New Stuff Made

I have been really, really busy sewing up a storm. My mojo is back! Here are a few things I've made. I have wanted to make stockings for forever and finally made some. Now I'm over that. I've made five and one for the guild. So here you go....

A "Winter Swap" I am in. My stipple quilting is improving.

The delivery one (second from right) is for my guild. Donated fabric and I made the stocking. Last month I made two sets of pillowcases and drawstring bags from it.

Table runner for my sister. The quilt is a throw and I love the colors in it. Don't know the recipient yet. I am making another one using men's shirts and I incorporated the label from the shirts into the quilt. It is in the binding process now. Pictures soon.

I made some much needed pillowcases for my bed. My daughter thinks they are garish, but I like them and that's all that matters. I made two of the purple chair bags, one of each daughter. The other cross-stitched strawberries is a gift, and just in case she reads my blog...going to her.

 

So not to bore you off to make some cat pillowcases for my granddaughters.

Letty's Bag and Little Zippered Pouch

This is called "Letty's Bag" a pattern by Robin Gallagher. It is huge! You could carry a small child in there. I used Amy Butler for the outside and Kaffe Fasset on the inside. I am going to put this on my Etsy shop as I have no use for it. Check out SurgarPlumPlace.Etsy.com if you want to purchase.

A gift for someone special going through breast cancer. I found a breast cancer ribbon for the zipper pull. Very easy little bag.

 



At last - this is what happens when you don't pay attention to what kind of soap you are putting in the dishwasher. DUH!! What a mess. Have a great day!

String Quilt

I took two pictures hanging both ways. Love, love how this turned out. Heavy though with backing, batting, foundation of muslin and then the strings on top. I put a gray 2.5 inch strip to break up each row. Trust me when I say, I didn't even put a dent in the string scrap bag.

A little left over screen from the bag in the post below and I made this little bag. I stuffed grocery bags in it so you could see the screen. The inside fabric is witches.

Finished this also this week. My bag for swimming made with orange pet screen.

This is a 2003 kit from Connecting Threads. I donated it to my quild for a raffel yesterday. It was one of those "why did I buy this" items. We all have them.

Back in the sewing room!

 The above quilt was made by my daughter, I furnished the back, had it quilted and binding by mom.

 I made these two Huggies wipes cases. One goes to my hair stylist and the other was sold.

This was a picnic quilt I made for my daughter and was looking for the perfect binding, little ants.

I have been MIA for some time now due to personal problems. It's been a struggle, but I am back to sewing. I am working on a string quilt now and still have a pile of scraps left. Life is back to normal and I am happy again.

I'm Back!!

I can't believe it has almost been a month since I last posted. My two daughters and four grandkids came to visit for three weeks. It was so much fun having noise in the house. The daughters helped me rearrange my house, add stuff and giveaway or sell. I love it now, all me.

Sewing I did while they were here. I made 19 pairs of capris total for the three girls (2 six year old and one three). The other was my six year old grandson. He loved my central vac system and was always vacuuming for me. His other job was using the spider spray outside on the fence. I miss them all we had a great time.

The girls with their black & white seersucker capris. Getting ready

for a little parade we had in our development.

Back in the sewing room....

I finished up two baby boy quilts I started before "the break up" happened. Trying real hard to keep busy. My daughter from Hawaii came in yesterday with her two girls and my other daughter from North Dakota will be here next week with her two. Nice to have a noisy house, they are full of life.
Some photos of the quilts I made for twin boys and a Huggies wipes case.

These are just five inch "boy" fabrics. I straight line quilted both, then washed them. Love how they turned out. Now to get them in the mail to an APO in Japan. The babies are due in July. Just thought it needed something to fill up the blank areas inbetween so I added the inbetween fabric strips.

Trying to Get it Together

Haven't posted in awhile. My significant other has decided he is in love with someone else. I booted him out, but it is kicking my butt. I miss him and in time I will get over it. Try real had not to cry all the time, he is not worth with. We had a 8 1/2 year run and that is a long time and memories to get over. Done with men! There are worse things than being alone. My house is a wreck and I don't care, haven't made the bed in days (never do that) and sleep is here and there. I will survive this and it will get better. I need to get my sewing mojo back, right now I can't concentrate. I left my purse on the top of my car today and drove off. That is how stressed I am. Good thing a nice person found it and managed to leave a note with my neighbor across the courtyard. Here I am blubbering about my situation with her and she tells me she lost her son to a car accident this past Sunday. My problem is nothing compared to her loss. Maybe this happened for a reason makes me think so.

QAYG and Retreat Finishes

 I made a little progress at a quilt retreat in Silver Falls State Park, Oregon. The table runner is from a Thimbleberries kit and the Fruit Ladies is also a kit I bought in Alaska.

The quilt as you go is was started last year and finished up at retreat. I washed it and it turned out so cozy. Working on another one.

XOXO Baby Quilt

This is a pattern by Carolyn Friedlander called XOXO Baby.  I am going to make another. The mommy is expecting twins and does not know the sex of the babies yet. So I made the X's in red and the O's in green. Some of the blocks have a yellow dot background and the other is an alphabet print. Still deciding on the border or not to border.

Camilla Bag

This is a bag I made at my local quilt shop. I am glad I took the class as the instructions were undecidable to me. The instructor gave a lot of tips and ideas in the construction of the bag. Next one will be a little stiffer and probably smaller. This is my finished Camilla Bag.

Little Girls ABU Bag

I made this little bag for my daughter's craft booth sale in June, I think??  She is in Hawaii and they are stationed at the Air Force base there. This bag is part Air Force ABU shirt (from the sleeve) and part home dec pink dots. I have more to make, just waiting on name tapes. There are no military bases here in Oregon, so I must order name tapes. This is one I found from when I lived in Tampa and says Daddy's Girl.

Dish Towels to Tote & New Poop or Deux Bags

I was wondering our local Dollar Tree store and found these dish towels. I don't know what the attraction was, maybe the word soup written all over it. I bought two towels washed and dried them. One came out a little wonky, but I made it work. I cut five inches off the top of each one for the straps. No lining in this, I just used the finished edges, folded down the top two inches, attached the handles and boxed the corners. If you want more information on how I made this, drop me a line. I really like how it turned out, so cute for my trips to the grocery store.

Theses are my Poop or Deux bags I sell on my Etsy site. The poop bags dispense from the front pocket. After you pick up after your dog, just drop it in the bag. You no longer have to walk around with a bag of poop. Also available in my Etsy shop.

Shirt to Pillow

I had this old tired snowman pillow which need to be revived. I have a box of thrift store men's 100% cotton shirts (all washed by the way) ready to be made into a quilt some day. That day has not got here yet (sigh) so I picked out one to cover the pillow. This is sew simple. My pillow was about 16.5 inches so I cut a 17" square from the front and back of the shirt. Sew about a 1/4 at the top and bottom of the button part. Not necessary, but I do it. Unbutton about three buttons so you can insert your pillow later on, now put your squares right side together, sew around each side using a one half inch seam allowance. Turn right side out, press, insert your pillow and you are done. (On a side note, I went around with a zigzag stitch on the wrong side to keep it from fraying.)

More Swap Blocks Made

So far I have made 12 blocks at 12.5 each. Some of the swappers will get two blocks and some only one. This depends on how much fabric I use in the first block. I am enjoying this swap. There are more swaps if you are interested in trying one at www.quiltingboard.com.

Quilting Board Swap

I joined the Boomerang Earth 7.0 quilt block swap on the Quilting Board. There are 17 of us. Each one person sends a fat eight (11x18) of fabric to the other. In return they make a 12.5 inch block for you in the fabric you sent. I am making a blue one for the moderator as well. Mine will be for Quilts of Valor so I sent out red/blue patriotic fabric to each. These are the ones I have made so far.

I finished up this small quilt top for my mother's birthday. We are going to Las Vegas next week to celebrate it. The back is mostly the zebra stripe and I had to add a small amount of the dots to make it work. This quilt measures 40 x 40. Mom has a love of this kind of animal print.

It snowed here in Eugene today.  A lot of snow! My beagle loved it, the schnauzer not so much.

Wonky House Pillow

Finished the wonky house pillow. I really enjoyed making it. I machine quilted each house, around the bird and the grass. I made an insert pillow by pulling the stuffing out of a new Walmart bed pillow. Much cheaper than a bag of fiberfill. I should have put a zipper in the back, but I took the lazy way out and went with a horizontal envelope back. Next time!

Leaving for Oahu tomorrow to visit my daughter and four grandchildren. Her husband is deployed and could use a break. Grandma to the rescue. Will be gone for two weeks - we have some fun stuff planned.

Wall Hanging & Roxy Shoulder Bag

The bag was made from a PDF I bought and downloaded last year. I was looking for the right lining fabric and coincidentally found it in my stash. You can get the pattern here - it is called "Roxy Shoulder Bag".  Very easy to make - I have enough fabric to make another one.

I wanted to make a wall hanging using words. Free pieced from the book Word Play Quilts, I think. Too lazy to get up and look for it. I also made another Three Stooges cell phone case but forgot to take a photo before I sent it off to the customer.

Down With Shingles

I have been down with shingles. Very painful, if you have not had shingles, I suggest you go and get the shot. It doesn't prevent it, but it won't be as bad. I am into week two of this mess and will be so glad when the horrible outbreak is gone around my ribcage to the front. Itches like crazy. I have been working on a little wall quilt and another quilt as you go lap project for me. Hope you all had a nice Valentine Day!!

Quilt As You Go Baby Blues

Close Up of Quilting

I made a baby quilt for a friend of mine who is having a boy. I just used my blues and boy themed fabric. I love making a quilt with this method. I bought three yards for the back so it was all the same and used the same for the front sashing and binding. The pillowcases are for the grandkids in North Dakota for Valentines Day. As always, click on the photos to enlarge them.

Crumb Table Runner & Words on Quilts

What's a crumb runner you ask? I made this using leftovers from the tree skirt I made last year. You had to sew strip sets and then use a template (arch) and cut around that. Lots of fabric not used. So I squared them up, added a strip here and there and made this runner. I quilted it all in leaves, something I would have not done, had I not been following SewCal free motion designs. The design this month was leaves. I am usually a "stipple" quilter. Really happy how it turned out. This not for "anyone" so I was a little more relaxed about quilting it. 

My next project is making words out of fabric. I have attached what I have so far. The saying "Today I Will Choose Joy" I got off of http://lilblueboo.com/. You should check out her site, very inspiring! I need a lot of practice - my letters are huge, about 5.5 inches.

Black and White Chevron Disaster

This started out as a 24" pillow cover. I marked the lines in the black with a light blue quilters pencil, no problems. Then for the white, I used one of those chalk-o things with yellow chalk so I could see the lines.  Well the yellow did not come out. I sprayed water and then resorted to soaking it, still didn't come out. So the quilter in me just sewed new lines with yellow thread.  Still looked bad, so I added yellow to the back and pinned it to the front. It is my disaster piece for 2012. It is going to hide under my TV in the sewing room on the new table I painted.  This is the first time I have ever had a difficult time getting out my quilting lines. I was out of the blue water erase pen, but going to get one soon - those have never failed me.

Free Motion Quilting

I took the free motion challenge sponsored by SewCal, on FaceBook. The first month is a leaf. This is my second attempt, the prior one was a disaster.  I used a variegated blue and yellow King Tut thread, starting in the middle this time and working outwards. Once I relaxed, they actually look like leaves not droopy butts or sad hearts as the first one did.

Desk Paint Job & Dresden Plate

I acquired this desk from my brother-in-law.  He had it for many years.  It used to be a roll-top desk but the wood just fell apart.  I rescued it about six to seven years ago.  It came to me in the dried up condition you see it.  I used a half quart of Kilz on it and then rolled on the orange sherbet color.  I think it still needs something.  So today at WalMart I found a Min Wax stain in a tube.  How great is that?  I added a fancy knob in the front and then added two hooks on the side to hang bags, my tape measure I can never find, and other fun stuff.  The bottom is now useful with the shelf - the basket holds my out of control selvage strips. 

My first finish for 2012, a Dresden plate table topper/mat.  It measures 18" across.  These are very easy and a little holiday scrap buster.