Wonky rectangles Pillow Cover

My next quilt project is making some pillow covers. This is for trying patterns in small scale. I want to test if my ideas in my mind really work. So making pillow covers is just perfect for a trial. I am inspired by this quilt from Film in the Fridge, but I couldn't tell how to construct pieces. I decided goin my own way to make those colorful rectangles look wonky. I think I need to run back over this a little more before making a bigger quilt, but this pillow looks pretty good. I like it.

Spring Fashion for Girls

I made this skirt for Nina.

Out of my old sweat shirt.

And I crocheted these little dresses for Polly Pocket and her friend.

I finished one dress in only five minutes. They are so tiny.

I think girls need some fresh new looks every spring. Maybe every four months.

Finished the twin squares quilts

I hung my second machine quilts up on the wall in the living room. I like it!

Tim said "We need a new TV." I really am with you, honey.

Crochet for Spring Cleaning?

Eventually,Spring is here. We had really nice warm days after St.Patric's Day. And blue Sky! It is so nice hearing birds chirping in the trees.

I found these flowers I have never seen before in my neighbor's front yard. The flower shapes look like Iris but they are very short as crocuses are.

Tim bought a pair of roller blades for Nina last week. Now it is the time for practice. We will need to be patient coaches everyday until Nina masters rolling them by her own.

By the way, Spring is cleaning time too. I crocheted a semipermanent "Swiffer sweeper sheet" with cheap acrylic yarn I got at Big Lot. Making wash cloth with acrylic yarn is pretty common craft in Japan. Acrylic yarn is known as a very good material for cleaning any hard surfaces.

I just crocheted a rectangle which is big enough to wrap my mop and made some button loops. I sewed old buttons on it. It took about an hour or so to finish. I don't think that is much labor if I could save the cost to buy refills for this product every month.

 

I made a dishcloth too. This cleaning thing even cleans tough coffee (or tea) stains on your cups well without using soap. You can use this for mirrors, sinks, floors, and many other things. The reason that this craft is popular in Japan is that people think it is good for environment because you can reduce the amount of detergent you use and it helps to prevent that the detergent harms your skin. It is very practical, inexpensive. And fun, of course!

One of my second machine quilts is done.

I am making two quilts for hanging up on the living room wall. I finished one of them. The size is 30"×30".

It took a while to decide the color for sashing. After shopping around several local fabric stores I finally picked this mocha brown. But I wasn't really sure this color was appropriate and I am still not sure about it.

 

I found that somehow I like basting with these quilting cloth pins (I actually don't know their official name). Well, I would probably change my mind when I make something big like for our king size bed someday (I don't think it would happen for years though).

I taped the backing fabric on the linoleum floor in my work room for making a sandwich. We are not crazy about linoleum, but sometimes it is nice that you have one not so beautiful flooring which you don't have to worry about scratches of your pins.

I quilted this in same way as my first one. I think I got a little better doing this. Once I got used to it, it is so fun and I couldn't leave my machine for hours. Well, actually it took only a couple hours to finish quilting this small piece. There is no wonder but it is amazingly quick compared with hand quilting! I love it.

I used dusty green and polka dot print for binding. I think I should have picked brighter contrasted colors. There is so much I need to learn about designing quilts. And I love to learn new things which I love to make.

Wishing you all have a good week!

My Yoga mat

My prentice quilt is finished. I am pretty happy with the result. When I showed my daughter Nina this quilt, she said "Hey Mom, it can be my Yoga Mat." I see, it sure looks like a yoga mat.

 

 She takes yoga classes at her preschool once a week.She knows many poses such as these.

 

This one is the most difficult pose of all poses she knows. Its called "the Dancer".

 

"the Dolphin"

 

"the Warrior"

There's more poses here, if you want to see.

Breaking new ground

I love to do almost everything making things with my hands. But there is only one thing I could never like to do. It is Hand quilting. I really don't know why I don't like it. So it has stopped me to start making decent sized quilts until now.
But these years, the modern style quilt is getting trendy. I found there are so many fabulous quilters making fantastic modern quilts over the world. They are publishing their pieces online and it stimulated my inspiration so much. And also machine quilting is now very popular. I realized many good quilters are using free motion function of their general sewing machines. That encouraged me a lot.

I started learning about piecing and quilting with a sewing machine. There are so many references you can find on line. Many quilters' blogs provide useful tips and tutorials too. I decided to make a small quilt for practice with fabrics I had in my stash.

 

I made this quilt top long because if I could make this moderate I was going to hang it on the wall. Regrettably, it already seems this one is gonna be a picnic quilt or a beach mat.

 

And here we go! I am so embarrassed to show you this, but this is my very first free motion quilt! 

 

  

I know it is terrible! The stitch widths are uneven, curves are not smooth. But I  am learning a lot! I am half way done, and I think I could be better when it is done. I found that free motion stitching is so much fun to do and once I start, it is hard to stop.

I already made some blocks for my next project. I picked bright and fresh colored fabrics for my next quilt. 

 

  

I got this jelly roll of Kona Cotton. I just love to see the gradation of colors.

  

 I made eight square blocks. I am going to make two square quilts with these blocks. I would like to hang them up on both side of the TV in my living room. Let's hope it's gonna work all right.