This is the little twist bag that I made to match the tote bag that I made for my oldest granddaughter, Lilah. It is made from the same fabric as the tote bag. I had a little trouble figuring out how to add a pocket to the inside of the bag, but after one false start and one near miss, I got it done. I hope she likes them both.
My oldest granddaughter likes "spooky things" so I decided to make her a book bag with this cute skull fabric from Me & My Sister's Fab-boo-lous fabric line. I added some pockets, which I haven't done in the past with these book bags, because she said that she likes big bags with pockets. Hopefully the pockets function okay. Two are small and one is quite large. I probably should have added a Velcro closure to the top of the large one. Oh well, you live and learn.
I'm also planning to make her a smaller twist bag from the same fabric. I have a matching twist bag and book bag set (in different fabric) and I enjoy having them match. Hopefully she'll enjoy it too.
This is the finished quilt that I was making for Scarlett. I decided to name it Blushing Star because of the soft pink fabric that makes up the star in the center.
I quilted this myself with an all-over flowers and swirls design (machine quilted - hand guided). The thread is Isacord color 1760 Twine. I attached the binding to the front and turned it to the back. It was finished by machine with a straight stitch.
I'm a little ahead of the game on these. They are kitchen towels that I plan to give to my mother for Mother's Day. I noticed that my mother has started collecting swan-themed items, so I decided to make her some swan themed kitchen towels. The quilted part that wraps around the oven door handle is made with swan fabric.
The quilted part was done using my long-arm quilter in a swirl pattern. I quilted a piece of fabric that was about 7 inches by the width of the fabric then cut it down into 6-1/2 inch squares. I rounded off the corners of the squares and then attached bias binding to make the equivalent of a potholder. I then sewed the "potholder" to the center of the kitchen towel, gathering in the towel to make it match the width of the potholder. I then attached a button to the side opposite the loop and use the loop as a button hole.
The bias binding was cut at 1-1/4 inches wide, but I think I will try 1-1/2 inches next time. I think that would be a little easier to work with.
Gus's quilt is finished and ready to give. Even though it was technically finished after Christmas, that didn't really matter, because we weren't going to see them until after Christmas (Dec. 29), so all is well.
I quilted this one in an all over meander pattern using white cotton thread from Hobby Lobby. It's not my favorite thread, but it's what I had. I feel like it doesn't unwind as smoothly as the polyester thread, so the stitches come out a little less even.
The binding was attached to the front and turned to the back, then machine stitched down using a small zigzag stitch in matching red thread.
Disclaimer: This post is being backdated to the date I finished the quilt. I was having computer issues and didn't get things posted in a reasonable time frame, but I wanted the quilt to show up in the right time frame when I look back at the year.
This quilt is a baby shower gift for my daughter-in-law's sister. I actually finished it over a week ago, but I forgot to post about it. I still need to attach the label, but other than that, it's done. Which is a good thing, since the baby shower is this Saturday.
I decided to name it "All Star" because the pattern is obviously a star, and it is quilted with a stars and loops motif. I used an off-white thread from Hobby Lobby to do the quilting. The binding was attached by machine and hand turned to the back.
I finished the binding on this quilt about a week ago, but I just got the label on it Saturday night. I named it Little Ladies because of the cute little girls on the fabric. I started this quilt back in 2015, and I was planning to finish it then and donate it to the blanket drive that my church was doing at that time. But my sewing room flooded while I was working on it, so I didn't have the opportunity to finish it for that purpose. Ultimately it got stashed away and became one of my many UFOs. Fast forward 10 years, and my 7 year old granddaughter decided that it was "adorable," so I've decided to give it to her as part of her birthday present when she turns 8 in a couple of months.
I quilted it with my long-arm quilter in a hearts and swirls all-over pattern. The top thread is a denim blue color (Isacord Ash Blue #3853) and bottom thread is a cream color (Isacord Twine #1760). The binding is attached to the front by machine and turned to the back by hand. This is my second finished UFO for this year.
Running total of goals accomplished:
Today I finished up the last bag officially on my to-do list. It's a bag for my youngest son's girlfriend, Ruthie. She likes wizards and her favorite color is purple. I made it the same size as the one for Gus, because my son said that she liked to be able to carry big things.
The fabrics that I used for the outside of the bag were fabrics that were already in my stash. I bought fabric for the lining and thread for top stitching and quilting.
I quilted the top fabric to the batting using my long-arm machine, just like I did for the last one. This one is quilted in swirls to match the swirls in the fabrics.
I'm planning to send it to her for a Christmas present. Nothing says Christmas like wizards, right? LOL!
When I was at Missouri Star Quilt Company, I saw this floral and skull fabric and it made me think of my daughter-in-law, Kim. She paints flowers and she's into goth/morbid motifs, so I thought it was a good combination for her. The accent fabric is from the same fabric line and has a spider web design. The lining of the bag is black skeletons on a cream-colored background.
I might try making a small twist bag with the leftover fabric, if there is enough. I'll have to see.
Earlier this year when my younger daughter was visiting, she saw a kitchen towel that I have which buttons onto the handle of the oven door. She commented that she needed towels like that for her kitchen, because her toddler is always pulling the towels off, and they end up on the floor. The one that I have was made with a hot pad and a towel sewn together. When we were out in Washington, where she lives, I was going to make her some, but I couldn't find any towels and hot pads that I liked and thought would actually work in this application. So I decided to use some left over quilting fabric and make little quilted hot pads (with regular batting, not heat resistant). I think they turned out really cute. The way the towel is gathered where it is sewn to the hot pad, they almost look like little dresses. Here are a couple of them hanging on my oven door.
I hope she likes them. I hope that having them attached to the oven door doesn't upset my grandson too much either. I'm sure he'll learn how to unbutton them pretty quickly if he really wants them down. He's a real problem solver in situations like that.
My oldest daughter asked me to make a book bag for my three year old grandson to take to the library. She wanted it to be wide enough to accommodate large books that were 12 inches wide, so I modified the pattern that I used earlier this year for a bag for my mother, and made this bag. It measures about 15 inches tall, with a base that is 5 inches by 12 inches.
She suggested either trains or big trucks for the theme. I couldn't find any train fabric that I liked, but I found this fabric with heavy equipment on it at Hobby Lobby. I think he should like it, and I think it will hold plenty of toddler books. I hope mom and son both like it and enjoy it.
After possibly 20 years, this quilt is finally finished. I really don't remember when I started it, but the copyright printed in the selvage of the fabric was 2002. I know I started it when we lived in the house before this one, which we moved into in the fall of 2008. It's been a long journey, but I finally got it across the finish line (Ha! Ha!). The name was my husband's suggestion, and I thought it was a good one. I gave the completed quilt to my son last night. He said that he's really not into NASCAR, but that he didn't mind having another blanket. Maybe at some point I'll make him a quilt that represents something he actually likes. And maybe it won't take 20 year to make.
Anyway, the quilting was mostly about practice and trying out motifs. The outer border is a large meander. The inner border and sashing is done with cursive Ls. Reading left to right and top to bottom, the block motifs are still water, circles/cobblestones, swirls, leaves, stars and loops, and flames. The cobblestones show up too much, mostly because the thread was too light a color for that much quilting on that fabric.
Since this was the first actual quilt that I quilted on a long-arm machine, it was a learning experience. I was just using thread that came with the machine and learning to quilt in a new way. If I were doing it over, I'd use a medium gray thread instead of the white and gray variegated threaded that it's mostly quilted in. I ran out of thread before it was finished and I bought some light gray thread that matched what I was already using the best that I could.
Also, if I were buying the fabric for this quilt today, I probably wouldn't have bought black and white checkerboard fabric for the binding. I think I would have done it in red. I decided to cut the binding on the bias, because I thought it would look better. I think that was a good idea. I did the binding completely by machine, but I sewed the label on by hand. The label also has the bias checkerboard around the outside. I really wouldn't want to bind a whole quilt by hand with that fabric. Mostly because in many places you are sewing black to black, which is very difficult to see.
Quite a while back my middle son, who will turn 33 on Friday, mentioned that he had would like some fabric (or yarn) Ninja throwing stars for him and his daughter to play with. I hadn't thought about it since shortly after he mentioned it, but making the coasters reminded me. So, for his birthday I decided to surprise him with some fabric throwing stars.
They are made from some scraps of fabric that were left over from making a quilt. I used fabric that was quilted to batting (cut aways from having the quilt long-armed) and matching non-quilted fabric, using the same technique I used for making the coasters yesterday. This time I cut them into little equilateral triangles using my triangle ruler (3 inches) and then sewed two completed triangles on top of each other.
I think they make nice little throwing stars, and the process was much easier for me than the crocheted one that I've seen online. I crochet a little, but not much and nothing fancy.
Last night when we were Facetiming, my step-daughter mentioned that her one year old can't be allowed to get hold of their cork coasters because he bites them and takes chunks out of them. (And he had done the same thing with a cork trivet from the table.) So this morning I decided to use some of the fabric that was left over from making her wedding quilt to make some fabric coasters. I made a set of 4. They are quilted to the batting and then sewn to another square fabric and turned right-side out. Then I sewed around the outside to close up the hole and stabilize them.
I'm not sure which side should be the "right" side of these. On the set I made before the quilted side was definitely intended to be the right side. But on these I think I might like the plain side better than the quilted side. The good thing is that they are completely reversible, so she can use them however she wants to.
I decided to make a tote bag for my mother for Mother's Day this year. The main fabric of the bag features angels and the words to the song "Amazing Grace". The accent fabric, which makes up the bottom, top rim, and handles of the bag, reminded me of stained glass windows like you might see in a church. I liked how they looked together.
The bag is approximately 15 inches tall and 15 inches wide, with a 5 in bottom. The handles were cut at 23 inches long, and were set in 4 inches from the side seams. The size of the bag is patterned after a tote bag that I use regularly when traveling, so hopefully she will get good use out of it.
I made this rainbow colored bag for my oldest granddaughter's 7th birthday, which is coming up later this month. It is a highly modified version of a Japanese Twist bag that was patterned in Quiltmaker magazine a few decades ago. The outer shell of the bag is machine quilted. The shoulder strap was cut at 28 inches long and is padded with quilt batting. The little flap has sew on Velcro for the closure. I think it turned out really cute. I hope she likes it.
Now I just need to buy some stickers and gel pens to go with the rainbow journal I made for her, and I'll be all set for her birthday.
It is composed of 4 signatures with 4 sheets in each signature. The end pages are purple 24# paper. The book cloth is made from left over quilting fabric bonded to tissue paper with sewable heat 'n' bond. The book board is made from two layers of cardboard (brownie mix boxes) glued together, and the spine board is a single thickness of the same cardboard.
The journal is made with 4 sheets each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple copy paper (24# weight) sewn together into one signature per color. The end pages are cut from scrap-booking paper that I bought at Hobby Lobby. The book board is cereal box cardboard pieces, two thicknesses glued together. The book cloth is left-over quilting fabric with tissue paper adhered to it with heat-n-bond.
I think it turned out pretty nice, but I'm still nervous about the whole process - especially gluing the text block and cover together.
The cover is made from an old cereal box. I used cotton fabric, heat 'n' bond, and tissue paper (the kind for gift giving, not for nose blowing) to make the book cloth. On the last one (my husband's journal) I used featherweight interfacing on cotton cloth and I didn't like the results as well. It was a bit harder to work with and didn't bond as well. I like this method better.
The end pages are made from scrapbook paper I bought at Hobby Lobby. They don't do "Halloween" but the orange and black circles give a nice Halloween look anyway.
The text block is made from 12 sheets of orange printer paper that I had on hand. It was constructed as 4 signatures of 3 sheets each. I sewed them together using thin yellow crochet twine and a curved upholstery needle. I trimmed the text block using an old rotary cutter that I only use for paper. It worked better than I thought it would, actually.
It's a thin little journal, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I hope that she will like it. I don't plan to give it to her until October.
One of my oldest friends is going to be a grandmother for the first time, and this quilt is for her soon-to-be-born granddaughter. I finished the binding about 10 days ago, but I just got the label on it today. I'm thinking that I might pre-wash it before I give it to them. All the wrinkles from the folds bother me a bit and pre-washing baby items seems like a good idea, so that new parents have one less thing to worry about.
This quilt is made from a quilt top that I made back in 2020. It is one of the UFOs that I wanted to get finished this year. The finished quilt is 40 inches square. I machine quilted it echoing the seam lines around all the concentric squares. It is a pattern that I designed myself and have used for a little quilt for one of my grandsons, too.
