Beach Blanket

Beach blanket -- measures 65 inches by 91 inches

We've been spending a bit of time at the beach this summer. Not quite as much as I'd like, but enough that I have a tan line. We have a couple of major events coming up this weekend that will require time spent sitting on dirt and grass. So, I used it as motivation to make a beach blanket. I've had it in mind for a while now, just needed something to push me over the edge into actually doing the work.

Believe it or not, I actually had this HUGE piece of fabric in my stash. It's from back in the day when I used to make purses.

Here's the steps I used to turn it into beach blanket:

1. Cut the fabric in half from selvage to selvage.

2. Cut each piece in half again, from selvage to selvage.

3. Sew two pieces together along the selvage edge. Repeat for remaining two pieces.

4. Open both pieces of fabric up, and place them with right sides together. Pin around the perimeter. The selvage edges should match on both short sides.

5. Sew around the perimeter, leaving a 12 inch hole for turning the blanket inside out.

6. Turn it inside out. Iron the edges for a smooth finish. Iron the opening so that it will close evenly with the rest of the edge of the blanket.

7. Sew a second seam about 1/4 to 3/8 from the edge. This will help it to have a more finished look even when wrinkly.

8. Sew several seams similar to quilting lines inside the center of the blanket to keep the two halves together.

I hope this blanket has many sunny days in it's future!

Fantastic Voyage Quilt

Fantastic Voyage measuring 65 X 65

I made this quilt for my mother-in-law to thank her for watching my kids for a week. I wanted her to have something special to help her remember just how much we love and appreciate her.

It was very unusual for me to do this kind of quilt -- normally I stick to traditional geometric shapes and patterns. Also, I use pastels and fruity type colors. So, this was stepping pretty far out of my comfort zone. As I worked on it, I kept asking myself, "Does this look OK?" or "Is this going to work???"

I think in the end it turned out very nice. The random patterning actually appeals to me now -- I think I'll be trying more like it in the future.

I like this quilt so much, I'll be putting a tutorial up in step-by-step form for you to use at your leisure. It will use pre-cut fabrics to make it even easier! Yeah! I love easy. I wish I had thought to use the pre-cut fabric before I cut all those little pieces by hand!

The Christmas Log Cabin

I started this quilt so many years ago it's hard to remember for sure, but I think I started it in 2003. I had this grand idea to make Christmas quilts for each of my siblings. Um. Yeah. Needless to say, that didn't happen. I just finished this quilt last week. So embarassing, but true.

Throughout the creative process on this one, I kept stumbling along. I think that's why it took so long to actually finish. I had trouble picking out the borders, the binding and the back. Christmas fabric that coordinated was often VERY ugly. Finally I found a combination that I think went together to produce a nice finished product.