Junie Moon: June 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Iron Caddy Pad

The last time I went to a quilt guild workshop, I volunteered to bring an extra iron for the attendees to use. This meant I had to put a hot iron in my car after which I didn’t think about beforehand. Not a good thing to do.

When I sew, quilt, or whatever else I’m creating which features fabrics, I am a big believer in washing my fabrics first and ironing as the project progresses. So, I’ve made a portable iron caddy that also converts to an ironing mat. I love this!

The Caddy Pad pattern comes from Sisters’ Common Thread. The pattern comes with a piece of heat-resistant fabric for the lining.

The main and handles/binding fabrics depict sewing-related themes: The Dressmaking Collection—by Amy Barickman, The Vintage Workshop, a division of Indygo Junction for Red Rooster Fabrics. I used a piece of aqua elastic and two thimble buttons.

This photo shows the exterior of the unfolded caddy pad.

Here is what the lining side looks like with the heat-resistant fabric. Now I’m ready for any future sewing adventures outside my own sewing room.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Summer Quilts

The kids love the quilts I made them for their birthdays. I photographed them in the Magnolia tree on the side of my house.

Cam’s Surf Shop quilt.

Kayleigh’s Bannerama quilt.

Andrew’s Beachin’ quilt.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Sailing Adventures

Today is the first day of two weeks of sailing lessons. The kids are excited and we’re about to head out the door for the yacht club to begin our great summer adventure.

Here I am sailing last year (red PFD handling the tiller) on a Flying Scots sailboat—same boat I’ll be on this year for my refresher class. The kids will be on 420s. I don’t know whether we’ll be able to get photos of the four of us sailing as we’ll be a tad too busy—maybe I can get someone from the club to go out and photograph us like they did last year. We’ll see.

I hope your week is beginning with some wondrous summer adventure of your own. If not, go out and make an adventure for yourself.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Surf Shop Quilt

The third and final quilt in my grandkid series is yet another design from Crazy Old Ladies. Besides the cool name (Crazy Old Ladies) and the fact my wacky old self would probably fit right in with them, I do love the company’s quilt designs which are fun, fresh designs.

This quilt is for Camden (fondly known to us as Cam). The pattern is Surf Shop.

It was fun playing with different fabric prints to make the surfboards. A couple of the boards have Hawaiian flowers I appliquéd as indicated in the pattern instructions.

While each of the grandkids gets a quilt of a particular design I feel suits their personality, I used the same fabric as the binding for all three as well as having my friend Cathy Messner use her long-arm machine to quilt the same sailboat/wave design to give a sense of continuity to the quilts en toto.

Here are all three quilts.

These are the matching pillowcases. I completely enjoyed making these gifts for Andrew, Kayleigh, and Cam. The kids arrive this Sunday evening—I look forward to giving them their gifts and enjoying sailing and other adventures with them for the next two weeks.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Bannerama Quilt

Yesterday, I shared Andrew's quilt; today, I'm showing the second of the three grandkid quilts—this one was made for Kayleigh.

I used another quilt pattern from Crazy Old Ladies--Bannerama.

The quilt and pillowcase fabrics are varying prints from Emily Herrick’s Shore Thing for Michael Miller Fabrics.

I’m hoping you can see the quilting design in this photo—each project was quilted by my friend Cathy Messner on her long-arm machine using a sailboat and waves pattern. Tomorrow I’ll share the last of the three grandkid quilts—I’ve had a blast doing this for them.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Beachin’ Quilt

Summer means sailing for me along with outdoor movies by the water, picnics, the beach, great parties, and so on. This year I’ve invited three of our grandchildren to spend two weeks with us and have enrolled them in sailing classes. Kayleigh, Andrew, and Cam are 14, so two weeks with three teenagers ought to be a blast!

To prepare for the kids’ arrival this Sunday, I’ve made each of them a gift which works perfectly as it coincides with their birthdays. The gift includes the sailing lessons, a quilt I’ve made, matching pillowcase, and new beach towel. Today, I’ll share the first of the quilts and pillowcases.

This is Andrew’s quilt made from Crazy OldLadies pattern called Beachin’. The quilt is made pretty close to the same design as depicted on the pattern front as I loved the combination of the varying colors and prints. The fabrics are Shore Thing by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics.

This photo shows a bit of the back.

I used Michelle’s Magic Pillowcase tutorial to match the quilt. Tomorrow I’ll share Kayleigh’s quilt gift—I hope the kids will enjoy these gifts of love from their grandparents.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Amy Butler Weekender Bag Class

A few weeks ago, I told you about the Weekender Bag class I would be teaching. The class is completed now, so I thought I’d share a few photos although I forgot to get pictures of all the bags.

The class was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on 2 Saturdays (with a lunch break). I gave out pre-class instructions so everyone had their fabric pieces cut and ready to go when class began. Here’s how I organized the class:

May 25, 2013 Class

Make large main pocket
Make handles
Attach handles to main panels
Attach large pocket and cording to main panels
Make and attach zipper to exterior top panel

June 1, 2013 Class

Make and attach end pockets to exterior top panel
Attach top and exterior panels together
Attach top and bottom panels to main panels
Make and attach lining to exterior of bag
Make false bottom

Part of the fun for me in teaching this class is seeing all the different fabric choices made for the bags. It opens my eyes to new possibilities.

Carolyn made her bag to go with another bag she created so as to have a matching set.

Ruth also teaches sewing at Lynn’s Sewing Center, so she picked up on the bag process very quickly.

This bag was made by Donna. She came from North Carolina to take the class and immediately put her bag into use on her flight home.

By demonstrating each step one at a time, we were able to finish their bags by the 3:30 deadline on the second class day. It was a fun class and the best part was seeing each of person succeed in making Amy Butler’s challenging Weekender Bag.