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!

 

another graduation scrapbook

In 1999 I was introduced to the world of scrapbooking. My 1st niece was about to graduate from high school so I thought a scrapbook would be the perfect personal gift from me.

That got the ball rolling for 'the graduation scrapbook' gift from Auntie Lo!

Over the years since that first graduation I have made one for her sister, my three children and another niece. This year was my nephew's turn. With all good intentions to start it early, I waited until the last minute!

In fact I began on Tuesday, April 24th and finished it on Tuesday, May 22nd. I worked each and every day. In some cases ALL day and into the evening. I left one day to clean up and pack and we headed to Iowa for Will's graduation, scrapbook in tow, on the 25th!  That first book for Dori was a surprise. By the time I got to this book for Will, his mother (my sister) provided me with all the photos, even having categorized them all nice and neat in a box.

There is a HUGE creative leap between the book from1999 filled with triangles of colored paper and lots of stickers, and the book of 2012.    But then, isn't that how all crafts and abilities evolve over time?

Starting with the birth page

here are a few more pages

not in any particular order.

I love taking photos that have a theme even if they are from all different ages. Then I create the artwork out of that theme, such as the Tinkertoys!

                                      

  Will was expecting the book but it is still a joy for me to watch him open the cover for the first time and dig in.

Inside the cover of each book I have written a favorite AA Milne quote from 

Winnie The Pooh

"I lay this book in your lap.
Say you're surprised?
Say you like it?
Say it's just what you wanted?
Because it's yours-
because I love you.” 

note:

each book got a little bigger

sometimes it's best to be last!

Paris and Pooh

How does a dear friend's 50th birthday slip by so quickly?

There was that surprise party in early November.

That's when I thought I still had plenty of time to make a special gift.

Then Thanksgiving AND the actual birthday

came and went.

then Christmas.

then New Year's.

Suddenly months have slipped by and all I had was a blank canvas

and some ideas.

I decided the canvas should represent all the 50th birthday celebrations that she had been blessed with.

a trip to Paris with her husband.

a trip to the Azores with her high school friends.

the surprise party.

and Pooh.

Pooh was important because she loves Pooh

and so do I.

The phrase I chose makes me think

of an imagined conversation

between she and I.

You see, I don't just slap paint on a canvas.

I put my heart on the canvas.

Here's how it went