V and Co: baby girl gift: ombre doily onsie and matching quilt

 First off thank you for your wonderful support to the cyber sale we had in our little shop. Those who said they didn't mind waiting for the next shipment of our thread will not have to wait too long. I got word its already on its way. YAY! So hold tight its coming!
I have a friend having a baby.
So of course something handmade was to be made for her and her little girl coming soon.
It's been super gloomy here in my little corner of the world. It definitely makes me want to curl up under a quilt and read books or watch reruns of my favorite TV shows. And as much as I would love to do that all day long my judgy cat would probably give me a ton of crap and would remind me I have quite a bit on my plate these days and I can't waste my "work hours" during the time the kids are in school. She's kind of bossy, but I guess I need her to keep me in line.

 Anyways, I digress...I made this little onsie kind of like I made these ombre appliquéd  onsies.

you can read more about dying here.

and doing ombre dying here

This time around I wanted to do the doily ombre so that it could match the quilt I was planning on giving her:

 This doily quilt can be found in my book Make It Sew Modern: Gather, Twist, Pleat, Texture

I chose the same beige doily (found at joann's) as the starting point so that it would match the neutrals of the quilt I was giving her.
I think with bare little legs (for when baby is inside) or bundled up with a jacket and little leggings, this little onsie will be totally adorable.

And I also hope the mom likes it as much as I liked making it and giving it to them.

We'll talk soon.

V and Co: first quilt over at Gen X

today is the first day of school.
but i also just got back from a vacation that our family drove 4, 438.8 miles to california (and to utah and Disneyland and so forth) and back.
we are still toasted.
i am totally celebrating with having my car detailed to get rid of all gooey/stickiness/sand and basically scrape all the"kid" off from the inside of my car.
they asked for 5 hours.
apparently that's how much time they need for people with gross children like mine. :)

i have a new free quilt pattern (the quilt at the bottom of this post) coming your way (i'm hoping this week) i have to tell you about my trip back to my beautiful san diego...and i have to let you in on a lot of fun projects that have been brewing in my head all summer long! yay for kids going back to school, and yay for a wonderful summer to look back on!
but because i am still fried from my family trip i have none of that prepared. sooooo i thought it would be fun to share a post i did for Gen X blog earlier on this month.
at the beginning of this month i was asked by the lovely ann marie of Gen X quilters about my very first quilt.
here's what i wrote:

i'm so excited that i was asked to share with all of you my very first quilt. 

i made this "rag quilt" with a wonderful group of seasoned quilter friends. i along with one other were the only ones in the group that had never made a quilt before. so as a group we went and picked out fabric enough to make (i think) 6 throws and the idea would be that we would all walk away with the same "friendship quilt".

as the years would pass we could look at it and think of our group of friends. 

i am proud to say that it still hangs out prominently in my home. (in our basement but still prominently!) and yes, i still think fondly of those wonderful women that held my hand and said "you can cut the fabric, there's no need to cry. seriously...its just fabric." 

looking at the colors you can probably guess when it was made! early 2000 when the reds and the greens and the tans and the yellows were very popular is a dead giveaway.

i remember going to the store and picking out the flannel with a couple of the friends. it was exciting and fun and i absolutely loved the picking out of fabric process.

i did have a hard time cutting into the fabric. and yes i did cry. i was scared that i was going to ruin the fabric make a mistake or something. 

they told me "it's just fabric."

i yelled back "ITS FABRIC!!"

 i did end up putting on my big girl panties and i cut the squares and didn't line up all my seams that great, but darn it i had made a quilt!

and i will forever love it. because it started the journey of what i create now:

reverse hopscotch

 see i still love mixing and matching colors and prints. and i no longer cry because i'm afraid of making a mistake. mistakes help you learn. understand how not to do something, and sometimes mistakes come out with pretty cool outcome.

i heart you quilt pattern V and Co.

 one thing is for sure, i still love color. sometimes i focus on just one color like in my i heart you quilt  here we have all the shades of pink (ombre fabric by V and Co.)

houndstooth quilt pattern V and Co.

and sometimes a quilt like my houndstooth quilt just needs to be simple and two toned.

bubbles (baby version) V and Co.

i struggle to label myself as modern or

kaleidoscope quilt pattern  V and Co.

 traditional in the quilting world.
i feel like i am a little bit of both every single time.

confetti quilt pattern (baby version) V and Co.

but what ever kind of quilter i am, i'm glad i am one.

bloom quilt pattern V and Co.

the dutchman quilt (free pattern coming soon)

it's very much a part of who i am and what i love to do.
i am forever grateful for that first quilt because it has led me to keep trying new things and finding a passion in something that i hope to instill in anyone who wants to listen.
quilting is the best.
thank you ann marie for making me talk about my journey in quilting!
we'll talk soon! 

V and Co: another finish

this summer is passing me by quite quickly. 

anyone else having a super fast warp speed summer too? 

not that im complaining.

we've had a great summer.

we've relaxed, we've done some fun family stuff, and we've done a family vacation. which i'll show pictures of that soon too. 

i've worked on my new fall patterns at the pool, in the car, with a fish, in a dish...wait. 

hmmm. well the idea is that whenever a i do get a minute i've been doing some work that i can take with me anywhere i am and when the kids are all occupied.

 this summer i've made it a point to get a little bit of sewing done. not too much "work" related sewing, but more "just for me" sewing.

and honestly it's not been that much but it's more than in the years past. 

i think it's because my kids are getting older and needing me less and less. (mixed feelings)

here's my latest "just for me" finish. 

i decided that i could work here and there on a double point dresden plate.

using my  Dresden plate ruler i decided to just used the top part of the blade of the ruler. 

(use this tutorial for the normal blade construction) 

for the "double point" look you are going to sew the bottom part of the blade just like the top.

continue with turning the points inside out and press with an iron. 

then just like the normal dresden plate, line up your raw edges. and sew those together.

you end up with two finished edges on your dresden plate. 

easy for appliqué!!!

 for basting my wall quilt i used  505 basting spray . if you havent tried this you should. it's worth it and makes quilting a little easier on a home machine.

 next i drew my lines on my quilt. i wanted "X"s.
once i drew my line with a erasable pen i then used my walking foot (bernina) which i still can't believe i've gone so many years not having a walking foot. it's one of my favorite to quilt my quilts. (seeing that i mainly do straight line quilting. okay i've only tried free motion quilting twice and it's something i need to work on.)

 remember how i was saying i "worked" on stuff anywhere i could and many days it was at the pool.
i hand bind all my quilts. i like how it looks
here's my tutorial i did a while ago on how i bind quilts. :)

now i know what you must think...because i'm a quilter and i love quilts, that must mean i have quilts lining my walls, hung over couches, chairs and on quilt racks.

i don't.

i have one quilt on a couch back in the basement. katies room has the i heart you quilt up but i'm thinking i may need to at some point add some other kind of art in there...

mainly we just sleep under them and have them at the foot of our beds. i have them in baskets upstairs and downstairs and anywhere we have sitting places. but yeah not any of them are up on my walls in my main level area. 

so when i placed this up on my front entry way...i've been passing it every day a few times a day thinking, hmmm...

i like it. 

i really like how simply color and simply style go well together. 

oh...and yeah. btw. simply style. is now available in a quilt store near you. :) and if it's not. raise hell that you want it.
you have my permission.
just sayin.
;) 

V and Co: why yes...i'm still sewing.

 well, this week... wait...no, last week and this week have flown by in super hyper drive sonic speed. yep, couldnt decide which one, either way it was fast moving.
and why yes, i am still working on things for market. thanks for asking.

the kids had a day off on monday and we went to the lake... so i could bind a quilt in peace and not have to deal with the "mom, can i play video games?mom can i play with a friend?mom can a friend come over?mom can we do something?mom can i drive you insanely nuts by 9:30 in the morning?" bit. while they played in the sand and yes, even got in the water, i got to sit and bind a quilt, drink a diet dr pepper, and talk and laugh with a friend. i know i would hate me too. it really was such a gorgeous day. and if that were my life every day i would not write about it because i would feel like i was rubbing it in your face, which lets be honest, you wouldnt like that and i'm not that type of girl. no, but because you guys know the life i live (of surviving in a house of amateur comedians of all ages, and finding myself in horrific situations) when i get a moment of utter bliss like this, you and i both feel like "yeah, lady. you totally deserve that."
it's really what keeps me going you know.

 iowa has had some pretty crazy weather. it's been drastic. no ease into spring then into summer.
it's crazy that last week they were talking snow...which we didn't get but just got a lot of cold rainy days...but i know minnesota totally got snow and in some places still has snow on the ground. and now here we are in the high 70's. no complaints about the change we've seen, i like it i live for the heat, and hello we havn't had the humidity yet so yes:
the weather is gorgeous. wish it could stay like this FOR.EV.ER. and i will enjoy every minute i can!

 this last week i played with new ideas for future patterns.

and i had fun playing with both lines together and appliquéing.
more to come on this. but for now i continue to sew. :) and sneaking out every once in a while to get some of the yummy weather.
we'll talk soon!

V and Co: check it out appliqué love

hey hey hey! so check it out. i have a nice little project in this next issue of Quilts and More 

this time around i made a cute little rice bag to take care of aches and pains in your neck or to warm up those toes!
and well i think you all know that i have a thing for appliqué.
 i love that you can do whatever you want and place it where ever you want. total freedom.

petal applique bag

dresden plate part 1 dresden plate part 2on a zippered pouch.

bloom quilt 

appliquéd wreath 

and then you know my love of hexagons and appliqué:

hexagon applique bag

confetti quilt.

so when i got to create a fun project for this magazine i decided to add my love of applique and hexagons again:

 one thing is for sure this will be a great project to create this season so you can give it to as many wonderful women (or men) for Christmas.

and well if you want to get creative...this one comes with a removable sleeve...so make a few to change the look for the person you are making it for! (ahem or for yourself!)

tomorrow i'll show you the baby quilt i finished this weekend :) i feel the earth and myself thawing as i finally am starting to see green in the grass and the trees are trying real hard to get some leaves on them. my happy season is coming and i feel some fun projects at the tips of my fingers. :) happy face the stupid white stuff is almost gone till the next winter! whoot!
we'll talk soon! 

V and Co: remember when...

...i said i was going to show you how to appliqué and make different middles for your dresden plates today...that was when i had a brain fart and forgot that my kids had a 4 day weekend. and that i invited other boys to come over to keep them company...so currently i have 7 boys pounding their chests and playing LittleBigPlanet Karting on the ps3 and Rock Band  and one little girl and i are trying to survive. we'll have the full tutorial if we survive this ordeal... early this next week. 

till then, say a little prayer my house makes it with this many boys with changing voices...which makes it interesting for rock band and singing. 

talk about sounding like a dying cat parade...

V and Co: how to: appliqué doilies onto a onesie

alrighty. so i heard from a few people, that lots of people are afraid of appliqué. is that true? this boggles me. it's not scary at all? but then again it's one of my favorite things because i can take it anywhere and work on it anytime. and i like the hand work.

but i get it it might be scary. so i'm going to talk a little today about appliquéing a doily onto your newly dyed onesie. and then in the near future we'll continue to talk about appliqué, because i think if you knew how to do it the easy way (no not with the raw edges though that would be find too) but with the right tools you to can do some great turn over looking appliqué. ah but i'm getting ahead of myself here. first lets just talk about this onesie at hand.

to make this onesie you will need:

doilies: now if you have heirloom ones and you wont be making anyone roll over in their grave or upset your great aunt maltilda by dyeing them or using them on something other than a decorative coaster...awesome.

if you need to buy some of your own: go here and joanns has a ton as well. i got mine at joanns (just make sure you buy the crochet doilies not the paper ones).

you can also just use doilies as is. like in my book:

where i make this simple yet elegant gathered border doily quilt. 

see you don't have to dye it...but it sure is kind of fun to do so. :)

okay so lets keep moving:

what you need:

-doilies.

-dyed onesies and doily

-needle and aurifil or any thread to match your color of dye. (i used aurifil)

-embroidery scissors

-pins

and for more thin doilies (and my favorite wonder web  to use for appliqué):

Pellon Wonder-Web 807  <-- we'll show you how to use it next.

okay so first things first:

placement.

where do you want the doily? i wanted most of the doily to show on the front but because it was kind of big i wanted it off center. and i thought it would look cute going around to the back.

so from looking at the onesie from the front i liked the off centered look of the top picture...

so next i shifted the onesie on its side (with the hem facing me) and started to pin it in place. (now disclaimer: i am not using a stabilizer because we wont be sewing it on with a machine, it will be done by hand, if you do not feel comfortable skipping this then by all means place a stabilizer.)

make sure your doily is laying completely flat.

and start to pin the front side of your doily down making sure you only pin through the top layer of your onesies.

once you have a little over half of your doily set in place with the pins, shift the onesies so it is facing down, and make sure when you lay your onesie down flat there are no puckers or loose fabric under the doily.

take your threaded needle and bring the needle up through the jersey and the doily.
next take your needle and place it close the first stitch and go back through the doily and the jersey.
take small stitches first around the whole doily, then making an X through the middle. continue to stitch more X's until you feel like it is secured onto the onesie good enough.

okay now lets look at a thinner more delicate doily:
get your pellon and cut it out the shape of the doily. (it doesnt have to be perfect you just have to cover most of the doily so it won't sag where the stitches aren't placed)

next pin in place...

and flip your onesie so the backside is showing. (you may want to place a protective thin cloth under the onesies (so any of the webbing wont get on the ironing board) and a cloth under the iron-just in case) 

iron gently till the webbing has melted and adhere's the doily onto the front of the shirt (again the edges might not be perfectly kept down we just want to make sure that the doily stays put)

after you check that it indeed is secured in place repin just to make sure it doesn't travel or anything. 

and then repeat all the other steps we did with the doily.

and now you have two adorable looking one of a kind onesies.
next how to will be the ruffled ombre flower onesie...and then i have another fun thing we'll make with all the doilies i bought. :)