London Bus Rag Quilt

Tim and I spent about six and half years living in England and we loved it more than anything. We love all things British. London is awesome and we always had such a great time when we were there. When I saw this fabric back in 2012 I knew I had to buy it and make a quilt for us. So around Thanksgiving it went on sale for Black Friday and I bought 5 yards. It was an awesome deal and I was so excited to get it. Fast forward 2 years and the fabric is still sitting on the shelf collecting dust (literally). So I was done, I took the plunge and cut it all up, the whole 5 yards.

Originally I was going to do both flannel on the front and the back and put batting in the middle. I actually started to cut the batting out to be smaller than the flannel squares, but then it got to be to much and I really just wanted it done so I went back to what I normally do with my rag quilts, use fleece for the backing. Fleece is super soft and really really warm. 

This is probably one of my favorite blankets. It's super warm and I can't wait to curl up under this blanket this winter. The front is all flannel all bought at Joann's. The back is red and blue fleece and I love that as well. 

I love everything about this quilt. It is probably my favorite quilt. I have a little bit left that I think will be just enough to make a small baby quilt. The question is do I give that away or keep it for my possible future child. 

On to the next project which may require some painting. Super excited!!

Nana'a Quilt finally done

It's finally done...it took hella long but well I'm sure Nana is going to love it. I'm hoping that she'll get it tomorrow or Saturday. I told her that as I was making this that I was going to have a hard time giving it to her, but in the end I was tired of looking at it and was glad to get it off my table. 

 I named the quilt Ocean Breeze. The pictures are a little blown out because I was in a hurry to get this in the box and rushed to the post office to mail it (made it only by 2 minutes).

The quilt measure 96 x 104 or there abouts. I didn't have time to measure it after I washed it but I pre-washed all the fabric so it should be close to that anyways.

 When my grandparents were here last November they saw some of my rag quilts that I was making for orders. They loved them and wanted a big quilt for their bed. I had already made my grandfather a quilt before, it was actually my very first quilt. It's nice but I have gotten way better since then.

The back. Super simple, 2 big pieces of fabric and strip in the middle to join them.

 They both thumbed through my quilting magazine that I had laying around the house and found a patter in a McCall's magazine. They looked at it and asked if I could make it. Me, being the slightly over confident looked at it and say sure without really paying attention to the actual pattern. I would soon come to regret it later.

In another magazine my Nana found the color scheme that she wanted which is pretty much what you see pictured here. We went out the dinner one night and after dinner we decided to browse the fabric store. They picked some and I picked some and I said I would come and buy it when it was all on sale.

 February rolls around and there is a huge sale and I go and buy everything (little did I know that I would go back 3 times for more fabric) and bring it all home and that's when I really looked at the pattern and said "Oh shit! There are 20 pieces per block and in order to make a king size quilt I'm going to need about 72-81 12" blocks." Only then did I panic.

But I started to iron and cut and chain piece things together and I think it took me about a month of solid several hours a day to get the top done. I send the quilt to a friend and she quilted it for me. I decided on orange for the binding to pull out the orange in the quilt. It's hard to see but it's there and I love it.

I told Nana that my name is already on it so when she dies I'm taking it back....Nana beat me to it and put it in the will for me, lol. Nana's funny. But moving on to the next quilt. It's for a little girl but I love the fabric so much I'm going to make myself a lap quilt while I make her full size one. That is as soon as my machine comes back from the shop.

Nephew Grant's Quilt

 My nephew will be arriving here shortly and my sister's baby shower is on Saturday so you know I had to make a quilt for him. I really made him 2 but this one's my favorite. I had another pattern picked out but when I went to look for fabric I couldn't find what I wanted.

 It came together pretty easy, the binding gave me issues, its only my 2nd quilt machine binding it, the corners were the hardest. I need to practice more, I'm sure I'll get better with time.

I backed the quilt with Irish clovers. My sister said that she is going to play the lotto the day he is born because he has everything one in a million so I figured I would send him (and her) a little more luck in their life. I hope that she enjoys it. I'm putting a delay on this post so she can be surprised by the quilt when she gets it.

Gift Giving Projects - DONE!!

So I finally finished all but one my sewing gift projects. The quilt is for a friend who is having a baby girl in early April. Obviously the baby's name is Nadia. It came out better once I figured out how to make the zig zags line up. I followed this tutorial and this one. It is pretty much the same tutorial but one had better pictures in my opinion and it helped when it came time to putting it together. 

It was my first time making this particular pattern and I love it but I think I would love it more with solid colors. I can see yellow, gray, black, and white. But for now I have about 3-4 other projects to tackle and one of them is huge. More to come later on that one. 

The back of the quilt is just a whatever kind of pattern. If it looked liked it would fit I sewed it. I originally thought I was going to have a few more larger pieces but I ended up with two big pieces. I was going to leave them there, but Tim pointed out that it didn't look right/it was missing something. 

 I ended up deciding on putting her name there. It was more work that what I wanted to do and it made quilting it a little harder because I didn't want to quilt over her name. But I figured it out and put some hearts in the other square and called it done. I'm glad that Tim made me put something there because it looks awesome. I'm not sure what side should be the front because they both look really nice but I decided the chevron would be the front.

Next up, the Cover Family. Beth has been saying that she wanted pillows for her couch for a few months no so I thought I could make them.

I don't have a clear favorite but I do like the Cover5 pillow. I thought Cover to the 5th power (mom, dad, and 3 girls). I like it. Beth did too so it's a win - win. 

 Beth has an red, white, and blue patriotic theme to her house so why not add another flag to the collection. I like this one too. It might be time to make a few pillows for my house.

Each of the Cover girls got a name pillow too. They came out really well, I like them. I used Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut collection

 Last but not least is a name pillow for Max's godmother, Christine's daughter, Brooke. It is a very late birthday present that just needs to make it to the post office. I also used Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut collection.

For all the names on all the pillows I used this tutorial.

 On to the next project...Nana's King sized quilt. Eck!! Wish me luck.

Tinker Bell Rag Quilt

Front

I'm not sure what the deal was with Blogger but for whatever reason they wanted me to buy more space on the blog and well I didn't want to so thus the long time since I posted. With that being said, here is the newest small quickie rag quilt.

Close-up

I was out getting fabric for another project and I had Tim with me. He walked by the large scrap fabric and went kind of crazy. He picked about 10 different types of fleece. I was totally fine with this but I need flannel to go with it and it wasn't on sale, so the fleece went in the pile with works in progress (WIP). Handcock had an awesome sale this past weekend and I thought it would be a good time to pair up some fabrics and clean out the closet a little. But who are you kidding, I added about 3 more projects to the pile but whatever.

So I found Tinker Bell flannel fabric (that wasn't on sale but I had a coupon) that matched pretty good. Plus it gave me the chance to use up some fabric from a previous order. I'm pretty please with how it turned out. Got lots of other projects to do as well. Trying to use up what I have but well I know I'm going back to get another couple of yards for a baby quilt I have to make for a friend. Going to dig through the stash but don't think I have anything that will work.

Back

This quilt is also for sale for $25 (plus shipping). The front is Tinker Bell flannel fabric and green flannel. The back is green fleece and patterned fleece. It measures 24x32 and would make a great baby gift, car quilt, or stroller quilt. 

Custom Order #1 - Done

 I'm SUPER excited to have my first custom order done. These are twin sized rag quilts made for two little girls for Christmas presents. The both came out beautifully and I'm really pleased with both of them. The first one is Hello Kitty. The second one was owls.

 Here is the twin sized Owl rag quilt. I really hope that the girls like their quilts. For both quilts I used flannel for the top and fleece for the back. Even though the fleece doesn't "rag" it gives it that heavy quilt feeling that I totally love and think these girls will love as well.

 On another note, since posting these two quilts I have another order for 4 more quilts. I'm working on two of them now, waiting for fabric from an ebay auction for the 3rd, and on the hunt for fabric for the 4th quilt. The two that I'm working on now are also for girls for Christmas. One is the Hello Kitty one that is picture above and the other is Sesame Street, which I think is going to be adorable!! Can't wait till that one comes together and post that one.

So if you are looking for warm handmade quilt for Christmas contact me and we can iron out the details for you and/or you loved one. Email address araponi817@yahoo.com

Just need to come up with a name for a shop....any suggestions??? :-)

First Custom Order!

I have only been sewing for about 5 or so years. By no means do I consider myself an expert at sewing but I would say I would be at the intermediate level. I have mostly made quilts and such for gifts for family and friends over the years but I have never been paid to actually make a quilt for someone else.

A few days ago I made this post about Max's Thomas blanket that I more or less threw together, or at least that is how I felt (it was really easy) and I got comment asking how much I would charge for 2 twin sized blankets. I had no idea what to charge, no one has ever asked me?! I did a little research and made a few phone calls and came up with a price.

That evening off I went to the fabric store to get the fabric that was chosen for this woman's (Kelly) two girls. Kelly chose flannel cotton. I have never sewn with flannel but after doing some more research that is the recommended fabric to use for a rag quilt. Who knew? I always just used cotton and fleece for the backing. I still plan on using fleece for the backing as it is soft and heavy enough. I think these are going to be my best ones yet. Let the cutting begin. I hope to have these done in a week or so and I will post pictures when I'm done (I already got Kelly's permission to do so).

Super Excited!! Thanks again Kelly!!!

Thomas the Train Blanket for Max

 I have been sewing a lot lately, mostly because we are poor and I'm making most of my Christmas presents to give away this year. Every time the sewing machine makes it appearance on the kitchen table Tim will ask what I'm making and who for. Then he asks when am I going to make something for us, our little family of the three of us. The answer is usually later and then later never comes and I'm making something for someone else.

Well Max has gotten bigger, obviously, and all those blankets that people give you when your child is a infant/baby have all gotten to small for him. We have about 2 blankets that will totally cover Max up at night and he has been peeing through his diaper most nights so we are constantly washing them. So it was time for another blanket to add to the rotation.

The front

 So we were out at Hobby Lobby getting fabric for another project for an Xmas present and Tim was with me. He saw the Thomas fabric on sale and the Thomas fleece and he just looked at me and smiled. I had 2 yards cut of each and said I would make a rag blanket for Max. Super easy and fairly quick to make. The worst part for making any blanket, for me anyways, is the cutting.

So after all the cutting and about 2 solid afternoons/nap times working on it, its finished. It has been on Max's bed for about 2 weeks now and I have probably washed it half a dozen times. Max has this thing about wanting to play with his diaper at night and he pulls the tab off/up and when he pees it has no where to go but on the sheets, clothes, and the blanket.

The Back

 I have another pattern that I want to do for Max but I'm trying to get Christmas done and then I'll work on this other quilt for him. It's an airplane quilt. I love it! I have been collecting fabric for a while to make it so we'll see when I get around to it.

So I have a few other sewing projects to post but I have to wait till after Christmas when everyone receives their gifts. Super excited for Christmas this year!

Blanket for Brooke

Christine, my best friend (one of them *smile*) has a daughter that just turned 6. I thought she was 5 but alas I am wrong. We skipped Christmas this year with them and decided to just do birthdays. I made this rag quilt for Brooke. The large print is Alexander Henry and the small print is Michael Miller. The back is lined with pink fleece which is very soft. It came out so nice that I almost didn't want to give it to her. But I put it in the mail yesterday so I'm hoping that she will get it sometime next week. Happy Birthday Brooke! Now on to Chris's birthday present. I have decided to change my mind on design and fabric. It is going to be so much cooler if I can pull it off. Fingers crossed!

The finished front

I have finally finished the quilt top with the border added. This is the front, I forgot to take a picture of the back but will do that for the next post. The only thing left now is to sew the border on and then quilt. Hope you like it Chris.

btw...Tim picked out the fabric for the border, it is AH too, I love that I have scraps leftover. Tim has good taste. Thanks baby!

Moving along, still slowly

The top is finished and all put together. Now I just have to decide on what I want to do for a border. Do I use the same blue that is between the blocks? or Do I find something with a little more yellow in it since there isn't much of that in the quilt? I mean you can see it here and there but well not sure what to do. That's all, just wanted to update.

I need to go out and buy the batting to go between the top and to the bottom, but can't do that until I decide on the border. Going to start cutting another quilt. I'm going to make a blanket for Max out of Tim's old BDU and DCU uniforms. Might even sneak in on of the new ABU. We'll see how far I get.