Earthtones Girl

Before I get into that…thanks for making me laugh this morning Eve (wink)

So what on earth as the Earthtones Girl been doing lately…

Pinning, pinning, pinning!!!!  As my love of quilting grows so does my understanding of what I like and don’t like about this new venture.  I love the patchwork.  Piecing the fabric together (this fabric is sometimes called “cheater fabric” since it’s a solid panel) and watching things take shape.  I also love sewing the binding on at the end.  What I don’t enjoy is the preparing the three layers, top, batting and backing for “the sandwich”.  Maybe it’s the lack of a comfortable space to work.  Anyway, I make it work and this one is ready to go.

ABC Animals…That’s what Kira said when she saw her latest quilt.  I fell in love with this panel when I saw this version of it.  It was so beautiful and detailed and engaging for a child’s eyes…I found it online, ordered it, then it sat in the closet for months.  When I was cleaning out the guest bedroom couple of weeks ago I found it.  The original instructions were for the  ”pillowcase” method of finishing a quilt but that just wouldn’t do….So again following the lead of  Blue Garter’s version I made it my own or rather Kira’s own.  And the backing fabric I found (also on-line) couldn’t be more perfect.

I did make a little mistake though…if you look up again at the pinned piece you can see that there is no orange border (that you see between the letters) between the panel and the red border.  When I cut the original border off I cut to close, forgetting to factor in the seam allowance.   Live (craft) and learn…  I don’t think it breaks the quilt or that it is terribly noticeable.  I see it though…(a reminder to measure twice and cut once).

The binding will be in red to match the inner border and should look great against this fabric.

No one loves buying books and magazines more than I, but when with the internet (and library, can’t forget that) are at your finger tips it is a waste of money.  I found this project on-line last week and had to start it immediately…A quilted growth chart!!!!!  Oh My Gosh!!!  It’s not for every one of course because you have to (or should) embroider all the measurements and dates by hand (or machine).  But isn’t it the sweetest!!!  I can’t wait to see one  hanging in Kira’s room.  That one is all pinned too and ready to go but I’ll save pictures for when it’s finished.

And you can’t organize your quilt tops or have a proper sewing room without a design wall…I found a bunch of ideas here.  This is my version.  I followed the instructions for the display board (bought at Staples for $14)  version and it worked out perfectly….what a great idea and an amazingly useful tool.  Chris just has to mount it to the wall for me.  It measures 3′ x 4′.

Those pieces of fabric are for another little project, an Apple Core Quilt.  I have no intention (right now) of making anything bigger than a blanket for Kira’s dolls but the design is so charming.  And a great learning piece (here’s the template tutorial).  When I saw it I thought, this is going to be a bit hard to do on the machine why not sew it by hand.  My friend Teri loved the idea and recommended this Quiltmaking By Hand by Jinny Beyer. 

Quilting by hand…wow! The author does all her quilts by hand and swears by it but that’s a bit to ambitious for me.  I just want to have the skill.  It’s like knitting by hand vs. machine.  Some swear by knitting machines and I’ve always thought…that’s way beyond cheating.  That’s how many feel about piecing and quilting my machine.    I think it’s good, in this case, to know both.

More updates later. There is actually some knitting to talk about.