Machine Quilted Valentines

Happy valentines day everyone!  I have always loved making valentines and this year was no exception.  I stitched 8 different hearts on whole cloth postcards for my valentine project.  I do love to machine quilt so this was a good excuse to do more of what I love.

The first three were stitched in pink thread for the design and white for the background.  The “binding” is a strip of fabric with fusible on the back cut with a wavy rotary cutter and pressed around the outside edges to finish them off.
These are less frilly and are for my two grandsons.  Hopefully they won’t think they are too girly.  Red fabric with white thread says happy valentines day, right?
White on white fabric and red stitching for the heart designs on these three.  As you can see I do love to stitch feathers and what a better place to use them than on hearts.

I made the back of the card from a printed phrase, poem, sentiment printed on card stock and that too was fused to the back of the card.  By the way, the front fabric was fused to Peltex or Timtex which is a thick, stiff stabilizer.  I quilted the cards, fused on the back then fused on the binding.  Ta-Da done!

I finished them up on Wednesday, popped them into addressed envelopes and delivered them to the post office to mail.  I always mail these kinds of fabric postcards in envelopes to keep them clean and prevent them from getting caught in post office machinery.  Hopefully they will arrive in time for Valentines Day and be enjoyed by all.

Until later,
Lynn

One to Send, One to Keep

I really liked the postcard I made and sent to our relatives in Hawaii so decided to make one for us as a memory keeper of our trip.  As a reminder, here is the one I made to send.

One thing I did not tell you was that when I make postcards to send I make them to fit inside a computer card envelope….you know those computer cards printed on a piece of copy paper that is folded in half both ways.  This envelope is 4 3/8” x 5 3/4”  but make your card to fit what ever size envelope you have, minus a little to make sure it easily slides in and out of the envelope.  The cards stay clean when they are mailed inside an envelope and you won’t take a chance that all your hard work gets ripped up or ruined in the machinery that sorts the mail. 

To make this second card I used the same design, same fabrics for the leaves and flowers but did choose different light blue fabric for the background.  Since it doesn’t have to fit in an envelope I made it a little larger – finished size 5” x 6”.  Here it is all fused onto the Peltex/Timtex (don’t remember which it is) all ready to quilt.  It will be trimmed to size after the quilting. I used the same threads to quilt the card as the smaller one….YLI Silk thread.  I just love it as it is so beautiful and the colors are so luscious!
I chose to quilt this card differently than the first card.  I quilted a leaf like the fused leaves then quilted bubbles in the background.  I do like to quilt around all the edges of the applique shapes and also like to echo quilt around all the shapes.
I did finish the edges differently on this piece and like it better than the zig-zag edge.  It just looks more finished and neater.  Using a wave blade on my rotary cutter I cut a 1” strip of my background fabric that had fusible on the back.  The top and bottom strips were fused on the front first and were cut about 1/2” longer on each end.  I wrapped the ends around the side edges of the card then fused the binding to the back of the card.  This finishes the corners of the card.  The side pieces were fused to the front and cut the width of the card then fused to the back.  The last step was to straight stitch around the card catching the fused binding.  A very neat and tidy edge to be sure.

I do love this little card quilt and it will help us remember a great vacation.

Lynn

PS Check out the previous post for more hints and tips on how I made this postcard at the following address  http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-happened.html

What Happened?

It started out so innocently…I was anxious to get to sewing again after being away from it for a while and had a project in mind.  A good start don’t you think?  I decided to make a postcard to send to our cousins – the ones that hosted us for a weekend while we were in Hawaii.  A small project and the best part I could finish it quickly too.  I settled on a pattern I got from the internet – free graphics of hibiscus and leaves.  I printed the free graphics on paper, enlarged it and used it for the patterns for my applique.  Applique pattern acquired on this webpage
Next step – pull fabrics.  I decided to use batik fabrics as I love the way the colors blend dark to light values on just one piece of fabric.  These are the choices I came up with as a start for the postcard.  I always make adjustments to my fabric choices as I go along as sometimes the colors or values don’t play nice with each other when it comes down to the correct size pieces.  As you can see I did eliminate two of the greens and just selected different areas of the one green fabric for shading of the leaves.  I think the values work ok but will know more after I cut the pieces out of the fused fabric.

I cut the shapes and arranged them into a pleasing configuration.  I did use tweezers to nudge the petals and leaves into place as it is much easier than using my fingers.  As you can see, the final design is a little different than the free graphics design I printed. At this stage the flowers and leaves are just fused to the blue background fabric.  I cut a piece of Timtex larger than the finished postcard and fused the backing fabric to one side.  I quilted around the applique shapes then quilted the background with a combination of feathers and echo quilting.  I used silk thread as I love the weight and the sheen of the stitching.  When the entire postcard was quilted I trimmed the postcard to size and fused a message printed on cardstock to the back and trimmed it to size.

The last step was to zig-zag around the outside through all the layers.  I used burgundy thread – it is OK but after it was finished I wasn’t sure it was the right thread color choice but once the stitching is done with the paper cardstock it can’t be redone.  I sure wouldn’t want to try to hit the holes in the paper a second time and new holes would pretty much tear the paper.

I am sure you are still wondering about the title of this blog…..take a look at the photo below.  Disaster has struck my sewing room.

I will admit that just doing the postcard didn’t make this whole mess.  I left my finished cup of tea on the table, another lens for my camera in the small blue and black bag and an extra battery for my camera.  The bin that I pulled the postcard fabric is still sitting on a stool and is overflowing, boxes from new shoes with one of my purse/bags on top.  You know when you are in a hurry how you change bags and go on your merry way, well I never got back to it to take it to it’s storage place so there it sits.  Am thinking of doing another project where I need wide neckties so have 3 or 4 draped over thread boxes.  An open closet door and another purse/bag that got set aside after using it hanging on cupboard doors.  I really must put those bags away!  Peeking out behind the tea cup is a ball of yarn and a partially finished dishcloth. 

Of course I was using the sewing machine, iron, starch and the ironing surface but everything else could have been put away and I sure would have had a lot more room to work and not have to walk around an obstacle course to get to the iron.  I don’t know about you but when I am in a zone to create I just forge ahead and clean up afterwards.  If I stop to clean before I am done I just loose my momentum.  Maybe I will get it cleaned up before I get another project started….or maybe not.  I certainly won’t show this photo again anyway!

Lynn

Club Sew, Fabric Postcard, LED Light

Club Sew in Lincoln was fun to go to yesterday. I had planned on attending the 1:30 pm session but since I was wide awake at 5:30 am I decided to just get ready and attend the 9:30 am one instead. It is almost a 2 hour drive to Lincoln from my house so had to be on the road by 7:30 am to be on time.

The gals presenting were from a small group that got together after Ricki Timms presentation last August in Omaha. They all did Convergence quilts and now are all working on quilts with a Coneflower theme. They all told how they accomplished the different things on each quilt and how they each attacked the project from a little different way. Learned how to put a facing on a quilt and may try that some time on one of my miniatures. The quilts were all beautiful.

I did purchase some more bobbins and the Free Motion Couching foot (no. 43) and a couple of spools of Bottom Line thread. Am anxious to try the couching foot as the yarn or cord comes through the hole as it is stitched so it can be all attached with a straight stitch. Looked pretty cool on the Bernina web video http://tiny.cc/Berninafoot43 so decided that could be something I might use. The magnifier lenses I want to get had not arrived at the store yet so will have to wait a bit for them.

I pulled one of the post cards I had made some time ago and finished it to give to my mother instead of a regular birthday card. She had admired it once when I was showing her some of the ones I had made so decided she should get it. I have learned after putting the backs on some right after I made them I had more trouble personalizing them. I like to print some poem or message onto cardstock using pretty fonts, etc. This saves me from mispelling a word or messing up the back somehow. Now I just do the front of the card then wait until I know who I am going to give it to before I finish the back. Since I am going to hand deliver this to her with her gift I printed the words out centered on card stock that are appropriate to her and maybe the card too. I attached it to the back of the card with fusible then trimmed it square and zig-zagged around the edge to finish it. Will give her a small easel to stand it up on a shelf or on her desk.

The tree is free hand embroidered in brown thread and the fabrics are fused down on the Timtex, then the postcard was machine quilted.

Thought I would show you a light I purchased recently that sticks onto the side of my machine. It is from http://bendablebrightlight.com/ and I got it from my friend that owns a quilt shop. It is wonderful!!! The two photos below show what a difference it makes - one photo is of it turned on and the other with it turned off. Both photos are with the sewing machine turned on so the regular light is on. You might not see as much difference as you would in true life as the flash on my camera is probably distorting it some. The light has a very flexible arm and it plugs in so you don't have to be putting batteries in it all the time. Also comes with little cord holders that I stuck in a few places on the back of my machine to keep the cord out of the way when I stitch.

This photo is with the light off.

This photo is when the light is turned on.

Light showers this morning which is welcome as things are getting a little dry. We actually would love an inch of this slow rain then the irrigation wells could be turned off for a little while. There is a chance of more rain tonight so maybe I will get my wish anyway.

Lynn

Fabric Postcards

I finished the postcards I have been working on today. They are fused applique and were a lot of fun to make. I machine quilted them which adds to the dimensions of each one I think.

They are to send to the people who hosted us when we visited them in California in February. I found poems on the Internet that I printed on the backs and will be sending a small easel with each one so they can be displayed if they choose.

While making the postcards I have been listening to the audio book "Anne of Green Gables" I downloaded from http://librivox.org/ They have a lot of books to choose from, all in the public domain that can be listened to on line as well as downloaded to your own computer. It is very enjoyable to work and listen since I love to read this is the second best thing to do. This is a wonderful book I saw made into a made for TV movie years ago when our girls were young so decided to listen to it again and it has been a great.

Lynn