I'm feeling rather mischievous

In just a wee bit over a month I'll be headed out to Sisters Oregon for their annual outdoor quilt show. I'm so besided! I stayed with Heather of Quilt or Stitch last year at a place in Sunriver and had a ball. I'll be going back again this year and thought it would be a fun thing to make everyone a little goodie. I spent last night trying to figure out colors and patterns that would work best for each of the seven other women in the house. I hope I make something they all like. ^^

Fabric Friday - Sherbet Pips, a bit more

So a few Fridays ago I showed some Sherbet Pips layer cakes I'd picked up. Yay Sherbet Pips! Then I was thinking it was awesome that I had the layer cakes but happens when I finally get around to making a top and want matching border fabric and or binding? So I might have had to go out and buy a bit more. I'd hate for the quilt top to be somehow incomplete. I love the idea of using the scarf fabric as the binding.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - keeping the pointy bits where they belong

One of the little things I keep around my sewing room is a jar. Sounds exciting yeah? Well it can be.


I don't know about you but after a sewing machine needle gets dull and is done being useful I hate to throw it in the trash. I mean if I have to reach my hand in there later for something (like I accidentally threw away a bag of rubies and diamonds or a scrap of good fabric and later realized I needed it back) I wouldn't want to stick my hand in there knowing I might get poked by a needle too dull for fabric but sharp enough to draw blood. I really don't want to see blood while I'm sewing. I like to keep that stuff on the inside where it belongs.

This is where my "fancy" jar comes in handy. It was an old cleaned out spaghetti jar but really any jar with a lid will do. I tried to pick one with a pretty lid but you could paint the lid or decorate it however you see fit. To spiff up the jar itself, I made a modified version of a coffee cup sleeve to wrap around it. See? Pretty. Easily updatable. Then I got out my hand-dandy drill and drilled a quick hole in the top of the jar.


Now, whenever a needle goes bad, I just drop it through the hole. I don't even bother to take the lid off. If I accidentally knock the jar over nothing spills out and I don't need to take the lid off for any reason really, other then to take a picture showing you a few pointy needles at the bottom on inside. See? They're harmless down there!

WIP Wednesdays - Plan C

It's was so nice to have a whole EIGHT HOURS to quilt without too much distraction. I packed up my stuff and headed off to the PMQG's All Day Sewing Day at Fabric Depot last Saturday. It was great to hang out with the girls and sew. You might remember Plan C from my UFO list (if not, click the tab above). Lookie! It went from scraps of fabric to something that might actually resemble a quilt top soon. Woo!


*Someone* really wanted her picture taken with the quilt in progress. She's too cute. How could I say no?

Tutorial Tuesday - One Seam Flying Geese

Do you see how I love "one seam" sewing? Here's another one that was shared with me by Cherri at the PMQG's all day sewing work day. She was making a lot of them and was showing us how to make this neat little version of flying geese. I took pictures as she explained it and now I'm here to share it with you too!

You'll need: Fabric, rotary cutter, ruler, cutting mat, thread and a sewing machine of course... unless you're stitching by hand which will work just fine too.

• CUT YOUR FABRIC
  Each flying goose will need one 5.5" x 3" rectangle...
  
  
  ...and TWO 3" squares of matching fabric
  
• FOLD & SANDWICH YOUR FABRIC
  Fold the rectangle with wrong sides together. Keep the fold at the top.
  
  
  Place one square on a flat surface and lay the folded rectangle over the top. Line up the bottom edges.
  
  
  You should see about 1/4" of square fabric above the fold of the rectangle.
  
  
  Lay the other square over these two pieces of fabric to complete the sandwich.
  
• SEW THAT ONE SEAM!
  Keeping the sandwich in the same position sew a 1/4" seam down the right hand side. Making many sandwiches all at once will allow you to chain piece these together.
  
• UNFOLD AND PRESS
  Open your little sandwich book and if you can see where it's creased pull this bit of fabric out to create and finish the block.
  
  
  Press your block open.
  
  
  
• FINISHING
  Once you've sewn your block together there are several options for finishing them. They can be stitched down in the quilting process to look like traditionally stitched pieces, or you can fold them over and stitch them like a cathedral window block or even just leave them open to make interesting little pockets.
  
  
  Cherri pressed the back of her blocks thusly...
  

Fabric Friday - What's Old is New Again

I like to participate in the women's craft group at our church. One of their on-going projects is Little Dresses for Africa. The main pattern they use is based on pillow cases. I don't have access to a lot of pillow cases but it seems I have a lot of extra yardage that people have given me that would be perfect for little dresses (see folded bits below). Also a craft supply recycle place near my house, SCRAP! is an excellent source for inexpensive fabric (see the rolled up bits). I'm hoping to try and make a dress a month. I know it's not much but it's something.



I made one already and my daughter LURVES it and won't take it off so I might have to make these late at night so she never sees them, otherwise I'll have to fend her off with a big stick. ;^)

Fabric Friday - Color Pallet

I bought a fat quarter of this fabric not necessarily because I love it but I just thought the pallet was so interesting and rather uncommon. I've been thinking about making a quilt in all solid fabrics but can't quite decide the best colors to use. I have a pattern I rather like and it would translate nicely with solids but in order to make it striking I want something appealing but unexpected... maybe like this then?

Happy (Early) Mother's Day

So what's more motherly then an apron? Yeah, I know, classic stereotypes n' all but still... So for mother's day I wanted to make me and my sister aprons. (I'd already made my Mom one for Christmas). I had mostly worked on mine a few weeks ago and finished the pockets off on Sunday night I think. Anyway, remember a few Fabric Fridays ago with the apple fabric? Yup, now she's an apron! (Didn't my 5 year old do a nice job taking pictures?!)



My sister really likes aqua and greens together but green isn't really her color. So when I went fabric shopping for her and found this cute aqua/red paisley I couldn't resist.



I also made her some pot holders to go with. I wish I'd had more of the poke-a-dot fabric (see pockets on her apron) but I'd run out so the front and back of the pot holders are the same. Since I had quite a bit of the binding I'd made left over, I finished them off with that.



I gave her the apron today and she loved it. Yay!