Let's Catch Up

 Time for a catch up, since it has been over a month since I have posted. It is so hard to make myself sit down and write these posts. Part of it is that I am struggling with blogger and posting photos. It's a drag.

Anyway, let's just go, shall we?

First, here is an update on my Pas de duex quilt that I am making with Rachel of Stitched in color. Some parts are joined together, but there is still much more to do and the December blocks as well, but I am loving how it is looking.

I have had an idea to make a beach umbrella quilt for awhile now and one day I just jumped in and did it. Now it waits to be quilted. It was kinda fun to figure out the angles. I am no good at geometry.

I made a minimalist wallet, pattern by Anna of Noodlehead. This was so fun and pretty easy. I have never installed these kinds of snaps and never sewn with leather, but it worked out just fine.

Nice to have a new made by me wallet. I look forward to trying more of Anna's patterns.

Working on another Kiriki Press little stuffed animal. This one is a level 3 and guys, it is hard! I chose it anyway because I love learning new embroidery stitches. It's taking awhile, but so far, so good. I have a few other things going on, and hopefully I can come back later this week and tell you about them.

So Much to Catch Up On

 I find it very hard to sit down and write a post sometimes, but I am going to try once again to get caught up here. So many projects.

I finished the quilt top for the Perfect Pineapple quilt along. It has had all of the papers removed and the blocks sewn together. I need to get the backing put together and get it basted, but I am recovering from basting and quilting a very large quilt, so I am taking a break from that for a bit., But soon it will happen.

I made a second Sandhill Sling for myself this time. I love the color of this one. Pink is one of my faves.

And I finally finished stitching this beauty. Pattern is by Lolli and Grace, you can find it on Etsy. Her patterns are so beautiful.

Got myself a big bunch of Dahlias at the market on Saturday. We're supposed to get a frost this week so probably my last chance and boy are they gorgeous!

Started this project last year, but never got very far with it. It is another pattern by Lolli and Grace. I changed out the beads for some that I had on hand that I also happen to like a lot.

I mad one for each of the grandkids. And yay! Look at me ahead of the game for once. That's all for today. I hope you're all well and enjoying the fall.

I Made a Sandhill Sling!

 I have long been a fan of Anna at Noodlehead. I found her blog many years ago, and since then she has become a wonderful pattern designer. Most of her patterns are for bags, pouches, backpacks and the like. She does a lot of testing to make sure it's right before she releases new patterns. Her directions are spot on every time. 

The Sandhill Sling pattern came out a couple of years ago I think. I loved it then, but I knew I wouldn't use it, so I just admired it from afar. I also have a bit of a reticence to trying bag patterns, as I sometimes struggle with the bulkiness of them under my needle. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my daughter saw a post on Instagram about the Sandhill Sling. She fell in love with it. She had purchased some canvas awhile back with the idea that she wanted me to make her a tote bag of some type. I told her that when she found a pattern she liked, to let me know. She purchased the pattern and the hardware kit on line and as I waited for that to arrive, along with some interior lining fabric, I read and reread the pattern.

Then, I discovered that there had been a sew along for the Sling and so there were videos of the steps to make it. I went ahead and watched all the videos before I started. As I am a visual learner, this was so valuable to me. Once I started sewing, I could do a step, and then stop the video and do the next step. It made the whole thing come together so easily.

This is the interior of the sling with the gathered pocket. The elastic gather really helps to hold things in.

My daughter chose the zipper colors to compliment the fabric. She chose to not have the zipper cover on the exterior pocket so you could see the two zippers that matched. The fabric is a Charley Harper print.

The strap and hardware also came from Anna's shop. She has exactly what you need to make this bag, which makes it so easy to get ready to sew.

When I finished, I could hardly wait to go and give it to my daughter. She loves it! And I have had a couple of other family members express an interest in having me make one for them. Also, my grandson wants me to make him a backpack from one of Anna's patterns. I hope I'm up to that!

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this make, especially having the videos to help me through the process. I know there will be more Noodlehead patterns in my future.

Off to the (Craft) Fair

Remember when I said I was working on items for a craft fair? This was my very first craft fair as a vendor. It went really well, and I wanted to show you some of it.

 This is our booth set up. My sister helped me so much with set up and manning the booth. She also was so very helpful in how to arrange all the items to their best advantage.

 We used one of my quilts on one of the tables. I think we decided that as pretty as it was, next time we will go with white so as to not detract from the colors of the items.

I named my booth Six Sisters Stitchery. This is after my grandmother and her 5 sisters. 6 of the bags were named for them. So, for example, the makeup bag is the Nora Bag. Just a happy little nod to the wonderful women who helped me to be who I am today.

 And here are a few of the items I made to sell. This one I call the Ayumi Bag. The pattern is a free tutorial on Ayumi Mills' blog, the Pink Penguin. I wrote to her and asked permission to make a few of these to sell and she said yes. I made a tag to hang on each bag that gave her name and blog name as a source of the pattern. They were very well received.

 I made these phone stands, filled with crushed walnut shells. I love mine and these were also very popular with the fair goers.

And then, to use up my 2 1/2 inch squares from my scrap bins, I made these little patchwork pouches. I call these the Iva Patchwork Pouch. I love seeing the history of my quilting in these cute pouches.

I didn't take up close pictures of everything, but I had a lot of products and variety. All of the items were made from my stash. I only had to buy zippers, Pellon 809 stabilizer and some tassels I put on one of the zippered pouches.

I asked, and received permission for a couple of designers to use their patterns, in exchange for making sure my signs gave them credit for the patterns. I was happy to do that and to tell my customers about where the patterns came from. Most seemed to appreciate that I was giving proper credit to the designers.

Some of the customers were quilters too, and while they didn't want to buy anything, they were happy to stop and chat with me about our shared love of quilting and sewing. So a fun day for me all the way around.

Thanks for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon.

Friday Finishes

Well, yes, here I am back again today with not one, but two finishes.  I have wanted to get these done since I got this fabric:

This is Locally Grown by Andover Fabrics.  It is a cute collection of farmyard prints.  The most unusual thing to me was the use of so many different greens. There are 3 different greens in this collection.  Each is cute, but it makes it look like more than one fabric collection. Okay...moving on.

 I wanted to make a market bag for my daughter and one for me, to take to the farmer's market this spring/summer.  I had this idea in my head of how I wanted it to be.  For the first time, I was able to translate that into this.

 She loved the chickens the best, along with the chicks and eggs, so I used those.  I  wanted a flat bottom, outside pockets for phone etc. and handles that go under the bag for added strength.  I was able to do all that.

 It's big and roomy and the lining is a cherry print by Mary Englebrite.  I put a piece of heavy duty Peltex in the bottom, between the lining and the outside fabric to lend a bit of structure to the bottom of the bag.  I had it leftover from the diaper bag I made last year.

 Here you can see the chickens and the pockets from the blue chicks and eggs fabric.  The pocket piece is only on one side and is divided by the handles into 3 smaller pockets.  I don't know if you can see, but I sewed one of the chickens on the back of my label.  Too cute to not use every bit!

 The handles are made from the chicks and eggs fabric as well.  Then I used a bunch of twill ribbon I had been saving off of Moda fat quarter bundles.  I knew it would come in handy eventually.  The handles are just one big loop that goes under the bag and up the sides to make the handles.  This adds strength underneath the bag for heavy produce.  I will be making another one for me very soon.

 Next up, another wide mouth pouch, this time made with the green meadow from Locally Grown  I was originally going to make the market bag from this, but daughter wanted another pouch for knitting projects.  Seems they are handy for that. The lining is a plue from the Sweetwater Noteworthy collection.

 I made a bigger zipper end because this sheep is too cute to cut up.  Love him there on the end.

 And the cute little ring of flowers and kids? I couldn't just leave it bare...so I put her initial in it.

 I did it on my machine with my Bernina stitch regulator.  I had to put a small bit of batting behind it for stability, but it worked.

 All ready for another knitting project.  Have a great weekend!  Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it up Friday!

It's Thursday

Not a great title for a post, I know, but I have a crappy cold and it's only 43 degrees and windy here.  Yuck! It's supposed to be much warmer. This is the south you know.  Anyway.  Sewing has been slow going lately due to life getting in the way.  I know you know how that feels, right?  Here is a little of what I have been doing:

 A new pair of Big Butt Baby Pants for baby B.  His mom came over and shopped my stash for fabric combos.  This is the first of 5 pair she picked fabrics for.  Love the cute argyle print.  You can't tell so well in the picture, but the tiny crisscross stripe is a reddish orange that matches the Kona tomato solid.

                               Here it is a bit closer.  So cute!

 This is a Ragged Squares quilt I have been wanting to make for a long time.  I first saw it here, and I loved it.  When I made the Divided Basket by Anna of Noodlehead, I had these 3 inch squares that were cutouts from the side pieces.

 I never throw anything away, and I thought they'd be great for something.  Turns out they were just the right size for the smallest square in this quilt.  I made all the blocks first and then spent a couple of days rearranging them on my design wall until I was satisfied.

 The small squares are perfectly perched in two colorways and some green and white chevrons .  The other sized squares are from several different lines, including Sherbet Pips and some older fabric from Me and My Sister designs.

Now I just have to quilt it.  It's going to make a great quilt for the kids to lounge around with.  Have a great rest of the day.

Making Progress

One of my goals for this year was to finish some of last years starts...before the end of this year.  I took a mini vacay from work and stayed home for 4 days.  I did not sew constantly, but I did get lots done.

 First, I got one of my two March blocks knocked out for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.  This one is for Jeepgirl300 who requested that I do cream scraps. Others are doing grey, brown and black for this elegant quilt for her livingroom.

 Then I pieced my first block for the Retro Flowers Quilt.  Technically, it's a new project, but I bought the pattern last year so, I am counting it as last year's project.  I scrapped all the fabrics I had pulled for this one which have been in a pile in my sewing room for months and started over with a new idea.  I will share it soon.

 Then I whipped up this Open Wide Pouch from some of my Noteworthy fabric that I had picked out.

 I love how big and open these are.  Pattern can be found on Noodlehead's blog.

 The bottom is a bright crosshatch fabric that I love.  The name escapes me right now.

 Next up is this top, finally finished.  It is made with Lawn from Connecting Threads.  I am going to "quilt" it to some white flannel and use it as a summer throw.  It is so soft!

The last thing is this little beauty.  My daughter bought the fabric bundle in NY at the Purl a few years ago. She had delusions of making a quilt.  She is a wonderful and prolific knitter, and she can sew, but it is not her passion like it is for me.  She cut the fabric into 2 inch squares and put it in a zip bag...that's it.  So after about 6 months or more, I offered to sew them into something for her.  This is what I came up with. It is about 45 inches square.  There are still more 2 inch squares, but I was done! Now to get it quilted.
Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

A Tisket A Tasket

A green and yellow basket.  No, not really green and yellow, but I have made 3 of these now and I L-O-V-E them!!  There are tons of them popping up on the Noodlehead flickr site and each one is unique with all the great fabrics being used!

This was the first one I made:

I love it and the colors are so bright.  I wanted to use it for Baby B's toys at my house but...

They don't really fit and there aren't that many of them.  So what to do?  As I was thinking on that, I made this one...

Which I gave to my daughter.  But we both agreed it was a bit small for what we wanted to use it to hold.  So I asked Anna (Noodlehead) if she thought it could be made larger.  She said go for it.  So I did.  I added 2 inches to each side of the pattern.  Let me tell you, two inches didn't seem like much until I was done, but here it is:

 It measures 13 inches by 10 inches and it's 9 inches tall.  I really had no idea how it would finish, but I am pleased with it.  I had a bunch of Sherbet Pips in my stash from oh so long ago and I decided to use it up.  It worked, not much left now.

 On this one I decided to put the front pocket on it.  I had left it off of the other two.  I really like it and I think it is much more useful on this larger size.

 Baby elephant fits right in this pocket.  The pocket is divided in half with stitching in the center.

 This is the Bag with all the same toys in it as before, but you can see there is still lots of room for more toys.  Yay!

 Here are the two bags side by side for a comparison.  I am going to use the smaller one for my stitching stuff.  I do love that fabric!

For this bigger basket, I didn't have any more of the web handle on hand, so I made my own handles with fabric and some twill tape that came on a Moda fabric bundle.  I always save that stuff for just such an occasion.  If you want a perfect little basket, or even a bigger basket for gifting or storing stuff, this is an awesome and very easy project.  Go see Noodlehead and you can purchase the pattern there.  I can't say enough good things about this pattern.  Okay, enough gushing.  Gotta go to work.
Have a great day!