An experiment in quilt binding.

I am so excited about this one..
a lot of time, I will have an idea and it fails, miserably, but this experiment went SO well, I LOVE the finished result!

I've not *seen* an actually ruffled binding before, only faux bindings, and the occasional ruched rounded corner.  It took 10 times longer to do than a traditional binding but it was so worth it!

Would you just look at all of that ruffly goodness??  Almost makes me want to have another baby (not..just kidding universe!)

 Oh..and the rose fabric? yeah..I recently scored yardage of OOP Paris Bebe fabrics, so you'll be seeing more shabbiness coming from me :)

And here's some gratuitous shots.

This is my favorite frame ever, I found this in a little shop in the make an offer pile..$5 later and she was mine. Brought her home, cleaned her up and gave her a coat of my own chalk paint mix.

Repurposed goodies..

The past couple of weeks have been eventful to say the least, Farmer's markets, cleaning, clearing, reorganizing..but I managed to get some sewing in here and there.

This sweet little baby quilt, and the matching bunting is my current favorite..They were made from mostly reclaimed fabrics, with the exceptions being the batting and the white muslin in the quilt and backside of the pennants.

                      I've always enjoyed making buntings, and these 2 were no exception!


Well, back to it, Lots of goodies to create, not so much time lol!

Michelle

How does quilting make me feel?

Yesterday Kristyne of Pretty by Hand posted about how quilting makes her feel,  And today while commenting, I was inspired to write up my own blog post about the emotions quilting, and sewing in general, evoke in me.

Sewing, in any form brings me such joy and contentment. Be it quilting, making a new bag, to doing needlework, I love it all.

I come from a large, but very non tight knit family. We aren't even scattered all over, but since my Dad left us when I was in the 4th grade, the get togethers on his side of the family stopped (for my brother, sister and I anyhow), and when my Maternal Grandma passed away when I was 16, the get togethers on Mom's side of the family stopped as well, She was the glue that held that side of our family together..and I miss her more than I could ever put into words, but I digress. The point is that since I didn't have it, I've always wanted that large, tight knit, everyone looks out for each other, you can depend on them kind of family..and have many more "old fashioned" values than most of my generation is comfortable with.

Sewing and quilting allows me to feel that connection to other women in the generations that have gone before, that sense of history that I've struggled to find for so long. For hundreds of years women have been sewing, stitching and quilting, sharing their gift of time and skill with their friends and family, and passing those skills and that love on from one generation to the next.

I do my sewing on old school machines, that were used and loved by women before me, my beloved Janome that was made when I was a newborn, and the Kenmore that was loved by 2 generations before coming to my hands. I look forward to the time when my 1 owner Necchi is brought back to life, and plan to make a vintage fabric quilt using my treadle machine in the coming year. Knowing that the women who owned and loved these machines before me probably felt the same way I do when working on or completing a project.

So, yes, I would say that my sewing brings me joy, although more importantly it makes me feel a connection, and feeling of family history that I've missed out on since I was a child, And one day, I hope to pass my knowledge and skills on to my Daughter's in law, or grandchildren (the sewing bug has skipped my boys) to do my part in preserving the history and continuing the passing of the needle to the next generation.

In stitches,

A new look for Jan

Today I thought I would share a little project I whipped up last night as part of my new-old sewing room makeover,

I didn't use a pattern or tutorial for it, although I have seen these type of covers many times in blogland.

I started with a line drawing of a dress form, which you can find here. You can use a transfer pencil, or do as I did and just lay the drawing under my white fabric and trace it. Then, using 3 strands of embroidery floss for the form, and 2 strands for the stand, I used a simple backstitch to stitch out the drawing.

After the embroidery piece was finished I just cut and added fabric pieces in a log cabin style manor until I had a large enough block for the front of my cover. For the back of the cover, I pieced together some large scraps. After sewing both sides of the cover together, I pressed and pinned it to my batting. Since I didn't plan to use a binding, I quilted the top of the cover to the batting only.

I added some ties and a pretty backing. Sewed them together right sides facing, leaving a hole for turning. Clipped my corners, turned and top stitched around the entire outside edge, closing the hole with the top stitching.

Tied it on, and just that easy, Jan has a new reversible cover for when she's not in use!

Stay tuned for more projects as I work on redoing my sewing room!

Linking up to these parties!
Handmade 52
                                Craftastic Monday

Featured and more shop updates

I have been so very fortunate this past week by being featured in a few different places. First was my fall welcome featured by Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming (Check out the side bar for the link!)


Then one of my quilts was selected for an artisan collection on Artfire, and now April has featured my Fall welcome on her blog as well(also a link on my side bar...I know I'm being lazy!)!
Thank you Ladies, I was honored beyond belief!


I also updated the store some more (HA!..Am a poet and didn't know it...I crack me up)

Time to get back to work..
Later!