Trimming....Not the Tree Kind

Well I *suppose* you could use these gorgeous trims to trim your tree. They're sparkly enough!

At one of my favourite fabric shops; (see this post here) they had a pre-Christmas Get-Your-Sewing-Started Sale. (And; they do not sponsor me. Heck they don't even know I exist. But I love them.)

Everything in the store was 2-3-4-5-10 dollars a yard. Satins, Lace & Sequined applique Net, Lace panels....FIVE BUCKS..GORGEOUS stretch velvets - FIVE BUCKS! Cottons! THREE BUCKS!!!

and the Bestest part.....the most awesomest part....was The Trim.

Shining sequins, beading, gold & silver threads...two inches wide...TWO DOLLAHS!!!

 For Two. Dollars. A. Yard.

My head nearly exploded.

 Taking photos in there is frowned upon; so I shall leave this magical place to your imagination.

Something like this.

And this. But with trim.

Now, I'm not gonna admit how much I spent....but I know all you sewists/costumers out there would TOTALLY understand. In fact, you're probably nodding your head right now in understanding.

But I had limited time; and it took seriously ALL my self control to get out of that wonderful place in just over an hour.

My booty.

Yep. One Hour.

I had some costumes to alter and fix; one is an easy peasy peasant skirt of silk (I found some awesome remnants years ago at a close out sale).

The other...... is a Beast of a heavy court dress.

 It's Blue Velvet (insert song here) and it is a beast. 

Even after some hard pressing (heh) and steaming, you can still see the creases.

Lots of hand sewing thru mulitple layers...the alterations I had to undo and redo left solid creases & worn down areas to the nap of the velvet.

And that's why trim saves the day..a bit of lace, some silver shimmer, boom.

So that's me....what're you up to? Link up your projects!

 Brag a little! Leave a comment & share some love. :)

Rainbow Starflower Quilt

Back in 2010, when I had just discovered the amazing Blogging world; I stumbled upon all these wonderful Quilting Blogs. Several I read daily, some I read weekly. But one has helped me with detailed and patient tutorials.... 

and that site is Ellison Lane, by Jennifer Mathis.

As a beginner; her tutorials are so clearly written, and easy to understand, I was inspired and encouraged. 

And THIS block, in particular, caught my attention.

I love bright colours. I love rainbows, I love stars. I love it all!!

And so I went and bought the required fabrics, and hoarded them. Looked at them, kept them in my sewing cabinet top drawer. To make "one day".

One Day.

Well finally, having the time now to devote to full time sewing, I have been able to make "One Day" happen.

This quilt is going to be a Anniversary gift for the ever-patient, thread-covered-but-loves-me-anyway Mr. J. (But hey; he gets to be the recipe taster, so it's not all bad!)

Here is the process; I encourage YOU to be inspired and make YOUR "One Day' happen!

Moda Cotton & Moda Bella Solids in convenient Charm Packs made this even easier.

Getting the layout right was a bit of a challenge at first; but you get the hang of it!

Again the layout helped a LOT with this part; lining up the centre blocks.

Getting all the matched up blocks ready for chain-piecing.

VERY important to remember to snip off the little corners! Dont' skip this step!

Lined up again; getting ready to sew all the blocks together. I will point out here that I wanted a queen sized quilt; so I used the full five inch blocks so make the finished block about 16.5 inches.

And finished block! Corner blocks need to be trimmed down slightly. But after pressing all the points matched up! I was very happy.....but oh yes, there was much ripping of seams and redoing with several of the blocks.

Measure, measure measure!

Adding the borders, corners and sashing. I wanted the BG to be dark, like the night sky. :)

Borders added! Kona Ash, Kona Charcoal squares and sashing.

Of course, NO quilt top is completed until Muffin has inspected and cleared it.

Muffin Approved!

Yes, needs a final pressing but  other than that,  all done!

I will finish this after Thanksgiving (which is Columbus Day for my American Friends) and will have it on our bed for our Anniversary in November. :)

**Note: While THIS quilt is Not For Sale; you can always custom order this in Twin/Queen sized. Please Email for a quote. Different backgrounds, star fabrics, you name it.

Super Awesome Fabric Store

Oh wow. Guys. 

There is this store. It's like, awesome.

Wow. It's so amazing I can't even barely type about it

Or, speak coherently apparently.

Jagjit Fabrics in Brampton. 

Wow. Just, wow.

It's amazing. It has everything. It's got every type of fabric you could possibly imagine. From plain shirting to fancy dress....every colour every imaginable pattern.

Oh, you need trim?? Shelves over 15 feet high dripping with trims, laces, sequins... you name it.

Silks, satins, fancy laces, sequin trims, velvets, yards and yards of cottons, voiles...oh man. I was overwhelmed.

Even has shoes, garlands of roses/flowers, jewelry and tons and tons of sparkle and sequins and bangles....I was in heaven.

Now I wasn't really supposed to take photos, I did ask and got a stern frown and a shake of the head from the Matron in charge. (There is no other way to describe the solid, slightly disapproving, hair scraped into a bun, old fashioned but beautiful sari wearing head mistress of the fabric section).

So these few photos are from their Facebook page.

But I highly recommend you visit; the prices are OUTSTANDING and it is totally worth the drive up here to visit this shop.

For regular quilting fabrics I recommend the Wax Printed bolts ....TEN dollars for SIX YARDS of fabric!!!!

Here's their address, just in case:

Jagjit Textile & Fabrics

99 Kennedy S Brampton, ON L6W 3G2

 

I have used the wax printed fabrics on many a quilt, and they wash & wear very well. I do prewash & dry, just in case but so far, no complaints!

 

 

what are you doing still reading?! Get in your car and go!!!!!

It's Wednesday...AGAIN!

Oh dear. Where did the week go????

Well I sorta know where it went; my days were spent working on Freds' Mom's Quilt; or (FMQ) and nights were rehearsing the Haunted Hayride show over at the Pioneer Village in the Big City nearby. (I have mentioned that I'm a performer, yes?)
The show opened last weekend; and the rehearsals were pretty hectic. The show itself takes place at various stages around the village and it's of course, all outdoors. Mostly the weather co-operated but we did have one absolutely miserable night in the pouring (and I mean, pouring!) rain. The event is rain or shine; and it's pretty cool if I do say so myself.
here's the link to it: The Cultured Criminal Haunted Hayride . I play the Florence Birchall; the wife of the accused murderer. It's a true story that happened around here back in 1890. Super sensational for the time.

Yesterday I took a break from quilting, in fact, I only did a bit of quilting all weekend; working a bit on another commissioned quilt; in blues and whites. I actually have to do a bit more work on it; some of the blues I picked when all laid out didn't quite fit my image, or go completely so I'm now reworking a few 9 patches and making brand new ones as well. It's a simply 9 patch and rail fence quilt but the dark blues and crisp whites really make it special. I think I might edge it in red as well, and really make it pop!~
I also found this tutorial on paper pieces Star Blocks over at Fresh Lemon Quilts; and think I might be adding one or two of those into this quilt.  We'll see how into paper piecing I get..... but I love love love that Star block.

I digress - I took the break from quilting yesterday - because I needed to find a 70's costume for the murder mystery I'm working tonite. Big hair and blue eye shadow with an orange and brown pucci-esque print dress. That's more of a shirt but that's why God created Spanx. Heh.

It's cold in here...maybe I should go get a quilt to snuggle under.....

I almost forgot...WIP Wednesdays

A few other quilting blogs I read (okay stop laughing) that are pretty great reads and fab inspiration - they do this thing called "Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesdays". And I think it's a great idea.

So here's my list of WIPS:
Finish Fred's Mom's Quilt - finish stippling, neaten and bind.

Finish cutting and start to sew D's quilt.
Decide on a pattern and cut K's quilt.
Finish cutting L's quilt. Pattern is decided.
*Actually I'm doing two of L's quilt as they are both awesome patterns and I know two ppl who will love them.
Sew flannelette baby blanket I cut out for Etsy.

And I have one pending order for a king sized quilt; biggest one yet. I think I will send that one out to be quilted; I can do the top no problem but that might be a bit too much for my little Brother sewing machine. I will have to source some local quilting spots.


I'm waiting for a fabric that I ordered online to arrive this week so I can keep working on my Christmas quilts for my family; I have to do Dad's still and one for my other brother; and I know there's a couple that will still come up.

OH and I'd like to finish the two I started for ME at some point. Laugh. Funny how they all got bumped down the list!


SO I have a list of things to do. Not too bad. And in a fit of pique today while fighting with my machine I reorganzied the Quilt Cave. It's a bit more accessible; tomoro I shall finish sorting my fabrics into drawers and actually get stuff off the floor. Eeesh. I may pop over to the storage unit as I *know* I have a gorgeous sky blue cotton somewhere that I can't find. (I may have used it for packing when I moved; that's how I used a lot of my fabric to justify keeping it all...used it for packing around things like lamps, pictures, etc. So just have to find it. No sense in having great fabric if you can't find it to use it.)
Oh I also found a great chunk of muslin that I'm gonna use to make a string/crazy quilt. Yay!

AND something else I forgot! It was Thanksgiving last week; I did a lasagne with some of the sauce I made back in August; and it turned out excellently. I coulda used more cheese, but hey. Everything is better with cheese.

It's bedtime....I promised I wouldn't stay up late...uh oh. I'm in trouble now!

I blame the cat.

Quilt for Fred's Mom ... PT 2

Or, A Frustrating Day of Sewing

GRRRRRRRRR.....

Is there ANYTHING more frustrating than the simplest of things that will NOT work right?? GRRRRR.

The last two days were a sewing trial....a nightmare.

The completed quilt top had 'bubbles' in it. So.......I wanted to fix them, of course.

6 HOURS LATER....after ripping and reripping and resetting and resetting and ironing and re ironing and( GRRRR A TEMPER TANTRUM which involved jumping up and down and much flailing) having to rebuilt two blocks and reposition...the simplest of simple layouts was done. Sort of. There was still a bubble.

I think that there is such a thing as being Too Picky; and that that might be the case yesterday. Today was a new day.

I fixed the last square and all was well. The borders were reattached and ironed.
 I brought the quilt upstairs to begin the sandwiching of the backing & batting. In the middle I had it all laid out, taped down and ready to roll up and head downstairs to begin the quilting process.

I had gone into the kitchen to help Ma with something and then returned back to the living room where

MY QUILT WAS RUNNING UP THE STAIRS.........GAH!!!! 

My mother's cat had  somehow gotten underneath my quilt sandwich and had pulled it free of the tape. He had freaked himself out because he couldn't see and started to run amuck in my quilt. GRRRR. He made it up the stairs and got himself free; and I got the quilt back downstairs, retaped it and pin basted it. THEN I rolled it up and headed backdownstairs to quilt it.

AND for some reason....the stupid machine decided today was the day to give me more grief than was really necessary over tension. Sigh> The eyelashing under the quilt was OFF the Freakin' charts. 

BUT....I got it worked out. AND I got to watch "State Fair' and "South Pacific" today.

But most importantly....The Quilt is quilted. YAY! And later I have to quilt in the borders, neaten the edges, bind it and VOILA! Zee quilt vill be done. Woot!

.............then..........start on ANOTHER commissioned quilt which is a SURPRISE for someone who I can't mention! Just in case. *grin*.

 Here's the Quilt; the block pattern was "springtime".