~Pillows~

Last year I had the pleasure of testing a pattern called 'Blue Sapphire' by Connie @ Freemotion By the River.  I knew I wanted to make something for my DS and he suggested pillows for his couch.

I didn't have enough of the batiks to make the whole quilt, so pillows it was!

The pattern was very easy to follow and makes such a fun design!

 

I usually make lapped backs, but this time I put in zipper backs with a flap covering the zipper. 

I followed a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. Easy peasy!  (I did change the measurements a bit.)

He came by and picked them up yesterday and loved them. :-) Be sure to check out Connie's patterns on her site~ lots of fun quilts and I just love the batiks!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Circa 2016 progress~

I am following the Temecula Quilt Co's 'Circa 2016' Sew Along.  I'm not sure how long it will last, but I am enjoying the posts to their blog every Friday and have had fun playing along. 

We just had that one little 3 inch block to do last Friday. In the previous weeks we made the center blocks and then assembled our center medallion. I chose that grey-green for my background and I think it makes all my scraps light up.  :-)

What are you working on?  Have you joined a BOM or sew along this year?

Until next time~

Happy stitching!

BOM's and Sew Alongs~

Have you chosen the BOM's and Sew Alongs you intend to follow this year?  There are certainly a lot to choose from!  I decided to take it real slow and just do a few. ;-)

 

The first is the BOM that my friends from the former HGTV message board (we now have a Groupbox home) run every year. If you remember I hosted it a few years ago.  This year Angela and Pat are doing it (no blogs) and they have decided to do a center medallion block and then 10 inch blocks to go around it.  Well,.... it is no secret that I love stars. So I decided instead of doing the block they picked out, I would draw one in EQ7 that included a star. :-)  I have no idea of the name of this block, it is just something I played around with and for all I know it has been 'out there' for years.  I rarely take the easy route. ;-)

Since there is no name for this BOM, and I plan to do mine in all Civil War prints, I am calling it my CW BOM for now. LOL

I think I already showed you the January block~

 

It is called  Alpine Cross from Quilters Cache.

 I did change the color placement a little bit. ;-)

And this is the February block. It is called Goshen Star and is also from Quilters Cache.

 

I am really enjoying playing in my CW stash!  

Tomorrow I will show you my Temecula Quilt Co's Circa 2016 progress.

Until then~

Happy stitchin'!!

 

 

~Last Fall~

I most likely hinted that I was doing a bit of secret sewing. :-)

I can show you now!

I was doing a pattern test for Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness

for her new pattern, the Ultimate Art Organizer.  Looks at all the wonderful tester examples! 

Here is mine~

This was a challenging pattern~ or would be if you haven't done a lot of zippers, but the end result is so worth it!  Sara designs really detailed patterns and gives lots of tips to make things go easier for you, like she is with you through each step.  And when she says to email her if you have questions~ she really means it! She answers her emails. :-)

I decided to change things just a little so that I could use it to hold my crayons.  I use crayons in some hand embroidery projects, so I also made space for a few other embroidery tools too.  And I just love having everything in one case!

Two little zip pockets for my needles packs and a larger slip pocket for pens and markers. :-)

Be sure to check out all the tester examples and  Sara has a link to her shop too.  Do you have an artist in  your family, or wouldn't you love to have this organizer?  ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

A Little Bit of This & That

When I saw the next step in the Circa 2016 sew along by Temecula Quilt Co I think my eyes may have bugged a bit!~ 28 mini blocks!!  But once I got the little scrap box out and started cutting, it went pretty fast.  This is about half my blocks ready to sew. The others are on another design board. (I just love my mini size design boards!!) ;-)

Today I finished up these little mug rugs, before I removed the red thread from my machine. ;-)

The pattern is free from Poorhouse Quilt Designs.  Scroll down the page a bit and it is the first one listed under free patterns.  While you are there, look around a bit. I must confess I got a little involved and ended up spending quite a bit of time looking around! :-o

Now it is back to sewing those little blocks!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

Happy February!

I hope you have a great month of sewing, stitching and quilting!

Circa 2016 anyone?

My friend Barbara (no blog) talked me into doing the Temecula Quilt Co's 2016 project. You can read about it and get the first instructions ~HERE  and the second step is ~HERE

Since I love making mini's I decided to play along.  The first step was easy~ 4 pinwheel blocks. I may re-do one of them. I was digging in my bits and pieces shoebox to make these blocks and the contrast isn't the best in that one. :-/  The next step~ 12 mini 9-patch blocks. Easy? Right?

    There are really 12 there! I just didn't spread them out. ;-)

I used all sorts of little bits of my CW scraps I had been keeping~ I may get the whole box used up with this quilt! :-)  

If you would like to play along, please let me know and I'll stop by your blog and cheer you on!

Last week I told you I did a bit of quilting~

It doesn't really show, does it?

 

This is the back. It won't show in the finished projects. I just loaded an old sheet I had as the bottom layer on the longarm. Funny thing is~ when my DS saw it he thought it would work great for pillows for his couch! That old sheet?! LOL He told me free was always best. LOL ;-)

I am making him pillows, but the rest of the sheet is going to be for the pillow inserts, not the actual pillows. 

I guess that is the news for today. I am off to work on a little Valentine project~ I'll be back to show you soon!

Until then~

Happy stitchin'!!

Where Did January Go?!!

Yikes! I blinked and missed it!! :-o

I have been sewing, just not things I can show you yet.  Patience.... I have to be patient! ;-)

I can show you the tablet case I sent to my Mom.  It is a combination of patterns/ideas and a guess at the measurements. I am so lucky that it works! LOL  I never asked her to actually measure her tablet, because I wanted it to be a surprise. Well the surprise was on me when the first one didn't fit her tablet, but worked great for her camera! ;-) 

And today I got mail!  I ordered some zippers from a place my bag making ladies recommended~ 

WAWAK Sewing Supplies

Have you ever heard of them?  I hadn't but their service was sure speedy!  They had a few specials going with their YKK zippers and I got one of those plastic baggies full of zippers free~ 25 zippers!  Along with a few others in the bigger ziploc bag. I love free!  I averaged less than 30 cents/zip with shipping included!  I ordered mostly 14" zippers because I can always cut them down at this price, but I can't make them grow. ;-) LOL

I did a little quilting last week~ which you can't see, but I'll be back soon to show you another project.

I hope you are keeping warm and stitiching up a storm~ but not another big snowstorm!!  ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!