Three Sheets to the Room

A few years ago, I did a makeover of the Munchkin's bedroom.  As his 8th birthday approached, I realized it was time for another update - something to reflect the Munchkin of today.

We had already swapped out his sagging bookcase for a stacked cubby unit - which he has filled with books, LEGO models, and some other odds and ends.

And the table that sat in the middle of his room covered with LEGO and taking up ALL the avalable floor space was replaced with a Hubby-built LEGO desk, with storage shelves underneath for his sorting bins and more "odds and ends".


So -with all this LEGO going on, the robot bedding we had was just not doing it (for me - Munchkin didn't seem to mind).

So three flat sheets, a bit of cutting and a bit of applique later, and I had whipped up two new valences and a cover for the robot comforter.

Good to have the sewing machine back from being serviced -as I satin stitched all around the applique.

LEGO guy on the bed - his old comforter is inside the new cover.

LEGO cover and all his "buddies" hanging out.

New valances made from the cuff end of the striped sheets, with the remaining sheet used to make the reverse side of the comforter cover.

The other window (curtains tied up due to LEGO interference) his new cube storage stool, and the open space where the table used to be.

And now we are good... for a few more years perhaps?
 

Measuring Time -John Hughes Style

I must say that the Design Wall Monday feature over at Patchwork Times has gotten me back on a semi-regular cycle of posting to my blog...not every Monday, but I am getting there.

This week I can show of the second of my quilts from a Jaybird Quilts pattern -this one is Lotus using the new Hex-N-More ruler.

I will be teaching this one as a class in May - this particular fabric combo is not for my shop sample, but I needed a quick quilt for an event in mid-March, and what better way to get comfortable with the ruler than to make an extra quilt with it.

In gearing up for class I needed to know how long it will take to cut and piece the blocks - this is challenging for me as I often go up to work in my studio and lose all track of time.

So I put in a movie when I started pulling fabrics from my stash - and by the end of the first move I had all the fabrics cut and ready to sew - Sixteen Candles.

I put in a second movie when I started piecing the blocks - Breakfast Club - and got halfway through the 28 blocks.

One more movie later - Weird Science - and all the blocks were ready to be assembled.

...and I was out of John Hughes movies.  I think we have Pretty in Pink somewhere.  Now I just need to add all the run times together and I will have a good estimate.

So do you pay attention to how long your projects take?  People often ask me - but usually I can't be this specific.  

 

Instead of watching football

We are not big professional football watchers at my house. Well - not having cable TV doesn't help - but even when we did, we were more likely to work on projects around then house than watch a game. So tonight it should be no surprise that I worked on a sewing project instead of watching the game. I was prepping this quilt for a class sample - and will be teaching the class in April at Chestnut Bay Quilting.  The pattern is Carnival by Jaybird Quilts, and uses the Lazy Angle Ruler by Lazy Girl Designs to get these wonderfully fun and funky pinwheels.

I had a pile of pink fat quarters in my stash, so picked the Kaffe Fassett fabric for the border based on that - then picked up a few more fabrics at Chestnut Bay and from my stash to round things out.  It's not "matchy matchy" and there are batiks mixed in there with the other fabrics, and a solid along with the prints - but for a scrappy quilter like me, that's pretty much how it goes.  The white on white is all the same, though.

One of the really fun things with this ruler is that you can make the same block easily in different sizes - and the ruler does the math!!  After cutting out the pieces for the big blocks, I realized I had enough fabric in the leftover bits to cut out a couple of smaller blocks.  I initially sewed up these minis to use in instructing the class, but when I was prepping the backing I needed just a smidge of a pieced strip to make the backing wide enough - and these pieces did the trick.  I have enough scraps to make more for class - so using these up wasn't a problem.  I am actually thinking of making the quilt up again with all smaller blocks in larger quantity - these are 2.5" units, so it would be fun to play with a jelly roll and see what happens.  Stay tuned...

I've got it all pinned together now - and have my quilting planned out - but don't know if I will get to it this week as we have something on the calendar nearly every evening.  I pinned up my other top today as well -so my knees are sore!  I can't pin up anything else without getting some quilting done, though - as I am nearly out of pins.