I finished the baby room, and wanted to share the panel quilt I did for the wall and/or bed.
It was 2 panel pieces I bought and hoarded. When cleaning out my sewing room to turn it into a baby room, I found it and decided to make it for the baby. The center is essentially a large 4 patch with a border. Totally doable for a beginner, yet it still looks impressive as a project (well, to non-quilters it does )
I played with this wooden doll crib when I was little, but it never had bedding that fit it (or maybe it did, but it got lost in the handing down process from my cousin ->sister ->me). So one night I made a dust ruffle, mattress, reversible quilt and pillow for the crib. So cute!
My dad upholstered several Dux furniture pieces for me, but I have cats. And the cats frequently shed or puke on everything we own.
Hence, the need for slipcovers. Originally, I had a cotton fabric pinned around the cushions, but the sun exposure damaged it. Polar fleece I draped on the chair next to this one has no ill effects from sun, so I picked up some sale-fleece and got to work.
The bottom cushion has a boxing on the sides, but it was a pain to do. Even with pinning and a walking foot, the fleece stretched out, causing me to rework it several times. The top cushion I did a simpler construction, and it came out nicer, I think.
On to the next chair: a high backed version with a head rest pillow and ottoman.
I wasn't going to do much for Halloween, but my cousin wanted me to paint her face and her friend's face before they went to a corn maze/haunted house event. I ended up tagging along to the haunt event, and Zombie and Death ended up being mistaken for staff at the corn maze. We also scared the haunters!!
This was my first time doing a Zombie face, and I used pictures of what other painters have done for inspiration. Here's what he looked like at the end of being painted:
Right and Left Side Views
Not up for the contest, but wanted to share anyways My cousin with a Water Sprite Mask:
Hubby and I as Old Fashioned Aviator and Death: I made my death costume from a store bought robe, with a sewn hood and haunted tulle for effect.
I found a quilt square stamper at the thrift store (it stamps a paper piecing pattern onto muslin fabric), and this was my first attempt at anything close to paper piecing. My colors are wonky for a log cabin pattern, but it went together with minimal aggravation.
Any suggestions on how to bind it? Should I use ribbon as bias tape?
This is a 12 inch by 12 inch square for the Air Venture Quilt Square contest. It's getting mailed off today!
This is my first appliqué project, and I have to say, invisible nylon thread is a wonderful invention. I drew the airplane on a graph paper grid. Then i drew an enlarged grid on my paper pattern and transferred the drawing to the pattern. The landscape is a hodge podge of fabrics I had in my stash; the majority of the fabric was from our anniversary trip in January (I was going to make an anniversary quilt for us, but it turned into this instead).
The landscape elements were just free-form cut from the fabrics. The airplane was cut out using freezer paper as a stencil. I also found you can use the glad press and seal plastic to make patterns from one paper, then just stick it to another and cut around the shapes. It's a good option for those without a light box. All the fabric bits were glued in place using a water soluble glue stick, then I did a zig zag stitch using invisible thread on the top to secure it all down. When the main pieces were done, I free motioned more stitching because it looked so empty.
The binding is double thickness, and I sewed it to the back first, then zig zagged it to the front. It went fast, and I think it looks nice. On the backside, the neutral thread made a frame of sorts around the whole square, which looks cool.
Hi all. I finally made the brain jello mold, and I must say, the results are rather disturbing. The recipe called for a peach or watermelon jello with low fat evaporated milk and a few drops of green food coloring. I never did figure out a way to label the gyri and sulci, but it definitely started conversation at the BBQ. I was actually surprised people ate it, but it was half gone by the end of the BBQ.
I also made some normal cupcakes for the kiddos. Everyone loved them.
This is a birthday cake for my hubby, who is a pilot in his spare time. I used the pound cake recipe from Joy of Cooking, and it baked up wonderfully. The mace really added a good flavor to the cake. I used Wilton's standard butter cream frosting (1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup butter, vanilla extract, 4 cups of powdered sugar, 4 tbs milk), and piped most of it on with a pastry bag. When I spread the frosting on, I added a bit of light corn syrup to thin it down.
This was my first try with fondant, and I used it for the arms, hands, propeller, and facial features. The camera really emphasized the cornstarch remains on the fondant; when seen in normal light, you don't even notice it. The propeller, wings, and tail have a base of plastic (from a strawberry container). The propeller was covered in fondant, and it attaches with a toothpick, which allows it to move nicely. The wings were given a coat of frosting before piping on the filling stars on the top/visible edges.
This is my first quilt, and I made it with 6 fat quarters for a baby sized quilt. The pattern was from atkinsondesigns.com. It goes together pretty nicely; the instructions were great for a total newbie. It's just pin basted right now, but I plan on doing some freemotion stitching on it when I find some time this week.
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