Art as a Cover Up

Once upon a time, we had a plasma TV hanging on our living room wall. Then, we rearranged the room so the TV sits on an entertainment center on the other side of the room. The room "flows" a lot better, but it left the wall looking like this:

Actually, it was worse than this because the hardware that held the TV up left big holes in the wall that I later spackled over. So, we had a rather large empty space with an electrical outlet floating in it. I looked around for a wall hanging to cover it up, but anything big enough was very expensive. So, the wall remained empty for about a year until I finally put the following display together.

To determine where they should be placed on the wall, I taped pieces of paper up that were the same size of the canvasses and my parents, husband, and I moved them around until it looked right.

It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I used masking tape on the canvasses to keep the lines straight. If I were to do this project over, I would pick out a set of 5-6 colors in advance rather than start without a firm color scheme. I would also use only muted colors. I think the two small canvasses are a little too bright for the room, especially the green and yellow one. Overall, though, I like how it turned out. It sure beats the crooked outlet in the middle of the wall!

Supplies Needed:

• Canvas
• Masking Tape
• Ruler
  
• Paintbrush
• Paint
• Picture Hook Kit
• Picture Nails
• Hammer
  

My First Quilt - Part 1 (Selecting the Pattern and Fabric)

Last September, I somehow decided to try quilting. My plan was to start very slowly, following instructions in a book, and make a practice quilt. Then, I was going to make a baby quilt for my 1st niece before she was born. Well, the day after I bought the fabric for the "practice" quilt, we found out that Hailey was most likely going to be born early, so I needed to speed up the process. As a result, the practice quilt is still just fabric in my basement, and Hailey's quilt has a lot of beginner's errors associated with it.

Step 1: Choose a Pattern
I searched for "easy baby quilts" on google, and eventually settled on this pattern. A "baby quilt" is usually very small, and I wanted Hailey to be able to use the quilt when she got older, too, so I decided to convert the pattern to a larger quilt size myself. This was beginner's mistake number 1. I didn't quite do the math for the backing correctly and was a little short on fabric when I got to that point. Also, I just now found the full size version of the same pattern, which would have made it a lot easier for me.

The pattern itself isn't that difficult, but since I had absolutely no experience quilting, it was a little over my head. It basically just had the instructions for the top piece, and figured that I knew how to turn it into a quilt from there. So, beginner's mistake number 2 was to assume that instructions that fit on two sheets of paper (including diagrams) could teach me all that I needed to know about quilting. Luckily, I had the book I had purchased for the practice quilt as well as the Internet to fill in the holes of my pattern.

Step 2: Choose the Fabric
The pattern called for three different fabrics: a dark tone-on-tone, a medium tone-on-tone, and a light print. When I went to the fabric store, I was looking for pink and purple fabrics, but I ended up with contrasting purple and yellow.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Supplies Needed:

• Pattern
• Three types of fabric
  

My Sewing Machine

I know, I know - three posts right away and then nothing for 10 months doesn't really mean that I have a blog. However, I did warn you that this might happen. Luckily, the lack of posting does not mean a lack of crafting! I kept myself busy over the winter (and spring and summer) with several projects.

I'm going to start off with a simple post about my sewing machine, which I bought last summer more or less on a whim. I purchased a Brother CS 6000i machine, shown here.

It had been about 10 years since I had even touched a sewing machine, and let me tell you - this is nothing like my mom's sewing machine of my childhood. It's so simple to use and make fancy stitches on. I'll showcase some of those later on, but here is a picture of the computer part where you select which stitch to use.

It also came with a ton of accessories which are conveniently stored in the free arm of the machine.
Last, but not least, there is an accessory table to increase the sewing area or to use for quilting with a walking foot. I have not used this feature yet.

It does come with a cover, but it is just to keep dust off of the machine. It is not a carrying case.

Overall, I have been extremely happy with this machine. I have used it for one major project and it worked wonderfully.