A MacGyver'ed Light Table

I decided this week that I wanted to draft my own pattern and then paper piece it.  I have seen a lot of paper pieced flying geese blocks and it looked like something that I could do myself.

So, I taped together two big sheets of freezer paper and drew out my design.  I know the pencil marks are light but can you see them?  It is a big v-shape full of flying geese.

Then the next step was to make my pattern to paper piece.  I didn't want to cut my whole drawing apart because then I would lose the original.  I needed a light table to trace the pattern onto smaller pieces of paper.  Do you know what those cost? like $50 on Amazon.  So, I MacGyver'ed up an awesome solution.

I removed my sewing machine from my sewing table and lowered the shelf that it sits on.  Then I positioned my light inside of my table and put my "Sew steady" plexiglass table that came with my sewing machine on top of the hole, like below.

Then I laid my freezer paper on top, turned on the light, and I was easily able to trace my design!

My big mistake is that I forgot to turn over my freezer paper, so my actual design is going to be flipped right to left from what I intended, but it is almost symmetric so I will make it work.

This could work with any sewing table- instead of a stand light like I used you could use a flashlight or a lantern or any other light source.  It would be nice if I had a piece of plexiglass without a cutout in it, but for now this free solution works great!

Star Power Pattern Published!

I am psyched to already cross off one of my 2015 goals... my Star Power pattern is published on Craftsy!  I am so excited!  This is the first pattern I have ever written.  Therefore, I am publishing it for free and hoping to receive some feedback and/or constructive criticism.

The pattern includes yardage requirements, step by step instructions, alternate color ideas, and a page for you to color to create your own original design.

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO CRAFTSY and download my pattern.  I have it listed on Craftsy because they do not charge me any fees and also because you will receive the pattern instantaneously (without having to wait for me to email it to you).  Let me know what you think!

New Year's Quilty Resolutions

Since today is the end of 2014, I have spent some time thinking about the quilty resolutions that I would like to make for next year.

First of all is the list of quilts that I want to make:

For others:
1. A quilt for my parents with fabric that they bought in Alaska
2. Finish quilting and binding a 20 year old quilt for an aunt
3. A T-shirt quilt for my sister-in-law with her old college t-shirts


For me:
1. Start a faux cathedral window denim quilt
2. Start a wedding ring quilt
3. ?? I am sure that I will think of some more to add here :)

Other quilty goals:
1. Totally organize and re-arrange my sewing room and closet now that I have my sewing table of dreams
2. See my quilt hanging at Quiltcon in Austin
3. Enter more quilt competitions
4. Try and sell a quilt or two on Etsy
5. Release my almost done pattern on Craftsy
6. Buy more fabric for my stash (listed here so that I can say it was one of my goals for the year haha)
7. Try out new FMQ patterns and try to improve my quilting
8. Commit to regular posting on my blog


9. Try to become more of a part of the online quilting community

Those goals all seem doable, right?  What are your 2014 Quilty Resolutions?

Quiltcon Reject #2: Venn Diagrams

When I decided that I wanted to enter quilts into Quiltcon, I decided that my best chance of getting a quilt into the show would be to enter the "Panasonic Quilting Challenge: Bias Tape".  I assumed that there would be less quilters entering this contest because it was very specific and also not many modern quilts out there used bias tape.  Obviously, since this post is about a Quiltcon reject, my bias tape quilt did not get in.  I am looking forward to seeing what quilts did get it since there haven't been a lot posted on instagram.

In order to make this quilt, first I had to learn a lot about bias tape.  I learned how to cut my fabric on a 45 deg angle and how to use the little "bias tape makers" to fold my tape.  Side note: Occasionally I make drawstring bags and the bias tape maker is amazing for making the string in the drawstring bags!

I decided to make a Wedding Ring type quilt because I liked the look of wedding ring quilts but I wasn't sure that I had the patience to make a real one.  I chose a text fabric as the background (because low volume text prints are "modern") and decided on black wedding rings.  I created all of my bias tape wedding rings and pinned them to my background fabric and then I stalled.  Majorly.

See, I wanted to call my quilt "Black and white and red all over" and wanted to use red as an accent, but it just didn't feel like "me" when I auditioned the fabric in the quilt.  I tried all sorts of different color schemes and eventually decided on the green fabrics.

Here are some of the many ideas that I auditioned, to give you an idea of my thought process while I was making the quilt.  I just pinned the colors in place and then took pictures so I could compare them side by side later.

And here is what I chose and the finished quilt!

I believe that some quilts work out best if you have a rough idea of what the quilting will look like before you make the quilt.  I was really struggling for a while when designing this quilt to figure out what I wanted the quilting to be.  Finally, I decided on diagonal lines in white thread that divide the quilt up into 3 sections.  The lines are quilted about a half inch apart.  I love the quilting, I think it looks really fun on the quilt.  However, a word of warning if you decide to quilt diagonal lines: the quilt stretched like crazy because I was quilting on the bias.  I ended up having to wash it before I bound it to try to stabilize the quilt.  It worked out ok in the end, but it is slightly wonky due to the bias quilting!

And a final note: if you are using a text fabric in your quilt, make sure that you enjoy reading the text.  The words in this one were driving me crazy by the end because I kept reading the same thing over and over!

Quiltcon Reject #1: Star Power

In November, I joined the Modern Quilt Guild as an individual member so that I could enter Quiltcon.  I entered 3 quilts... and one of them got in!  The one that got in is really cool because I created it with my sister while she was visiting me for the Houston International Quilt Festival.  But more about that quilt later... this post is about a reject.

I created "Star Power" mainly because I wanted to see how many times I could put a star in a star in a star.  I was originally going to make each layer be a different star block, but eventually decided to stick with the Variable Star/Sawtooth Star/whatever you want to call it.  It's original name was Star^6 (pronounced "Star to the 6th Power") but I decided that was just a bit too nerdy and shortened it to "Star Power".  It is 64" square.

I created it in a rainbow palette, which is a lot of fun.  It was easy to use scraps for the red, orange, yellow, and green stars but for the blue and purple stars I had to buy a bunch more fabric so I would have bigger pieces!

For the quilting, I just outlined all of the stars and then kept repeating the star shape, does that make sense?  Here is a close-up to see.  The inner stars are about 1/2" apart, but the spacing grows to about 4" by the outside of the quilt.

I love the binding, it is a rainbow stripe fabric, I have bought some more of this fabric for my stash for future rainbow colored quilts.

And finally, some exciting news... I am in the middle of creating a pattern for this quilt and I am going to release it on Craftsy!  I am very excited about this, it is my first pattern and I am having a lot of fun writing it up.  I mocked up the quilt in EQ6 and am having fun showing different color palettes for the piecing, here are some examples. 

 

 

Hopefully I will release the pattern in January once I have some time to finish it up!

NEW SEWING TABLE!

The story of my NEW SEWING TABLE... I say that it all caps because I am SO EXCITED!!!!

Three years ago I was at the Houston International Quilt Festival and I decided that I wanted to check out sewing tables.  I have a kitchen table that is 36" tall and I find it much more comfortable to cut fabric and sew at it than the current sewing table I use which is about 30" tall.  So, I wanted to look for a sewing table where I could recess my machine that was 36" tall.

I talked with everybody that had furniture at the quilt festival, and eventually I found my dream table... the Koala Treasure Chest Plus IV.  It is 35.25" tall, it has a leaf that extends out to create a huge sewing surface, it has wheels, it has drawers, it has an electric lift, it has custom cut machine inserts to put around your machine, it has basically everything.  Then the cost... around $3000!  How could I pay that much for a table??

 Koala studios Treasure Chest IV

I tried to buy the floor model at the Quilt Show but learned that they sold them all to a local shop.  Later that year I found the store that sells the floor models... but the price wasn't that much less than what they were selling them for as the "quilt show special".

So, I have been stalking Craigslist for 3 years now looking for this dream table and explaining it's virtues to my husband every chance I had.  I had eventually decided that we were just going to have to build my dream sewing table... it would be doable, but a lot of work.

Last week I was performing my weekly Craigslist searches, when suddenly I found MY SEWING TABLE OF DREAMS!!! And my husband agreed that we should buy it!!! (that was TWO miracles haha)

We drove almost 2 hours north of where we live to pick up the table over the weekend.  I had measured my husbands SUV beforehand and I knew that it would fit, but it would be a close fit.  We took all sorts of moving blankets and towels and wrapped everything up nice and safe for the way home.

The problems started once we got home.

We got it out of the car (barely) and into the house (barely) and then we needed to take it upstairs to my sewing room.  It was too heavy.  The 2 of us couldn't lift it up the stairs.  It already had all the drawers and shelves and doors taken off and there didn't seem to be any way to get it lighter.  I called my sister and my mom to complain but for some reason they didn't feel bad for me.  Finally later that night I realized that I could take off the top of the table by turning the 15 cam locks that keep the top attached to the base.  We took off the top and it effectively reduced the weight by about a 1/3 and we were just able to get it up the stairs!!!

My husband gave me the look of death afterwards.  I had to promise that we would never move the cabinet by ourselves again.  And I had to bake him a "brown-oreo-kie"- a layer of chocolate chip cookie followed by a layer of oreos followed by a layer of brownies.  It is known online as a "slutty brownie" but we are trying to find a more appropriate name.  Let's just say that the "brown-oreo-kie" was amazing and I am forgiven :)

I have done a little bit of cutting fabric and sewing so far and my new table is amazing!  It has a bit of veneer coming off some of the edges, but I figure out how to glue it down and it will be fine.  Otherwise, it is in great shape!  I am trying to figure out if I am going to need a new chair or not, I am currently using one of my kitchen table chairs (for a 36" tall table).

I love the surface area of the table with the "Outback Extension"!  I just might be getting a new (larger) Olfa cutting mat for Christmas :)

I am currently using the acrylic quilting table as a makeshift stand-in until I order the correct acrylic insert...

Soft close drawers and shelves!  Love the table surface to the right of the machine too!

However, I'm thinking now about re-arranging all the furniture in my sewing room.  How do I break that news to my husband? (because I will need his help to move it around!)

Giveaway Day Winner!

Thank you so much for all of your comments on my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day post!  I can't believe that so many people are making so many homemade gifts for Christmas.  One thing we all agree on though is that we only like to give homemade gifts to people who we know will appreciate them!  I was also surprised that so many people had plans for sewing but haven't started yet... well now that Giveaway Day is over it's time to turn off the computer and start sewing!

Also, I am excited to see all my new followers on Bloglovin.  I have lots of fun posts coming up... a new sewing table, Quiltcon rejects, a pattern, and more.  I am excited to share it all with you!

Without further ado, here is my winner for Giveaway Day...

 

Congratulations to #203, Allison Sews, who is making throw pillows for her niece!  Allison, I have sent you an email to get your contact information so I can mail you the prize.

Thanks to everyone for participating and making this giveaway a lot of fun!