June Already?

Where is this year going, my friends?

And where have I been?

Life is, as usual, hectic. I have basically been sick since we came back from vacation. I've had a horrific case of Mono, resulting in many hours of just sleeping or lazing around.  I'm not entirely over it, but I have been working on a few things...

My Mother-in-law was kind enough to send me some pewter wire for making some Sami bracelets.
I went through 10 meters in just a few days, but I had so much fun making them.

This is one of a handful of viking knit chains and cabochon pendants I made by hand. I will be selling them at my next Preservation Station appearance. 

I made my sisters prom dress. 

One of several cross stitch pieces...

My love of making totes is well known, here's one I recently made with some Paris themed duck and tan canvas.

Another dress in progress for my sister, this one of my own design! No pattern used, and I'm pretty darn proud of it.

Multicolored Lattice Quilt. I was going to sell it, but I have fallen in love with it.

A handmade antler ring with inlay sapphire

Etched sugar skull wine glass, gifted to my Mom on mothers day. 

Simply Swedish Chevron

My Sunday project was this simple chevron quilt top to go on some of my Dalahäst fabric.
I will be making two of these quilts as gifts.

I like making chevron quilts, they are quick and easy and always beautiful.
For this I used a 14.5 inch squared ruler, and created HST's, which I put together to create the chevron design. 

I don't have much else to share other than I reached 100 likes on my Facebook page!!

I was so excited, and a lucky person won my fantastic tartan tote!
:)

For my next giveaway I think I will make one of these little chevron quilts :) 

Bandana Blanket and a Cozy Valentines!

Hello!

It's been a pretty active week, though most of my activity has not been all that crafty.
My physical therapy for my foot is going well, but I'm experiencing extreme back pain that isn't getting any better, even with hourly stretching. I also spent a few days sick, but that didn't keep me from making an adorable little cake for my Swede for Valentines Day!

It is a 6x2 inch round white cake, with vanilla cream frosting and red fondant.

The heart on top is actually the bottom part of a devil's food heart shaped cupcake, also iced and covered in fondant.
I made the roses using stiff icing colored red with gel food coloring!
It is quite tasty, and not too much for us to enjoy together.
Actually, each day of the week I gave Husband something, everything from cards, to his favourite Monster flavour, to candy.

He got an adorable little plant for me. Potted mini roses!

I love them, and I can't wait for spring to come so I can put them outside in the sun and watch them bloom!

I shared this picture on my Facebook page, and it will be the last photo I share until the quilt is finished...

This will probably not be finished until March or April, so I kind of cheated and worked on my March project... Ok, so I didn't just work on it, I finished it!

I made the bandana top a while ago, 6+ months at least, and have had it in a drawer just waiting to be finished.

I hadn't really planned on finishing it, but my other quilt is very time consuming and I had the desire to get something DONE.

I will either sell it, or give it as a present to someone this year. It's not really my flavour...

Unlike these paintings I did this week.

I haven't painted in so long, but a good friend of mine just got her first apartment on her own,

and I felt that art was the perfect gift!

Who doesn't love some unique, hand painted art works?

I haven't done much painting or drawing lately, because of carpal tunnel.

My hands and arms often go numb when gripping things like pencils and paintbrushes, and sometimes even cups.

Sewing is a much easier activity on my hands, especially when I can use pre-cuts. :)

Satin Binding Tutorial and DalaQuilt

I finished my Dala Horse quilt, and I'm SO excited about it! 

Not only is this the first quilt that I have ever made for myself, but it came out so nice, and I get to make you all a tutorial!!

This tutorial is for the satin binding that I used.
Most commonly, satin binding is seen on childrens fleece or flannel blankets.

I think I am surely not the only one who like the feel of satin binding, but not necessarily the width of it.
I had trouble finding a tutorial on doing this, so I figured it out myself!


As with any other binding, you start by pinning, but you'll pin it to the front instead of the back, and keep it folded!

What I don't like about most satin binding and tutorials, is that the binding is opened and just put over the edge. On an adult size quilt, that's not really an adult look.

Then, you zigzag stitch around the edge.

On my first corner I made the mistake of pinning it folded and sewing it all the way around.

DON'T DO THAT!

Sew one side to about a cm away from the corner, fold to miter, and do the same to the adjacent side. 

You will have a little flappy piece that seems wrong, but it's not.

When you have sewn on each side, you can begin turning your binding. Don't pull on it too hard, because you don't want to tear the satin or expose any stitching anywhere. 

Fold it over and pin from the FRONT side. Keep looking from front to back to make sure it will catch.

I was a dummy, and pinned on the back the first time, which meant stopping and starting more than I needed to.

I line up the inside edge of my walking foot, to the edge of the binding, and begin to sew.

I did this one side at a time to avoid poking myself a million times with my pins.

Sew sew sew.

And here you can see how lovely it looks.

Nice and even, no spots where it doesn't catch, and finished, it doesn't have that childish wide binding!

Thanks for the visit!

Swedie Chevrons! Chevrons Galore!

Is EVERYONE obsessed with chevrons? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that they are.
But that's OK, because they do make pretty (and simple, quick, fun) quilts!
The past two weeks, even with all the travel preparations, and hanging out with my Da post knee-replacement, I had the pleasure of making a quilt for my hairdresser in trade for a Keratin treatment.

I love the colors that she chose, and all the while I was making it I kept thinking that I wanted to keep it for myself (because it's rather Swedish-y...)! Thankfully I was able to get a nice picture out on our patio. Wonderclips really are wonderful!!!

The top was about 2 days in the making, just a few hours of work, but I easily spent 10-14 hours quilting. I'm the master of the frog-stitch. Y'know, rippit, rippit. You can thank my manager for that awful joke. lol

I just did some simple diagonal straight stitching at 4 inches apart on the chevron, and one inch apart in the borders. They aren't all perfectly straight, it's really hard to be straight without the use of a walking foot... But, it came out nice, and I know that I am far more picky than a non-quilter will be.

Please ignore that piece of little blue thread, no idea where that came from! I quilted in grey! Speaking of grey, my backing is a rather popular grey pattern from my workplace. I have used it as backing on 2 other quilts for people...

It was not my choice, but I do like it.

Chevrons galore, I did say. So, here is the skirt I made for our upcoming trip to Sweden. A light weight knit with a chevron waistband. I adore maxi-skirts, and this seemed like the perfect comfy skirt for plane riding!

Last, for now, is a picture of the cake I decorated for my coworkers at my last Wilton Method Cake Decorating class. They were a TON of fun. I loved my instructor, who was super helpful and knowledgeable, and laughed at our bizarre sense of humor for four whole classes! On top of that, I got to spend time with my little sister and my Stomps.