Long Overdue Update

Well, it's been a while since I updated my blog, so today I am bringing it up to date.  I have completed several quilts since my last update in Oct 2016, Building A Sewing Table where I shared how I built a custom table top for my sewing machine.  I've actually built two of these, the 2nd for a friend.  I've also expanded my folding cutting table to accommodate a full 4x8ft cutting mat, and made two ironing tables.

Baby Alexandra

I made this baby quilt for a friend in July 2016.

Festival de Colores

This quilt took over a year to finish due to health issue.  It was supposed to be a Christmas gift for 2016, however I was not able to finish it until just before Christmas of 2017.  They wanted a quilt with lots of colours.

Teddies and Bunnies

I made this cute baby quilt for a friend in Nov 2017.

Fairy Tales

I made this baby quilt in December 2017 for a friend.  I repeated a pattern I had previously made because it is very pretty!

All Aboard!

I made this quilt as a retirement gift for a friend.

I also acquired the display rack so I can take nice pictures of my quilts outside in the sunlight.

Dumbo and Friend

Another very nice baby quilt for a friend.

Musical Wall Hanger

My other passion is music, specifically playing guitar.  

I made this music themed wall hanger for my music studio.

Sweet Petunias

I finished assembling this quilt top in March 2018.

I am waiting to quilt this on a Long Arm machine.

Moscato D'Asti

I made this quilt for myself.

It is also awaiting to finish this on a Long Arm machine.

NEW TOY!

 I acquired the AcuQuilt GO! in Jan 2019 and started enjoying it right away!

I have since bought many of the dies, it makes cutting multiple pieces so easy and quick!

Wheelchair Quilts

My friends and I made a number of wheelchair quilts to be donated to the special care home for elderly persons where my aunt is now residing.  We found that many of the residents were using bath towels to keep warm while sitting in their wheelchairs.  I made 4.

I had this Roses material for a long time and finally found a way to put it to good use.

A simple 9 patch block using multiple shades of multiple colours.

A simple square with sashing using the left over fabric from the previous trains quilt.

For this one I decided to do a different quilting finish pattern instead of my usual cross hatch pattern.

It wasn't hard to do, just a lot of work!

I used some more of the Roses material for this simple pattern.

Susie's Magic Binding

I found this very nice tutorial that shows two techniques for binding.  This shows how to make the Flange Binding and how to join the ends of the binding using the sewing machine without having to overlap the ends.  Here is a link to the tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8N6nv90H2c

A close up look at the 'Flange'. 

 For this exercise, I used 4 separate sections of binding so I could practice joining the ends using this technique.

Here is a view of the binding joint front and back. 

Teddy Bears

So now it is April 2019 and I'm making this baby quilt for my older sister for her friend.

I'm started with the Teddy Bear panel which turned out to be printed crooked.  Hopefully once it is quilted it won't show.

Quilt Room Accesories

For the longest time I was using a standard ironing board next to the cutting table.  After I while I decided it would be very convenient to have a larger/longer ironing board.  So, I acquired this ironing table, a 18x72 inch pin board, some ironing table cloth and fabricated this.  I used two layers of batting under the ironing cloth.  I specifically searched for a table with these legs as I find them to be more stable than the T-bars. 

The new table is great, except one thing.  It's lower than the cutting table!

I modified my original assembly by adding spacers.

Now it is level with the cutting table which makes it easier to drape large pieces on the table for ironing.

Mini Ironing Table 

I got tired of getting up to iron small pieces as I assembled them.  To that end I used this small desk and added a ironing top. 

Along with the Steamfast travel iron I don't have to get up to iron all the small pieces now.

 It fits nicely under the cutting table.

 Expanding the Cutting Table

I acquired a 4x8ft cutting mat, which was too big for my cutting table.  Since I didn't want to cut the mat down to size, I decided to expand the length of the table.  To that end I added a frame to the end with diagonal supports and covered it with a fitted board.  Voila!  Now my table is large enough for the new mat!  The extension is easy enough to remove if necessary.

And my quilting supervisor, Buck, approves! 

That pretty much bring things up to date.  Cheers!

Building A Sewing Table

Building A Sewing Table

I searched for a suitable sewing table that fit my requirements:

1. Size - it has to be big enough to easily work a quilt
2. Sewing machine has to be flush with the table surface
3. Affordable

Needles to say affordable was not achievable.  Therefore, I decided to build my own table given that I am pretty handy with tools.  For supplies I purchased the following:

1. Desk top - at local hardware store, 30 x 60 x 1.5 inches (note the Ikea table top is not suitable for this project).  This table top is solid particle board.
2. Drawer unit from Ikea to support one end.
3. Three adjustable table legs from Ikea.
4. Six x 6 inch stainless steel carriage bolts with nuts.  You must have 3 nuts per bolt
5. 12 x 15 x 1/2 inch melamine board/shelf
6. White melamine paint.

You need the specific sewing machine that this is being made for plus you can use/include the Plexiglas table if your machine has one.  The opening for the sewing machine is cut near the front right hand of the table top leaving enough room on the right for accessories.

With the location and outline of the sewing machine marked I taped paper over the table to protect it from scratches. 

Drill holes in the corners for the saw blade and cut carefully.  Since this is thick wood, the jigsaw will tend to wander or tilt so go slowly. 

Once the machine opening is cut, I traced the shape of the Plexiglas sewing table and used a router to cut out the shape taking care to set the depth correctly. 

Doing the routing is tedious and slow!

The rough routing is done. 

Fine tuning of the edges of the routing. 

 The routing is finished!

The sewing machine and the Plexiglas sewing table fit nicely! 

Some white melamine paint.

The holes for the carriage bolts are counter sunk to allow the bolt
heads to sit below the surface of the top.

The bolts have to be cut once the height of the shelf is set.

The bolts before cutting.

The bolts have been cut to length

 Placement of the bolts must consider the location of the
features on the lower body of the sewing machine.

Use 3 nuts, one to hold the bolt tight to the top.
The other two hold the shelf in place.

The finished table.  You can see the tablet supporting the machine and the 3 legs.  I used one in the rear middle area to prevent bouncing. 

Here is my sewing table and a second table in my new sewing studio. 

I added a small table to extend the length of my sewing table.

I also have another section of table that I can use as needed.