Quilted Blanket for Mom

I finished this quilted blanket for my mom's bed.  She is in a nursing home and her bed is similar to a dorm bed - long and narrow.  I didn't want anything to fussy - I knew that this had to be easy to wash and pretty sturdy.  Just like a quilt you would send with a kid going to college.  I had a bundle of fat quarters by Cosmo Cricket in the Salt Air patterns.  Very fresh and cheery!  I simply turned the fat quarters into 18" x 18" squares and sewed them together in a 3 block by 5 block pattern.  To keep it looking clean and modern, I decided not to do a border.  For the back, I used some extra fat quarters and some yardage .  The quilting pattern I did was a swirly wave pattern in each block.  Like in nature, the waves aren't all perfectly the same :)   One of the prints in this collection is an overall print of lots of different labels.  I used my embroidery machine to stitch on her name, my name, and the date.  This will keep the quilt going back to the right room after washing.  I know she is going to like it and can't wait to give it to her.  The nursing home she is at is just wonderful...the people are so friendly and caring.  Always giving  my mom hugs and laughing with her.  It is not a situation that we would choose for her to be in, but if she has to be away from home, this dorm is a perfect home-away-from-home.  As I see back-to-school ads on tv, and see our oldest granddaughter get ready to move into her first dorm room, I prefer to think of my mom getting to have that opportunity that she never got to have, but always wanted.  She has a nice roommate, and an excellent meal plan.  No classes or professors, though, just enough activities to keep her entertained and an extended family to keep her safe.  Jerilynn

Pinterest Pin Interest

Are you on Pinterest yet?  When I first heard about Pinterest, an internet bulletin board where you can pin up and categorize things you find on the web, I thought that it didn't seem as if that was something that was missing in my life.  I had a somewhat organized list of bookmarked sites, but they had mysterious names and I never could quite remember what they all meant without clicking on them all.  Not too exciting.  So, I finally started to pay attention to Pinterest Possibilities, and, yep, I am hooked.  What I like most is all the visual-ness of the pins.  You can go to your "boards", select the category, and all of the items you have pinned up for inspiration are there, in full color.  The best part is that the link to where you can find more information, or where you got the picture, is right there, too.  Quilts I want to make?  Got pictures pinned.  Food I want to make?  Got pictures.  Home decorating ideas?  Got pictures.  Get the picture?  You can also look at other peoples' pins and find interesting things that they found interesting.  Once in a while you find some boards that just have to belong to a long lost twin sister...all the pins are just what you would have liked had you seen them first!  The house tape measure in the bottom picture I first saw on someone's board on Pinterest.  And, because links are there, too, I could trace the source of the adorable pattern to Laurraine Yuyama on the Craftsy.com website.  It is a PDF pattern, always dangerous (instant gratification).  Just so happen to have a round tape measure on hand....cut, sew, done!  The top shot is the result.  Cute, huh?  The antique button is really lime green in person - don't know why I couldn't get the color to come out right on the shot.  Now I am on a hunt for a house pin cushion pattern that could be a good neighbor to the tape measure.  House scissor holder?  House needle keeper?  Jerilynn 

Silk Hearts Quilt

Ready to pin baste!  Basting is  about the only part of making quilts that I really don't like at all.   Some quilters use spray glue, but I don't want to get overspray all over the wonderful floor up here in the studio and don't have another place that might work.  Plus, I am not so sure about all that glue...so, I will just continue to grin and bear it with the pins.  What is this, do you ask?  Well, a little over two years ago I bought the Sarah Vedeler embroidery cd Hearts, which features embroidery and applique.  Along with the designs I bought the tin of gorgeous jewel-toned silk dupioni fabrics. You can Google Sarah Vedeler Silk Heart Quilt to get an idea of what this will resemble once I have the quilting done.  I am going to do free motion quilting, mostly doing feathers and spirals.  I have a Bernina 440 QE that has a stitch regulator on it and really helps keep the free motion stitches more uniform in length.  When I first got the machine, I didn't really like the regulator that much.  I had been free motion quilting for many years without it, and I "fought" what it was trying to do.  Once I relaxed and let the regulator do its thing, I was very pleased with the results.  This quilt hanging is pretty big, almost 48" x 48".  Twenty blocks were appliqued and embroidered.  Lots of hours and lots of thread.  I will show you the finished quilt when it is all done.  Now I have to find a perfect spot in the studio to hang it.  If you go to Sarah Vedeler's website (sarahvedeler.com) you will see oodles of gorgeous designs she has made.  What really attracts me to them is her fabulous use of color.  And, her designs are based on decorative machine stitches that you can find on Bernina machines, as well as others.  I have been on a quest for a few years to encourage sewers to use all those wonderful, fun stitches.  Similar results to some of her designs can be sewn without the help of an embroidery machine.  They may not be as perfectly lined up, but still can be colorful and fun.  Thanks for letting me blab on a bit.  Jerilynn

Ruler Table Runner

Top photo is from my dining room.  Okay.  That is a lie.  The picture is from Country Living magazine, and if you Google Country Living Ruler Runner, you will find many links for instructions.  I decided to make a somewhat shorter version for my sewing room using a heavy canvas.  I used a permanent marker to make the lines and then a heat textile transfer paper for the numbers.  I pre-washed the canvas before starting and it really got very wrinkled, so it is a bit "weathered" looking.  I prefer to think it adds to the character.  How do you think it measures up to the original?   Jerilynn

The Final Funky Fish Project Ever

Oh my goodness.  Not another Funky Fish!! Yes, but this project should be the last of it.  I used colored pencils to color in random blobs of  shapes.  I roughly drew the shapes of the curtain panel applique  embroideries, but didn't pay much attention to size.  I first used a small foam brush to spread the textile medium around on top of the red oval pencil.  It bled a bit as you can see in the lower right side of the oval.  I picked a smaller brush to apply the textile medium to the green and blue penciled areas and that worked out much better.  I let the areas dry and then heat set them with a very hot iron.  I embroidered the fish shapes over the dried colored areas and I think the towel is good to go!  The towel was already pre-washed without softener and I am going to let it sit around a few more days before I try washing it again to see what happens to the color.  I will let you know, but I promise not to take a picture.  Enough of the fish, already.  Move on.  Jerilynn

Fish Window Panels Done!

Okay, readers, put on your high-power readers to see the detail in this shot!  I know, not a great photo.  I finished all three panels for the kitchen windows and wanted you to see them.  If you were standing in my kitchen (by the way, that would be fun), you could see that they turned out pretty cute.  To the left is the side window over the sink with the printed curtains.  These panels hook into little cup hooks and can be taken down easily and folded until needed.  The colored areas are applique and then the Funky Fish shapes are on top in black.  Next to-doare a couple of white dish towels.  I am thinking about "coloring" the shading behind the black stitches with some colored pencils and some textile medium.  Somewhere I read how to do that.  I am thinking for dishtowels that are going to get washed a lot, that the colored areas would wash better than an applique.  I will do a search to find out how to do this. In the meantime, until I take down these panels, just try to peek into the cabin to see what I am up to!  Oh, wait, all the other curtains are open right now.  Peek away.  Jerilynn

Funky Fish Embroidered Curtain Panels

One out of three curtain panels is done for the kitchen.  As I mentioned before, once in a while I would like the ability to block the three little windows in the kitchen that look toward the lake.  On the side kitchen window, facing the  neighbors, I made the Funky Fish curtains that you see on the left.  I bought the fabric from Spoonflower, and love it, but didn't want to spend a bunch on panels that would be used infrequently.  I bought some very inexpensive white twill and made three little, lined panels that just fit the three windows.  I used the method of making them that you can read about in an earlier curtain tutorial here.  Carl put up two cup hooks above each window, and when we want to have a little privacy, all we have to do is hang the panels by their little grommets (you can barely see them in the picture...sorry) from the hooks.  The plain white looked too bare, of course, so I have digitized some of the fish shapes using my Bernina V6 software.  The colored areas are appliqued in place before the black fish shape.  All done on the embroidery machine.  I may add a few of the quirky asterisks and circles on the original print, but, then again, I may just work on finishing the other two and call it done.  The reality is, they are not going to be used that much.  I have some blank white dishtowels that might get the Funky Fish treatment, too.  I will show you a picture of the panels at the windows when they are all done.  Don't hold your breath, though, unless you are swimming.  Jerilynn