Quick Weekend Projects

This weekend I downloaded an apron pattern off the internet. The pattern had 17 pages and it went together a little like a jigsaw puzzle. It was quite fun to do. Last month I had embroidered a kitchen design and I really wanted to make an apron so I can sew the embroidered piece on as a pocket. 

I cut the pattern out as well as the fabric and in less than 2 hours, I had finished it. I used some really nice linen fabric and I washed it before using it. The pattern was as simple as sewing a few seams, turning and pressing, then hemming and topstitching. Here is the finished apron:

Since I finished the apron so quickly I put a charity quilt on the longarmer. The quilt top was made by some of the ladies from my Sweet Sundays sewing group. I decided to free motion quilt it so since I wasn't following a pantograph I quilted the whole thing in 45 minutes. Another fast finish. Yay!

Aprons

I am in the mood to get rid of things. It happens every January and usually involves getting rid of clothes I don't wear anymore or cleaning out a linen closet or two. This year it's all about fabric. So I made a large pile to take to my church basement sew day on Saturday. While sorting through fabrics, I took many pieces that were big enough and made aprons. I made two sizes, toddler and child. It was a lot of fun using up cute prints. 

The one issue I ran into was that I needed long fabric pieces for the ties. For some, I just didn't have enough that coordinated with the prints I used so I got some cotton twill. I ordered off-white and white in half-inch and one-inch from Amazon. It was pretty cheap for 50 yard rolls and I only had to wait 2 days for the twill to be delivered. Now I just have to sew some cute buttons on the front for embellishment and they will be ready for my next craft fair. 

Speaking of the basement quilters group, I am attending for the first time since October. Back in October, the group leader decided to start things back up after shutting down for 6 months because of the pandemic. I attended but I wasn't very comfortable with it. It's not that I didn't feel safe enough, I did. I just didn't like sewing wearing a mask all day. And after spending so much time home sewing, I didn't take the time to prepare for whether the room would be too warm or cold, so I was cold. I didn't bring enough beverages for the whole day. It was just poor planning on my part. So I stayed home for the November and December sew days. But now I want to start fresh, more prepared and in a better place regarding the pandemic. I was going to sew all day 6 feet away from everyone with no mask on, but by using lots of homemade hand sanitizer. 

I am planning to make a quilt top called bear paw on point from the latest Missouri Star Block Magazine. Here are the pieces cut out and ready to go:

January Project Plans

Happy new year! I've put away all my Christmas fabrics and I am working on a t-shirt quilt for a client today. The quilt top is done, but I need to get some backing fabric before I can quilt it on the longarmer. My plan is to pick up the fabric to finish it tomorrow while I'm working at the quilt shop. 

The design board is pretty empty except for a piece I finished on the embroidery machine. I want to turn it into an apron pocket.

I have a stack of quilt tops to longarm and I'm hoping to get a few of those completed this week. There's at least 4 Quilts for Kids quilt tops in the bunch that are long overdue. I'm also working on a list of craft fair projects to start on. I want to get a jump on those before the March craft fair date gets too close. 

Since it is the start of a new year I thought I would list some of my crafting and quilting goals for this year:

• Embroidery machine lessons
• Quilt listings on Etsy and Ebay
• Take a class on collage quilts
• Scroll saw craft projects
• Purge old fabrics
• Rearrange sewing studio

Here's to 2021!

What's on the design board?

The answer to the question "what's on the design board?" is nothing. Yup, there's nothing there right now. I am working on a quilt called Read to Me that requires lots and lots of appliqued letters.
Here are the letters I made (so far)...

They've been ironed onto black Moda solid fabric with heat 'n bond lite. I think cutting them out will be a bit of a challenge, especially the insides of the letters. I am happy that I have the 'book' blocks completed. The sashing between rows will have the words.

This quilt in progress is supposed to be a teacher appreciation gift for my granddaughter's teacher. Teacher Appreciation Week happens in April and although school is now online and there will be no TA week celebrations, I am still making this quilt. Besides, while in quarantine, what else do I have to do? Ha!

I will tell you what else I have to do - I am going to start a quilt called Butterfly Patch. I fell in love with the pattern and the fabrics on the pattern cover so I am going to try an recreate is exactly as it is.

I work part-time in a quilt shop and even though the shop is closed due to the pandemic, I still go in once a week and cut fabric kits. Their online ordering has blown up and the shop owner can't keep up with the orders. Isn't the quilting community wonderful? Anyway, while I was there yesterday, the news media showed up to do a segment on all the good works the quilt shop does. The Racine Police Department was in need of apron-like covers to wear over their uniforms and the quilt shop put out a call to the community to make them from Tyvek. The community responded and made hundreds of the aprons within 48 hours of Jim making the request. Amazing.

Utility Apron Project, continued

I made my second version of a utility apron this week. This one is a lot larger than my first attempt. In fact, I think it's a little too big. I don't like how far down it goes over my thighs.

This project reminds me of the three bears. One's too small, one's too big so the next one should be just right.

Mama bear will try again and post the results in a tutorial. At least I have two samples to use at craft fairs.

Click here for the tutorial I used.

Utility Apron Project

Last weekend we had a rummage sale in our neighborhood and my daughter participated by bringing all her baby stuff to my house. That baby stuff always draws a crowd. She was making lots of sales and commented to her father that it's a struggle to hand out change. She tried an envelope which fell apart, a plastic container which meant you have to pay attention to where you put it, and she tried her pockets where money popped out onto the floor with each sale.

Her dad had this great idea that she should use one of his nail pouches. So he dug one out of his tool box for her to use. At the end of the day she had commented on how wonderful it was to have her change handy at all times. Transactions were completed much more quickly without the hassle of trying to find the right change and where she put it.  She said she wished she had that pouch for the last few years of rummage sales - it was that convenient!

After she left for her home, I went to put the nail pouch back in my husband's tool box when it hit me that it would be a great idea to make some pretty ones.  And we have craft fairs coming up so it was perfect timing to invent something a little cuter than the ones we had. Now that it's complete, I think I will test it out by wearing it for a while to see if I need to make any adjustments before I make any more. But I do want to make some more. It was quick and easy.

Puppy Apron

Puppy Apron

Within a few hours of posting my test apron I got a request for a custom order! Go figure. This is for a little girl whose birthday is Saturday.  She loves puppies so her grandma requested something with puppies on it. Even though it's not in the traditional pink girly colors, what girl doesn't love the color of chocolate?

Her grandma loves antiques and vintage things so I lined this little apron in some vintage fabric that had a few fade marks and added a little embellishment just for fun.  I've been tinkering with the idea of adding elastic to the neck so there would be no ties there however I did not perfect that yet so I chose to give this apron the traditional ties for the neck and added a few buttons to the front.

I hope the little girl likes her gift.

Puppy Apron-Back

Child-Sized Apron

I designed this child-sized apron based on a few different aprons I've seen for children. I liked the idea of an apron that didn't need to be tied or attached with Velcro around the neck. So I added a casing with elastic to easily slip it over a child's head. I considered using Velcro for the tie at the waist but I don't like how stiff and scratchy the hook side is of the hook and loop tape.  The large pocket on the bottom is divided into 4 compartments and the apron is lined with muslin on the inside to give it a little extra body. I will try it out on a few children, determine if any adjustments need to be made then make a pattern and instructions. This sample apron took me a little over an hour to complete from start to finish.

Iron Cupcake and the Cupcake Apron

My daughter, Jen enters a monthly contest called Iron Cupcake. Each month there's a specific theme, such as liquor, savory, spice, fruit, etc. for each month.

During the last month that she competed the theme was vegan/gluten free so she made a s'more cupcake with flourless chocolate cake cupcake in a graham cracker crust with homemade marshmallow topping. They were delicious. So I made her this cupcake apron to wear at the competitions.