Category Archives: Monday’s Design Wall

Design-Wall Monday

I’ve been MIA for over a month!  I’ll blog more details in another post, but we spent three weeks on the Texas Gulf (forgot my camera cord for uploading pictures), a couple of fabulous days at the Houston quilt show with friends, then a few days at a retreat in Wisconsin with no Internet.    It’s surprising how quickly you get out of the habit of blogging.  (And I knew I was very delinquent when my new-found cousin Judy calls, my Winter Texan friend Eileen calls, and my Aunt Bertha e-mails and calls!  It’s nice to be missed…)

I have lots to share, but I will focus on one project today.  We bought a new bedroom set a few years back.  I just love it, but it has a problem.  I couldn’t figure out how to attach a bed skirt without covering up the wood side panels.   And even if I didn’t mind covering up the wood, the skirt would be way too short due to the height of the bed.

I store the dining-room table leaves under the bed, which you could see if you were seated at the dining-room table.  (We’re in a townhouse and the bedroom is off the living room.)

So with a little on-line inspiration from Heather Mulder Peterson’s tutorial, I made one.

Heather (Anka’s Treasures) makes a nice little faux pleat in her bed skirt.  I used a drapery panel so the bed skirt would match the drapes.  I was also able to take advantage of the finished edges for my side panels (I cut one bed skirt from each long side of the purchased (and lined) drapery panel.  I wasn’t able to make the center “pleat” that she shows using the drapery panel though, so mine are a straight, flat panel.

I then folded the top over twice and stitched non-adhesive, sew-on type Velcro (the soft half) to the RIGHT side of the panels.  Out of the center portion of the drapery panel, I made the bed skirt for the end of the bed.

Instead of using a hot glue gun  to attach the stiff part of the Velcro to the inside of the bed frame, I used a tacky glue and let it dry for 24 hours before attaching the bed skirt.

And the best part is, it will be a snap to switch to a different color.  I know my bed (queen size) will work up fine using a single full-length drapery panel.

–Sue

Design-Wall Monday

I was at a fabulous retreat last week outside of Huntsville, Alabama.  You could probably hear the collective hum of 13 sewing machines and one set of knitting needles from wherever you live!

I’m waiting to show you a couple of quilt tops for UFO Thursday, but I do have a couple more projects to share today.  First is a baby quilt made from UFO scraps.

I had a lot of partial strip sets from that UFO.  I trimmed them to 4″ wide (the height of this tumbler template), and quickly cut out a bunch of tumblers.  I sewed them together kind of willy-nilly.  I have a wider blue border to put around this little baby quilt:


I saw these templates (scroll halfway down the linked page) at the Madison Quilt Expo, and I’m so glad I bought them.  I also bought the 8″ tumbler ruler, and I’m going to use that one to cut through a bunch of FQs that are in my “use up/get rid of/don’t want it any more” pile.

I also bought a Moda layer cake at an adorable quilt shop called Olive Juice in Onalaska, Wisconsin.  It was an impulse purchase, but the fabrics just called to me.  I didn’t know what to do with them until I saw Alice (at the retreat) working on a quilt called 10-Minute Blocks by Suzanne McNeill.  A mock-up of what a 17″ block will look like:

That’s it from me.  Check out other quilters’ progress at JudyL’s blog, Patchwork Times!

–Sue