U R Priceless...indeed!

I love the name of this blog hop.  Very catchy!  If you missed the first day, click on the button up on the right and you can see Monday's schedule.  It is worth a look.  They are awesome.  These little coin purses are so much fun to make and I knew one wouldn't be enough.  Here we go...

 This was my first try.  It was sew easy, almost too easy if you know what I mean.  I used Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille.  I love that line.  I fussy cut a bit for the front and back and stitched the top on with red Pearl cotton.

 I am very happy with the way this one turned out.  The red print on the sides is one of my very favorites in the whole collection.

 I lined the inside with the pink hounds tooth check.  You can see a bit of the stitching inside.

 And it is a coin purse after all, so I wanted to see how it performed.  Pretty good, don't you think?  You would be amazed at how many coins it holds!

 This is the second one I made.  I used Odds & Ends by Julie Comstock.  I love the fabric, but I didn't like the way it turned out as much as the first one.  I think it seems washed out in comparison.

 And I tried crimping the top a bit to help hide the stitching inside.  It didn't really work.  It only made the clasp not really go together very well.  So that one was a bust.

 But I couldn't stop there.  I had a charm pack of Oh Deer!  I love these little tiny deer!  I cut the front, back and sides out of 4 different colors.  I Love this one too.

Here is the other side.

 For the inside I used bright orange with white dots.  I am still in love with polka dots.

And yes, I had to put the coins in this one too.  In case you are wondering, this is a handful of small change topped with 2 1/2 rolls of quarters.  I had it in my head to photograph this way and I must say, it is about as I imagined it.  Such fun.  I still have one more frame, but haven't decided what fabric to use on it yet.

Now go and see all the other wonderful coin purses today's fabulous ladies have made.  Thanks to Madame Samm and Katherine for another great hop.  It is truly a joy to participate in these.  Here are the other Ladies for today:

Day 2 - Nov.6th

The Crafter's Apprentice
Jane's Fabric and Quilts
Rosemary B
Why-Knot-Kwilt
Random Thoughts..do or "di"
Mary T.
Supermom No Cape
Lily Pad Quilting
.Quiltscapes.
Stitch, Stitch, Stitch
Rose Creations
The Treehouse
Gracie Oliver Arts
Quilting Prolifically
Stekje
Grammie Q's (you are here)


See you again soon.

Spoolin' Around

Spent a bit of time working on my Spools quilt top today.  I like how it's coming along.  It's a very easy pattern and so easy to get into the zone and just sew.

 I had to do three complete spools to see how they were going to look.  I need that gratification to keep me going sometimes.  The "thread" is Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree.  For the spool ends I am using 3 different fabrics, in keeping with using my stash: grey dots from Vintage Modern, grey stripe from Sunkissed, and grey tiny zigzag from Reunion.

 Chain piecing is definitely the way to go with this pattern. It's so easy to do too.  It also helps me to remember which way to orient the corner pieces and stitch them correctly.

 Here is a bit of trimmings from the spool ends.  I think these triangles are way too small to keep for any reason at all.  Into the trash they will go.

And neatly put away until next time, there are far fewer pieces in the project box now.  I love when I can see the progress.  Have a great weekend.

In the Zone

I've been in the zone here.  Do you know the feeling?  Lots getting done, sewing-wise.  It makes me feel so happy to have that be the case.  So here is what happened in the zone the last few days...

 I put new covers on both my round pillows.  I used a combination of Bliss and Vintage Modern.

 This is the back of the two pillows.  I wanted them to go together, yet be different.

 I finished my Swoon quilt top.  All I need now is to figure out how to quilt it and to make the back.

 I pulled out my blue scrap bin to put something away, and decided to make my slab blocks for July in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.

I knew I had a lot of blue scraps, the bin will hardly close, but wow!  Seeing some of these really takes me back a ways.  I still love them all as much as when I bought them for projects.  That's the way I used to buy fabric, just for specific projects.

And then I decided to make my blue ticker tape for the series I am doing.  You can see the others here.  I ended up making this one long and thin, because that's the size piece of white I had on hand.  I didn't want to wait to buy more, which I can't afford to right now.  Then I though, eh, why not, it is a scrap project after all.  Now I am thinking I will let the number of ticker tape pieces determine the size and shape.  Some of the colors are slim on scraps.  I think it will add interest to the group.

Hope you have a great Saturday.

Pillow Re-covery

I had a couple of round pillows in my living room.  I bought them to add interest to the room, instead of having all square pillows.  I also had a crochet book which had a cool pattern for round pillow covers.  I made them and I loved them...at first.  Then, the feathers began poking through and I loved them a little less.  Then, the yarn started stretching and I loved them a little less still.  So I finally decided to cover them in fabric.

Here is what I did:

 This is the pillow before.  You can see how stretched out of shape it is.  If you look closely, you can even see some of the feathers sticking out of it.

 Here is the pillow, after I stripped it of its yarn covering.  I then fluffed it back into shape.

 Next, I decided to use my brand new, handy dandy EZ Dresden ruler that I won from Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter.  I have been saving some fat quarters of Bliss and I also have a layer cake of Vintage Modern, both by Bonnie and Camille.  "What are you waiting for?" it practically screamed at me.  It was right.  If I cut into it and made it into something like this, I could look at it every day.

 After I sewed the pieces together, I tried it out for size.  I then found a charm square in red pin dots to make the center circle.  Perfect.

 I decided to quilt it to give it a heavier barrier against those poking feathers.  For the backing I used an old white sheet.  I made the back the same way, put in an 18" zipper and sewed the two sides together.

  Voila! All done and a fine round pillow it is, too.  I did the back just a bit different for fun. 

Now I have one more to do, and I can't decide if I should do it the same with the Dresden, or maybe something different.  What do you think?
Have a great evening.