Quilt It Your Way

I am very excited to announce the new name of my Etsy shop is now chaasBaby. I am in the process of building a second shop focusing on home textiles chaashome. I felt it was time for a simpler and more classic brand name. chaas is a play on my name that I've used before so it seems classic to me:)

This Fall/Winter season I am focusing on my stripe quilt blanket as my signature piece. They are full of texture and luxurious colors and patterns because of the nature of the stripe quilt. It allows me to use lots of different fabrics without the cost. 

I made it even easier for my customers to order a custom theme stripe quilt with this new listed item:

 There are so many possibilities!!! What the heck are you going to get your father-in-law this Christmas? Pick his favorite hobby,sport, favorite place to travel... order up a blanket and be done with it! Go in with a few people if you want to and make it a group present. They will be so impressed to get a handmade quilt just for them. I've done a few for New Home, in memory of loved ones, new babies... I love these because they are always different. my customers come up with all kinds of unique themes and put me on the hunt to put it all together. I've never been a fan of making the same thing over and over again. I don't know how the other Etsians do that. I need a new project(well, several new projects) going at all times!!

IDEAS!!!
Golf
Florida
Beach
Birds
Bicycles
Forest/Hunting
Aztec
Star wars




Here is Nautical Ocean Blue Quilted Blanket

  

One of my favorites is this stripe quilt using the Briar Rose printed collection. There are lots of little creatures doing fun things on this blanket. Little bees are flying around with baskets and hankerchiefs collecting there pollen and nectar and a frog family is enjoying a picnic at the frog pond. 

It's all done in a vintage inspired color palate and strawberry repeats.

So Darling!!!

Grandpa's Quilt

My grandmother asked me to make a winter quilt for my grandpop this summer. She told me no hurry which apparently I took to heart. Now, its two months later and I haven't pieced it together yet. My grandfather is one of my favorite people in the whole world, going at 88 years strong he will be turning 89 on september and I want to be able to present the quilt to him on his birthday.


My grandpop, Joe, is a World War 2 veteran who served in the Army Air Force in Asia. He was the gunner in the fighter planes. The cubby was so small for the gunner his parachute didn't fit. He has the most incredible stories that we all love to hear!







I am doing a patriotic theme for this quilt with rows of pinwheels, and triangles. I will get more done eventually!!

posted from Bloggeroid

3-D Quilting

I just finished the High Seas Quilt(which I blogged about earlier in this post) and wanted to share a simple quilting technique that can add some texture and fun to your next project. These three dimensional strips of fabric stick up out of the seams and make for a really impressive look. 

I used these strips to define the watery waves beneath the Sailship.

This is a very simple technique. You measure out the desired length of your strip and fold in half longways. So, if you want your strip to be 3/8" that would be 6/8 plus your Seam Allowance 1/2"= 1 1/4". Baste your strip on top of the bottom row. 
*Important- Figure out where you want the strip to end and sew it between to pieces.
In this Sailship quilt. I left he raw edges and just stitched them down. But in the Bird Applique Quilt, I sewed them into the vertical seams for a clean and modern look. 

 These are two examples of using three dimensional pieces in quilting, one is modern and the other is more crafty. I look forward to really stretching this idea and incorporating more 3-D quilting techniques.

Sailing Aweigh

While sourcing fabric for a custom order I couldn't resist also bringing home a small set of salt water by tula pink. I've been obsessed with these prints for months and finally treated myself.


I could barely sleep dreaming up all kinds of projects in this briney brew.
I settled on a sailship baby blanket-in an effort to keep my etsy shop cohesive. (More on that in another blog)





I could build a whole collection with just these fabrics. Just saying. More to come later....
UPDATE!!!! Here is the front panel to the tallship baby blanket. I call it High Seas blanket now. It's a little chaotic and stormy. I added three dimensional pieces in the seams to replicate water. Now, for the back panel...I'll be back...

Accidental quilting

I reached a big milestone this week in my career. -going full-time with my Etsy shop ZhalaClothing! I am also devoting more time to my health coaching business. I kinda dual-wield~
To get things started off right, I am rearranging and cleaning out my overly cluttered and disorganized sewing room/studio/office.
Of course, I quickly get distracted, and this happened:


I had these fabrics for about ten years and never found the right project for them- until today. I needed to break up the strong zebra print so I ran to my quilting shop and grabbed a 1/2 yard of this specialty fabric I've had my eye on. 

**Update! I finished the quilt and you can see it now on my Etsy Shop here!



I love using fine fabrics and home fabrics in quilts; velvets, herringbones, flocked fabrics. They add much needed texture and luxury to a room. Texture is one of the most overlooked design elements, which is my pet peeve.
I tried a shortcut for cutting and sewing pinwheels where you cut two large squares and sew around all four sides, right sides together. Then, mark a line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right., top right to bottom left. Cut along the lines and you've just created 4 pinwheel squares! Quick and easy!


I'm hoping to finish it up this weekend so stay tuned for more...

Join my LinkedIn group Etsy Artists and Crafts and chat with me about your crafting aspirations!

posted from Bloggeroid

Mother of Dragons

I finished reading A Storm of Swords, the third book in the epic series A song of Ice and Fire. -Finally. I waited to finish it until I saw the famed Red Wedding episode in HBO's series "A Game of Thrones". You'll find no spoilers here, but I am pretty doggone excited for next season. That's all I'll say.

Daenerys is such a strong female character, it is easy to see how she quickly became a fan favorite. Khaleesi, the Unburned, Daenerys Stormborn, Mother of Dragons... the girl has a lot of titles- and she deserves every one of them. I have been working intermittently on this Khaleesi Quilt for the past few months and recently added it to my shop. I chose the theme of her Khaleesi title to inspire me as I read her trekking through dust and sand in wild landscapes and all the exotic encounters she'd faced.

I collect vintage Indian Saris and used a few of them throughout this quilt. The first blocks I made were the large collages sewn horizontally with scraps of multi-colored silks and tie-dyed cottons. There are a few blocks of antelope skin where I kept the raw edge exposed for more organic texture. The hides came from my father from a prong horn sheep he fell years ago. I typically do not use animal products in my work but I know this animal fed me, so I felt it was consistent to use its hide in a special art quilt.

I printed on three panels of cotton for this piece. There are two panels that read, "Khaleesi" (I kept checking the spelling over and over again) and one the reads, "Moon of my Life" Wouldn't this make a fabulous gift to a girlfriend?!?! HINT. If you want to know more about print on fabric, read my blog post here. There is sari fabric included in this quilt that is gold silk organza with mirror sequins sewn on and shimmers soooo nicely in person. The Black repeat pattern reminds me of chain mail or similarly dragon scale, echoing the warrior edge. I would love to adorn my bedroom with this Khaleesi-worthy throw quilt. It makes the perfect accent to a rich and sexy boudoir. just sayin'.

posted from Bloggeroid

Pinwheels

It is pinwheel day! These little addicting triangles are so satisfying as you sew them all together. I stayed away from pinwheels for far too long, partly because they seemed so traditional. Whatev's cus they're fun.

I am making a queen size blanket for my grandfather in a patriotic theme. He is turning 89 years old this summer and he's healthy and active-love him! He is a WW2 veteran and served in Asia. I think he deserves his own post, so back to pinwheels.





Although I saw a great tutorial on a quick way to do pinwheels, I messed up and had to do them the regular way. I cut squares then cut them diagonally. Heres a trick though. Cut the second square in opposite direction. If you have directional fabric this is an issue. Here, I am making a scrap quilt in various sea-faring fabrics. Check my shop for new additions or create a custom quilt just for you:)

posted from Bloggeroid

Fabric Printing and Game of Thrones

OK.. I am going to get right to it. When I learned how to print on fabric using my inkjet printer, it was kind of a life changing moment. My mind started bursting with ideas, concepts, drawings... Anyway, for my first project I made a Game of Thrones Baby Quilt because 1) I am a super fan, and 2) I make baby blankets. I had some tutorials pinned on my Pinterest Sewing Board that were really helpful.

- Indestructibles offers tips for Inkjet Printing on Fabric
- Craftzine Fabric Printing How-To
- The actual HP website lists some tips and resources

Naturally, I didn't have all the materials they suggested so I ended up using some cardstock paper I had for other projects. It worked perfectly. I cut the fabric(I used some leftover muslin) to fit the printer and  scotch taped it to the cardstock. Super easy, right? 

Game of Thrones Baby Quilt is for sale on my Etsy Shop ZhalaClothing. 


TIPS:
-Make sure you tape around the edges so you don't get excess ink smudges.
-After your print on the fabric let it dry for 15 minutes
-When it is dry submerge into tepid water for 10 minutes. I used my bathtub. This is important because it sets the ink permanently.
-Let it dry flat and you're golden!
-I put it through the washer and dryer and it was perfect so no worries.
-I was printing all black so I opened each jpeg in photoshop and cleaned it up a bit with the eraser tool and strengthened some thin lines.

I am about half-way through my preliminary baby collection, listed on my etsy shop, ZhalaClothing- slowly but surely building inventory and completing precious little baby blankets and such likes. I just received in the mail two new cotton prints that I recently fell in love with. I love taking a classic style and putting a contemporary twist on it and these prints do just that. I will be making quilted baby blankets(like this one) and burp cloths(like this one) out of these two particular fabrics. I am giddy with excitement. come'on, you know the crafty feeling. Supplies are getting low but I'm trying to be patient, they will be completed.