I seem to be getting a lot of sewing done!

Baby quilt is finished and ready to go ... plus I used up a piece of stash fabric making the make-up bags - with all the sewing I've been getting done my stash should be shrinking ... but ... well ... does anybody's stash actually shrink? LOL NO it doesn't, and we know why!!

Sugar and spice, ribbons and lace :)

I have a couple of little boy quilts ready for Malawi, so now it's time to cover the girls - pun intended ;) I found a bunch of pink string blocks in the studio from a couple of projects that weren't going as intended. The blocks got tucked away until the right project could be found. And now they can come out of hiding and become several pretty little quilts for some sweet little girls who could probably use a bit of a boost :) This set of blocks was made to use up stash ribbons and lace - the rest of the blocks are laceless, but still pink. Two different + similar sets of blocks will become two different but similar quilts - hopefully in very short order! I just have to check my flannel stash for backing fabric! These are 9 1/2" unfinished blocks, so the quilts will be 36" finished. My favorite size to make :)

Bugs for Malawi :)

I finished this little guy up tonight to send to Malawi (a local nurse is going to spend time in the hospital there, so she's gathering quilts and receiving blankets to take for the wee ones). I now have 3 boy quilts done - I need to make a girl one next!! This one measures 36" square - the backing is the same yellow print as the binding. It's freemo quilted all over, but I also did a tiny zigzag in all the seams for extra strength. The batting is a warm and natural type batting. The quilt is very soft, very sweet, and I'm very happy with it :)

Book bag for Matteo :)

I finished this little bag just in time for Matteo (great nephew, 14 months old, adorable as hell!) for Easter - I like how it turned out, although my kids laughed at it and called it a "murse" (man purse), the brats, LOL. Matteo seemed to like it, as did his momma - so that makes me very happy! It measures 10" X 8" X 2.5", has a pocket on the inside, and is lined with a turquoisey blue fabric.

Spring, anyone?

Quicky post while I wait for hubby to get home with propane for the BBQ -- I found a pretty remnant at the fabric store on Thursday and made some springy make-up sized bags with it - each one is decorated differently :)

While most of our snow is gone, it's still somewhat chilly - currently 7C/44F - it'll be in the low 50's next week, but by the weekend we're expecting a rain/snow mix - Mother Nature is really messing with us !!! I doubt we'll get much more snow tho, and certainly none that stays!!! *said with fingers crossed* :D

UFO Challenge - week 3 update :D

I got the first border attached, and started piecing the outer border with batiks - the project is looking really good (albeit still TOO DAMN BIG!) - I'm sure I'll get this finished and ready to hang by the time summer rolls around!

Easter Keester!

I just got this in an email ... ROTFL!!!

Got an ouchie?

Then get a bandaid and some antibiotic cream - from a zippered FIRST AID BAG!!! Isn't this a cutie? I got the sweet fabric (Funky Munky bandages by Moda) from Special Stitches - excellent service, and Deb is a dear to deal with - she went out of her way to get me an excellent shipping price to Canada, for which I'm thankful! And my order came with a sweet little bonus - thanks Deb!

The bag measures 9.5" X 9" - I'll be making more of these and will likely line them with a creamy TOT to match the bandages, but I didn't have any handy so I "splurged" and self-lined it :) Zippered bag is from Corinne's tutorial :) I have an idea in mind for a funky little embellishment - cross your fingers that I'm able to make what I can picture so clearly in my mind :D


Here's a shelter quilt I finished last night - it's pieced onto used dryer sheets, and is backed with part of a fleece blanket I got at the thrift store for $4 - it was big enough to make at least 8 shelter quilts! This guy measures 23" X 26" - doggy sized :D

More goodies :)

Sore feet + crap weather (snowing) = Sandra gets more sewing done :D

Ok, let's see what we have here --- a lined tote (15 x 13 x 4) and matching make-up bag (7 x 9) (donation items) made from stash ... a bug quilt top (36 x 36) for Malawi ... and the piece de resistance ... a mouse bag (6 x 7) - aka a bag to hold my cordless mouse in my laptop bag when I go away :D Check out the sexaaaaaaaay lining!!! It was a lot of fun to work with this cute fabric, LOL.

What a productive day! This psoriasis crap has one good side effect - I can't get out much because sometimes it's just too hard to walk for any distance, which means I'm stuck here at home ... with my laptop for ideas and my sewing machine for productivity ;) Not a bad way to spend a day, tho!!

OOOoOOO Baby!

I finished this little treasure last night - the top was an oldish (more than a year, I think) UFO ... I got some great fabric on sale at Fabricland for the backing/binding, and got working :) It measures 36" square, and has SITD + freemo quilting. It's batted with a warm 'n natural type batting - that stuff is really nice to work with. I'm very happy with how it turned out, although the colors don't look very true on my monitor - they're a bit crisper and fresher than they appear. This quilt will be off to Malawi later this month!

P.S. The appliqued heart near the top/right covers up a white selvage spot where I was running short on fabric and had to include the selvage to get the block cut to the right size, lol.

The last of the pre-packaged projects :D

I got a couple more make-up/zipper bags finished - these were the last of the projects I had bagged up to work on :) One of the bags is made with fabric to co-ordinate with a tote I made last month - isn't that a pretty set?

After I finished the last make-up bag I pulled out a baby quilt UFO - I got it sandwiched today, and got about 1/2 of the quilting done (stitch in the ditch) - it's just a small quilt - 36 X 36 (finished), but it's cute :) It's going to Malawi with a load of other baby items that a local nurse is taking with her when she goes to work in a hospital there! Malawi - can you imagine??!! I hope to get this quilt finished and if I have time, will make one more. I already have a bunch of bibs to send as well ... and I'd like to make some receiving blankets too, for the little ones :)

Fugitive Bags :)

Hubby and both boys were working today, so I got the housework done and then went down to the studio to play. I whipped up 4 zippered bags (Heart of Mary tutorial, of course) - these range in size from 5 X 8 to 9 X 9 - all are embellished with rick rack or trim, and they're all self-lined with whatever fabric is closest to the zipper :D Aren't they cute? Oh yes - I call them Fugitive bags because while I was sewing, I was watching the ever-so-delicious Harrison Ford (along with the equally delicious Tommy Lee Jones) in The Fugitive ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm they are DREAMY!

I was surfing around the web last night when I couldn't sleep - I came across this blog - Projects by Jane - this girl likes making bags and pouches, and likes posting tutorials for them!! I'm having a great time poking around your blog, Jane - your projects are very sweet!

Flowers and spice and everything nice :)

My girlfriend gave me some scraps a few weeks ago - one of the scraps was about a foot X WOF of a very pretty pink/black floral -- these are what I made from the fabric :) The little one measures about 5" X 5", the bigger ones are 5 1/2" X 7". I folded the top down of one of them so you could see that they're self-lined. The black rick rack was a thrift store find! Thanks for the fabric, Chris!! Tutorial by Corinne @ Heart of Mary :)

UFO Challenge - week 2 update :D

Photo 1 - I frog'd the row I did incorrectly and redid it with the sashes, then added the sand row.

Photo 2 - I sewed together the waves, added the water, then sewed that section to the sand.


I am NEVER doing a paper pieced project this big again - what a pain in the ass! It is HUGE! Gorgeous, but huge (46" X 55", without borders!) - and I still have to add the borders! I'm going to have to figure out where on earth I can hang this thing when it's finished, lol. The only reason I'm still working on it is the UFO Challenge (with my spicy girls) - they're the ones keeping me going! Check out my partner in crime's Cabana project - it's spectacular!!

A few more March photos (and a rant!)

Here are a few more projects I got finished this month - 4 cage quilts, a New England Patriots pillow (to match the quilt I finished earlier) and a last little make-up bag :) I also finished fixing the Cabana Bois row that I screwed up earlier this week - I had to rip the whole row apart and resew it with the proper sashes *rolls eyes*. Tomorrow I have to install a plug cover in my son's room (right Heather? LOL!!!) and work on some hotpads I have cooking away in my craft room :)

I'm also going to make an appointment with a naturopath about my psoriasis - the newest medication I'm taking isn't helping much, I'm tired of my hands and feet hurting, I'm tired of limping, and I'm tired of all these stupid medications NOT WORKING!!! My psoriasis isn't some special case that's different than everybody elses - it's like the drug companies are making these stupid drugs KNOWING they won't work. I've tried over a dozen different drugs and NONE of them work??!!! None of the doctors can give me any suggestions as to what I might be doing to exacerbate the problem - they prescribe new and different medications that - after 2 or 3 or 4 months of use - DON'T DO ANYTHING!!!

I'm hoping that the naturopath can give me some help working on this. As it is I can't give blood now for 2 years because one of the medications I took last year can cause BIRTH DEFECTS if a pregnant lady gets my blood! That is serious medication ... and it DIDN'T EVEN WORK!!!!

Psoriasis SUCKS!!! /end rant!!!!

:)

What do New England Patriots and DUST have in common?

They're both in my son's bedroom, and I had to photograph carefully to avoid as much of the latter as I could :D

Here's the quilt I finished today for DS1 (the 20 year old) - featuring New England Patriots fabric from Walmart in the States - they're his favorite team :) The quilt is 72" X 90", with 9" finished blocks set 8 X 10. The backing is blue flannel, and the binding is the blue print in the alternate blocks. Because my hands are in such bad shape there's no hand sewing in this quilt - the binding was sewn on by machine (that broke my heart, but it had to be done, lol). I did stitch in the ditch quilting in all the seams because the fabric was rather "shreddy" - then I did simple freemo quilting in all the blocks to stabilize the batting so it wouldn't shift. My Husqvarna has a very wide quilting throat, but it kept spitting my needles out today so I had to do the freemo on the Elna. The Elna has a damn TINY throat area - what a pain in the ass to quilt on!! The outer rows were the easiest so they're the nicest - closer to the middle, where the fabric had to be bunched to get it under the needle, the stitches leave a lot to be desired. Oh well - it's done, it looks nice and - IT'S DONE! LOLOL!!!

On a scale of 1 to 10 ...

I rate this project a 14 for cuteness :D

The project is a Boxy Bag - tutorial by Patchyapple. I was using stash fabric to test the project - I didn't use fleece in mine (for stiffness) because I thought it would make the zipper hard to install. I used very thin interfacing - a heavier weight would have worked out better, I think. I may try one with flannel instead of fleece, and the thicker interfacing - I bet that would be just right :)

The project was quite easy to make - the fiddliest part was installing the zipper, and if you use a zipper that's a couple of inches longer than your fabric, that will make it TRES easy to install ;) Mine finished to 11" long X 5" wide x 4" tall :)

I had to redeem myself :)

After my faux pas with the cabana project, I decided I better work on and FINISH something - you know - get right back on the horse! ;) I whipped up a couple of make-up bags to go with a tote I made earlier this week - I did learn not to use the really stiff interfacing on them (it makes them very hard to turn right sides out, especially with my flakey hand), but they turned out quite well. I changed the ankle (is that what it's called?) on my Husqvarna to one I found in my stash --- the old one was a low shank one but it slid onto the foot instead of snapping on - not all standard low shank feet would fit on it. I happened to come across a spare ankle in a box and wondered if it would work - it did, and now I can use more standard snap on feet on the Husky! YAY!! That meant I was able to use my regular zipper foot, which is much easier to use than the Husky zipper foot. It's always a good day when you learn something new and make your life just a little bit easier! Here are the new make-up bags with the tote bag that I made earlier this month - I'm very happy with them :)

Eye candy (to me, anyways, lol) - Zoomer kept me company in the studio all morning while I was sewing - here he's holding down Nick's quilt so it doesn't accidentally fall off the table by itself!!! :D

DOH!!!!!

I just spent 45 minutes sewing together the cabanas and palm trees - got the whole row finished and then cut out the sand to go at the bottom of the row. Oh wait - what's that? You see something wrong with the photo? Really? Hmmmmmm what could it be? Let me look closely - nope - I don't see anything wrong. Let me get a magnifying glas ... oh. OH! Now I see it!!! Hmmmmmmmmm something doesn't look right!!! The sand row (cut to the length specified in the pattern) is a foot or more LONGER than the cabana row??!??!!? How could that happen? OH!! Errrrrr. I FORGOT TO PUT SPACERS BETWEEN THE BLOCKS!!! Yep - every other row has spacers between the blocks - I even have the spacers cut out - I just FORGOT TO USE THEM!!!

So now I have to completely rip apart the row (of course, it was sewn using stitch length 1.5) and resew it with the frigging spacers :D

Looks like I have some froggy stitching to do!! Even my cat was less than impressed!

Make-up bags and shopping lists :)

3 more make-up bags finished, and since Fabricland's 50% off sale starts tomorrow, I bagged up some projects that are unfinished until I get "stuff" for them - this way I can take the bags to the store with me and match fabrics/trims etc :) There are make-up bags, hotpads and a baby quilt in those 6 bags, lol!

Under the ziplock bags you can see my New England Patriots quilt - that was a gift for my 20 year old for his birthday ... in January *blush*. I've pulled it out to get it finished - it's the #1 UFO on my list right now! #2 is Cabana Bois, but I have until summer to get it finished :D

Lemons :)

This morning I used up the last of my lemon fabric and made a couple of make-up bags to go with the tote I made several weeks ago. Both of the bags are decorated with rick rack ... one of them has rick rack on the inside lining as well - that was a design decision - I didn't accidentally sew the trim to the wrong piece - no way - not ME!!! ;)

Dinner is served :D

I paper pieced a couple more kitcheny blocks today, for my "secret" project. Bella knows!!! ;) I got my potato fabric from ebay and appliqued the taters onto a paper pieced block :D The cake block is from Annette Truong. The bowl was from Cups and Saucers from Maaike Bakker :)

Fabricland's 50% off sale starts on Thursday so I can get the other goodies I need to complete this top secret project - just looking at those damn chicken drumsticks makes me laugh, LOLLLLLLLLLLLL.

It's fruity time :)

Another completion - a tote bag and matching make-up bag - both bags are tarted up with rick rack (hard to see in the photo) - the tote has a row of it across the front (near the top), plus the handles each have two rows along the length. The makeup bag has two rows near the top of the front - I've been collecting a nice little stash of r.r. and now I'm having fun using it wherever I can! The tote is 15" X 13" x 4", and is lined with a white/black cherry print. There's a zippered pocket inside the tote. The makeup bag is 6" X 7", lined with the same cherry print.

Just so you know - when you read a tutorial on making make-up bags and they tell you to open the zipper before sewing the bag/lining together, what they REALLY mean is ... OPEN THE ZIPPER BEFORE SEWING THE BAG/LINING TOGETHER! They mean business!! I'm sure most people who sew, know exactly what I mean, LOL! All's well that ends well tho - both bags turned out very nicely :)

My UFO Challenge :)

My friend Bella and I both started a project several years ago that neither of us ended up finishing. I know, I know - who starts something they don't finish - it's unheard of in the quilting world!!! *falls on the floor laffing* :D We decided earlier this week that we're both going to get the project done and ready to hang by summer. The challenge starts today - appropriately - the first day of spring! The project is Beach Cottages Quilt by Piece by Number.





Pictured - the pattern, the top as assembled so far, the blocks I still need to assemble, and the fabrics I have to finish the project with. I have a LOT of work to do yet - yikes!

1. Assemble and add row #4 - the cabanas
2. Add sand strip
3. Assemble and add row #5 - ocean waves
4. Add ocean strip
5. Add inner border
6. Add outer border
7. Add embellishments
8. Layer, baste, quilt, bind, label, add hanger, HANG!

Bella - let's make this interesting - if one of us doesn't have the project completely finished and hung by the first day of summer - June 21 - that person has to send the other one a summery package - a summery fat quarter, a quilty notion or pattern, and some summery embellishments!!! Deal? :)

Just for fun ...

I sewed food :D I have an idea for a project, but I can't complete it until a cute little ebay purchase arrives, and until I get some other parts from Fabricland during their 50% off sale (next week). I dreamed the project up all by my lil ole self - I think it's going to be adorable, if it works out :)

These paper piecing patterns were from Four Twin Sisters -- they have such fun patterns!

Two more totes :)

I finished up a couple more totes last week --- I had a brain fart and totally forgot to put any pockets in the dark patchwork one, but the lemon bag has a neat pocket - it's two pockets in one - a zippered area and then the regular pocket behind it - I enjoyed doing that, and will do it again (the top picture is a close-up of the zippered pocket) :) Lemons is 14W X 12L X 4D ... patchwork is 15 X 14 x 4. I have such fun making these!!! I have matching makeup bags cut out to go with each one - I got the zippers today @ Fabricland so hopefully I can get them done this weekend. I even found some yellow rick rack to slut up the lemon one :)