Seasons of Change...

As summer is winding down and fall is just around the corner, I am driven to think about change.  Life is full of change for everyone.  I know that the last few years have held a lot of change for me personally.  In the last 3 years alone I have weathered the deaths of several loved ones, including my mother,  changes in my relationships with others, some good and some not so good, and changes to just simple things in everyday life.  As I write this, my husband is beginning his last week at his current job.  He will begin his new one one week from tomorrow.  This new job will involve some pretty radical changes for us in our everyday lives.  Good changes, but changes that will certainly take some adjustment.

Looking ahead into this new chapter that is soon to open for us, I feel the need to refocus a bit.  In the past I have never really had any focus for this blog.  It has just been sort of a place to post a few pics and maybe comment on what is going on currently.  The last few years have been sporadic at best.   Going forward, I would like to have a little better focus.  You may have noticed that I have been doing a little cleaning up.  It definitely has much less of a 2005 vibe :).  Side bars have been cleaned up a bit and things are organized into tabs a little more concisely.  I still have some work to do, but it is getting there.  I hope to be a little better about posting more regularly as well.  I won't only be posting about my children's clothing, but also about my other creative ventures.  Quilting, knitting, and photography will all be playing a role in my posts as well as just what's happening in life.

I hope that you will join me.  I'm never sure where the road will lead, but it always makes for an interesting journey.

Make a Cute Baby Toy Using English Paper Piecing

Welcome to the English Paper Pieced Baby Toy Tutorial!

We will be constructing a 26 sided stuffed ball which finishes at about a 5 1/2 inch diameter.  The fancy name for this shape is a rhombitruncated cuboctahedron, I call it a cute baby toy.  This ball is a good size for an older baby, toddler or young child.  It consists of 6 octagons, 8 hexagons and 12 squares.  You can make it in as little as 1 color or as many as 26.  The choice is up to you.  Another option would be to use all three color values, light, medium and dark.  One for the squares, one for the hexagons and one for the octagons.  I would suggest using at least 3 fabrics with a decent amount of contrast just because it makes it more interesting to look at.  Its a great way to use up the leftovers!

We will be using the English paper piecing method to join the pieces together for this project.  I won't go into a whole explanation of how to do English paper piecing.  There are great tutorials, here, here and here.  I will, however say that I chose to use the freezer paper method and it worked quite well.  I was afraid of the papers slipping around while I was basting them down, so I chose the freezer paper.  I also chose the basting method that did not go all the way through the paper as I wanted to be able to pull the paper out and leave a small amount of the basting in for one of the final steps.   I also chose to make a knot at each corner, just to reinforce it since this ball could be thrown in the wash multiple times.  I just sewed a knot in without cutting my thread and continued on with the next piece if it was possible to do so.

Step 1.  Prepare Your Pieces.

You will need 6 octagons, 8 hexagons and 12 squares.  My idea came from this website.  I chose to use the template provided.  You could, however, choose to make your own if you wish.  The important thing is that your shapes are equilateral (all sides the same length) and that all shapes use the same length measurement for the sides.  For instance if you are using an octagon with 1 inch sides, then your hexagons and squares must all have 1 inch sides as well.  The thought of trying to draw perfect octagons and hexagons made my head hurt, so I chose to use the provided template.  :)

Step 2.  Assemble your "flowers".
Begin by taking one of your octagons and surrounding it alternately with squares and hexagons.

Make another just like this one.

Step 3.  Make your "bowls".
Do this by joining the sides of the squares to the adjacent hexagons all the way around.  Do this with both "flowers".

Step 4.  Set one of the bowls aside for now.  We will come back to it later. At this point you should have 4 octagons and 4 squares left.   This is where things get a little tricky, but stick with me and it will start making sense.  For this round you will be working along the lip of the bowl.  Take a square and join it to the top edge of one of the hexagons in the bowl.

Next take an octagon and continuing around the lip of the bowl, sew three sides of it to the next three segments. One side to the descending side of the hexagon, one to the next square below and one to the ascending side of the next hexagon.

Continue around the lip of the bowl in this manner until you have no pieces left.  It should look like this.

Step 5.  Join the squares to the octagons.  Working around the bowl in a round, join the sides of the squares to the sides of the adjacent octagons.  LEAVE ONE SQUARE UNSEWN.  This will be the little door where you will turn the ball and stuff it later.

It should now look like this.

Step 6.  Join the other bowl.
By now it should fit together like a puzzle and you should easily be able to see what joins to what.  Starting at your square that you left unsewn, stitch all the way around the ball matching corners and edges as you go.  Do not sew to the loose square.  It should remain free on all 3 sides.  Don't be afraid to pinch, fold, squish, poke or otherwise manipulate the ball in order to get your sides of your pieces lined up.

Step 7.  Remove your papers and basting.
At this point you can remove your papers and your basting from all but the square serving as your "door" and the pieces directly adjacent to the hole for turning.  Leave the paper and the basting stitches both on the square.  On the pieces surrounding the hole, I chose to leave the basting stitch only on the unsewn edge and to remove the papers.  I thought it would help to hold their shape as the ball was turned and stuffed.

Step 8.  Turn and stuff your ball.
Using the small opening in the ball, turn it right side out.

Stuff it with fiber fill and add a noisemaker of some sort if you choose. A couple of beads or a jingle bell inside of a small easter egg that has been super glued together works well.  Just make sure it is water tight as the ball may get washed if it is used by a child.  It also needs to be small enough to fit through the hole. Stuff it as loosely or as tightly as you wish.


Step 9.  Stitch up your opening using a ladder stitch.
At this point you can remove the paper from your opening flap and the remaining basting.  Simply sew around the opening using a ladder stitch.

Step 10.  Marvel at your ball and then go play!

12 Helpful Tips for Beginning Quilters

1.  Your fabric and batting choices matter.

When choosing fabric it is best to choose 100% cotton fabrics.  Higher quality quilting cottons are the best, but you can find decent fabrics at places like Joann's or Hancocks, just make sure to watch the quality.  You want to look for fabrics that have a slightly tighter weave and have a little more body to them.  If the fabric is extra limp, thin, or the grain is crooked it will be harder to work with.  These are things to be aware of when selecting fabrics as they will make your quilting experience MUCH more pleasant.  It is a great idea to sign up for sale flyers from Joann's or Hancocks or to get the Joann's app for your smart phone.  They run pretty great coupons much of the time.

As for batting, stick with cotton, wool or bamboo.  My favorite batting is Warm and White.  Run... fast... in the other direction from the cheap polyester batting.  Fusible batting is nice for smaller projects such as place mats, wall hangings and baby quilts.

2. Quilt patterns are kind of overrated.

I use graph paper and colored pencils to design most of my quilts.  Use graph paper that has 6 squares to the inch and just give each square a preset size such as 1 or 2 inches.  This is a great website for custom graph paper.   You can certainly use a pattern if you like, but most of them are simple combinations of squares, rectangles and triangles.

3.  Make sure to include your seam allowance.

Most quilting uses a 1/4 inch seam.  That means 1/2 inch will need to be added to whatever you want your finished size to be.  For instance, if you want a square to finish at 4 inches, it must be cut at 4 1/2 inches to accommodate for your seam allowance.  Measure twice... cut once.

4. Use a quarter inch foot.

Trust me on this one.  Your seams will be more accurate and if you are participating in a block swap or something of that nature, your blocks will be the right size when finished.  Just line the fabric up with the right hand side of the foot as it goes through.  Accuracy is a must when quilting.

5.  Use a rotary cutter.

A good rotary cutter, a large mat and a clear quilting ruler that is at least 24 inches are essential tools for the quilter.  Make sure to keep a sharp blade in the cutter and be VERY careful of your fingers.  I know someone who nearly cut off the tip of her finger, enough said... rotary cutters are tools to be respected.  Learn how to use them correctly here.

6.  Take the time to be accurate with your cutting.

Taking the time to square up, measure and cut carefully will make assembling your quilt top worlds easier than if the pieces are not cut correctly.  I always allow a little extra fabric when buying just to allow for mistakes.  Check your strips often if you are cutting several from the same piece of fabric.  Open your strip at the fold.  If you see it beginning to look like a "v", you will need to square up again and re-cut your strips.

7. Use your needle down setting.

I use this all of the time no matter what I am sewing.  It's like having a third hand and it keeps your fabric from slipping around if you should need to lift your presser foot.

8.  Learn how to chain piece, strip piece, and nest your seams.

Chain piecing and strip piecing will help your quilt top go together faster.  Particularly if you are sewing a lot of small pieces or are doing 4 patch blocks or nine patch blocks.
There is a tutorial here for chain piecing which also includes how to "nest" or "lock" the seams together, and one here for strip piecing which also shows the nesting of the seams.

"nesting" or "locking" the seams simply comes from pressing opposing seams in opposite directions.  When you line them up they will tend to just fit right together. This helps to make your corners match up perfectly.

9. Learn how to pin baste.

I like to use the bent quilter's safety pins.  I think they are much easier to use than the straight ones.
There is a great tutorial here.  

10.  To tie or to quilt?

The batting in the middle of your quilt can be secured using a couple of different methods.

You can tie it.  In this case you would use yarn or pearle cotton and simply stitch through the quilt by hand every few inches, leave the tails long and then tie them in a square knot. Tutorial here.

You could also quilt it by hand.

You could straight line machine quilt it.  For this you will need a walking foot.  The walking foot moves both the top and bottom layers of your quilt together and will help you have a smoother line of stitching without getting the layers bunched up.

If you are really daring you can free motion quilt it.  For this you will drop your feed dogs or put your darning plate over them and move the fabric by hand.  You will also need a free motion or darning foot for this.  It takes a little practice to get the hang of it, but the possibilities are endless once you become proficient.  I would suggest doing some practicing on scrap fabric and batting first or possibly a small project such as a potholder, bib or place mat.  I also find machingers gloves to be very helpful.  I do not free motion quilt without them.

11. Trim and square your quilt before you bind it.

Simply use your rotary cutter and mat and get the edges and corners as straight and as square as possible before binding it.  It will not be perfect, your quilt will kind of squish and stretch as you quilt it.  Just do the best you can.  The eye can be fooled a little as long as it isn't too horribly out of square.

12. Sewing on the binding.

I prefer to attach my binding by machine and then secure it in the back using a hand hem stitch.  There are those who prefer to do all of it on the sewing machine.  It is truly your preference.  I just personally like the look of hand sewn binding.  I usually cut mine at 2 1/2 inches, join the strips at a 45 degree angle so that they make all one long strip.  After that I press it in half the long way so that it folds to be a 1 1/4 strip of double thickness.  Line up the raw edges of the binding strips and the raw edge of the quilt and sew them down.  I actually cheat a little here and I use my regular machine foot which is slightly wider than 1/4 inch to the edge of the foot.  I have had one too many quilts come apart at the binding after washing using only a quarter inch allowance.  I have written a tutorial to show how to join the ends together.  Then just simply wrap the binding over the raw edge of the quilt and stitch it down in the back.  I use hair clips to hold the binding in place as I stitch.  It works great, I don't have to worry about my cat trying to eat the pins (for real!) and I also don't wind up poking myself with pins as I shift the quilt around while I am sewing the binding down.

It is also helpful to learn how to miter your corners.  It makes for a nice look to the finished quilt.