Shop update and other things!

I've been pretty busy doing several things over the past few weeks and just realized it's been a while since I posted here! And, yikes, I have some reading to catch up on to see what's happening in all of the blogs I've been following!

Hmmm, what has happened since the last time I posted?

- Well, I have been working on a swap with Faby via Jazzi's Christmas in July Swap! We've received each other's gifts and I will be posting real soon! (I still have to take photos!)

- I also participated in a second swap with Mini*Aesthetics who was interested in my dollhouse quilt and I made one for her. Pics will be coming once that swap is complete!

By the way, if you see anything you like on my blog or in my Etsy shop and want to do a swap or trade, I am very open to it!!! :)

- I have been taking up quilting (in 1:1 scale!!!). I made a quilt for our couch - slightly smaller than twin size - to use up excess fabric in my stash. I will post some photos of that, too! (I have a lot of pics to post!!!)

And that's only craft stuff, and doesn't account for work (in which a nice personal accomplishment was made) or day-to-day stuff. This summer is a busy one.

Our Etsy shop will be going on vacation from July 9 - 19. I am happy to announce that I will be doing a sale from NOW until Monday, July 8 at 5PM EST. Use the coupon code July42013 to receive 25% off your order before then! (Here's the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LindasMinis)

Hope everyone is doing well, and for those of you who are experiencing any heat waves are staying cool!

Cheers,
Linda

Quilt update!

Well, I finished my first dollhouse quilt. Even with using the sewing machine, it was quite the venture. In fact, using a sewing machine probably upped the difficulty level a bit, since I had a 1/8" seam allowance. Hmmm. I might just make those pieces wider next time. ;)

Anyway, here is how it turned out.

The top of the quilt. I am pretty happy with this. The binding is a bit too wide, so I will definitely change that for the next quilt (and there will be a next quilt!)

This is the back. I'm not crazy about it, but I had LOTS of this fabric in my stash and wanted to use it. My sewing machine was being a pain too, so the stitches were less than awesome on this side. I still need to trim some stray threads.

This is how it looks on a bed. It fits a dollhouse scale full bed.

It does look good on the bed, so I am pretty happy with that! This quilt is one I will keep, but I will hopefully be designing and making some more for the shop once I get a good method down. :-)

Lessons learned:
1) Hand sewing may actually be better for tiny stitches.
2) Skinny binding will look better in this scale. (And maybe darker for this particular quilt, though I like it when it's on the bed.)
3) Patience is required!
4) I can make tiny quilts! :-D

Dollhouse quilts

Enjoying a beautiful day today! It's also been a week since I got married and I am very much enjoying it! (Our honeymoon is in July.)

I've been doing little crafting lately, but am happy to share something I just started making - a dollhouse quilt. This isn't easy and I am not using any tutorials to make one. (But, maybe I'll make a tutorial if this turns out okay!)

I found a bag of tiny fabric scraps in our storage unit a few weeks ago when we were looking for a couple other items. I brought it back to the craft desk and set it aside until I decided to make a tiny quilt. I have a real-life lap quilt that I made last year out of African fabric and I am hoping to make one that (somewhat) matches.

I started on it yesterday. First I cut pieces of the fabric (they were in 2 inch x 2 inch squares) into 2 inch by 1/2 inch strips. I then sewed together different patterns with a 1/8" seam allowance.

This is what I have so far:

I am going to join these together so there will be sets of 4 strips. Then I am going to find a solid color in my stash and join the 4 patterned strips to a strip of solid color then to another strip of four and then continue this until I get the desired length of quilt. Then I will probably cut this in half so the strips are 1" wide. That might look better. We will see!

As you can see, I cut and sewed quite a bit yesterday.

This is a pile of strips pinned together. I just need to sew them to get a group of four strips. :) Now, to raid my stash for a solid color. :-)

I'll keep you all updated about how this works out!

Quilt!

So, a non-mini item I have been working on, and finally finished:

Front of the quilt. Lots of African fabrics. :)

Back of the quilts.

I started it last year, but my sewing machine stopped functioning properly. :( I ended up handstitching the binding, but hopefully will get my sewing machine fixed to work on other projects, both mini and life-size. :)