Fresh Look for the Front Porch

Shortly after moving in 2008

The porch furniture came with the house. We had asked the seller to leave the set because we weren't bringing any of our own. We have since changed the arrangement, but the chairs, tables, and ottomans are still in good shape today.  I made covers for all of the pillows and cushions in 2009.  

No cover (left) with cover (right)

This past summer, we decided the pillow and seat cushion covers needed to be replaced. They were faded from sun exposure, torn from cat claws, and had several food stains on them. The seat cushions had also lost all support and were not comfortable to sit in for more than 5 minutes. T ordered two new foam cushions for the larger chairs. The fabric for new covers was purchased on sale this summer, but I knew that I wouldn't start working on this project until the short winter days kept me inside. The last weekend in January, I started making the green welting that would go on all the cushions and pillows. Originally, I had planned to use my Singer 201-2, but I don't have a working zipper foot for it. Maybe I'll find one this summer? I tried my Necchi Supernova and that worked great. Once the welting was finished I took apart the old pillow covers and used the pieces as patterns for new covers. I also took the zippers out of the old pillows to reuse them when possible. I ended up only having to install one new zipper. Twice, I underestimated how much welting I would need and after one trip back to the store to buy more, I decided to reuse some from the original pillows to finish up the last pillow.  

I had help attaching the welting

The four seat cushions all got zippers sewn into the backs so that the covers could be removed for cleaning. The four back pillow covers are not removable. Zippers were inserted into the side pieces first and then the tops and bottoms were clipped to the sides with the welting sandwiched in-between.
When I tried to sew through four layers of fabric on the Necchi, it balked three times.  After replacing 3 needles, I moved over to my Pfaff 131 and used the zipper foot on there.  It was a bit difficult to maneuver all the fabric within the limited harp space, but I didn't have any broken needles. It sewed right through the multiple fabric layers and even two layers of welting that overlapped in the back.

Pillow covers without zippers were finished by hand after the pillows were inserted

 After arranging the pillows on the porch and taking a picture, I realized that I would need to redo one of the seat cushions. I had inserted the zipper on the front side of one cushion instead of the back side. Since the cushions are rounded in the back and a bit wider across the front, I could not just turn it around.

The pattern almost camouflages the errant zipper, right?

Today, I picked up my seam ripper and took the top and bottom off the cushion. The pieces were repositioned and then I sewed them back together again using the Pfaff 131.

Hopefully, it goes back together

A new bulb on my machine made visibility noticeably better

And now everything is finished

 Come on over for a little porch sitting any time you're in the neighborhood!

Quilt of Many Squares

Orange, turquoise, mauve, black, coral, lime, blue, olive, gray, tan...

The fabric was purchased with plans for a quilt for my sister, but the longer it sat around in my sewing room the less likely it was that she would get the finished product. The pattern is from one of Kaffe Fassett's books and I made a smaller version of it once before for a baby quilt that I gifted years ago. I remembered how small some of the pieces were on this quilt and how much time went into its construction--that convinced me that I wanted one of my own to keep. Most of the fabric is from a jelly roll that I purchased and I think there are scraps from only three or four non-roll fabrics incorporated. This is unusual for me, I like to put as many fabrics as possible into any quilt and the more scraps the better. Since these were not colors and patterns I have worked with before though, I really didn't have scraps laying around to expand the tableau. All of the piecing was done on my Necchi Supernova.  So many seams, but it went together smoothly.

I started by making the larger squares first. I really didn't know if I had enough fabric and I didn't want to be piecing strips for the longer square sides. Tally marks were used to keep track of the finished squares pile.

Kaffe Fassett's name misspelled in my notes, I corrected it after this picture

Once all of the square were completed, I started building the quilt out from the middle.  In his book, Kaffe details how to work from the center out by adding a row or column and working counter-clockwise.

A couple segments in

Row added to the top

Left side and bottom completed

Wouldn't you know it, even with my careful tallying, I still ended up with an extra block.  I ended up embroidering the year on it and then using it as part of the pieced backing. After much deliberation, I chose a basketweave pattern for the quilting. It required a lot of starting and stopping and changing direction, but I used my Pfaff 131 and I absolutely love working on that machine.

For the binding I was hoping for a solid, but I had nothing suitable in my fabric stash. I checked mom's stash as well and surprisingly, she didn't have anything I wanted either. So, back to the fabric store. :)  There I found a fantastic orange and only needed 1/3 yd for the entire binding. Of course, while searching for orange, several other fabrics fairly jumped off the shelves into my open arms.  They needed a good home and I happily adopted them. What project will I use them in?

Some orange and a new project...

I sewed the binding on by machine and then finished the back by hand.

Lainie watched the hand stitching very closely

I use these clips for all types of projects, but they're particularly handy at holding binding

I had this partial spool of old thread sitting around, perfect color match, but would there be enough of it?

I finished the binding with about 3 inches of thread left to tie off. 

The sleeve on the back was a scrap and that was basted on by hand as well.

Here is a view of the back of the quilt. Backing was pieced from scraps and one leftover block.  I love how the quilting looks from this side.

It took awhile, but I did find the perfect quilting pattern

Here is a trial run of the quilt hanging in its new spot. It had not been washed yet and the quilting does not show up very well.

Our walls are cinderblock and there is no picture rail here, so a curtain rod is employed

Spotlight highlights the bright colors, patterns, and quilting equally

The can light was already in place before the quilt got hung, but I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how it's centered. It almost looks like it's hanging in a gallery, right? I love how this turned out, every time I look at it I notice something new. Color, pattern, movement... a visual feast.