Sunday Sewing

Last night was dinner/sewing/killing zombies night at our place.  My friend picked up a couple of fat quarters with my promise of teaching her how to sew.

They are sooo adorable!  Thank you to Noodleheads's tutorial Lil Cutie Pouches.  I followed it exactly with the exception of additionally sewing along the top edge of the zipper.



She picked the Valorie Wells Nest - Birds in Teal.  Her daughter is in the middle with Michael Miller's Tweet Tweet in Yellow. And mine I split with super-awesome-I'm-so-in-love-with-this-fabric-right-now Michael Miller's Ellie, Love Birds, and Hedgehogs (inside).  This is going to be my extra card case for my purse. It should fit a stack of random cards perfectly.



Interior is:
Top - Michael Miller's Hedgehogs
Middle - I have no idea it was just a FQ with no selvage so does anyone know what this is???
Bottom - Alexander Henry's Fashionista - Mod Dots in Aubergine



They were super quick to make... so quick that I only have one in-process shot:

and then poof they were done!


I have to admit, I did most of the sewing on the top.  We didn't get to zippers on her very first night. :)  But she is a pro iron-er!

We went through the basics of rotary cutting and loading the machine and we used her fat quarter with some hot pink solid to sew up some passport covers for her family.  Here she is on her very first attempt:

A couple seam ripping lessons later and tada!  Passport cover!  Yay!


And I still have NO idea what that fabric is... any clues/ideas would be appreciated!

In the meantime... here is my next project in the works!! I'm super excited about this too - I finally chopped into all of my Andrea Victoria fabric!

Totes, Totes and more Totes....

I love love love these totes! The first one I made I use nearly every day. The following two I made as Christmas gifts!

I followed the same tutorial as last time from Film in the Fridge. However, these are not reversible. As with my first one, I added a skip pocket on one side and a zipper pocket on the other. So technically, it can still be reversed if you want those to show on the outside.

This fabric is Joel Dewberry Ginseng's Orchid in Ivory and it's lined with beige canvas:


And then this is Amy Butler's Wood Fern in Gold (Coreopsis in Spruce on the inside)


This was my test run bag. I am in love with Fashionista Mod Dots! Since I wasn't using home dec fabric.. I interfaced everything. It's... a very stiff bag. I thought the straps might need it, but they really don't. Here's my crappy photo of it:


The inside is all Kona Cerise and the back of the straps is Kona Raisin. I added a pocket to one side:


and a zippered pocket to the other:


This is my other test run bag! There are no pockets so this one is completely reversible. I followed the tutorial exactly on this one:

Amy Butler's Floating Buds in Linen


Amy Butler's Geisha Fans in Camel

Brick Path Quilt for Mom

My mom is always cold, so I wanted to make her a lap sized quilt for easy travel.  I used Amy Butler's Brick Path design and used all yellows, greens, and turquoises in my stash.  It was initially going to be just greens and yellow... but as soon as I found Hedgehog Heaven, I added a bunch of turquoise:

and then I added some Flora & Fauna Hummingbirds in Mustard... this is one of my favorite fabrics too. (I even went back and bought the rest of my local quilt shops supply!)

I chopped it all up...

rearranged it like 100 times...

I had the top already made for some time before I found the perfect back.  This is Amy Butler's floating buds in sage.  I was lucky that it matched perfectly!

I added a little section of teal in the binding for a nice touch...






Finished size: 60"x60"

Framing Fabric

I loved this print so much I decided I wanted to stare at it every day:

Michael Miller's Flora And Fauna - Hummingbirds - Turquoise

Eventually I'll have pictures of both hung up in their new spot...

Free Motion Quilting vs. Me

I love the look of free motion quilting.  I had yet to try it yet just for fear of spending hours with my seam ripper and the TV.  I eventually want to use free motion for my next quilt, so I grabbed some scraps and put together a quick potholder.

I put together one disappearing 9 patch square using 3" squares. Finished pot holder size is about 8.5".

I added a double layer of batting...

Crossed my fingers... and started!


My stitch lengths weren't so hot:


and the back was embarrassing (wtf was I doing):


So... I spent some time with the seam ripper... adjusted the tension... tried again. (repeat more seam ripping and tension adjusting) It started to look a bit better. I still have to work on getting nice rounded corners and losing those 90 degree angles....



My stitch lengths improved a little, but I can still see many flaws:


I prefer not to look closely at the back:



but if you zoom in really close it looks cute!


Tada! Not to shabby for a first try of something that I'm just going to get dirty in the kitchen anyways :)

Kitchen Curtain

I'm not sure why it took me so long to do this.  My old curtains were so boring that I completely forgot about them.  But not any more!

I finally found the perfect fabric for them!  The day it arrived I was so excited that I refused to go to bed before it was done.  It took me less than hour to actually sew it.  I used the old valance as a measurement guide and double folded the edges in using 1/2 inch.  This was so simple.  So very simple.

I played around with the idea to make two vertical panels, but the space between the window and the start of the (ugly) cabinets isn't big enough and would just look weird.

The old curtains were maroon and the desert sun really killed them. They're nearly white in spots on the back in the shape of the blinds.  Here's the before:

Blueberry Cake Bars

Little Birdie Secrets recently posted a recipe for Blueberry Cake Bars that just looked amazing! I still had some Michigan blueberries sitting in my freezer that would be perfect for it. So far all they have been used for are lots of blueberry muffins... so I gave it a shot.

And this is what came out:


They taste just as good as they look!



You can find the recipe on her site here: Blueberry Cake Bar Recipe