Heat Wave

It sure has been a hot summer. Makes us want to stay in all the time. I am fine with that because that is where my sewing machine is. :) Fabricards had a postcard swap with the theme of "Heat" in honor of the heat waves some of the members were having. As soon as I saw that swap I immediately thought of an egg frying on a sidewalk. So I signed up and made this post card. The bottom of the card looked empty so I added the text "Heat Wave" in yellow. The letters turned out OK, but I do believe I need to work on my freehand letters a little more.

Squaring Up 388 Times

I spent some time over the past week squaring up 388 1 1/2 inch half square triangles. They are scraps left over from a quilt top I made years ago. They have been in the sewing closet for over six years and I figured it was about time I turned them into something. So I got out an old flannel board and started laying them out and soon realized they were all different sizes, and not a one of them was square. I knew if I didn't square them up, the design I wanted to make would turn out horribly wrong. So I resigned myself to trimming them all to a 1 1/2 inch square no matter how long it took. I loaded Xena Warrior Princess Season 2 on the computer (which is right next to my cutting area) and got to work. By the end of Season 2 and partway into Season three, I finally finished. :)

Above is the leftovers next to all my half square triangles. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all these new leftovers. To the garbage I suppose... but, how small is too small for the scrap bin? Wouldn't they look nice in a clear Christmas bulb Ornament. Maybe I'll save them after all. Hopefully not another 6 years though.

Scrappy Lil' Doll Quilt

I decided to play along with Tracy's Scrappy Lil' Doll Quilt Challenge. The rules were easy enough:

~Quilt measures no more than 20" on any side.
~Must be a newly made quilt-not one you previously made.
~Must be made entirely from your scrapbag.

It may not be "scrappy" looking, but I did use my scraps to make it. I finished the binding on this little blue and white quilt yesterday. The pinwheels were made from the leftover blue and white scraps I had after making sashing for another quilt. It measures 11 x 13.

Foundation Piecing PC Swap

Here is another postcard I made for Fabricards. This one was for the Foundation Paper Piecing Swap. The original pattern was a square but I took the advice Janet gave me awhile ago and stretched it to fit a 4 x 6 postcard and I must say it turned out great! :)

It is fun using up my tiny scraps for projects like this. Makes me feel good that I didn't throw them away. Not that I would throw them out to begin with. It is always hard for me to throw fabric away, no matter how small it is.

Hand Embroidered Post Card

I really like hand embroidery, but I have to admit I am a real beginner. I bought a couple books a few months ago to help me learn some new stitches and I found myself spending more time pouring over those books instead of making the actual stitches. So for my 1 to 1 post card swap I decided to practice some of those stitches again instead of just looking at them. I pulled out one of my frog post card tops (I think I have about 20 left to finish) and got to work. I have to say these are some of my favorite postcards to make. I hope the recipient feels the same way. :)

Drawstring Bag

My daughter was invited to a birthday slumber party tonight. I didn't really want to go out to the store and just buy a quick gift. I always have hard time picking out a gift at the store when I don't really know what the person wants. That is probably why I like to create most of the gifts I give away. Most of the people I know always enjoy quilts and bags. :) This gift was no exception. But this time my daughter wanted to help in the creation. We decided to make her friend a drawstring bag with her name on it.

Here is my daughter posing with the present for her friend.


I got my pattern from the drawstring bag pattern that was recently posted at Moda Bake Shop. I had my daughter pick out the 5 inch squares from my scrap bin and had her put them in the order she wanted. Then I sewed them together. I had her do the ironing though.


When we were done making it, she kept telling me the strings were too long. I kept saying, "Are you sure?" So she posed for me so I could see how long the drawstrings really were. After seeing the picture to the left, I trimmed the drawstrings right up to the edge of the bag which made a big difference. That is my puppy Dean in the background in the above photo. He is 8 months old now.

I did end up changing the pattern from the website a bit. Since I wanted to embroider a name on it, I made the second to last row a solid color, and I also added a lining. I wasn't sure how much this bag was going to be used, but if it did get a lot wear, I wanted it to be sturdier and I felt the lining would help protect the seams on all the charm squares.

70 Nine Patches

Today I finished my last nine patch for the One A Day quilt along that AmandaJean posted on her blog. She started it at the end of April and July 5th would have been the last day to finish, that is if you sewed one nine patch a day.

Well, I read her post on the first day that this quilt along was announced, and even admired the quilt that sparked the inspiration for this particular quilt along, but I didn't even think about playing along. As the days and weeks past, I kept seeing other bloggers and AmandaJean post their progress on their blocks and I kept staring at the finished quilt. And the more and more I stared at it, I decided I wanted one of my own. So on day 42 of the quilt along I decided to join in on the fun. It wasn't really a block a day for me though. Some days I did 10 blocks a day, some days I did 5, and some days I didn't get to make any. But today I made one block and it was the last block I needed to finish all 70 blocks. Now I just need to cut the sashing, sew the top together, baste it, and then quilt it. That is the easy part... yeah right... ;) but since I am so excited to finish this quilt, I am hoping the rest of the project will go quick. I sure do hope all my scrappy blocks play well together.

Rag Quilt Finished

Here is the finished product. This quilt went together pretty quick. Most likely because I was excited to sew it. I love working with pretty soft fabrics and this one had lots of soft snuggly pink and yellow flannels. The yellow is only on the back, but because of the way the quilt is constructed, you get a hint of the yellow on the front inside the ragged seams.
This quilt is all little girl. I love it!

Back of the Quilt

Washing and drying it really made quick work on fraying the edges. The photo below was taken before the quilt had its trip to the washing machine and dryer. You can definitely see a big difference in the "softness" of the seams before and after.

New Rag Quilt in Progress

I told my son he could play on my computer today, and since my computer and my sewing machine are right next to each other, I use the same chair for both the sewing machine and the computer.

Needless to say, I couldn't sew since the chair was occupied. So I decided to cut out all the fabric for the rag quilt I have been asked to make. It is for a baby girl that is due in August.

These strips and squares are enough to finish the front and the back of the quilt. Now I just need to get sewing. :)