing, bag and quilt patterns over there too.

And don't worry if you missed out on the Charm Swap. I was so happily surprised with all the interest, that I will definitely do another one soon!

I've been busy trying to finish several works in progress over here and am stalled on a few fronts. I have three quilt sandwiches sitting on my table ready to go...

New Newbie Bee Blocks for May/Megan

I did manage to complete my bee blocks for May (just under the wire!) Here are the blocks I made for Megan in the New Newbie Bee. They were fun and surprisingly easy to make plus I "had" to buy black and white fabric (twist my arm) to make them as I had none in my stash.

The white and cream really stand out in this picture but they are not so contrasted in real life. I hope Megan likes them. Can't wait to see her quilt put together.

Hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.
I'll leave you with a picture of my sweet boy just because he is the cutest ever.

Rainbow Charms Fabric Swap

The swap is now full. I promise to do another one very soon. 
I really hated turning people away! Thank you all for your interest!!!

Ready, set, let's swap!

When I saw AnneMarie's swaps at Gen X Quilters, I knew she had a great idea. So I decided to host a swap here.

It's going to be fun and super easy for you too. 

The Plan: 

We are going to swap charm squares in a rainbow of colors.  

1. Each person will be assigned a color. Once all the swap slots are filled, I will email you your color assignment. (red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) 

2. Purchase a yard of fabric in your assigned color.  No solids please. Take note of the scale of the print as large prints might not be best for charm squares.
Pick something you LOVE!

3. Fabric must be designer label, 100% cotton, quality fabric.
No Hancocks, Joanns or Michael's fabrics.

4. Fabric must be new and unwashed and must come from a smoke free environment.

5. Before sending your fabric to me, you will need to cut your fabric into 5" x 5" charm squares.

Press your fabric before cutting.  You may want to purchase a slight overage in case you make mistakes cutting your charms.
1 yard = 56 charm squares (5" x 5".)

This is a great tutorial on how to cut fabric into charms by Elizabeth Hartman.

6.  Include a 3x5 index card with your name, email address, mailing address, fabric manufacturer and the print name/color. (This information is purely for my organizational swap purposes and won't be shared. Promise!)

Shipping Instructions:

1. Pack your 56 charms and the index card in a sealed ziplock bag and include a self addressed envelop for me to mail your charms back to you.

2. You will receive a Paypal invoice from me for shipping and handling. The $4.00 (USA) rate will cover shipping plus the P.O. Box rental.  International shipping and handling will be determined by country.

3. Paypal payments must be made before I will send your swap charms back to you.  If you don't have a paypal account, no worries! You can still pay through Paypal with a credit or debit card without having an account. :)

The Fine Print: 


Your fabric must be sent to me by Saturday, June 25.  Once I receive everyone's fabric I will divide them up and mail your new charms to you within two weeks.

This will be a great way to add a rainbow of color to your charm stash and perhaps the beginning of a great, colorful quilt.

Fabric Examples:

Dominant color fabrics perfect for this swap.

Non dominant color fabric that is pretty but not right for this swap.

So, who's in? If you want to participate, there are 27 spaces available. Each person will receive 2 charms of each print, 56 charms total.

Leave a comment here to sign up and make sure you include your email address in the comment section.

Grab a blog button if you like and get ready to add some color to your stash.
This will be fun!

A Little About Me

I'm so flattered to have so many followers- thrilled and flattered. Happy to have someone to talk endlessly to about quilting, sewing and fabric stashes. My sweet husband is great about listening but let's be real, he only wants to hear about it for so long.

That is why I love you guys. Happy you've decided to hang out with me over here. Yippie!

So I thought since so many of you are new, you might want to know a little about me. (I sincerely hope this is interesting to you and you're not jumping ship right now!)

My children and my family are my favorite people in the world. I know everyone must feel this way about their kids but when I look at their little faces, I can't believe how lucky I am.

I married the most perfect guy for me- he's my best friend and biggest champion and everything I ever hoped and waited for.  Our 5 year anniversary is coming up in July.

I'm type A- definitely Monica from Friends.

My favorite current TV show is Modern Family.  Felicity and Friends are my favorites from the past. I still love Glee but this season hasn't been as good as the others.

I am starting the Charlotte chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild and our first meeting is June 23. Excited, nervous, gotta get myself in gear and ducks in a row...

I grew up in the Charlotte, NC area and my family lives 3 miles from me (which is so nice.)

When I am by myself in the car (which is rare) I like to turn the radio off and enjoy the quiet. When I was growing up I could never understand how in the world my mom could do that- ride around in the quiet- but now that I have kids and noise around me all the time, I love some quiet time. :)

I went to college at the University of Alabama and loved it. Roll Tide!

The tornado devastation there breaks my heart.

I have a graduate degree in teaching from Queens University and taught elementary school for 7 years.

I am ridiculously excited about going to the Sewing Summit in October. I'm a little nervous about not knowing anyone but determined to overcome that. Rachel from Stitched in Color and I are on the same flight which will be fun. I am so happy to be part of this great blogging community and can't believe I get to go and meet so many people I know online.
If you are going- please let me know!!

I am learning to Free Motion Quilt but am not good at it yet. Hopefully the class I am taking in two weeks will help!

I would also love to try paper piecing but haven't given that a go yet. Those Ringo Pie blocks are seriously a-ma-zing!

I am a breast cancer survivor. I say this to encourage you to feel your boobies! Self detection saved my life and made all the difference in my cancer experience. Happily I've been cancer free for almost 2 years.

My favorite food in the world is pizza, and I love chocolate chip cookies. I know, I know-I'm like a 12 year old girl.  I wish I could say I love to eat broccoli or brussels sprouts but sadly, that is not the case.

I can't do those car washes at the gas station to save my life. Last time I tried I got stuck AGAIN! So never, ever again. I don't care how dirty my car is. It's totally embarrassing!

These are some of my playgroup buddies and friends last October. I'm the pregnant one in the skirt.

I'm in a playgroup for my kids that meets weekly, and we've been getting together for three years now. None of us knew each other when we started and we are such good friends now. They are a breath of fresh air each week and sometimes the only adult interaction I have besides my husband and the clerk at Target. So they keep me sane.

Source: google.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

My ideal vacation would be sitting on a tropical beach with my husband, waves in the background, sand in my toes, fruity, icy drink by my side and a great book in my hand with all the time in the world to relax.  And yes, kid free. Love my little buddies like nothing else but I look forward to taking a grown ups only vacay one day.

I sew with a Pfaff Expression 2.0. It was my mother's sewing machine and she gave it to me two years ago shortly after she bought it.  It is made more for garmet sewing and doesn't have lots of fancy quilting bells and whistles but it does have a built in walking foot which is super handy. I also love that you can easily move the needle one space to the right to sew a scant quarter inch seam. Learning that trick changed the world for me!

Down the road I hope to get a sewing machine that has a larger throat (is that right term?) for quilting but for now, the one I have is great.

Current work in progress

I've only been quilting for a year but LOVE it. I love how it is always different; there is so much to learn, so much to try, so many fabrics to play with. I feel my style is evolving and growing all the time. I am eager to explore different techniques and finding that I like working on my own, rather than with a pattern.

And finally, I love scrappy quilts but haven't made one yet. I need to build up my stash of fabrics to have more variety and would like to do a rainbow fabric swap do you think you would be interested? Let me know.

Hope you enjoyed that little read about me- and don't worry- usually my posts are not so wordy!

A Winner!

Mr. Random Number Generator went to work and drumroll please....

Congratulations to Tong!
Tong said...

I love summer because there's always something to do anywhere I go in the city. The fresh fruits and veggies from local markets are wonderful too! Thanks so much for the giveaway! =)

May 23, 2011 10:11 AM 

Tong, Please check your email! 

A BIG, BIG thanks to everyone that entered. I really do wish I could have given you all a prize. 

Delish

If you are looking for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway, it is HERE.

Do y'all know about Delish magazine? 

I stumbled across it the other day and it's so great. 

Photo courtesy of Delish Magazine

Their tagline is "Live Like You Mean It."  

That gets it about right.

Delish is easy to read and easy to navigate which is saying a lot for an online magazine. 

Their content is for women and covers home, garden, family, creating, and food. 

Now I'm still partial to the hold-in-your-hand paper kind, but this online mag is the best I've seen. 

Be sure to check out the Kate Spain interview. (I just recently found out she does more than fabric!)

It's a good read. 

Giveaway Day!

Woo Hoo! It's a giveaway day!
I'm participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day.

Welcome to any new visitors and a big hello to my regular readers. :) You guys make me feel like I'm not talking to myself- so thanks! 

So, I decided to give away some of my favorite things: 

a log cabin pincushion I made, similar to my Rainbow Cabins quilt (seriously, I like this so much I almost can't give it away. Just hope you love it too!)

a fat quarter bundle of Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 from my stash (including a coordinating fat quarter of Kona Charcoal.) 

and a Clover Hera marker (this thing is so neat!)

International visitors are welcome to enter.  Please make sure you leave your email in your comment if you are a no-reply blogger so I can get in touch with you. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. 

The winner will be chosen by random number generator and announced on Thursday,  May 26.  

At my house, summer starts today so to enter, leave a comment telling me what you think the best parts are about summer.  

For a bonus chance, become a follower and leave a comment telling me so (or leave a comment letting me know you already are.) 

If you're visiting for the first time, you might enjoy my tutorials, the Big 5 series or my finished quilts page. 


Thanks for stopping by and Good Luck! 


The Giveaway is now closed. 

Scrappy Pincushion Tutorial-Lapel Stick Style

Do you remember my post about my pitiful pincushion?

Well, thanks to all the wonderful comments and suggestions about what to put in one, I have a brand new, super cute pincushion.

The folks at Lapel Stick were so nice to send me some sticks to work with when I made the Candy Circles mini quilt.

They were fun and practical to use so thought I would try them with something else. They really are perfect for applique.

This scrappy pincushion was super quick and easy to put together and y'all know I needed one!

In case you are visual like me, here's a quick tutorial.

Supplies:
crushed walnut shells (aka lizard litter and sold at pet stores)
small funnel
2 pieces of fabric 6"x6" (I used Kona Charcoal.)
fabric scraps 1" - 3" in length
Lapel Stick
rotary cutter & mat
iron

Pull out your scrap bin and select a handful of your favorite scraps.

Now, here's the fun part. Put them together like puzzle pieces. Audition different ones to see what you like best and trim them up as you go so they fit the space. Press the scraps as needed.

Once you have a layout you like, pull out your Lapel Stick.

Lapel Stick is a safe, non-toxic, fabric and sewing friendly product that is perfect for applique.

Swipe the scraps with the Lapel Stick and press them into place on your base fabric.

Once they are all glued on, you are ready to sew.

Sew on your fabric pieces using a straight or zigzag stitch.  (Don't get too close to the edge!) Using the Lapel Stick means no need to pin!

Leave LONG THREAD TAILS.  (You could also backstitch instead.)

Once all your scraps are sewn on, flip the fabric over and gently tug on the tails. Use a pin to find the loop, pull the thread through, tie in a knot and trim.

Easy peasy!

Lay your top and bottom pieces, right side facing each other, and pin.

Now, sew using a generous 1/4" seam, leaving an opening large enough to turn your pincushion right side out.  You may want to double stitch your corners.

Round the 4 corners with your scissors and turn your pincushion inside out.

Optional: wash or wet your pincushion and let it dry for a shabby scrappy look. This is what I did as I like the softer, frayed look of the scraps.

Sit your pincushion upright (or have someone hold it for you) and fill most of the way with the walnut shells, using a funnel.

Pin your opening closed then use a ladder stitch to close the opening.

Ta-da! You're all set. You now have one super cute, scrappy pin cushion.

Quick and easy!

If you make one of these, I would love to see it. Please add it to the Ellison Lane Quilts Flickr pool.


PS: Lapel Stick did not pay me. I just enjoyed using their product.

Candy Circles Mini Quilt Tutorial with Lapel Stick

A few weeks ago, the folks at LAPEL STICK were looking for someone to try out their new product.

Free samples, um hello! I jumped on the chance 'cause I love a good freebie and things that make my life easier.

Now, let me tell you about this little stick. It works just like a glue stick but is non-toxic, washable and safe to use on fabric. It could not be easier.

I tried it out with a mini quilt I had in mind and it worked just great.

If you'd like to make a Candy Circles mini quilt using a Lapel Stick, here's how:

Supplies: a Lapel Stick, neutral fabric for the quilt top and bottom, colorful fabric for the circles, binding fabric, a rotary cutter, a circle cutter or circular template.

First, cut two 18 x 22 pieces of fabric for your quilt top and bottom. I used Kona Ash. You could certainly put something different on the back but as I knew this would be a wall hanging and no one would see the back, I opted for the same fabric on both sides.

Press all of your fabrics and set aside the top and bottom pieces.  Use your circle cutter and cut 2-3 circles in various sizes from your colorful fabrics.

My largest circle is 5.75" wide. The rest of the circles are random sizes.

After all of your circles are cut, press each one.

Now audition each circle on your quilt top. Try out different combos, see what looks best.  Switch them around and take pictures. Looking at a picture will help you see the layout more objectively.

Once you like what you see, pin the circles to the quilt top. This is temporary- just so you won't lose your layout.

Now, take your Lapel Stick and glue on the smaller circles to the larger circles.

Using a zigzag or blanket stitch, sew on the top circles.  No need to pin- the Lapel Stick holds the fabric in place.

Do yourself a FAVOR and leave LONG THREAD TAILS so you can pull them to the back for a more polished look.  (You can also backstitch instead.)

Repeat for all circles, gluing the smaller fabric circles to the larger ones then sewing them on to the larger circles.

Not to worry if a circle is not in the right place, you can pull it apart and reposition it.

Now, take a couple minutes to pull your thread tails to the back of the circles.

Use a straight pin and tie the threads in a knot.

Once they are all tied, apply some Lapel Stick to your large circles and position them on the quilt top.

You can now sew the circles on the quilt top. Again, NO PINS needed!

Leave long thread tails again, take care to pivot slowly around the circles, and leave your needle down as you turn your fabric.

After your circles are sewn on, pull your threads through to the back and tie them.

Then make your quilt sandwich and quilt it. I hand quilted mine with Perle cotton.

 Last, bind, wash, and wha-lah!

You have a great mini quilt that was fun and easy to do and required no pins!

If you make this mini quilt, I would love to see it. Please add it to the Ellison Lane Quilts Flickr group.




PS: Lapel Stick did not pay me for this tutorial. I just enjoyed using the product.