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?

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 Quilt

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a woman who had recently lost her mother.  She had heard about some of the t-shirt quilts I had made and wondered if I would be able to make a quilt our of her mothers clothing.  After seeing that she had more than enough clothes I set to work on this beauty.

She had chosen a lattice quilt pattern to set off the prints and patterns in her mother's clothes.

It took me just over 21 hours to complete this 78"X105" quilt.

I quilted an all over meandering heart pattern which complements this quilt perfectly.

 Off it goes to it's forever home.

Quilty goodness

Okay, I hinted at quilting projects in process, now here is a visual sneak peak...

This is a custom quilt job of mine.  Believe it or not all of these squares used to be clothes!?! Still sashing this beauty more picts to come soon.

I also have been piecing hexes.  Inspiration struck about a month or two ago and now I have a pattern for all of these pieced flowers.  We shall see if they ever become an actual quilt. 

Last but certainly not least I'm working on several new Christmas stockings.  My inspiration pieces came from the book Modern Holiday by Amanda Murphy.  

Modern Holiday Stocking by Amanda Murphy

While I am not following her patterns to the letter. Her Hexi stocking pattern is sure to show up hanging on my mantle. Amanda Murphy had a blog tour last year if you're interested in checking out more projects from her book check out  Amanda Murphy Design for all the links.

Little Purses

Recently I posted about some hand embroidery that I had been working on.  Well, I am happy to report that the Little Purses projects that I have been embroidering for nearly 2 weeks have all been finished.

I pulled the pattern from Best of Stitch Bags to Sew and am very happy with the results.  I made up 5 little purses using this pattern.  The first two I stitched up I used the Rainbow embroidery pattern that was included with the book.

The second two I stitched up I got my embroidery groove on and went out on my own!  Crazy. I gave each little purse their own cute personalized lining.

 I made the fifth purse out of some fabric I had on hand, that was already embroidered.  I made the fifth purse simple and basic.  My 'test' pattern.   I didn't want to mess up and ruin the little purses that I spent so much time embroidering.  Glue and I, as I may have mentioned, tend to get ourselves in some sticky situations.  (oh. come on.  It was screaming for a pun)

The instructions in the book are clear and concise.  The pictures are BEAUTIFUL!  I ordered the purse frames and Gutermann fabric glue from an easy.com seller While Baby Naps.  She was very easy to work with and had all of my order here in less than a week.  Suburb service.  All in all it was a wonderfully portable project, except for the glue.  Now these beauties are set aside for some special people who will undoubtedly find many, many uses for these cute little purses.

Creating of a different sort.

This past week, you may have noticed I was a bit absent from blogland. With the loss of my Long-arm machine I inadvertently freed up time for 'other' types of projects.  Namely, tiling my kitchen backsplash.  This is a project that I have wanted to do since we moved into this house 4 years ago. After a week of bringing home tile sample after tile sample, I decided on a travertine and glass tile combination.  The dark granite countertop and the light cream cabinets made tile choices difficult but I think I made the right choice.

It took me about a week to tile the entire kitchen backsplash.  From what I've read, I need to seal the travertine before we grout to ensure that the cleanup goes smoothly.  The travertine is quite porous and without a sealant the grout would likely adhere to every inch. Since there has been no word on my long-arm machine I am left with ample time on my hands to create beauty of an entirely different sort.