Sunny Saturday Sewjo

It is so sunny and warm and beautiful today. I did spend much of the day inside at work, but I'm home now and the doors and windows are open wide! I was tickled to see what Kim shared today, because my share is a storage thing and it works in with hers pretty well.

 I bought this cute little box after I saw it on Kristyne's blog, Pretty By Hand.  It is made from pieces of yardstick and stained to look older than it is. I keep some of my embroidery floss in it, as it is the perfect size and designed for this.  But then I got to thinking(uh oh) Hey, I could make this. And so I did.

 I bought some yard sticks for 98 cents each at the hardware store and found a piece of scrap wood in the shed, so I didn't need to buy wood for the bottoms of the boxes. I put them together with wood glue after I cut the pieces. And then, I stained them.

 I made 4, in different sizes and they are just perfect for keeping all the little things in that are in a sewing room. Thimbles, buttons, small scissors and spools of thread all fit in there nicely.

 This one is more square-ish so it holds a bit more and is less awkward.  The construction isn't perfect, but that's okay, because it helps with the aged look.

 The others are sort of long and narrow. They are the width of the scrap piece of wood, while the larger one is two pieces glued side by side.

I am so very happy with how they came out and the will be living in my sewing room holding all my little items.

 Maybe now things will be less likely to get misplaced. Probably not, but I am trying here.

Make some up for yourself. They would also make great gifts for friends.  Have a great rest of the weekend.  Linking up with Kim at Sewjo Saturday.

Bunnies, Bunnies!! Friday Finish

So, I saw this on line tutorial for making a bunnies bowling set and thought it would be so cute to make for my youngest grandson for Easter. This project has been a thorn in my side since I started it. I am very glad it's done, but I am not completely happy with how it turned out. Let's take a look, shall we?

 All my bunnies do not have faces yet. I decided to make them from my scraps of Briar Rose, since the colors are so very springy.

 Problem number one, after all that work, even with the rice bags in the bottoms, they don't stand up well. Oh, pooh!

 Here they are standing, for a brief moment. The instructions said to stuff them and then fill the bottom with rice. I ended up making little rice pillows to insert, as putting the rice in loose was a giant mess that involved the vacuum cleaner and rice all over my sewing room.

 The instructions said to buy a wooden ball. What?!? I google cloth balls and tried to make one and stuff it. Looks more like a pin cushion.

 Oh, well, the little one is a boy and more likely to throw, rather than roll it. I laughed when I saw the shape this one came out as.

 I made each bunny in two fabrics, and the inside of the ears is the fabric on the back of the bunny.

 After the first one, when I struggled to get the ears turned right side out, I began pinking the edges for a ruffled look. So much easier with the little ends of the ears. And as you can see, none of the ears are on straight, no matter how hard I tried.

 This is the first one and the only one with ears made according to the pattern. But, by the time you put the stabilizer inside so they stand up, they are too stiff to turn easily.

 See, all the ears are different. They are kind of cute, but the directions were a bit sketchy, I thought. I am not an inexperienced sewist. I have been doing this for more than 40 years and if I struggled, how is it for newbies?

Oh well, Easter will come and go and these will get forgotten and I guess they are kind of cute. Happy Friday y'all. Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Friday.

Scrappy Quilts Wednesday WIPs

Here is what I am working on: scrappy baby quilts! I have a friend who is expecting twins this summer and of course, anyone who is giving birth to twins needs homemade quilts for those sweet babies.

 The first is these Ohio Stars. I have had these scraps of fabric for YEARS! I knew they would someday be a baby quilt, since that was what they were in their first incarnation. I already have a quilting plan for this one.

 And since they are fraternal twins, not matchy matchy quilts. I am making these blocks, but I just have to figure out how to arrange them. Any thoughts? Anyone?

 And I will, somehow, include just one, small Ohio Star in this quilt too, because after all, they live in Ohio!

Maybe they should all go this way? Really, anyone got a clue here? By the way, this is post 291, so getting very close to number 300 which will have a celebratory giveaway because 300 is a very large number, right? Have a great week and I will talk to you soon. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Sunday Stash #13

Oh, lucky 13! Saw these little lovelies in a weekly newsletter from Hawthorne Threads. They are one of my favorite go to on line shops. The fabric gets here so fast, which if you have no patience, like me, is a great thing. They also have a feature to let you order prints quickly from a single line. I love that! Anyway, here is what I bought:

 Bloom, by Masha Dyans for Clothworks. I am in full bring on the spring mode right now. This beauty is so very soft too. I am beginning to plan a quilt I am calling Riot of the Flowers in my head. Spring demands it!

 I also bought a half yard of these two supporting players. I love stripes, almost as much as dots, for binding. They are from the same line and there are more colors available too.

So, yay for spring and flashy flowers! I also caved put up no resistance to preordering the Heather Ross re-release of Far Far Away when it was offered this week. EEEEEEEEEE!!!! Excited for that one!!! Linking up with the lovely Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash. Have a great day everyone!

Sewjo Saturday #4, the One I Almost Missed

My work schedule changed today so I almost missed this week. It has been a crazy busy week and not nearly as much sewing as I would like, but I did make a bit of forward progress. Here's what I have;

 I began sewing the Rocket Age quilt pieces together. Not many yet, but enough to see that this is going to be a great quilt for V.

 I can't tell you how much I love these prints by Riley Blake. So cool and so retro. Great colors too.

And the other project is a set of bunny bowling pins and ball(still to be made) for B for Easter. I made them out of some Heather Ross Briar Rose scraps. Hopefully they are not too girly. Gotta run, but see you tomorrow for Sunday Stash. Linking up with Kim for Sewjo Saturday.

A Softer Place to Sit

My Friday finish this week is my chair cushions. It only took me 3-4 days to get them all done, in between everything else going on in my life.  I am thrilled with the way they came out. I still need to go buy one more foam insert to do my last chair, but for now, I have 5 new chairs.

Text fabrics from a swap

Road 15 by Sweetwater

From a rainbow charm swap

More Road 15

Fig Tree fabrics

 Most of the sides are not too even, but who cares.  They are so cushy and soft when you sit.

 I love looking down the row of chairs like this.  It really is like having new chairs!

Have a great weekend. Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Friday.

A Charmed Project

I love Charm packs. I buy them to get a good look at all the fabrics in a line I am interested in. I buy them because they are not too expensive. And I have also swapped them. So I have lots of charms.  What do you do with all of those charms?  Well, patchwork of course. And what do you do with all that patchwork? Cushion covers!

These old cushions for my dining room chairs were really worn and ugly. I forgot to get a picture before I striped them bare. I have had them on the to do list for at least 2 years. Yesterday, I started on them with my charm squares. Here is where I am after 3 are finished:

 This is the first one, covered in Road 15 from Sweetwater. I added some poly fill to puff it up a bit. They tend to get flatter over time.

 This one is also Road 15 in another colorway. I had a whole charm pack of this to use. I used 12 charms for each cushion. The strip around the side is made from fat quarters of Reunion and Noteworthy, cut into strips and pieced.

Before you get to thinking they are all going to be the same, the next one is a bunch of text charms from a swap. I did use the last of the strips of Reunion and Noteworthy on it.  The last two are not done, but I have the charms picked out. One is some Fig Tree prints from California Girl and a couple from a newer Fig Tree line that I can't recall the name of. The other one is just an assortment of charms from another swap I did about 3 years ago, so no telling what they are. After that, I have to buy one more foam form, as I have always been lacking one. Such a slacker! Talk to you soon.