Skirting the Issue

 The dilemma...I wanted an ottoman for the reading chair in my bedroom but desired ottoman needed to be small enough so that it didn't obstruct traffic into the bathroom and it also needed to be able offer some storage for books.  I finally found an ottoman that was the perfect size and even on wheels so it could easily be rolled out of the way when vacuuming.  The problem?  I didn't like how it looked.    

So I decided to put a skirt around it.  The biggest problem was trying to find the right material, no small feat since there are only two places around here that sell fabric.  The first is our local WalMart, which after running the local fabric store out of business, now hardly sells any fabric at all.  (I hate WalMart but it's the only place we have to shop.)   There is a quilting shop in town that sells fabric but their store hours coincide with my work hours so I can never make it in there.  Luckily, when we had to make a quick run into a Walmart out of town yesterday, I happened to find some material that I thought might work.  I was taking a chance on the color and hated to spend $5.44 a yard for two yards of fabric I would probably never use for anything else but as it turned out, the risk paid off.  Not only was the color a perfect match, but I also had guessed right on the amount of material to buy.  (That so rarely happens!)

Since I didn't have a pattern, I just kind of winged it and I have to say I liked how it turned out.

Of course, I spent most of what little free time I had sewing so there wasn't any time left to do any reading but I did manage a test run on the last chapter of my current book and the ottoman worked out perfectly.  It's great to have a place to prop my feet up and even better to have a place to store my books.  Mission accomplished!

Easy Peasy Baby Quilt

This baby quilt was incredibly easy.  I made it this afternoon while watching a movie and the movie was only 82 minutes long.

The secret?  Pre-pieced material.  I happened to be cruising the remnant basket at Hobby Lobby and found this 7/8 piece on sale for $6.89.   It's pieced from alternating bits of baby-soft flannel and chenille fabric.   (Mmm...flannel and chenille...two of the best textile sensations in the whole world.) 

Since this is a gift and I don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, I chose a pale yellow fleece for the backing fabric to match the yellow in the plaid squares and help neutralize the blue.

The remnant said it was 7/8 yard but because you can never be sure with a remnant, I bought one yard of the fleece. Placing the right sides together, I laid the pieced fabric on top and pinned the fabric together around the edges.

Because fleece can sometimes stretch, I didn't cut the fleece to match the top fabric.  I just trimmed it up a bit leaving about a 2 inch margin all the way around.

Then I sewed the pieces together using a 1/4" seam and leaving a 6" gap on one edge to turn the turn quilt the inside out.

After the edges were sewn, I trimmed the fleece down to the edge of the top fabric and then turned the quilt inside out.  I ironed the quilt making sure press the edges as crisply as possible and tucking in the 6" opening used to turn the fabric inside out.

Sew the 6" opening closed, getting as close to the edge as you can.

Top stitch around all 4 edges of the quilt using a 1/4" allowance.

That's it.  That's all there was to it.

See, I told you it was easy and Mom never lies!  (Except about her weight...she doesn't admit that to anyone!)