Category Archives: sewing

Little Baxter Quilt

Posted on June 28, 2009 by ginabean • 6 Comments
I got the binding sewn down on the Baxter Quilt and it is all finished and ready to go to my new niece. I’ve even got the label put on it.
We went to my parent’s home in the Virgina Mountains this weekend. The mountains are beautiful this time of year and we had a great time. We went to the Roanoke Farmers market and got peaches and tomatoes. We also spent a little time watching the horses jump at the local equestrian center down the road from my parents and the evening catching fireflies. It was a great weekend.

Filed Under: family, quilts, sewing

Bow Tuck Tote

Posted on June 26, 2009 by ginabean • 2 Comments

This week I taught a class on making the Bow Tuck Tote designed by Penny Sturges. It is a really great purse with lots of pockets. The ladies in the class did such a good job and all of their totes turned out perfect. I know they are happy with them. I wish that I had taken my camera to get shots of them all to show you. They all picked very different fabrics and each one turned out great. If it was a little bigger, this pattern would make a perfect diaper bag.

I got the Baxter Quilt quilted yesterday and put the binding on today. Quilting on my new machine went really well. By the way, some of you asked what kind I got, it is a Handi Quilter 16. I have to hand tack the binding down this weekend and then it will be finished. Ready to go to my sister-in-law who comes to visit this week for the Fourth. I’ll post pictures of the finished quilt on Monday. I’m ready to get the next quilt on the frame and try it again. I have a lap size Daisy Chain that I am going to do next for a friend of mine. Hopefully, I’ll get the pinwheel completely pieced soon and can get that quilted. Keep cool and have a great weekend! – Gina
Filed Under: patterns, purses, sewing

Ready to Go

Posted on June 25, 2009 by ginabean • 7 Comments
I have gotten the Baxter Quilt all loaded on the frame and I am ready to start quilting it. It took me a little while to get it on there. Thank goodness I took detailed notes while they were going over how it is done. Otherwise, I would probably still be working on that. After I got it all loaded I decided that it might be a good idea to stop and actually watch the DVD instructions that came with it. I also worked on this little clutch. It, of course, is not exactly how I would like it, so I am sure there will be more versions in the future.
On another note, I have been having some terrible “attacks” over the last couple of weeks. What I thought might just be the worst heartburn in the history of heartburn turns out to be gallstones. I meet with the surgeon in a few weeks to schedule having my gallbladder removed. I’ve never had surgery before, so I’m pretty nervous about it. I have been needing to slow down, so this might be just the thing that helps me to do that.
Filed Under: purses, quilts, sewing

New Longarm!

Posted on June 23, 2009 by ginabean • 6 Comments

The good couple from The Cottage Quilt Shop in Taylorsville came yesterday and set up my new longarm! I am so glad to have it. I can’t wait to start quilting on it. I want to get the Baxter Quilt done first. My brother and sister-in-law are coming here for the 4th of July, so it would be nice to have it done by then. It is going to be quite the learning curve. Doing the pantographs is HARD. I think I will just start out with some stippling and then go from there. I am going to have to practice a lot on the pantographs before I feel comfortable doing them on a quilt. So, so happy to have it! Hope everyone has a great day!
Filed Under: quilts, sewing

Pinwheel, Part 2

Posted on June 19, 2009 by ginabean • 5 Comments

Well, I sat down and counted up how many WIPs (works in progress) I have and it isn’t pretty. To make things worse, the list is really just quilting WIPs and not even purses or other sewing endeavors. ( I can’t go there, yet.) I am embarrassed to say the number, so I won’t. All I know is I need to get cracking on finishing some projects. I neeeeeeed to stop buying fabric to make new things until I get some of these WIPs off my list. Well, this Pinwheel is on the list. I got one more row done and I have all of the fabric now cut out to make the other rows. It is not much progress, but it is some progress and any progress is good, right!

My big news is that I am getting a longarm. After a year of deliberating about it, I finally am going to stop driving my poor husband (and myself) crazy over it and bite the bullet and just do it. They come Monday to deliver, set it up and show me how to use it. I am very excited.
Enjoy your weekend! Have a Happy Father’s Day.

Oh yeah, crazy sale at JoAnn’s. Go there…get thread, cutting supplies, batting, interfacing…all things quilter’s need for 50% off. Seriously, go there.
And , I did go short, had about 3 to 4″ cut off my hair. Still getting used to it.
Filed Under: quilts, sewing

Baxter Quilt Top

Posted on June 16, 2009 by ginabean • 4 Comments

Well, I got the quilt top for my baby niece done. I finished putting the borders on last night. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I love the Heather Ross fabrics and piecing on my featherweight was so nice. For a old machine, it worked great. I almost hate to give the quilt away. Lucky for me that I have enough fabric left over to make a second one just like it. Now I can have one to give away and one to keep. I think next I’ll try to get some blocks done on the pinwheel quilt I started and haven’t worked on in months. I am trying to stay focused on getting UFO”s done. ( I do have a hard time staying focused, though.) Off to get me hair cut now. Might go short…we’ll see.
Filed Under: fabric, quilts, sewing

Ahhhh, quilting!

Posted on June 11, 2009 by ginabean • 6 Comments

Yeah, I got to quilt some this evening. I worked on the quilt for my soon-to-be-here niece. I am thrilled about this quilt for several reasons. First, I am actually getting to use my new featherweight for the first time to piece it. Also, I am using the most fabulous Heather Ross fabric. It is super sweet and super soft. My sister-in-law has a Boston Terrier named Baxter and when I saw this fabric I knew it was perfect. There are little Baxter’s all over it. I am keeping it simple and just putting 4″ blocks of 12 different fabrics together. To make my life even easier, I’m just going to strip piece it together using three fabrics and then sub-cut them and put it together like a nine patch. She is using black and white gingham in the nursery, so I am thinking about adding that into a border. Not completely set on that yet, though. I think it is hard to find good gingham. This quilt should come together quickly…(as George Costanza would say, “seemingly”.) Can’t wait to get it done so I can show it to you.

Filed Under: fabric, quilts, sewing

Is it Wednesday Already?

Posted on June 10, 2009 by ginabean • 2 Comments

Is it me, or do the days just seem to fly by? Well, it seems a little late in the week to talk about my weekend, but me and the fellas did get to spend Sunday on the lake. It was great, the weather was perfect and we had good company,as well. Some friends joined us for the day and we really enjoyed having them along. They were able to rest and so did Fletcher and I. We all took nice naps while out rocking away on the water. How relaxing! I was going to take some applique to work on while cruising on the boat, but at the last minute I decided to leave it at home. I have been sewing so much lately, I really need to devote the day to my family and friends and that is exactly what I did. I forgot to take my camera, but I wish I could show you how cute Fletcher looked watching all the boats pass by us. He loves being on the water. We had our local guild meeting on Monday. It was great. Every one’s table looked so nice and all of the food was delicious. A friend in my applique class brought the most fabulous Italian Cream Cake. Somehow we managed to bribe her into making another one to bring to our applique class next Monday. It was sooo good. I love when two of my favorite things are combined, quilting and eating dessert! What could be better. I finally got to try out the new pattern from Anna Maria Horner. I made the Mutli-Tasker Tote bag. I also was able to try out the clutch pattern. They both came out cute. The tote is really big. It came out a lot bigger than I expected.
I am desperate to start quilting something. I have not had any time to lately with everything else going on, but I did start a little baby quilt for my sister-in-law. She is due at the end of July with a little girl. I need to get that one done so I can have it to her before the baby comes. I am going to try to piece it all on my little featherweight. It will be the first thing I have done on it since I got it in April. I think I’ll work on it tonight. Have a good hump day!

Filed Under: life, patterns, purses, sewing

Busy Bee

Posted on June 3, 2009 by ginabean • 4 Comments

Don’t you just love summer colors! I have been a busy bee this week. Buzzing around all of these beautiful floral fabrics. I can’t wait to get some more made.

Filed Under: fabric, purses, sewing

Perfect Corners Tutorial

Posted on June 2, 2009 by ginabean • 38 Comments

I used to have the worst time getting corners to look good. They always looked like the one pictured above. Then someone taught me this very simple trick which made my corners look perfect, so I thought I would share it with you.

You begin by sewing the two fabrics together as you normally would.
Before you turn the corner, you want to fold the side that was just sewn down even with your stitch line. Then just sew your seam as you normally would.This is what it will look like after you have completed sewing down the second side. Repeat the last two steps for the remaining sides.

Clip the corners to remove the excess fabric. ( You really don’t even have to do this step.)

Now just turn your fabric right side out, use a sharp dowel or other tool to push out the corner, press and…. Ta-Dah!!! Perfect corners.

Here’s a little side-by-side comparison of the two. So simple and it makes your corners look great. No more rounded corners! Yeah!

If you have any questions about this little trick, please feel free to contact me. I would be glad to answer your questions.

Filed Under: sewing, tutorial