would he be happy with a walrus?

I am still working away on the "San Jose Sharks" duvet cover.  I sent a text to  my daughter explaining that I was having some difficulty with this project and asked her if her boyfriend  would be just as happy if it looked like a walrus!!   mmmmmm ......maybe not??

OK then! Back to the construction!!

I added the adjacent side and sewed it to the foundation sheet. Once I had positioned the black fabric and sewed it down, I flipped it over and trimmed away the excess fabric from the grey background.

Then I placed the teal "body" and pinned it in place.

I decided it needed some slashes of contrast, so added a little "fin" and a slash of black to break up the teal blue.

I sewed the "fin" in place first, just appliqued on the top, and sewed one side of the body and the point in place.  Then did the flip and trim of the black fabric underneath  to reduce the bulk. Next I sewed down the other side of the body. I did some trimming under this side as well, but had to kind of turn the whole thing  inside out to get at it.

I top-stitched all the seams, so hopefully that will keep everything nice and flat. Once the body was secured down, I added the black slash...again just appliqued to the top. It will be 3 layers thick at this point, but it is a small section so hope it will be ok.

This is the official logo, and although I didnt want to actually reproduce it, I did want it to be recognizable. What do you think?  did I get it ?


So the design portion of the duvet cover is complete!! It measures 75" x 75" so I now need to add some borders to make it up to 86" x 86", which is the size of the duvet. I am thinking of using some grey and black borders to frame it.

Then the final phase will be attaching a back to make the envelope for the duvet!!
Slowly but surely , it is coming together!!

Tips I have learned from this:

• the foundation sheet was a huge help, not only in keeping the size correct, but in providing a stable "constant"
• tape the sheet to the floor so it is possible to move the other pieces around and keep the foundation in place. I used Gorilla Tape.......sort of like Duct Tape only stronger! 
• go slowly!!  Pin and reposition frequently.  I would pin the layers in place to check and then take out all the pins for the top layers, sew a bit then recheck to be sure it was all working together. 

progress is slow...but still moving!

I am slowly progressing with my San Jose Sharks duvet cover.
The hardest part was actually taking that first step and cutting into the fabric! That is always a bit scary. I didn't really have a specific plan, so am not sure that I have enough fabric, but will just have to wing it and add some "special design features" if I run into trouble.

I started with one side, and so far, so good...

I cut the sheet foundation to 75" square and taped it to the floor to try to control wrinkles. I have sewed down the grey background piece, the striped part and the first black slash. Then I flipped the back piece over and cut away all the extra fabric from underneath.  So the grey fabric piled up on the right side will be my next step as I try to fit it on the right side of the sheet.

So time to stop procrastinating and get back to this!!
But speaking of procrastination....try this out....

I won a copy of this book from The Bitchy Stitcher.  ...just when I needed a good chuckle about my quilting (or lack of) skills!! Thanks so much Megan!!

I don't know what I am doing

Do you ever realize that you don't have a clue how to proceed with a project??

I am trying something new for me.  And feeling a little lost and frustrated.

My daughter's boyfriend is a big San Jose Sharks (hockey team) fan, so when I offered to make them a quilt, they asked if I could do it in San Jose colours. .....no problem.

I didn't really think that sleeping under a "shark" would be a good idea, although boyfriend would probably like it LOL

Anyway, I sketched out some stylized versions, and they seemed to think that was a good idea. They want a duvet cover, not a quilt, so I thought I would sew the design onto a sheet, and then add another one for the backing.  Which was my first mistake! The sheet wasn't big enough, so I will sew the design onto a sheet, then add a border to make it large enough, and then piece a back from fabric.

OK??...well , maybe not so much.  
I laid out some fabric in roughly the design...

Then I wasn't sure how to proceed. I thought I would do the pieces in applique style, which means that I should start with the background, but because I dont really have a pattern, I am not sure how big things will be, so how big to make my background pieces. I dont really want to have several layers stacked up so wanted to cut them to size.....what ever that is!

So I finally got brave and cut a shape for the teal coloured shark "body".  Then sunk into a confused state again.  So I tackled the stripes...

They turned out ok....the second time around!! The first time I mitered the corners at 90 degrees, then wondered why they didn't look correct.

I will try to lay it out again today, and see if I can look at it again with a fresh eye, and figure it out.

Good thing I dont make a living doing this!! 

Easy Charm Pack baby quilt

I seem to need a steady supply of baby quilts for gifts, and sometimes need to whip one up quickly. So here is a really quick and easy baby quilt using a charm pack. This is certainly not a new or original design, but I love the finished look.

Materials:
one charm pack
1 yard background fabric (can get by with .8 yd, if you are careful)
1.25 yards backing
baby size quilt batting.
binding (1/3 yard)

Cutting:
From the background fabric cut:

• 11 strips WOF at 1-1/2" - 
• from these cut these some of the  strips into 32-  5" pieces.
•  four 8-1/2" squares
•  two 4-1/2" squares

Assembly:
You will need 41 of the charm pack squares, so pick one out and save it for another day ....or the label??
Pick out 9 of the charms and set them aside for now.
For the remaining 32 charm squares, sew one of the 5"x 1.5" strips onto one side of each.

Lay them out in a pattern that you like...using the 9 charm squares without the white strip as the outside end piece of the row.  When you are satisfied with the layout, sew the rows together, joining the little white strips to the adjoining block.

Now for the setting triangles!
The setting triangles used to really scare me...and although the math is possible, it is really not necessary....when there is such a great chart here by Bonnie at Quiltville.  She gives you all the sizes for each block size, both for the side triangles and the corners. It makes it so easy !!

So here for the sides, you need 4 squares measuring 8-1/2" Now you may notice that the chart calls for 8-3/8", but I have learned from previous experience is that is easier to round up to the next 1/8" inch. You will be trimming them down anyway.

Take your 8-1/2" squares, then cut them across both diagonals to make 4 triangles from each square. So you will have a total of 16 side triangles.

For the corners you need the 2 squares that are 4-1/2" , and cut them across one diagonal. You will now have 4 triangles, one for each corner.

Lay out the rows with these triangles on the ends of your rows,

Start by sewing the side triangles onto the end of each row..

Sew the corner triangles on last. This charm square will already have the two side triangles sewn on.

 Centre the corner triangle on the end...

 Sew it in place and trim off the dog ears..

Then press and trim to make the edges even..

Once you have all the pieces for each row sewed together, add the white sashing strip to one side of each of the middle rows.You will need to join two white strips together for the longest rows.

Then sew the rows to each other.
Be sure to line up the white sashing as you join the rows together.

Trim off the edges

This finishes at about 39" square.

You could add a border to this if you wanted to, but I am just leaving it this size..Just add batting and backing and binding...and it is ready to cuddle!

The charm pack was "Sunnyside" by Kate Spain. I used minky on the back...so soft!

 And for the binding I found this bright "Snap Pop" by Sandy Gervais

Hope you have fun making one of these!

Linking up to TN&TN for today. 

the "Impossible Quill"

Well, it is not really impossible, but that is how one participant coined it!

Here is my finished quilt top!

This was a Craftsy workshop...."Dancing Quill by Valori Wells"
It was a "Mystery Quilt", which in this case meant that you didn't know what the pattern was until you signed up.
This was my first experience with Craftsy, or doing a workshop. I thought the colours were so beautiful, and the cost was so reasonable that I would give it a try.  I must admit, there were several glitches along the way ...incorrect measurements, missing instructions, and some confusion. But all is well that ends well as they say....and I think this one turned beautiful!
It actually was not that difficult, once you got past all the confusion in the beginning, and went together really well.  Check it out!

 

Li

Linking up to TGIFF , this week over at Glory Be Quilter 

HAPPY CANADA DAY !