Projects from my Place

 Pillowcase by my 8 year-old.  He did a really nice job and I only did the cutting.  Stay tune for a shot of his quilt top. 

 Pillowcase by my nearly 15 year-old for a local sewing camp (digital only).

 Beginnings of a scrap busting mystery found here.

 

Now I have one month left and will have a completed quilt top.  I love being able to use up some scraps and produce fun quilts.

 Below is a peak at the fabrics I am using for a different stash busting mystery, but I did have to purchase a few extra colors as I did not have enough.

One more week until Summer

I made this valance today, but this photo is not very good.

This is the view out the window above...May 18th.

The front porch view.

My poor tulips are visible on the left.

A Few Projects to Share

Here are a few things I have made in the past few months.

Photo Dump of Various Sewing Projects

 I have been working on a project called Days for Girls.  This project involves making reusable feminine pads and helps girls not in the United States stay in school.  You can read more about it on their site.  I really enjoyed using my Serger and getting a lot of use out of it.  I actually used up several cones of thread too.  A few of my younger children helped with stacking and counting.  820 pads were made in total.  Each girl gets 8 pads, so 100 kits. 

 Too many devices and not enough cases.  I made a different pattern for each case, except for two.  Those two were mostly the same with a few alterations by me.  Of special note is the sea turtle along the zipper.  You open it up and it feeds him.  I did not plan this, it just happened.

Quarterly Report

Another sewing kit completed for a graduate. 

A sample of my scrap buster blocks.  I am working on a fun layout.  I have a few colors completed now.

A work in progress.  I started it at our sewing retreat.  The top is now complete, but I am deciding how I want to quilt it.  This is one of the few solids only creations.

A nice addition to this year's sewing retreat was a shower for the smaller upstairs bedroom.  I love the tile work.

 

A little inspiration for our sewing retreat.  This year I made gifts for each of our days.  This was the one for day one.  It was fun to surprise everyone since they were not expecting it.  Unfortunately, I did not snag photos of the other items.  I made magnets and tissue holders.

A Few of My Latest Completions from 2015

I managed to finish a few of my own quilts this year, but not as many as in other years.  I did get a very detailed applique piece completed and the Farmer's Wife quilt.  All 111 blocks are included.

This was a photo to help me remember my layout.

A cool sewing kit from this website.  Gifted to my niece for graduation.

Cool new ironing board cover.  I was sad to replace my old one, because my mother made it for me.

King-size Farmer's Wife.

An interesting technique.  I gifted this one to a friend.

This is by far the neatest one.  I have delayed finishing this one too long.  It is special, because each block is made a by a girl in a beginning sewing class I co-taught with a friend of mine.  I made sure to gift this to a person who sews as she would appreciate all of the hard work of the girls.  More fun things to come.

 This photo does not do this quilt justice at all, but the quilting was so fun.  I did not quilt it.

I made my first hot pad and crocheted two hot pads.  I also knitted a dish cloth.

Happy New Year.

More Excitement from my Creative Studio

I think it is my mother's fault that I love to sew.  In fact, it is her fault I love a lot of things - camping, backpacking and traveling to name a few.  She let me start sewing early, even when she probably wished I would just get off of her machine so she could make something.   I imagine she was rather tired of hearing, "Mom, it came unthreaded" or "Mom, it isn't working."  I am grateful to her for her love and teaching me how to sew.  I learned so much from her and the love of creating has stuck with me.  Anytime I sew or make something with fabric, I think of my Mom and all of the things she did for me.  As I raise my own children, I find myself remembering many things she did that I thought were odd and now I understand why she did them.  I am even learning to share my sewing space with my daughters.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  I love you.

Here is a photo splash of all I have done in the last two months or so.

My friend had to leave town before making a costume for her daughter.  I got to try out my dressmaking skills.  What do you think?  Not bad for someone who had no clue what she was doing.  Most importantly, the girl was pleased.

This is a flannel blanket I made for no particular reason.  I am sure I will find someone with whom I can share.

 This is the back.  I really like it.

 This fabric is called Postcard Garden.  I really love the prints.  It think it will be on my bed this summer, but it is not quite a king.  I love Dave.  Who else would allow his wife to mount an empty curtain rod on the wall of our hallway solely for the purpose of photographing quilts?

 Finally, I made this apron in February.  I have always wanted to make an apron and never really found a pattern I liked.  I had two events where I was working in the kitchen. and wanted to have an apron.  Something my mom always wore was an apron and I have stained many shirts, but still somehow avoided acquiring one.  I really wanted to love it.  I found this one and I bought the fabric at Hobby Lobby.  I will post the link to the pattern, if I can find it.  Try to ignore the non-matching pink shirt.  I should also mention that I now have a terrific apron from France.  Now, I have one to wash and one to wear.

Stay tune next time for my new laptop case.  What do you do when you don't have a case for your new laptop?  Rush off to the fabric store and make one of course.  Also, look for a few more quilts I need to finish binding.