A Mini Quilt in Red, White and Blue

In an effort to use up my old red, white, and blue leftovers I found a tutorial for this cute little table topper.  Here is the link to it.  It was a perfectly sized pattern to use to cover the bistro table on my front porch. All my accents to the house are either wrought iron black or red.  I love how red things look against my blue and white house.  The color just pops.

So I cut the required strips to make the blocks and within 2 hours, I had the whole top done.  I took some of the larger scrap pieces to make the backing and dug up some leftover batting from my stash and by lunchtime, it was quilted.  I did have to use 5 strips of fabric to make the binding, there just wasn't enough long pieces of anything which is good - that means I am finally using it all up.  Yay!  The results look so good on my little table. 

As usual, the tutorial for this can be found on the Sew Can She blog.

A Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

Yes, I am on a Sew Can She rampage these days. While perusing the Sew Can She blog (again), I came across the most perfect sewing machine cover to make for my machine. And it just so happens I have a fat quarter pack that I purchased at Sewn Studio in Cincinnati on one of our trips to visit my cousin that would work well for this project.

I think collecting fabric as souvenirs is a wonderful thing.  First of all, I get more fabric which is always nice and secondly, I am not wasting my money on meaningless tchotchkes or just plain junk. I will always use the fabric which will invoke memories of the trip I was on when I purchased it.  So my souvenirs, in a way become even more useful. At least that's how I justify it. 

So this fat quarter pack is called sew stitchy by Aneela Hoey and it just seemed so appropriate to make a dust cover for my sewing machine out of it. There is enough left after making the cover to make a scissors pouch to keep in my Tutto case for when I go to quilty group. But I think I will save that project for another day.  The original tutorial can be found here as well as on the Sew Can She blog if you would like to make this same sewing machine cover.

A Scrappy Gathered Skirt

I am forever a fan of the sewcanshe site.  It inspires me to make things I wouldn't normally think about making. I came across an adorable little girl's scrappy skirt a week or so ago and I knew I had to make one. 

Recently I bought some fabric-by-the-pound which meant I had lots of scrappy pieces that I purchased on purpose. Especially the fabric with the pink and purple ponies and castles.  It really needed to become something for Chloe and I didn't know what until this skirt popped up on the site.

It was a no-brainer. I got out the castle fabric, a fat quarter that said "thunderous 3" on it in pink, leftover princess fabric from the bag I made for Chloe and a few other pretty scraps I had on hand.  It came together perfectly without a trip to the fabric store. I love when that happens.
When I got to the petticoat underneath the skirt, I was a little worried however, I had made a giant white fabric square to cut a large fabric circle for another project and I still had the edges of that left.  I cut those leftovers into pieces I sewed together to make the white layer. Whoopee! Still no trip to the fabric store.

The tutorial photo for the skirt shows two rows of rick-rack on the edge of the skirt.  I found some white rick-rack in my stash but I didn't like it on the skirt.  So for now, it's done sans rick-rack. Maybe I will get some on my next shopping trip...or maybe not. I still think it looks cute even without the rick-rack.  You can find the tutorial here if you would like to make one.

Quilted Stacked Coins Pillow Cover

Quite a few years back I made some patriotic quilts.  They were completed way before blogging and recording quilts digitally.  In total, I made three quilts out of red, white and blue fabrics. I used a postage stamp pattern to quilt them.  I donated two of them to a veteran's organization and kept the third for myself.  I thought it would be nice to take to the fireworks on Independence Day. After a few years, I lost track of that quilt only to discover that my son packed it in his things when he moved to California 5 years ago. 

While cleaning and sorting my fabric stash, I came across an old bin of remnants. In it was the leftover scraps from the red, white and blue quilts. Today, I would consider some of those fabrics outdated and never considering buying them now and others are so adorable I wish I had more.  So I took them all out and sorted through them and found some sewn strips.  So I took them and made them into a stacked coins pillow cover. 

After completing it, I found it a perfect spot on the front porch rocker.  Now that it has a place, I envision making a table cover for the bistro table on the porch as well. 

The Lickety Split Bag

In my search for the perfect bag, I ended up ordering this pattern from Made By Rae. I attempted my own version of a bag but I do like this one better. It's deeper and squarer than the one I created.  I used some cute fabric to make this one as a sort of prototype.  That way if I didn't like the bag, I can give it away and I didn't use the fabric that I want for my bag. 

The bad thing about that is if I like the bag, now I have to make another one. I think that's what will happen with this one. I do like it.  However, I will test it out by carrying a few things around in it for a few hours before I get out my special fabric I've been saving. 

While working on this, I decided I needed a new place to photograph bags.  It's raining outside today so any outdoor shots were out of the question. I wasn't sure where to start when I literally tripped over my old dress form.  This dress form is very very old.  It was my husband's mother's and she has been gone since he was 14 years old.  So it has tons of sentimental value to him. 

The problem is that it is metal with a felt-like fabric attached that is wearing away.  It really doesn't look great. For some reason, I had this piece of ripped bedsheet folded neatly in my fabric remnants. Don't know where it came from or why it's in my sewing stuff but it gave me an idea. What a great cover it would make! It has to have a thread count of at least 600, it is so sturdy and thick I could hardly get pins through it to cover the dress form.  With some of the leftover sheet, I ripped a piece to tie around the waist and neck to show off it's nice shape. I think my husband will be pleasantly surprised when he sees it.

The Love Bag

I took a shot at designing my own bag. I used the handle pieces of a McCall's pattern in order to get the right length for the shoulder strap and I just measured up the approximate size I thought I would like.  I added some pockets and lining too.


I used it over the weekend to carry my camera and GPS on our trip to Cincinnati and I discovered I didn't quite like the size.  I loved the strap, it was just right.  And the tie is cool since it could be adjusted shorter as necessary but I liked it long. The bag part was a little too shallow for me.  I need it to be deeper.  So I will try again.  I do like the cute fabric.

A Baby Quilt

My cousin lives in Mason, Ohio which is a 5-hour drive from my house.  Her son and his wife are expecting their first baby and we received an invitation to their baby shower.  It may seem strange to go so far for a baby shower however, my cousin is hosting it at her house as a BBQ, Beer & Baby event.  Now doesn't that sound like much more fun than just a baby shower?  Both my husband and I received an invitation so it sounded like fun and more like a mini-reunion with my uncle, aunt, and other cousins.

Of course a baby shower for me means a new quilt.  I was thrilled with the idea that I could use up some of the fabric I already have so I quickly made up this four-patch simple quilt with bright and cute baby prints. 

I look forward to heading to the Cincinnati area and maybe stopping at a few antique shops on the way back.  Plus they have Yuengling and we can't get it here so I'm definitely bringing some of that back.  :-)

Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt Completed

I finished the Bloom Bloom Pow quilt today.  I sent it out to be quilted.  Renee at Quilting Innovations did the work for me.  She has a full time job and quilts in her spare time so between that and my schedule, it was a month from dropping it off to picking it up.  Not that is mattered to me, I would never want to rush such excellence. 

I made the bias binding from Kona white.  I did not want the binding to be noticeable. Of course, that would be tough on this quilt. I love the back, the solid color is a great canvas for the quilted circles. 

I am so glad it's finished and I really enjoyed the quilt along hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced which is where I got the instructions for making this quilt.