Postage Stamp Quilt Plans

This week has been a rather disappointing week for me in regards to sewing – mainly because I haven’t had a chance to sit down at the machine for even 5 minutes. The reason for my sewing deficiency is a good one though – in the past couple of weeks my fiancee and I purchased our very first home AND decided to get married and go on a honeymoon before our settlement date in 3 months time. Suffice to say there has been a LOT of phone calls and running around trying on dresses and scouting venues and not a great deal of sewing or crafting.

But true to my word when I started this blog, I have to post once a week on a Wednesday regardless of how crazy the rest of my life is. So this week I thought I’d share with you the project that I’m using all those itty bitty 2 inch squares for from the swap we just finished.

Anyone who has participated in a quilt square swap before will know that you often end up with heaps of blue coloured squares. After this happened for my third successive swap, I decided I needed to do something with those blue square instead of just recirculating them in future swaps.

And so the Blue Day Postage Stamp Quilt was born! Since the postage stamp quilt swap started, I’ve been working on separating squares into sets of 100 unique blue squares, ironing said squares and sewing them together into pairs. The idea is that once I’ve got all my blocks grouped up then I’ll try and work on a couple of blocks a week and have the quilt top done by the time my partner and I move into our house (pressures on!)

Here are a few photos of my progress so far:

This is what I come home to each day! Little baggies of 50 2 inch square pairs ready to be ironed so that I can sew them into 25 sets of four 2 inch squares. (Whew! What a sentence…)

This block is made up entirely of blue squares I received in the recent PSQ swap! I laid it out yesterday and popped it in a baggie ready to be sewn together.

These are the first 3 completed blocks of my quilt project. In the corner are my little baggies filled with sets of 100 unique squares ready to be sewn into blocks. Lot’s of work to be done but I think it will be worth it!

Wonky Houses

This week I had a go at a Wonky House Block for a Facebook Group Swap that I signed up for. I had so much fun making it that I’m looking forward to making many more.

There isn’t a set pattern used to make one of these – it’s more a sew-and-make-it-up-as-you-go type projects. Using the basic guidelines over at The Sewing Chick it turned out to be a lot easier than it looked – and a lot of fun! I won’t reinvent the wheel by churning out her instructions again, just click here to have a read.

 

As you can see, it also created a lot of mess! But it also turned out pretty cool. My obsessive need for order and straight lines made it pretty hard to deliberately make it wonky but I’m hoping to have more of that in the next one I make.

I’m thinking a whole quilt made out of these would be pretty cool – has anyone else made one before? Also, if anyone would like to join the swap, sign ups are open until Feb 15!

DIY Last Minute Fabric Squares

I can’t count how many times I’ve been sewing together a bunch of 2 inch squares into blocks of 100 when I’ve realised that I’ve got a duplicate square or I’ve mistakenly counted out 99 squares instead of 100. In scenarios like this when I’m mid-way through a block, have no more fabric to cut from and don’t want to/can’t go out to buy more fabric, I make my own.

It’s a fairly simple process involving grabbing some calico or plain white quilters cotton along with a bunch of permanent fabric markers.

Step one: Cut out some 2 inch squares using your fabric cutter or rotary blade.

Step 2: Gather your supplies and get decorating with your fabric markers to create squares in just the right colour/pattern for your needs. I use both Sharpies and Crayola permanent fabric markers. I find the Sharpies tend to bleed more and give more of a tie-dye effect whereas Crayola holds the ink in the fabric normally.

 

Step 3: Follow the directions on the Fabric Markers you own in regards to heat setting the colours. Each one is different so I won’t go into that here. For the blue swirly one I used Crayola and deliberately help the markers down to the fabric longer to get the fuzzy lines. For the orange and red ones I used Crayola – you can notice how crisp the lines are. In the purple and pink one I drew pink and purple stripes using the Sharpie pens and then folded the square in half and rubbed the two sides together. The ink mixed together and created that smudgy look.

Now while these squares look awesome and served my purpose exactly when sewing up quick blocks of 100 squares, I wouldn’t recommend swapping squares you’ve made yourself using permanent fabric markers. Before using them at all you need to test them in a bucket of water to make sure the ink has really set and won’t ruin your quilt/patchwork project in the washing machine. Even if you’ve done this and they are all right, you don’t want to be the reason for an ink run on someone elses quilt/project. It’s a fun technique, but not for swapping — unless of course we ran a themed swap like it…. we shall see how the first one goes.

DIY Emergency Koala Mittens

Last week Victoria and Adelaide felt the full force of summer heat with numerous out of control bushfires and many homes & lives lost. Fortunately many animals, houses and people were saved due to the dedication and hard work of the CFA. But like the numerous people who lost their homes, many animals emerged with devastating injuries. One such group of animals was the koalas – rescued with third degree burns to their paws and tummies as the trees they were in burned and they ran across burning ground to escape the fire.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare put out a call on Facebook last week asking for people to make and post Koala Mittens to them. They are used in the wrapping of burnt paws and need to be changed multiple times per day – which means each koala with burnt paws is going to need a LOT of mittens over the course of their treatment.  Mittens had to be made from 100% cotton fabric and sent to IFAW at 6 Belmore Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Naturally I sat down last week and got to work sewing up some mittens as per the pattern provided.

Step 1:

Download the template & instructions for how to make the mittens. Click on the pic below and you’ll be redirected to a full-size printable version.

Step two:

Cut out your mitten pieces.

 

Step three:

Grab some ribbon or cut off some excess fabric in the length and width specified in the instructions.

Step four:

Place the ribbon/fabric tie piece where the x on the pattern specifies then sew around the edge of the mitten, being sure to sew over the end of the fabric tie in the process.

Step six:

You’re done!

I’m thrilled to announce that there was an overwhelming response to the callout for these mittens and within just 7 days of asking for more, the Foundation for Animal Welfare had more than enough to distribute around to the various animal shelters, wildlife carers and vet practices. The generosity and general craftiness of people in Australia always astounds me. I’m so thrilled we managed to work together to provide enough to help the koalas! And we even have a reserve of surplus mittens for the next time our bushland is devastated by fire.

But for now, it’s “mitten accomplished”!

DIY Sleeping Mask

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my DIY Christmas Gift using upcycled Milo Tins. Well this time I thought I’d write about some DIY gifts I made last year and didn’t blog about at the time – DIY Sleeping Masks.

If you conduct a Google Search for DIY sleeping masks you will find countless templates of various shapes and sizes. I tried about three different ones before I found one that suited me and those I was making them for. A couple were really big and another was just a bizarre shape. After printing them out I was able to better see the shape so I recommend printing out a few before deciding which one will suit you.

Front Side.

Back Side.

The process is really simple. You cut out two pieces of fabric according to the template. Face right sides together, pinning elastic at the sides, and sew around the outside with a 1/4 inch seam. Be sure to leave a gap so that you can turn it right side out.

At this point I added a step and ironed my mask. It made it a lot easier to sew the gap closed neatly as the fabric wasn’t buckling out of shape. Then sew around the edges, again with a 1/4 inch seam. If you’re like me and like embellishing the front of your face mask, be sure to do this before sewing it to the back side of the eye mask – otherwise you’ll have uncomfortable lines of thread resting on your face while trying to sleep.

Here is another one I made:

On a more festive note, I’m taking a break over Christmas and will resume writing blog posts in 2015. Merry Christmas to all!

Scrap busting continues

So I may have gotten a little carried away with scrap busting the massive tub of fabric scraps in my craft room… I’ve filled these two mini-suitcases with fabric squares in just two days! The one on the left is all 2 inch squares and the one on the right is 1.5 inch squares. I’ve never experimented with 1.5 inch squares before but seeing as how I have SO MANY squares, I’m thinking that 2015 is the year to tackle a 1.5 inch postage stamp quilt.

And with that announcement about next year, I should also announce that I’ll be hosting a Postage Stamp Quilt Square Swap in early 2015. Sign ups will open in January and the actual swap will take place in March. Keep an eye on the blog in January when I’ll post all the details. But if you’re keen to swap 1.5 or 2 inch squares, get cutting now so that you are prepared and don’t have to race to cut up a bunch of squares to swap. (It takes a LONG time and I have both a GoBaby Cutter and a BigShot to shorten the process for me).

Scrap Maintenance

This week I’ve been spending a LOT of time with my Big Shot Fabric Cutter. It is AWESOME! So awesome in fact that I’ve already broken about 3 of the moulds for cutting squares due to overuse… they last me for about 8,000 squares and then break. But with no other options except manual cutting, I’m pretty happy with those odds. The one above is pretty new which means it is cutting super accurately right now, which is good. If you use your cutter as much as I do you’ll notice that as the die gets worn it starts cutting the edges with an inward curve to them. It doesn’t make much difference as when sewn together it is hidden in the seam allowance, but it’s obviously preferable to have accurately cut squares!

Over the past few days I’ve been cutting through all my teeny tiny scraps that I somewhat optimistically saved, to make as many 1.5″ squares as I can. So far I’ve cut up about 400 and have worked through one shoebox chocked full of fabric scraps.

When I started saving the scraps I had lofty ideas of a big quilt haphazardly sewn together to maximise each piece of fabric… but then when I was faced with the actual task – I realised what a silly idea that was! I’ve no doubt that it would have been possible but with the limited time I have for sewing these days and my relatively little amount of sewing prowess… I think I made a smart move abandoning that particular idea. In fact, I’m really happy with the result. I’ve decided to maintain my process of keeping tiny itty bitty scraps. Once I fill another shoebox I’ll assign a week to cut it down into 1.5″ or 2″ squares. It is a lot better looking at a pile of useable squares than a box overflowing with random wrinkled shapes, that’s for sure!

What do you think? Do you save your tiny pieces of fabric and cut them down into squares? Even if you don’t actually use them you could easily sell these on Etsy or at local markets. There are so many people getting into Postage Stamp Quilts and needing tiny pieces of heaps of unique fabrics, I think it is a great, (if time-consuming) way to use up excess unwanted fabric. In any case, I’ll certainly be doing this for the foreseeable future. My tip? Chuck a movie on while you’re cutting the squares. It is rewarding seeing a pile grow but it is a tedious process, especially when there are such randomly shaped pieces of fabric to try to salvage a square from.

Half Square Triangle Fun

I’ve never dallied in the Half Square Triangle Blocks before so I thought I’d experiment this week and see what I came up with. I opted for ultra colourful blocks and ended up with the above block. Ladies at my quilting class showed me how to chain piece and while my points are nowhere near spot on, I’m really happy with how it turned out. Plus it only took about an hour from cutting fabric to completion.

I enjoyed the process but I also didn’t enjoy making this block as much as I enjoy my little 2″ square blocks. I can’t foresee making any more of these blocks so now my familiar dilemma of having orphan blocks is returned.

I did some research on orphan block projects and found these for inspiration:

1. Make a Pincushion

2. Make a mini-quilt or small wall-quilt

3. Make a potholder

4. Use it as a quilt label

5. Make an armrest storage pocket.

 

I’m quite intrigued by the idea of using my block as a quilt label as it means very little extra sewing AND it will help finish another project quickly. To read more about the 5 ideas above, check out this website.

 

Quilting Memes

Making time for sewing has become quite hard since starting full time work a few months ago. I really have to push myself to ensure that I don’t simply collapse in front of the TV or let all my projects slide by the wayside. One thing that keeps me motivated (and sewing at the forefront of my mind) are quilting and sewing memes on social media.

Memes are generally pictures paired with a few words and are commonly shared on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Basically anywhere online that people share images, including via email.

So while this week I have nothing overly exciting to show you on the sewing front (mainly because I’ve been occupied with a new contract role outside of my full time work as a library officer) I thought I’d show you some of my favourite memes instead:

 

What do you do to keep motivated?

Upcycled Mouse DIY

This week I was in the mood for trying something new so decided to try my hand at a cool pattern I’d come across online for a recycled menswear mouse. I picked up a box of menswear fabric samples at this cool place called Resource Rescue in Bayswater about 6 months ago and have been waiting for the ideal opportunity to put them to use – and this was it!

After rifling through the hundreds of samples at my disposal I came up with these three:

If you want to make a mouse like this then you’ll need to download the template here. I personally found the instructions a little lacking and had a few frustrating moments in the creation of my mouse as a result. So I thought I’d re-write them for anyone else keen to have a go:

Step 1:

Print the pattern pieces, and cut out. Using the pattern as a guide, cut out 1 bottom piece and 1 side piece from the same or different fabric. Flip pattern, and cut out another side piece. For a tail, cut a 1-by-4-inch strip on the bias. (mine has a bit of paper stuck on it – just ignore that!)

For ears, cut out four pieces of fabric using the pattern as a guide. Place two of the pieces back to back, right sides out and roughly sew a seam around the edges so they are tacked together. Repeat for the other ear. (The original pattern calls for using fusible webbing with the ears, but that is a bit much effort for me for a “quick” project like this.)

Step 2:

Next I sewed the body pieces to the bottom piece (right sides together) leaving a one-inch ish sized opening at the back of the mouse, ready for the tail and so that the mouse could be turned right sides out and stuffed. I don’t use pins for things this small and just guided the fabric with my fingers, pulling it into place as I went – but if you want to use pins that will also work.

Note that the bigger end of the  body pieces should be sewn to the wide end of the bottom piece – I made the mistake of originally sewing them together the opposite way – which did not work!

Step 3:

The original pattern calls for: “Fold tail in half lengthwise, right sides facing; stitch with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, leaving ends open. Turn tail right side out using loop turner.” But I tried this and my scrap menswear fabric was way too stiff for turning it back right side out was impossible. Instead, I ended up folding the tail fabric in half lengthwise, right sides on the outside and stitching haphazardly up and down until I was happy with how it looked.

Step 4:

Turn body right side out, and stuff with fill. The fill I use is generally just the pieces of fabric so minutely small that they can serve no other purpose in my creative pursuits other than being upcycled stuffing for projects like this. I collect them as I cut out pieces for other projects. Once you mouse is stuffed to your desired firmness, insert the tail into opening and hand-stitch closed. Knot end of tail.

*FYI please excuse the horrendously awful handstitching on my mouse. I’ve never been big on handstitching and haven’t given it the attention that it really deserves considering how often I’m sewing and creating.

Step 5:

Fold ears in half, and attach to body with small hand stitches. Mark placement of eyes with pins, and then embroider eyes and nose using backstitches.

**FYI I ran out of patience with handstitching and eventually decided that my mouse would have ears, but no eyes or nose. I’m tempted to draw them on with a sharpie but also kind of like the lack of detail. In any case, don’t feel as though mouth and eyes are mandatory – they aren’t.

Step 6:

Admire your completed mouse!

You might have gathered by now that while I enjoyed making this mouse, it is definitely not something I want to experience making again! Way, way too much fiddly handsewing involved for my liking.

My problem now is that I’m still faced every day with this large box of mens suiting fabric samples:

I have NO idea what to use them for now. Any ideas?