Some Friday Finishes

I sew. A lot. But I also like to crochet. I do not knit, but my daughter does. In fact, my first finish is an afghan she knit for me.

 I had bought her a kit for this from Knit Picks about 4 years ago for Christmas. She knit it up and then, I liked it so well, she bought the yarn to make another for me as a Christmas gift. It was all done except the crocheted edge when I went to visit her in August, so I offered to bring it home and crochet the black edge. And now its done. Beautiful.

 This second afghan I crocheted. I began it in 2014 right after I was diagnosed with cancer. I thought I could work on it while I underwent treatment. The pattern is from Lucy at Attic 24 blog. It's called Neat Ripple. It was easy to get started, but hard to keep going and finish. I used Blue Sky cotton yarn.

It's a bit heavier than some other yarns, but I love it and now it is finished too. Hope it cools off soon so we can use them.
My other  finishes for this week are sewing finishes. First, I finished piecing the Cobblestone quilt for my queen size bed.

 I used mostly Improv fabrics by Amy Friend. I love the colors and the basic patterns. I added a couple of other fabrics to the mix just to fill it out.

 It went together pretty quickly, and now I just have to find a backing and figure out how to quilt the thing. There is lots of wide open space here, and I am thinking something with curves.

 Then there is this little cutie. This is the Lucy Tunic by Shwin Designs. This is such a cute pattern and so easy to make. It probably took me about 4 hours to stitch it up. It is designed to be worn over a pair of pants, or shorts, or leggings. You could even pair it with a skirt or dress. Add a long sleeve tee shirt and there you go!

 It criss crosses in the front and is awaiting two button holes and buttons. The cap sleeves have two tiny pleats which help it be eased in, but also add a bit of style to it.

 This is the inside. You can make this as a lined tunic, or you can make it reversible. I am choosing reversible, because two for one? yes please! Also, one thing you can't see is the pockets in the side seams. On both sides and for both fabrics so even if you turn it inside out, you have pockets!

I think Miss N will look sassy in this. She already has a pair of navy leggings and a navy long sleeved tee shirt. Got one more of these in the works too. Next week another big box of goodies is going out, this time to my middle daughter. Once she gets it I will share everything here. Have a great weekend! Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Big Box of Goodies

I love getting a big box of goodies, but even more, I love sending a big box of goodies and imagining the happy faces opening it. I sent such a box to my oldest and it arrived yesterday, so I can now share all the handmade goodies in that box with you here.

 The first item is this blouse I made for my daughter. I had to have her send it back to me as the sleeves were too tight. I found a wonderful video on you tube to show how to adjust sleeves to fit better. I had to find and order another half yard of the fabric to do it, but Etsy came through for me. The adjustment was so easy and now I have a new skill in my tool box.

 Next up is this fleece robe for Miss N with sock monkeys all over it. I found the fleece at Fabric.com and the pattern on Melly Sews for just $2. This is a great pattern and so very easy too. It seems Miss N needed a robe of her own because she kept stealing her brother's robe, even though it was way too big for her.

 Here is the back of the robe. The one adjustment I made to the pattern is I sewed the sash to the center back of the robe, instead of making belt loops on the sides. I like to keep kids robe belts with the robes. This works great.

There was so much fleece left over, so my sister suggested a pair of sleep pants. I found a free pattern on line (just google it) and they took about 15-20 minutes start to finish. I didn't hem them as I thought they could be rolled up now and then down as she grew. She is already loving them and they are so soft.

 Next I made this little pouch for my daughter to carry things in her purse. I had made one for her years ago and it is so worn and dingy from being in a purse for more that 5 years.

 I used a bunch of 2 1/2 inch squares from my scrap box in green and a simple fold over velcro closure.

 I also made her an Open Wide pouch in large, for her knitting projects. She has several that I made over the years. It has been so long since I made one, that I had to actually look up the directions to refresh my memory.

The chicken fabric is some of her favorite and I just recently found some more on line at Fabricworm. The pom pom is one I made back when I was filling my days with such things during my cancer treatment.

 Next up, two new Geranium dresses for Miss N. I recently bought the expansion pack as I already had the pattern (you can get both together as well) I wanted to be able to add sleeves since the seasons are changing and getting cooler back east. This is a Sara Jane border print I have had for awhile.

 The top is the last bit of one of my favorite Sara Jane prints which I have used in several quilts.

 Then, there is this cutie. As I mentioned earlier, one of my daughter's favorite prints and I had made her a boxy pouch out of the one fat quarter I had that someone had given me. When I saw this on Facebook at Fabricworm I just had to grab some. The floral print is from the same collection.

 I used a fat quarter of a yellow print for the lining of the top. It matched up well with the flowers.

 Add some fun buttons from the button jar in my sewing room and voila!

These buttons were bought for something else and not used. I love that they sort of blend in and don't really show much from a distance.

 This is a close up of the cute fabric with the chickens. It is an Alexander Henry fabric.

 And lastly, some fall/Halloween decor. I googled fabric pumpkins and dove into my orange fabrics to make these for the kids (and their mom)

It was just a quick little fun project. And that concludes the contents of the big box of goodies. Thank you for reading along with all of this. Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Color Play

I know it's been awhile and yes, I have been very busy sewing. As soon as the box reaches its recipients, I will share all the goodies that went into it. But for now, something else.

I spent today, and yes, all day almost, cutting out pieces for a new quilt. I won a bundle of Amy Friend's Improv this summer and immediately bought some more to go with it. I absolutely love it. I wanted to find a pattern to use all of it in a quilt. I knew that when the right pattern came up, I would know it. And it did. Fat Quarter Shop had a fat quarter Cobblestone quilt pattern for free!

 Here is the whole queen sized quilt in pieces. I am looking forward to starting this one. I need to figure out my color placement.

 So what do you do when you get done cutting out a whole quilt, and it's too late to begin sewing on it? You play with all the delicious scraps! They were lying on my cutting mat, just calling to me.

 So I started grouping them together and sewing a few small groups together. I really love these colors.

 I do have a couple of bigger scraps like this grey, that I might cut up to add to this little project. I don't even know what to call it yet. I thought about making some pin cushions.

But then, I laid it all out on my ironing board and now, I'm kind of thinking about maybe a small wall hanging style quilt. I think I'll sleep on it and see what develops.
Talk to you soon.