Not Your Average Wedding Guest Book- My first Quilt, Wedding Style

How to : DIY :  Make your own special occasion quilt  

Ideas on how to use this quilt : Quilt for Baby (smaller size), Graduation, Wedding, Family Reunion, Family through the years, Loved one passed on, or really anything you want to remember.

I got married back on the 12th of July, 2014. Im a planner and I like to do things different then mainstream and way in advance. I know this isn't the first ever wedding quilt guest book, but its not something you see at every wedding. I knew I would never look through our wedding guest book and it wouldn't mean that much to me. I LOVE being warm though, and knew that would be the most sentimental to me. My husband is very easy going, so he's pretty much down with whatever when it comes to the specifics of how we do something. Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is?

I started WAAAY before the wedding day, drawing out what I wanted my quilt to look like. It was my first quilt so I decided to stay pretty basic with it. I measured out my quilt design to have my paper be 1 inch on paper equal to 6 inches of fabric. I figured out how big I wanted my blanket to be and I went to work on trying to fit everything together. You can just find a pattern that is already made, or you can design your own. I love creating, so I wanted mine to be unique and designed it myself. 

YOU WILL NEED

• Sewing Machine (Mine is a Janome DC1050)
• Thread (The only thread color that matters is the bobbin when you are stitching in the ditch so that it doesn't stand out too much on your backing. My backing was bright pink so my bobbin thread was bright pink. The rest you won't see so I used white.)
• Fabric scissors 
• Fabric rotary cutter (makes cutting straight lines easier) 
• Fabric cutting mat
• Ironing Board 
• Iron 
• Saftey Pins 
• Pins 
• Printable Fabric sheets (I used printed treasures sew on sheets to print out my wedding pictures) 
• Fabric 

1.      Front: 2 yards coral,brown,blue and 3 yards of the tan and white. (You will have extra. I used my extra for the binding)
2.      Back: 3 yards for pink backing (My pink fabric was 36x44 for a yard)
3.      Binding:I used my extra fabric, it was roughly a yard
4.      Batting:I bought this pre-washed king size from Jo-anne fabric here and didn't use it all

***anything you have left over can be used for future projects!

DESIGNING THE QUILT 

If you are going to use large squares or rectangles, you need to keep in mind that the 6"x6" are going to come in a 1/4" for sewing on each side. So your large square won't be exactly 12"x12". I accidentally started sewing the pieces together at 1/2", so that took quite a chunk out of my larger pieces. I didn't feel like adjusting everything and unstitching so I just went with it. So due to that mistake, the sizes I did won't apply to you. you'll have to do the math to alter it.  Mine ended up having the length of the rectangle with 1" off the end, and my squares having 1/2" off all four sides. ( I didn't just take 1" off width and length because there was already writing on mine and I tried to make as little casualty as possible.) 

If you want to make yours the size mine ended up being (85"x85") then you can take my mistake and run with it. Just make sure to tell people to write as far from the edge as possible when they are signing your quilt squares. Most people wrote near the edge not realizing i was going to be sewing it together later. I had people only write on the big white squares and the small white squares. 

HOW MUCH FABRIC?

Once you have your quilt designed you will need to figure out how much of each fabric you will need. Then figure out how big your blanket is going to be and get the appropriate amount of fabric for your backing. If you buy a little bit too much fabric that is totally OK! Then you have left over fabric to make a beautiful scrap binding like I did. Or you can buy a premade binding, or buy fabric specifically to be your binding and make it from that. There are lots of options for your binding fabric.

I bought 2 yards of the coral, blue/turquoise, and brown. Then I bought 3 yards of the white and tan. I had a fair amount left over for most of the fabric. To get the white the size I need it to be however I had just barely enough. 

For my backing I purchased 3 yards, but that is simple enough to figure out if you need a different size. When you know how big your quilt is going to be, measure it out and add a little forgiveness fabric, in case you make a mistake.  Same goes with the batting. I just bought a pre-washed batting from Joanne's Fabric and Craft that was on sale and already cut, as mentioned back in the "Need" section.

***Remember that not all yards of fabric are made the same. A yard of fabric in length will always be the same, 36", because they cut it for you at the counter. However, they could all be different widths. Click here to find out a little bit more about yards of fabric, they give some great tips.

**Notice how their lovely words got cut off? Well now you can learn from my mistake. Tell your guests to sign as close to the centre as possible. Only sew a 1/4" so you don't take too much out of the writing, and make sure your larger shapes are sized proportionately.

WEDDING DAY

Once you have your quilt designed, your fabric purchased and cut, breathe easy! Take your lovely squares that you will have signed and your non-bleeding fabric markers to your special day. Instead of a guest book, they will sign your squares. YAY!

 That day was so busy, I can't remember if I have a picture of the squares to be signed all set up. When I find it I will add it into this blog. So here is an example of one of the small squares.

I didn't have my pictures printed off yet so I color coded parts of my blanket that I would start sewing together. This actually made it phenomenally easy to make sure all of my pieces were being put into the right places on the quilt. If you are not adding pictures, you could actually have the entire quilt done before the wedding and then there is no hassle of cutting words off. They can just sign straight onto the quilt.

ADDING PICTURES

When I finally got my printer ink, I printed off my pictures. I swear I was being tested to build patience, because it took me two-three days to get my ink. I sent my husband the picture of the ink to buy, but didn't think to tell him what kind of printer we had. I didn't think it mattered. Well it did. He came home with the right ink, but it was meant for about 11 printers (not including ours) that had a certain capability and the ink didn't fit.

So the next day I was all ready to go to get the correct ink, when I remembered that the giant gate on our land wouldn't work and I was trapped... If I wanted to walk the half an hour drive to Costco from the top of the mountain in Tijeras I could have done that. I didn't want to though. So I had to wait.

Luckily my husband had been locked out from getting in the night before and jumped the fence leaving a car on the outside. So the next day we finally went and got the right ink! 

LET THE PRINTING BEGIN!

If you read my last blog on how to make your own labels, then this will sound familiar. 

I found these lovely awesome printable fabric at a craft store. I found them later on amazon. I think I found 3 packs of 12count for $45. They are normally around $20-$25 for 1 12 count. So I was thrilled! I only needed to use 15 though. If you want to use less pictures, you can just buy the 1 pack and use 12 pictures.

I sized and adjusted my pictures until they were all the same size. I made sure there was enough fabric on the outside to sew them to the other fabric pieces. 

Then I printed them off and followed the instructions on the inside of the packet. Which is basically to print, let dry, peel paper off back of fabric, run under cold water to release excess ink, air dry.

Then once your pictures are all done, you can finish sewing together the rest of your quilt. If you have ink, unlike I did, you can just sew everything together all at once. It is easiest to stitch them into small squares and then sew those all together. You can research quilts more though and see what other people say.

TADA!!! Beautiful wedding pictures combined with wedding guest well wishes and names. 

MAKING THE BINDING

You can make your binding whenever, as it is the last part of your quilt that gets added on, but I made mine after I stitched all my pieces together. Click here to see the step by step video of how to make your binding and how to attach it. 

I believe I only used a yard of fabric for this. I did the large strips 17"x 2.5" and the small strips 6"x 2.5". No idea why, I just thought it looked cool. The 2.5" has a reason though, as this is the width of your binding. I measured out enough to wrap around 85"x85" and added an extra 40" just to be safe because of the corners. This is what a correctly sewn binding looks like laid out flat. 

I was not a fan of angles. I just wanted to sew my binding together straight edge. However when you fold it over, it is bulky. So I huffed and I puffed, and I caved. I did it on the angle. One thing to keep in mind is PATIENCE. I undid my stitches several times because I would lay the angles together the wrong way. Then I would open it up,  and it would look like this. GRRRR!!!! DO NOT STITCH THEM WITH THE ANGLE AND FABRIC LAYING WITH ALL THE LINES MATCHED UP! Learn from my mistake!!!

Make sure to watch her video to see what I am saying. I realized after that I didn't take a picture of how to lay them together properly. But she explains is amazingly. You'll notice however my angle won't be as big as hers, I hate wasting fabric and did mine a little different.

Once you have arrived at the very end of sewing all of your binding material together you fold it in half, and iron away!!!

Then you roll it around itself, or around a large ruler until you need it. 

I did mine a little backwards and sewed the binding on before I stitched in the ditch. So before you get to this step you will need to stitch in the ditch.  I know that for next time though. If you don't know what stitching in the ditch is, this video helps to explain it. 

Click here to watch that video. 

To stitch in the ditch, basically means to sew along/on top of all of your seams. That gives it the nice tight feeling. A lot of people take theirs to be professionally done, and will also have stitch designs placed on their quilt. You lay down your backing, then batting, then your top. Then you are going to want to safety pin the centers of some of your squares to keep it together. You are now ready to STITCH IN THE DITCH!! 

***You'll notice that my binding is already on, whoops! So just make sure to stitch in the ditch before you bind it together.

To add the binding, lay the unfinished edge ( the side that is not folded over) lined up with the unfinished edge of your top. Sew a 1/4" in. Stop a 1/4" from the end to fold your corner and start the next side. Honestly watch the video I linked, I find it way easier to learn by watching someone else do it. Here is is one more time. When your binding is sewn on, fold your binding over to the other side and the seam is invisible! 

Then blind stitch your binding onto your backing. If you do not know how to blind stitch,

click HERE 

to watch a tutorial.

THEN YOU ARE DONE!!! YAY you have a wonderful handmade keepsake that you did all by yourself!!!! It's not perfect, and I'm ok with that! It was my first quilt and I am quite happy with how it turned out!

Amigurumi Elephant Granny Square Security Blanket

DIY: Free Pattern

I saw this cute little guy/gal on Pinterest and just had to try it. If you want to see how they did it

click here 

I decided though that I wasn't going to follow the pattern they had, and so I partially made up my own. I did however follow a pattern for the round part of his/her head. I found the sphere/head pattern

here

I chose to do the 18 Row Sphere to get a smaller size head. I like that she did all the math so that I didn't have to!

Before you begin, please note that the pattern may need adjustments. For the sphere I know that the pattern is correct and worked. If you do not understand my pattern or if it doesn't work I apologize. I am new to making patterns. I am not selling this pattern, it is free, I just thought I would share how I made mine. If there are errors, again I apologize. I wrote the pattern down as I went, so it should be correct.

To start off the pattern you will need:
Crochet hook
Yarn Needle
Yarn

For The Crochet Hook I used a 3.5 E hook
For Yarn I used: Caron Simply Soft in soft green (which happens to be a popular color, I tried finding it yesterday and everywhere I looked it was all sold out)
                           Caron Simply Soft Heathers in Grey Heather
I did not use a yarn needle, I just crocheted it on with slip stitches.

NOTE*** IF you have not done Amigurumi before, you do not slip stitch. My best advice is to youtube so you can get an idea of what it is like. I use a piece of string, or some sort of marker to show where my last spiral row was.

sc: single crochet
inc: increase in same loop (2 sc in a loop)
dec: decrease in same loop (join 2 sc)

***When the head/arms/trunk gets to a size thats small enough (yet large enough) to stuff with the material you choose, stop. Stuff the head and then continue to finish off the pattern***

Head

18 Row Sphere

Row 1) Ch 2. 6 Sc in second Ch from hook. (6) Row 2) inc in each stitch around. (12)
Row 3) 1, inc, 2, inc, 1, inc, 2, inc, 1, inc (17) Row 4) 2, inc, 2, inc, 1, inc, 2, inc, 2, inc, 1, inc, 1 (23)

Row 5) 3, inc, 5, inc, 5, inc, 5, inc, 1 (27) Row 6) 4, inc, 6, inc, 6, inc, 6, inc, 1 (31) Row 7) 8, inc, 9, inc, 9, inc, 2 (34)
Row 8) 10, inc, 16, inc, 6 (36)

Row 9) 17, inc, 18 (37)
Row 10) even (37)
Row 11) 18, dec, 17 (36)
Row 12) 6, dec, 16, dec, 10 (34)
Row 13) 2, dec, 9, dec, 9, dec, 8 (31)
Row 14) 1, dec, 6, dec, 6, dec, 6, dec, 4 (27) Row 15) 1, dec, 5, dec, 5, dec, 5, dec, 3 (23) Row 16) 1, dec, 1, dec, 2, dec, 2, dec, 1, dec, 2, dec, 2 (17)

Row 17) (dec, 1) repeat () around (12)
Row 18) 4 scdec. Fasten off. Weave loose end through each stitch in the opening. Pull tightly to close. 

Ears 

Heather Grey
1: Make a magic ring, chain 1, 6 sc in magic ring (6)

2: sc (Inc in all 6) (12)
3:Inc in next 8 (16) (NOTE*you will leave those next 4 so that you can reverse back on those 16 loops you just made, making an almost semi-circle)

4,5,6:Reverse/turn around, sc in 16

7: Sc 10 across the bottom(so it's easier to attach to head)

Arms 

1st color (Soft green)

1: Make a magic ring, chain 1, 6 sc in magic ring (6)

2: sc (Inc in all 6)(12)

3: sc (1,inc, 1, inc, 1, inc, 1, inc, 1, inc, 1, inc)(18)
2nd color (Heather grey)

4: sc in Back chain only all the way around(18)

5: sc around (18)

6: sc (4,dec,4,dec,4,dec) (15)

7: sc around (15)

8:3,dec,3,dec,3,dec

9:13 sc around (12)
For the arms you are not going to tie them off like you would the head. Instead you are going to flatten the arm and stitch it together, or crochet the end shut flat.

Trunk
(Heather grey)

1: Make a magic ring, chain 1, 6 in magic ring (6)

2: sc (Inc in 6) (12)

3: sc in back loops only (12) 

4: Around (12)

5: 4,dec,4,dec(10)

6,7,8:Around (10)
For the trunk you are not going to tie it off either. Instead you are going to flatten the arm and stitch it together, or crochet the end shut flat.

When you have your pieces stuffed and ready to be put together, you can choose to either use your yarn needle to stich them on to the head or crochet them on with a slip stitch. Again I am not the authority on how to do Arigurumi, so feel free to google/youtube "how to..." to find out the way you would prefer to do it.

For the Granny Square Blanket I forgot to write down the pattern. If you have done granny squares before then this will make sense to you. I just watched a youtube video to learn how here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFovV2kTNsk and then when i went to go start a new row, instead of keeping the same color I switched to a new color.
3dc in each stitch
1,2: Caron simply soft green
3: Caron simply soft heathers in heather grey
4: Caron simply soft dark country blue
5: Caron simply soft white
6:Caron simply soft green
7:Caron simply soft heathers in heather grey
8:Caron simply soft dark country blue
9: Caron simply soft white
10:Caron simply soft green
11:Caron simply soft heathers in heather grey
12:Caron simply soft dark country blue

Once your blanket is done stitch your head onto the blanket and you are done!

Making Your Own Labels

So I have looked high and low to find the right type of label for me. I am just doing them on a small scale, so the fact that I had to order 300 labels from most companies didn't sound appealing to me. So I did what every great DIY'er does and I went to Pinterest to see what creative ways people in my situation resorted to. I didn't feel like spending a lot of money, and I like the joy I get when I know I did something with my own hands. So I found this awesome idea from seekatesew. Click this link to take you to her page. http://seekatesew.com/300-clothing-labels-for-20/ 

The idea behind her page is to make your labels on the computer and have a yard of your own design sent to you. Then you make up your own labels. I was about to start the process when I looked in front of me and realized I had bought this a while ago to make a blanket for my husband when we were first dating. So I decided to go a different direction than seekatesew. However the website that she sends you to, to make your personalized fabric is the coolest thing! You can literally do whatever you want, design your own art/pattern/picture. They print it off, and it looks high quality to me. So I really want to go do that for a different project soon. 

Instead I decided to use what I had in front of me. I found these because I was making a blanket for my parents when I was serving an LDS mission. It was a christmas gift.  I liked the idea of iron on, so I was going to purchase something of that sort, when I fell upon these in a craft store. I bought more because I wanted to use these for my wedding quilt. That way it wasn't a wedding album, but pictures of us on our wedding quilt. 

When I get that project done I will make a blog about it too. I ordered them on Amazon - Here is a direct link http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Printed-Treasures-Inkjet-Printable/dp/B001C1W9LY . I'm a bargain hunter. So if you are like me, there are a few different options for the amount and price on Amazon. Look around and find what is best for you. I bought mine in a 4 or 5 pack of the 12 sheet packages. So make sure you are getting your moneys worth.  The next thing I did was make a template on the computer like seekatesew had said.

My husbands mac has the pages app. So I went in there, did the math and played around with it for a while. If you are familiar with pages this will be easy for you. I was not so familiar but my husband was. We had previously already made my logo on pages, so I just had to make it into a PNG so that it would be sized and moved to exactly where I wanted it in the square. 

I made my squares 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" so that I could have edges to sew. You can make your tag however big you want, and whatever shape you want. I chose a square because my circle looked funny in a rectangle. Seekatesew suggested also doing it in photoshop or something similar. 

Then I printed a test page off to make sure I had actually done my math right and that they were the size I wanted them to be. MUCH BETTER! I am just starting out, and I didn't want 300 labels!!!!!! YIKES. 35 at a time seemed more realistic for me.

 I then followed the directions (which are pretty simple to follow) on the inside of the package. I printed my labels off onto the treated fabric. That's right! Fabric!! No more iron-on pictures that peel in about a month. 

In the pages app I just used a table insert to make my labels. It made it nice and easy to cut them out after. I had nice straight lines. It says on the package if you are going to wash the item and worry about it bleeding, to wash it first and then use it. This tag is so small that I didn't worry about that step. Then i peeled back the paper backing that is used for the printing process. It can tend to get stuck to the fabric, so rip it off gently. 

I then folded in each side about 1/8". I just guesstimated until it looked nice to me. You can measure and iron yours if you want it to be exact and precise. The first time I made this label, I just sewed straight onto the fabric label, it would get sucked into that little hole under the needle and I was getting so frustrated. 

I remembered that I had extra fabric lying around from a cardigan that I had made. It was a jersey fabric that I had bought to try and make jersey yarn with, but I guess it has to be the right jersey for it to work. I was in luck! So I sewed instead, onto the jersey fabric. 

It looked so much nicer. Mind you, I am no sewing Susan, so my lines aren't as great as a lot of your lines might be. You get the idea though.  

I then cut at a slight angle so that the fabric didn't show too much.

This is what the underside of the label looks like. It actually makes it very easy to handsew it onto your project. It also gives the label some added thickness and sturdiness. 

 Then you grab your hand sewing needle and sew underneath the label (so you don't see the thread)  and into the yarn or whatever your project is.

And VOILA!!!

 You have your own personalized labels for a fraction of the cost!

Busy Little Bee

So I seemed to have come across a lot of free time on my hands. At first I went crazy, I felt like I had nothing to do. I would mostly just spend time with my brand new puppy. I should have felt very excited about all this free time. However I had just finished working full time and going to school part time. Transitioning to a lot of free time, from a very hectic schedule was very hard though. I cried a lot. Like... a lot. I am used to being very productive and I wasn't anymore. I didn't feel like myself.

The reason for this new found spare time was because I moved far away and got married. I had no friends, none of my family, nothing to call my own. I had started up crocheting about 2 years ago, and got busy with school and work, so it got the back burner. My husband suggested (after many days of my crying) that I should start up a hobby that I liked. I felt guilty though, to have all this free time, and he had to go to work. He owns two of his own businesses, so I often felt/feel guilty that he is working his tail off and I can't do much right now. So I decided I would pick back up crocheting and knitting.

Let me tell you! It was a success! Christmas was coming up around the corner, so I decided that I would start making everyone gifts. After a while of making things I started to get better and better. I really enjoy making things with my hands, from scratch. It makes me feel accomplished and happy. Here are some of the things that I have made recently. If you want to order something, I'd be glad to make it. You can check out prices for my stuff by following me on Instagram _l.m.c_ or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LaurenMetgeCreations

Hooded Scarf 

This is my most recent creation. My friend had asked me to make this for her 2 years ago when I was crocheting and knitting. I was more so just knitting and this intimidated me. Now that I am better at what I do, I was happy to make it for her. I was quite impressed with how it turned out. 

Lion Hat and Bootie Set for Newborn

I made this set for my brand new nephew. They honestly looked so adorable on him, I almost died from cuteness. 

Monogram Coaster

I made these for my neighbors. I was actually so happy with how well the letter turned out. I want to make some more. I just love how personal it is. 

Little Girl Shoes 

I made these a while ago for a co-workers new baby. I think this was the first thing I ever made besides a scarf, done by crocheting. I was so excited. I thought they were the cutest thing. I really enjoy crocheting little kids accessories. 

I have more pictures I would like to share, but I think I will share just these for now. Until next time. Oh and if you are someone who likes to crochet, I am not very good at writing down my patterns. So I don't have patterns for you. My best suggestion is to just search something similar and find a pattern on pinterest. Some of the things I make are from a pattern, like the pink shoe.  You can find that pattern here. https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=OorOYipp5Oo .The rest of my stuff I normally don't use patterns. Then I don't have to worry about all the "thats my pattern" hoopla. I just look at pictures, figure it out and make it the way i want it to look. Thats the great thing about crocheting. Once you figure out the basics, its so easy and versatile to make it your own.

If you are someone who loves crochet items, but don't make them because you are intimidated. Just try it out, you may find it is easier than you think. You just have to break it down. Instead of trying to tackle the whole project, look at it in smaller parts. It makes it a lot easier to motivate yourself to attempt it. You'd be surprised what you can do, when you put your mind to it. I used to look at people knitting and couldn't wrap my mind around it. I had no idea how smashing two sticks together could make such amazing things. But I put my mind to it, and I learned. I actually found I was good at it and that I liked it.