The making of a baby quilt...

The top photo is the setup I had while sewing this quilt. I have my sewing machine set up on my Hoosier cabinet, which provides a decent height for sewing projects. As you can see, I'm not very organized, but there's a system amongst the chaos.

I decided on a variation of the Log Cabin Block. It was a fun quilt to work on, but it required lots of ironing between sewing. I came up with a setup that allowed me to never have to get out of my seat. Part laziness, part time management. I even kept some cereal nearby as a snack, and setup up my laptop near the cabinet to play movies as background noise/entertainment.

The key to ironing is actually pressing. Instead of moving the iron around constantly, you press for a few seconds, move a little and press some more. This allows the heat to actually set in. I also keep a spray bottle on hand, spraying the seam at the end and than pressing, which creates a very crisp, non-wrinkled seam.

I decided on open seams for this quilt, since I didn't have to butt up any seams, and also thinking that it would reduce bulk. Lots of pressing is involved. Press the threads on the sewn seam, press the fabric open and than flip the piece over and press the seam open. This is where I spray the seam with water, to create an open seam that will lay flat. It will end up looking like the last photo.

Ashley & Brett

I've been busy, busy, busy working on a couple different projects for friends. Baby shower invites, a baby quilt, and wedding invites.

I've known Ashley for so long, I can't even remember when we first met. We grew up in the same neighborhood our entire childhood and our friendship survived through several different clubs and tree forts and the collection of many stink bombs (black walnuts still in their husks). How I miss those summers...

So, given our long friendship, and the fact that her and Brett are getting married 9 years after their first date (!) I couldn't resist helping them with their wedding invites.

I hand lettered their names, scanned it in at 600 dpi, cleaned it up in photoshop (I use a Wacom tablet), dragged the lettering into a 300 dpi file (to double the size) and than brought that file into Illustrator. I use LiveTrace, tracing options, 'Comic Art' preset, and than adjust the 'Corner Angle' to 60 and click the 'Ignore White' box. I usually have minor clean up to do after vectorizing, but the lettering turns out pretty clean.