Happy New Year!

Wow, I'm sort of late to the New Year party but since I haven't written since December it still holds true. By now you're all accustomed to writing 2016 and have Christmas décor put away, right? I'm still finishing the latter, but to be fair, I'm ahead of previous years! I have to have the tree on the street for pick up tomorrow and new to this year - it has to be cut in half! If I was handy with a saw I'd cut it from tip to stump to make two perfect halves, but I don't think that's what they have in mind. Call me 'Amelia Bedelia'!

But we're here for project updates and that's what I've got in store for you. Four very fun things I whipped up in the past weeks that actually got finished and used! Whoa.

The story for the first one is that I at the cutting counter at The Cove to get a selection of fat quarters for my sisters Christmas present. Sarah had gifted me a set of FQ lollipops and I was all gun hoe to duplicate them.

These are the ones I made for Julie. Sarah gave me a set
from a wonderful line called Mon Ami.

Then in one quick instant I heard myself say 'go ahead and give me a half yard, I'm keeping the other FQ.' What???? this right after I had famously vowed to not buy fabric for myself? Well, I rationalized it by stating it's purpose and critical need to the skeptical daughter, 'this is needed for the foyer table'. Now the project was established and I got to spend the next few hours designing a new runner. Hehe.

Modern Barjella? or simply Staggered Strips.

That wave design is supposed to represent the snow we
weren't getting. But then we got snow, so hurray!

 I love doing after Christmas sewing. All the hubbub and rush of the holiday is over and usually I have some free days at home to myself. I offered to sew something for Laina's mentor and after several suggestions, we decided on a bible tote. I'd been dying to cut into my Alison Glass hand dyed batiks and it was really fun to see the colors meld together. I topstitched a few words here and there (love, joy, peace) and also used my specialty stitches - the Greek Key and a cute chain flower.

Love Alison Glass Fabrics!

Piecing the design. It's much harder to make random look
random than you think.

This inside is lined with linen and some utility twill gives it an edgy feel.

Another tote that was gifted was to my adorable niece, Alex. She's a crafty gal and book lover and this tote seemed like just the right thing. I bought some stiff interfacing for totes and learned some key lessons in adding zippers to such a stiff product.

Most of the fabrics are from a line called Let's Play -a cute
line comprised of game motifs.

The pink handles are a Wordfind print.

Inside there are two pockets and another zipper pocket.
It was surprising how much this tote could hold!

I was never more happy than when my friend Diane announced that her daughter was having a baby BOY! I'd been eyeing up the cute boy quilts on Pinterest so I lost no time ordering a green and blue FQ bundle from Bloomerie Fabrics. One of the fabrics was from the line Which Way and that inspired the overall design. Luckily we had Quilt Club that weekend so I got to sew steady on it and reap the benefits of having a room full of experienced quilters. I finished this in one week flat, doing a few hours every night. Now when I look at all my unfinished projects I know that finishing them is possible (as long as there's a deadline!).

Planning with the help of a few photographs. What did
quilters do without iPhones?

The evolution.



I quilted it with a tight meander. I wanted a crumply look.

Staged in my guest room. Scrappy binding, green Minky
Dot on the back. I call it Every Which Way.
Congratulations, Angi and Nathaniel!

Fat Quarters are Fun



I love Fat Quarters! They're just the right size for small projects that you're only going to try once. I think I bought these beauties at Millie P's in Anoka. As soon as I laid eyes on them I knew I wanted to make this folded zippered case. Call it a make-up case or a cord carrier - it's pretty darn cute! I made it at Quilt Club (Sewn Together) and had Laina in mind because she was off in Tulsa. 



I don't know the name of this fabric! Oh no! The binding
is Cotton and Steel, though.



One side has mesh and the other clear plastic. Don't you
love how the word 'laugh' ended up showing through?

 This is a flat pouch with clear plastic. I got to keep this one and as you can see it's pretty handy for candies! Usually, there's Dove chocolates but somehow they all disappeared! If you know me, you know there's no mystery there.

 

Again, I have no idea what that gray piece is - I just thought it was cool and
it paired well with the Cotton and Steel crosses.

Quilted using a wide serpentine stitch. I love those colorful clusters!

Sewn Together - May

This was the month of

SARAH'S BAG MANIA!

Just look at these! She made them for everyone! And then she made more for people we don't even know! It went on for weeks!

Everyone loves their bag of-course and put them right into action!

 Pam knows how to whip up a top! Could this be any more gorgeous?!

And this red one!!? These are bigger than the usual blocks and there's so much detail. I think she said it was a block of the month club, but there's 16 blocks so I'm confused already. It's utter insanity. Or the work of a genius.

Gift tags by Sarah!

Had to stamp each color separately!

Barbara's holding Pam's Pineapple Block! Amazing!

 Tori's concentrating!

Chain piecing! The very beginnings of a Sailboat Quilt.

 Fussy cut and tiny squares with Boho Chic. Now...how to quilt this pillow?

 Sue is trying out the free motion on my machine! She's hooked.

And that a wrap for May!

Laina's new pencil case

 

After using her other quilted pencil case for over a year, Laina requested a replacement. In fact, she bugged me about it for many months. It was never clear to me what exactly she wanted, but she finally rummaged through my stash and came up with some pieces of a mini charm pack. After I sewed these into a front and back with linen, they were rejected and a new design emerged. And isn't that the case sometimes? You just don't know what you want until you see the wrong thing in progress!

Vintage Vogue and Kona solids.

 The new fabrics are much more colorful and fresh looking. She's always loved blue, and now she loves it with red. Go figure. Also on her mind where the fancy stitches my machine does. We had used these for Kelly's Kindle case, so naturally what big sis has, Laina must have! She did some trials at the machine herself and came up with the Greek key design. I love how it adds just that extra oomph to the design. I top-stitched the quilting.

The lining is a grey mosaic print.

We Care Bags

Here's a good idea if you have tons of fabric (we all do!) and a caring heart.
My sister-in-law lives in ND and had previously donated bags to a service that places foster kids. They already have two churches that contribute a duffle bag and a fleece, but nothing fun or personal. The We Care bags are unique designs, filled with a random assortment of things elementary kids enjoy. Things like journals, markers, hair supplies, toys, stuffed animals, balls, candy, etc. So here's what we did. Maybe you will be inspired also to lift a child's heart with your generosity.


We made 11 zippered bags for girls in these easy patchwork
designs.

I had solicited funds from my father who agreed to shop with our teenagers and pick out appropriate items. We hit up Walmart: bought 4 solid colored bags for the boys, and multiples of various items to be split into the bags. For $100 we filled 15 bags pretty well.

The backs!

The sad truth is that with this number we barely scratched the surface of this need. Our contact person reports that 5-6 children enter into foster care EACH WEEK in Grand Forks. Lord, we pray for all neglected and abused children of our world to know peace and love in their families - whether foster, nuclear, blended, big, small, near or far. Amen.

Selfish Sewing

I took advantage of some down time during the holidays to just sew for myself. Sometimes, you just have to. I had purchased a new purse that needed organization so that is where I started. First up, a small pouch for personal items. You know, that stuff you don't need everyone seeing when they look into your purse. I sewed this piece for an iPad case and then decided to cut it in half for a smaller pouch. This piece also shows off the great colored thread my sister gave me for my birthday. Smiles.


 

It's just the right size for all those little items that float in the bottom of the purse.



 

These next items are from a new book I bought at JoAnn's, First Steps to Free-motion quiting/24 projects for fearless stitching. The projects in it are designed to practice FMQ.  

The shallow bowl. Love.
This is made from a big piece quilted in spirals. Looked easy, but was NOT!
My circles are quite squiggly.

The Loopy Bucket.
Sometimes you make things that turn out the way you imagined and sometimes they don't.
The quilting on this one was vertical loops of varying heights. Seemed easy enough.
I went at it without noting her height dimension. When it was done,
only one row of quilting showed on mine verses about three rows on hers.
We use it in the TV room to hold remotes. It works just fine.

The Sewing Chair Pad.
I love this and yet I still haven't finished it. Her pattern ran the strips on the diagonal, which is very cool but I was
afraid I would get dizzy every time I went to sit down. Each strip has a different quilting pattern.
It brightens my sewing area and cushions the posterior.





 



 

From Swatches to iPad Case

Hello,

One of my favorite online fabric shops is on Etsy, FreshModernFabric. I recently ordered a wonderful bundle of Kona solids from Alice and she included a few fun swatches from a new line. These small tidbits were something I probably never would have purchased but they intrigued me nonetheless.

 

Four swatches with matching solids

It didn't take too long to decide to make an iPad case. I quickly pieced together a front and back and picked out a pop of color for the zipper.

 

And wallah! This will probably go on the Etsy shop.

Thank you, Alice!

Laptop case with Vintage Vogue

Vintage Vogue has got to be one of my favorite fabric collections. Love it, love it, love it! I bought a fat quarter collection that has been waiting for the right quilt design. But, I thought I'd hardly notice a 2" strip cut down each side! Look at all the fabric that gave me!

Ever since I was given a laptop at work, I've been dying to make a simple case. I love incorporating linen into my projects and this seemed like a good time to do just that.

My other desire was to quilt uneven parallel lines. Surprisingly, it wasn't even that tedious. I definitely need to work on my zipper technique though - this one is not perfect, but it's for me, so I'll put up with it :(.