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.  

Round Robin 2013

This week I was able to complete another walker bag and a block for my guilds round robin that is starting this month. 

 This walker bag is my favorite so far. I think the dimensions are a bit better and the middle section( where the handles are attached) is reinforced with flat felled seams. I have not used these before but I think it will really help sturdy the bag up. 

The block that I created for the round robin includes 2 paper pieced cats and then 2 fabric cuts to make a type of windowpane. The round robin starts this month and there are 6 people in my group. Each month we will trade projects so by the end of the project everyone will have worked on each block/row. My piece is 16x14ish so I'm not sure if people will treat it like a row or a block - either way I am excited!

This weekend I am hoping to get a few more walker bags done and finally piece together the quilt blocks that are on my design wall. I also reallllly want to work on a new bag for myself but we'll see!

More to come!

Angela S. 

Charm Pack Lovin'

Valentine's Day is fast approaching so I thought it was about time to work on some lovey projects. I found a great Valentine's charm pack from Sandy Gervais called 'Flirt'. It has some great colors in it and has a really modern feel to it. 

Out of 1 charm pack I am making two table runners. Here is the first all done up and the second is pieced but not yet quilted. I started with the smaller one first since it will just go on an end table. I find that its helpful for me to make a 'test' run of some things. This was definitely one of those things that the second time around will work/look better :)

The pattern for the large runner is from the following video:

In addition to working on table runner I am also prepping binding for my Coffee Cats quilt. Here is a sneak preview of the quilting on it.

Mmmmm mmmm mmm. Just looking at all of those quilted coffee mugs makes me want some hot chocolate right now! The binding on the quilt is going to be the green color and I can't wait to get it all finished up. Chief must really like it as well since he has been making it HIS since I brought it home :)

Have a great week!

Angela S.

Slowly but surely...

I have been spending most of my time this week working on my 2012 Craftsy BOM quilt. So far all 16 blocks are completed and I have sewn in the sashings...they do need to be trimmed however. The cat is already a huge fan of this quilt. Anywhere I put the quilt down he has to be on it :)

The cat finally found something more interesting in the house so I was able to get the top and bottom sashing put on. Once those were put on he of course needed to investigate - again. 

While I was waiting for the cat to move I started working on 'Greta', another quilt from "Three Times the Charm". I had sewn the blocks during my holiday sewing lounge but I didn't have a chance to get them together. Here is what I have arranged so far. I'm still working on getting things looking just right. There are only 9 blocks and each block requires 4 pieces so I have a few extras to work with if I don't like what I see.

Here is a close-up of the pretty fabric. This is all from a kit that I purchased while shopping in Minnesota :) They had 2 different kits from the same book - both of which I have greatly appreciated. I can't wait to get back to this shop again!

Stay warm!!

Angela S. 

Brrrr - Winter is getting serious

As I type, the temperature here is -1 degree. If you factor in the wind chill it feels like -21 degrees out there. Hence the reason I am staying inside all day sewing!

I started out by attacking my scrap basket and fabrics that have been gifted to me. I found the perfect blocks to use while making up some walker/wheelchair bags. Here are a few of the blocks all sewn together. This is actually a shot of what the back of each bag looks like.These pretty blocks were all string pieced together with nowhere to go - so now hopefully they will be making someones day.

Here are the finished bags! 

Bag 1

Bag 2

And together now :)

 The last photo shows both the front and backs of the bags. The left side is the back and the right side is the front. The front side has one large pocket, two smaller pockets and a small slot for a pen to fit. The back side is different on these bags - one has a large pocket(top) and the other has two smaller pockets(bottom). Personally I think the one with two large pockets would work better because you can roll-up magazines and fit them in there but who knows! I will have to check with the volunteer coordination at Good Sam and see which she thinks people will prefer. 

Pinterest Project #2

I didn't work off of a pattern but more like a general idea. The video below gave some great instructions however since I was working with scraps, wanted to add an extra pocket AND needed to add a pen holding pocket I adjusted as necessary.

While thinking about not going outside I was reminded about something I had seen on Pinterest a long time ago. A hooded scarf or scoodie.  I had bought the fabric to make one this fall and just didn't get around to it so here we are. I used tan sweatshirt fabric and purple flannel to make mine. I wasn't exactly sure how long I wanted to make the scarf part but I think this will be a nice size to wrap around your neck in the winter and not worry about adding to much bulk underneath your coat. The tutorial that I used can be found here.

With all of that I'm off to drink another cup of hot cocoa!

Angela S.