Baby Quilts

I finally got the baby quilts for the twins done.  They are intended to be functional quilts that used up bits and pieces of the stash, not great masterpieces.  I was trying to finish them Thursday night, but a storm took out our power for most of the evening.   Friday night, I started cutting out 2" bias strips from a batik fabric that used to be curtains in my girl's room.  I was debating if it was worth the extra time to make bias instead of straight strips, but decided that for a baby quilt that would likely be washed often, the bias was worth the effort.  But that made me think I should round the corners as justification for having a bias edge.

I may never do mitered corners ever again.  I am predicting that rounded corners are going to be my signature style.

Not only does it look cool, but it was fast and easy.

I did trim 1/8" off the corner after the binding was attached to the back side to make the corner transition smoother.

I had planned to help my daughter sew some clothes this weekend, but she stayed up all night gaming.  So while she was sleeping, I not only finished the baby quilts, I made this pair of bags to deliver them in.

I think I may have won the skull and roses fabric in the same blog give away as the Day of the Dead fabric that became the Oingo Boingo Bowling Shirt.

Just a basic shopping bag.  Each bag used 1/2 yard of fabric.  1.5" hem across the upper edge.  French seams for both strength and a nice finish.  I did top stitch the seams as well for reinforcement.  Box pleat on the bottom to create a 4" bottom and sides.

Fussy cut the white skull fabric 3.5" wide with skulls centered (1/4" seam).  Made a tube and seam is centered down the back of the strip.  Had to cut each strip in half an re-orient so the skulls were always upright.  Pressed and top-stitched before I attached.  20" of strap above the edge.  3" from side-seam.

Well, I'm off to try to sew clothes with the daughter.  And a reminder to those of you making comments... about 1/2 of you are showing up as "no-reply" bloggers.  If you have left a comment on one of my blog posts and didn't get an email reply, you probably need to fix your settings.  I suspect this is a "Blogger Thing" as it has happened with people with whom I've always been able to reply and many new followers (Stephanie, I mean you.)

Oh!!! I found the Love Entwined Applique.  I had foolishly "put it away" into an old suitcase that I sometimes use for projects.  It was hidden under a pile of fabric waiting to become clothing.

Remember me?

Most activities...including quilting, are very seasonal, at least for me.  This is biker season.  Instead of quilting, I've put about 1500 miles on the motorcycle, about 120 miles at a time, over the past month and a half.  The only pics I have of those events are several weekend where I took to placing self-adhesive googly eyes on biker tats.

I have to save some for their blackmail potential.  In case DH or I come up missing, you have permission to release these to the police.

In mid-June I decided to get serious about physical activity.  I started by building 10-30 minutes into my insane work day to take a walk.  When I wasn't able to meet my 150 min/ week goal I did some serious (crazy) re-vamp of my schedule and doubled the goal to 300 min/week.  Is anyone surprised that I actually did better when the bar was raised?  For the record, I have not lost an ounce (literally) but I have walked my ass into shape (literally) and have firmed up the jiggly bits all over.   These shoes were my reward.

I have been plugging away at the hand piecing of the USA quilt.  All the diagonal strips have been combined and now just need to add the end triangles and sashing strips.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this project!

An in the category of "what the $%*^"....I have lost this project.  I've been working on the Esther Aliu applique.  I was finished with the center and remember taking this on the Grangeville/Salmon ride, but was too tired on the ride to work on it.  I remember prepping strips for the outer border after I got home.

I can't find it.  Anywhere.

It is probably lost in my house.

Poo.

I think I will forget about that and work on my self portrait applique for a Christmas gift for my DH.

As I create that pattern, I need to detail the right mirror, improve the boot...and figure out how to represent my real curls.  Shouldn't be hard as I crank this up to "larger than life" size.... Right?