Design Wall-Couch is done

The couch is done. I like the way it looks and when we have the covers on the chairs I'll post of pic of how I dye them. When I look at this one compared to the current couch, it looks like a dolls couch, but we're going to get a small table and the two chairs are small as well. The room will look finished but not overfull. Covering this wasn't terribly hard. If you can sew curves at all, you can do it. The only places I had any trouble were at the corners of the arms and the back a bit. I think the secret was pinning the fabric to the pieces so that it was taut and fit, then measuring a half inch seam allowance. I then unpinned and just sewed the parts together with a half inch seam allowance and when I put it on the couch part it fit. Of course it's not perfect, but it is good enough for me!

If you decide you might want to try upholstery, I say, go for it...you can do it!!

To see more design walls, check out Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday-November 21

The quilt is all done. I decided that the sky needed a bit of quilting so added the knots there. It was presented last Wednesday and is being signed by parishoners on the back. The binding is dark blue, and very thin. I hand stitched it down because it is so thin. The shape of the wall quilt isn't really weird like this.

I have been working on this loveseat today. We have a small living room, and have had a large-ish couch in there that just took up too much room. We have been looking for something else and when we went to Ikea on Friday evening to buy chairs (one in red one in gray with covers that I can dye) we found the love-seat. I've had fabric for a while to cover the other larger couch, but never got to it. Too complicated. But when I saw how this loveseat is put together I decided I could do it.

Here are the parts and the fabric. I made slips for the arms and one larger piece to staple over the seat. I was going to piece it but figured out that it would be much easier to just staple it. I still have to cover the back, and that means piecing, but I don't think it will take too long.

Here it is sorta stacked together to look like a loveseat. It's just the parts, but I like it. Not really a design wall, but it is sewing.

If you want to see what folks have on their design walls, check out Judy's blog. 

Design Wall-The Quilted Sky

 The sky is a little poofy, and I didn't want to quilt it a lot because I knew it wouldn't be smooth (I'm just not that good). I was looking at it, and knew that it needed something, and then I thought of more knots, so I did. You can see it's not great, but I think it will be OK. Sometimes I look at quilting and think it just looks awful, and other people look and they don't see it, so I'm going to assume this will be OK.

The quilting in the sky is completed on the right side, but just marked and pinned on the left. I have to say I transferred the design by marking the design with pin holes, then rubbing chalk across the paper. Then I took a marking pencil and darkened the lines so I could see them to quilt. They kind of rubbed off as I was quilting (yay) and I used a white eraser to complete the job. I saw this used when I watched a video about the Tentmakers of Cairo a fascinating look at the work they do, with some techniques thrown in. If I hadn't seen that video last week, I would have struggled to figure out how to add the design...so yay surfing!

If you want to see what other design walls have on them, check out Judy's blog.

Tree of Life top is done

 I know it doesn't look much different, but all of the leaves are fused on and each one has "veins" sewn down. I knew they would have to be attached and did the first one adding veins. I liked it OK, but wanted to see if I could free motion around the edge. Nope.

There are 57 leaves (if I counted right) and it only took about 1 1/2 hours to do them all. I'm not very fast but I am thorough.

The borders are on, and it is ready to be sandwiched and quilted. I think I've decided I'm going to use clear polyester thread. That way the back can be used for the church members to sign before it is presented to Fr. Paul.

In the picture of the leaves you can see the veins I've sewn in to attach them to the quilt top more securely. I know they might detach around the edges, but I figure that will just give the quilt more dimension.

To see what more folks are doing, check out Judy's blog.