Quilted Throw Pillow Case for a Doctor

I have this really cute fabric perfect for doctors. It has hearts and squiggly lines representing ECGs. Last time I used it was to make gifts for my doctors in Singapore. I have a new set and thought I'd make something for my current set of doctors. 

I decided to make a throw pillow case for one of my doctors. She had a pillow in her clinic. I asked permission to measure it and surprised my doctor with the throw pillow case during my next appointment. I still wanted to learn something new for this project, so I made heart accents for the throw pillow case. I'll share next time how I made it (I'm still trying to perfect it). 

Here's how I made it:

Materials:

themed fabric

red fabric

black fabric

fabric for the back of the pillow

fusible interfacing

batting

backing fabric

Size:

17" x 17"

Quilted Monochromatic Tote Bag

From a bag full of colors, I thought I'd try doing something opposite. Black and white, well, a gradient from black to white. It took me a long time to finish this project since I lacked fabric that's in-between white and black. I eventually found some and got to work. It's a belated birthday gift for a friend and she told me she liked her totes to be black.

I didn't want it to be just black, so I thought I'd play around with the color. Oh boy, I didn't realize how hard it would be to find the best layout for the fabric. It took me awhile just to get it right. I had to consult with my son since he's better with colors than me. Things were easy after the layout was finalized. 

Here's how I made it:

Materials:

96 2.5" x 2.5" various fabric from black to white

lining

fusible interfacing

batting

thread

iron

Size:

12" x 16"

Harry Potter Lap Quilt

Before I left Singapore, I made a mad dash to make some lap quilts for my friends. I knew one was a Harry Potter fan, so I thought I'd make one for him. I used solid fabric colors to complement the design. I just used simple shapes to make it easier for me to finish the quilt. Managed to finish it a few days before we went home. 

My friend said, Lily his pet dog, immediately commandeered the blanket as soon as she saw it. She looked so cute on it, that's why I asked permission if I could use her photos for this post. I'm glad they liked it, yay!

Here's a short video on how I made the lap quilt:

Materials:

Harry Potter fabric

solid colors fabric

backing fabric

wadding

thread

lots of pins and clips

How to Finish Your Quilt: Sandwiching and Binding

When I started quilting again a few years ago I realized I didn't really know how to finish my projects. I realized my Mom took care of finishing my projects when I was younger. 

When I restarted the hobby a few years ago, I made a small pouch. It was a messy affair, but I eventually got the hang of sandwiching and adding the binding. I originally manually made the binding. This took a lot of time. I tried buying ready-made binding, but it's so expensive. I eventually discovered the bias tape maker tool and that helped immensely. You can watch how to make binding here. 

So how does one go about finishing a quilt? Here's a video tutorial I made -

If you have any questions or comments, please write them down below. Happy Stitching!

Easy Pinwheel Quilt

I have a pinwheel quilt I started a few years ago. It's not yet finished! Haha. I lost steam while making it and now I'm trying to figure out how to finish it. Before diving back into it I decided to research on an easier way to make pinwheel quilts. 

To force me to learn the technique I decided to make a lap quilt. I originally designed it to be half-squares in four colors, but decided last minute to make pinwheels. The first step was to make a gazillion half-squares. I worked on it for a few days (how to here). And this week I started sewing them up to become pinwheels. 

Here's how I've been making them quickly -

I made a gazillion half-squares. I'll probably be able to make four lap quilts out of this project. I'll post soon how I'll put the whole project together!

How to Make 8 Half Squares at a Time (8aat)

I have just recently discovered the terms 4aat and 8aat after going through a quilt terms article. I got curious and researched more about 4aat and 8aat since I'm working on making multiple lap quilt blankets. 

So aat means at a time. 4aat means making four half squares at a time, while 8aat means making eight half squares at a time. It wasn't easy to find tutorials via Pinterest so I put myself to work to try the trick. I decided to make a video so I don't forget how to make it. 

Here's how to make 8 half-squares at a time -

I just made this based on using 12.5" x 12.5" square fabric. It makes approximately a 6" x 6" square which is what I have set for the lap quilt blanket I'm making. I'll share soon how I complete the project. For now I hope the tutorial helps you with your project. 

Shophouse Quilt (A Sampler)

I saw a book on shophouses and was inspired by the colorful stores to create a quilt project. That's one of the reasons why I got pre-cut fabric from Lazada (short review here). I looked up templates on Pinterest, but none looked like a shophouse. The frontage of shophouses here in Singapore are intricate. I had to figure out how to simplify it. After several tries I ended up with a simplified version of the shophouse.

I like to play around with colors. I used my love for rainbows to select the colors for this project. I love that the pre-cut fabric I ordered gave a lot of options. That allowed me to experiment with the project. I will be using this as a sampler for future shophouse quilt projects I'll be making for our home.

Here's a short video on how I made it:

Materials:

Charm and layer cake pre-cut fabric (9 colors)

batting

backing fabric

fabric for the back of the pillow

quilting thread (9 colors)

sewing thread

Free template is available here.

Easy DIY Quilted CD Case

I have a gazillion CDs from tests. My doctors kept putting them in an envelope and it eventually looked unsightly. Decided to make a case for it to keep it tidy.

This project just took me a day to make. I love how you can just customize things for your own use. Here's how I made it -

Size: 6" x 2" x 6"

Materials:

white fabric with design

black fabric

backing fabric (I used red fabric with hearts)

black fabric for binding

gold embroidery thread 

quilting thread

batting