Southwest Virginia Modern Quilt Guild

I am so excited! My pals at the Crooked Stitch have been talking about starting a chapter of The Modern Quilt Guild for a little while now. Me being me just couldn't wait. So, I offered to help get things started and here we go! We've gotten together and constructed an awesome game plan to start the guild.

The first meeting is on January 11th @ 6 pm at the Crooked Stitch. Please visit http://www.swvamodernquiltguild.webs.com/ for more information and to join up!

Hope to see you there!

Stripey Christmas Aprons

So, I've never written a tutorial - sure, I can copy down a recipe or show you how to make something but writing it out is a bit different. I made these aprons for a few friends for Christmas. The pattern was already simple but I tried to make it EASY! I'm not sure I should post this until after the holidays - don't want to spoil the surprise! But...you guys just might need a quick gift so here goes...


 "Spring Cleaning" apron by Fig Tree and a beautiful Kate Spain jelly roll - 12 Days of Christmas for moda.

   

I am a stickler for efficiency and I hate to waste stuff. So I a little math and figured that if you purchase yardage for your sashes and trim, you can get enough strips out of one jelly roll to make 5 aprons! For my first try, I used 6 strips to make the sashes and used 2 others to bind the apron so I'm down to 4 aprons for this roll. Keep that in mind as you select fabrics and plan ahead.

I divided my strips so each apron would have a varied selection of colors.

I had some lovely emerald tonal fabric left over from my son's baby quilt. This adds a little to the Christmas theme and gives the apron some "reversibility" (is that even a word? - well, it is today).

Each apron requires a 22" x 36" piece of foundation fabric. So a yard of fabric can yield 2 apron foundations. So now we can build the apron body. Our goal is to add one strip at a time from left to right to cover the foundation. The base fabric gives the apron some weight and stability without having to quilt it.

The first strip is lined up with the left edge of the foundation fabric and pinned in place. Long edge of strip to short edge of foundation. This is the catch - you're working on the "wrong side" of the foundation (if it has one) but you leave the right side up on the first strip only. After the first strip is pinned, lay the 2nd strip on top of the 1st with right sides together - See below.



Strip #1 - right side up



Strip # 2 - right sides together

From there on, it's pretty simple. Just keep building your strips across, one at a time, from left to right. As you sew, your seam is joining both strips with the foundation fabric. Press after each strip is added. Be cautious of "wonkiness" or your strips may start to lean.

Once all 16 strips have been placed, you are ready to add the decoration. On my first try, I skipped the scallop edge and just elected to simply bind the apron on 3 sides instead. So my process was a bit out of order.

For lovely pleats - find the seam between the 5th & 6th strips when counted from the outer edge. Fold right-sides together and pin in place. Sew 1/8" over from seam of strips (hiding it) about 3" down the body. Press flat. Repeat on the other side.

At this point, I added binding to 3 sides of the apron. I utilized 2 strips from my jelly roll, sewed them end-to-end and pressed them into a binding strip as if I were quilting. Using another of my shortcuts, I simply topstitched through both sides of the binding (no time for hand-stitching to to the back, thanks!)

After completing the binding, I was ready to add the sash. *Important - when using strips rather than yardage, each strip must be the same length or the sash will look dreadful (just trust me on this, I did not want to put the picture here!). Depending on the length you would like (tie in back or wrap around to the front) a single piece of yardage could be cut and folded without any piecing required! Definitely a time-saver to consider.

For this example, I used 6 strips from the jelly roll - 3 green and 3 red. Sew 3 strips of the same color end to end and press seams open. Then sew the 2 long strips right sides together on a long edge. Now we add it to the apron front.

Tiger, my sewing buddy (or so he thinks!)

Find the center of the apron and place a pin there. Do the same for the length of sash. Measure 1 5/8" from the top of the apron and mark. Decide which side of the sash you want to show on the front of the apron (I chose green). Line up the long edge of the sash with the mark and sew right sides together from edge to edge.

Now we need to sew the ends of the sash together. This is a little tricky but not bad if you remember the easy way to "turn it out". Which I forgot and remembered in epiphany style after I struggled with the first side.

So, start about an inch away from the edge of the apron and sew the sash right sides together all the way down to the end. A nice angle on the very end looks really good when finished. After its sewn and trimmed, we have to get it right side out. Using a stylus (aka: dull pencil, capped pen, chopstick, crochet hook, etc) start at the very end of the sash. Get your stylus into the end pretty well then feed it through to the opening near the apron. After you get the tip out and the corner neat you just pull the rest right through.

Do all this again for the other side. Then you're ready to seal the deal.

After the sash is turned out and pressed, you simply fold it over the top. I'm probably going to be labeled a sloth, but remember time is precious and so is quality. I took another shortcut when sewing the sash to the back of the apron. I folded it over, folded a 1/4" under and pinned in place. I then topstitched the sash - the stitching came out just below the front of the sash and using a nice blendy thread was nearly invisible on the front. 

That's all folks!

I hope this was helpful. I certainly enjoyed making this apron (my first!) and I the shortcuts made this pattern seem very easy. There is a lot of potential with addition of trim or various edges to make each gift unique. I would like to try a zig-zag bottom, a wide trip of focus fabric, some decorative bobbles like little Christmas lights or bells and of course a big pocket or two! I might even adventure to add a little rick-rack on the next one!

Your feedback is helpful. Please let me know how I can make this a better, more enjoyable experience. Reproduction of this material should be for personal use only please.

Thanks and see you soon! 

"Spring Cleaning" apron

http://figtreequilts.com/details.php?prodId=208&category=5
Fig Tree & Co. (http://www.figtreeandco.com/)

Fun stuff

I love to take a "break" after finishing a big project by making something small, quick and fun. In 2 short hours I finished this cozy scarf in a soft plaid flannel. Thanks Dani for the inspiration! The tutorial was easy to follow and offers several styles of wear! My favorite part was getting to use some of my grandmother's old coat buttons - a special touch only handmade can offer.

My husband "nose" how to make a joke out of anything!

This summer I canned tons of fruit for yummies and Christmas gifts. I wanted to gift something pretty with them for my girlfriends. After some debate I settled on an apron - functional, pretty, not something you typically buy for yourself (and fairly simple to make!). But here's the thing - I'm not so into fru-fru ruffles or rick rack. I prefer something more simple with clean lines.

I found this pattern while traveling in Myrtle Beach, SC this summer (short camping vacay with the family - way fun but sandy). Then I found these fabrics at The Crooked Stitch in a perfect jelly roll for a Christmas apron.

I'm having so much fun with this. It's easier than it looks - of course, that may be because I'm skipping the scallop on the first try! I'm gonna attempt writing a tute for this...please be patient, we'll work through it together.

Thanks for sewing along!

Here Goes Nothing!

Ok, so I'm new to this whole "blog" thing. I know, like 5 years (please tell me it's not 10) behind the times. But I've really enjoyed the blog from my local quilt shop and a couple of their employees. So, I'm giving it a try and, hopefully, with time will figure this deal out.

I tried this yesterday but everything I tried to write just came out wrong. Not sure if tonight will be much better -- something about 10 pm just shuts my brain down. I did finish a quilt tonight - super stoked about that. I purchased a kit about 3 years ago, started working on it about 3 months ago and it really only took about 3 days to finish. (Pictures coming soon!) That's just pitiful, I know.



"Endless Summer" APQ magazine
Jeremy's Christmas gift!



With things pulling in a thousand different directions, no wonder it takes so long. This coming year I'm going to dedicate a little more time to getting things done. Hopefully, we'll have a modern quilt guild in Rocky Mount by that time. So with a little help from my friends, and a little motivation to show you all my finished beauties I've have more show and tells and fewer work-in-progress. 

I'll keep building to showcase all the "New Traditions" I love. So many things our grandmothers did are popular again - quilting, canning/preserving, sewing, knitting. Thankfully, the techniques have evolved and so have the materials. I love using a traditional quilt block with contemporary colors and fabrics. More to come very soon!