Lunch Bag Link

At the last quilt retreat I was at, several of us made Ayumi's lunch bag . 

Ayumi, blogs at The Pink Penguin.  She is a favorite of mine.  So creative!  She has other awesome tutorials that you should check out.   Monica from the Happy Zombie made some and did a fun post about it.  Check her's out here.

 They also make great small knitting bags.

This is my latest one!   Love the sheep fabric.  (My friend had made this with some red sheep fabric.)

I'm thinking about making some with cute feature fabric, as lunch bags for the girl that I work with.

Hope this inspires you to give this tutorial a try.

Pillows

This is a Buttermilk Basin Embroidery that I made a pillow out of for my couch. It sits opposite the one I did last year. Hope to someday have enough pillow covers to update the living room for each Season...

This Christmas pillow is from the latest Art to Heart Book, Jingle All The Way. I don't have the peppermint buttons on it yet and not really sure I'm going to. This pattern would be so great done up with photos instead of solid blocks and different words on the front....a memory pillow, baby pillow, engagement or wedding pillow with LOVE on it......soooo many possibilities!

I've been wanting to try my hand at putting a zipper on the back of my pillow. It's hard to see in this picture (sorry), but I'm lifting up the flap hiding the zipper. Erin at House on Hill Road did a 17 minute video that walked me right through it. I watched for a few minutes, paused and did what she said - step by step-It was easy and very fun. No more lap over the backs for me. It takes less fabric to cover a back this way.

Catching Up

Been so busy making projects, that I've gotten way behind on posting! These are Terry Atkinson's Zippy Strippy bags. LOVE them! Great way to use up scraps when finishing up a project. Makes nice little gifts.

This is a cowl made from Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande. It takes one skein. Here is a free similar pattern.

I Heart Cuddle

I love making gifts for friends and family. These products make some super nice gifts! I've been busy making samples for my local quilt shop.

Cuddle Critters are very plush stuffed animals that come with even softer fabrics to make a small blanket to go with the toy.
This kit was originally meant to be made by cutting the Critter in half, but there is a free non-surgical pattern available also. Each pattern has a website link that helps with tips for working with the fabric. An easy project especially for a teen or someone just getting back into sewing.

When working with this plush fabric it helps to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance, ball point needle #90 and 3 on stitch length.

Hug!

Being a labor nurse, I LOVE this quick little project/gift. Sooooo soft.You can buy pre-packaged hugs or use your own combo of Shannon Fabrics to create a Hug

Fall Fun

A classmate of my daughter, took these wonderful pictures of her. Love the site they chose.

I've been working on some pillows for Fall. These are an anniversary present for my oldest daughter who got married last year.

This pillow is from the Art to Heart Book - Bittersweet

I used templates in the Bittersweet book to make this Fall Scrappy Pillow Inspired by this post.
When I get my Holiday sewing done, I'd like to make a set of these for my house too.

For those of you with small children or grandkids around. I found this post from Family Fun for

more fun with Fall Leaves.

New Fall Purse

I've made four or five of these now. Love this purse! The picture doesn't do the size justice. This is the larger one (there are two different patterns and handle sizes). Once you purchase the handles, you can make all kinds of bags to attach. The larger purse is made from 3 fat quarters. The smaller one, from 2.

Back At It!

I've been checking in on blogs, but not blogging much myself lately. Trying to do better...
Recently went on a WONDERFUL quilt retreat. These pics were taken with my I phone.
Rapid River is my favortie quilt retreat site. Twelve of us had a great time.

Under those lights, are three sets of sliding glass doors that look out on a river. (Beautiful)

We ate really well too! Such a big, comfortable setting to visit and be creative!

One of the things I did work on (and am totally hooked on right now) is the This & That pattern-Abby's Treasure Box. Made as directed, it is a tiny cosmetic (whatever) bag. The great thing about this bag is that it only takes 12 charm squares and some extra fabric for the lining. By cutting the same number of charms 1/2" bigger than directed it makes a bag size that I personally finde more usuable and yet still only uses the 12 charms! Great way to use up those left over charms. Would make great little gifts (especially filled with a few "treasures").

(More quilt retreat projects to follow)

On The Edge

Another set of pillowcases completed. I LOVE this fabric! I was going to do a wider crochet edge, but the simplicity of the shell made them look the best.

Favorite Friday Blog Finds

Check out the update portion of this post. It shows a neat way to make pinwheels from two charms. I played with it with several 5" charms. It worked great. I was making a dog bed for a friend's tea cup chiwawa....Tank! It has a little place that he can crawl into to sleep if he wants.

I think Tank likes his new little bed. It has a zipper so it can come off for washings.

By using this same method of making pinwheels, you could make a zig zag quilt top easier too.

A very cool dragonfly craft.

Blueberry Moon has several posts (linking to each other) with pattern templates you can print to make adorable doll outfits. She has a great doll quilt pattern here.

This Mama Makes Stuff has a printable pattern and instructions for making cute little bloomers for a real baby 0-3months.

Early Bird

These could be done up in Holiday fabric or just colors to match a kitchen. This tutorial can be found at Sew4home


This tutorial is from SewMamaSew

Both were easy and fun to make up. I also like the one from Pleasant home.

Early Bird

This little bag could be a lunch bag for a co-worker, or a knitting bag for a friend. The pattern is free at All People Quilt 1/2 yard of exterior and lining makes this bag. I did use a fusable fleece lining.

The lining even has small pockets. Fun and fast to make up.

One Flower Wednesday

My youngest daughter wants this quilt when completed.....More insentive to keep working on it. One flower at a time.

Early Bird

The Pink Penguin, did a wonderful tutorial on making these fabric baskets. This one with the Christmas fabrics, is the size of the one in her tutorial.

I enjoyed it so much, that I played around with size and ended up with these other two. The top one will most likely go to a neighbor with popcorn, candy and movie gift certificate for Christmas.

I envision the other two with bath products or manicure items as a gifty for a friend. Would be cute with a small knitting project (a skein of sock yarn and size 2 needles). So many potentials.

My favorite size is the middle one. For this one, I cut fabric:

After piecing some fabric together I cut two 3.25" x 12", the onsnaburg, that I used for the base, was cut 8 x 12. The small handles are essentially the same size. It's a very fun way to use scraps.

One Flower Wednesday

I've been a little distracted by other projects this week. One new flower is done, but I didn't quite get the second round on last weeks flower yet today. (My goal, to do one new one and a second round on an old one each week.) So here is where I am as of this moment....

Yesterday, before work I sewed the pre-cut strips together then cut them and resewed to make the four patches for my Quilts for Kids Quilt.

The printed instructions you see in the background can be found here. Hope to get the blocks sewn together today.

Catching Up

I was without a camera for the last couple of days....My Wednesday flowers are done for last week...I missed that post. Two "garden" post this week for ya.

I have spent the last several days in my sewing room working on small projects. I now have WEEKS worth of Early Bird projects to share on Thursdays. There are so many unfinished projects taking up space in my sewing room ..... (You know exactly what I mean...) Anyway, since I was showing you flowers today, I thought I'd share this pillowcase. The next time I make this, I'm taking 2" off the original pattern. My pillows will fit into the cuff much better that way.
The original post with step by step instructions can be found here. I would make the top 20x28" and the bottom 20x36" the next time. (One yard would make a pillow case this way and not be so over generous in size. It would, of course, depend on the size of pillow you use.) Also, I think I'm going to fold down the top edge twice to cover the raw edges. It's a super easy, elegant pillowcase.

This one is going to have a pink crocheted edge. The bottom part of the pillow is done in a coordinating fabric. I purchased this 1 yard cut of floral at the Chicago Quilt Show. Love it!

One Flower Wednesday

This is my newest single bloom......6 made now.....66 more to go! Thanks for keeping me inspired.

Third double bloom.....69 more of these beauties...... :) I think I've decided on white for the joining block.

Speaking of flowers.... Just completed this flower quilt. Quite awhile back, I made a quilts for kids quilt with fabric they sent me. I completed this one from fabrics I purchased . The purple fabric is the backing. It's off to the quilter to work her magic now. I recently received a new kit from them so hope to send two back this time.

You can send for your free kit here.

One Flower Wednesday

One Flower Wednesday

I put a second round on my first flower, made a new one for last week and one for this week. Getting caught up. My plan is to put a scound round on the previous weeks flower and make a new flower each week. This is a great Summer sewing project. So portable!

Karen, of Journey of a Quilter said there are now 76 gardeners. She is posting a sign up sheet so we can visit the blogs that have posted about One Flower Wednesday progress.

Monday Show and Tell

This simple baby blanket is 28" square. Just the right size for a stroller or car seat. Pre packaged blanket binding made this a very easty project. One side is a Minky type material, the other is flannel.

I love little knitting projects. And, this one turned out super cute. It's a newborn to 3month size. Yarn and Pattern by Sirdar.

Summerlin

This pattern by Kathryn Ivy is wonderful! It requires very little yarn. I had left over Cotton Ease from another project and have yet enough to make at least one more in this color. Her directions are very clear and easy to follow. Thanks Kathryn! This one is a size 2. The pattern comes in sizes 1-5. I think it is much cuter with a shorter dress attached. This one came just above the knee on the 2 year old I tried it on. For size two I would use 15" of fabric, the width of fabric gathered, with a 1" hem.