A Book Bag for Lilah

 

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. 

August/September Raffle Block

 

I made this block for our bi-monthly raffle.  It's a puzzle block called Jigsaw Patch by Amanda Weatherill. For every block you make, you get one chance at winning all the blocks.  Several people made blocks with primary colors, so I decided to, too.  This one is made from scraps of leftover fabric from the train quilt that I made for my grandson last Christmas.

Blushing Star

 

 

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. 

Cascades of Glory finished

 

This is the finished quilt from this quilt top.  It was quilted by a member of my quilt guild.  She volunteered to quilt all of the Quilts of Honor we are awarding this year.  She purchased a special 250th Anniversary quilting design and is using it on all the quilts this year.

I sewed the binding to the front of the quilt and turned it to the back, doing the whole process on my sewing machine. I used a dark blue thread for the top stitching.  The quilt was quilted in an off-white thread, and it might have been better to match that, but I didn't.  It looks fine.

Quilt Top for Scarlett

 

This quilt top is basically a large carpenter's wheel block (32") with a border (4"), but the fabric placement in the outer wheel part is designed to look like flowers.  After it was mostly sewn together, I thought it would have looked good (maybe better) if I had added a half-sqaure triangle of green at the base of each flower to continue the green square and add a green base to the flower.  But I didn't want to take out the necessary seams for that.  If I make one again with this design, I might try it that way.  

The print fabric is from the Muse line of fabric from 3 Sisters by Moda.  The green is Art Gallery Fresh Sage, and the background is Kona Snow.  The binding will be the same scarlet color as the centers of the flowers and the backing fabric will be another Muse print. 

Six Pillowcases

 

My quilt guild makes and donates pillowcases to the Pike County Child Advocacy Center.  When we were filling out our UFO sheet for this year, I put "make pillowcases" as one of my goals.  I have lots of novelty fabric in my stash that I thought would work well for pillowcases.  Of course, I didn't just use fabric from my stash.  The woodland creature fabric and the butterfly fabric were bought from Hobby Lobby just for the pillowcases, as were the gray and pink the accent fabrics.

The pillowcases are easy to make.  The hardest part, to me, is cutting the 27 inch x width of fabric pieces for the main body of the pillowcase.  My cutting tools don't easily accommodate that size. It only takes 2 seams to create the pillowcase.  I over-locked the long seam for stability.

Little Paintings

 

A couple of weeks ago I watched a YouTube video from Nano Art about making a small painting each day that reflects your mood or what's on your mind.  She called it painting your feelings.  I decided to try it and I've enjoyed doing it.  I don't always do one everyday and sometimes I've worked on one painting over two days, when it required multiple layers that needed to dry in between.  Sometimes the painting is abstract and simple and other times it's more detailed and realistic.  Obviously, it just depends on my mood, as it should.  I thought I'd share my progress.

Cascades of Glory top

 

I designed this quilt years ago but just recently bought fabric to make it.  It is a variation on the "Cascades" quilt that I made years ago, using a jelly roll and a charm pack.  This quilt is smaller and uses yardage instead of precuts.  This is the second quilt that I'm making for my quilt guild's Quilts of Honor project.  The top measures 56-1/2 x 72-1/2 inches.

Quilt of Honor finished

 

My first Quilt of Honor is finished, all but the label, and I'm not responsible for that part.  I took the quilt top to the guild member that quilts them, and she had it finished and back to me the next day.  It has the 250th Anniversary design for the quilting and I think that the thread is white on top and gray on the back.

I decided to attach the binding by machine.  I sewed it to the back of the quilt and turned it to the front.  I sewed it down with a simple straight stitch.  I think it looks nice that way, and I'm able to finish it much faster than hand turning the binding.