Gracin's Angel

I love making these little Guardian Angels from Bird Brain Designs. In the past I have stitched out the designs, most of the time with Turkey Red Perle Cotton.

I wanted to make another one for my grandson, Gracin for his dedication day at church. However, I am having difficulties with my right hand so stitching is out of the question right now. I have turned other stitching designs into applique projects before. You can read the blog posts about them here and here. So I decided to make a machine applique angel for him. 

All of the angels looked like girls to me so I did a little adjusting to the pattern. Here is a picture of the original angel I chose and how I adapted it to look more like a boy. It also shows the fabrics I used. I have been saving jeans for years. I chose a pair of my husband's to use for the overalls. I thought that would give even more special meaning to the piece.

I traced the pattern pieces onto fusible web. I traced the entire shape of the body rather than breaking it down into smaller pieces. I actually ended up tracing a second body piece so I had one for the front of the angel and one for the back. Even though I could have used the circle from the body piece as the head, I decided to trace just the circle portion of it onto the fusible web for the face.

I then fused all of the pieces onto the appropriate fabrics. Here are all of the pieces cut and ready to assemble. The wings are cut from a small scrap of batting.

I positioned the wings where I wanted them on top of the back. I like to use an applique pressing sheet when I do fusible applique. You can see a good example of this in this blog post. I assembled all of the pieces for the front of the angel onto the pressing sheet. Then I put that whole piece on top of the back and batting and fused it together.

I used a blanket stitch to stitch around all of the fabric pieces. This is my favorite setting for this because the bite is relatively small. With tiny pieces I don't like the stitch to come in too far into the shape.

I free hand, free motioned a heart onto one side of the wings. It is really hard to get the batting stabilized enough to do that. I don't love the heart but he won't care.

I wrote a poem I found appropriate for the dedication inside a card. Then I wrote a little message to him on the back of the angel. Here's what he looks like all finished. I think he's pretty cute.

Happy Sewing, Stitching and Creating,

Carol

Prayer Pillow

I met Letha Price at the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo in Denver. She came to our booth because we have bags of Lavender.

She makes prayer pillows for her church.

These are about 4" square. The organza pocket holds a piece of paper with your prayer on it. You can slip it under your pillow and sleep on that prayer. She fills her pillows with 1 tablespoon of rice and 1 tablespoon of lavender. You could also use Crushed Walnut Shells in place of the rice.

As I was talking with Letha, a woman was listening to our conversation. She was so excited that she had to get more information. Her friend is undergoing chemo and she wanted to make one of these for her. She was so excited to go home and make one of them.

This is a simple project that could truly make a difference in someone's life. Sometimes I think that if I just write down my prayer that is enough to take it out of my hands and put it in God's. I can't wait to make some of these to give as gifts to people I know who need a little extra love and care.

If you need additional information, feel free to send me an email Carol@sewEZquilting.com . If you liked this post you might also be interested in the Guardian Angel post. It is another easy project that can be used for someone who needs a little comfort.

Happy Quilting and Stitching,

Carol

New Bolts of Fabric

It has been awhile since I have had a chance to go "bolt" shopping. While we were on the way to Puyallup, WA for the Northwest Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival this weekend, we stopped at the EE Schenck warehouse. This was my first trip to that facility, and it definitely won't be my last. It is 80,000 square feet of fabric, notions, batting, books, and patterns. All I was interested in was fabric, and believe me that was overwhelming in itself. I'm glad that was all I had to worry about.

EE Schenck Warehouse in Portland, OR

I was looking for some fabric to finish up a couple models for our booth. I wanted some to have on hand to use in future samples and some just to sell as 1 yard cuts.

I knew I would have limited time, both because I needed to get to Puyallup and because Alan has a limited amount of patience for things like this. He doesn't get as excited being around all those gorgeous fabrics as the rest of us do. So I went online before we got there. Found the fabrics I was interested in  and made a list. Once I got there I found out that it doesn't really work that way. That just means they carry those fabrics. They might not be in stock. So my great plan went out the window. With rows and rows of fabric to now look at I was BRIEFLY overwhelmed. Then I took a couple deep breaths and started walking the aisles.

I found things that I knew were perfect right away. I grabbed those. Made notes of things that I thought would work. Things that I added to a "Wish List"for later. 

I also had to audition fabrics to finish up my Friendships Garden Quilt. Here are a couple pictures of that process. I think I finally got the winning combination but I was so busy writing down the SKUs and other information that I forgot to take a picture. 

Option 1

Option 2

I'm still thinking about it though. At first I thought the red was overpowering, now I'm not so sure. There is red in the blocks and it is just going to be in some of the cornerstones of the sashing. So maybe it isn't as out of place as I originally thought. What do you think? Leave me your suggestions in a comment.

I'll finalize the fabrics for Friendships Garden this weekend. Then I'll order them after Thanksgiving. I'll get to work on them right away so I can get the quilt finished during my break between Thanksgiving and the second week of January. Fortunately the blocks are all done. All I have to do is assemble the quilt top, quilt and bind it.

Here are the fabrics that I came away with yesterday.

I'll cut some of these up tonight and they will be for sale in the booth tomorrow. I'll put them on the website after the show.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Guardian Angel for Tristyn

I made a Guardian Angel for my granddaughter Tristyn. I gave it to her a couple days before she had the surgery to repair her lip. I wrote a saying about Guardian Angels on the back of it and wrote a message inside a card. Then I made a special little fabric envelope to keep the card and angel in.

It seems to me that there are times in all our lives when we need to know that someone cares and is watching over us. This is small enough that she can take it with her for all of her surgeries. She will be facing another surgery in a few months when she is 10 months old to repair her cleft palate. She can also take it out whenever she needs a little comfort when she's old enough to understand that.

These little angels are wonderful in a grouping. They would be nice on a Christmas tree or as a garland across a mantel. In my case I also like to make them and give them as little gifts when someone I know needs a little encouragement. I'm giving one to a friend whose husband was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. It only takes a few hours to stitch one. Finishing them with a backing and batting takes no time at all.