Quilted Valentines Cards

Hey Readers,

I did not get to do to much in the quilting room this week.  I did create a couple of quilted post cards.

I had intended to make about 4 or 5, but only got 2 done.  My dog, Bogie cut his foot playing in the yard and needed a fair amount of attention.  I had seen this tutorial on postcard by Rob Appell, but I had made them before, so I just watched it to see if he did anything different.  He does!  I have not been putting in the temtex so I tried that this time and it went well.  Rob uses fabric on both sides tho, and I like using watercolor paper for the card side, so I am not sure it was necessary, but I used it anyway.  If you click on the small things tab, you will see my postcards and art trading cards and some very small quilted things.

So, anyway I made one for Celeste, my daughter, and one for Will, my son.

On the Celeste's I just quilted the hearts and letters down.  Decided to leave it like that for a clean minimalist look.  

On Will's I went around each heart, then did straight line quilting across the card.  I did not go around each letter but felt the straight line stitching would be enough...it is just a post card and won't be subject to washing, etc.

The layers are a piece of cotton, a piece of batting, a stiff piece of stabilizer, like peltex, or temtex.  I also used some heat and bond to put the hearts and letters on.  I also used it to put the layers together.  Then I quilt around each letter and heart.   Once it is quilted I put the quilted layers together with the water color paper and sew through the card and all to put the binding on.  The binding also has heat and bond on the back of it as it will keep it from raveling and I don't fold it under.  It is just single  layered.  So I iron it on first then sew around the edge with a specialty stitch on the machine.

These are fun to make. So make some postcards and make someone's day!

Sew long,

Terry

Log Jam

Dear Readers,

Had my second finish of the year.  Whoop, Whoop...remember when I could only get one or two quilts done in a year?  I finally got my Modern Logs quilt designed by Christa Watkins done!  You can click here to go to her blog, there is a tab at the top for the store.  I really like how she lists how many block you need for each size on the back... I made the throw size, that is 60 x 66 inches.

We have had a lot of bad weather here in Mississippi this winter, and have missed school, three days!!  That gave me lots of time to sew as I was not getting out on icy roads.

Front

I was going so slow, cutting one strip and sewing it around a square, then cutting one strip and sewing it around, and it was going so slow, so I cut a bunch of strips out of the fabrics that I had pulled.  So I cut a bunch of strips and put them next to my machine, then I could grab one and go.  It went much faster.  When I was done, I saw I had a big pile of funky angle cut strips, so I decided to sew them together in groups that were about the same length.  I would square them up every so often till I had all the strips sewn together.  Then laid them out on my guest bed and figured out how they should go together.  Had to fill in a few spots, but it went really well.

Back

 I am loving how it brightens up my living room.

I am working hard to put balance in my life.   School and sewing seem to be the only things I have made time for.  Tennis season is about to ramp up, but, I desperately need to add physical activity to my to do list.  So I may not get as much sewing done, and I have applied to be in a masters program.  I think I may be a glutton for punishment...but I am determined to make this work!

Sew on,

Terry