A hint about the latest project

Hello, everyone.  Today's photo is a little tease about the latest work in process.

The squares of this item are chosen, trimmed to size as needed, laid out, and labeled for sewing into rows. 

All from stash, too! More later.

Using the scraps up

Hello, everyone.  

I'm working on a label/nametag to put onto a gift. It's not very big, just enough to decorate the box it's going on, and it actually fits my smallest embroidery hoop. 

I cut the felt a bit larger all around, and used my Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive to stick the felt on top of the stabilizer. (Also known as "floating" the fabric.) Then I thought about how the stitching will go on the felt. I really think itcwill want to sink into it. I looked around my sewingvroom and found a scrap of Sulky Solvy, left over from another project. It's just right to go onto the felt piece.

As y'all can see, I just gave it somecquick hand basting to hold it down. 

Another bit of stash is getting used up! Yay.

One more pair of the Hemingway pouches

Hello, everyone.  The slant-zipper pouches are so much fun--when the zipper cooperates!--that I made another pair. I used most of a fat quarter of ocean-themed fabric for the face and part of a blue, speckled one for the lining. Zippers were from stash, this particular pattern only uses one half of the zipper for a bag, leaving the other half in inventory to be combined with a zipper pull on another one. As witness, the larger of these pouches has a "pickup " pull and the maroon zipper tape that was also on a different pouch.

Now that there are three sets in the house, they will need to find a purpose to fulfill. The smaller ones are just the right size for coin purses. Phones would fit in some of the larger ones. 

Wow, it's been a while (edited for spelling corrections)

Hello, everyone.  Things got so busy for a while that I forgot to post. I will try to catch up now. 

After the San Antonio visit, we had a little road trip to see relatives. After that, I had a trip to see other relatives. While there, I happened to see some wildlife in the town. 

These deer were right next to a fairly busy road. 

On returning home, there was sewing. 

I finished the sewing club project to make a hanger pocket.

Converted an old sweatshirt into a cat bed, for when we get a kitty visitor.

Made a strap pad for use with the embroidery machine tote.

Made some puff breads with verdolaga filling. They were okay, but I don't think I'll do that recipe again.

Finally decided on a design for the striped canvas. 

Here, the finished canvas bag and three of the "Hemingway" slant-zipper bags. The one on the right was made from the off-cut of the one on the left.

And then applied the same re-use idea to the off-cut of the patchwork one above. These little zipper pouches are a lot of fun to make!

A break from the history (edited to add link)

Hello, everyone. This is a little update on sewing projects.

This baby quilt went together very smoothly. I used some of the squares in a layer cake and 10 inch squares of panda fabric, plus jelly roll strips and scrap 2.5 inch squares at the corners. (These little squares are sometimes called mini charms; some of them are small four patch squares.) 

One of the bags from the Ripstop By The Roll sample DIY kit. This was HyperD300 fabric, so it didn't turn into a stuff sack. It's too stiff for the drawstring closure. It did work well with a zipper. 

The other two bags from the kit, both in ripstop fabrics and using the provided drawstring and cord locks. The black one is a  really thin and slick ripstop, so it would do great with managing socks and lingerie on a trip. The green one is also ripstop, but it has a brushed feel rather like Taslan.

I tried to embroider on a scrap of the HyperD300, but the fabric drew up a lot. I did something wrong, but I don't know what yet.

That's all of the projects that have been photographed. Some others haven't posed for the camera yet. 

I always feel like I need to use the test stitching

Hello, everyone.  Today I finished a book tote. It started out as test stitches for the embroidered brown pillow last year. The pillow went to its new home, but the test swatch sat there staring at me. For months. Reminding me that something should be made from it.

Fortunately there was more of the red duck in the stash.

It is lined and has a slip pocket. There is also a small D ring at the side for a key chain or charm. It's the right size for many hard cover books, too. 

Fabric: cotton duck canvas from stash, quilting cotton lining also from stash.

A finished quilt, plus bonus from scraps

Hello, everyone.  There has been all kinds of activity around the home place. Particularly there has been sewing.

The baby quilt, draped over the sofa. (Nobody else was available to hold it up.)

Y'all might recognize the color scheme here.

This is the Quiltsmart Midi bag. The squares finish at 2 inches, the pattern comes printed onto fusible interfacing which makes the corner matching easier. I followed the directions to add a pocket, but I'm not excited for it, as the fold a pocket into one lining piece methods they use leaves one with a pocket on a 45 degree angle. (Oh well, I have now tried that idea out.) If I make another I'll either skip the pocket or use a more sensibly aligned method to put one in.

Color play: baby edition

Hello, everyone.  Today's post is looking at colors for a baby quilt. 

The little paper square in the middle is the concept. I'm thinking of the pinks as background and the teals as main color, with a central block of the turtle print.

I tried putting it into black and white: 

Some of the prints are interested in being the star of the show. That daffodils and Easter eggs print isn't sure if it's a pink or a teals!

A closer look at the idea. It's from the Moda Chains quilt, making only one quadrant and adding a couple top and bottom borders to get the blanket into a more oblong shape.

Trying out new things:pillow edition

Hello, everyone.  It's been chilly and the days just get consumed by this and that. 

I have a set of embroidery designs that calls itself Damask. They're all monochrome florals. 

This incorporates 2 of them. I did it in 3 colors but the 2 whites are pretty much the same color. Base fabric was not from stash. (!) I got some brown upholstery fake suede for this. It's a 12 inch pillow, very usable size. 

It did take over 70 minutes to stitch out. And the fabric required a size 14 needle.

It was fun hunting down something to put on a 12 inch pillow. Designs stash for the win!

Final finish of 2024!

Hello, everyone. Happy New Year to all of my readers!

The final finished project, just under the wire yesterday! is the panel quilt.

The reverse is in a cream colored Australian aboriginal style print, no fancy piecing or creatively used orphan blocks, just getting the job done.

Update on the quilt-in-progress

Hello,  everyone.  I hope all y'all had a merry Christmas. We've been busy, of course, but some progress has been happening on the quilt.

This is the present limit of the stitching; it's a machine sewn binding with mitered corners. (Autocorrect tried to confuse that sentence. I really have to look sharp all the time.) There actually is a fair amount of these greens in the quilt panel, on the various water-oriented parts, even though none is showing at this corner. Other than the twigs in the border that is.

I found these fabrics, except the binding, at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Denver last summer. They also had a really cool exhibit of a couple of kinds of quilt making. In depth coverage of the potential of the two way to work. We really enjoyed it, and also the quilt fabric shop attached. 😉

Just in time for Christmas,  I  completed a yarn bag gift. 

This was made from a Sew Can She pattern, except for quilting on the sides and some piecing. I got to use some of the cool hardware I got at the Houston Quilt Festival a couple of years ago, too. All fabrics and the foam stabilizer were from stash, because at the last minute who has time to shop?

Spray basting a new quilt

Hello, everyone. The weather in south Texas has finally cooled off. We walk in long sleeves in the morning now.

This is the newly spray basted quilt. It's mostly based on a panel print with a national parks theme. The happy Alaskan bear in the middle was added; there was a block of ugly text there that I didn't like.

This is the happy bear. He is an applique done with the embroidery machine, a design from John Deer. The Dipper and Pole Star above his head are embroidery. He has been echo quilted with navy blue thread, because there has to be enough quilting to hold the whole thing together when it is washed. 

As it's early days yet on the quilting,  there may be more added later on. We'll see how it looks.

The whole stable of pencil pouches

Hello, everyone. As the title says, I have finished the lot of the pencil pouches. Some are gifts for family and some are gifts for others.

As y'all can see, there is a variety of colors. After the first one, I switched to using zippers-by-the-yard that were purchased at the Houston Quilt Festival a couple of years ago. 

The black elastic on the back of pouches with black zippers was purchased for this and there is a lot still left. The white zippers are paired with white elastic which was in stash.

All of the face fabrics and linings and batting are from stash. Quilting cotton inventory for the win! 

This pouch is from the blog at Sulky.com,  where they forgot to include the lining attachment in the instructions--it isn't difficult to figure out, and using the zippers-by-the-yard makes it easy, too. The only change i made was to quilt the face fabric to the batting instead of using spray glue. It was fun deciding on the quilting pattern for each fabric.

The little puppy peeking out of the striped pouch was made a few years ago for use as a tuck-in in a future pouch and it has found its new home. There are more available tuck-in stuffies so the other pouches will probably get them too. 😀

Some of the little gifts are done

Hello, everyone.  It's a beautiful,  windy day in South Texas, and I'm working indoors on Christmas gifts for children.

These particular gifts are similar to a project that was done during Grandma Camp a while back: a pencil pouch. The pattern is from the Sulky.com blog, with some tiny adjustments. 

The first of several--only two are ready to take their bows today. Yellow quilting cotton, zipper by the yard acquired during the Houston Quilt Festival the year before last. 

Quilting cotton again, with a dress zipper from stash.

Well, the things from the quilt festival have been around long enough to be stash also.

The little alterations to the pattern: 1) instead of using basting spray to attach the batting to the external fabric, I quilted it; 2) the zipper is topstitched to improve its performance. The lining is not glued or quilted, but the topstitching and the top and bottom seams are enough.

The pencil pouch is a great way to use up fabric pieces that are reasonably sized but not huge. The yellow was actually pieced as there wasn't a wide enough rectangle as it was. 

These are also a chance to practice quilting in straight lines of one kind or another. There are some other pouches quilted and ready for their zippers and elastic straps, just ready for a few odd minutes at a time sewing. The planets was quilted in diagonally set squares and the yellow one was quilted in horizontal lines. 

Tried something new

Hello, everyone. Sorry it's been so long between posts! Things are getting busier as Christmas season gets a little closer.

This past week I tried out a new machine embroidery applique pattern.

As y'all can see, it didn't come out tiny! I decided not to stuff this not so little owl as it seems to me more like a dangling decoration. This is from Sweet Pea. There are two others that are similar that I haven't tried yet.

All fabric is from stash: assorted quilting cottons. I did put Shape-Flex on the back of the main body pieces because the quilting cottons are all so thin. I got into that habit from making so many little, and larger, bags.

A new finish

Hello, everyone.  This is a little interruption to the road trip posts. I have finished a new pouch.

Front

Back

There's always a place to embroider something!

And a small pocket inside.

This will probably be a Christmas gift for a young lady. It's not really long enough for a pencil bag, but it can hold a small snack, lunch money, or a small stuffed doll or creature. Or hair goodies.

Fabrics from stash, though the lining is from a new fat-eighth that was picked up just-because at Missouri Star's Birthday Bash during the road trip. 

Beads also from stash, and the zipper too. 

Color Play, beads and bag edition

Hello,  everyone.  This is the first Color Play post in a while.

This is the front half of a little bag for a young lady. The needed flowers are sewn down. The ric rac is clipped in place to test the look. There is enough extra to add a small diagonal at the right edge. 

Also, whether this is right-side-up in the photo has not been decided yet. 😀 Until zipper tape and seams appear it's still possible to switch one long edge for the other as the top.

This is from the Atkinson Designs Hippy Zips pouches, with a different decorative scheme. I will probably still use white tassel fringe at the bottom in the end, like they used ball fringe in the one in their photo.

I see that the Blogger app flipped the picture on its side. Again. I think it's still usable anyway.

Finished placemats

Hello, everyone.  The placemats started a few days ago are completed. 

Front view:

The center accent for 2 mats pretty much uses up all of a fat quarter.

Back view:

I do like the spiral quilting for a lot of things: no stressing over which design, no worries about getting out of the "ditch" by a couple of threads, no real need for marking if your fabric has a suitable motif to make the center round. (Here, it was one of the turtles' shell plates.) I used pale blue thread for the quilting. 

The binding is sewn on by machine, with a canned fagoting stitch that came with it. I like that there are little side to side stitches that help convince the back side to stay reasonably flat.

I used the Superior Pima cotton thread for the first time in the bobbin with the binding attachment and it is very nice. The top of the binding attachment is a multi-colored green spool of 30 weight Sulky cotton.

The binding piecing gave me a number of pretty green small triangles, I have to find a partner strip to turn them into half square triangle blocks now. One of these days the various HST scrap blocks will turn into something. 😀

Starting on a pair of placemats

Hello, everyone.  I saw a pieced placemat idea online and thought it would be fun to try out.

Can you see the directionality in the center print? I didn't notice that at first! Fortunately the seahorses are right side up. 

I love these colors. They remind me of the beach--hence the sea life print in the center.

The fabrics are from stash, but I did cut into unused fat quarters that I had bought on spec. 

The second Leaf-Butterfly bag

Hello,  everyone.  Today's post is another little bag.

As before, all parts are from stash. Linen blend for the exterior, quilting cotton for the lining and strap. I made the strap adjustable, so a person can put it on the shoulder or tighten the strap to carry in the hand. It has boxed bottom corners.

Thanks to the lessons learned from Christine's Home Affairs, I measured and marked the boxes after getting the side seams figured out so they lined up correctly.  Mostly. And came out straight in the end.

It's fun to do a small project as a break from something larger, like a quilt. It gives a sense of accomplishment.