one week later............... April Fools!

the baby quilt from Craft Camp 2012 .....goes to...

{Madison Grace Haynes}

born October 8th, 2012

she joined big brother Elijah

and big brother Sam

two lucky boys with two sweet loving parents

I loved working on that little quilt. I even missed it after it was complete! I hope Maddie Grace loves it to shreds!

Here are some step by step close-ups on how I finished the quilt

after piecing the front it was time for the batting

I didn't have quite enough batting in one piece so here is how I pieced it together  

 look closely above (near the bottom of the photo)

you can see where I overlapped the batting

I used a large zig zag stitch on the machine so that the 'seam' was flat

Pinning

front

on top of batting

on top of backing

lots and lots of safety pins  

 keep smoothing the fabric with your hands

I kept checking the back

while the pins were still open

that way I could re-do sections that needed it

without opening pins again!

next up...

adding the binding

cut strips 2 1/2 inches wide

sew them into one long piece

enough to go around the entire quilt

here is how you connect one piece to another

on the diagonal

trim about 1/4 to 3/8 inch next to the sewing line

 press in half - lengthwise

attaching the binding to the quilt

leave a pretty long tail

when you begin to attach the binding to the quilt

start attaching the binding

somewhere near the middle

of one of the quilt sides

    

how to handle the corners 

 stop sewing 1/4 inch from end of raw quilt edge

(the blue bicycle fabric)

turn the entire quilt a quarter turn

flip the binding tail away from you

then flip it back down toward you

careful to hold the top fold 

along the top edge of the unfinished quilt

this will create a nice corner

when you do the finishing work by hand

what the corner will look like on the front

 {the hardest part!}

personally

this is the part I have the hardest time with

this just may be the reason that I decided to

take all these photos

and

document how it should be done!

 even is no one else ever refers to this

I probably will!

 

first step

 leave a nice long tail of binding

at least 7 inches

this should be in addition to

the extra inches left at the beginning

of attaching the binding

second step

 smooth each side of the binding

against the quilt to see where the left piece

meets the right piece

mark that spot

 

open each side of the binding

line up the right edge

of the left piece

to the spot you marked

on the right piece

{right sides together}

I pin and mark my sewing line

I only pin it temporarily

so that I can see if I have indeed

marked the correct sewing line

inevitably, I seem to sew in the wrong spot

 but try and try again

I always get it right in the end! 

when you do sew on the line

you need to sort of pull

the binding away from the quilt

this is why you start with

such long tails   

 

 now is a good time to

lay the binding flat

making sure you've 

closed it correctly

{do this before you cut off the extra tail}

 the second and third photos below 

show the extra tail cut off

third step 

finish sewing

this last section

of binding

to the quilt

fourth step

trim the excess

batting/backing

with your clear ruler and rotary cutter 

 fifth step

fold the binding over

to the back of the quilt

pin

 sew the binding

by hand

hiding the stitches

inside the fold

 finally...

the quilting

I cut a four petal flower

out of plastic

I traced this each time

I was ready to quilt

that square

sometimes I used blue tailors chalk

sometimes I used white 

 

the tailors chalk washed out after a couple washings

check out the tv in the background

I even took my quilt project

to Rudino's on a Sunday afternoon

to 'watch' the Vikings!

 

the finished project

{after multiple washings}

 

the finished project

in the hands of

Kate

{before Madison arrived} 

 

and this is what it was all about!

 

1st annual Craft Camp

That's correct! 

It was craft camp at 

the Peterson home in August

Holli and her friend Courtney flew in from Nashville
Katie and Daniel drove up from Aiken
Daniel didn't participate in craft camp
He had other things to do around Raleigh and Cary
and Jeff graciously took on the role of camp cook!
We even squeezed in a movie at the theater and a fun game of Canasta that we picked up and continued each night.

Everyone arrived on Thursday afternoon. The girls shared with each other what we wanted to accomplish. Then we heading out to purchase whatever supplies we still needed.

Holli wanted to make a pillow, cover a pad for a tiny bench, make a couple pillowcases and make new curtains for her bedroom!
Katie wanted to make an apron and some earrings.
Courtney wanted to cover some pillows for her sofa and some for her porch.
I wanted to at least start on a baby quilt and maybe even new valances for my kitchen!

This was going to be a big undertaking as Courtney was learning to sew for the first time and Katie and Holli were adding to their learning curve!

We purchased fabrics to go with what we had and found the perfect fabrics for both Holli's windows and mine.
We were already on a roll!

Here is day 2 when
the campers are really getting started.
Holli in the background at the ironing board
{sweet child of mine even ironed all my skirts and shorts in my to-do pile}
Courtney is in the foreground cutting out her first pillow cover
Katie is designing and cutting out the first part of her apron

 

Katie piecing her apron front

Katie was 'getting to know' the sewing machine that she got for Christmas from Daniel. Not to mention designing and figuring out how to make this apron WITHOUT a pattern! She's well on her way to being a pro at this sewing stuff!

here's me - piecing on the baby quilt
Holli did most of this while I was helping the other two. She is good at this piecing stuff!
But, I wanted to make this quilt so she saved some of the piecing for me!
And at the end of day 2...
we had a couple pillow covers for Courtney {background}
a pillow case for Holli {yellow bicycles on white}
a pieced pillow for Holli {bottom center}
an apron front for Katie {left}
a baby quilt top for Lois {right}

On day 3 Katie learned how to etch metal,
all this, while still working on her apron!
First the hole punching
then the stamping
then the actual etching

the finished earrings are fabulous

Katie is a quick study and has this down now too!
Plus, she has given me new etching ideas for
it's by design


There was lots of 'team' measuring and cutting for the two sets of window treatments.

Even Piper got in on the action! {Holli waits patiently in the background}
and because we were ALWAYS having fun at this craft camp
here is Katie on her magic carpet ride
AKA strips of my new kitchen valance

and MORE fun...

while Holli presses and pins the hem to her curtains
I just stand next to her and entertain!

more from day 3
custom reversible bib apron
by Katie

Katie checking out the reverse side {upper left}.
Just before the front and back were sewn together
tucking the bib, neck sash {not quite tucked yet}, and the waist sash inside the edge. Then side 1 of the apron could lie on top, right sides together {upper right} and the final machine seam could be sewn all around the rectangle. A small opening was left so that it could be turned inside out. After everything looked good and the sashes and bib were released from their captivity, the opening was hand sewn shut.
{arrrggg! the girls learned that lots of projects end with hand sewing}
Side 1 of apron {lower left}
Side 2 of apron {lower right}
Yes, that's a pocket on both sides!
we're officially professionals

the hand sewing begins

and here we are on day 4 just showing it all off!

Katie had to head back to South Carolina on the afternoon of day 4.
Holli and Courtney and I still had a full day 5 to finish hand sewing all the pillow closures and Holli's LINED bedroom curtains.
That was a big project
mainly because there was so much fabric!

the Loot photo on day 4
pillows, pillows and more pillows

and earrings that Holli commissioned me to make
the pearl necklace is a custom order for a special bride that I finished during craft camp. So it became part of the loot!

when the Tennessee girls returned to their homes
here's how they showed off some of their projects

Courtney's sofa pillows
Courtney's porch pillows
{there are actually two of each}
and a sage green pillow {pictured in the loot photo} for her sofa

lots of crafty additions to Holli's already crafty bedroom
the burlap type fabric curtains are lined with blackout lining
Holli LOVES to sleep in when her schedule allows!
the little black bench that Grampa made now sports a new cushion of salmon and white polka dots {left}

the cute little pieced pillow is backed with the polka dots
it's home is on the palette couch we made last fall

the bicycle pillowcases brighten up her new bedding
AND
hide her guest pillows
for when someone passes through town and sleeps on the sofa
{she and Courtney even built the trunk at the end of her bed}
this little apple doesn't fall far from her mama's tree!

that's it for craft camp 2012

my kitchen valances and baby quilt were not completed at craft camp but they will be blogged about soon!