Modern Monday Quilt Along

Block 46:

Go visit Caroll at Attic Window Quilt Shop to see how her lantern turned out. Then visit Jenifer at 42 Quilts to see what we will be making this week.

Quilting with Spooky

Spooky here. Lynn is busy working on this pretty quilt. I wanted to show you how I am helping her quilt it. She is still learning how to do the hook feather design and needs some encouragement.

Lynn's feathers are really nice, but I'm cuter

She did an extra good job on this one

Ahhh! The table isn't underneath this part of the quilt!

Whew! Quilting is hard work. I need a nap.

Lynn kicked me out of the sewing room so she could finish her quilt. I kidnapped her computer to show you the great pictures Lynn took of me before she kicked me out.

Hope you have a good weekend!

Notebook Cover Tutorial

You will need forty 2.5" squares, a piece of batting 16.5" by 10.5", a fat quarter and a composition notebook. A typical charm pack (5" squares) will make four of these pieced covers. Just cut the charm squares in half both vertically and horizontally to get four 2.5" squares from each charm square. This is what I did for this notebook cover.

Start by laying out your squares in a 5 by 8 grid. When you are happy with the arrangement, sew them together in pairs.

You can sew them into rows and then sew your rows together. Or do like I do, sew them together into four patches so you can spin the centers to reduce bulk.

I add the top pairs to the middle four patches, then this to the bottom four patch and finally sew these all together to create the pieced outside of the cover.

Next you'll need to cut your fat quarter. This will be the lining and the side flap pieces into which you slip the notebook into the cover. Fold your fat quarter in half so that the selvedge is closest to you and cut a 10.5" by 21" piece and a 4.5" by 21" piece. Cut down the first piece to 10.5" by 16.5". Cut the second piece into two 4.5" by 10.5" pieces.

Press under one of the long edges of each of your 4.5" by 10.5" pieces a quarter of an inch. Then do it again. Now topstitch this down with matching thread.

Lay your batting down and your pieced cover on top, right side up. Then put your side flap pieces on top of this aligning the raw edges. I pinned the side flaps in place.

Baste the layers together by sewing all the way around the edge with a 1/8" seam allowance.

Flip this over and get your notebook. The corners of these notebooks are rounded. Place the corner of the notebook on your batting with the edges of the notebook 1/4" away from the raw edges of the batting. I just eyeball this. Trace the corner of the notebook on to the batting to use as a sewing line. Do this for all four corners. You can also do this on the lining fabric. My lining fabric is black so it would have been too hard to photograph this step if I did it on the lining fabric.

You can barely see the traced corner at the top left of this photo.
Click the image to enlarge it if necessary.

Now pin your lining fabric right sides together with the basted piece. Your batting should be showing on one side and the wrong side of your lining fabric is showing on the other side. Pin these together.

You need to leave about a 2" opening for turning this right side out. Make sure this opening will be underneath one of the side flaps. Mine is in between the two pins in the bottom right corner of the photo above. Sew everything together using a 1/4" seam allowance. At the corners sew on your drawn line as you go around the corner. And be sure to leave that opening for turning!

Clip the corners off to reduce bulk and turn it right side out leaving the side flaps flipped over wrong side out over the pieced cover.

Sew the opening you left for turning shut using matching thread. I put a couple of pins in my opening before sewing it shut. You can see them in the bottom left hand corner of the photo above.

When you have stitched the opening shut, flip the side flaps back to the lining side.

Insert your notebook and enjoy!

If you want some directions to print out, you can download the pattern here. As always, if something is not clear to you please just ask in the comments. If you would like for me to answer your question, please be sure I can contact you. If I can't, then I will just leave a comment on this post with my reply.

Hook Feathers

I'm trying a new free-motion design, hook feathers.

So far I've only done one row. I'm using this tutorial by Jenny of Sew Kind of Wonderful and Jenny's Doodling Needle. I can't decide if I want all the feather rows to go the same direction or if I should alternate. Jenny meanders a bit more than I did. This is my first time trying this design so I didn't want to get too fancy. So far, so good!

I also thought I'd share this cute picture of Spooky my son took. She is curled up inside a hat. How cute is that! After this picture was taken she went to sleep in the hat for about an hour. This hat fits on my son's head. He is 10 years old and does have a large-for-his-age head, but this gives you an idea of how tiny she is.

I bought him a camera before our trip at the beginning of July. He took lots of pictures on his trip and is getting pretty good with his camera. Rule number one for taking good pictures is to take lots of pictures. He has certainly learned rule one!

Shopping

I will be making another laptop carrier soon. This one will be for me. I'm going to use this as my main fabric.

It's a recent purchase from The Intrepid Thread. I purchased a couple coordinating prints to use for the binding and lining. I'm not sure why I didn't photograph them though. Um ...

I also did some shopping recently at my LQS. This is Cosmopolitan by Northcott.

And this one is Floral Whimsy by Northcott.

One of the benefits of working at my LQS is that I get to see the new fabric every week!

I taught a class on Saturday and my student used some of the Floral Whimsy main print for her project.

The class she took is the Color Theory for Quilters class I'm teaching this quarter. She did a great job!

Modern Monday

Block 45:

I reversed the colors on this one doing gray for the ship and pink/white for the background. This was the only sewing I accomplished last week. My classes started last Monday while my child does not start school until tomorrow. It is hard for me to work from home with my child at home. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Go visit Caroll at Attic Window Quilt Shop to see how her ship turned out. Then visit Jenifer at 42 Quilts to see what we will be making this week. I hope to be able to sew tomorrow!

Kitten report:

Spooky Boo is her name, Spooky for short. A week ago Sunday she was still in bed at 9 am. I went to get her up and her little eyes were crusted shut. Poor thing! No wonder she was still in bed. She couldn't see!! She slept most of Sunday because she didn't feel well. First thing Monday morning I called the vet. and got her some medicine - oral antibiotic and cream for the eyes. We started treatment by 11 am on Monday. Tuesday morning she was climbing the curtains in the playroom. She feels much better now, misbehaving and playing like a kitten should. Our spray bottles for water are filled and have already been put to use disciplining Miss Spooky. Climbing curtains and my design wall are not permitted! She is learning.

Laptop Carrier

Over the weekend I finished the laptop carrier I was working on. It turned out pretty well.

The pattern called for Soft and Stable instead of batting. I really like the sturdiness and padding it provides, perfect for valuable electronics. It was also easy to work with. It has more structure than batting so when quilting the pieces you have to roll up the right side when it gets longer than the opening of your machine. But it rolls very easily. The product Soft and Stable is By Annie, as is the pattern I used.

I took a couple of photos of the inside of the carrier before turning it right side out. The edges of the bag are enclosed in binding, except for where the zipper is inserted. I did not take the time to read the pattern before picking out my fabrics. If I had, I probably would have picked a binding fabric that didn't contrast quite so much with the lining. Although the contrasting binding is better for these photographs.

I zig zagged along the edges where the zipper is inserted even though the pattern didn't say to do so. I plan to make another one of these and am working on how I can enclose those raw edges. Putting the binding in these edges was an "adventure" for me. I am also trying to figure out how I could make this part easier. For a start, I think cutting the binding strips wider would help me a lot.

The pattern called for a 16" and a 22" zipper. I used two 22" zippers and cut it to length for the outside pocket after attaching the pocket, like the pattern said to do. That worked well and I recommend using a larger zipper for the outside pocket. However, the 22" zipper isn't quite long enough for the top closure. Mine is about a 1/2" short on both ends. It isn't that noticeable and does not adversely affect the function of the bag, but it bothers me. The By Annie website also sells zippers in two sizes. I will get a double pull zipper, like the 30" zippers on the By Annie website, to use for the top closure next time. A thirty inch zipper will solve my problem.

There are no pockets on the inside of this bag but there is a large zippered pocket on the outside. (See the first photo above.) The pattern also includes instructions to make a laptop purse which does have pockets on the inside as well as a shoulder strap in addition to handles. I don't usually use my laptop carrier as a purse so that option didn't appeal to me, but it is nice that it is included with the plainer option I made up.