Wednesday, July 27, 2011

EPP star moving along and I need help deciding on a background

The problem with English Paper Piecing (besides being ridiculously addictive) is that once you run out of foundation paper pieces you're stuck. (Well, not really, because I can always print and cut more, but who wants to deal with a thousand little pieces of paper?)
Now that I have 10 stars ready, I need to decide on a background in order to start joining them
And that's where you come in.
See pictures of backgrounds below and PLEASE vote in the poll, so I can cut and piece!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

fabric covered magazine holders


This is a  very easy project to do with your kids on a hot (or rainy, or snowy) afternoon.
I find that my children are more likely to use an organizer that they made, tucking away their coloring pages, clippings and other stuff kids save and store :)



If you decide you want a sturdier holder, you can use 2 boxes (fit one inside the other) or you can use a purchased magazine file like this:
Bankers Box Stor/File Magazine File (00723)


Materials:
~ empty cereal box
~ fabric
~ glue (Elmers glue is fine, but clear water soluble glue would've been much better)
~ brush or foam brush for applying glue
~ hot glue gun
~ label maker - this is optional, but great for labeling your holders

Each one of my kids were offered to choose fabric they liked.
I cut the fabric down to size of each box - our boxes were 4 different sizes.
Some fabrics were too light and the colors on the box showed through, for these, we just glued some white printer paper to the box before applying the fabric.

Mark the cereal box, making the slanted edge approximately 3-4 inches high from the box bottom on one side. Hot glue the fabric to the box, overlapping the edges. I kept one selvage intact and made sure that the unfinished edge was tucked and hot-glued under the selvage.
Trim and fold the top fabric edges inside the box. Don't worry about gluing the fabric down all around, just a few drops of hot-glue will do.
Make a paste of equal parts of water and glue.
This was my kids favorite part:
Cover the entire box with glue mixture, brushing it on in a thin layer, making sure there are no streaks, and the glue mixture goes on clear. Don;t forget to do the top inside as well, to secure the fabric to the inside of the box.
Put it away to dry.
When dry, make a label of your choice. Enjoy!


And this one is mine:

Monday, July 25, 2011

a new quilting adventure!

In my spare time, while holding the baby I do what all mothers of infants do...surf the web.
This is how I came across the "60° Diamond EPP Quilt-Along".
Translation:  English Paper Piecing 60 degree Diamond-Star along - how is that for a mouthfull?
That's it - a new obsession crafty interest was born, which in short can be described as: sewing many small pieces of fabric onto a diamond shaped paper template, connecting 6 diamond fabric templates together to make a star, removing the basting thread, connecting the stars to make a quilt.
When my oldest son saw the size of my first star - he said, "Wow, it will take months to make this quilt"
I smiled and said " Nope, years!"
These are my 2 first ever EPP stars. The ones that followed looked much, much better.

a finished baby quilt

I finally have a finished quilt to post!
This is a "scrap quilt" mentioned here made from the leftover fabric from the "wavy" quilt, still unfinished (waiting for some Kaufman Prisma Batik in Lilac for the border).
Luckily for me, I had a baby girl and the girls will be sharing a room in the future, with matching quilts!


Started: May 2011
Completed: July 2011
Fabric used:
~ Lila Tueller Eden in Lilac
~ Kona Solids White
~Kaufman Prism in Lilac

Machine pieced and quilted on
Bernina Activa 230PE

Quilting: all over free motion spiral swirls