Spotty Cat Wallhanging - Embroidering, Quilting, and Finishing!

This post will talk about embroidering on the details and quilting the wall-hanging.  I first embroidered the details such as the cat and mouse whiskers, and the french knots for the mouse eyes.  Then I embroidered the mouse tails.  The embroidery was really quite simple just following the directions.

I forgot to get a picture just after the embroidery, so in that last picture you can also see that I put together  the quilt sandwich (tape down backing, then smooth batting over, then center the quilt top on the top and add basting safety pins.).  Once this was done, I began to quilt around the applique shapes, and along the edges of all the pieces.  I did most of this quilting by hand as I found it to be easier to get nice lines around all the little pieces that way.  I used dark red thread for my quilting, with the quilting stitches going all the way through the quilt sandwich.

As I got close to finishing this project, I got so into it a forgot to take pictures after a few steps, so this next picture is actually the finished project.  Quickly, after the quilting was finished, I trimmed off the extra batting and backing nice and close to the quilt top.  Then I prepared my binding (there are some good tutorials about this).  I lined up the raw edges of the double folded binding with the edge of the quilt top and machine stitched it to the back of my quilt with a straight stitch, mitering at the corners.  Next, I carefully folded the binding over to the front and selected an overlock stitch on my sewing machine (it basically goes up 2 straight along the edge of the binding but on the quilt top, then goes over 1 to catch the binding.  I liked the way this stitch worked).  I sewed around the binding with this stitch, mitering the corners and tucking in the end.

So...FINALLLY....here is the finished quilt!!!   I actually finished this a while ago, just kept forgetting to post here.  Next project is another wall-hanging - a blazing star pattern.

 

Spotty Cat Wallhanging - Sewing on the Applique

In this post I will discuss how I sewed on the applique pieces onto the background.  I hand sewed on all my applique for this project, since there were a lot of small pieces and hand sewing them gave me more control.  The strategy I used for sewing these on was to first assemble the pieces on the applique chart and compare to the included picture to make sure I had the order and positioning correct.  Then I moved a few of the pieces in an area onto the background and basted them in place with long stitches of contrasting thread.

I sewed each basted piece to the background and then removed the basting stitches.  For the cats spots, I basted them all on at once, then sewed them on.

Last to be added for the cat were the ears, face, and front paw.  I then painstakingly sewed around the edges of the vines and leaves.

Next post will discuss embroidering on the details, and quilting the wall-hanging.

Spotty Cat Wallhanging - Sewing the Background

To sew the background together, I sewed the narrow maroon strips to the large middle piece.

Next, I sewed on the top and bottom tan strips.

Then, I sewed two corner squares to each tan side strip, and sewed the completed side strips to the sides of the background.

This completes the background.  I then stitched around the edge of the background to help prevent stretching when sewing on the applique pieces.

Next post I will show how I attached the applique to the background.

Spotty Cat Wallhanging

So it's been a little while since I posted, but I've still been crafting away.  I've been working on a kit I bought from MaryMaxim.com, an online craft store.  It is called the Spotty Cat Wall Quilt Kit.  It came with all the materials to make a wallhanging quilt.  The kit looks like this: 

After reading all the instructions (*Tip: always read through all of the instructions for a project first before starting) I cut the included fabric as specified in the instructions.  (*Tip:  Be very careful to double, and even triple check your measurements, as it is easy to make a mistake.  With kits like this you aren't given a lot of extra fabric for mistakes.)

After cutting the fabric for the background, I cut out the paper templates for the applique (Applique is just the term used to describe when you cut a patterned piece of fabric to be sewn on top of a background fabric.)  After cutting the templates out I traced around them on the woolfelt with a chalk pencil and then cut them out.  (*Tip: I cut out all the templates that used one color of woolfelt, and traced and cut them before moving on to the next color.  This method worked well for me.  Also, it is good practice to lay out all the templates on the woolfelt and configure them so there is room for all of the pieces, then start by tracing and cutting the largest piece.)

Next post will show how I sewed together the background of the wallhanging.

Making a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 4

Next, I cut a piece of felt to the same size as the quilt top (*Tip: go a little bigger than the quilt top.  You can always trim the edges, and I found it tricky to line this part up otherwise.)  Place the quilt top face down and place the felt on top, lining up the edges.  Fold the quilt and felt in half.

Next, I sewed along the side edge, all the way through both sides of the felt and quilt top.  Make sure to leave enough space at the edge so the thread doesn't pull through the felt when you turn the piece right side out.

Next, I squeezed the bottom of the case together, making sure to line up the front and back diamond pattern (*the side seam you sewed will end up about an inch or so from the side edge of the case for the bottom seam).  Then I simply sewed along the bottom edge.

Next, I turned the eyeglass case right side out, making sure to pop the corners out as best I could.

Last but not least, I cut the piece for the top binding (*I learned to leave cutting this piece until the end since the finished size may vary a little.)  I cut this to be about half an inch longer than once around the top of the case.  Then, I pressed a 1/4" of each side of the top binding under with the iron, then folded in half and pressed again.  (* You press the edges under so that the fabric won't show fraying).  

Next, I hand sewed the top binding to the top of the case going all the way through both sides of the binding and  one side of the quilt top and felt.  And so we have:  The FINISHED EYEGLASS CASE!! Here are some pictures of all three of the eyeglass cases I made.

Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 3

Next I arranged the strips diagonally and sewed them together to form the diamond pattern for the front and back of the case.

Next I trimmed the edges to make a rectangle, leaving 1/4" of fabric at the edges of the diamonds for the seam allowance.  After that, I sewed the two diamond patterned pieces with the cut side pieces.

And that completes the quilt top!  The last step will be to sew the quilt top together with some felt to make the completed eyeglass case.

Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 2

After sewing the three strips together, I ended up with a multi-colored strip that will become the diamond pattern for the front and back of the eyeglass case.

After sewing the three strips together, I trimmed the edges straight and cut them into 1.75" sections.

I ended up with about 10 sections from each set of strips.  Then I chose 7 from each set to sew together to make the front and back of the eyeglass case.

First Project: Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case

So I just recently bought a sewing machine with the intent of getting into quilting.  But of course I didn't want to start out on a giant quilt so I looked around for a smaller project I could start with.  I found this free pattern for a Quilted Eyeglass Case.  I am currently in the process of making 3 of these: 1 each for myself, my mom, and my sister.  This is a great beginner project.  I will be posting the first step today, followed by the rest of the steps in the days to come.  If the colors seem to change in the different pictures it is because I'll be using pics from the 3 different cases I made throughout.

My first step after cutting the pieces (sorry no pics) was to sew the 3 different colors together one at a time.   The middle strip measures 1.75" X 18", while the other two strips measure 2" X 18".

For each strip, I pinned the strips together right sides facing and lining up the edges.

Then I sewed the strips on the sewing machine using a 1/4" seam allowance (this means the distance between the needle and the edge of the fabric is 1/4"), making sure to pull out the pins as I sew.

Come back later for the next step!

First Post: Background

Before my first official post let me give a little background of myself and my vision for this blog.  I have been into crafts my whole life, and especially the last few years.  I taught myself to knit several years ago, and am just beginning to learn to crochet and to sew.  I plan to eventually post some pictures of some of my past knitting projects, probably to fill in the gaps when I don't have a new project to share or just don't have the time to post a full project.  This blog will be pretty casual, but I will try to update it semi-frequently with new projects.  Thanks for tuning in!