Bed Runner and Hello Kitty...

In a whimsical moment, I really wanted Hello Kitty in my sewing room! And you know, the Janome 6300 is a very plain no-nonsense looking machine. Obviously the only course of action was to get me some stickers! You cannot believe how many different stickers there are out there, but my grocery store had the stickers that really resonated with me. A restrained application of hello Kitty to my sewing machine made me smile. So many smiles that I had to have a stuffed Hello Kitty as well, so look for that in the background in future pictures. OH YES, the bed runner. I am using a tutorial idea from the web - It's Quilt-As-You-Go table runner from Diary of a Quilter and so easy - you lay out the backing and put down your batting, then proceed to sew strips starting at the half way point of the sandwich.  When one side is finished you go to the next side, after turning it over, so you never have more than a half of the runner in the harp of the machine. I used a variety of scraps I already had to do this runner. I hope to use this QSYG method again. I think with some planning you could do a crazy quilt style item this way - a table runner or bed runner or table topper - something not too huge. I just used pins to baste my runner, I didn't use any adhesive as I stay away from adhesive and other sprays - smoothing the piece regularly saves accidents on the back, and the pins are no problem for me. This project was a bridge project from the last larger item to the next larger item. My brain has a dedicated area for thinking about and planning my next larger quilt - Asian (Oriental) fabrics and a different assembly than I have ever done. I may as well say Japanese fabrics because I love the fabrics either from Japan or with Japanese inspired designs. That's all I want to buy any more. But I do have a buildup of scraps and remnants of other modes of design to use up on these projects.

Spring has Sprung in the Sewing Room...

Covers are complete now, and a fun weekend of sewing it was! A quick trip to Joann Fabrics to snag another yard of double-sided fabric made it all possible. I had two remnants from the bin in the past, and with the new yardage, we covered them all. The blue on on the Kenmore Mini Ultra I made last year. It is so easy to do that when I discovered that I made up my mind to make the rest of my machines covers like that. It does cheer up the room! The link with tiny print and flower print top is on the Pfaff, and the large all floral is the Janome 6300. That is a huge machine and it is very deep as well front to back, especially in the back of the machine where the double thread stand is, so that cover is huge as well. The Pfaff looks trim because of its practically rectangular build. The pretty yellow with red and white floral small print is the Janome 115110, and it looks pretty cute. All you do is hold the fabric up to the machine after you fold the fabric evenly in half. Then you hold it up to the machine and sort of measure how far to fit it around to half the ends and allow for a seam. Sew the sides after cutting, make corners, fit it on and measure for hem, and sew hem. That's it. You could finish the inside seaming with tape and have a reversable cover perhaps. I am going to try that one of these days. I guess this decorating my sewing space is a Spring revolution! Wild sewing women unite! Get some color in there and make it a happy place!

Poppy Power!!.....

Poppy Madness cheers up sewing room-den-office. Finally finished with the curtains and valance today. I hope this will being on an attack of Spring weather. After all, we did turn the clocks forward two nights ago, so shouldn't Spring be on the way forthwith? We do have a winter storm warning on our forecast from this week, but i am hoping that is going to be at least one of the last storms of the season. We have had enough. I can't get enough yellow in my life at the moment. I suppose I could buy a Janome Magnolia to get some yellow machine goodness, eh? But I would rather have pink or pinkish-red in a machine next time I buy one. Next up are new covers for several of the machines in the sewing room. I plan on three - one for the big Janome, one for the Janome 115110, and one for my Pfaff. All from double sided quilted fabric. They are not hard to make, so reporting on that next time.

Finished the Table Runner...

Finished and out in the cold for photos. I used a dark blue cotton print, from Keepsake Quilting many years ago, for the binding. That fabric has a darker and lighter all over bamboo print, and makes a nice framing for the other fabrics in this piece. I was told just today that the pattern I used in the quilting is a variant of something called Baptist Fan. I have no idea where that name came from, as the chrysanthemum pattern is an ancient one in Japan, and a pattern that I have been doodling since the 1960s. Probably because my father sent home numerous items from Japan in the 50s and fabric was a player in many of those items. Lovely - I fell in love with Japanese design all those years ago. Anyway, I don't do equal distance in this pattern, I like to vary both the distance between the lines and the size of the semi-circles you see. My kitty also likes this table runner! He wanted me to leave it outside, but I don't think that's a good idea. This little quilt is a nice practice piece for me and I hope to make a large Oriental Fabrics quilt very soon.

Planning the Curtains...

New curtains for the den/sewing room/office! I haven't made new curtains in here since the 1990's, so it seemed time for an update to something lighter and more modern in look.  This is the fabric - Joann's last week. The thread I just got today in the mail, and I am going to thread up the serger for the job later today. I am pretty excited about this. I don't do much home dec, but I do like to have a nice valance or curtain up now and then. The serger should make short work of the job as well. There were a lot of fabrics to choose from, but this is the only one I liked enough to spend the money on - that's for sure. It is an HGTV fabric, as I said in the last post, and I didn't even know they had a line. that's how not-home-deccy I am these days. I love the colors, and of course I see now that the combo of yellow, gray and white is quite common now, and I probably bought this just as the trend is ebbing!  I am going to stop the blog now and get to work!

Table Runner Delay and Curtain Project...

Table runner is coming along. Again, the Pfaff is trouble free on the free motion quilting. I am using Isacord thread in a neutral cream color, but it seems to be awfully thin for a bobbin, although you get loads more thread on a bobbin with Isacord! The Pfaff has no trouble with it, although loading a bobbin was interesting, and the thread seems to just slip off at the beginning and it took a few times of firmly holding it to have the bobbin wind properly - a thing that has never happened before on my Pfaff!

But the colors of the fabrics and the ease of the FMQ make this a happy project, and one which I love doing, I had a week of illness and didn't get it done, and I want to finish it this weekend.

Meanwhile, I want to make new curtains for my den/sewing area/office and I picked out a lovely fabric at Joann's on half price last week. It's an HGTV print in yellow, gray and white, with a stylized poppy design.  Picture will come in blog post about said curtains. I had to order Maxi-Lock for my serger in the color I wanted to use with the home dec project, as oddly enough, I didn't have any nice yellow, or any yellow at all for that matter.  I am using 2 yellows, 1 gray and one white for the project in the serger, and yellow for what needs to be done on the machine.