GOOD TO THE LAST SCRAP...

You have already seen how I used scraps to make the thin border on my It's A Girl quilt.  What did I do with the remaining pieces?

I LOVE THESE COLORS and I did not want to let them go to waste.  So, I sewed the individual pieces onto a square of fabric.  Then I sewed vertical and horizontal lines to try to "catch" as many of the raw edges as I could.  Next came a coating of Mod Podge for Fabric to keep all of the raw edges from fraying.

I desperately needed a new "med bag" to hold all of my pills, insulin, glucose tabs, epipen, etc.  This bag is absolutely PERFECT!  It is plenty big enough to hold everything and the pretty fabric makes dealing with all of my medical issues at least a little less painful.  All in all....A WIN!!!

 

IT'S A GIRL...

Recently I completed a quilt for a dear friend who became a grandma for the first time.  I fell in love with the colors of a line called Paradisio (I think).  I had purchased three charm packs many moons ago.  The charm packs were perfect for cutting tumblers, but when the center of the quilt was done it needed something "more".  When desperate, you think outside of the box!

Grabbing all of the tiny leftovers from cutting, I measured out scraps that were 1" wide.  I didn't worry about how long the scraps were.  Alternating my scraps with 1" pieces of white I made a thin, scrappy border.  Okay, it was LOVE at first sight!

I did very minimal quilting on the interior so it would be super soft for the baby to lie on, but I wanted denser quilting around the outside so it would lie flat.  But again, I wanted more!  So before I began a dense stipple I made a stencil of the above flower, marked my quilt with the stencil, and began quilting...flowers first and eventually the stipple.  

But the top and bottom of the quilted needed... You guessed it...MORE.  So I made another stencil and added feathers to my flowers on the top and bottom.  Ah...happy.  Time to stipple!   Then it was just a matter of brushing off the pink chalk used with the stencils.  WHAT?!?!  It. Would. NOT. Come. Off!!! Time to think outside of the box again!  After about two days of thinking I decided to outline the flowers/feathers with pink pencil.  After all, I DID want them to be visible!  I outlined them with pink pencil, added a thin layer of textile extender and heat set.  The color is supposed to last through any washings.

Doesn't the back look pretty with the dense quilting along the outer border and light quilting inside?

The label was the final touch!  I used colors that matched the front of the quilt.  

I couldn't be happier with how it came out.  In fact, it is among my favorite quilts!!!  I brushed up on a lot of my skills...piecing, stenciling, FMQ and machine embroidery.  Speaking of stenciling, my son and daughter-in-law bought me a Cricut Maker for my 60th birthday in August.  OMG, it makes wonderful stencils for marking quilting!!!  I've made two so far and see MANY more in my future, LOL.  I did also make a vinyl label for my Cricut Info binder.  Next I want to learn to cut out my fabric on the Cricut.  So much to learn, so much fun to be had!!!!