I was too ashamed to take before photos so therefore my after shots are lacking in oomph. But let me assure you, if you had seen the towering piles of fabric and the miscellaneous bags and boxes stacked up under the window on my side of the bed you would be gasping in admiration of my new cupboard.
We live in a small house and I have been pining for a sewing room for some time but let's face it - that is not going to happen any time soon. As my beloved says - you've gotta run what you brung - so when I saw this cupboard on the super cheap at Super Amart I plonked down my $149 super quick. I didn't like the dodgy plastic handles it came with so Greg (be still my beating heart) took to it with his power drill and attached some others that I picked up at IKEA today.
Over the past week I have been organising, labelling and culling and this is the result. How long it stays like this is anyone's guess. Mine is 3 days.
Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some retreat photos.
For me, one of the best parts of quilt-making is doing the label. It means that the job is DONE! And it is your chance to put your mark on your own little piece of quilt making history, And if you quilt is a gift, it gives you the opportunity to tell someone how much you love them.
I thought I'd share with you how I make mine.
You will need.....
A print out of what you want your label to say, a rotary cutter, quilter's ruler, cutting mat, sticky tape, fabric for your label and a ZIG pigment ink pen. (Absent at time of photgraph - pins, contrasting fabric for border of label.)
But I am getting ahead of myself here. About the print out. I design my labels in Microsoft Word. This way I can use a lovely font, play with the size and the text and get everything just right. (My handwriting is not to be trusted to stay in a straight line).
There are loads of gorgeous fonts out there that you can download for free. I use either dafont or fontfreak for my fonts. The fonts in this label are Brock Script and Aramis.
I also like to include a quote or a little message on my labels, this quilt was inspired by Jane Austen and so I put the opening line from Pride and Prejudice on the label. A great source of quotes is quote garden.
There is all sorts of information you can put on a label but I don't like them to be too cluttered. I usually just have the name of the quilt, the quote, my name, who quilted it, when it was made and what is is made of. If it is a baby quilt/ utility quilt I just write a little message on it and that's it.
Once you have the text for the label printed out, use your ruler to determine the size of the label and cut your label fabric accordingly. Remember to include your seam allowance in the measurment. For this label I decided that 6.5" x 6.5" would be the size.
Next, tape the paper to your light box and then tape your fabric over the message, taking care that it is lined up properly and that the fabric is nice and smooth. If you don't have a light box then a window works just as well (it's just a bit more tiring on the arms).
Now, take your time to carefully trace the text using your ZIG Millennium pigment pen. I like these pens the best because they are lovely and fine but you can of course use another type of permanent pen. Done! Now carefully untape it and using a hot, dry iron set your ink.
The next step is to put a border on it. This is just like putting a border on a quilt. Determine the width you want your border strips to be (in this case 1.5") and cut 2 strips this width by the width of your label (1.5" x 6.5")
Attach these strips to your label and then repeat for the side strips adjusting your measurement accordingly (ie. the side strips in this case would be 1.5"x 8.5")
Next, turn your label over and iron a little hem about a 1/4" all the way around the edge of the label.
Then, pin the label to the back of your quilt and using a blind stitch, stitch it in place.
All done!
If you'd like to see some other examples of labels I've made click here.
Easter Bunny can hop, hop, hippity-hop our way whenever he likes. Scarlett's Easter basket is finished and we are ready to collect eggs!
I made the basket from a kit from Hettie's Patch out of some cute Alexander Henry Fabric.
This week I also finished this cushion. I made it from the scraps of this quilt and Mum quilted it for me. You can't see it from the photo but this cushion has a covered zipper in the back - I have never been prouder of myself than I was putting that zip in!
I hope you all have a great week and maybe if the planets align I will have a Friday finish this week!
Well we've been back in the real world for a week now, so it's time to share a few photos. I have to thank Loz and Vicki for most of these - for some reason mine came out blurry. Camera shaking from the consumption of too much Coke maybe??
The Venue
The Accommodation
The Interior of the Town Hall
The Kits and Attendee's Gift
The Projects
Happy Retreater
Hilary Painting
Mum hard at it in the kitchen
Finishes!
Special mention has to go to Kris in the photo above. She left the retreat on Friday night to go home for the birth of her grand-daughter and was back on deck the next afternoon. With all this going on she still managed to quilt, ric-rac and bind her quilt! Talk about above and beyond.
What a demon! Lorraine managed to finish two quilts. The 1st one she made out of fabric she bought at the retreat....gorgeous Garden Party and Old Primrose Inn. Now that is dedication.
Deb managed to whip this up from scratch over the weekend. And gorgeous it is too.
We couldn't have managed this weekend without Nana (Mavis - now dubbed Maisy by Vic). She cooked and baked and gophered all weekend without flagging. You'd never know she was 81! Here she is with Mum and a mountain of cakes that she made.
All done!! Here we are in our recliners stuffing in fish and chips. What a team! (Note the coke clutched in my hand...I think I have a small problem).
Thank you to all of the very special ladies who attended our retreat. We had an absolute ball and can't wait for the next one. On to Mannum!!
