Posted on August 23, 2017August 23, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Crib Quilt

This crib size baby quilt is 54″ x 41″ and has a cotton batting. We aren’t sure if our friend’s baby is a boy or a girl, and not knowing that allowed for me to play a lot with color and some prints. I pieced together the top earlier this year, of course using Aurifil thread. The binding are batiks I had left over from another quilt.

This quilt reminds me of watching the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean, something I’ve been able to enjoy pretty often lately. The quilt backing fabrics are both Cotton + Steel. I love the pink’s lushness.

I used a deep gold thread to machine quilt this. In all spots that looked like a square I made an X and filled in the rest of the quilt with lines. The ocean often has pockets of smooth water on the surface and I thought of those spaces while I was making X’s.

A thank you to my husband for holding up the quilts!

I find machine quilting on cotton batting to be a lot smoother and quicker experience than with wool batting. The fibers in wool are much more like a bramble. Cotton typically settles down with itself. What do you like to use for batting?

Thanks for stopping by!

Posted on August 21, 2017 in sewing

Business Cards Arrived!

Last week we spent a couple of days pondering over business cards. I wanted something simple and thick enough that I could stitch across the top of the card. These cards are just what I was in the market for. They are lovely!

Where do you order cards from? Let me know if you have a favorite!

Posted on May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 in Household, sewing, Tutorial

Easy Pillow Covers

A few months ago a cousin and I made a trip to the fabric store and then by the Goodwill for some pillows. The Goodwill has great deals on pillows, especially for pillows that will receive a lot of good use. I referenced the blog Hey There, Home’s post on How to Make an Envelope Pillow Cover. I really enjoyed the clear instructions shown on Hey There, Home. My method was basically the same.

Here are the pillows pre-covering.

After measuring each pillow, I cut the fabric with a half inch seam added to the overall size.

The pinning.

I marked the corners before sewing and using the serger on the edges.

A covered pillow!

A long pillow covered.

A complete set.

This has been such an exciting month. A big thank you to all of those backers that helped fund our Kickstarter campaign–the support is stunning and I look forward to the stitching! We’ve been super busy with regular life. We are grateful for our good health.

Sending all our best to everyone!

Posted on April 17, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Quilt Completed

This quilt started last year as two separate pieces from an in-person class at Country Roads Quilt Shoppe and a Carolyn Friedlander paper piecing creativebug tutorial. After combining the two pieces into one I added a border to even out the prints and piecing.

From West Virginia to Las Vegas and then to Virginia, this quilt was snuggled under after becoming only a sandwich! It also had a lot of machine quilting removed and redone; I found this task trying, but necessary.

For the paper piecing I used the scrap stash, with many of the fabrics being from Moda.

Quilting free form lines mesmerizes me because of the movement given to the quilt.

Many of these fabrics are from projects I completed prior to making this blog. It’s wonderful to see those scraps from previous projects, efforts, and little things of love I sent off in the world.

The main border fabric is from “Honeymoon” by Sarah Watts for Cotton + Steel. It reminds me of James Wright.

Since I’m a Robert Kaufman and Carolyn Friedlander fan this wide backing was perfect. It adds a nice softness.

The sunlight gives the machine quilting great shadows. Aurifil thread was used on this quilt.

One quilt done and another one on the way.

Our Kickstarter is going amazingly well. Thank you to all the supporters and those that have enjoyed the work. We’re really excited to being working on a new series of embroidery projects, and to be expanding Brambleton Threads.

Posted on April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Flannel Baby Quilt

This flannel quilt is simple in its appearance and construction. I was thinking a baby’s close up view of the world, about the spaces between the meeting of matter, and how those meetings blur into lines.

The finished size is 57″ by 58″. Robert Kaufman flannel is the front fabric. Aurifil thread is used for the sewing and quilting.

For the back fabric a plain blue Robert Kaufman quilting cotton. The print fabrics used in the backing and binding are from Abi Hall’s collection “Jurassic Jamboree” for Moda.

Here is the original concept. Creating one-off designs is one of the reasons I love to make quilts and embroidery pieces. Translating an idea from one form to the next presents a natural challenge for me.

We are launching a Kickstarter later today for a one-off embroidery series! Click here to check it out. Thanks for the support and kind words.

Posted on March 5, 2016 in Appliqué, Hand Sewing

On Its Way: Applique

All scraps are being reused and the stash consists of the small, long, thin bits of fabric. Since I buy all the fabric the scraps all came together pretty well; purples, blues, orange, grey, greens, and pinks merged together in both of these pieces. Many things are on my mind when I work with color: eye-interest, ease of this interest, viewing the piece as fresh, and feeling like it presents something new to look at each time are important. Beautiful and interesting aren’t always the same, but I like to explore the space where two meet in a complicated way. Here is where endless possibilities of fabric keep me awake all night!

Aren’t borders lovely? These are my first couple of attempts at attaching borders, but the effect is incredible. The pieces instantly possess weight and feel grounded. Even though I ran out of green for Arcs the grey presented itself as a natural compliment. I doubled the size of the recommended borders for Lori Smith’s project. I like the finish, and am looking forward to quilting these pieces.

The new sewing machine is on order and I am looking forward to hearing from the dealer. Thank you, Janome, for your sale in March.

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