Pretty Pouch Panels

My Christmas sewing is off to a good start with some Wide-Open Pouches, by Noodlehead Designs, in the works. I found a bunch of Disney fabrics at JoAnn’s Fabrics to use as the bottom section of the pouch exteriors. I’m also using a free pattern off of Craftsy – Rainbow Rays – for the top part of the pouches. I’m attempting to pull colors off the Disney prints to use in the top section. Matching up those fabrics is actually my favorite part.I want to quilt the panels but I was out of Fusible fleece so I’ve only got the exteriors done but they look amazing and my next step (after quilting) is to find matching zippers from my stash.I picked up some Disney movie poster fabric to use as the interiors and I’m hoping to get them all together pretty soon and mark them off the list.

Christmas sewing is my favorite type of sewing. How about you?

I have lots of projects in the works and in my head and hope I can a few of them done in the next 2 months. Happy Sewing!

Waves of Progress

I’ve been making a little progress on the Wavelength quilt – which is designed by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced. I am putting this together in sections/rows.  So I’m cutting the fabric and piecing by row then I’m setting them out to see if I like the placement of the colors before I sew them together.  (I am removing the paper before I sew the squares to each other.) I was able to complete this medium teal row and am moving on to a lighter teal for the next one.    I only have 3 more rows left to complete which equates to 53 paper-pieced squares to finish.  I’ve already cut and prepped the papers for the next row.

Each row brings a new dimension to this quilt and it’s fabulousness just shines through.  And I’m really enjoying how pretty my scrap basket is becoming.  I will definitely have to figure out something super cool to do with these scraps.  Suggestions??

Stash Enhancement:

It is very difficult for me to resist a Craftsy sale, especially when they have one of their big, huge ones.  This last weekend was no exception.  My favorite item that caused a decrease in my checkbook balance was a quilt kit that used some Cotton & Steel fabric.  The kit came with 15 fat quarters and 5 yds of fabric (background and binding) and the pattern shown above for under $50!!  You can get that kit here.  (It was still on sale as of the date of this post.). I may not use that pattern as is but I couldn’t pass up the deal on the fabric.  This is not the first time I have bought a kit just for the fabric.  So don’t just glance over the kit section. You may actually find something awesome!  Like this super awesome fabric!  I’m very happy with this purchase. I’m about to start the Twisted Blossom quilt-along with Jenny of Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I already have the Quick Curve Ruler and I picked up the Metro Twist pattern so I am all ready to go and these C&S prints may just be perfect for it.  Now that I think about it – the Metro Twist pattern may be just the thing for my Text Me Mini Quilt Swap quilt.  Hmmm…

A Solid Start

A friend of mine from high school was the first of our group to have children and her eldest daughter will be graduating from high school this month.  Now, that cannot be true because we met in high school so there is no way that she has a child that is older than we were when we met.  Crazy!

Look at this child.  She is not graduating high school – she’s just a darling little girl…. 

What a sweetheart!

 Well, I am making that child a Sew Together Bag to use as she embarks on her adult life.  She wants to audition to be Belle on Disney Cruise Lines and do that for a little while.  She’d be great and I hope she is able to accomplish that goal.  She is still determining what she wants to do after graduation and I hope she finds something she loves and goes for it with all her heart.

The fabric pull for her bag looked like this: Her completed bag looks like this:    I love the ‘Be Happy’ fussy cut appliqué on the front.  That is exactly what I wish for her future.

I lined one of the pockets with laminated cotton so she can use it for make-up if she chooses.   The zipper pull was included with my order of zippers from Zip-It.  If you need zippers you need to order from this shop.  The service is fast, the selection is broad, the prices are fabulous, and they have always included a color card and zipper pull with every order I’ve received.  That zipper pull was absolutely perfect for this bag.  

I have another Sew Together Bag in the works.  My future sister-in-law is moving to the states from the UK and I have the exterior of her bag ready.  I think the minimalist approach of this exterior will be perfect for her.  I hope she’ll love it!

Stash Enhancement – the Solid Edition:

I’m trying to add some solids to my repertoire because I do love how they look in quilts that I have seen.  I tend to lean toward blenders or tone-on-tone fabrics when I need to add some color to my designs.  (Ex: the gray fabric pictured above.  😊). Lately, anytime I am in JoAnn Fabrics I will take a look through the remnant bin and have been coming across some Kona Solids.  The remnants are always 50% off the current sale price of that item so it is quite the deal.  I now have these three in my stash:  Pool, Buttercup Yellow, and Tangerine.  They are such beautiful and vibrant colors.  All are just a bit under a full yard. 

I have also added a few Kona Solids from a recent Craftsy sale.  They are sold as backing fabrics for some kits they were selling.  So, I do not know the actual color name.  The lighter one is called ‘Breakers’ and no color name is listed for the darker teal.  All I know is that I find these colors very appealing and I had to have them!  Also during that sale, I ordered a Free Spirit assorted fat quarter box.  About a third of the box was these very muted florals that I may never use (all were from the same line as well), a third included some great modern prints that I will show in another post, and a third included some solids.  All but the two blue ones came from that box.  It’s a nice array of colors.  The two blue ones came from a Scrap pack that I got at The Intrepid Thread when I visited a few weeks back.  (I didn’t see them on the website so the scrap packs might just be available in store.)  Now I need to decide how I want to start incorporating these solids into my quilts or other projects.  This will be a challenge for me but I feel that as I get more confident with my quilting then I will feel more comfortable adding these solids in.  

Any suggestions on how I can get started with that?

Sewing with Friends

While visiting friends I was able to get a tiny bit of sewing in.  First, I was able to give the joy of sewing to a 6 year old.  She is losing her first teeth and we needed to make a tooth fairy pouch to hang on her bedroom door.  She chose the fabric from what she found during our trip to The Intrepid Thread.  It is a sweet purple flower pattern called Hothouse Flowers – Scattered Violetes in Lavender.  We grabbed some mini charm squares that we had on hand and made a pocket for the front of the bag.  This little one sewed the pocket together and attached it to the purple fabric. 

  She did a fabulous job!

After her bedtime, I was able to finish the bag up and added a few embellishments and some ribbon for hanging. 

 The next day, her mom and I put together an Hour Basket but in a smaller size to use as a thread catcher.  It turned out to be the perfect size for that task.

That tree fabric was in the remnant bin at the Intrepid Thread and looks so great in this project.

Stash Enhancement:

Also, while I was away I placed an order with Craftsy during their fabric blowout sale and came home to a few very well priced bundles of goodness. 

 British Invasion by Riley Blake designs – 14 piece bundle.  I really love those plaids.  My future sister-in-law will be moving to the states from the UK and I wanted to make her a little something.  I’m not sure what that will be but I only have a month or so to get it together before the wedding. 

 Hipster Pop and Crimp -10pc bundle.  These are just great blenders and I’m sure will get used in many different projects. 

 Lazy Day by Riley Blake – 12pc bundle.  Hot air balloons, great blenders, cherries, and flowers!  These bundles were only 10 to 15 U.S. dollars each.  I just couldn’t pass up that great of a deal.

I also got this grouping of Chevrons in the Ruby colorway. Each color is 1 yard of fabric and was also at a super sweet sale price!

 I’ve got a lot of plans up my sleeve for the next few months and cannot wait to share them all with you.

I saw this on Instagram this week and felt it very appropriate for all of my crafting friends.😊

  

Snow Days, Sew Days

My area of the US does not get a lot of snowy winter weather. However, we do get our share of ice from time to time. This year we have gotten both and within short periods of time. We are also not equipped to handle the ice accumulation on the roads. There are few salt trucks and limited amounts of brine to prep the roads. So, only the main streets are taken care of. What all this means is that any ice or freezing rain cause the city to basically shut down. Sleet and ice a few weeks back resulted in the table runner I showed in my previous post. This last week we had a heavy day of freezing rain followed by snow and the next day where the melted snow froze over on the roads. I will freely admit that I choose not to drive on the icy roads so I stayed home both days. The first day consisted of conference calls and web meetings for work.
However, some happy mail arrived the day before so I was able to stare at my pretty new fabrics while following along with the WebEx. My boxful came in from Craftsy during one of their big sales.

A fat quarter bundle of Fun and Games by Riley Blake Designs. This is my favorite print in the bunch but they are all so much fun. There’s dart boards, a maze, and a bunch of great blenders.

The box also contained a jelly roll (2.5 in width-of-fabric strips) of Ready, Set, Go manufactured by Robert Kaufman.

The colors are these bright primary hues and I think it’s a super cute fabric. Some of the blender prints are great just on their own. I had this idea for a jelly roll quilt but I put it on my design door and felt that is was way too busy.

But how cute is this selvedge section showing the colors?

I just love those little trucks! After a little redesign I ended up with this:

I’ll figure out what to do with it later on.

I ended up on Friday with a snow drift on my back patio. It created the perfect backdrop for the last item in the box.

A Kona Solids ROYGBIV fat quarter bundle. I just could not resist placing that beauty on the untampered snow for it’s photo shoot. It’s my favorite picture of that day. I’m trying to break out of my old patterns and work with solids more.

That afternoon found me shoveling ice off the front walkway so I wouldn’t fall on my behind when I ventured out on Saturday. I hope that was Mother Nature’s last hurrah that allows Spring to finally show up.

Witches and Rainbows

There was an incident with the Halloween quilt that I made for my mother last year.

Her dogs pulled it off the back of the couch and ate off one corner of it. I was able to perform surgery and fix it but I have a feeling that she will not be putting it out this year. So, I decided to make her a Halloween wall hanging. I found this super cute Witches Hat foundation paper piecing pattern on Craftsy and knew that it would be perfect and match the rest of her decorations. I pulled a selection of purples, blacks, oranges, yellows, and greens. For the background, I decided on the bird print I used for my Birds and the Bees quilt.

The black birds make it look a little sinister and creepy when paired with Halloween colors.
Once it was pieced and basted, I was trying to decide how to quilt it and decided that I would try out free-motion quilting on a real-life project. I figure that Mom will love it no matter how the quilting looks and she will be proud that I even tried. She knows it is one of the skills I want to learn this year. It’s a little wonky but passable.

It looks like a small problem with my speed through the curves.

I’ll just have to practice some more and get that hand/foot speed control more consistent. I made a scrappy binding and finished this one up.

She’s going to love it!!

I’m loving these small projects so much that I started another one. I downloaded a pattern that had 4 Friendship Stars and some bar blocks. I decided a rainbow would be perfect for it if I just added 3 more stars. Time to sort my scraps:

How pretty does that all look? Just having them sorted like that makes me smile. I’m putting this together by color section starting with red. For the bar blocks I will be using all scraps by sewing them into slabs and cutting the strips I need for each section. How sunny and gorgeous is this yellow slab?

I pulled 3 of my coveted text prints to use as a scrappy background. Hello Architextures, Word Search, and Sudoku.

I’m only through 3 colors right now but I really like how it’s coming together.

Sewcation!

I now consider this last week my ‘sewcation.’ I had a week off from work and took the time to get a lot of sewing done! I tackled the Mini Medallion QAL , my Kitty Mini, my IG Mini Swap quilt, some swap goodies, and I started the Craftsy September Workshop quilt, which is being taught by Amy Gibson.

Mini Medallion QAL:
The third border was posted here recently. Small snowball blocks were constructed.

Then they were added to the Medallion Center:

By the way – I love how I accidentally, um, purposefully matched up this road:

Kitty Mini Quilt Swap:
I quilted my kitty mini and got it bound. It is ready to send off to my partner. I had a little kitty help quilting it but the group doesn’t mind cat hair and most on Instagram wanted me to send the cat…

I had the perfect fabric in my stash for the binding. (Right about now, my best friend is saying ‘Of course you did!’ I used to do the same thing with clothing. It drove her crazy….). Anyway, it really brings out all the colors on the quilt and I love it. All these minis are helping me practice my binding technique and I believe it is getting better.

I also made a notepad holder for 5×8 notepads using this tutorial to send along with the quilt as one of the goodies. I cross-stitched the cat and then framed it a little wonky-like on the cover of the notepad holder.

IG Mini Swap quilt:
I wanted to play with my new Quick Curve Ruler and pulled out some fabric from my stash that might work for this mini. I kind of made it up as I went along. Four curved pieces and some corner squares left me with an opening in the middle of the quilt. I’d been drooling over the flying geese being made by @jeliquilts on Instagram and thought that the circular geese pattern would work out perfectly. So, to Craftsy I went to purchase her Juicy Goosey pattern. It worked superbly! I’m so happy with it.

I added one more border outside the curved area and this top is done! I’m so ahead of the game, which is normally unlike me. I tend to like the pressure of a deadline and this one doesn’t have to ship until December. It’s so cool, I may just keep it. We’ll see.

Swap Goodies:
I used some Horizon Mini Charm squares to put together some of the Koozies that Fat Quarter Shop featured recently.

I’m not a coffee drinker but they worked well on my regular glasses as well. I have a few that sweat quite a bit and the Koozie really helped catch that liquid without becoming drenched. I will have to make a bunch more for Christmas gifts. I love that they can be completely personalized.

Craftsy September Quilting Workshop:
This is the fabric included in the Amy Gibson workshop at Craftsy:

Birch Farm by Joel Dewberry. The second photo shows my favorites of the bunch. The kit also included a few yards of white – which is so out of my comfort zone but it will be gorgeous. I got all my cutting done and started piecing some of the blocks.

My sewcation is almost over and I’m sad about that but I got a lot accomplished, and without any new fabric purchases, and hope I stay on this quilty productivity path that I am currently on.

Stash Build – July

That dang Craftsy sale gets me every time. I gave in and ordered another Free Spirit Fat Quarter bundle box. It’s such a beautiful sight to see when you get that box open and remove the plastic.

This one had a few repeats from previous boxes. There was more Chicopee by Denise Schmidt:

Which was being admired by the quality control engineer. And more Enchanted by Kathy Davis:

But then there were these pretties:

Wildflower by Kathy Davis. I love both of these prints. The trees are Pretty Little Things and there is no selvedge for the orange one or the butterfly print.
One of my local quilt shops had a clearance sale with 40 to 70% off selected yardage. I grabbed this print – Rainforest Buzz – for less than $4 a yard. I think it will make a great blender.

I also stopped at a local cross-stitch store and picked up these patterns. I may have a little something up my sleeve…

The only sewing I did this week was on this:

The fake leather cover of my bible was toast so I took some leftover Boho mini charms and some of the Polka Dot Stitches fabric that I got last week and went to work. They blend together so well!

I also added a few more ribbons for page markers in the book binding space. I think it turned out great and was exactly what I had in my head!

Paper Piecing Tips

I’ve been working on a Paper Piecing Pattern and thought I would share some of the tips I use or have come across. These are a few paper pieced blocks that helped hone my skills.

First up – Paper!

I use copy paper. My first pieces came from a ream that was purchased for a teenager’s school project. He needed certain colors and a ream full of those colors is what I bought. He used about 5 sheets of paper and I had a full ream left in some really pretty colors that I would not ever use for anything. Instead of using my good copy paper, or buying foundation piecing paper, I decided to use this ream while learning this technique. It’s 24# so it is actually pretty thick.

I have also used 20# that I got during the Back to School sales that are happening right now and that is definitely a thinner stock and tears a bit easier that the 24#. You want the paper to tear pretty easily since it is attached to your stitches. The easier it tears the less your stitches get pulled during the removal of the paper. If you will be doing a lot of paper piecing and like to use copy paper then I would suggest stocking up during these Back to School sales on the cheaper copy paper that is thinner and tears easier.

Now you have to prep the paper for easy removal later. There are a number of ways to do this. You can score the lines by sewing with an empty needle on the paper itself, basically puncturing it to create the little holes prior to actual sewing. I hate to do the same thing twice so I just score my lines by folding it on the edge of one of my rulers and then pressing the line with my fingernail to secure the fold.

A wavelength pattern piece with folds:

Second – attaching that first piece of fabric.

When I first learned paper piecing, I learned to pin that first piece to section 1 and that worked pretty well to keep that piece from sliding around. But, recently I came to possess a Sewline Glue Pen and I love it for paper piecing! Just a small streak on the paper and attach it to that first piece of fabric to keep it pretty secure.

It’s also repositionable, which I really like, and keeps the fabric nice and flat. It goes on blue but dries clear and the fabric is easily removed from the paper after stitching is complete.

Third – sewing – this is really where the precision comes into play.

If you get off of that sew line then it throws the precision off. I will admit, that even as a Virgo, I am not that precise in my assembly. This type of piecing helps me overcome the lack of skill I have sewing a straight line or keeping my points nice and pointy. Now, that only works if I can stay on that sewing line. Take piece 2 and lay it right sides together, with the seam allowances aligned, on piece 1. Flip the entire unit over to prepare for sewing on that line.

The stitch length should be smaller than what you would use for normal piecing. This helps later on when removing the paper from the fabric. Sew on the line per the numerical order written on the pattern. I backstitch at the beginning and end of the line to secure the stitches. This is especially important when attaching smaller segments.

Once the first piece is attached to the pattern, fold the paper on the line between piece 2 and 3 and trim with a ¼” seam allowance.

I trim with a rotary cutter that I use exclusively for paper piecing as I don’t want to take the chance on dulling all of my rotary cutting blades. Line up the 3^rd piece of fabric with the seam allowance and then flip the unit over and sew on the line between 2 and 3 on the paper. Fold where piece 3 attaches and trim with a ¼” seam allowance and continue until all pieces in that section are attached.

Trim around the whole section using the ¼ inch seam allowance by lining up the ¼ inch marker of the ruler on the outer line of the block section.

Also trim those strangely shaped points on the end of some of the patterns.

This will help line up the sections when piecing them together later.

I remove my paper prior to piecing all the sections together. I find it more difficult to remove them after the sections were joined to each other. When removing the paper be sure to also hold on to those first stitches so they don’t stretch or pull out. I make a small tear on the end, hold those first stitches, and remove that section.

When sewing any pieced sections together make sure to match up those little end pieces. It will help with the accuracy of your piecing.

I love how paper piecing blocks look and I enjoy the process of putting them together. It does, however, create quite a bit of trash.

Here’s a peek of my Crop Duster pattern that I hope to post soon.

I’m loving that section where all my points line up! And I am falling more and more in love with this fabric as I piece it all together. The main print is called Aubrey and it’s so pretty.

Sunday Stash – May

Well – I gave in once again to a big Craftsy sale. They had that Free Spirit Fat Quarter Box at a great price and I snagged one up.

There was a wonderful selection of Chicopee in this one:

Along with London:

Pretty Little Things:

And a few other randoms:

I ran out of the green print from In my Room by Jenean Morrison and was able to locate it (and a few more prints) at Fabric Fly:

Pink Castle Fabrics had some great blenders and stash bundles that I just had to have:

They also sent a Cotton + Steel Trading card. I love the sentiment on this one!

That should do it for this week.

Be sure to click over and sign up to be in the running to receive the Traveling Stash Box by Friday June 6th. I’ll be doing the drawing that night. Here’s what I added to the box. It’s all packed up and ready to head to it’s new temporary home. 🙂