New Projects and more......

Now that my fabric is off to the "scanner people" I decided I needed a couple of hours for myself.....so, yesterday I spent some time working on the bummer pads and new quilts for the little Man! I haven't had my silkscreening equipment out in ages.....it is now out and being used. Here is what I got started. It was so fun to get to work in the ink and and do something different.........

I used a double gauze fabric from Japanese designer that had the great yellow dots - then I screened the elephant onto the top. The elephant came from a photo that I took at the zoo when we were there in July. He turned out cute.

Then with all of the excitement I screen printed yellow dots onto a solid fabric and put some elephants on the bottom and top and will make it into a quilt......now all I want to do is screenprinting and not work. I have another design ready to go with the elephants for a different quilt. Hope he likes elephants.

I also wanted to share with you a pattern that mom did for a really cool footstool. Here are the photos, instructions and illos.....now you can go out and make a great footstool.
These are the notes from mom........

"When we were at spring market the Mosaic quilt pattern from Aardvark Quilts was my very favorite so when I decided to do a quilted footstool cover I went to this design.  Pam Goecke is a fabulous designer and we love her patterns.

This is the original quilt.
The first thing I did was measure the soft footstool (kind of like bean bag filling) that I had purchased from the West Elm catalogue. It was 24" square and 13" high. I decided on a 6" repeat block for the top and then the 6" for the sides but added panels of fabric to make it 13". It was necessary for me to make the block a little larger but the technique still worked. You slice off the end of the square at an angle and stitch another piece to it. It creates wonderful movement throughout the design.

This is the block.
The living room in my new house is soft grey tones with green and orange accents so I started digging in my fabrics and made some blocks. I really liked the movement in the striped and the multi colored leaf fabrics. They added some spice to the design. Here you can see the blocks arranged for the top and the sides pinned next to the edges.

Once I was satisfied with the block arrangement I stitched them together. For the sides you can see I used panels of fabric in places to fill in. I thought it would be way too busy to have all blocks on the sides.

I felt it would be sturdier, with grandkids lounging and playing on it, if I quilted it. I used a thin batting and no backing. With my free motion embroidery foot I stitched grain lines like you might see on trees. I did add grey piping around the top edge.

To finish it I stitched each side to the top edge starting and stopping 1/4" from the corner and back tacking. The side seams were easier than I thought. I began at the bottom and stitched the seams together ending where the sides meet the top and back tacked.

For the back I cut a square 26".  Then cut it into two pieces diagonally from corner to corner.

 Place the two triangles right sides together and stitch in 1" on each end using a 1/2" seam allowance and back tack. Press the seam open including the unstitched seam allowances across the triangle. Place a zipper under the seam allowances and stitch the zipper tape to the folded fabric.

Open the zipper at least six inches.
Place the right side of the back fabric to the bottom edges of the sides and pin all around. Stitch the back to the sides. Put your hand through the zipper opening and unzip the zipper. Turn the cushion to the right side. Fill with the filling from the purchased cushion. Zip it back up.
This turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. The quilting was time consuming but it looks good. You can see the footstool in my new living room.

Send me pictures when you tackle a project like this.
Jean"

I have one of these cushions and I am going to cover it with one of my new Del Hi home dec pieces.

The Tapestry in the teal/eggplant/sage and tan background.......When I get time!!!
I am probably not going to piece my cover but I still like the idea of recovering the cushion. These cushions are great for the living room. The girls love to play on them and I think it is Sophie's favorite napping spot.
Have a great day!!!
XOXO
Valori

Comments

[Emmy Mozdzen]

love love LOVE the elephants!!!!! (but they're my favorite) Way cool to see silkscreening on your blog, also! :)

[Patrice]

I love the elephants, they are adorable!!!

[Julie moyer-gates]

I love the elephants, what a fun project for your new little one.