Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Baby Denim Rag Quilt

Do you have lingering projects? The kind that you have the best intentions of doing someday and accumulate the supplies for but never quite get around to doing? Unfortunately I have many of those. One such project is a denim rag quilt which I have been meaning to make for years. Toward that end I have been diligently saving all of my old jeans and the old jeans of family members. I have even moved across the country with this pile of old jeans. Finally, last year, I started cutting down the jeans into squares for the patchwork quilt I intended to make. I had also planned on backing it with a pretty flannel print, but when I started looking at fabric stores it seemed flannel was fairly expensive for the size quilt I wanted to make. Yikes! This was supposed to be a thrifty project from recycled jeans! So again the project got put on hold. Finally, thanks to a suggestion by my sister, I ended up buying a flannel sheet set instead. Much cheaper! So now I had my denim squares cut, and my flannel fabric procured. And that is where things stood for quite awhile. 

Well, something happened to refocus my attention and give me a deadline. My husband and I are expecting our first baby! Nothing prompts a flurry of activity like that kind of deadline. Must finish quilt before baby arrives! It also changed the scope of the project. Rather than the full sized quilt I had originally envisioned, it turned into a baby quilt that our little guy can play on. And at long last it is done!!


Here are all of my squares laid out. I didn't have enough of the dark denim to have a complete checkerboard pattern, so there is a border of the lighter denim all the way around. Each cut square measures 6"x6", but was sewn with a 1/2" seam so that the final square size was 5".  The quilt measures 7 rows x 7 rows, so the finished size is approximately 35"x35". Perfect for baby!


Here it is sewn together. After sewing each row together I clipped the seams to encourage fraying in the wash for the classic rag quilt look. It was easier to clip as I went, rather than clipping the entire quilt at the end.


I sewed a 1/2" seam around the entire border to finish it.


And here is the back side with the cozy flannel. Our baby's nursery is done in navy and white, with red accents, so this ended up matching perfectly! Hurray for a completed project! :)

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Hello


I have a simple little "hello" card to share today. The telephone image and sentiment are both from PTI's Heart-2-Heart #5 set. This is another of the cards I made over the holidays.


I used WPlus9's pinking squares die to cut the orange mat for the telephone image. Then, in keeping with the pinked edge theme, I used MFT's pinking edge die to cut the top and bottom of the main white panel. I ran a line of stitching along both pinked edges for added interest. A button threaded with orange baker's twine makes a cute dial for the phone. :)


The inside is fairly simple. More pinked top and bottom edges, and again the repeated "hello" sentiment in the same trio of happy colors. :) 

Thanks for spending part of your day with me!


SUPPLIES
Stamps: Heart-2-Heart #4 (PTI)
Paper: Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie (SU!)
Tools: Pinking Edge die (MFT), Pinking Squares die (WPlus9), sewing machine
Embellishments: Subtles Collection buttons, Pear Pizzaz marker (SU!), baker's twine

Monday, January 21, 2013

Howdy


For this card I played with PTI's fun set On the Farm. I love the country look! To create the foreground I used the checkered stamp on Certainly Celery card stock. Who says grass can't be checkered? :) The horse was die cut from black card stock and adhered to the "grass". The sentiment was also stamped in black for balance. The cute little barn was stamped in Crumb Cake ink. I added two brads to the top right corner and wrapped some twine around the panel. The edges of the panel were distressed and the whole thing popped up on a Crumb Cake card base.


And here is the inside! It matches the front, with more green checks and the barn image.  Thanks for stopping by!


SUPPLIES
Stamps: On the Farm (PTI)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Natural White, Certainly Celery (SU!)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Certainly Celery (SU!), Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Tools: On the Farm die (PTI)
Embellishments: hemp twine, brads

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Open Sea


Today I have another card I made over the holidays while crafting with my mom. This one uses the SU! set The Open Sea. I had fun playing up the nautical theme!

Click for larger view. 

The colors I used are Night of Navy and Sahara Sand, with some Very Vanilla thrown in. Behind the ship is lightly stamped an image of the ship's log.


The Sahara Sand pattern paper has text on it, but I also stamped the compass rose image over top. Behind the main image I ran a length of Very Vanilla satin ribbon, then rather than using a knot or bow, I tied twine around it. I like how this looks!

Enjoy your weekend! 
 

SUPPLIES
Stamps: The Open Sea (SU!)
Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Pattern Stack Neutrals dp, Pattern Stack Regals dp (SU!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Sahara Sand (SU!)
Tools: Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Embellishments: Very Vanilla ribbon (SU!), twine

Monday, January 14, 2013

From the Heart


Hello and happy new year! While I was home visiting family for Christmas my mom and I had a chance to do some stamping together. Being at her house meant I got to play with her toys! I'll be sharing several cards over the next few days that I made while home. This first one uses the SU! set Collage Curios.


I die cut nine circles and stamped each of them with one of the fun vintagey images from the set.  I alternated between two shades of pink, and using the wreath vs. the distressed circle border. The Eiffel Tower was stamped in brown to make it stand out. After stamping all of the circles I antiqued the edges and ran them through the Cuttlebug with a Canvas impression plate to give them a distressed look. It's the little things. :)


The lovely sentiment is from another SU! set called Watercolor Trio, and the flourishes are from PTI's On the Farm. 


For the inside I repeated the bee image and the flourishes from the front. It took me a while to get there but I am quite pleased with how this one turned out! I hope you like it, too!
 

SUPLIES
Stamps: Collage Curios, Watercolor Trio (SU!), On the Farm (PTI)
Paper: Natural White, Pattern Stack Neutrals Collection dp (SU!)
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, River Rock, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Tools: Edgelits Large Scallop die (SU!), Circle Nestablities (Spellbinders), Linen & Canvas impression plate (PTI)