Archive for the ‘make it’ Category

I’ve slowly… very slowly gotten to work on my son’s quilt for his bedroom.  The hardest part has been coming up with the pattern I wanted to use.

Ben liked a bull’s eye pattern… but I wanted something just a bit more rustic… maybe to tone down the very bright fabrics going into the quilt.

The inspiration came from the book, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.

I could spend hours pouring over this amazing book.  The quilters of Gee’s Bend are remarkable artists, made even more remarkable by their humble resources.  You might say they are “Make it Do” artists- their fabrics being repurposed from bits of old dresses or jeans, even an old banana.

Last week my mother, Leslie and I got together to work on the design.  This quilt is called “Housetop” by Mary Bennett.  It is a four block variation.  And it was just what I was looking for.

We got to work making the pattern for the quilt- 4 different 15″ blocks, 12 blocks all together. Unlike Mary’s quilt, our quilt will have a sashing and border.

And now to test out our theories on the blocks.  If it didn’t work, if they didn’t look right, we’d simply start again.

After putting together 3 blocks, I think were on the right track.

With such large easy blocks, this quilt shouldn’t take long, even for me.  I can hardly wait until it rains this week (which it’s supposed to do on Wednesday) so I can sew to my heart’s delight.

I’ve been on the go with my sewing class and needed a safe place to keep my needles.

The solution was this cute little Matchbook Needle Keeper.  It’s so easy to make, it only takes a few minutes.

Here’s how to make one:

Cut a piece of scrapbook cardstock weight paper 5 3/4″ x 2″.

Using a bone folder or comparable tool, fold the bottom up 3/4″ and fold the top down 2 1/4″

It should look like this:

Next cut a piece of felt 2 1/2″ x 2″.  I used wool felt.

And staple the felt into the “matchbook” needle keeper.

Just add needles.  It shuts just like a matchbook.

Like many of my favorite projects, it was quick and easy… and used scraps from other projects… so it was essentially free.

I just love when form meets function.