Swaps!

I have recently discovered the big world of swapping on Flickr. It is highly addicting! I received this amazing Triple-Zip pouch with the accompanying goodies from Terry at http://withacupandasword.com/ I love how she added embroidery detail to pretty gray floral fabric!

 

Look how perfectly the pouch goes with my new sewing basket. I joined two other swaps and I am frantically trying to make the goodies for them.

 

My partner for the Friendship bag swap is getting this bag

 along with this needle book I made and goodies.

 Here is the inside

I am also participating in another swap where we were to make a drawstring bag to fill with fabric scraps and sweets. I am loving these flower embroideries! Here is the link to the tutorial we are using http://www.incolororder.com/2011/10/lined-drawstring-bag-tutorial.html The instructions were great and easy to follow. These bags can be made quite quickly if you don't make an embroidered panel! I think I will make some for Easter for my niece and nephew and fill with goodies. A trip to our local chocolate factory will be required!

I used Bonnie and Camille's Scrumptious fabric except for the lining.

I also whipped up a needle book to go in this bag. I looked at a couple of tutorials and did my own versions.

 I put pockets in them and used elastic hairbands with buttons for closures.

I think I am going to whip up a pin cushion out of some of my scraps for this bag.

 

Have you all seen this quilt? It is called Journey of a Quilter and I have been obsessing about it for a few months as I have watched Kathy of http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/ working on it as part of her Slow Sunday Stitching. I contacted the Australian designer and could not find the pattern for sale here in the U.S. Then guess what is going to be a BOM for http://www.thematerialgirlsquilts.blogspot.com/2014/03/new-classes-and-fun-new-things-at-shop.html It is fairly expensive and I really should not join, but I am planning on signing up tomorrow! I did already inquire and they will just sell me the pattern, but these cute modern fabrics are very appealing to me!

 

Anyone else interested in joining me?

 

Sunday Sewing

Well Friday night I finished up this cute Friendship Bag for a swap I am participating in on Flickr. I decided to alter the embroidery design from American Patchwork & Quilting April 2014 Kristine Czepuryk of Pretty By Hand http://prettybyhand.com/ and use it in my Friendship Bag. I am so pleased with how it came out that I am going to make a couple of needle books and incorporate the embroidery into a thread catcher and a  lined drawstring bag.

I am pairing up the embroideries with Scrumptious Fabric from Moda- Bonnie and Camille. I plan on doing some more flower embroidery and working on my Love Blooms Here blocks as part of Slow Sunday Stitching.

 

I also now have a tutorial tab at the top of my blog and my first tutorial posted for making Kitchen Towel Tote Bags. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

March 2014 Goal Setting

March has begun, so it is time for some more reasonable goal setting.

Goal #1 make the next three blocks for this Love Blooms Here wool felt quilt I am making

Goal #2 finish the base of my perpetual calendar.

Goal #3 make two more house blocks by March 15th.

Goal #4 make 5 more Goodnight Irene blocks.

Goal #5 finish up the sewing of the things I am making for the two swaps I am participating in.

 

Goal #6 quilt at least one UFO on my mom's long arm.

 

None of these seem too big and I am planning on taking off at least one day from work this month just to sew. What are your March goals?

Friendship Bag Swap Received & ALYOF February Finishes

I came home from work today to awesome mail! I am participating in the Friendship Bag Swap Round 3 on Flickr. My amazingly quick partner, Jan Roberts, had sent me this adorable, bright house (I love house blocks) bag stuffed with amazing goodies. The bags don't even need to be mailed until March 15th. Thank goodness because I am in the process of making mine for my partner!

This precious needle book made from colorful selvages. I had not hopped on the selvage bandwagon until today. Seeing this made me certainly reconsider that selvages are trash...

The needle book is big enough to hold a spool of hand quilting thread. I love the scissor fabric! She also used it to line the bag.

This small bag could be attached to a key chain or tote bag and looks like the perfect size for a lipstick. This pretty little decorative pin was inside. Now, I am certainly inspired to get working on the projects I need to make for my partner. Thank you Jan!!!

 

I set some lofty goals for February ALYOF, maybe more like unrealistic considering it is a short month and really busy at work!

 

Goal #1 get caught up on my 10 Goodnight Irene Blocks---done

Goal #2 make my Triple-Zip Pouch for my partner---done and she loved it!

Goal #3 piece, hand quilt, and finish my elephant baby quilt- done and gorgeous!

Goal #4 make the house blocks for the quilt along with sbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/ done

Goal #5 finish my perpetual calendar---not done, but working on it!

I did not meet Goal #5, but I did make 4 Survival Bag tote bags for my sister's family (her hubby had brain surgery on Wednesday and is already out of the hospital today!) and finished up my Country Threads 2013 BOM Sampler. I think I need to tone down my March goals!!!

 

It is supposed to be a rainy weekend here in western Colorado, so I will be quilting and putting the crock pot to good use.

 

Country Threads BOM Sampler 2013

For 2013, I participated in two BOM samplers. One from Country Threads and the other from Joined at the Hip. This is the Country Threads Sampler done! The only fabric I purchsed for it was the back and binding. Each month we made two blocks, one 12 inch and one 6 inch. I kept up with it and sewed it all together in December. I took it down to my mom's house a couple of weekends ago with the intention of long arm quilting it myself. We just sat hand stitching and chatting instead. She asked if she could show our friends that we (me only in the summer) quilt with on Mondays. I said of course.

Well they all decided that this sampler was too pretty for just my simple quilting loops. My mom took it to one of her amazing long arm quilter friends, Gail Smith of Montrose, Colorado, and she completely custom quilted it. Talk about and a stunning surprise!

She quilted each block differently. Now I wish I hadn't picked a busy backing. I always pick a busy backing to hide my own atrocious quilting. The detailed quilting is exquisite!

Look how she made a swirl in each 2 inch border square all by free hand.

The pictures just don't do the quilting justice!. Thank you to Country Threads for their free sampler pattern (they have a new design going by the way- I have not started it yet!) and a special thank you to my mom, you are too sweet!

Fast Fabricating Saturday & Slow Sunday Stitching

I spent Saturday morning grocery shopping and Survival Bag shopping. My daughter and I have had a joke since she was probably three years old about having our Survival Bags with us. A Survival Bag is a bag with items that will help you make it through a day if you get stuck somewhere (airport, car repair shop, hospital, etc.)! My Survival Bag must have a hand work sewing project with a small sewing kit, a book, EOS lip balm, and my iPod. I usually keep a Survival Bag in my car at the ready and you would not believe how often it gets used! I made these tote bags as Survival Bags for my sister and her family.

My sister's husband has a brain tumor that was only diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. They rushed from their little town in Nevada over to Denver. They only had a day to close up their house and pack for a 2-3 month stay in Denver while he has surgery and rehabilitation. Needless to say, this is a difficult situation! Instead of sending flowers, I decided to make each of them a Survival Bag. I used the letter patterns from Moda's Spell It With Fabric for each of their initials. I had to improvise with the R block because that pattern will not be out until next week. I combined the top of the B block with the bottom of the K block and I think it came out just fine. The T block improvisation was a piece of cake.

I made these tote bags using kitchen towels as the base fabric. They are durable and inexpensive, plus I have a whole tub of them on hand, so the hardest part was selecting the colors and fabrics from my stash! I made up a pattern for these tote bags years ago, but I think I will make a tutorial for my blog...Would you be interested?

I have stuffed the bags full of goodies for each of them. Card games, drawing books, jump ropes, craft items, and snacks for the kids. EOS lip balm, breath mints, crossword puzzle books, and snacks for the adults plus some more personalized items. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday and my mom and dad are going over to help with the kids (they are 8 and 9 years old) for at least 10 days. I will send the Survival Bags with them and hope they offer a little comfort!

This is my Triple-Zip Pouch all stuffed with goodies for my partner. The rules stated that all the goodies must fit inside the pouch, but they said nothing about it closing! It was such fun to think of goodies for my partner. It should arrive tomorrow.

This is the pouch unstuffed! I hope no one minds that it was not zipped up. It is tucked in a Ziplock bag, bubble wrapped, and in a box. These swaps are quite fun. Here is a link to another one that I am signing up for http://www.flickr.com/groups/simplesweetscrappyswap/discuss/72157641285441754/

Today for Slow Sunday Stitching, I will work on this perpetual calendar from http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/ and get binding on a quilt. My mom surprised me by having one of my sampler quilts beautifully quilted by one of her amazing long arm quilter friends! I had just dropped it off at mom's house with the intention of practicing my long arm skills on it myself. I will share some pictures once I get it bound!

 

February Goal Check 2

Check off February Goal #3! It was to get the fabric, piece, and hand quilt my elephant baby quilt. I just love, love, love how it turned out!!! I quilted it with the pink perle cotton that the elephants are embroidered in. I quilted around the elephant blocks and cross-hatched the nine patches and the border. This is more hand quilting than I was planning, but I was really enjoying it and making good time, so what the heck I went for it!

The pink backing was a steal and ties it all together. I used Kelly's label tutorial and it says: Elegant Elephants Handmade by Tanya Fredrick February 2014. Here is the link to her tutorial: http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/

The quilt was washed last night, so it is crinkly and ready to be wrapped up!

This door banner was not one of my February goals, but it should have been. My OCD hubby removed my Valentines Day door hanger today while I was at work, telling me the holiday was over. Good thing I finished quilting this one last night. I bound it this afternoon and hung it up. I certainly don't want a "naked" front door. I am trying to have a different door hanger for each month...I need to dig around in my spring quilts bin and see if I already have an Easter one. I can't remember! If not that will be a March goal!

These houses were February Goal #4 for Kim's quilt along that started this month. Goal #2 was my triple-zip pouch and it is ready to be mailed off to my swap partner on Friday...

All that leaves me for my February goals is my perpetual calendar, but that is a biggie as I need to start on the base and finish up my green numbers and March embroidery blocks. Good thing I have 10 days left!