So a short few weeks ago, I embarked on a JOURNEY!! :D Not unusual for me.... I was on a mission for a project! I blogged about my feelings and emotions here.
I had it all planned out and ready to go. A few days later (my next day off work) I took my boys to the fabric store on the 10th. NOT my fav adventure, but I did it anyway. Ewan wanted ALL Sesame Street, and hey its for him so why not. Sadly I wanted 5 or 6 types and they only had 4 Sesame Street so we picked between mickey and cars. he picked Mickey and we picked two so it could be mixed up a bit.
Then as all sowers know now on to washing. ALWAYS WASH. and IRON fabric.
I got that part done then on to cutting. I got a rotery cutter and a mat. BEST MONEY I HAVE EVER SPENT!!! DO IT if you plan to cut much. I cant believe in all my old sewing times I never got one. I love it!
Then after cutting, back to..... YEP Iron again. I don't know if this step is 100% necessary, but my first time ironing (when it was all one piece) wasn't great so I needed to do it again. (SPEND GOOD TIME ON THE FIRST ONE SO YOU CAN SKIP THIS STEP) I decided to also use starch on the 8x8 sq
Then I made my small blocks I took the 4x4 ones and made them into an 8x8 (FYI I did use 1/4 in seam allowance on every item. helps alot with getting things all lined up.
Here they are all pieced together (FYI in the pic they are up side down.) Then guess what I did! :D YEP IRON!
I did take an extra step and trim all the new squares into true squares. The cute bright blue one with big bird was a cotton felt, AKA it stretched. Therefore causing a few issues. I spent some good time with my cutter again and got those going.
Next I took a 4x4 block of 4 and connected it to the 8x8, did that, then connected them together to make big strips.
Then sewed them all together. After a few little unpicking experiences (every time I sew I have to do that) then I got the whole top together!!
EWAN LOVES IT!! I put it on what will soon be his "big boy bed" and got this cute cheesy pic!
I decided to go get the bottom fabric and batting. When I made it home my sweet boys were loving the quilt top. COMPLETE with otter pops :'(
Deep BREATH mommy!! Don't get mad. Daddy told them to get off so they wouldn't spill. HOWEVER, alittle to late. There was RED otter pop on about a 48x48 area and the white mickey fabric loved it most :'(
BREATH, BREATH, BREATH!!! I slowly picked it up, took it to the laundry room, spotted it, and NOPE NOTHING. Thought common it will be fine. Put it in the wash with some oxy-clean... And had myself a good glass of wine.
I then washed the other new fabric so I could start on the back.
GRATEFULLY almost all of the red came out. There is still one spot just by the edge but its personality right ?????
Nothing I could do so no reason to get mad. I got the other fabric washed and dried. So ready to get back to the quilt. Since the cotton was washed again, there were a few pieces that needed a few extra stitches and even more. I got to... lets hear it. IRON AGAIN! There were also TONZ of extra strings all over, since the wash can sometimes kinda beat up open edges.
Once that was done, I took over the WHOLE family room. Laid out the bottom (minky) the the batting, and last the quilt top. I pinned each square with a quilting (safety pin) then on to stitching.
I was really on the fence weather I would quilt it or pay someone. Considering there were quite a few imperfections, I thought, no reason to spend extra money for something I can do. So I started. I found out from a blog I LOVE that Kim, does her own with simple lines so I decided to do that.
\
Not by an means an easy process due to the extra to the right of the foot, but I got it taken care of.
I got the single lines done and Chris felt it appeared incomplete so I did stitches the other direction as well, giving it a boxed look on the back!
By this point Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Mickey were LONELY!! So they snuggled with the boys!
Mommy made it SUPER CLEAR that NO otter pops are allowed on it, and they listened and even washed their hands before snuggle time.
As you can see Ewan is very happy with it.
When it came to finishing the edges I really didn't want to make or buy bias tape. I wanted to use the backing. So I read a bit online and most said to keep it less then a 1/4 in on the front, I disagreed :D So I did a quick stitch around the whole edge then cut the excess down to about 3 in. Then I also cut off about 1/4-1/2 in of the batting to make it easier to fold over and pin the edge.
MANY do the finishing edge by hand. Which I planned to do, but then I thought with all the lines all over the back covered in lines whats one more? And it would fit the personality
That also meant that I could FINISH it in one night. I took the time to pin perfectly around the edge getting the corners perfect and spending a lot of time and energy to make it how I want. AND....
DRUM-ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TA-DA
AND DONE!!
I placed it on my Queen bed to get the full thing view able... oh and the boys beds are currently dissembled in my garage with primer on them. I AM VERY NEW so the amounts that I bought are not really correct and since this post is so WICKEDLY long I wont put that info out today, HOWEVER don't fear I will one day post that :)
I want to use the excess to make a pillowcase, Like seriously who doesn't want a Minky Pillow Case! :D and I'll get the details of what I used!
No comments:
Post a Comment