New Rag Quilt

I finished up another Rag Quilt this week.  For this quilt I wanted to use a new layout.  Something different from the previous rag quilts I made.   So I got out my graph paper and drew up a design that looked good to me.  Then I got busy cutting and sewing.  I love the way it turned out and will definitely use this pattern again.

I didn't realize this photo was blurry until I had shipped off the quilt, but it is still clear enough to see the pattern on the back.

Playing with Yarn

Over the Holidays, I did a little traveling. Since I couldn't pack up my sewing machine and fabric stash, I decided to bring a small bag of yarn and some knitting needles and a crochet hook.
The first thing I made were these flower hot pads.  They were super quick to make in the car and I ended up giving them all away before I made it back home.  I made a total of 4, but only managed to get a snap shot of 3.  I have to say, I really love the internet and all the quilt blogs I read every morning.  If it wasn't for them I never would have found this pattern.  I started out by clicking on Mary's blog, which is in my blog roll on the right. In one of her posts she had a link to Gari's Blog, which I clicked on and started browsing.





As I scrolled down that page I saw a picture of some items Gari won in a give away and one of those items was a crocheted hot pad.  I immediately fell in love with the design and was even ready to dish out money for the pattern.  Her blog said she got the items from Terri at Purple and Paisley, but there wasn't a link.  So I copied and pasted "Terri at Purple and Paisley" in my Google browser and sure enough Terri's Blog popped up at the top of the list.  I browsed her blog, which is wonderful and full of exciting photos, and after reading many of her older posts,  I finally found the the post where she had made the hot pads, and I must say the photos of her hot pads are most delicious.  But there was no pattern name or link, so I decided to email her, and she most graciously sent me the link to the pattern. The best part is that the pattern is a free pattern on the net.  You can get to it here.

After I made those, I decided I needed to use up the rest of my cotton yarn.  I had already made 4 dishcloths for a friend for Christmas, three knitted ones from a pattern book I own and one crocheted one from this Basket Weave pattern I found on the net.  These four put me in the mood to finish up using some of the cotton yarn I had in one of my bins.  I recalled making a round dishcloth years ago and wanted to make another one, so I googled round knitted dishcloth patterns hoping to find the same pattern I used years ago.







I didn't find the exact pattern I was I was looking for, but I did find lots of new ones.  I even found a basket weave pattern for knitting that I couldn't pass up. I started with that one first and came up with this dishcloth.  After I finished that one, I worked on the round ones.
 














The pattern I decided on for the round ones was the Crazy Daisy. I love this pattern and I love making round dishcloths.  I have one more already started on my needles, I will have to finish that one later though, since I have some quilty projects that have deadlines coming up soon than need attention first.

Mini Stocking

Here is one of my few holiday creations for this year: A mini stocking, just perfect to hang on the tree. I made this for a swap with Postcard Mail Art.  We don't always just swap postcards in these groups.  Every now and then we get an itching to make something else.  This time it was these mini-stockings. 

Part of the instructions for this swap was to add some "bling" so I added some sequence and beads onto my mini patchwork stocking.  This was my first time ever making a mini stocking.  I think it turned out really cute.  If I didn't have a mountain of other projects, I just might consider making enough of these to decorate my whole tree.

Journal Cover

When I saw the tutorial on the Moda Bake shop for Journal Covers I just knew I had to make one, and I had the perfect person to give it to.  One of my friends loves to draw sketches but she has been drawing them on index cards, so I decided to get her an art journal so she can keep them all in once place.  It also allows you to rip the page out if you wanted to without ruining the book, so it is perfect for her. 

The pattern called for twenty one 1.5 inch strips cut into 4.5 in lengths.  I have a bin just full of 1.5 inch strips. - that is the smallest size of fabric I save. Anything smaller than that goes into the trash bin.  Since I had that bin of precut strips, most of them are leftovers from other projects, I was able to pick out the 21 different strips in no time.  The pattern called for some plain linen for the solid top and bottom pieces, but my fabrics were so bright, I didn't feel like it would go well together, so I added a nice bright yellow for the top and bottom fabrics and boy does it make the cover pop.  I love it! 

For a final touch, I added my friends name on the front. I like being able to add that personal touch to the things I make whenever I get a chance.  It just makes the gift seem so much more personal.

I like this cover so much I do believe I need one for myself.  When the holidays are over, I can get cracking on one of these for my art journal.  :)

Finally back at the Machine

Wow,  I didn't realize how much I use my machine until it broke.  Even though I had my old one to sew on, it just wasn't the same.  It made me realize just why I bought the new machine in the first place.  My old machine was one headache after another.  It sure doesn't like to play nice.  So between house remodeling, and my broken machine I spent almost a month away from the sewing table.  But now everything is back to normal - well as normal as can be around here.  My regular machine has been to the doctor and all is well and the house remodeling has slowed down a bit for now so I was finally able to create some things out of my fabric.  Today I can only post one of them. The other few things will have to wait till after Christmas to be posted.  I don't want to spoil any surprises.  :)

One of the things I made after my machine got back from the repair was another Bow Tucks Bag.  I just love this pattern, and I love the way this bag feels.  It is so nice and thick.  I used pelon fusible fleece as the instructions say - "it is the best", and boy is it right.  From now on I only want to make bags with is this wonderful stuff.  It makes nice stiff handles and a wonderfully soft bag.  This particular bag was made for a special client who told me to pick what ever fabrics I think looked good.  So I went shopping in my own fabric stash and that in itself was fun.  :)

My Newest Project

I had to put my sewing projects to the side for now while I helped my husband build a set of stairs.  This is the bottom half of them.  When you get to the top of these, you will turn and then head up another small set to reach our soon to be new attic room.  We have been working on these for a few weeks to get them done in time for Thanksgiving.  All my relatives will be here for the Holiday's so we had to have it safe for all of them while they are here.  All I have left to do is finish mudding the drywall and then paint.  I want a color other than white, but I am undecided as to which one.  I was leaning towards burgundy, probably because it is in the family of my favorite color, but I don't want to make the stairway too dark.  Maybe I will start with one wall and see how it looks.

I've Zigged, now I need to Zag

I spent the evening last night sewing my Zigs together and now I have 16 diagonal strips hanging on my makeshift design wall.  Now all I have left to do for this top is sew these diagonal strips together and then trim the edges.  This is going to be bigger than I thought so it won't do for a cute baby blanket.  I will have to save it for something else.  I am liking the way it is coming out, but my husband always bunches up his forehead when he walks into the room.  He says it looks like a pink Charlie Brown shirt.....

Zig Zag Progress

Instead of using the yellow fabric I posted earlier for this new zig zag quilt, I decided to use a white tone on tone fabric.  Mainly because I didn't have enough of the yellow.  I was a couple inches too short in yardage to get all the strips I needed.

This evening I cut out all the strips and sewed them together.  Then I pressed them all and cut them all into 5.5 inch squares.  Each stack has 14 squares.  In the next couple of days I will lay them out and and see which order I like the pink colors for my zig zags. Hopefully I can do it sooner than later, but I am helping my husband build new stairs to our attic this week, so it may end up being later.

Starting a new quilt.

I have been itching to try out this Zig Zag quilt ever since I saw it on Crazy Mom Quilts' Blog.   So I picked out the fabrics today and put them on the cutting mat where they are ready to be cut into 3 inch strips.  I want to make this quilt for a little girl, so I decided to make it with various pinks and a yellow fabric as my base.  When looking through my stash, I realized I didn't have as many pink fabrics as I thought.  I barely had enough to pick out the nine I needed for this quilt.  I am a little wary about the pink and silver stars.  Hopefully when its all cut out and separated by the yellow, all the fabrics will play well together.  I haven't added any fabric to my stash for a couple years it has been slowly dwindling.  That is a good thing right??

Rag quilt for a boy this time.

Lately I have  been making pretty pink rag quilts.  So it was a nice switch to make one in blues and yellows for a little boy.  For this rag quilt I put the 4 patch blocks on the back.  So it is almost like a fancy double sided quilt.

I do believe the front of this one is my favorite so far, but then again I am partial to the blue and yellow color combination.  :)

Matching Burp Cloths

I finished up these two burp cloths over the weekend.  They were made to match the rag quilt I made in September.  These beauties are fun to make using cloth diapers and my embroidery machine.  They are one of my favorite items to make for new babies.

Simple Halloween Postcards

I made a few Halloween postcards the other day.  I always did like blue and yellow together, and since the fabric I fussy cut these images from was blue and yellow, I decided to keep those colors for the background of the Halloween cards.  Not your traditional holiday colors but they look good to me and I really like how the the yellow blanket stitch pops against the blue fabric.

Practicing My Needle work.

Fabric postcards are a wonderful size on which to practice my needle work.  You can really practice any technique you want on these little beauties.  And I can't think of anyone who doesn't like receiving them in the mail.  :)

The Castle

I finally finished this cross stitch project last night.  It felt so good to have it finished.  I still like it just as much as when I bought the leaflet 16 or so years ago.   At first I thought it had only been 15 years, but I know I started this when I was in high school and graduation day for me was 16 years ago. Over the past 16 years I have started and completed many other cross stitch projects, as well as many afghans, quilts, and clothing projects, but they have mostly been for other people.  The projects I make just for me, like this dragon, usually get put aside or stored away.  I know I hadn't worked on this particular project in over 6 years, because I don't remember working on it in the house we live in now and we have lived here for 6 years.  But now this one is finnally finished.  YAHOO!!!

      What made me get it back out again was my daughter.  We were walking around the Hobby Hobby, and she wanted to buy some DMC floss to make a friendship bracelet.  Above the floss were little kits for begginner cross stitchers.  She asked me if I would buy her one because she wanted to learn how to do it.  I told her no, because I didn't think she would finish it, but she begged and pleaded and promised that she would.  So I decided to go ahead and get it, after all it was only $2.00, and who was I to critizise her about not finishing it when I myself had three at home not finished. 

    When we got home, she said I should get out something to cross stitch while I helped her, so we went looking through my nightstand where I keep my projects and saw The Castle.  I noticed it was almost finished. All it needed was outlining on the dragon's wings and lower body.  So I decided I would work on it till it was done.  It only took me a couple hours.  I don't know why I didn't finish it early.  But it is finished now and I am so thrilled.  I just need to get it framed so I can put it on display and enjoy it.  :)

Scarecrow Postcard

I love this postcard!  First of all I just love this scarecrow design.  he is on my Halloween hat as well as some other projects I have done. His hands, hair, and feet are all fringed.  The design comes from Embroidery Library.  I really enjoy their designs.

I didn't want this cutie of a scarecrow standing all alone on brown fabric, so I fussy cut some pumpkins to go underneath him.  But then the top looked too plain, so I added some wavy hand stitching to the top to represent the sky.  I love how it turned out.  Hopefully Lori will too.  She was my partner for this swap.