Your Quilting Rooms or Your Dream Quilting Rooms

Well I don't have any quilts done yet, but don't fret I do have some ideas floating around and fabric picked out for the next project. I just have to sit down and get crackin on it.

So in the mean time I wanted to show you where I do all my quilting with my Quilting Kitty Bremley. Then I'll show you a before and after pictures of reorganizing my quilting room. Come on in to my room of creative happenings!!!!




 

This room also doubles as a music room. It also use to be a library
with all of my hubby's and I's books. It was a little too crowded. So we moved
the 5-shelved bookcases out into the other spare bedroom.


1. I have a cutting table that is on the left side of the room. That is just a fold up table from Target. I have a table cloth on it so the kitty litter that is underneath the table is hidden from view. Sometimes the smell is not. "HUBBY!!!! The quilting kitty has a full litter box. I'm busy quilting can you clean it? Hehe.  Just kidding. We take turns cleaning Bremley's litter.

2.  I have a sewing table. This is our old kitchen table that we had when we first got married. Actually is was my husband, Jeremy's table when he was still single and living with roommates. My sewing table sits under the window. It's a great place for Bremley, the Quilting Kitty, to sit and watch me as well as watch for birds while I'm quilting.

3. I have two 3-shelf bookcases. They sit on either side of my sewing table. These hold books and some of my fabrics. My rulers also sit atop one of the bookshelves. On the other bookshelf I have an unfinished quilt that I found at an antique shop. (Remind me to tell you the story about that quilt) as well as my Nanna's, from Australia, little glass pitcher. I only met her three times in my life. She passed away a couple of years ago and so this is very special to me.


4. I have a small stool to sit upon at my sewing table that belonged to my Grandpa Brown. He use to sit upon this stool in his workshop or while cooking in the kitchen, or out in the garage tinkering. He passed away a couple of years ago and this was given to me. The piano was my Grandma Brown's and she use to teach me piano on this. These are some pretty special things I have in my quilting room from my grandparents from both sides of my family.

5. The two wall hangings are quilts I have made. The quilt next to my cutting table is my very first quilt that I made back in 2005. It's an Alex Anderson sampler quilt made in Thimbleberries fabric. The small wall hanging above the piano was something I quickly put together from tutorial given by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I needed something to hang above the piano that wasn't so big. This quilt was perfect. It's done in Asian prints. I'll have to post instructions and pics of this quilt. It's another quick and easy pattern. You'll love it!!!

Now it's time for some before and after pictures. Sometimes my quilting room looks like my before pictures while I'm quilting. I'm sure a lot of you quilter's never have your spaces look like this. LOL. My quilting room then looks like the after pics after my projects are done. Bremley, the cat can even use her litter box. lol



Before being organized



Just purchased the bookshelves

Wow what a mess!!!! This is not really how messy my quilt room is when
 I'm working on a quilt. This was just me reorganizing when I got my new
bookshelves and cardboard box lids for my fabrics.  I hope no one gets lost
in here. It looks like a tornado went through this room! Let's just close the door,
Shall we?

 

Had a brilliant idea on what to do with my fabric.
I cut off some cardboard box lids and wrapped my fabric
around the lids. They fit perfectly on my shelves.

Phew, this looks soooo much better. Organizing makes me feel
stress free. What a GLORIOUS feeling to be able to
see the floor and everything is in their rightful place.

Here are some of my fabric. The little glass pitcher is Nana Sims'
The Dresden Plate quilt is the one I found at the antique shop.
The pattern above the bookcase is called "Crossing Canoes"

My Bernina and the kitchen table that doubles as my sewing table. My husband, Jeremy,
researched and tested out which sewing machine would be the very best.
What an amazing husband I have!!! Look Jeremy I'm getting a lot of use
out of my Bernina.

My cutting table, Rowenta ironing board. What's behind closet door
number 1?

Fabric!!! And closet door number 2? More Fabric!!!



My cutting table, mat, and a rotating tool organizer (My mom bought this for me, I love it)
Shhhh, the kitty litter is under the table. The table cloth is just to hide the whereabouts
of the Quilting Kitty's private bathroom.

Another view of my sewing table.

My Grandma Brown's piano that is now mine.

The other bookshelf holding my little library of quilt books, my quilting
scrapbook that I started as well as my box I take with me to classes to carry
my necessary tools for quilting and a notebook. The blocks on the wall are paper piecing blocks
from the paper piecing class I took. I love paper piecing.



Another view of my piano and bookcase



 Ok you have now seen where I do my quilting. It's  just a little space and certainly not filled with amazing furniture like the Koala quilting studio set up, but it brings me joy and a lot of creativity happens in this room. I would love to hear from you and see some of your quilting spaces. So leave a comment and or pics to share where you do your creative happenins!!!!

You can even share what your dream quilt/craft/scrapbooking spaces would look like if you had all the money in the world. Happy quilting and organizing!!!!


Quillow Madness

Quillows are wonderful things.

 Definition: Noun.  (1) A quilt that is made with a pocket on one side. When the quilt is folded and the pocket turned inside out then the rest of the quilt is tucked inside the pocket it becomes a pillow. (2) A quilt that turns into a pillow=Quillow.

See the following examples of some quillows:

 

 

You won't believe how quick and easy these quillows really are. Sure you can go out and by a pattern for making quillows, I did. But I had the idea that quillows should be way more simple than what my pattern was giving me. I pulled out the quillow that someone made for me and I used that as my own pattern and figured out how to make them. So let me make it just as easy for you as it was for me. Here we go!!

Step One: The fabric. You can use any fabric you want but if you want warm and snuggly, go for fleece, anti-pill fleece, or flannel. I went to my favorite fabric store, Joanne's, and found fleece that I absolutely loved. (It was on sale so that was a bonus).

I made two sizes: Small, (for my min pin Ceasar to curl up in)

 

And Large (for my parents to use at night when it's 4 degrees outside)

 

 

Step Two: How much fabric.  For the small quillow you will need 1 yard of fabric for each side of the quilt. For the pocket you will need a 1/2 yard of the same fabrics for both sides of the pocket.

 

For the large quillow, 2 yards of fabric one for each side. For the pocket: 1/2 yard of each fabric for both sides of the pocket.

Step Three: Sewing the Quillow. If you are using fleece, you need to trim off the rolled edges on all fabrics.  Take the two pieces of fabric and place them right sides together. This means the pretty sides of the fabric face each other. You will need to pin all for sides, especially if you are using fleece. Fleece moves and shifts while sewing. Sew around all four sides with a 1/4" seam allowance (Everything in quilting uses a 1/4" seam allowance) but leave an opening big enough to pull the entire quilt inside out. Now that you have an opening and the entire quilt top is sewn together stick your hands all the way to the corners at the opposite ends and pull through the opening until your quilt is turned inside out. The pretty sides of each fabric should now be seen.

 



 

 

Step Four: The Pocket. Cut the half yard fabrics into 18" squares for the small quillow and 22" square for the large quillow. Pin the two squares right sides together. Before sewing the pocket all the way around you need to plan which way your pocket is going to go on the quilt so you can match the two openings together. Now you can sew. What's the seam allowance again? Yes, a 1/4" seam allowance all the way around except to leave an opening just like you did your quilt.  Now, stick your hands into the opening and grab the corners at the opposite end and pull through the opening. Pretty sides of the fabrics should be showing.

 

 

Step Five: Attaching the pocket to the quilt top. You first need to decide what side of your quilt top is your most favorite. Take your pocket and have the same side of your pocket facing up as your favorite side of your quilt top.

You want your pocket to blend in with the fabric. (see pics for the right way to place the pocket and the wrong way).

I should have used the striped side of the pocket

instead of the black side. Wrong way to put

the pocket on the quilt

The pocket is almost invisible. This is the correct

way to attach the pocket to the quilt

Match up the openings while centering the pocket on the quilt top. Once centered on the quilt and the openings are matched up pin down the sides and the openings. You are going to top stitch down both sides of the pocket and the top of the pocket and quilt where the openings are. When you top stitch the openings closed you are going to be stitching through 4 layers of fabric. Do your best. It doesn't have to be perfect. Please, Please, Please make sure you DO NOT stitch the bottom of the pocket. You will no longer have a pocket. So only top stitch 3 sides.

 

 

Your Quillow is done!!! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!!!!

 

 

 



Step Six: Folding the quilt into a pillow. I think it's much easier to show you than to try to explain. There is more than one way to fold a quillow. I found two YouTube videos that will show you how to do it. Try it both ways or you may even have your own way of folding your quillow.

 

Folding Technique 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2btBHvnazDc

 

 

Folding Technique 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOlJ7746bHE

 

If you need any help please feel free to post a comment or email me at hip2quilt@gmail.com.  I can also direct you to YouTube and have you search for tutorials if you get stuck. That's what I do when I need help. Love YouTube.

 

Happy Quillow Making!!!!

Bandana Quilt

I was walking through Walmart one day and I passed by an end cap that made me come to a halt. AIR BREAKS!!!! "What are these wonderful things?" I thought to myself. 
They were bandanas for $0.99. The first thing that popped into my head was, "A quilt!!! I can make a fast and easy quilt out of these!!! And look, they are only 99 cents!!!" So I grabbed a few, ok eight to be exact. Then I went on my merry way.

A couple of days later I was in Jo-Anne's Fabrics and I knew somewhere they too had bandanas. I found them. They were a little more than Walmart but I got a couple, I was a good girl and only got three.  But then I caved and went back to Walmart and picked up a few more 99 cent bandanas.

I brought my treasures home and pulled out my bandana stash. I opened up one and discovered, to my delight it was a perfect 18" square. Now that is really going to make an easy, fast, large quilt. Let's try it out.

So I designed a very simple 12 block quilt top with my 18" square bandanas. It's perfect for a beginner and fast for those in need of a gift in a hurry.

Bandanas I purchased for 99 cents. They are 18" squares

Reaarange the bandanas how you want. I did 3 across and 4 down, a total of 12 blocks.

I sewed three bandanas into a row. Repeat 3 more times.

Some bandanas are shorter than others by just a tad. Don't worry it won't

make a bit of difference once you put the backing on. 

(Bremley, the quilting kitty, testing the quilt top)

"MMMm I think this will do just fine for me to snuggle under"

This bed is our queen size bed. So you can see it makes a pretty good size quilt.

This is just the quilt top, the backing has not been attached yet.

The quilt back. I purchased about 3yrds of my most favorite

fleece. Hint: Fleece, off the bolt is between 48"-60" wide. Most fabrics are 44" wide)

I sewed the quilt top and backing right sides together and 1/4" seam allowance all away around. I did leave an opening so I can turn the quilt inside out. This technique is called turning the quilt. I'll add the photo of the finished quilt tomorrow.

 

Ok so I took longer than "tomorrow" to post the pictures of my finished bandana quilt.  I had given it to one of my best friends for a Christmas present and forgot to take pictures of the finished product. I was over at her house babysitting her children and took some photos of her quilt while I was there. Smart, wasn't I?

Completed Bandana Quilt. It's loved by my dear
friend, Beth and gets borrowed by her hubby and 3 boys.
It has really surpassed the quilt loving test!!!! A+

 

The back of the Bandana Quilt or could be used as the front.
Whichever side Beth decides she wants showing at just that moment of
snuggling.