Monday

A Blogger Giveaway - I won!

I love the sewing/quilting blogger world. It provides so much inspiration and ideas that sometimes it's all a little overwhelming.  Besides getting ideas for new quilt patterns or crafts, it's a great resource for buying fabrics and supplies as well.  My favorite added bonus is the giveaways.  I keep putting my comments on all those blogger sites in the hopes that maybe someday I will win something they are giving away.  Even though I don't expect to win, I am a little snobbish - I only enter contests where the item is somethings I really would use.
As it turns out, today is the day! I won an Aurifil thread sampler from Katy over at ImAGingerMonkey.  It was part of a giveaway from Katy's posting on the Zakka Style Sew Along.  Katy highly recommends the book and I had already ordered it before she offered up the items.  I sincerely thank her and all those blogger sewists for all they do to keep sewing and quilting alive and interesting.

Sunday

Patchwork Travel Neck Pillow

Quilted Travel PillowI recently came across a bag full of scraps left over from a breast cancer fundraiser quilt I made a few years back.  The pretty pinks were nice even though I've grown very tired of the whole pink ribbon thing.  (I mean no disrespect to survivors and I donate to the American Cancer Society regularly.)  Anyway, there was leftover pink fleece and lots of little squares of fabrics.

I remembered coming across a patchwork neck pillow that used little 3-inch squares of a variety of prints and it seemed like this fabric would fit the bill.  I could use the fleece on the back and the pink ribbon squares on front.  After sorting the fabrics, cutting down the scraps and laying it out, I realized I could make a few of these. So this one will be the prototype for what might be something I could present to my church quilt group for future consideration or maybe even sell a few at my next craft fair.

So here it is, from the SewCanShe tutorial of the day...

Saturday

That's my girl!

Chloe loves to stay very close to her mother.  Even when her mother is sewing.  She is familiar with the needle going up and down and that when you turn the wheel on the side of the machine, that she can manually make the needle move.  I am so glad she is comfortable with sitting in front of the machine, it's a great start.  I look forward to her sewing with me someday.


Sunday

iPad Cover

I found some instructions for an iPad cover over at Dixie Mango's blog.  I had a little trouble with it because she described the formula for making the calculatons so you can adjust it for laptops or other devices but the example used the iPad dimensions.  The calculation in the formula were not the same in the tutorial.  In the formula, the example created a cover with a 1-inch flap and the tutorial created a cover with a 4-inch flap that came to a point.  I had to read and re-read it a few times before I figured out that she was saying two different things for two different outcomes. 

Anyway,  it was very easy. I used fusible Pellon fleece interfacing so when I ironed the cover flat, it stayed nice and flat.  I also added a decorative button to the outside, just for fun.

Quilters Bag

My church has a ladies' group called Sweet Sundays that has been around for a while.  I never really got into it because they would get together over bakery and coffee on Sunday afternoons.  Since I have a full-time job, my Sunday afternoons are precious and if it's not football season, I like to use that time to sew.  Now that I think about it, even during football games, I use that time to sew. There's nothing like having the Packers' game on in my sewing room.  Anyway, a newer church member whose name is Judy discovered that there was a big old box of fabric left at church.  Judy is a drapery maker who loves to quilt, teaches sewing, and belongs to a quilt guild.  I was instantly drawn to her. So she had this idea to make all those fabric scraps she found into strip quilts.  I was in. 

We started on a Sunday afternoon in her basement/sewing room where there was a cutting table larger than a ping-pong table.  That made sense for a drapery maker.  So us ladies cut, cut, cut and cut some more until we had enough 3 and a half-inch strips to make at least 3 lap quilts. Then we sewed the strips end-to-end, followed by cutting them into 60-inch long strips.  The second week we met at church with our sewing machines and stitched the strips together until we had the length of a nice quilt.  Some women were not sewers but they got some good instructions from Judy or they were willing to cut or press when needed.  Next time we meet we will put the tops into quilt sandwiches and discuss which charity group will get our finished products.

We have decided as a group to keep meeting, keep making quilts and possibly get involved in something like Dresses for Africa. Maybe I can even convince the group to do a Project Linus quite or two. That brings me to my quilt tote. I have bunches of really cute fabric that is sewing-themed and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a tote for my cutting mat.  It was difficult to drag the thing around without a handle.  The struggle I had was in choosing which cute collection of sewing-related fabric to use.

I googled fabric cutting mat totes and found this tutorial over at BecauseISaySew and made my interpretation of her tote.  Mine has a pocket inside designed to hold the mat and I added an extra row of stitching to the sides of the pocket to make it extra-tight so the mat was held in place.  I put the pockets inside to hold rulers and a rotary cutter as well as scissors.  I also added some buttons for decoration.  I think this will suit me well on Sweet Sundays.

Saturday

Stacked Coins Quilt Part 2

Stacked Coins Quilt Top
I stitched the coin rows together with 5-inch strips of Kona white between the rows.  5-inch white borders the top and bottom as well.  I think I'm going to make a patched inner border then another skinnier white border to finish it off.

Tuesday

Stacked Coins Quilt Part 1

Moda Half Mood Modern Jelly Roll

Sort the Strips by Pattern and Color

Or Maybe Just Mix them Up

Randomly Place the Strips

Stitch 6 Strips Together

Cut into 5-inch Strips

Place 4 Sets of Strips and Make 5 Rows

Monday

Bunny Sachets

Easter Bunnies
I found this tutorial on Craft Passion's website. Here is the link. These cute little bunny sachets can be made in two sizes.  These are the small ones and they are really small.  The bowl they are sitting in holds about a cup and a half.  I filled them with rice infused with jasmine and lemon oils.  They smell so nice.