STRIP-STRINGS-PIECING ... Grocery Bag ReCycler

From waste to waste-not. A big pile of odd strings n strips made into rectangular blocks:

Sewed blocks together to get an 18 inch square [give or take]. Added some FMQ. I need more practice so I can get my FMQ MoJo back... I am so rusty! lol



Add a little FMQ - sorry for fuzzy pic

Trimmed it up and made it into a useful item: Grocery Bag ReCycler to store neatly those plastic bags we get sometimes at the store. I mostly use my own bags these days, but there are times when I forget. This keeps them neat and organized until I can take them to the recyle bin. Yippee... another OPAM13 finish!


If there is interest, I will write a complete tute on my process, using FP as a foundation, spray starch, hairspray, etc....

Thank you for popping in to visit. I appreciate everyone of you! Until next time. . . I am off to Tuesday's Friendship Group Meeting for the afternoon. What are YOU up to these days???

LINKING: Connie's Linky Party

Quilty Hugs,

QUICK POST... Tiny Shirts & Little Bags

Our area is gearing up for a Quilt Run - sort of like a Shop-Hop. Many of us are helping ARETOY, our favorite local quilt shop, get ready. The Run opens June 20, but there is lots of prep work to do.

The Rotary Cutter in the pic shows how small the shirts are... cute!

This summer's theme is: Hawaii Five-O!  We are all making aprons for the staff to wear from Hawaiian fabrics. From the cut-a-ways and scraps, I have been making tiny Hawaiian shirts that will become holders for purse-size Kleenex packages. High on the cutesy meter!  Also, some of these shirts will be hung around the shop for decoration.

Close up of a shirt and a few bags

The other current project is making small bags to hold Crushed Walnut Shells that so many of us love using to stuff our pincushions with. My friend Joy [no blog] is creating gorgeous lined baskets to hold these little Chotskies [can't spell it; can barely say it! lol]... let's call them Doo-Dahs! I have about 50 bags completed so far and about a dozen shirts. I need to get a picture of the first basket Joy made... it's stunning!

My fave fabric is the one on the left... I'd love to have a dress from that!

Sew. . . I've been sewing like mad and that's why you haven't heard from me. Next time, I'll share another small project and then give an update on my Never Ending Granny crochet project which is coming along pretty well. Pat and LuAnn are also making a NEG.

Thank you for popping in to visit. I hope you'll come back again real soon.

Quilty Hugs,

KITCHEN APPLIQUE... Chick With Hattitude!

Last Thursday was spent with a lovely friend. We went to the Craft and Quilting Show in Del Mar, California. Lot's of vendors and fun things to see. There were several Make-It~Take-It opportunities. We decided on the T-Towels. Vendor had a bit of trouble with his irons, so we brought our pieces home and finished them.

While at the show we walked our socks off, but made up for it later by grabbing a Hot Dog for lunch at Costco where we did some more shopping!

Chick With Hattitude: fusible applique; machine stitched

This little kitchen towel is a very quick project. Decide on a design or drawing -- simple line drawings from kid's coloring books are good sources -- trace the shapes on to Fusible. Cut out shapes and fuse in place. I stitched my shapes on with a simple Blanket Stitch on my Janome6500 sewing machine [Mode 2, Stitch #34, stitch length 3.0, stitch width 1.5]. The little sparkle eyes are heat-set. I've never used them before so don't know how they hold up and wash... time will tell. The two towels I'm sharing with you today are mostly decorative, so I'm not too worried about the sparkle eyes.

Fusible Applique: by hand on Left; machine on right

That's all for tonight. I'm finishing up the purse project and taking several pictures to share with you soon. Hope you have loads of time to sew up something that makes your heart sing!

LINKING: Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click on over and see what others are doing. If you also have a blog, consider joining Connie's Linky Party, too; it's lot's of fun.

Quilty Hugs,

HOOKY BUSINESS: the Never Ending Granny Afghan

Like I need another project? Really! Can't help it... the yarn called to me; I grabbed a hook and off I went! I guess it's a disease... sort of like quilting. lol.

Skeins in a tote so I can be portable

 

The center: can just see the spiral beginning

My method for NO tangles!

To keep the yarn strands from tangling: First, I keep the skeins/balls corralled in a tote [a basket would be great, too!], then I crochet across each side with ALL 5 strands -- see pic above. Now turn corner and repeat working all 5 strands across the next side; turn corner, etc. The yarn strands never tangle this way, even as I am stuffing the project in and out of the tote as I carry it around and work on it. Try it; you might like doing it this way, too.

So far, at least two other blogging friends are making this afghan: Check out Pat and LuAnn to see their progress. We also put updates on FaceBook.  If you need particulars on how to get started, I recommend this great tute from Mikey of The Crochet Crowd. If you want to join us in our little CAL [Crochet A Long] that would be fantastic!! The more the merrier.

Thank you so much for popping in to visit. Hope you will come back again. If you are making this afghan too, please say so in the comment section with a URL to your blog - I'd love to visit and see your project! Until next time. . . this ol' lady is heading to the sheets. Tomorrow is another day.

Quilty Hugs,

BATIK WOVEN PURSE... getting started

As you can see in the first pic, I cut one of the strips too short! Grrr. Not sure how that happened as I began this project many months ago. It's easy to cut something shorter, but never longer once too short! lol. Sew... b/c I had to make another strip this morning, I thought it would be good to write a post about it. . .

This is a fun and different purse to make. There's a bit of set-up involved. First, sew some Batik jelly roll strips together with a 1/4 inch seam to make a tube. Turn right-side out. Press trying to get both seams along the edge... evenly.

 

Cut a 22 inch piece of stiff interfacing. I used Rigid Weave because it is already the correct width and all I had to do was cut to length.

 

Fold the interfacing in half and cover end with Blue Painter's Tape. This makes it easier to shove the interfacing inside the tube you just made.

 

Work the interfacing all the way to the other end of the tube.

 

Smooth out and try to get both seam allowances evenly on the outside edge. Press. I top-stitched all of mine 1/4 from the edge, but that is not totally necessary.

 

Now weave the stuffed-strips together. I used five 22 inch vertical strips and eleven 11 inch horizontal strips.  It is easier to keep things true and straight by working on a grid. I'm using a portable gridded pressing surface.  More in the next post on how to put this all together.

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit. Hope you will come again soon. Until next time. . . I am off to my Friendship Group meeting where we will be making some pincushions. . . what are YOU doing today?

 

LINKING to Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click on over and see what everyone else is up to.

 

Quilty Hugs,

T-SHIRT TOTE... A Mini-Tute

Today at our Tuesday Quilter's Friendship Group, Rosemary shared her version of a T-Shirt Tote Bag. Sew sew easy and quick to make.  Rosemary got her original inspiration from Totes Upcycled, a San Diego, California, company. Big thanks to both Rosemary and Totes Up-Cycled for a fabulous idea. Below are the super quick 'how 2's':

Thank you, Rosemary. You're a fun model!

HOW TO MAKE IT... EASY AS 1, 2, 3:
1) Choose old T-Shirt
2) Lay flat and cut off neck band and both sleeves [be generous with your cuts.]
3) Sew across bottom [or turn inside out and sew].

VOILA! Done.  Embellish or not, maker's choice.

T-Shirt Tote

Hope you are having a great day! Until next time... thank you for stopping by to visit. I have 3 more cuddle quilts waiting to be bound, so I best get to it.

LINKING: Connie at Freemotion by the River.  Drop over and see what others are up to this week... sew fun!

Quilty Hugs,

MAY DAY & HOOKY STUFF

MAY DAY, MAY DAY! It's hard to believe it is the 1st of May already! Sheesh, where does the time go?!

Sorry I have been MIA again. The Hooky Group I belong to has been in high gear to finish up several projects to send overseas to our Troops. Today's package will have tons of Scarfs, Hats, and Socks! All desperately needed by our Military serving overseas.  These items give comfort to our deployed Troops - I'm happy to contribute.

Crocheted Crib Afghan

Speaking of hooky business: I put the final edge on a crib-size Afghan. I like how it turned out. It's mostly white with some fun colors. The "puff" stitch was fun to do.  Takes a lot of yarn! Our group also makes baby items for Military families who are waiting at home for their loved ones to return.

The pattern comes from this book

To make it a good size, I made it a bit smaller by removing one of the horizontal 'repeats,' and reducing the number of white rows in the center. Easy to do.

There are several quilty projects that I am looking forward to sharing with you soon. . . Until then, I hope you have a lovely day. Thank you so much for dropping by to visit.

LINKING: to Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click over to visit and see what others are doing.

Quilty Hugs,

D.O.N.E. - TaDah!

Whoever is in charge of the Quilting Fairies... thank you! Ta Dah! All four placemats are quilted and bound and ready for their new home!

I'm liking the back2front binding method. One small straight line of stitching shows on the back just over 1/8" from the back binding. Looks neat and tidy to me. Think I'll stick with this method for awhile.

This has been a very busy, but very productive day. Love it when a day goes like this. It was such a glorious day today that I had hoped to work outside and get some of my new veggie starts transplanted into their big-girl pots. Well, it didn't happen, but a ton of other good stuff got finished. Sew I'm happy!

Please forgive the lousy photos, but here are all four of the placemats. . . I am pleased with how they turned out. And they are DONE! lol

 

 

 

 

This is how I'm doing the corners on the front.

 

Until next time. . . It's almost 10 pm now on Saturday night and this ol' lady is heading to the sheets! Nighty night.

 

Edit: LINKING to Connie at FreeMotion by the River.

Quilty Hugs,

JAVA-TIME PLACEMATS and Reversible Napkin set

This project has taken about forever, but they will be finished by tonight! Even if I have to stay up until midnight, they will be done! 


Clipping on some black fabric for a binding... do I like it? Yes.

The center fussy-cut squares are from a cute fabric line that is no longer available. The primary idea came from a picture in a magazine. Took almost a year to find all the coffee-themed fabric I wanted to use. Then another year to sew them up. lol. You ever do that??? Procrastinate like that?

4 Reversible Napkins

What held me up and took so long? Confession time: I choked on the FMQing, stuttered, got blocked. Sheesh! Because these are a gift, I just plain "tried to hard". . . once I told myself to just get over it and get them done, it was clear sailing. I'm still shaking my head. In the end, I just added some simple quilting lines in a grid and let it go with that... it's fine.  We are our own worst critics, I think. Well, I'm happy now and they are almost done.

Backing... all coffee cups. Cute.

Sure hope their theme is still "coffee" in the breakfast room... it would be more than inconvenient if it has changed to "seashells" or something. lol

Hope where ever you are that you have plenty of time to sew. Until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

MODIFYING A SEWING MACHINE CABINET for more room to support larger project... sew easy!

Discovering something is sew fun!!! Recently while binding a large-ish lap quilt, I hit upon the idea of using the insert from my sewing machine cabinet and laying it on the open thread drawer! Voila! Instant extra supportive space.  I've had this cabinet for years and this is the first time I've ever thought to try it. Funny, eh?



Open Thread Drawer. . .

Thread drawer open and s.m. insert in place... instant space!

When I purchased the s.m. cabinet some years ago, I also ordered the *extra shelf piece* that is made to fit over the thread drawer when open, but it's so heavy I very seldom use it. Then yesterday in a flash-bulb moment I tried the insert piece which is adequately thick but oh so much lighter to lift! Yippee Skippee... it fits perfectly! Color me Happy!

Pressing surface: quick, handy, easy

As an extra bonus, the two-sided pressing/cutting board that I take to retreats fits right on top so I have a nice sized pressing surface at my disposal also. Love it!! I just love happy accidents like this, don't you? Do you have any you'd like to share in the comment section? Would love to read your light-bulb moments!

Welcome and thank you to the several new Followers who have joined recently. It's great to have you! This week I will be visiting all who have a blog. It's sew fun to connect!

Until next time. . . I have some recently planted geraniums calling my name: apparently some weeds are encroaching! Eeeegads, I'd better get busy! What are YOU up to??

Linking to Connie's Tuesday LinkyParty.

Quilty Hugs,

BINDING BY MACHINE. . . and a few personal thoughts: Thank you!!!

Hello, world!  NOPE, didn't fall off the edge of the planet, but almost! lol.  Not a whole lot of sewing going on around here lately. Have managed a bit of crochet and knitting, but that's about it. Until yesterday. . .


Missy *helping* to sew on the binding

Yesterday was very productive: Bound a colorful quilt that will be donated to my Guild's "Cuddle Quilt Project".  Took a few fun pictures along the way... couldn't resist.  Missy - as usual - had her nose quite literally into my sewing!

Missy loves it under the lamp... so warm!

Try stitching the final wrap of a binding while a kitty is sitting ON the quilt and occasionally turning around and swishing her tail! lol. I had to be sew careful... I was afraid it would get stitched! Luckily all went well.

Stitch to back, then edge-stitch to finish from the front. I like it!

Just one single line of straight-stitch shows on back 1/4" away from bound edge. I like it!

I'm really happy with how the binding turned out. I think I will do more machine applied binding in the future. Can't believe how fast it was... even with Missy's occasional help!

Scrappy little Cuddle Quilt. This will put a smile on a child's face!

One block isolated from the others

Someone else pieced this quilt... I just bound it. I think it is a fun block. I drew it up in EQ7 and have saved the file. If anyone would like a copy of the EQ7 file or block drawing, just let me know in the comments... k? Of course, you need EQ7 or the file won't open... that goes without saying, right? For those who don't have EQ7, I can send a pic of the drawing with the cutting dimensions.

On a personal note: THANK YOU SO MUCH for sticking with me--I appreciate every.single.one.of.you!  Saying my posts have been spasmodic lately is a huge understatement! Most of the *stuff* that has been keeping me away from sewing and blogging is about settled, so I hope to return to normal. You know, "normal", whatever that is! lol. Anyway, thank you very much. I have missed all of you more than words can say.

Until next time, when I will share a wonderful discovery with my sewing machine cabinet. . . I'm gonna go practice some FMQ and try to get my MoJo back. What are YOU working on??

Quilty Hugs,