Blueprint Quilt {love/hate}

Inspired by this dress

from May/June 2007 Blueprint Magazine

****so sorry about the quality...the page got really beat up during quilt process.

This is the original article it appeared in, but does not include the photo of this dress.

The Quilt

Finished size measures 71.5 x 50.5 inches

I kept track of my costs this time around for those who are curious

SUPPLIES:

all solids purchased at my local Joann's using 40-50% off coupons

prints purchased at local quilt shop

1 yard Kona cotton solid in "Navy" $3.19

1 yard Country Classic cotton in "Kelly" $2.15

1 yard Quilter's Cotton in "Honeydew" $2.64

1 yard Country Classic cotton in "Artesian Blue" $2.15

3 yards Kona cotton solid in "White" $9.57

3 1/2 yards Lattice Urban Green by Fabri-Quilt (sale) $10.50

5/8 yard polka dot $6.00 (this one hurt after getting all the rest so cheaply, but it was so perfect)

1 2/3 yard Warm and natural Quilt batting $11.oo

TOTAL COST = $47.20

I didn't take as many photos of this quilt. Probably because I go from LOVING to HATING it about every other week. I'd do a lot of things different if I had a do-over. #1 though is a less literal translation.

But......It was just one of those things I had to get out of my system.

(click to enlarge quilting detail)

Bee Vintage Blocks for September {Strings}

Bee Vintage for Melissa,

 who wanted string blocks with lots of blue. 

This would be why I was practicing.

Introducing: Project Million Amigos

My kids attend a Spanish Immersion School here locally. Each Spring Break a group from our school community travel to Zihuatanejo, Mexico for a service project organized thru Project Million Amigos. They take school supplies, clothing, toys, hygiene items, and while there have also helped build classrooms and bathrooms for the community.

The last trip they made was March 2009 due to the influenza scare this past Spring. And although our family has been unable to participate by way of traveling to Mexico with any of these groups I have tried to help by making school bags to donate. If nothing else, I can sew! Each year they take anywhere from 500 to 600 bags to give to local children and families. The bags get used daily back and forth from school as well as going shopping daily at the mercados.


Due to the postponement this past year they already have approximately 300 bags ready, but need another 300 more. We are hoping that you all will want to help us help them reach their goal of 600 bags.

Here is some basic info to get you started:

Any non-stretchy fabric of any color will work--cottons, upholstery, denim, ticking, etc. The bags do not need to be lined. Basically the bags are messenger style bags without a flap.

Finished Dimensions
14" W x 16" H (doesn't need to be exact)
Mitered corners at the bottom to square off (optional)
1 1/2" W x 26-28" long handle (approximately)

So, spread the word, leave a comment, or email us! emilylovesbaskets@msn.com We want to know whose with us and how many bags you are making. We'll email you the address of where to mail your completed bags.

Finished bags will need to be received no later than March 1, 2011. The trip will be the week of March 28, 2011. You can send them anytime before the deadline.

Note: I'll be posting a tutorial in the next couple of days of how I make them if you need a little more direction.

UPDATE (Nov. 2010): Due to changes in the trip we already have the amount of bags that will be allowed for this trip. Thanks to those of you who have already sent bags or are committed to send bags.

A Scalloped Quilt, Bias Binding, And One Huge Repair

I recently acquired this quilt from my mother in law. It has a long and storied past...

I was helping her clean out one of her storage closets when we ran across it. She had forgotten where she was storing it and thought that maybe she had thrown it away without remembering. It was made by her mother in 1951 as a wedding gift. My MIL never thought it was big enough for daily bed use so she put it away and never really used it. She has many quilts made by her mother, so none of them were particularly special above the others. And when a quilt isn't big enough for a bed it gets put in a closet.

When we pulled it out it was severely damaged. The top and bottom edges were moth-eaten and torn. She wasn't sure what to do with it so she said I could have it and "do whatever you want with it." In the back of my mind I knew exactly what I was hoping to do with it but I didn't tell her for fear that she wouldn't let me have it.

When I got it home I spread it out to inspect the damage. There are definitely lots of places where it is worn, but I could still see the beauty of it and wanted to fix it.

So I cut off the two edges that were so badly damaged, tore off the remaining bits of the binding, and set off to rebind what was left.  I found an almost perfect match to the original green binding in a country cotton.  The color is called Honeydew.

My MIL has asked me about the quilt since bringing it home, so I got up the nerve to tell her what I was doing. Surprising enough she was very excited that I fixed it and am giving it new life at my house.

I was a little bit nervous that I'd end up ruining the quilt, but in the end I figured it was better than leaving it in rags. I am SO happy that I did this. The quilt is still very beautiful to me even if it's not in perfect shape.

I think I'm going to hang it in my living room with the others.  I'm hoping my quilt club ladies will get excited about it when I show them this month, too.

Ready for School Lunch

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my kids. Yeah, we start late around here. And mostly we don't mind, until we are still in school around June 10th. That part stinks.

Anyway, this year I decided to make my kids new school lunchbags instead of buying new ones. The bags were based on the Lunch Tote (pg. 86-89) in "Sewing Green" by Betz White. The kids got to pick out their own fabric and then sort of design how they wanted them to end up looking.

L to R: Z's camo bag (4th grade), B's treats bag (2nd grade), L's blue paisley bag (HS frosh), M's monkey bag (6th grade)....3 of the 4 kids wanted their bags to be wider than tall and so we turned the design that direction. They can't wait to try them out.

We embellished them with an outside zipper pocket, mostly for them to carry their lunch money in. We've had issues in the past with it becoming lost en route to the cafeteria. We lined the pockets with something fun and/or surprising.

Here's a look at the inside. I was not able to find PUL fabric at any of my local fabric stores. So instead I bought plastic (from the home decor section) and used that as the lining. We'll see how it works. The kids are very excited about it. I hope it works the way I planned for it to.

For the "bias tape" I cut 2 3/4" strips and attached it how I would the binding on my quilts. Also for the bags that have 2 handles, instead of 1 strap, I sandwiched those like the tabs: in between the Velcro and inside lining. And instead of using ribbons for straps we made our own or used some nylon straps that I already had.

Note: If you want you can also try making your own Reusable sandwich wraps (also found in "Sewing Green", pg. 90-92). I'm going to do this with some scraps and see if I like them or not.

Canning Session: Pears

This past week while I should've been getting myself and my kids more prepared for the first day of school this next Tuesday I was canning pears instead.

O.K. so my timing wasn't particularly great, but we needed more pears and they ripened a bit earlier than I had anticipated they would when I bought them. Sometimes you just don't have a choice as to when you are able to can your produce.

Here are a few tips about canning pears: (peaches are about the same)

You'll need about 2-3# of pears per quart jar. I always plan on 2# per quart and then the rest is just a bonus. I had bought 2 - 14# boxes of pears at $8.99/box (in 2002 I was paying $5.99/box) and canned 14 quarts. We would've had a couple more jars but we all had to eat a couple fresh ones.

Pears and peaches are canning items that may not necessarily be cost effective, but they are definitely QUALITY effective. Peaches, especially for our area, are expensive (like $25 for a 16# box). But the taste and quality are worth it to us. And I figure that the savings on other items makes it so we can compensate for this expense.

We prefer wide mouth jars as you can get stuff in and out of the jars easier than the regular mouth. I can actually get my hand into a wide mouth jar if I need to. The jars above are wide mouth ones.

Our family prefers a light syrup on our canned fruit. My friend Andrea and her family like heavy syrup. That is one nice thing about canning fruit for yourself--you can control what you are putting into your jars.
______________________________
Making Sugar Syrups for Pears (or peaches)
Light: 1 c. sugar to 4 c. boiling water
Medium: 2. c. sugar to 4 c. boiling water
Heavy: 3 c. sugar to 4 c. boiling water
______________________________
Processing Times (check your area for any altitude adjustments that would alter the processing time)
Hot Water Bath (hot packed) pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes.
OR
Pressure Can pints and quarts both for 10 minutes at 6# pressure.
OR
Steam Canner pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes.
______________________________

All but 1 jar sealed. RATS!!! Oh well, I just had to eat fresh canned pears the next morning for breakfast. My favorite way to eat them is with a little bit of fresh squeezed orange juice mixed in too. Oh so lovely!

For complete step-by-step instructions on canning check out the Ball® Blue Book or Ball® Canning website for their tutorials.

A Quilt Story

Today one of my quilts is being featured over at Quilt Story. (Thanks Heather and Megan!) While you are there spend some time browsing through all the wonderful stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry.

For those visiting us for the first time, welcome, and thanks for browsing through our little corner of blog world! Enjoy!

Won't You Join Us?

We are working out the details for a service project we are participating in and would love for you all to join us.  Things should be figured out and ready to share next week.  Stay tuned...

Mini Quilt Monday

It measures 12.5 inches square and will be joining the others on my quilt wall.

I'm working on a big version, too...

Inspiration came from Country Living Magazine.

I entered some of my quilts in a quilt show...

I got brave and entered some of my quilts in my town's local quilt show. No judging or anything, just showing. I live in a small town so I wasn't expecting much...

(This picture pretty much shows the whole thing!)

But imagine my surprise when the whole show consisted of about 10 big quilts (3 of which were mine) and 20 little quilts. It's kind of funny to me! I should've known.

Oh, well... I'm happy I did it anyway. Next year I'll try and convince my quilt club ladies to display some of their works, too. We could take over the whole show and call it "The Old Ladies and Emily Quilt Show!"

So, have you ever entered a quilt in a show? How did it go? I'd love to hear...

Can you spot my quilts? They are:
Scrappy Makes Me Happy
Cherry Chocolate Bento Box
And Alumni Plain Spoken (aka Matt's Aggie Quilt)

17 Down 39 To Go...

I have plenty of other projects that need to be finished, but here I go again starting something new...

It's actually quite therapeutic to sew all those tiny strings together. Who would've ever guessed.

It's going to be a bright one!

EDITED: Here is a great tutorial if you want to make your own string blocks. I am doing mine 8.5 inches --which means I am squaring off all my kids' school papers that were destined for the trash. My little way of recycling! :)

I Love the Smell of Salsa in the Morning

This past week I've been canning salsa like crazy. We ran out of our last jar of home canned salsa sometime in March and really, nothing we've bought since then has measured up in any way, shape, or form. We'd be open to suggestions--as of yet we've found nothing we like as much as our own canned salsa.

All these recipes can be found in the Ball® Complete Book to Home Preserving. Here are the 3 recipes I used for these batches.



Carrot Pepper Salsa (left), pg. 211

It appears this salsa will have a more mild flavor based on the recipe. This is my first year to try this one. We'll see how it goes. My kids think it is CRAZY to put carrots into a salsa, but I keep reminding them that you don't know if you'll like it unless you try it. It could be our new favorite, who knows. This recipe had you cook down the salsa for an hour, and even though I did that I still ended up with more jars than they said it would yield.

Note: I did try a bit that was leftover in the pan and it has a sweet taste to it--the brown sugar in it--but I liked it.

Jalapeño Salsa (middle), pg. 209

This recipe can also be found in the Ball Blue Book.

This is the recipe that I use most often--it has some serious KICK!! which is the way the majority of us like it. Equal ratio of tomatoes to jalapeños. Oh yeah! Normally when I double the recipe I do not double the jalapeños, however. Instead I double it by going 1/2 jalapeños and 1/2 green peppers. (i.e. 3 c. each instead of 6 c. jalapeños.)

Fresh Vegetable Salsa (right), pg. 203

I'm guessing that this one will be a middle of the road salsa as far as the "kick" factor goes. This one you cook down for 30 minutes before canning. Also my first year to try this recipe.

The book recommends: For optimum flavor let your jars sit 3-4 weeks before opening them to allow the salsa flavors to "mellow and blend".

O.K. I don't know if we can realistically wait that long....but, I guess we'll eat this fresh salsa in the meantime.

Hanging Quilts

I have this little wall space between my banister and the entrance to my kitchen. It has remained empty/blank since we bought our house last summer. It's not real big, so I was having a hard time deciding what to put there.

Finally I came up with this...

I thought this would be a great way to a) put something colorful on my walls cheaply and b) showcase some of my quilts

Of course, the best part is that I can rotate the quilts as my mood/the seasons change.

One a side note, one of my fall projects will be to paint that clock. I'm thinking something is this color palette, maybe even a shade of turquoise. Wouldn't that be awesome?!

Canned Vegetable Soup

Last week I picked a bunch of orange colored, cherry-sized tomatoes from my neighbor's garden. She was letting them rot on the vine since they weren't what she thought she had planted and she didn't really like the flavor. We thought they tasted just fine, so she let me take what wasn't already rotten and fermented and used them to can this soup. (Unfortunately most were already beyond hope of using. That just makes me crazy!)

This is one of my favorite soup recipes out of the Ball Blue Book (or it is also in the Ball® Complete Book of Home Preserving, pg. 402)


My kids are not as thrilled with this soup as hubby and I are, but that is fine with me. You can eat this as is--as a vegetarian soup, or I also like to add cooked chicken chunks to it. It is great to have on cold days. Open up the jar, dump it in the pan, heat and eat. So easy! Add some homemade bread and even better.

Click on Vegetable Soup to get the recipe and canning directions.


Thanks, Vicki, for the tomatoes. I'll bring you a jar of soup.

NOTE: The only change I make is that I can it with fresh green beans instead of using cooked lima beans. Personal preference.

Marinated Cucumbers

I don't like pickles, but I do like marinated cucumbers. Go figure!

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes for cucumbers--if they are homegrown, even better.

It comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (the red and white checked one) which is my personal favorite basic cookbook.

Marinated Cucumbers

For marinade combine in a covered container:

1/4 c. vinegar or lemon juice (I use white vinegar)

1 - 2 Tbs. sugar

1/4 tsp. celery seed

Add:

1 large cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced (3 c. worth)

1 small onion, thinly sliced and separted into rings

Toss to coat with marinade.

Cover and chill for 2 hrs. or up to 5 days.

You can also add a little diced tomato to it, which is quite delicious also.

Me and My Quilt Club

Six months ago I was invited to join a quilting group.

To tell you the truth I wasn't sure how it would work out.

But, I'm happy to say that it has been such a great experience for me.

It's a time for me to get out and talk all things fabric and quilts with a group of very talented and supportive women.

But unlike the Modern Quilt Guilds that are popping up all over the country, my quilt club is...well, not so much.

There are 12 of us in the group.

Here are some of us on a recent Quilt Show outing.

See, not so modern.

(Which one of these things is not like the other? That would be me!)

When we meet each month we always have show and tell.

I bring things like this and this.

They don't quite know what to say...

But, of course, they are always so sweet and kind and say things like, "pretty colors."

So why do I go?

Because these ladies are talented!

As in, years of experience.

And they do everything by hand.

In fact the youngest lady there (not me), who is still a grandma, is the only one out of the whole group who machine quilts.

And only one or two other ladies gets patterns and ideas off the internet.

So I go each month and listen, and learn, and admire all their creations.

And while some of it is not my taste or style (I'm sure they say the same about me!)

I can still see the beauty and enjoy learning from each and every one of them.

Make Your Own Eyelet Extender Slip

I've gotten several requests for directions on how to make an eyelet extender slip lately. I'll first apologize for not writing them up sooner but summer has gotten in the way of all things productive around here.

I made my own slip over two years ago, so I don't have any cool pictures of the process or anything like that, but I can at least give you some basic directions. You'll laugh when you figure out how easy it is, though.


First you will need to decide how long you want your finished slip to be. To avoid making your slip too long or too short, have someone else measure for you while you stand up straight. Since I mostly wear my slip with a dress I measured from my natural waist to below my knee. For me that means 26 inches finished. If you're going to wear it under a skirt you will probably want to start measuring more in your hip region.

I had a straight silky half slip I purchased for $7-$9 from Wal-Mart to use for the top portion. The length you need will depend on your height. I used the top 14 inches of a 24 inch slip. (I am a cheapskate so I didn't actually purchase a new slip. I had one that was needing to be retired so I had no problem cutting it up. You can always save money by making your own top "slip" portion using any basic elastic waisted skirt pattern and some cotton or silky fabric.)

As for eyelet, there are a million different designs. The two main designs usually comes in an all over design or an edge-only design. I used an edge-only design because I wanted the finished scallop portion on the bottom. Since I wanted the extender part to be kind of full, I cut my eyelet to measure 12 inches tall by 72 inches wide (2 yards). (Again, I am cheap, so I used some eyelet that my mother-in-law had given me years ago!)


So, now that everything is figured out, all you do is this:

Cut the top portion of your slip to length (Mine was 14.5")
Cut your eyelet to length and sew the side seems -- right sides together (Mine was 12.5" by 2 yards)
Gather the top edge of your eyelet using a basting stitch
Sew gathered eyelet edge to the bottom portion of slip -- right sides together
Serge to finish off raw edge

Voila!

It will look a little something like this:


Hope this helps. If you have any questions or need some clarifications feel free to ask in the comments or email me.


FYI-Renae sewed her slip directly into the waistband of this skirt rather than making it a separate slip.

Quilt Fix

This was not on my list of things to do at all, but sometimes you have to take care of life's little emergencies. I really hope that I don't have to do this ever again, because I do NOT enjoy picking out and repairing. I can do it...I just don't like it.

Earlier this Spring for my son's 9th b-day I made him a Crazy 9 patch quilt, per his request. He was thrilled with it and has used it every day since, taken it on sleep-overs, campouts, and is so happy to have it. Well a sad day occurred the other day when he was cutting up a big box to make some craft thing, but was doing it while his pillow and blanket were inside. Yeah, NOT a good idea....

He came crying and showed me this:

Yep, right thru ALL the layers of the quilt.Backside view

He asked me if I could fix it and when I told him "no" the wailing really started up. So then I amended that and told him I probably could, but it wouldn't look very good. He insisted I try and fix it up. He didn't care how it would look.

It really would've been easier to repair, I think, had he not cut all the way through the quilt. Then I could've just zigzagged it some. And I'm not sure what I did was the best way to go about it, but, oh well, it was what I could come up with in hurry since the boy was desperate.

Looking at the top I figured it wouldn't be too bad to repair. I had to undo about a foot of the binding and more of the quilting than I had anticipated in order to get to that section. Lucky for him it was a 9 patch that was right next to the outer sashing. (see top photo bottom right)

I replaced the little orange plaid square and also a little section of the sashing. I decided not to replace anything on the backing. The backing is one solid entire piece (I had bought 102" wide fabric specifically for it). So instead of cutting out the ruined section and putting in a new piece, I found an extra piece of the backing and then used Wonder-Under® to fuse the patch inside the quilt to the backside of the backing. Then I added some Fray Check™ for good measure. Once that was done I redid the quilting and reattached the section of binding. Almost as good as new.

It doesn't look as great on the back as on the front. And I'm not sure what else I could have done except cut out a section and then sew something back in, but the boy is happy to have it to use again and as Hubby said, "Maybe seeing that will help him remember to think a bit more before doing something the next time."

Maybe....

In the Corner Quilt

This is the first quilt that I've made that I actually followed a specific pattern, directions, layout, yardage recommendations, etc. (Although I found the yardage was much more than I actually needed: almost 1 yd. TOO much on the reddish piece and 2/3 yd. TOO much on the blue. For the backing I figured it out beforehand and bought less than recommended there also.)

I found this pattern in the book, Fresh and Fabulous Quilts, by Cheryl Brown. "In The Corner" is the name of this pattern and it is found on pgs. 38-41. This was really an easy, straightforward pattern.

I worked on this quilt over the course of a month as a surprise b-day present for a friend of mine (which still ended up given as a slightly belated gift).

Back View Finished Size: 58" X 76"
I just did a 2" wide apart cross hatch quilt pattern. I'm not a "fancy" design quilter.

Machine binding. I had intended to handstitch it until it became a belated birthday gift.

Here are a couple others quilts from that book that I really liked too:
Every Blooming Thing
Flower Power
Fruit Basket

I don't anticipate making any of the above quilts anytime soon, but I sure thought they were great patterns and fun ideas to mull over.