I've been shopping...

We are back from vacation!  I hit two shops while we were out.  One was a new store, for me.  The other was a sweet repeat.  Can't wait to share what I bought with you all.

We had a great time at the beach.  It was a wonderfully relaxing 3 days.  The weather was great.  The room was perfect.  The food was good.  And the time together unforgettable.  I've feeling quite sentimental at the moment.  Hug your loved ones tight, as life is precious and all to often too short.

In the famous words of my almost 3 year old son, "Good bye beach!"

Time to get on to the new school year and fall.

~SLBY

School's Out For Summer!!!!

Finally!  We made it!  I mean, my daughter made it.  This household has survived Kindergarten and our first year with a child in full time education.  I know it sounds silly.  Especially if you have older kids that are facing actual life changes like college.  This past school year has been a growing experience for my entire family.  It hasn't been easy but I love the place we are all at now.

I don't have a lot of quilting to talk about in the post.  This is more a State of SewLovedByYou address.  Where I'm headed, what I'm doing, etc.  I like lists, so...


1.  The teacher LOVED her quilt and photobook.  She teared up.  She made me tear up.  I'm so glad it went well.  I'll write a kinda in depth post about the process.  It will help those who told me the Silhouette quilt how to wasn't in depth enough.

2.  Right now my husband is headed back to school.  He is half way through his Bachelor's program.  Between his work and school schedule and having both kids out of their respective school/MDO program, I have decided to stop pressuring myself to do any shows this year.  I have tried a few times but it hasn't happened.  The scheduling puts too much stress on myself and family.  I can't tell you that I'm super excited about this but it's just another 6 months.  

3.  Just because #2 is occurring, doesn't mean that I'm fading away.  Just the opposite.  I've wanted to do more tutorials, share more of my non quilting sewing and just work on some fun projects.  Not that I don't love my custom orders but there is a certain sense of pressure when you are making something and need it to be perfect for someone else.  I want to share my daughter's room make over.  I did lots of sewing for that.  I want to make a few clothing pieces this summer.  I want to make a few art quilts.  I want to take some time to rediscover, refine and strengthen my creative side.  This makes me a lot less sore about #2.

4.  I want to redo this blog.  Badly.  I need to set up and update my photo galleries.  I'm not sure what route I'll take but I dream of having a redesigned and finished site by the time the next school year starts.

5.  I may over share my awesome summer garden.  I apologize for that right now.

6.  I've forgotten the next thing.

7.  Getting old sucks.

8.  I have a few things that I made last year and STILL haven't put on Etsy.  They are 4th of July/Patriotic home decor items.  My goal next week is to get those up on Etsy and the blog for others to see.  

That's it for now.  I hope to see you more this summer.  If you follow me on Facebook, like a post on SLBY's wall, otherwise Facebook thinks you hate me and my posts will stop coming through on your news feed.  

~SLBY

Silhouettes!

I was given the honor of making two silhouette quilts.  They wanted the quilt to be different than the standard black and white silhouette.  Something that would accent the diversity of the classroom.  They turned out beautifully.  It was a fun and exciting project to work on.

This is going to be a photo heavy posting and I'm going to briefly go over how I constructed them.  This might be a bit dry and technical.

Each black square is about 9 by 9.5 inches.  The silhouettes were sent to me via email.  I went ahead and fit them to a custom sized page in Microsoft Word.  That way, they would all be similar size and would fit in the black squares.  Initially, I had the black squares larger but there was too much empty space.  I traced the heads, backwards, onto Wonder-Under and then fused onto the batik.  I, then, cut the heads out, peeled the paper off, and fused onto the black block.  Each child's name is stitched onto their silhouette, using the letters on my Baby Lock Symphony.  That completed the silhouettes

I also did blocks for the school mascot and class information.  The class information blocks are sent out for embroidery by a local company that I use.  The dragons were done by printing on fabric.  I will share how I did that at a later time.  The dragons were fused in the same manner as the silhouettes.  

The blocks were sashed with 3 inch wide strips of a blue batik.  Then a 6 inch red border finalized the quilt top.

I backed the quilt in black using a wide backing.  FMQ in black and red.  I did some SITD with clear thread on the top.  The quilt was bound in a plum.  When I FMQ around the silhouettes, I didn't want to actually stitch on the heads.  So, I loosely went around them and meandered to fill in the space.  I really enjoyed the effect on the back.

The Wonder-Under did a great job of stick through all the washing and quilting.  A few silhouettes had to be fused on again, however, they reattached with no problem.  I use Wonder-Under for all my applique needs and love it.  

I finished off the quilts with a hanging sleeve using the method found here.  Since I didn't stitch the silhouettes down, this quilt is considered a display quilt.  It just wouldn't hold up, long term, to daily use and multiple washes.  

Let me know if you have any additional questions.  This is something that could be easily made for your child's class.  I have thought about doing one for our family.  I bet the kids would love to have it, when they are grown up with families of their own.

~SLBY