In the spirit of full disclosure, I had a project tutorial planned for today, but it was a total bomb. As in, there’s no way I can show you the results without being totally embarrassed. It was an Easter-themed project, so I’m looking at it as now I have a full year to perfect it to post next year. Yeah, let’s go with that. Positive thinking and all.
If you’re looking for something to make this week, last year I posted this tutorial for easy framed fabric egg pictures. This one (unlike what I tried yesterday) is no fail, I promise!
So instead of a project, I’ll share with you what’s on my sewing table these days. Let’s take a look.
This is a cathedral window pillow top I made a couple of weeks ago. I’ve made several cathedral window pillows, so the top is second nature to me. But I want to put a covered zipper into the pillow back and I’ve never done that before, and I haven’t had time to research it yet. So that’s high on my mind even though it’s the lowest priority because it’s just for me and do I really need another pillow anyway? No, no I don’t. But still I make them. Go figure.
This is a quilt top that was made by a friend. She’s was confident enough to piece the quilt (and it’s not a simple pattern for a beginner, so I’m impressed!) but she’s not confident enough to do the quilting and the binding. So I made the quilt back for her, sandwiched it with the batting and pin basted, and I’m getting ready to quilt it for her. I already finished one for her about a month ago, so I’m planning to quilt it with the same pattern - a meandering flower and vine motif. I’m going to tackle that this weekend (if I’m not doing my taxes - but surely the quilt will be way more fun than my taxes).
Last summer I made a memory quilt for a teenage boy. Once he received it, he was inspired to design his own quilt and his mother commissioned me to make it for him. Except that what he wants is really mostly a wholecloth quilt, which means it’s basically all one big piece of the same fabric, with only a border. Wholecloth quilts are a notorious challenge, because the quilting provides all the visual interest and there’s no fabric variation to distract from the quilting. So the quilting really has to be spot-on!
He chose these deep blue and black fabrics as a remembrance of his time in Hawaii, and he wants the whole thing to be quilted in a wave pattern. Hello, intimidation! But while at QuiltCon in Austin last month, I took an entire class on how to quilt wave patterns, and now I’m pretty excited to tackle this. Below is part of my work sample from the class, experimenting with various types of waves. Now I just have to plan out what I’m going to do on the actual wave fabric and I can get started.
This is another silly I-don’t-need-it-but-I-want-it project. While getting some spring clothes out from my closet (call me an optimist) I came across these old run-of-the-mill light grey chinos. BORING. But I’ve had the idea in my head for a while to put a contrast cuff on a pair of pants, and now I found the pair. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to do it but I have some ideas, but basically I want to make the inside cuff of the pants lined with a cute fabric so when I roll them up, you’ll see the print. Here’s hoping I can get this one done before the hot weather rolls in - it seems so far away now but that doesn’t mean I’ll finish the pants before then!
And finally, this isn’t on my table yet, but it’s definitely in my head. A friend recently contacted me about commissioning a quilt for a wedding gift for her friend and she wants the quilt to be inspired by this rug from the Sundance catalog (and since I can afford nothing from the Sundance catalog, what better than making a Sundance-inspired quilt?!?). When she initially told me about it I wasn’t sure how a rug pattern would translate to a quilt, but then I saw the picture of the rug and I was smitten. That rich charcoal and those shades of neutral and blush? Oooooh my head is spinning with possibilities. I can’t wait to coordinate the quilt design with the fabric patterns for this, it’s going to be luscious.
But first I have to get through some of the projects that are already on my table, if not my own, then at least the two others for clients.
Oh, and taxes - not the kind of personal project I really want to be working on, you know?!? But I must (and if yours are already done then yay for you but please kindly keep it to yourself you little overachiever), so maybe the quilts can serve as incentive to power through the taxes to move onto the fun stuff? Here’s hoping!