Quilted Steering Wheel Cover

Ok here is a fun gift idea for you quilters out there! I made this fun steering wheel cover from some left over fabric. I saw a few on Pinterest and really liked the look. Plus if you live in the southern region as I do, well you need it. The steering wheel gets mighty hot here! And naturally it's cute! I get lots of envious looks. (Well not really, but I am sure someone would like to spirit away my fabulous cover!)

So here are the directions:

1. Measure the circumference of your steering wheel. Mine was 49”
2. Measure around girth (where you hold onto), mine was almost 4”
3. For this steering wheel I cut my main fabric 6” x 50 ½” , I did have to piece, you could use up scraps like I did, or just piece your fabric together. For the lining I cut it slightly smaller, 4 ¼” x 49” and my batting about 4” x 49”.

4. I laid them wrong sides together with the batting in the middle and sewed down the center to secure the layers. I only used one seam and I used my serpentine stitch on my Bernina #4 and lengthened it.


I said "hello" to my lovely Mr. Bernina 175, and he said "Well its about time you got around to me today!"

5. I ironed over ¼” on both long sides of the main fabric, then folded over about 3/8” to ½” and sew this down along the fold to make the casing for elastic.



 Here you can see the serpentine stitch.




6. Stretch your ¼” elastic to the 49“ or the length of your steering wheel, cut 2. I pulled my elastic almost to the max and I added about 1”.
7. Insert the elastic by using a Blodkin or old style - safety pin to both sides. Add a safety pin to the end so it will not pull all the way through, and sew down each end once you have pulled it though enough to stitch . I did stitch several times back and forth to secure.


Let the fun begin. My least favorite thing...pulling the elastic through.

 Elastic stitched in place. Ugh, blurry picture, sorry.

8. I laid the end together and folded one end inside the other so no raw edges were showing and I stitched them together. Like a French seam or flat folded seam. Or you can finish this however you want.


Make sure you don't twist your cover at this time. I off set the ends by 3/4". That is the side I folded over and made the flat folded seam.


9. Put this on your steering wheel and enjoy!

Alternative method would be to use polar fleece as the lining and batting, this should still help keep the steering wheel from burning your hand and help it not slip on the steering wheel as much. I will have to try one.

*Note I have tried this on several steering wheels and it seems to fit them all so far. Experiment with different widths of fabric. You may like to keep the steering wheel cover you have on your car and layer this one over it. That is what I did in the Saturn. Extra cushion and added layers for the heat. Someone suggested using the rubber liner you get for your shelves on the inside to keep your quilted cover from slipping on the wheel. You could just put one to three small square on the inside and stitch them down. Let us know what works for you! Happy Stitching.
P.S. Use these directions at your our risk! Hahaha.

Desert Lily Quilt Guild 2015 Opportunity Quilt

Here is the 2015 Opportunity quilt for the Desert Lily's Quilt Guilt. I finished quilting this and the ladies put the binding on.

Let me know if you would like tickets on this quilt. We draw in January. $1 each or 6 for $5 bucks! What a deal! All the proceeds go to children that are burn victim in the Yuma area. A subject near and dear to my heart as I was burned as a small child. Great cause folks.

Here is the beginning process of getting this hummer quilted. Man that is a lot of white to fill in! This bad boy was a monster size.

You can see I had to baste as I went down so I could turn the quilt once I got to the bottom. This helped me get the sides feathers uniform.

Here is a corner.

Now we are cooking. Done and picture time.

Here is the middle.

Here is a picture of the back. Whew! That's a lot of quilting!

Linda's Bear

 

This is the back of Linda's granddaughters quilt. It looks crazy scary from a distance. 

Stan drew out bear paws on AutoCad and we made a panto from those drawings.

Here is a close up of the backing.

Here is what the front of Linda's quilt. The bear paws look great!

Ione's Redwork

Ione and her sister stitched all the redwork last winter while enjoying the wonderful weather in Yuma. Ione then finished the blocks and brought the quilt top to me for to quilt. 

I used a snowflake pantograph in the block borders and I did different background fills in the redwork blocks.

Here is a picture of the wonderful hand work Ione and her sister did.

I must say, this is the only kind of snow I care to see anymore!

Magic Binding from 52quilts.com

I have been showing this technique to my customers for the past month or so. I cut my binding 1 3/8" for the main binding and 1 5/8" for the faux piping. I like to cut my bindings at 2 1/2" and once you sew these two together you get 2 1/2" binding. I just love the look of this binding, and if you are short your main binding fabric this helps stretch it so to speak.
Have fun with this all done by machine binding. No wonder they call it Magic!
Here is the link to see how 52 quilts dot com does theirs.
http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html

Purple Takes the Cake (with a big slash of LIME)

Linda made this for her granddaughter who is graduating this year from high school. This quilt is a statement all into itself! The colors are so spectacular! I do believe the granddaughter will LOVE IT!

Here is the fun texture on the back of the quilt. I am not a big fan of solid backs, but in this case I really like the look of the quilting.

I knew this quilt for a young adult, so I quilted in some groovy designs.

Oh Those Crazy Cats

Lois's Embroidered Cats. These are so fun! I really love the mouse and fish too. This quilt was really fun to quilt. I laughed at the mice on this quilt, so funny!

Here is close up if the sashing and background quilting. Just look at that face! 

Here is the backing. Perfect for the crazy cats.

One More Lonestar Down!

I have quilted several Lonestar quilts since arriving in Yuma AZ! Here is another beauty, the color is off a lot in this picture, oops.  You will see the color better in the other pictures

Here's a close up of the feathers in the star.

Maybe I should take some photo taking classes! Not my best shots here. Still a beautiful quilt!
I am honored to quilt these quilts!