String Quilt

This is where things stand on my string quilt as a result of my New Year's Eve "sew in".  :)

I'm gonna make 6 more blocks and call it done!

Wonky Christmas Cards

 

I had a ton of fun making these Christmas cards! 

 

 

Once I got past the fact that my stitches weren't perfect (I kept beating myself up, telling myself, "How in the world are you going to be able to machine stitch quilts for others if you can't do a decent job with this little project??!!"), I thoroughly enjoyed the process!  The imperfections and "wonkiness" are the exact things that give this craft some personality.  (More thoughts on that in an upcoming post!)  I only made a few for family and my quilting and crafting friends, but they were a joy to create and share.

 

 

Again, click here for the link to the directions.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas Card Crafting

 

 

I picked up these three fabrics yesterday at Jo-Ann's to make some fabric-inspired Christmas cards.  (Believe it or not, I didn't have any greens that were quite right in my stash - how sad is that?!)  The two fabrics on the left are Denyse Schmidt, and the one on the right...

 

... is by Heidi Grace for Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Photo credit:  allpeoplequilt.com

  Click here for the directions.

 

 

 

J. Wecker Frisch Fabric

 

 

I was preshrinking a few more fabrics today in preparation for some T-shirt quilts I need to work on, so I went ahead and prewashed the rest of my low volume fabrics.

 

I had picked up this fabric last month at one of the larger quilt shops in the area, both for my low volume collection as well as use as a background fabric in this Jen Kingswell quilt that I'm itchy to make.  It wasn't until I was ironing it that I realized just how captivating the print is.  Here are some more shots of the fabric:

 

 

 

 

 

I was so intrigued with J. Wecker Frisch's artwork on this print that I looked up her blog and read a bit about her.  Cool stuff from a very inspiring artist!

Elma's Scrappy Irish Chain

This quilt will soon be heading to my sister Renee in Colorado, but before I ship it off, I wanted to snap a few pictures.

My grandmother Learn (my mother's mother) had pieced this top, 

and then I hand quilted it as a Christmas present for Renee.

A label documenting the quilt adds the final touch.

You can read more about this quilt here!

Prewashing Finished!

 

 

OK, I'm finished prewashing for the time being!

 

Actually, this is part of my holiday prep - can't clean and decorate for Christmas until I get these chores out of the way!

 

:)

Bleeding Reds

 

I was nervous about using these reds in my Christmas Tree quilt....

But, I knew I definitely wanted some reds in the quilt, and most definitely want to use a white background.  So, I knew I needed to do something to prevent them from bleeding.

 

 

 I've had this bottle of Retayne in my laundry room cupboard for years...

 

 

 

... (you can tell just how long by the price on the bottle!), but had never tried using it.

I basically followed the directions - hot water and a longer wash cycle than normal.  After treating the fabric with the Retayne, I tested the colorfastness by prewashing the fabrics, along with a Shout Color Catcher sheet.

I couldn't believe it - not a trace of pink or red on the Color Catcher sheet - so not the usual case when prewashing reds!  It worked!!

Hooray!

(Why did it take me this long to work up the courage to trying using the product?!)