Happy Monday...and a Winner!

Happy Monday everyone.  Day 2 of my staycation.  I have lots of sewing planned for this week, and if all goes well, I'll have lots to show you all week long.  First up, I finally finished my Daisychain ABC's sampler that I bought from Alicia Paulson.  I think I started this in February or March.  Glad to have it done!

I did enjoy doing it, a bit at a time.  This just needs a frame, and it is going to live in the home of my newest grandson.

Next, I made the first of what I know will be many of the Cell Phone Wristlet pattern.  I bought the pattern from Caroline at Trilliumdesign.  I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it on a blog hop to launch the pattern.  I just had to get it.  I could not believe the pattern was sooooo easy to assemble.  I did not expect that, having made many bags and pouches before.  I had all the fabric and fusibles and the zipper.  I just needed the hardware.  I will definitely be making more of these.

 This first one is for my daughter.  She loved the one made with the Ruby Star Rising typewriter fabric.  I tried my best to copy that one.  Not perfect, but pretty good.

Here is the back.  Sorry the picture is so yellow.  Inconsistent flash is probably to blame here.  I was not asked to promote this pattern, but I do love to share when I find something I think is terrific.

Last, but not least, the winner of my scrap giveaway: comment #7 Celtic Thistle!  And here is the bundle going out to her:

This is 2 pounds of scraps just for you Fiona.  Yes, I weighed it on my kitchen scale.  Fiona is in the SMQ Bee, so I already have her address.  I made my post office Monday run this morning so I posted this along with my bee blocks.  The postman said it should get there in 7-10 days.  Let me know, Fiona.

This is the first time I have ever posted anything for overseas.  It was a great learning experience for me and the postman was very patient and helpful.

That's all for now.  Have a great Monday.

Last Call for Scrap Giveaway

I always like to see a good turnout for a giveaway.  So before I pick a winner on Monday, one last chance to enter.  If you already entered in my other post, no need to enter again, you are still in. Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite thing to make from scraps is.  As an added incentive, here is the pile that I think will fit in a flat rate envelope:

                          This is the pile and there are a few rather large pieces in there.

Also included is a bunch of triangles left from several projects.  Might just be some good sewing here.
See you Monday.

My Monday Sewing

I usually am off from work on Sunday and Monday and those are the two days I get to do the most sewing.  I thought I would show you what I worked on this week.  Next week I am on vacation and I don't plan to go anywhere.  That means lots of sewing time for me!

So here is what I am working on:

 This is the first green block for August in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.  I took out my green scrap bin, and when I started pulling scraps, I decided that there were two types: soft, mellow green and modern, bright green.  So I decided they would look better if I made two different blocks.  I like each one for its self.

 Here is the bright green block...you can see how different it looks and feels from the other one.

 This is a summer weight quilt I am working on.  It is made with Lawn fabric from Connecting Threads.  Crazy Mom Quilts made a king size quilt using this same fabric.  Mine will be much smaller.  The fabric is so soft.  I love it.

I finally cut into my Summersville jelly roll.  I knew I wanted to do some 2.5 inch squares, but I hadn't figured out a layout.  Now, thanks to Camille, I know what to do.  I just need to get some Kona White for the sashing, but I started sewing the strips together.

I also have 4 quilt tops and their backs waiting to be quilted next week.  I am going to allow myself to buy batting for them.  It's not fabric after all and I don't have a stash of it.  We will see how far I get.  I will let you know.

If you are interested in my scrap giveaway, go here.
Have a great week.

Wanna Peek in My Scrap Bins?

Warning: picture heavy post!
When I mentioned that I was using my stash to make stuff this summer, my sister asked me about it.  What were my favorites, did I find things that I'd forgotten etc.  I was sewing for my Sunday Morning Quilts Bee yesterday and had my scraps out.  These really got me to thinking and reminiscing more than the rest of my stash.  They are so much a part of my quilting journey.  So I thought you'd like a peak.

First up, I found some squares in the yellow bin.  Leftovers from this quilt, made in 2001.  I guess I made too many to start.

 This quilt was on my bed for about 9 years before I made a new one.  It lives in the spare bedroom now.

 I found 11 little beginnings of log cabin blocks in the yellow scrap bin.  I made this new mug rug for my desk.

And I made it double sided, just changing the orientation of the blocks a bit.  I really like it.

 Doesn't it look good here.  My tool cup is an old favorite coffee cup that has a glued on handle.  Can't trust it with hot coffee anymore.

 Here are the three remaining mini blocks.  I am thinking about a small wall hanging with them.

 This is a picture of my scrap bins on the shelves.  I started sorting them about 4-5 years ago, by color.  I am happy I did this before Cheryl and Amanda Jean's book came out.  I feel like I had a bit of a head start on sorting and using.  I started with bins for the colors I had the most of, and added bins as my sorting continued.  There are a couple of small bins that are still a hodge podge and a couple (blue and yellow) that are over flowing.

 Let's look inside, shall we?  See, lots of scraps in all shapes and sizes.  Some go back to my first few quilts.  I even have one small piece of fabric from my very first quilt.  I found some pieces from quilts I have given away too.  It makes me smile to remember them.  I even have pieces I have no idea what they were from!

        Here is a closer look at yellow and red/pink.  I haven't divided them up yet.

 Here are blue and green.  I had green out yesterday to work on my August slab block for Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.  I will post about that tomorrow.

 Orange...my smallest collection of all.  I don't use much, only buy it for specific projects.  I don't guess it calls to me often.

 Creams and whites, tone on tone whites.  Some low volume fabrics, although that term is new to me.

 These are my holiday scraps, Christmas, Halloween etc.  Not too many in here either.

This bin is strictly strips, ends of jelly rolls not used yet.  After you unroll them, you can't always keep them on the shelf.  I also have a small bin of kids fabric scraps.  So that's my scrap stash.

If you read this far, I have a giveaway for you.  If you are reading the book, Sunday Morning Quilts, and you are trying to make some of those beautiful projects and find yourself short on scraps, I am going to stuff a flat rate envelope with an assortment of my scraps.  I will mail it to you.  All you have to do is leave me a comment here and tell me which scrap quilt in the book is your favorite one.  I will leave the give away open for one week.  Random will draw a winner.
Have a great day.

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.

Pillows!

I tried to post this yesterday, but blogger was having the hiccups.  Then in the afternoon a big storm took our power for 8 hours.  Let's try again.

In my quest to sew from my stash this summer, and since the dog chewed on one of the pillow covers I made for my daughter, I had to make new ones.  I finally got my hands on some of those cute typewriters a while ago and my daughter loved them.  So a plan was born.  Here's what she sketched and I sewed:

 She had three, we decided to make 5.  I am finally getting proficient at putting in zippers.

                                          There are two of this one, to anchor the whole lot.

                                                    I love all the colors in this one.

                                                   Another favorite, I guess I love them all.

 I made this to use up the typewriters at the ends which weren't whole.  I'm not wasting one of those babies!

And here they are in their new home.  They look so pretty and give a real punch of color to the room.
Hope you have a great day.

Sunday Morning Quilts

If you've been out of touch, you don't know about Sunday Morning Quilts.  It is a great book by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.  There are lots of things going on around blog world that center on this book.  Amanda and Cheryl have invited anyone who has made something from the book to link up.  So here is my first project.  I say first because I know there will be many more.

 These are my first two ticker tape mini quilts.  Amanda Jean did a great big one in all colors.  I decided to do a series of smaller ones, each in a single color.  When I am done, I am going to arrange them in a collection in my bedroom.  For now, though, they live in my sewing room on a little clothes line.

Here is the third one.  I am truly using scraps and the background was a rectangular piece of white I happened to have.  So they will not all be the same size and shape, I guess.

I also have a Flickr group doing a Bee/swap of slabs from the book.  I hope to have future rounds of this Bee to make some of the other projects from the book.  Go take a look.

Have a great week.  I am off to run errands now.