No News is Good News

Hi Friends!

I am working on a few gifts this week so nothing to share as of yet :) I am also working on finishing up the blue, batiks table runner that I was working on last week. All that is left is the binding - hurrah!!

More to come next week - enjoy the nice weather!

Angela S.

Snow Day Sewing

I spent the past few weeks finishing up a few of my 'Three Times the Charm' quilts that needed attention. I finished the top for Dora back in December but I wasn't sure what I wanted to use for backing. I finally decided on a lilac minky dot fabric. It is amazing - the cat and I are both really liking this one :) I did add an extra border in order to make it large enough to be a lap quilt for me.

Dora

 I also finished up the Emma quilt that I had started during the same time as Dora. The quilt is flannel, front and back, with no batting. I bought the sashing and borders at a shop when I didn't have the original fabric along...this isn't my favorite quilt ever but I do really like the pattern. I sewed this quilt right-sides together and then flipped it right-side out in order to get myself out of binding it :)

Emma

I also made a quick self-binding baby blanket for a friend this week as well. I had bought a bag of scraps with no plan so this was perfect!

Here is the next project that I am working on...

We'll see how this table runner actually turns out. Right now its pretty questionable! I figure since it's still snowing here in SD I can work with snowflake fabric

Happy sewing!

Angela S.

Ice Day

Hi all - Sioux Falls had a major ice storm roll through this week. It was then followed by snowfall of 6-8 inches depending on where you are in town. We were only without power a few hours of Wednesday and another couple of hours on Thursday but we were thankful to have overnight power to keep us warm. I am so thankful that we do not have large trees on our property like many people in Sioux Falls. The clean-up efforts going on here are just massive.

I will have a regular post out again on Wednesday but until then here are some of the photos that I took from our ice storm. 

Angela S.

2013 Goal Update

Here are the updates from my New Year's goal list :) I have a pretty good start on some things but I really need to kick it in gear with my wheelchair/walker bags. It is so easy to get distracted by shining new fabric and new patterns!

• 13 charity pillowcases for the One Million Pillowcase Challenge - I have finished 5 pillowcases so far
• 13 toiletries bags for Heirloom Creations - zero completed to date
• 13 random sewing projects from Pinterest -three done
• 26 wheelchair/walker bags for the Good Samaritan Society -three done

• 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month quilt - top done
• Beginner's Quilt-Along quilt - top done
• 'Hometown' fabric shower curtain - completely done and hanging up!
  
• Scaredy Cats wall hanging - top done
• Paper pieced Christmas cat wall hanging - these pieces were put into my round robin group for the quilt guild.
• Continue working through the book 'Three Times the Charm' - I have finished up a few tops and I am working on getting backing fabric now.

Happy sewing!

Angela S.

oliver + s: have it all wallet

This weekend I finally got to work on my 'Have It All Wallet' pattern. I had ordered the pattern off of a company through Amazon....and they were lame and didn't even ship the pattern by the time that I was supposed to have it. So I ordered this from the company directly instead :) much better move.

I started working on the wallet on Friday night by cutting out all of the pieces and making copies of the pattern pieces that I needed. Once I started sewing on Saturday afternoon it took about 2 hours to complete. 

This pattern is very different than most patterns that I use because it includes pattern pieces and does not give you the measurements for the cuts of fabric. If you are familiar with garment construction this will be old hat for you. Personally I have now measured out all pieces and written them down so that I don't need to use the pattern pieces anymore. 

Finished product!

 This wallet can organize a lot of items for you. There is a spot for a smartphone, a zippered change pocked, a place for dollar bills/checkbook register, 6 card slots and another open slot of coupons/receipts.

I love the finished product and can't wait to make a few more!

Angela S.

Half Moon Bay: 6-Pack Bag

I figured it was high time to make another bag :) I have only seen this bag made in batiks so I was a little concerned about making it in solids but I think it turned out really nicely. 

The pattern is available here. The really great thing about the bag is that it only take 6 fat quarters and some fusible fleece. The quilting on the bag is very minimal so don't let that scare you away either! I think that the quilting could be done in any fashion - I just tried going around each block the best I could. When I make this bag again I think I may just do a large free motion stipple design instead.

I would say that the hardest part of making this bag was all of the cutting!! Some of the pieces get fairly small and you have to be very certain that you are cutting the right pieces to the right length -- there is very little room for error. If you choose to make this pattern, also keep in mind that in order to have the 'background' fabric stay the same on each side of the bag you will need to have 2 fat quarters of the same fabric. The remaining 4 can be different and will end up being the pockets and blocks on the bag. 

Happy first day of spring!!

Angela S.

A Hometown Shower Curtain

BATHROOM PICTURES AHEAD

....consider yourself warned :)

I finally finished up the shower curtain that i have been working on. I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to attach the fabric to the shower curtain so that stopped me for a while. The shower curtain is a waffle weave fabric and I bought it from Target for about $15. 

This fabric was originally supposed to be made into a quilt and it did start out that way BUT I decided to tear it apart. I took out a few strategic seams and put in a few others to make it into a long strip instead of a square. This provided me a length of fabric/blocks that could go either vertically or horizontally on the curtain. I then just added a few inches of a border to the top and bottom so that I didn't have to worry about piecing those hexagons onto the curtain. 

The original pattern for this came from the book "Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Lintott. This pattern is called Hexagon Hip Hop.

The fabric that I used it the Hometown line by Sweetwater for Moda. My mom and I are both in love with this line and wish that we would have bought more when it was available :( I did have some luck this weekend in the fact that a shop fairly close by still had 2 layer cakes available...and of course my nice husband drove me there in bad weather just so that I could buy both of them. He is a keeper!

Have a great rest of the week!

Angela S.

Poochie Bag - Pinterest Find

This weekend while messing around in my sewing room I got distracted by Pinterest - go figure. I saw these cute little bags that only took 3 fat quarters to finish and the pattern was from Monica of The Happy Zombie so I knew that I had to check it out. Her patterns can be found in Quilts and More Magazine on a pretty regular basis and on All People Quilt(just search for her name).

I had some 1/2 yard cuts that didn't have a home so now they have been put to use!

You can find the pattern for the bag here. If you attempt the bag my advice is to be very careful with the cutting. The bags have cute pockets on both sides, lining and you can finish the bottoms in 3 different ways. I went with the 2" MCC(Milk Carton Corners). The bags finish fairly small but the finished size will depend on how you do the corners.

When my husband saw the bag he just started laughing....its a good thing I found him otherwise I would probably be even more of a crazy cat lady! But seriously....how funny are those cats :)

This brings me to Pinterest Project #3 for the year. I think I'll run out of time before I ever run out of pins!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Angela S.

Greta - 3 Times the Charm

Greta from '3 Times the Charm' has finally been pieced together! The charm pack that I used is from the line Sea Salt by Moda. This isn't my normal color palette but I really like some of the patterns in here. The sashing and border are both on the tame side which I think really helps bring the focus inward.

This week I also worked on a small baby quilt. This kit was from the Fabric Bin in Aberdeen. I love the little owls and racoons that are featured on it. This includes both cuddle and cotton fabric which I think is perfect for a baby quilt. It isn't technically 'quilted' since i just sewed the front to the back and then flipped it right side out but I did tack down the center panel to avoid issues when it gets thrown in the wash. 

Have a great rest of the week! Spring is almost here!

Angela S.

Lazy Girl Candice Bag

My fabric stash got the best of me this weekend and I just had to make myself a bag :)

I received a gift card for the fabric shop in Aberdeen at Christmas time and made good use of it right away. I had originally planned to make the Professional Tote by The Creative Thimble however after going through the pattern I realized that I wasn't quite up to the task. I ended up using the Candice pattern by Lazy Girl Designs instead. 

I love patterns from Lazy Girl because they always have lots of pictures for me to follow. From cutting the fabric to throwing the bag over my shoulder it took about 6 hours...it would have been 5 however I initially made the pocket for my planner going vertically and with the zipper it didn't fit. I, of course, didn't figure that out until I had already stitched close the bottom seam. So I took that apart, did a little seam ripping, installed the new pocket stitches and went on with life - no big deal :)

The only change that I made to the pattern was to make the front and back of the bag look the same. If i had followed the pattern the backside of the bag would only be the tortoiseshell print and there would be no pocket. I thought having pockets on both sides would be great. 

 

 

I love all of the pockets! The pattern gives you great information on how to make the large pocket so that it will fit a planner, iPad, Nook or whatever you would like.  

 

The fabric that I used is from Tula Pink and the line is called Salt Water. 


 I hope you are all staying warm out there. Personally I will not be upset if I get snowed in and have to sew all weekend!!

Angela S.