Quilt Junkie

Hello, my name is Sabrina, and I'm a quiltaholic. No, really. I left work early to go buy fabric yesterday.

Warning: This is an extremely picture heavy and random post.

I bought two blues for the charm swap I am participating in.

I also found what is either the most adorable or terrifying fabric on the face of the planet.

Look at their little paws!!! Awwww!! Look at their terrifying eyes! Ahhhh!!!

...Naturally, I bought 2 yards of it. :)

Well, with that out of the way, on to WIPs.

All of my normal projects, blocks, and cutting charms for swaps has been put on hold since the slicing of my finger. I don't think they needed to be put on hold, but this is slowly becoming a mental battle. In my mind, I can't quilt because of my finger. Now to me, that just means I can't use my rotary cutter or my sewing machine. Too bad I had only recently found enlightenment that told me I am happier in the morning if I sew/quilt/craft before I go to bed.

So I have been seeking other avenues to get my daily fix.

Enter all the hand sewing projects I have been delaying!

First off: SASHIKO!!

I have been to Japan twice and I absolutely love it. I could totally see myself moving there. I have plans to apply to teach English there. Maybe this will be the year?

Back to Sashiko. I love Sashiko. How could I not? I love quilting and Japan. Quilting + Japan = Sashiko.

I had been wanting to try my hand at it, then finally got into it while I was at a point in life where I had a lot of "hurry up and wait" time, which is perfect for little hand sewn projects that can be stuffed in a purse.

Drooling over the pages in this book made me really frustrated with my progress and so it was put on a back burner.

I still find myself looking through this book for inspiration a lot, but now I have finally started to get back into sashiko. I brought out the pieces I had cut to make myself a cute little purse from One Yard Wonders that I have made a few times. If you do not have One Yard Wonders, you need to stop reading this and go get it! It has so much awesome stuff. I could (and just might) make a whole post about all the stuff I have made from it, so far.

Anyways, there is one purse in OYW that I love and have made multiple times. I had plans on quilting my next one with sashiko, and I actually got started on it! My stitches aren't perfect. (Hell, they aren't even good yet!) But I am happy with my progress, so far.

Another project I wanted to try after traveling around the Pacific was Hawaiian applique. I have only done applique once and I do not even remember if I did it by hand or machine. It was to add cute little hearts on a baby quilt.

So, I finally found a pattern I liked for the Hawaiian applique and decided to make a throw pillow. I made the template, traced it, cut out the fabric, basted the edges under, ironed it, pinned it to the background fabric, and then realized people use other easier ways to do applique. This was with the basting and pinning.

Apparently, I live under a quilting rock where the concept of fusible web had not yet trickled down. Once I found out about it, I immediately unpinned everything, took out the basting stitches and tried again with fusible web. FYI: I am using Heat N Bond Lite and it seems to be working okay.

Here is a super fun picture of the soon-to-be appliqued piece looking much like a mystical sea creature. Or kelp. Whichever. This also shows the color a little bit better.

So now I have the design bonded on and have started with the decorative stitching around it.

Le Boyfriend and I are roadtripping it this weekend, so I'm sure it will get finished in the car.

So far this is how I feel about fusible web applique (newschool) vs. needle turn or machine applique (oldschool).

Pro for newschool: So damn convenient, no stabbing yourself with pins, faster, lighter to transport because of no pins, feels more sturdy.

Pro for oldschool: More satisfying, no stiffness, no "bubbling" where the web has bonded, can be repositioned.

The jury is still out on which method I prefer. But I also started working on some adorable fusible web applique mustache coasters for some of my BFFs. I decided to use them as practice for the pillow, then got carried away and started working on the pillow first.

The idea came from a tutorial over here but I tweaked the size to make varying sizes to accommodate nearly any project.

So here is one of the super cute color combos I have been working on. I just love the combination of the batik and the crazy florals.