Just For Fun Sewing~

 Have you seen the wall of mini quilts in various blogger's sewing rooms?

Always wanted one of your own? Well, now is your chance!  :-)

Caroline at She Can Sew blog is doing a monthly mini sew along. 

I wanted to make a mini a month last year, but never got started. This sew along is just the kick in the pants I needed! LOL

Here is my January Friendship Star mini~

Now I can hardly wait until February's mini! LOL

Jennie @ Clover and Violet is doing a Flora Supply Case sew along.

She started a couple weeks ago, but it is pretty informal and you can easily catch up.

I am making this for ME!  I always wanted a little zippered case with a calendar

in my purse and this will work perfectly.

I have everything cut for the inside and the interfacings fused down~

now it is time for some fun sewing! :-) 

In between my little bits of fun, I am continuing to work on En Provence~ Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt. I just have a few more hour glass blocks to put together and it will be quilt assembly time. :-) Yay!!

I hope you are taking time for a little fun sewing too!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Block Sewing~

Good morning from a frosty wonderland!

We don't have any snow, but we got the cold and frost, and well, after Christmas I am ready for warmer weather! LOL

I spent this week working on blocks.

I belong to a group of quilters called the 'Sunshine Quilters'. We started on the HGTV forums years ago and now we have a small Groupbox group. We make blocks for each other for charity quilts.  I am trying to get everyone's blocks made early this year as last year I ran out of steam toward the end of the year. ;-)

 These blocks will go into quilts for kids or Project Linus.  This gal makes charity quilts year 'round, and I really admire her for that! When all the blocks come together, the white will be stars. :-)

 These two will go into a wheelchair quilt for a Veteran.  This lady supports her local VA with her quilts~ another very good cause!

This gal is new to our group and requested 18" blocks to be made into NICU quilts for incubators.

I asked for Rail Fence blocks in red, white & blue and hope to do a Veteran quilt too.

I am also sewing along with Pat Sloan's 182 Day Solstice Challenge

I'm not sure if I will make all 25 blocks, or just enough for a twin size quilt.

This will be for my DGS.  The light background has tiny gold dots in it. ;-)

I am headed back to my sewing machine and the Bonnie Hunter mystery blocks.

I got a bit behind, but as long as I keep plugging away I will get there! 

What are you sewing?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

A Little of Everything~

My first pattern test after the holidays was to help Liz @ Moments Designs

update her first pattern. The Up, Up & Away Passport Wallet can be used for more than just a passport!

To celebrate the first birthday of this design, the pattern is on sale on Craftsy until the 23rd of January. 

Liz makes the majority of her bags in faux leathers~ and she has a gorgeous collection! But her patterns are also written so you can use decorator weight fabrics or quilting cottons.  This time I wanted to venture into the faux leathers.  I found a remnant and gave it a try. Unfortunately, the remnant I found did not like my domestic machine!  So don't look very close at my stitching!  I learned a lot of tricks, so hopefully, the next time I venture into faux leathers will be better! ;-)

I also used my embroidery machine to add the buckle embroidery~ the machine loved the FL!

The buckle design came from Urban Threads.

The pattern has three different versions~ pockets on both sides, or two sizes of zip pocket on the right.  I chose to do the largest zip pocket on the right, you can tuck a large cell phone or paperwork behind the pocket. 

All-in-all I am very happy with my passport wallet. :-)

I am still plugging along on the En Provence Mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter.

Almost ready to sew blocks! :-)  I have also been doing a bit of cutting and organizing for the upcoming year of sewing.  I went to Michaels and got some project boxes. I want my projects to be more 'grab & go' when we go out in the motorhome this summer. 

How have you started out the year?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

  

New Year Sewing~

Happy New Year!

Have you been sewing the new year in?

I am doing Bonnie Hunter's  En  Provence Mystery~

But I'm a bit behind. ;-)

I loved the colors she chose this time, and I am glad to see the final reveal. 

I do plan to change something just a bit. 

So far I have a box full of pieces, as well as an ironing board, cutting table, etc. 

You get the idea. ;-) I hope to work on it more today.

I also did a quick  pattern test for a cute little mini backpack~

                                       This is the Lily Mini Backpack from Nancy Stroop Designz
Nancy is an Australian bag maker and is doing a monthly subscription for her patterns. This is the January pattern.  It was a fun sew~ I don't think a beginner would have any problems as she is really good about explaining each step, giving little tips along the way.

I've made a few lists of things I hope to accomplish this year, but not really goals.  

I am better at list making than goal setting. ;-) LOL

Which do you find easier to follow?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Its A Wrap~

A therapeutic rice wrap, that is. :-)

The last gifts I sewed before Christmas were 4 of the therapeutic rice wraps.

I knew if I made one for one person, everyone else would want one. LOL

I decided to base the size on a hand towel because I wanted to make open ended covers for them.

The embroidery designs are from various Anita Goodesign sets.

I used cotton fabric, thread etc for the actual rice bag that you can heat in the microwave.

I just measured to make them slightly longer than the towels, and as wide as a folded towel.  

I did sew channels to help distribute the rice and did this by pressing folds into the tube~ folded in half and then each half in half again. Filled a channel with about 2 cups of rice, pinned it to keep the rice in place, and sewed it closed, closing the end after the last 2 cups of rice was added.

They were a hit! Two got used on Christmas day for sore backs and necks. LOL 

Whew! I feel like I really accomplished a lot of Christmas sewing, but next year? I am starting sooner! ;-)

Until next year~  ;-)

Happy stitchin'!

...and a Little More Sewing~~

Since these gifts have been received and opened, I'll show you them next. ;-)

First this sweet tote from All People Quilt.~

My recipient took this photo and it is so much better than the one I took that I hope she doesn't mind my using it. ;-)  I don't have the name of the pattern at the tip of my fingers, but if anyone wants it, I can look it up. It was fun to make and I think I might need to make one for me now. ;-)  The below photo was pre-quilting. :-)

I also sent out another set of placemats to a friend~

 

No pattern, just using some charm squares.  I did do one fun thing with these~

I used Susie's Magic Binding  Tutorial

It worked great!! :-)  Along with the placemats I sent a hand embroidered dish towel and I think she was tickled to pieces to get something hand done. LOL  This friend loves all things vintage, so I knew the 30's squares would fit well into her kitchen. 

I am finishing up a few things for our family here and will have them under the tree by Sunday. I'll show you those after Christmas. 

Until then~

Happy Stitchin'!

And a very merry Christmas!!

 

..More Christmas Sewing~~

I did get everything I made as gifts mailed out, but I am still sewing.

These things might or might not have been mailed. ;-) LOL

First a set of placemats....

 

I had one of those Moda Scrap Bags of the line 'The Potting Shed' by Holly Taylor.  

These scrap sacks have all the fabrics you would find in a jelly roll, but they are the end cuts~ they aren't 2.5 inches wide and they have the selvages on them.  They are probably only 36 inches long too~ I don't think I ever really measured!  Since I have a long term selvage project in the works, these are perfect! And pretty inexpensive too.  After I cut off the selvages I usually have 1 3/4th's to 2 inches of strip left.  

I didn't use any pattern for these, just sewed strips and played. I didn't take any photos of the backs~ they are just a green print.

Next up, a mini quilt....

 

I really should have photographed this with a ruler next to it. The little stars are 4 inches, making it an 8 inch mini.  Again no pattern.  Just playing with a charm pack of

'Vintage Shirting & Dress Prints' by Barbara J. Eikmeier for Fabri-Quilt. 

And a set of cloth books~

I don't sew & turn cloth books like the directions on the panel tell you to do.

I press interfacing to the pages, use some fancy machine stitches to sew the

pages together and then use my wavy edge or pinking shears to trim.

I wish I had taken closer photos of the fancy stitches~ some were really fun! But,alas,

I finished them, took the photo and got them into the mail.  I'm just lucky hubby asked if I took a photo! ;-) 

I am still sewing a few last minute things as well as working on Bonnie Hunters Mystery Quilt.

Am I crazy? Well, my blog name should answer that one! LOL ;-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!