Washi Lunch Bag

I made another because I loved the Berry Lunch Bag I made so much! I used the Lunch Bag Tutorial from Pink Penguin.

I am a huge fan of this Washi fabric line by Rashida Coleman Hale.  The colors scream me. :)

As with the other bag, I added a layer of duck cloth and waterproof polyurethane laminate (PUL) on the inside.

To both bags I added stitching on the top and bottom of the rim as well as one just below the bottom rim.  This sealed in the inside raw edges of the top cover as well as looking more finished on the outside.

Happy Sewing!

Tissue Box Cover - In the Hoop

I bought a few embroidery patterns and wanted to try out some applique in the hoop.  I used a simple tissue box cover design and ended up with this:

It's not perfect... but it was a good learning experience!   I appliqued the sides and the top in the hoop as shown below. There's a layer of quilting cotton on the inside, then stabilizer, then flannel, and then the Flea Market Fancy Bouquet in Grey on the outside.  It stands up very well!

Stalling

This cute little guy I made on a whim the other day to applique on an upcoming project.

Do you ever get stuck on just a tiny little detail during a project where all it would take is a small insignificant decision to move forward, but instead obsess over it and let it sit for days/weeks/months?

That is my elephant!

My current quilt project needed something.  Didn't know what... just something.  I could have just finished it and moved on, but instead I let it sit for a few months and then one day I woke up and was staring at the pattern on it and poof! - I made the elephant above.  I got back that motivation to move forward on it!

Now I'm moving into an uncharted territory... quilt applique!  I'm not scared of applique, just confused on the the small decision of whether to sew it on to the quilt before sandwiching it and then quilt around it OR sew it on top after the quilting.  I didn't want to lose the elephant by quilting on it or have a huge empty space in the quilting on the back around the elephant. So the project sat again while I internet searched my options for examples until I was sick and tired of thinking about it.  Repeat the same search for a few more days. I couldn't find examples of exactly what I was looking for.  I found many examples of applique on quilts, but nobody is sharing what the back looks like... so I can only assume it's not pretty.

I ended up sewing the elephant on before sandwiching.  I did a small zigzag around the elephant, ran out of bobbin thread just as I was rounding those tail curves, and now the tail looks like someone has been chewing on it.  Will it be noticeable to others?  Probably not as much as it is to me, but that's all I see when I look at it.  I was so upset that I had a mangled tail that I lost my motivation again.

I have pushed myself to move on this weekend.  I sandwiched it and am currently in the quilting process of free-motioning a boxy meandering stitch.  (inspiration from Oh, Fransson!)

(My Sunday night set up)

I'll share more pictures at a later date.  I don't want to chance the recipient seeing the entire quilt before she gets it!

A Wedding Gift

My uncle was recently reintroduced to his college sweetheart. She looked him up one day out of the blue, they started talking, both happened to be single, and then immediately picked back up where they left off 40 years ago.

So he called me, *ahem* his favorite niece *ahem*, to let me know they were flying out to Vegas to get married.

I woke up one morning with an idea and lots of motivation to make a embroidered pillow as a wedding gift to them. I Facetime'd with my mom all day as she helped me come up with a design and we chatted all day while I sewed. (seriously how awesome is video chat for keeping in contact?)

Since I didn't know what exactly what their future decor will look like, I went with a mix of grays and browns. This is normally a big no-no in my color selection as I never mix blacks with browns EVER. I was a bit concerned when I pulled the fabrics but I just went with it reminding myself that it'll be fine! I also learned I own very few brown prints. My brown phase ended like 6 years ago.

First things first, I embroidered a center block with their name and oh-so-special date. I wanted to use this as a focus. Then I cut out a bunch of triangles and started piecing them together to add a border.

After I had it all assembled I was a bit sad that the middle was too plain. I pushed ahead anyways and finished the pillow. After I finished sewing it all together and adding the brown binding I was still sad about the middle so I finagled it around enough to get the needle back under the center and added a border. Then I picked out the thread and did it again because my dumbass didn't watch close enough and I sewed a small piece of the back to the front.

Here it is before I added the border around the embroidery:

I chose Sublime by  Doohikey Designs in Cream Swirl for the back and added the dark brown border for an accent:

My husband and i were their official chauffeurs for the day. After the wedding at the famous A Little White Chapel, I surprised them with my gift.

I think I even saw my uncle get a bit teary eyed - not that he'd ever admit it. They carried it with them on the plane home and got to tell their story about a 100 more times (my uncle LOVES to talk).

Lined Drawstring Bag

I whipped up a couple of Jeni @ In Color Order's lined drawstring bags (Tutorial) this weekend: 

This was my first one:

I wanted to use these to store my binder clips that I use for sewing but I didn't pay enough attention to the size it would end up being.  This bag turned out to be huge!  Ok not huge... but 7" wide at the base and approx 9" tall.  So "huge" for what I wanted to use it for.

Joel Dewberry Aviary 2 Damask in Granite, top accent Lodge Lattice in Vintage Yellow, lined with Silent Cinema Front Row in Gray.

Here's my second one.  I shrunk it a bit.  I intended the herringbone to be the accent on the top but I still wasn't paying attention to what I was cutting and it ended up on the inside instead.  Although I think it turned out to be a happy accident.

Kumari Garden Tarika in Gem, top accent Kona Red, lined with Joel Dewberry Herringbone in Pond

It turned out to be 4" wide and about 5.5" tall.  It fits these perfectly:

Thank you to Jeni for her making her wonderful tutorial!

Interlocking Stars

I'm jumping on the interlocking stars (aka Sparkle Punch) bandwagon because I love this and this and this and this.  I dropped everything I should have been doing to make this as soon as I saw it. A large quilt is on my someday to-do list, but for right now this will be turned into a pillow: 

I mapped out how much of everything I needed and chopped it all up.  All of the squares are 3" finished. It took a while to square all of the wonky stars up but for my next bigger project I invested in a 3.5" square ruler.

Fabric Key Chains

One of my first sewing projects was making fabric key chains back in Dec 2009.  Mine is still going but it's all frayed and looks like crap.  The brocade fabric was pretty but probably the wrong choice.

I spent forever trying to figure out what fabric I was going to use for my new one (that was the HARDEST part).  I went with the purple Aviary 2 for mine (others are gifts) and while I still love it I gave it away because I now totally want something with that awesome Remix rainbow Stripe.  So.... I'm off to make another :)

Fabric left to right:
Outside: Michael Miller Love Birds, Inside: Remix, Ann Kelle, Stripe in Bright
Outside: Aviary 2 Sparrows in Lilac, Inside: Aviary 2 Lodge Lattice in Lilac
Outside and Inside: Andrea Victoria Black Damask

Fabric Key Chain tutorial is here.  I add one inch to the fabric cut length (14" instead of 13") so it is easier to put on my wrist.

Silent Cinema New Wave Quilt

I made another new wave quilt! :) I love this pattern and wanted a bit smaller one for the couch.  (My other new wave quilt is here.)  I love the yellow and grays in this fabric line.

I used 10 Silent Cinema fat quarters, Kona Snow for the sashing, and Kona Coal for the top and bottom gray.

The back is Front Row in gray with a strip of Zoetrope in blue outlined by Kona Coal.  I love pieced backs and this is my favorite yet.

Here's a shot at my quilt label made on my embroidery machine.  I completed it in September 2011.  It was my I'm-in-the-middle-of-5-other-projects-so-let-me-pause-everything-and-make-this-for-myself quilt.

I quilted it with an all over meandering pattern... which was quite fun this time since it wasn't as large of a quilt to shove through my machine.

I machine stitch all of my binding on because I suck at hand sewing and it saves me like 52,342 hours.  I use Red Pepper Quilts method which I'm also getting better at with each try.  I'm slowly perfecting my corners, and my sides are already looking great since I bought the stitch-in-the-ditch foot plate for my walking foot. :D

You can find the New Wave quilt pattern on Oh! Fransson's website, designed by the super awesome Elizabeth Hartman.

City Lights Quilt

I really love fall.  This park almost makes me feel like I'm in the middle of it.  Although I'm far from it and you have to really search here to find trees that are changing. :)

This is the City Lights Quilt from the Book City Quilts by Cheri House.  As I was making this and it was spread all over the floor even my husband passed by and commented how much he really liked this one.  (I still need an idea for what to make for him someday!)

The front resembles a sky scraper.  I was inspired to make it for a friend that works downtown Chicago.  When I found the backing fabric I was beyond excited.  It's Timeless Treasure's Airport and it's filled with airplanes, terminals, and casinos!  The recipient designs airports so I couldn't have found a better print!

I finished it up with quilting 1/4" around each 'window' and added black binding.  The entire thing is Kona in more colors than I can remember.

I've been using my embroidery machine for each quilt label. I really love adding this detail:

so very cute!

It really was a wonderful day out when we took these pictures.

Although we had to pick off 100 threads and pieces of grass before we could get some of these:

And here it is in it's new home.... which it appears it has already been claimed:  :)

LVMGQ Block Swap - Love Quilt

Today is Nevada Day! (We have our own state holiday!) With my free time, I finished three Love Blocks for Zany Quilter.   This was my first block swap ever passed to me.  I unfortunately didn't participate and make my own blocks because A. I missed a few meetings this summer due to vacations, B. I couldn't decide on a block, and C. I was scared.  But I will figure out something and participate in the next one coming up in January.

(I didn't realize until I was halfway through the O's that I screwed up the sew order of two of them. I hope you don't mind?!  It's still an O!)

Here's the package that I got.  Super organized!

Here's my final mess I made:

I love these piles

Check one project off of my list!

I need a new camera.  My iphone takes better quality pictures than my regular camera does now.

Aviary 2 Pendant Quilt

Sadly, this is not my quilt.  This quilt was a gift for my best friend's anniversary from her mother who is amazingly crafty and can do anything and everything!   No joke, she crochets blankets from yarn that she wove herself!  If she sits down for a minute, out pops knitted mittens and socks and probably a scarf too... all while making homemade pies and pasties.  :)

She made this amazing Aviary 2 Pendant Quilt and it's too pretty to not share!  With her permission, here are her photos of her quilt in action!

I also have to mention that her bedroom is amazing and I will probably borrow her to decorate my room... or my whole house.   (In case your wondering, the paint is Dolphin Fin by Behr)

even her cat matches:

just kidding... but she is adorable:

More and More Pillowcases

Made these for friends at a "sleepover girls weekend".  I really do love making pillowcases just because they're so happy.  I mean just look at them.  Who wouldn't want to fall asleep on them?

One requested a duplicate of the bottom right Meadowsweet pillowcase because she decided to model her whole bedroom after it. :D

In Progress Quilts

I wanted another new wave quilt that was a bit smaller than my turquoise one AND I had a fabric coupon (not that I needed more fabric) which made me buy 10 prints from the Silent Cinema line.

I used the Fat Cats ruler on this one too, but this time I made it the lap quilt size as on Oh, Fransson!'s site.

I actually finished piecing the whole top and have the back ready to go, but this is the only picture of it I have so far!

And here's my progress on a Sparkling Gemstones quilt using the Alphabet Soup fabric for my friend who is due very very soon.

Chain piecing the jelly roll  (did I mention how much I love my new machine!?)

I also have this top finished, but I cannot show it as she's probably reading this text right now.  (Sorry this is all you get!)