I know that I always seem to find other projects as the year goes on but these are a few things that I want to focus on. I know that I have fabric to do the smaller projects but this will also give me some liberty to shop for larger cuts - especially for pillowcases.
I also have a few on-going projects that I would like to finish:
2012 Craftsy Block of the Month quilt
Beginner's Quilt-Along quilt
'Hometown' fabric shower curtain
Scaredy Cats wall hanging
Paper pieced Christmas cat wall hanging
Continue working through the book 'Three Times the Charm'
I'll let you know how I'm doing as the year goes on :)
This week I got to spend some time at Heirloom Creations sewing with a few other gals. We got to hang out and sew the entire time the store was open AND they fed us lunch everyday -- awesome!!
I started the week by working on pillowcases :)
LOVE the Grinch!!
These fabrics used to be a 5-yard quilt kit...but they have been converted to 5 pillowcases instead.
I also started working on a few more patterns out of the 'Three Times the Charm' book.
Meet Charlotte!! She is done up in Christmas prints and I'm hoping to spend Christmas Day quilting her.
Meet Dora!! Well hell-o thirties prints. I loved this little charm pack so much that I just had to make the quilt bigger. The pattern does not call for the small white border around the blocks but I thought it really helped set the blocks apart. The original pattern also did not call for the second, larger border but again -- once I got started I just couldn't stop!
I am going to the shop again tomorrow so hopefully I have more to show you this weekend. Now for the task of actually quilting all of these!! Happy quilting! Angela S.
In sad news, the pictures of my gifts are lost somewhere but I have pictures of the gifts that I received. That said while I don't have pictures - here is the link to the tutorial that I used to make my gifts:
The premise behind the party was just like that of a cookie exchange. You bring 6 presents, you get 6 presents back. You bring twelve presents, you get twelve presents back. In my case 6 was the lucky number.
We started the night off with drinks, appetizers and dessert-type snacks. From there we all drew a number and got in line around the gift table. We were not told who brought what gift so that made picking your gifts each time very difficult! Also you had to plan for the fact that for some of the gifts there were only 6 meaning that the next time you got in line....those gifts could already be gone!! Each time around you drew a number again to get in line and pick a gift for that round.
SO ---without further hesitation here are the gifts I received!!
chipboard Christmas album
envelope cluth
notebook cover with antique fabric and lace
fabric cornucopia with antique fabric and lace
embroidered gift bag with decorated ornament
milk glass pincushion
When Heirloom Creations posts videos/photos from the event I will post a link to them so you can see the events in action! When the night ended we talked about having another party sometime this spring so I will keep you all posted :) And now to prepare for my Christmas-time sewing retreat -- lots of fabric to cut! Have a great rest of the week! Angela
Whew - my Pinterest Party gifts are all complete!! With that said I got to do some quick sewing this weekend. Here is what I was working on :)
Here the table topper is before being all sewn together.
The pattern that I used was named 'Bertha' in the "3 Times the Charm!" book. While shop-hopping this summer I picked up two kits for the 'Greta' quilt - oops. Thankfully the 'Greta' takes a lot more fabric than the 'Bertha' so i have plenty of fabric for the top AND enough to make up the backing. This will end up being a wedding gift for a special person :)
If you haven't seen this book before it is really great. All seven patterns are shown in three different color ways which I think is really helpful! This was a quick pattern to cut and the quilt will end up being about 24x27 inches which would be great for a table topper or a doll quilt. I think you could also use this as a cute wall hanging.
Here is the table topper with all blocks sewn together and with borders attached.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have a good start on your Christmas gifts!
I picked up the kit for my latest bag from Heirloom Creations before I left for vacation in October. I finally got it finished up now -- eek! Oh well, better later than never. This bag provided me with a much needed break this weekend since I was working on Pinterest Party gifts again.
Heirloom Creations is doing a 'Bag of the Month' type of things these days so they had kits and patterns all ready to go. Here is a link to their article for the October bag of the month. As you can see mine should have flowers on the outside pocket but I didn't like that fabric as much so I made that the 'main body' of the bag.
The pattern for the bag is from Pink Sand Beach Designs and I have to tell you it was a little confusing! I think my issue was that I had cut out my fabric a few weeks ago and then didn't get back to it today so i had to keep measuring my pieces to see if they were the front, the back, a pocket or a lining. Next time I make the bag I will be labeling my pieces :)
The inner pocket of the bag is bag enough to fit my iPad with room to spare! The top of the bag has a zipper closure and there is also a zippered pocket of the front(my cell phone is peeking out). On both sides of the bag there are open pockets and there is a set of pockets inside the bag as well.
I wore the bag out and about today while running errands and the length of the strap is perfect even while wearing a winter coat. In the summer this bag may look a little long on me but that can easily be adjusted next time I use the pattern.
I made a little trip out of town this weekend and FINALLY visited the Dell Rapids quilt shop, Always Your Design. I have seen this shop at a few quilt shows so it was nice to finally get there in person. My husband helped me pick out this great cat fabric.
I have no idea what I am going to make with this but it was just too cute to pass up!
I have got to get back to those Pinterest gifts now but I'll check in again soon!
So I have finally figured out what I am making for the Pinterest Party that I am going to! Here is a sneak peak of the fabrics that I am using.
Ohhhh aren't they just awesome! When I bought them I still had no clue what I was making so I just picked up two yards of each. I found both of them at the Fabric Bin in Aberdeen, SD. If you have not been there I highly suggest checking them out. I lived in Aberdeen for nearly 8 years and didn't step foot in the store until after I moved away - sad. Anyway they have TONS of great fabric and loads of samples. They also have a Facebook special every Friday. I happened to shop on a Friday and the special was $1.50 off each yard of bolted fabric - woohoo!
The plan is that I will start/finish cutting up my fabric this weekend and hopefully get a few things sewn since I have a 3-day weekend.
Tomorrow night it is time for my guild meeting and I just finished up the blocks for that. We made the Patience Block this month - pretty!! The guild provided the leaf fabric and I used some Kansas Troubles fabric that I thought went well with it.
This was an easy block to make and ended up being 12 inches. The last few we have made have all been smaller so its nice to get something this big for once. I think these blocks would be nice to make with leftover fabric and place on the back of a quilt. Well enough for now! Wish me luck with the Pinterest Party and I hope to have a few more things posted soon :) Angela S.
So I have finally finished the April blocks for Craftsy's BOM class. Whew! I don't know why but the hexagons just seemed like to much work. But I'm finally over it and here they are!
I think both blocks are going to have some updates made before they actually make it into the quilt but at least now they are 'finished' enough for me.
Along with these blocks I also started working on the July blocks -- Dresden plates ooooohhh!!
I really like the way this turned out. I tried not to think about the colors too much and just used 20 different fabrics from the fat quarter bundle that I started with. The next Dresden plate is going to be a more modern look and I should have that one done shortly :) Once July is done I will be working on the August, September and October blocks. My goal is to have the entire top done by the end of November so that I can get it in to my quilter before the end of the year. The gal that is putting on the class put up pictures of her finished quilt and I can't wait to see mine all done up as well! Have a great week! Angela S.
Just an update that I am working mostly on Christmas gifts right now so there are not a lot of pictures to show since I don't want to ruin the surprise for people :)In between those projectsI am working on a purse for myself and I will try to get that finished up and posted soon. In other news -- my sewing room is being rearranged and we had our first snowfall this morning! Crazy on both accounts!I will have pictures of the new sewing arrangement once I get the room put together in a reasonable fashion :)
I hope you all have a great weekend snuggled up with hot cocoa!
This past Saturday I was invited by my friend Gerri Lynn to come and sew up some make-up bags with her. The bags that she was sewing are for the annual 'Make-A-Difference Day' event that Heirloom Creations hosts at their store. The past few years I have not made any bags but I did go to the store to help fill the bags up. The bags are filled with travel-size shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, deodorant and a comb. Here we are filling up the bags last year! For the 10th annual event Heirloom Creations provided 1,250 of these make-up bags to Children's Inn and other charities in the community. It's a really exciting day at the store...mostly because the young Girl Scouts are there helping fill the bags and then also because we are trying to beat our total from the year before :)
Charity Gift Bag Event - 2011
I wasn't sure how much help I was really going to be to Gerri Lynn and her friends but I figured I would just be sewing at home anyway so why not go hang out with some other gals. We had an awesome day of sewing....mostly because we were fueled by some great food! Gerri Lynn and her husband Ken had a system worked out so that while he was cutting fabric, she was putting in zippers and I was sewing. Our other friend Deb was either putting in zippers or sewing the side seams of the bags with me depending on how far behind I was getting :)
Sewing and chatting away!
All in all we finished 270 of these bags! With the three of us sewing and Ken cutting it took about 7 hours but that's also accounting for my wonderful caramel roll breakfast and then our wild rice soup lunch mmmm mmmm good. Just imagine what a larger group of ladies could do! Also Deb and I were just using sewing machines and I would imagine that a serger would make quick work of those bags.
270 bags ready to be filled
If you would like to help fill the bags this year the event will be on Saturday, October 27th from 10am until the 'fillings' run out! Check out the Heirloom Creations link below for more information: 11th Annual Make-A-Difference Day – Charity Gift Bags
If you would like to help actually make the bags for the next Make-A-Difference Day event here is a link with the bag instructions:
These bags are such a nice size that you probably even have scraps that you could put together to finish a couple of them. Donations of the bags and 'fillings' are accepted throughout the year.
If this isn't something that interests you - no biggie! BUT I have to tell you that sitting and sewing with friends is an awesome way to spend time no matter what you are making :)
