The 4th boat quilt

Back in October, I showed 3 quilts of sailboats, all from blocks sent by the Bee Inspired group or friends of the group who sent me blocks for children's charity quilts.  People were so generous that I had enough for 4 quilts.  When I posted, the fourth was not yet completed.  Here it is!

When I put the quilts together, I was one boat short.  It was during a time when I was very limited in sewing time and was trying to finish my Island Batik Octopus's Garden quilt.  So instead of piecing another boat, I traced a coloring book page for embroidery--just in time to take to a work conference!  A friend even caught a picture of me stitching during the keynote address. 

photo by K Melnik

We just got back from a 2-day trip to Charleston with my brother-in-law and mother-in-law.  We stayed a place on the water that had a marina, so this morning we took the quilt out to get some pictures with the boats.

The sashing is Kona Black and the quilting is the wave stitch on my sewing machine, meant to simulate the water.  Since my local Project Linus chapter shut down earlier this year, I will be taking these to a local children's hospital--one of the places our chapter donated to regularly.  I need to get in contact with someone there and find out how to drop off the quilts--I've got a bit of a pile building up!

And here's a rare whole-family shot!  It was a beautiful morning.  I'm glad I was able to take boat picture with the boats!  Thanks so much to all the folks who sent me sailboat blocks in the early part of 2019!

Tea Cozy & Pillowcases (Christmas presents #3)

My mom is the only person in my family who reads my blog, so I had to wait until after Christmas to post her presents.  I was in a hurry on these, as the others went in the same package (dad & brother live in the same city) and they are farther away so I always assume mail will take longer.  Which meant mom's gifts were made last--but they still made it in time!

I started with a tea cozy.  Mom saw this one that I made my dad earlier this year and she told me that lately, she's been making tea by the pot as opposed to by the cup, and she would like a cozy to go with a teapot that apparently I bought her years ago but don't remember.  I picked out a few different fabric options and asked her to pick. This one won by a mile.  I love that it has actual tea pots and tea cups on it!  Although it does feel a bit like cheating--she sent me this fabric several years ago!

I used the same template that I used for my dad's, which actually came from tracing his old one--and it turns out that my mom traded with another vendor for that original cozy at a craft fair *years* ago, so I guess everything comes full circle! The lining fabric is teacups, also given to me by mom.  I used Bosal double-sided-fusible foam stabilizer for the middle--it holds its shape nicely. It's just straight-line grid quilting and I used pre-made bias binding for the bottom--and the green matches my mom's teapot!  Score!  I do wish I had added a loop at the top as I think it gives a more finished look. 

Back in June, she saw the pillowcases I made myself and mentioned that pillowcases would be a good Christmas gift for her.  Preferably purple florals.  I didn't think I had anything that matched that description in my stash but I did!  So I made two pillowcases. The bands are the same fabric so that they coordinate; if you use them together they will look like they belong together even though they are different fabrics. The second fabric is pink rather than purple but I really like it and think she will, too.

I love the Roll It Up instructions from the Million Pillowcase Challenge and that's what I use every time I make a pillowcase.  I'm lucky mom reads the blog and tells me what she wants me to make--sure made making presents easy this year!

This is the last of the homemade presents from this year--no mommy-made gifts for my son though we did make a pillow together that we finished just before Christmas--pictures coming soon.

Sandwich Wraps (Christmas Presents #2)

My brother is a particularly difficult person to give presents to.  He is a minimalist.  My sister-in-law understands the frustration and sometimes gives me ideas of things to make him.  This year, she told me that he could use more sandwich wraps.  Several years ago (I think it was pre-kids for both of us; our kids are the same age) I made a bunch of sandwich wraps and gave them to everyone.  Ours are also starting to wear out, so I went ahead and cut out a bunch at once.

the set for my brother

These are the ten I made for my brother, though in reality they will be used by him, his wife, his daughter, and occasionally our dad.  I don't remember if I followed a tutorial for these the first time.  This time I just measured the ones I had and used those as a guide for size and which corners get the same vs different side of velcro.

I cut 12" squares of both a novelty fabric and PUL.  I deliberately did not make duplicates for either household, though there are some that we each got one.  This is based on my experience with the last group I made which had a lot made from the same fabric.  The problem is that when we make sandwiches for a hike or a picnic, each person in my family likes different stuff on their sandwich, so no two are the same.  So by having no duplicate fabrics, you can know that mine is the rainbows, yours is the turtles, etc.

***Updated to add: PUL is a waterproof fabric that is also food-safe.  Bernie provides a link to where she buys PUL in the comments; I bought mine at a local store that is now out of business.  I've washed my previous batch in the washer and dryer, but my brother hand-rinses and drips dry.  Both batches have lasted well; the velcro gives out before the PUL does. 

put your sandwich in the middle and fold in two corners...

The actual construction is really easy.  Pair a square of novelty fabric with a square of PUL right sides together, stitch all the way around leaving a gap to turn.  Turn right side out, poke corners as best you can, top stitch all the way around being sure to catch the opening.  Velcro on each corner--the second photo shows how to arrange them, and here is a two part series of how to wrap it up.

...then fold in the last two corners.  Sandwich is nice and secure.

I made a total of 19--10 for my brother, 9 for us. I did the velcro wrong on one of ours and still need to fix it, so only 8 for my house are pictured.  We use these a lot and I'm glad to have a new set.  I hope my brother likes his, too!

Placemats (Christmas Present #1)

When I was visiting my dad back in February, his placemats had clearly seen better days.  I told him so, and asked if I made him new ones, would he throw out the old ones?  He agreed.  I plan to make 8-10 of these, but was only able to get 4 made for Christmas because they took more scraps than I expected. So this is the first installment, and he'll get 4 more next year.  Hopefully this is enough to warrant getting rid of the old & gross ones!

I save scraps if I can get at least a 2" square out of them.  I've been planning for a while to make something with blue, green, brown, and gray Kona scraps.  I thought those would be perfect for this placemet project.  I went throgh the Kona bin and pulled out blue, green, brown, and grey scraps.  Any shade, no matter how light or dark.  I didn't like how the gray looked, so I took those out.  I got out the Accuquilt and my 2" square die and just cut as many squares as I could, and then took them to the sewing machine.  I paired them together randomly. 

It took 80 squares to make a size I was happy with!  Hence starting with just the four for now.  I quilted on the diagonal but only once; with squares these small I thought cross-hatch would be to much.  I used black for the binding, mostly because I know I'll be able to match it even if the next four are made a year from now.

Ready for the list of Kona colors included?  It's a long one!  And is in the order I pulled them out of the bin and identified them, so no particular order:  Ice Frappe, Cabbage, Willow, Lagoon, Chestnut, Blueberry, Robin Egg, Marine, Candy Green, Cloud, Emerald, Waterfall, Asparagus, Malibu, Pond, Zucchini, Celery, Blueprint, Clover, Niagara, Lime, Sage, Cadet, Stone, Seafoam, Chocolate, Sprout, Sandy, Parakeet, Leprechaun, Candy Blue, Sable. 

I'm really pleased with how they turned out and hope he likes them.  These are machine washable so hopefully won't get as gross as the current set.  Now I need to cut a bunch more squares so I can make the second set!



This was goal #2 on my Q4 list of goals for the Finish Along.

Fishy Tails: Island Batik 3D Challenge

Our December Island Batik Challenge is 3D.  Our instructions include options for optical illusions or added texture. Since I'm not a big fan of optical illusions, I opted for surface texture.  We are also given some links for inspiration.  December is the first time I've needed to jump-start my ideas.  One link was to this compilation of 41 fabric manipulation techniques.  When I saw #7, Cathedral Windows, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

You may be thinking, "how did she get from Cathedral Windows to fish?!?"  Well, I had made a few fish from this Missouri Star Quilt Co Tutorial for the epic Octopus's Garden quilt and I was dying to make a bigger version of the fish.  The tutorial uses 5" charm squares and I wanted to try out making my fish twice as big.  The method to make the fish tail is essentially a partial Cathedral Window.  Eureka!

You can see the 3D effect in the tail.

I loved the Black Pearl collection so much that I wasn't done working with it.  After confirming my large fish would work, I decided on a 4 x 4 layout.  I picked out 16 of the 20 prints from Black Pearl for my fish and used a 2-yard cut of Cherrios in Waterfall from the Sunny Side up collection. I absolutely love purples with blues so I was excited to see Black Pearl paired with a blue background.

a row of fishy tails

The fish block doubled quite well.  I did straight doubling of the measurements of each cut piece for the block.  I really like the bigger blocks.

Once I had all the fish made, I felt like they really needed eyes.  I pulled out my Accuquilt and used the small circle on the train die that is meant to be smoke--it's a great size for eyes and is a perfect circle.  I couldn't cut a perfect circle freehand if my life depended on it!  I think I've used that train die more for animal eyes than for trains!

I used Auriful 50 weight thread in color 4140; it blended perfectly with the Waterfall background.  I chose to do organic wavy lines to mimic water.  I didn't want to sew down the 3D curve in the fishes' tails, so I did the lines in kind of bursts, avoiding sections with fish tail.  I'm happy with this effect.

The materials used in this quilt were provided to me by Island Batik. I love that I have now made two ocean-themed quilts with the same fabric collection and they look completely different!  It's amazing what a different background fabric will do!

This marks my final project for my year as an Island Batik Ambassador.  It has been an absolutely amazing experience and the program has pushed me creatively so much.  I have enjoyed the challenges, the creativity, the community, and of course the beautiful fabrics!  We've been told that the 2020 Ambassadors will be announced this month.


This was #6 on my Q4 list of goals for the Finish Along.

December OMG

I've been hit or miss with even setting a One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts this year.  I have a lot of goals for December to end on a good note!  Most are holiday presents.  But once those are done and mailed out to family, I want to get a few more finishes knocked out. First priority is Elizabeth, a pattern from the book Fat Quarter Baby.

Linking with One Monthly Goal.

another fabric doppelganger

A few weeks ago, I showed off my fabric doppelgänger, made for Velda during her turn as Queen in my Stash Bee hive.  Well, another hive member was unable to make a block so I volunteered to do an angel block.  Except I have no idea what that hive member looks like since we've never met or seen photos. So I made my best friend, Laura, in fabrics instead.

Laura is wearing a purple shirt (our shared favorite color) and jeans, because she rarely wears dresses.  I've shown her the picture of her fabric self and she loved it.  Her favorite part was the sparkly hair.

With this block, I end four years of participation in Stash Bee.  I've made the slightly sad decision not to participate next year. I've had a ton of fun and made a lot of friends, but I'm feeling a time crunch in my sewing time especially as I continue to balance sewing with my full time job and my family. I also have only actually completed ONE of my Stash Bee quilts despite four years of participation.  These girls who want to have fun have been a great ending note!