Custom Monogrammed Pillow {A Finish}

When I was asked to make a monogrammed pillow from a teal bridesmaid dress for an upcoming baby shower, I played with a few ideas of how to do the monogram. Reverse applique was the technique that gave the best results with the soft fabric.

I used Michael Miller's Cotton Candy Fairy Frost cotton Fabric for the top overlay and fabric from the bridesmaid dress as the under layer.

To create the Monogram I used Photoshop for Mac. After finding a font I liked I played around with the letters and how they connected to get the proportions.

Once I was happy with the Monogram I printed it out and transferred it the the Fairy Frost fabric and basted the layers together near the monogram.

After carefully cutting only the top layer I began to needle turn the seam allowances using Wonderfil thread until the monogram was complete.

To give the pillow a more formal look I used cording with the pink Fairy Frost fabric to create piping for the pillow edge and butted the ends of the cording inside the fabric tube to complete the pillow.

This project was a custom order from several years ago and I still just love the final outcome!

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in my quilting journey!

Happy Quilting and God Bless,
Marcia

Retirement Dreams {A Finish}

 A friend of ours retired from the US Army last week and being the somewhat unconventional woman that I am I wanted to make a quilt for his wife who had become a good friend over the years. Since I figured a quilt wasn't something a man would truly enjoy as a retirement gift I told my hubby it was his job to find an appropriate gift while I worked on the quilt. I love having a reason to make a quilt especially when it's for a  sweet friend!

For this quilt I used all batiks, those beautiful hand-dyed prints from Indonesia.

 Just gorgeous!!

The pattern uses 8 1/2" squares and 1" x 8 1/2" strips. 

Then working one block at a time slice it straight across, sew the strip where the square was just cut, continuing to cut the square and sew in strips on each block. 

If I were to make this pattern again, I would have started with 9" squares, sewn in the strips and then cut the squares down to 8 1/2" square.  As I worked with the squares I found it a bit difficult to keep everything perfectly lined up and square, being able to start larger and trim it down would have saved me a lot of headache and aggravation.  

When it came time to layout the blocks I put everything up on my design wall.

I wanted to make sure that the layout was balanced. 

To be able to see the balance better I took a picture of it up on the design wall, then switched it a black & white photo to help me see how the dark, medium and lights were laid out against each other.

 Doing this helped me see that there were several sections where too many of the same tone were right next to each other.

I printed off the black and white pic and went to work rearranging the blocks for the right balance. 

Tested it again with another black and white photo and found this to be a much more pleasing balance. 

The finished quilt

 Personalized label.

Monique and her finished quilt.

Quilt Stats: 

Pattern: Cranberry Chutney by Madison Cottage Design

Finished size: 64" x 72" 

Free-motion quilted with an allover medium meander stitch with 50 wt. Aurifil #1318.

Batting 1 layer of 70% Cotton, 30% Rayon batting. 

Monique, I hope you enjoy your quilt for many years to come! 

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share with you what I've been working on recently. 

God Bless & Happy Stitching!
Marcia 

Running with Eagles Wings {A Finish}

I've been neglecting my blog for much too long! But, while I've been gone I have managed to accomplish quite a bit. We moved out of our house and into a hotel for 35 days while we waited for closing day to arrive on our new home.  Tried really hard to not let the cramped quarters of the hotel keep me from sewing and quilting, but in the end the hotel won as I wasn't able to make the quilt sandwich to be able to finish a custom T-Shirt quilt (so that had to wait until we were in our new home).  So, while I wasn't able to finish the quilt I wanted to I finished up a couple of other Works in Projects. 

This piece started as the center of a quilt, but I'm making a substitution and thought this would make a great wall hanging.  The vines are all free-motion quilting.

I made this little embellishment with small yo-yo's and seed beads.

 The other Work-in-Progress I was able to almost finish was this hand embroidery piece. 

I found the pattern at www.dreamalittlebigger.com 

Once the embroidery work was finished I used it to practice my free-motion quilting. 

I love the texture accomplished when combining quilting motifs!

Eventually this will become either a pillow top or a framed piece of quilt art. 

Alas, closing day/move in day finally arrived and after a few days of unpacking essentials I was able to make the needed quilt sandwich. Once that quilt sandwich was put together it was just a matter of days to complete the quilting.

It is completely free-motion quilted with no markings whatsoever.
I chose specific areas of each design to outline and then between the blocks I stitched a small to medium meander stitch. This size stitch gives the quilt more stability while allowing the hand of the quilt to remain soft.

To create the label I cut a piece of freezer paper to the size of a regular sheet of paper (8 1/2 x 11) then ironed it to a piece of white muslin and trimmed away the extra fabric to match the freezer paper exactly. This makes the fabric stiff enough to be run through an ink jet printer.  I used Print Shop for Mac to layout the wording and logo. After printing the label on the fabric, I removed the freezer paper and pressed the label to heat set the ink. To further set the ink I ran it under cold water, blotted it dry with a white towel and then finished pressing it dry with an iron. This process will permanently set the ink so that it  won't run and makes it washable the same as the quilt. Once it is set I press under the edges, cut a piece of light weight Wonder Under fit just short of the edges of the label. Peel off the paper and press the label to the quilt, then to keep it in place I do a tiny slip stitch completely around the  label attaching it to the quilt. 

A note on the quilt itself:

Tiffany is a runner and had many T-shirts from the races she has participated in over the years.  Her desire was to have a quilt created that reminded her of the most meaningful races and family moments.
Among all the stories of the many blocks the Green Apple Block is my personal favorite, it is the shirt  from the race where her husband proposed to her at the end of the race. How very romantic!!
When I asked her if there something special or meaningful that she would like to name her quilt she said that, "Running with Eagles Wings" would be the most meaningful to her, as Isaiah 40:31 is their family verse.  It is a verse they have looked to during times of difficulty for courage and strength, it is a verse that reminds them that it is the Lord that cares for them in all things.

Thank you for stopping by and catching up with me!

God Bless & Happy Stitching!
Marcia

A Tea Cozy {Finished}

Finished up the cutest little tea cozy today.

This was a special order that I was honored to be asked to make.

Of course I had to add a few extra special touches....I just couldn't resist. 

Hot Pink Chevron Tea Cozy

 The only direction I was given was 1) a tea cozy that sits over the teapot and 2) pink chevrons.

I used the Medium  Hot Pink Chevron from Riley Blake Designs. 

The direction for this little cozy didn't call for any quilting, but it was just calling out for it. 

Using a walking foot, I used the edge of the chevron as my guide, lining it up with one edge of the foot and echo quilted the chevron print. I thought about adding a second line of quilting, but this seemed like just the right amount. 

The binding is the Hot Pink Solid from Riley Blake Designs.

(both the chevron and this solid are available in the shop www.littlepinkrose.com)

The binding is cut on the bias using the continuous bias binding method....my favorite binding. 

To attach the binding I stitched it down, folded it over the raw edge, covering the stitching line and used a stick glue (for fabrics) to tack the binding in place. 

Then from the side that I had just stitched I top stitched about an 1/8" or so from the edge, using the presser foot as a guide and making sure to catch the opposite side in the stitching.

The final little touch was choosing an adorable little dot print that coordinated well with the pink chevron. Because of the way this little cozy is pieced together it's also reversible, with that in mind I picked an adorable little dot that coordinated with the pink chevron quite well. The dots are from a retired collection called "Sunshine" by Riley Blake. If she gets tired of looking at Pink Chevrons there are cute little dots hiding just a turn of the cozy away!!

Reverse side of Tea Cozy {aka Inside lining}

I'm heading off to spend some much needed time with my youngest "not-so-little" man. 

Leaving the hubby at home....this way I can spoil the child a bit....shhhhh! 

Miss you gals already!
I'll be back in the shop next week

But, in the mean time I'm leaving you with a "Vacation Special" 

FREE Shipping on all Domestic orders 

$10 off all International orders

April 17-23

To Visit Little Pink Rose click HERE.

Happy Stitching &
Many Blessings!

Marcia 

Color Guard

Last week I posted a picture of silk and lame and asked what you thought I might be making. On facebook I received several great guesses ranging from formal dresses to curtains.  

I was commissioned by a local high school's color guard to create their final flag for their competition show. I was sent a drawing of the design and asked if I could make 20 of these in 6 days. The design looked fairly straightforward and actually pretty simple. I figured if I did nothing else all week, it shouldn't be a problem.  Thankfully I was given a little bit of leeway and if time ran short they only had to have 16 for Saturday's competition.

Color Guard/Winter Guard Flag finished size: 54" x 36"

After the first day of working on these I knew that I would not be finishing much before the deadline and that this project was going to take some very late nights. By the fourth day of work I was wishing that my momma was close enough to call for help. I know she would have been hear in a heartbeat to help me out if she could have been, but with over a thousand miles between us that wasn't going to happen. There wasn't even time to call her and cry on her shoulder about how long these were taking. 

Like I mentioned they look so simple and in reality they are simple straight lines. The problem comes in two forms the fabric is lightweight, it ravels easily, it is difficult to work with and every single seam was stitched a minimum of 3 times.  In to all the seams being flat-felled seams, every seam was serged to stop the fraying process and for the added strength

In the end I finished the last flag 30 minutes before my deadline and at 4 AM Saturday morning delivered the last of the flags to the high school just as the team was gathering to load up and travel to the competition....perfect timing.

I'm left with just 4 flags to finish before I head off to Quilt Market next week. After this week four should be no problem. I'm excited about going to the fall Quilt Market and being able to expand the fabric selection we have available in the shop.  Is there anything you'd like to see us carry?

Have a great week and happy quilting! 

Marcia

Wedding Day

 As promised pictures of the bride in her gown the day of the wedding.  She tells me that her groom, "absolutely loved the dress!" 

My favorite part of this picture is how the groom is looking at his bride!
A look of pure love!

Where the dress wraps around to the waist the bride used her grandmothers broach
for the perfect finishing touch.

{{HUGS}}
Marcia

Adorable Cuddle Bears

In addition to working and reworking a wedding gown, pouring over a bridesmaid and flower girls dress, cuddle bears were a prominent part of my week .

These two bears are available in our shop
www.littlepinkrose.com

I've had a couple of the 10" bears on order that I needed to carve out some time to work on.  It's not that they take a huge amount of time to cut out and complete, really it's the mess they make while I'm working on them. That adorable fur is everywhere....even follows me around the house! That mess makes this a project that I don't work on in between other projects. I simply have to clear a day on my calendar, with no appointments or other projects and just "do it!" 

Twin bears for new-born twins {Special order}

 Since I knew I'd be making a huge mess of fur to make these two special ordered bears, I got myself some extra fabric and stitched up a couple more for the shop while I was at it. For these bears, instead of using the plastic snap-on eye, I used small black pom-poms...hoping for a more kid friendly bear.  Though I wish I could find black pom-poms that were a bit smaller than these.

May have to go cuddle with these guys before sending them on their way!

Happy Creating!
Marcia

Customer Comments

I just received this message and attached photo from a customer and wanted to share.

"The curtains were made by my mom and match the color of the quilt really well. [M____ ] really likes the quilt and said it was worth every penny. One of the best anniversary gifts I have given my wife. Maybe next year I will get her a nice shiny new Mustang GT." 

Always thrilled to hear from satisfied customers and I love that the gift to top the quilt I made special for his wife is a Mustang! That says a lot coming from a guy!!!

Hugs,
Marcia

A Cathedral Finish

A custom ordered Aqua Cathedral Window Pincushion is now finished and on it's way to Iowa.

Love this color combination even better than I imagined I would.

{{{HUGS}}}

Safari Delight {Finished & Delivered}

"Safari Delight"

The "Safari Delight" Quilt was a graduation gift for one of the young ladies in our church. I started this quilt way back in January, thinking I'd give myself plenty of time to get it finished well in advance of her graduation party. But, as they say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." I worked like a mad woman Friday and Saturday to finish it in time.  I actually took the last stitches just moments before we left the house for the party. Whew! Nothing like cutting it close!

The inspiration pattern came from Better Home & Gardens Special Publication,
"Sew Scrappy Vol. 2"

In the original pattern the small diamonds on either side of the print were a part of the printed fabric. As you can see below the fabric I wanted to use didn't have that kind of a border on it, so I did the next best thing and added Kona Black to either side of the animal print. Originally my plan was to stitch diamonds in gold thread on these black strips. In the end I did stitch the diamonds, but I did them in black instead of gold. I'm sure the gold would have been amazingly beautiful, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my stitching as perfect as it needed to be to make me happy.

Diamonds on the inner border and feathers in the triangles

The "square in a square" blocks turned out beautiful. I was a bit concerned when I first started these blocks that the colors weren't playing as well together as I wanted, but when it all came together they turned out better than I had imagined. In the inspiration pattern all of the "square in a square" blocks were the same, when I reworked the pattern I added some variety to those blocks. This change gave the quilt a feel of fun and elegance.

I so LOVE how it turned out.

 The last change from the inspiration pattern was to leave off the prairie points from the top and bottom ends. The ironic thing about this change is that originally I had planned to keep all the prairie points, but by Saturday morning the day of the party, I still hadn't managed to get the points stitched on and I was forced into making a decision. The question was did I want to deliver a partially finished quilt that I would have to take back after she opened it. Or did I want to be able to give a quilt that she would be able to immediately enjoy. I went for the later choice.  While the prairie points would have added a nice touch, it's still beautiful without them.

Back of Quilt with Customized Label

 When it came to quilting the animal print I played with two options. The easiest and quickest option was to do an all over stippling stitch. The second option which would take longer, but would enhance the pattern was to outline the designs printed on the fabric. After much contemplation I went with the second option absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

Quilting outlined the animal print designs

Close-up of quilting

Surprise & Joy!

Blessings & Happy Stitching,