Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Vintage Makeover!

Hi, all!

Friday!  Isn't that a wonderful word?  So much inspiration on the web rises to the surface on Fridays, and that's why it's my favorite day of the week! So if you're ready, let's get our whoop whoop on!!

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This week I have such a fun finish to share with you!  A couple of months ago, a friend of mine at church announced that she was finally getting a granddaughter, after three grandsons.  She brought me her vintage (circa 1970's) wedding gown and asked me to make a quilt, pillow, and garter for her new granddaughter.

The dress was made of polyester crepe de chine and polyester lace yardage - not your typical quilt material.  And she wanted me to only use the material from the dress if possible.   After deconstructing the dress and looking at the available fabric, I realized that there wasn't any place large enough to cut a 36" square, the bare minimum (in my mind) for a baby quilt.  So I asked her if I could purchase something for the back, and piece the top.  She said yes, and that made everything easy - sort of.  Crepe de chine isn't stretchy, but it does move around a lot!  I ironed stabilizer on the back to keep it from shifting around before I cut my pieces.  

OK, enough about the process.  Let's get to the pictures!

The first to be finished was the quilt.  It is made up of four different blocks - shiny side crepe de chine, dull side crepe de chine, seed-stitched lace over dull crepe de chine, and floral lace over shiny crepe de chine.

The seed stitching was done after piecing but before quilting.  The quilting is simple - just stitching in the ditch around each block.  No binding - I used lace from the wedding dress around the edges to finish it off.

Then came the pillow.  One larger piece of lace over shiny 
crepe de chine, and I did seed stitch once again 
over the plainer parts of the lace.

And finally, the garter.  This was new territory to me - I hadn't ever made a garter before - but I'm pleased with the way this came out.  I was excited to be able to use one of the tiny buttons from the dress as the center of the rosette on the garter!

And here's the trio, all together...

And some just generally pretty pictures!

It's all so beautiful together, isn't it?

I hope the new grandmother likes it too!!

So that's my big finish for the week - 

can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What are you whooping about this week?

What's got you dancing the happy dance?

Share - we REALLY want to know - 

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight -

Hope to see you there!!

Hugs!

Sarah

What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday - More Color!!!

Hi, all!

Welcome to What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday!!  I was a bad girl this week and splurged on some new books - all related to each other so I'm going to share them all together!

Now, if you love color and don't know about Vanessa Christensen of V & Co., you are missing out!  She may very well be the queen of color - she's certainly headed that way!

Her fabric lines are so yummy - Color Theory, Color Me Happy, Simply Style, and Simply Color - I want them all!  And now she's written a series of books dealing with color....

These are powerful little books, each dealing with one color and discussing how color works.  I don't know about you, but the color wheel has always been a mystery to me - I knew it was important, but who has time to figure all that out?  Well, Vanessa has figured it out for us, and she makes it seem really accessible!

She takes us through the different types of color - hues, which are the pure colors; tints, which have added white; shades, which have added black; and tones, which have added gray.  It's so nice to know the difference between those!  

And oh, the projects!  Of course, there are quilts.....

(Sorry, I appear to be fixated on orange/yellow quilts this week!)

...but there are also some lovely non-quilt projects to do, like this fabulous LOVE pillow....

...and this lovely little wallet!  Don't you just love that pretty green?  It make me smile just to look at it!

The projects in these books are designed to be interchangeable - if you see a project in Red that you think would look fabulous in greens, it's a simple switch.  Oh, the possibilities!!!

 These books are beautiful photographed, lush with color and totally inspiring!  I can't wait for Blue and Purple to come out (in September and November respectively) so I can wander through the whole set.

I'm so glad I finally got my own copies of these books - I just love them and know that I'll be making many of the beautiful quilts and projects in them.  Plus they just look so pretty on my bookshelf!!

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So that's what's on my bookshelf this week.  Have you looked at yours lately?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Not Enough Hours In The Day!

Hi, all!

Where did last week go?  Between babysitting, helping my daughter pack and clean her house before moving, and working on quilt-y projects, the week has just flown by!  So let's see how much of last week's list I actually managed to get done...

1.  Piece the wedding quilt top.
Finished!!!  I am so happy to say that this is completed!!  More pictures to come on Friday....

2.  Do the hand stitching on the wedding quilt pillow.
Not only did I do the hand stitching, but I finished it!  Also, more pics to come on Friday...

3. Work on editing the photos for the commission memory quilt.
Started!  I'll be cropping them to square and adjusting the color to sepia tone.  

4.  Write a book review for the What's on the Bookshelf Wednesday post.
Done!  If you missed it, I reviewed Amanda Jean Nyberg's Sunday Morning Quilts - definitely worth looking at if you've never seen it before!  Click here to read the review...

5.  Work on Nathanael's stocking. Just for fun, here's a shot of how much stitching is done so far - something to gauge next week's progress against!

And here's what I did on the stocking last week - not much, but any progress is good!

6.  Finish setting up the BlockRockIt!
Done!  And it's not only set up, we've been playing with it already! Here's a video of the first run.  And we've named her Grace - because Grace covers a multitude of sins!!

7.  Work on the plans for a September quilt show.
Not so good on this one - I've got a lot of info in my head, but none on paper (or iPhone list) yet.  

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

Done!  We gave away a few quilts this week - 

This quilt went to a woman whose mother was abducted and murdered...

This one went to a young woman who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given a year to live...

This quilt went to an older gentleman who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he has only a few months left to live...

And this one went to a gentleman who has had a series of debilitating mini-strokes.

So what's on tap for this week?  Lots more than I can possibly get done!!  Here goes the short list...

1.  Make a garter to go with the wedding dress quilt and pillow.

2.  Finish editing the pictures for the commission memory quilt.

3.  Work out a final estimate for another quilt commission.

4.  Make more blocks for the signature quilt.

5.  Start piecing the signature quilt.

6.  Work on Nathanael's stocking.

7.  Make labels for any of the grandkids' quilts that don't have one yet, since they're being stored at my house until the kids move into their new one at Christmas.

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

That's more than enough to keep me out of trouble, I think!  And I imagine there are more things that I need to do, I just can't remember them at the moment.  Out of sight, out of mind!

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? It's finally here!!!

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again!  Can you believe it?  Summer is almost over, at least here in Tennessee - school starts up again in a little more than week!  But enough of that - it's Friday, and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?

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My whoop whoop is a little different this week - it's a quilt ministry whoop whoop!   You may remember that we bought a Block RockIt for the quilt ministry at church when we went to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah back in April.  They told us it would arrive in about five weeks, but it actually took almost nine weeks to get it in our anxious hands.  

But when we tried to set it up, we found out that we would have to order a professional series carriage upgrade before we could mount it on our frame.  (I wish we had known that when we bought it!)  I have to give a huge shout-out to Karla at The Grace Company - she went way above and beyond the call to help us figure out what we needed, including viewing pictures of our frame to be absolutely positive we got what we needed the first time.  She shipped it out and it was in our hands three days after we spoke.  Excellent customer service!  Thanks, Karla!!

Of course, the new carriage arrived while I was on vacation, but Tommy, our one regular guy quilter, put it together and started setting up the Block RockIt.  Wednesday night we finished getting it set up - the encoders connected, the frame leveled (boy that took some doing!) and everything ready to quilt... But then we tried to pull up the bobbin thread and realized that the handles weren't marked with what each button was for!  

We looked through the manual but nowhere did we find a diagram that showed what each button did!  Fortunately I had my laptop with me, and we found a YouTube video that explained how each button worked.  And then we were off!

Everyone had a great time lining up to give our new Block RockIt a test drive!  (That's Tommy manning the machine in the video - he's been waiting impatiently to try out some new quilting designs!)  We've decided to name her Grace - because as we all know, grace covers a multitude of sins!  I've always told our new piecers that any mistakes they make will disappear after quilting and a good washing and drying....

And on another front, I decided today that I finally did get me some minions this week...

Those little clips aren't Clover Clips, but they are similar - and I love that they are yellow like my little shelf minion! I found them for a great price on Prime Day - score!  

I don't know how I ever got along without them - they've been the perfect thing today to work on the wedding dress quilt!  I used them to hold gathered lace on the top for sewing, then to hold the top, backing and batting together to sew it up around the edges.  All I need to do now is close the remainder of the seam around the quilt, then stitch in the ditch to secure the top to the back.

I can't wait to see how this looks when it's finished - but I'm loving it so far!!

And that's what I'm whooping about this week!  

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And now it's your turn!

Why are you whooping it up?

What's got you dancing the happy dance?

Share - we want to dance right along with you -

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday at midnight - 

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday - Some Scrappy Inspiration!!

Hi, all!

Welcome back to What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday! I hope you're enjoying the series so far - I'm really enjoying revisiting the great books I've stashed away over the years!  So much wonderful inspiration is hiding there - and I've got a fun one to share with you today...

I don't know if you're on Instagram yet (if you are, I'd love to follow you, so leave your IG handle in a comment!) but if you are, I'm sure you've been seeing all the Scrap Vortex quilts that are showing up there.  

They are all the result of a great quilt-along hosted by Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts - one of the royals of modern scrappy sewing!  Well, in 2012 Amanda Jean and her friend Cheryl Arkison wrote a great book about modern scrappy quilting...

The back cover says it all...

This book starts out by defining the modern quilt and then moves on to discussing scrap basics.  Then there's that all-important section...

Don't you love how they make even scraps look sexy?  (Mine never look that good - I have w-a-a-a-a-a-y too many to let them lie around in pretty little silver bowls - but a girl can dream!)

Then after a section of sewing basics, there's my favorite part - the projects!  There's a brilliant one to start...

Scrap storage bins - colorized, of course!!  Then it moves on to some fabulous scrap quilts...

And there's some beautifully creative photography to show off the quilts, too!

I love this gumdrop quilt!!

If, like me, you have a hard time throwing away fabric scraps no matter how small, this is the perfect book for you!  You'll find lots of inspiration for dealing with storing your scraps, and then actually using them - which is why we save them, right?  

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So that's what's on my bookshelf this week.  Have you looked at yours lately?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Back In The Real World!

Hi, all!

Well, the beach is just a fond memory now, and it's time to get back to the real world - - - that's been my mantra today, but it's still not working!!  But there's lots to do, and it won't put itself together without my help - so no more procrastinating!  

First let's see how last week's (very short) list went!

1.  Work on the vacation quilt!
I did do this - I managed to get twenty-one blocks made last week.  Not too many, but the weather was pretty and the blocks were slow to sew. They are pretty, though!

I won't be able to work on this for a while - I've got a couple of commission jobs and another special quilt to finish up before the end of August...

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up after I get home.
I did not have a chance to get up to church to set the quilting machine up today - hopefully tomorrow!

3.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

This was pretty simple, since we had no requests last week that needed to be filled immediately.  One baby quilt was requested, and I'll work on that one this Wednesday night - we've probably got a quilt made up and ready to go!

OK, so not much got done last week - which is the prerogative of vacation days!!  But now it's time to get back to work, and I think this week's list will be a good bit longer!

1.  Piece the wedding quilt top.

2.  Do the hand stitching on the wedding quilt pillow.

3. Work on editing the photos for the commission memory quilt.

4.  Write a book review for the What's on the Bookshelf Wednesday post.

5.  Work on Nathanael's stocking. Just for fun, here's a shot of how much stitching is done so far - something to gauge next week's progress against!

6.  Finish setting up the BlockRockIt!

7.  Work on the plans for a September quilt show.

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

I'm sure there's more that I need to work on, but my brain is still on vacation!  And this week is starting to fill up - two days with the little kiddos, and my niece and sister are coming to visit on Wednesday.  I'll be lucky to get this much done!

So now, the question is - - - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah