May's 1XMAS

Six little Christmas items to add to the list this month!  This cute little pattern is called "Little Wallet" by Valori Wells.  One of the ladies in our bee taught it to us and the one I made that day is the green & flower print at the top left of the photo.  We (DH and I) decided that we would make Christmas easier this year, and instead of making so many purses again, we will give gift cards to some of those people instead. Once the Bee ladies and I finished our Little Wallets, I thought that it would be a fun way to present the giftcards!  Initially I was going to use Christmas fabric, but since some of these will be going to teenage nieces, I thought they really wouldn't use them again or only once a year?  Then I had one of those rare (for me anyway)lightening bolt flashes of brilliance - I would make the wallets to match the purses I made them last year!  whoo hoo! That way they can put their student ID's in them, or library cards etc., The adults can use them for those reward cards, and the back pockets will hold a tea bag or two quite nicely!  After I made the first one according to the directions, I changed things up a bit (can't help it).  I wanted a firmer, stronger wallet so I used a heavier, fusable pellon and I added it between the 1st the 3rd pocket as well as the large main body piece.  Instead of sewing two pocket pieces together to form each pocket, I folded the fabric and placed the top of the pocket on the fold for cutting.  (Less sewing)  I sewed velcro on the 1st pocket piece before assembly and the inside main body piece.  I then top stitched the top flap, trying different decorative stitches.  Fun! Five of the them are going to people whose bags I made last year, one will go to someone whose bag I haven't made yet!  I made alot of bags last year, so you'll be seeing more of these before December!   

These are my two favorite!  I added the buttons, but I bet a yo-yo would be cute too!  Sew many possibilities . . . ric rack????   Happy Quilting !

Odds and Ends

I worked on a few little things this month while I wasn't feeling well, and they added up to a few more finishes!  I made the snap bag for my daughter to hold her knee high stockings that she uses for figure skating practice.  I noticed she had a smushed box in her skate bag, so I used two fat quarters from her stash! She loved it! 

I had been meaning to try the 3D idea for a flower wallhanging and I like how it went, altough I wanted to add a little something to the fower part but didn't have the right color, and honestly - started feeling worse and just wanted to finish it.  I will definately work on this idea again.  I am still trying to use up the scraps from the Purple & Orange Fower quilt from January! I STILL have fabric left!  My last finish for April was this scarf - Starbella yarns came out with lots of new colors in this crazy yarn I love - this color was perfect for my daughter and perfect to work on when my energy was low.  Happy Quilting!

Another WISP/UFO Complete!

I actually put the label on and bound this quilt on the 12th of April, right before my Guild meeting and shortly before I started coming down with bronchitis.  It is the last thing that I quilted on my longarm.  In 2011, I won 15 of these blocks at my guild, as part of the block of the month program. I loved the blocks and bought two to do, and was so thrilled that I actually won them!  I also received a few undone blocks, and some material leftover from the cutting of the blocks.  The block pattern was called "The Unnamed Block" which isn't very creative, but when I started playing with the layout of the blocks I realized just how versatile it is.  I could have laid out the quilt in so many different ways, but I was a bit restricted with what I could do with the limited amount of fabric that was provided. I sewed additional blocks, and I like how I did the last border bit with the corners.  I would love to do this again with some of my stash someday. I used just about every bit of the fabric, I even made a pillowcase for it.  When I first brought this home and showed my dear hubby, he just loved the vibrant colors.  He isn't very outspoken about my quilts, but he made it known how much he liked this one.  I don't think I mentioned this before, but this past September, he was reassigned in the military to a new post about 4 hours north.  Our family has remained here since my son in his last two years of high school and in a very good program.  My hubby rents a small basement apartment 3 hours north of here and comes home every Friday night and leaves again Sunday night.  His only complaint has been about how much colder it is there, and that the apartment always seems cold, so when I decided to make this for him, I used a micro fiber blanket as the backing.  I also used 80/20 batting, so this is a pretty heavy quilt!  The blanket I bought (from Target) was 90"X90" so with some of the leftover backing I made a couple of hats for him, since he is well, "folliclly challenged" it keeps his head warm!

 He LOVED the quilt and brought it back with him that weekend and says it was amazingly warm! Mission Accomplished!  Happy Quilting!



(The label is open on the right short side and also acts as a pocket for him to keep his extra hats)

April 1XMAS Item

This month's Christmas finish is a gift that is actually for this past Christmas, but it's still a Christmas finish just the same!  I bought the fabric to make a purse/tote for my niece, but couldn't decide what to make, so I wrapped up the fabric and asked her to choose.  She knew immediately what she wanted, unfortunately I was not so immediate in making it!  I mailed it to her in time for Easter and made sure I put extra little goodies in it since she was so patient!  The pattern came from the book Sew What! Bags by lexie barnes.  The tote in the book was made from Mexican Oilcloth, so it had no lining. My DN wanted it quilted, and we both thought it should be bigger and have pockets on both sides and I thought a large inside pocket would be good to hold a pattern or book and the straps are longer and different.  I forgot the ties until too late.  I guess it's a totally different tote.  Anyway, it was fun constructing it, I hadn't made a box like tote, so it was a good experience and I had a lot of fun quilting it!  I have leftover quilted fabric, so she needs to tell me what else she wants made from it (hint, hint).

Below is a photo she sent me after she filled it! Can you spot the sweet little bunny she knitted? She is too clever and talented!  Happy Quilting!

Fabric Memory Game

Wow, it has been awhile since I've posted - Blogger has completely changed!  I have alot to show, but I won't do it all at once, too long of a post.  Most of my family has been under the weather the last few weeks and now I've got bronchitis pretty bad. Case in point, I haven't sewn with either long arm or regular machine in 9 days! The photos are of a sweet little project for my great nephew Gus, a little Easter surprise, as it was tucked in a cute egg.  My niece had "pinned" a similar idea on pinterest, beautiful, but very complicated with wool framing which seemed time consuming, so I wanted to try a simpler version.

I fussy cut 2 rectangles from some fabulous fun fabric scraps that one of my "Quilting Sisters" gave me, used red flannel for the back, placed RST, batting on top, stitched a tight scant 1/4 round with just enough to turn, turned right side out and zigzagged (rather haphazardly) around as a top stitch.  It was fun, and pretty easy.  Trying to find nearly identical scraps to cut took the longest amount of time!  Immediately after I was done I thought of perhaps an even easier way to do it but haven't had the time, then didn't feel up to it.  I'll have to try that another day.  Happy quilting!

Happy (Belated) Easter!

I am a bit behind on my posting and photos, but I thought I would post this one first since it has to do with Easter and that is all behind us now, isn't it?  I'll never remember to post this before Easter next year and I don't want to forget this idea. For my DD's birthday last year, she and I made these decorations in July using balloons, yarn and white glue.

 It does take awhile to make them and so we made a few, then allowed them to hang and dry, then the next day, make a few more, allow them to hang and so on.  Well in the midst of all that, our weather became hotter and more humid and that was when our air conditioning unit wasn't working properly and we had the drama of the dishonest repairman.  As it grew more humid they wouldn't dry or stiffen and the final two actually distorted after we popped the balloons. So we finally stopped making them.

We couldn't bear to throw the misshapen ones out and eventually they ended up under our eves.(storage) Fast forward to Sunday morning (this morning) when I realized that I needed baskets for my teen's Easter candy!  The last couple of years I have tried to use containers that they could use for storage in their rooms after Easter as "baskets" for their sweets, but this year I've been so busy and the holiday kind of just crept up on me. Truth is, I didn't give it a second thought until that very moment. I went to the storage area and as I looked in, my eyes were drawn to the bright colors and the idea just popped into my head!  I took them out, cut off the strings tying them together and then just pushed them into themselves!  They actually look more like nests than baskets, but think of all the things you could do with them! If you were to make these specifically for nests or baskets, I would have smaller spacing between the yarn (use more yarn) I had to put the jelly beans in baggies or some would have fallen out!  The larger nests were made from the larger, better shaped decorations, the small nests from the two most misshapen decorations.  I guess this is another example of recycling or re purposing?  So glad we didn't throw them away!  So - for today it's Happy Crafting!

Couch Pillows not Couch Potatoes !

As I finish projects and WISPs, I am also trying to use up the leftover fabric from those projects.  Typically the fabric goes back in to the container/bag/basket/tote from whence it came, collecting dust and wasting space until I come across it again.  Then I usually say, wow, I really should do something with this . . . and nothing happens.  This time I sewed the tops of these pillows right after completing the quilt in January, but I had a
few other irons in the fire that were getting pretty hot, so to speak, that needed tending to first.  Once those irons cooled, I found a piece of backing in my stash that was big enough to quilt them both on the long arm at the same time, I quilted the pillow backs on my regular machine (just straight lines) and stuffed them with cut up bits and scraps (just like the pet pillows I made last year).   Actually, only one pillow is on the couch, the other one is on a chair, and they are both in the same room as the wall hanging, which we moved from the family room to the living room. STILL have fabric left over, but not as much and I will do one smallish wallhanging to fullfill a requirement from my sewing bee that is due in May.  I guess I better start planning!  Happy Quilting !!