do.good.finish

This year I coordinated the months of March and October for the do.good.stitches peace group.
For the March group I used chose the scrapy triangle block from Filminthefridge.  This is a block I have been wanting to play around with for a while now.  I chose green, blue and yellow as the block colors and asked each participant to make me 3 blocks.  Since this was the first time I had been a month coordinator, I greatly underestimated the number of blocks I needed.  When all was said and done I still had 13 blocks to make.  ugh.

Rather than stick with the block as it was designed I decided to mix up 3 of the blocks by making the triangle negative white space and the exterior of the block the color.

I quilted organic wavy lines around the triangles and then used my Juki 2010 to quilt smaller triangles inside of the lager triangles.

All quilted designed and made by the Peace Circle of do.good.stitches profit the local chapter of Project Linus.

Quilting

Since teaching my first class I have had the opportunity to Long-arm quilt some quilts for the ladies in the class.

The first quilt I quilted was the quilt we put together in our first class. Rather than quilting an all over design, I decided to break the quilt up into its elements and quilt each element with a different motif. I quilted leaves both simple and a tropical leaf in the green corner squares and in the Orange boarder I quilted  large flower and leaf design.  I found 3 wonderful block designs which I free motion quilted in the large blocks, a gecko, a fish and a tropical leaf pattern.

The next quilt was one that many of you can probably identify with.  (I know I can!)The woman who made this quilt had this beautiful top finished and in her sewing room.  It had been in hiding since her daughter was in high school, it was intended as a graduation gift.  That was 15 years ago!  When her daughter asked about it, mom went on a search.  Low and behold the top was complete it had just never been quilted and bound!

Problem solved!  Now her daughter is getting a beautiful, long overdue gift for Christmas.

Teaching

I taught my first beginning quilt class this summer.  Oh was I nervous!  Having never taught a class I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  I have 14 years of quilting under my belt yet somehow I didn't feel qualified to 'teach'.

I had just three students in my class, which was just perfect for me.
Two of the ladies had sewn before which helped.  One student was a very new sewer but I was quite impressed with her willingness to learn. (It was nice that I wasn't the only beginner in class.)

I had sewn up this quilt, which I used as the class sample.  I had the students use 9 pieces from a layer cake and pre-cut the rest of the strips for them.  I planed 3 hours for the quilt assembly.  Can you believe that it took almost 4?  I need to plan a longer class period next time.

The quilt measures 42" x 42" when completed.

Here are my students and their completed quilts!  Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to teach you what I know.  And for being patient with a newbie.

Brideget's Bagetts

I sewed up three of these Bagetts from Atkinson Designs for the Sew Suite Studio over the summer.    I used up remnants of Paisley print from the graduation towel projects. I was tempted to use up an old vinyl table cloth for the vinyl scraps but in the end I went with a vinyl remnant.  If you do go the old vinyl table cloth route make sure (Are you listening? This is important!)  make sure you use tissue paper to cover the vinyl when sewing.  No matter how good your walking foot is vinyl will not run smoothly under it, ever.

These little pouches are TOTALLY scrap worthy.  They require only minimal fabric, 2 fat quarters if you are saving up your scraps.  They are a fast finish so they are high on the instant gratification list!  Because sometimes it is good just get one project finished!

The smallish size bags are the perfect size for buttons, bead, safety pins, wonder clips (LOVE THEM). Small sewing instruments such as scissors, rotary cutter or seam ripper can be kept in the larger bag-etts. Whether you are looking for a quick gift for a friend or a just a quick sew for yourself these bags to the trick.

How Sweet!

Can I just be honest?  Oh! How I love cupcakes.  Pillow of frosting on a mattress of cake. What's not to love? In one bite, a bit of frosting and a bit of cake.  They are neatly packaged it the perfect pleated wrapper.  Cute, sweet and require only a minimum of bites.  Face it.  They are the perfect little dessert.  

Over the summer I made the cutest cupcakes.  Why, you ask are they cute?  These, my fellow sew-ists were no ordinary cupcakes.  These were Cupcake pincushions.

Four in total. Some with solid frosting tops and others with prints.  I followed the Cupcake Pincushion Pattern by Cindy Taylor Oates

Having never made fabric pincushions that look like cupcakes, I can tell you that it was a bit of a challenge.  I say this only because these cupcake liners were filled with sand.  The sand makes them nice and sturdy. These little beauties are not going to roll off your sewing table.

I know you are probably thinking the exact same thing I thought, "What if the sand escapes and gets all over my sewing table?"  I can tell you now that would NOT be a good scenario.  The pattern even states, "Do not use these near your sewing machine." I can only imagine the horror of having sand inside your machine.   So if you do plan on making one or more of these little gems, be sure to leave it on your cutting table.

 The frosting layer I filled with fiberfill.  I suppose you could fill the entire cupcake with fiberfill if you wanted to fore go the sand.  I even contemplated rice in the bottom as this would give it weight without the worry of sand everywhere.  

In the end I followed the pattern. After I whipstitched the seam on the bottom closed I used a bit of hot glue to (hopefully) seal the seam. Take that Sand!

These little sweets whip up in no time.  They are great for all the cute little scraps that we all save and swear one day we will use.  They are simple enough to put together (minus the sand) and you can custom decorate your confection creation however you like.  I topped off my little sweets with a fabric flower rosette and little ribbon leaves.  How Sweet is that?

do.good.stitches

I cannot believe I started this blog post last week.  Well, today it will be finished! (maybe).

You may have heard that here in South Carolina we had a little rain. yeah.  (like 14.5 inches in my neck of the woods)  My family and I are very fortunate that we had no flooding, loss of power or water during the flood.  Many of our neighbors have not been so fortunate.

The most wonderful thing happened after disaster struck.  The people of the community pulled together and helped one another.  Volunteers of all ages came out to help clean, organize and cook for the community.  It is truly wonderful to witness everyone working together.  There have been times when volunteers have been turned away from one organization and sent to another just because there are so many people wanting to help.

As you may or may not remember this year I joined a group of ladies within do.good.stitiches who sew quilts for charities. Since January of this year the group has chosen some wonderful and creative blocks.  Here are some of the blocks we have made.


April block
Improv quilt block tutorial found here at City House Studios

May
Shoo-fly block variation found here at Generations-Quilt-Patterns

June
Modified X and + block found here at Kbcreative

July and August (I forgot to take a picture of mine) 

 Rectangle Log Cabin Block found here. on Bonjourquilts.

September
Breeze Blossoms Quilt Patterns - Here at Violet Craft

Never has the need for this been more evident.  When people who have lost so much are your friends and neighbors you see first hand the good that comes from just a single quilt block.  One block sewn by 12 caring people, put together into a quilt and given freely can bring warmth and joy to one who has lost it all.

Graduation towels

This past June my oldest graduated from High School.  (How is this possible?) Since he had lots of friends who were also graduating, go figure?, I had quite a few graduation gifts to come up with.  (Because I wasn't busy enough) I decided to dive head first into whipping up some decorative towels for a few of the girls.

I purchased plain white towels from TJMaxx and this beautiful paisley print from Free Spirit Fabrics.

This is  Patient Paisley in Aqua by April Cornell for those of you who wondered.

I followed the pattern I had from Amy Buttler's book In Stitches.  I ended up adapting the pattern just slightly.  The towels I had purchased had a thick band of white on white stitching (see above picture) that wasn't completely covered with the measurements used in the pattern.  I extended the length just enough to make the paisley print the focal point.

I made 4 sets, a hand towel and a bath towel for each girl.  Overall it was a quick and satisfying project which the Girls LOVED.

Beach Bag

This summer I made 2 of these Beach Bags from the Sew4home.com pattern Day at the Beach.

 My siblings and I decided to do a family trip to the beach this summer.  With my son, the oldest grandchild at 18 and my brother's daughter at 16 months it was quite an adventure.  It was the first time we had all been together in several years.  It was wonderful to hang out, talk, have dinner together and let all of the cousins play.  Even the adults did some playing.  My youngest sister's birthday was just the week before this trip.  As a crafty person I knew she would enjoy this beach bag.

I found this cute pattern, Day at the Beach Bag. on  the Sew4home.com website. I used canvas for the top half of the bag as recommended in the pattern.  I didn't have the same fondness for the Cotton & Steel Metallic Canvas so, I chose this cotton and linen blend from  Moda Mixologie in Cosmopolitan ice and Steel blue.

The bag is big enough to fit two or three beach towels in the main compartment.  Sunscreen and a book fit nicely into the front pockets.  And when your not at the beach, it makes a nice hide out for your cats:)

Did you miss me?

Beach Bag

Well, the rumors are true.  I am alive and well. (and still as busy as ever).  According to my calendar I have not written a blog post since March.  Can that be right?  WoW!  Quite a lot has happened since then.

My oldest graduated from High School and is now in College. (how is that possible?). Our beloved exchange student went back to Germany.  Both of the previous two boys were on crutches for different reasons. One school year ended and another began. We went on vacation/family reunion.  My two youngest had pneumonia over the summer, which prompted a host of doctors visits.  Band camp and Summer cross country camp came and went.  We are now back in full school mode and all that it entails.

One thing that didn't change.. I still kept on quilting and crafting.
Here are a few pictures of the things that kept me busy this summer...

Bee Blocks

Coaches Gifts

Beginning quilt class demo

cupcake pincushions

clemson t-shirt quilt

Graduation Quilt

Bee Blocks

Graduation Towels

I will go into more detail on the projects above soon.(plus a few more projects who's photos escape me;)

Memory quilts

I finished up 3 more memory quilts this past week.  I was keeping them under wraps until the owner picked them up.  Here they are....

Lap quilt.

Table runner 1

Table runner 2

Hard to believe all of these used to be items of clothing, isn't it?

Spring flowers

The last several days have been beautiful!  With temperatures in the 80's spring is here (perhaps not here but close).  The trees and shrubs loaded with buds ready to burst.  I have even seen spring flowers.  Many of the early bloomers are out!  Daffodils, phlox and magnolias are blooming, pushing away the gray dreary days.

I am dream of planting our garden and setting out pots of flowers.  Spring is definitely in the air.  I know it is still a bit early for planting and gardening but a girl can hope.  While I wait for that last frost to pass I am crocheting up my own little flower garden.  It is blooming slowly with each little flower.  Much like spring, it seems in no rush to arrive to it's destination. Happy to just bloom each day.

Crocheted Granny African Flower (also known as Paperweight granny) is a quick little crochet I have been quietly working on anytime I have a moment.  I am using a pattern I found on Craftpassion.com.     These cute little flowers of mine still need a white border row, but are pretty just to look at even without.