Love It, Pin It, Win It! - LIttle Rays of Sunshite

 

 The Moda Bake Shop is one of my favorite places on the internet.  There are so many different free tutorial available for creating everything from quilts to backpacks to purses.  Currently they have a contest going involving two of my favorite things, Moda Bake Shop and Pinterest.  As part of the contest we are to pin our favorite recipes with the tags: #modabakeshop #modafabrics #lovepinwin.  There was another option where we could blog about our favorite recipe for another chance to win.

It was nearly impossible for me to pick my favorite recipe!  I have a full pinboard stuffed with nearly all Bake Shop quilts.  In the end after much indecision I landed on  Little Rays of Sunshine by Katie from Calico Hutch.  

I love how it is the zigzag pattern I love (and am seeing nearly everywhere these days) but with a bit of flare involving the stripes and triangles!  It's so cute and I can't wait to give it a try!

Let's Get Acquainted!

I've been excitedly waiting for my day of the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop to come around.  There have been so many fun stops along the way!  Earlier this week there was Anne from SpringLeaf Studios and Kristy from Cotton Addiction.  Today I share the spotlight with Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins.

In honor of the blog hop I wrote a fun tutorial on how to make this Handprint Crab Mini.  That's in the previous post.  This post is designed for you to get to know me and my blog a little bit better. 

Here's the link to the tutorial for this mini.  Isn't it cute?

I think the best way to get to know the crafty side of someone is to look at what they've made.  I love quilting.  It was my first crafty obsession.  Then over seven years ago while on bed rest while pregnant with my first child I picked up crocheting.  I'm pretty obsessed with both at this point.  There are some collages with links below but if you'd like to check out all of what I've made either click on the tabs at the top or follow the links here for Completed Quilts/Top and Completed Crochet Projects.

1. Hexagon Park   2. Double Wedding Ring   3. Owl peter/Paul   4. Plaid Apple Core   5. Tetris   6. Cartwheel   7. Disappearing Walk in the Woods   8. Argyle   9. Appliqued Animals.


To date I've made 41 quilts/tops.  It was hard to narrow it down but these are sure my favorites.  Now on to crochet projects.  I love crochet because it is so fast and there is no limit to what you can create!

1. Woven Scarf   2. Necklace   3. Viking and Crab hats   4. Dragon   5. Mama and Chick Pot Holder   6. Sock Monkey Hat also Here  7. Crochet Christening Gown (no. 2)   8. Homestyle Ripple Afghan   9. Christening Gown   10. Self-folding Hot Pads   11.  Preemie hats.


Another great way to get to know someone's crafty side is to see where they work.  This is where all the magic happens...

My sewing table.  Yeah, I totally cleaned it off for this picture.  It's not typically this clean but it's so nice to have this much space!

This is my paper-crafting area.  I love the shelves to store all my things!

I adore the big windows that let all the sun in but they also made it really bad for this picture.  It's a nice little space and with four kids and a hubby I'm lucky to have this much space to myself!

 Here's a bit of Q & A for your reading pleasure...

      - How long have you been quilting - I started with a Sunbonnet Sue quilt in 1997, I think.  It's hard to remember that long ago.  I was 14 going on 15 and really wanted to try quilting. With a fun quilt book in hand and many many cute fabrics I was ready to begin.  Or so I thought.  My Mom is not a quilter and I know of no one else in our family that attempted quilts before me.  Although I do come from a long line of women who sew they do mainly clothing and I even have an Aunt that makes and alters wedding dresses (she's AMAZING!).  This lack of quilting background really put me at a loss when quilting.  I had no idea there was such a thing as a rotary cutter or that it could be combined with a ruler and mat to create more accurate cuts.  I had a ruler, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.  My seams really didn't match up very well and the whole thing had a bit of wonkiness to it. I'm sorry to say I don't have the quilt or even a picture of it but I do have a pillow I made to match the quilt.  For the whole story on that go here.

       - Favorite quilting tip(s) - As I learned while making my first quilt you really need to have the right tools for the job.  That means having a rotary cutter, mat, and ruler.  Make sure your blade is sharp enough to cut.  Make sure you have enough thread that matches what you're working on.  Also, take your time.  Sloppy cuts = sloppy quilts.

       - Favorite blogging tip(s) - Remove the word veri-freaking-cation!  Everyone HATES having to tell if that's a EQGS or an EOGS.  Save them the trouble and just take it off!  I removed mine shortly after I started my blog and I've never had a spam comment.  As an extra precaution I've put up comment moderation for posts older than 30 days.  It seems that when I had problems on my other blog from spam comments it was always on the older posts.  Also link, link, link.  It's the easiest way to cite a source for anything and to help people find other posts in yours or others blogs.  It takes a bit more time but it's so worth it!

       - Favorite fabric (or wish list fabric) - Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda jumped into my head first when I saw this question but there are a lot I'm loving right now.  I find this question amusing because it wasn't until October of 2011 that I even knew that designer fabric existed.  I'd never heard of Moda or Michael Miller or any of the other well known companies that I'm in love with now.  I always bought my fabric at Joann's or Hobby Lobby.  I never even thought to look at who made it I just needed to know if it matched.  I'm floored by the quality of the more expensive lines and I'd be hard pressed to go back.

       - Favorite craft book - I haven't bought a craft book in years!  I get most of my patterns online now and download them to my Nook or print them out.  Although the book I've found the most useful over the years is "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting!"  It has so many pictures and runs though step by step.  I'm an avid crocheter now and I may even love it more than quilting thanks to this book.

You can get this book here or try the updated version here.

       - Favorite book (or book you are currently reading) - I adore Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It's quintessential science-fiction and even though it was written in 1953 he captures so many of the nuances of our day.  He predicted so many of the technological advances it's mind boggling.  In the book the people, in an attempt to create a balanced society, have banned books.  They feel without them people will be on the same level intellectually.  Thus, Firefighters instead of putting out fires start them to burn the books they find hidden around the city.  The novel follows one such firefighter as he struggles though life in this environment.

       - Favorite children's book - Who could pick just one?!  I'm loving Llama Llama Mad at Mama right now.  The illustrations are priceless and I love how it gives a glimpse into my child's mind.  The book follows little Llama as he goes to the store with his Mama.  It tells how he feels and what he experiences during the trip.

       - Favorite quilting tool - Again with the hard to narrow down!  I think it's got to be my rotary cutter.  How did I every survive without it?

       - Favorite music to listen to while quilting - I adore the various albums from Glee.  Seriously great music all in one place.  I find myself singing along while I happily work away.

       - Favorite TV show while hand stitching - I find that I am MUCH slower if I try to watch anything while hand stitching.  I just stare at the screen and have the needle limp in my hand.  Occasionally I'll pick up something I'm working on while watching TV but I don't turn it on while I'm quilting on purpose.  Instead I listen to music, see the above question, or enjoy a moment of silence if my four kids are asleep.

       - Binding - by hand or by machine? - I used to ALWAYS do it by hand.  Then I discovered machine binding (it's my lack of quilting heritage striking again) and it's pretty difficult to go back.  I bind by hand if it really needs to look perfect or if there are too many curves in the edge like this quilt.

       - If I'd only known - what you wish you knew about blogging before you started your blog - To take more pictures!  Before my blog I never took pictures during a quilting process and I usually only took one of the finish.  It wasn't always in the best light and didn't show off the quilt as it could have.  Now I know and I take all kinds of pictures during the process and when it's finished.  I take from different angles and in different light to make sure I capture its fabulousness for posterity.

Thanks for stopping by and sticking with me for this long post.  I tend to be thorough when blogging.  Be sure to keep scrolling or follow the link to the tutorial.  Also check out my blog hop buddy Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins.  Since my first ever attempt at a blog hop post is definitely trying a new thing I'm linking up with TNT Thursday by Melissa over at Happy Quilting.  I also made the collages in my blog and I've never tried that before.  Hurray for new things!

Handprint Crab Tutorial

As part of my stop on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop I decided to write up a tutorial.  I've never done one this detailed before so I'm kind of nervous/excited about it.  I got the idea for this hand-print crab here.  The original was done with paint on regular paper but I easily converted it to fabric.  I'm linking up with the Oh Sew Baby! over at Fort Worth Fabric Studio Blog. Ready?  Let's go...

The is the end result you're going for.  It's 12.5" square.  The original had a mouth but I wasn't in love.  You can add one if you'd like.

Here's what you'll need.  One piece of paper - a pen or pencil - scissors - fusible web for iron on applique - sew on googly eyes - 3 fat quarters (one crab color, one sand color, and one ocean background) - a scrap of batting - matching thread.  Optional: embroidery thread for mouth and a marker.

Let's start by making the hands that will become the crab.

Step One: Grab your favorite small person and trace their hands with the pen or pencil onto the piece of paper.

Optional Step: Go over the tracing with marker.  This step is not required but it does make the next step a bit easier.

You can see the difference the marker makes while trying to trace the hands onto the fusible web.

Step Two: Trace the hands onto the paper side of the fusible web.  Typically I use pencil because it doesn't smear but I needed to use pen this time to make it show up in the pictures.  You end up peeling off the paper in the end so the smear doesn't really matter it's just a personal choice.

Step Three: Roughly cut around the traced hands.  This step doesn't have to be perfect in fact it's easier to cut it out like this and do the precise cutting after it's ironed on.

Step Four: Turn your iron on to the hottest setting with no steam.  Once your iron is ready make sure you iron your hands on the WRONG side of the crab color fabric.  That way when you peel the paper and iron it on to the background you have the right side facing out.

Step Five: Carefully cut out hands along the traced line.  If you notice a bit of wonkiness to your tracing you can trim it at this point to make it the perfect hand shape.

- Now your hands are all ready to go and it's time to create the background.  This is the easy part!

Step Six: Out of the sand color cut a piece that is 5" by 12.5." I used a fat quarter for this and cut the piece 5" by 18" then trimmed down to my needed 12.5."  Doing it this way left a larger scrap piece to use on the back side later. 

Step Seven: Out of the ocean print cut a piece that is 8" x 12.5"

Step Eight: Sew the sand piece to the ocean piece and press the seam either open or toward the ocean piece.  I hate pressing open (I always burn my fingers) so I pressed toward the fishies.

Step Nine: Peel the paper from the back of the hand piece.  This part can be a bit tricky to get started.  It really doesn't matter where you start the peel from so anywhere that you can get it to separate would be good.

Step Ten: Get the hands just where you want them to form the crab.  Make sure your iron is on all the way hot and again with no steam.  Iron the hands onto the background.

Now you're ready to stitch around the hands to secure them to the background.  I like a zigzag stitch and I do it at 4.0 width and 1.0 length.  If you're not sure what you like get a scrap of fabric and try out a few stitches with different lengths and widths.

Step Eleven: Outline the hands with the zigzag stitch.  I found it easiest to start at the bottom where the two hands go together and then go clockwise around the hands.  I finished up by going through the center of the crab where the top hand overlaps the bottom hand.  Wherever you start you need to make sure you stitch over every raw edge.

Optional: If you'd like your crab to have a mouth now would be the time to sew it on there.  I didn't like the smiley face so I left it off.  My family and everyone else I've asked has been totally split over the whole thing so it's really up to you.  There are eyes too but I sewed those on last so they wouldn't get in the way of the quilting.


Now it's time to quilt and bind it.

Step Twelve: Cut a background piece (I used the sand color) and a batting piece slightly bigger than your block.  Since the block is 12.5" I cut mine at about 14.5"

Step Thirteen: Once sandwiched quilt as desired and trim off the excess.  For my quilting I chose to free-motion quilt around the hands and then do a bunch of wavy lines everywhere else making sure to stop at the hands.

Here's the back side.  I really think it makes the hands pop!  Those wavy lines sure are fun too!

Step Fourteen: Bind and sew on the eyes.  I bound it in the crab color cutting four strips 2.5" by 18"  I had nearly one strip extra but that's better than it being too tight.  I sewed on the eyes last because I didn't want them to get in the way while I was quilting.

And you're finished!  One super cute crab animal made out of your favorite small person's handprints.  There are many variations to this.  You could also do owls, elephant, giraffe, eagle, and so many more.  The only limit is your imagination.  Try pinterest or a quick Google image search for more handprint craft ideas.

Since this is my first step-by-step tutorial I'd appreciate any feedback you may have to offer me. Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to stop by the other hop stop today with Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins.

WiP Wednesday: Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel like I have so many things going on right now.  I have a few things I'm finishing up, some I'm in the middle of and a few I'm itching to start.  It's been a crazy week!  I finished up my Tetris Quilt, worked on my project for my first ever blog hop post on Thursday, did a little bit of work on the quilt for a good friend's baby born last week, and made another friend some booties and a hat for her baby that's coming today!!

In preparation for the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop I've overhauled my blog.  It took an entire day!  I added the About Julie page.  It was a lot of work but fun to do.  There are pictures of my craft space, a bit about me, and a fun Q & A section.  I also added the Tutorial and Patterns page as well as the Completed Crochet Projects page.  Finally I updated my Completed Quilts/Tops page which has all the quilts I've ever made on it.  It was so much work going through all my posts linking them up and adding the pictures to those pages but I think they will be a good resource.  It's totally a work in progress.

My whole life seems to be one big Work in Progress right now and I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Now on to the projects!

I completed my Tetris quilt and I'm in love!  I even hand quilted it using cotton perle in a running stitch.  I love so much about it and am happy to have another quilt to snuggle with on the couch.  A family of six sure takes a lot of quilts to cover them!

Here it is getting a little sun while I took a few pictures.  See the full finish post with more pictures here.

I watched my friend's four kids all day Saturday as well as my four.  It was a crazy fun day!  I thought it would be just crazy and not so much fun but our kids are so good together I didn't mind having eight at all!  While they were here I decided to make booties and a hat for the new baby that is to be born today!  I know I'm a bit crazy trying to accomplish something while watching so many kids but they really are that good!

Aren't these booties just adorable!!  I found the pattern for free on Ravelry.  It was super easy and fast to make.  I love the ties!  So often it's hard to get booties just the right size and these ties sure fix that problem!  I can't wait to see them on her!

I honestly don't think you could find a cuter baby hat!  This is the second time I've made this Sock Monkey Hat and I'm just as in love with it as the first time.  The post for the first one (found here) is my all-time most popular post.  It goes pretty quickly and is so adorable!  I love everything about it!

UPDATE:  I got a picture of the baby wearing the hat.  Seriously could she be any more cute!  It was all I could do not to squeeze her and cover her chubby cheeks with kisses. 

Finishing up my Tetris quilt and working on the blog hop post has taken most of my time this week so there's not as much progress as I'd like on my friend's pink baby quilt.  I'm making a lot of HST and I'm still in the sew them together stage.  I've been searching around for various ways to do the layout and I'm still undecided, there's just so many choices!  Here's my progress so far...

I've sewn together four of the seven stacks of HST and pressed them open.  I hope to get the last three stacks sewn and pressed this week and a layout chosen.

Tomorrow (Sept 13th) is my day for the blog hop.  The theme for the hop is novelty prints.  I've been wanting to try to write a step-by-step tutorial and thought this would be a great time to try that out.  I've made patterns before and general tutorials but never really one this detailed.  It was a lot of work but so fun.  I hope you come back tomorrow and to tempt you here's a bit of a sneak peek...

My project for the blog hop - sneak peek.  Tutorial Here.

UPDATE: The blog hop posts are up now.  For the post on all you could ever want to know about me click here.  For the tutorial that matches the sneak peak above click here.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Sunbonnet Sue: My First Ever Quilt

 My quilting journey started back in 1997.  I was at my local Joann Fabrics with my mother, a place we often visited together, and I saw this Sunbonnet Sue quilt book.  I'd been wanting to try my hand and quilting and I liked the sound of making one in a day.  I was 14 going on 15 and had sewed many things in my short life.  I'd made many clothing items, including an adorable cheerleader skirt, and several pillows.  The next logical step for me was a quilt.

I really like this book.  It had many ideas on how to embellish and put together the quilt.  It was easy to follow even as a first time quilter.  You can find it on Amazon here.

With book in hand and many many cute fabrics I was ready to begin.  Or so I thought.  My Mom is not a quilter and I know of no one else in our family that attempted quilts before me.  Although I do come from a long line of women who sew they do mainly clothing and I even have an Aunt that makes and alters wedding dresses (she's AMAZING!). 

This lack of quilting background really put me at a loss when quilting.  I had no idea there was such a thing as a rotary cutter or that it could be combined with a ruler and mat to create more accurate cuts.  I had a ruler, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.  My seams really didn't match up very well and the whole thing had a bit of wonkiness to it.  Looking back I did quite well but at the time I was upset at its apparent lack of perfection.  In a fit of angst so common among that age group I threw it on the floor and said I never wanted to see it again.  My sister who happened to be visiting home said she'd love to have it and I let her take it away.  Sadly, true to my wish I've never seen it again.  I don't even have a picture of it.  As a small consolation I do have a pillow I made that matches the quilt so at least I have a sample.  The original quilt had 35 different blocks.  There were 18 Sues and 17 Sams.

Here's the pillow.  It's not perfect but I'm still really happy with my first effort at quilting.  It's had a hard life these last 15 years and I think it's worse for wear but still holding up nicely.

As another interesting side note, being a teenager I really didn't have money of my own to spend on this.  My mother was gracious enough to buy me the fabric and batting I needed but during the process I ran out of white thread.  Having no money and no car to go buy more I used the other random colors my mom had in her stash.  It was quite the eclectic blend of white, black, bright pink, lime green, blue, and I'm sure a variety of other colors.  Most of the time this blend didn't show through but occasionally the fabrics was pulled tight enough to view the thread and it makes me laugh thinking back on it now but back then it's one of the things that drove me crazy.  I have since learned my lesson and always keep at least one extra spool of white on hand.

Tetris Finish!!

 I finished my Tetris quilt last night including hand quilting and binding.  I'm so happy I finished in time.  The day of the parade for this is Tuesday.  When I started doing the hand quilting with cotton perle I wasn't aware or didn't remember that I only had two weeks to get it done.  I panicked and basically ate, slept, and quilted.  It was insane but I finished with four days to spare.  I love how it turned out in the end but I'm so frustrated that I can't seem to get a picture of it.  I'm tried editing and several different light versions and nothing.  Oh well, I know it looks good, right?

This is my second quilt with red binding and I'm in love.  I'm considering making this a habit whenever possible.  I love the contrast of the red on the gray.

Here's the finished quilt out for an evening on the grass.  I tried to have my hubby hold it up while I took its picture but even though he's 6'6" he's just too short.  That doesn't happen very often so I had to take advantage of the grass.

Here's the best picture of the quilting I could manage.    I wanted the quilting to stand out but not be crazy in your face.  I picked a dark gray that was one shade off black thinking it would be good but it totally blends in.  I wonder if black would have been bold enough either.  I outlined each of the Tetris shapes.  The blank squares I went around each side.

Here's a closeup of the front side of the quilt.  You can sort of see the quilting or a hint of the quilting around each shape.

I just loved making the quilt following the Tetris Quilt-A-Long.  You can see previous posts on this quilt for the different blocks and the quilting progress here.  You can see other people's work on the flickr group.

WiP Wednesday: Just Keep Quilting

I've been working like a crazy person over the last week to try and get my Tetris quilt finished for the quilt parade on Sept. 11th.  I'm afraid my life has come down to eat, sleep, and quilt with not much in between.  When I decided to hand quilt my Tetris top I wasn't aware, or didn't remember, that I only had two weeks to finish between the put it together post and the parade.  When I found this out last week I only had about 40 of the 336 squares outlined.  Now I have about 290 finished.  I'm so close and have about a week left.  I figure it won't be a problem since I did about 250 this week alone.  It's surely a work in progress which gets me linking up to Freshly Pieced where Emily from Mommy's Nap Time is the guest blogger today.  She's got some great projects going and the linky is full of other wonderful WiPs so check it out when you're finished with mine.  Here we go...

I am over 80% finished hand quilting the top. It's quite difficult to see the quilting which is a huge source of frustration for me.  I wanted it to stand out because I outlined each and every Tetris piece to make them pop.  However, I didn't want them to be all crazy in your face.  I opted to go with the darkest gray that wasn't black and thought that would be good enough.  Now that I'm almost done I wonder if black would have been better for standing out or if it still wouldn't have been enough.

Here's a close up of the side.  I quilted a grid though all the gray squares and outlined the red piece not quilting between every square.  You can sort of see the quilting in the grid but do you see what I mean about it not standing out?

I quilted the top strip the same as the side.  Just a grid on the white and outlining the other pieces.

I tried several different angles and lighting variations to try and get a picture of the back quilting and it was quite difficult to make it so you could see what happened.  If you look closely you can see the different Tetris pieces that I outlined.  It's already getting wrinkly with all the shifting and such so it's even harder to see.  Oh well.  It is a little better in person and even though you can't really see the quilting I still love it.  It's not what I pictured but still fabulous and as long as the quilt doesn't fall apart that's all that really matters in the end, right?

I'm very excited about the binding on this one!  I did a red binding with my Walk in the Woods quilt and LOVED it so I had to try again.  This red is from the Bungle Jungle line by Tim and Beck for Moda.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!