Hello friends! I just realized I haven't been on here to tell you about a number of exciting things that have been going on in my life.
First off, John and I officially started the longarm business in January! How exciting is that? Our business is called Blue Spool Sewing Room. I am having a lot of fun with my Handi Quilter Infinity and will definitely be getting pictures up. If you want to check out our business page please visit www.bluespoolsewingroom.com.
Secondly, I was chosen to take on the challenge over at the Henry Glass Fabrics blog and I had so much fun working with the Just Beachy collection! I finished a beach quilt, a swim bag, and a pillowcase. They put up my projects this morning, you can click this link to see what I said there and the photos I sent them.
Here are some behind the scenes from working on my projects:
I decided I wanted to make a star quilt and make it octagonal like the pink one in my header picture above. I auditioned fabric and attempted to fold in into the shapes so I would have a fairly clear idea as to what it would look like. You'll notice that I ended up not using the colorful dots after all.
I decided early that I wanted to use two layers of batting since we plan to sit on it. I also tried to think ahead as to what I would do for quilting. I knew I wanted to give an impression of a starfish so after staring at photos of starfish I figured a ribbon candy pattern would look neat on the black and give the texture I wanted. Also, as much of a pain as it may be, stitching-in-the-ditch is definitely important for making blocks look right after quilted. I made it my goal with this quilt to not use any computerized designs, so all of this quilting was freehand! I am glad to see that I am getting better everyday. Practice practice practice!
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| I used jean yardage to back this quilt and I just love how the turquoise thread looks on it. Also what looks like a huge wrinkle in the upper left-hand corner is just from me holding up the quilt while I took the picture. :) |
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| Super excited when I reached the halfway point! |
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| I caught John sneaking a peek... |
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| Superstar! |
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| This is me walking into the wind, considering how heavy this quilt is with it's two layers of batting and jean back it lifted in the wind pretty easily. |
When we got home I went to work on my new swim bag for water aerobics. Mom and I are still trying to attend every Monday and Wednesday.
I wanted zippered pockets on each end so I can put my keys and wallet away and not have them floating in the bottom of the bag.
I chose to use mesh as the upper portion of my bag so I can see what I have in there easily, plus it looks neat.
Thomas helped me make the tops of the bag, I wanted to plush them up a little so the mesh doesn't wear down on the fabric, at least I hope that is how it works. Plus it gives a nice finished look.
I was so excited when I finished and the bag stands up by itself!
It holds everything I need and more! It will also be perfect the next time we go to the beach to hold two towels and the beach quilt, plus sunscreen, shoes, and water. I am pretty happy with how my bag turned out. When I get some instructions written up for it I will be sure to let you know.
It didn't take long for Belle and Thomas to find the quilt when I brought it home from working on the longarm, but if it is kitty approved it must be good! Oh, and that gray stripe there under Belle is a burp rag I made for my sister-in-law, we have a nephew coming in June!
I hope you enjoyed some of these behind the scenes photos, I still have quite a bit of fabric left from what was sent me so I am going to crank out some more projects over the summer and I will be sure to share with you. Thank you for stopping by!
~Brandy
