August Sewing

Ava came over with her baby doll, Lyla. Top of the list was making new dresses for Lyla.

Ava chose the fabric and trims. I used Lyla's original dress as a pattern.

Mini pompoms on a fun print.

The back closes with hook and loop tape cut in half.

Lace  on the sleeves and ribbon flowers on the bodice.

I've had these flowers since Ava was tiny.

Perfect for a doll dress.

First fabric pick was this dark teal.

Fancy lace on neck and sleeves.

Modeling her new outfits.

I wanted to make a second baguette purse.

I bought a strap with hardware at The Sewing House.

Fabric scraps and zippers from stash.

Originally I used a pink zipper but neglected to sew across the ends and the zipper pull came off.

I couldn't get it back on so I ripped out the pink one and sewed on this green one.

One side has credit card slips and the other has a zipper pocket.

The yellow binding and the hidden pocket were made from a fat quarter - also stash.

Here is my new baguette. 

I remembered to sew in the Made in TN tag this time.

The blue fabric was leftover from a dress made many years ago. 

I'm so glad to use up some favorite fabric. 

The dragonfly zipper pull came from a pewter shop in Stowe, VT.

Very pleased with this finish.

I just finished my mini quilt for the Delta Fair.

A few days ago I filled out the entry form and mailed it.

The plan was to pull out quilts I have made this past year.

I wanted to enter my original design of an iris.

But I didn't read the category carefully. The quilt had to be smaller and 18 inches long.

Oops! The Iris quilt was 21 inches long.

The mini quilt category specified blocks of only one inch.

I like the way half square triangle blocks can be used in many simple designs.

After a while of making tiny half square triangle blocks 

I played around and came up with this. 

I wanted to make it a little bigger 

so this is how I figured out how many plain squares to make.

I had two fat quarters of light batik and the trimmed blue leftovers from another quilt.

Top finished.

All the seams were ironed open.

I bought a bag of leftover batting from the Cash for Stash table at quilt guild.

A little zigzag stitching and voila! Ready to machine quilt.

I quilted on the tan sections with a light cream thread.

Here is the back. 

The bobbin thread was variegated. 

The same leftover blue batik for binding.

All finished. 14" X 16"

Hanging sleeve and label in place.

The binding was finished by hand.

Not my usual way to finish binding but it is neater and easy with a mini quilt.

Next up - challenge blocks for September.

Happy Sewing!

 

July miscellaneous projects

Using up random yardage to make cloth popcorn bags.

An email post shared how to make cotton bags to make healthier popcorn.

I had to try one to find out.

One bag takes two 12" X 22" strips of 100% cotton fabric.

Fabric must be washed, dried, and ironed before sewing with cotton thread.

I used one third cup of popcorn and microwaved it in the bag for 2 minutes.

The popcorn was delicious and free of additives.

Sew I made 8 more bags. I wrote the directions for popping corn 

inside each bag with permanent, archival ink.

Here is another quick, scrap friendly project from the inter-webs.

These cat toys have crinkly cellophane inside.

I added a loop of ribbon that can be used with a fishing pole to entice a kitty to play.

Above is one of my Color Theory 9 patches.

I wanted to feature the center by using black and white borders.

This is a variation of Geese around the pond. 

I like the way the color pops with this border.

I'm thinking about using the sashing above when I put the blocks together.

Maybe with more bright squares in the corners.

And finally, Olive has captured one of the crinkly fish.

Look closely and you can see it under her.

What are you making?

Happy Sewing!

 

July 4th Finish

I like small purses and need one for our upcoming 50th anniversary trip.

I made this bag from a SewCanShe free pattern.

(With a few changes)

The lining is Art Gallery fabric that I won years ago in a FabShopHop.

I made 3 slip pockets instead of one.

This is the first time I have made an interior pocket with a zipper.

Both zippers were from my stash.

Just a little bit of the outer fabric was left from a large bag I made Emily.

I really like this fabric.

I used a fusible fleece between the outer and lining fabrics

but I didn't fuse it. 

The strap was in my stash, too.

I changed the configuration of the strap 

because I only had one D ring that matched the slider and hook.

I used FrayChek on the ends of the strap.

Binding the seams was the hardest part. 

I couldn't get close enough to the ends with the sewing machine foot.

I changed to the zipper foot and was able to sew to the end

but the foot kept coming off.

At least it is inside and won't show.

Here is my finished Baguette with a little pineapple zipper pull.

All from stash.

I'm very happy with the size.

It holds everything I need and is light weight.

Oak Park flimsy is finished.

This was a kit and some of the directional fabric was not wide enough 

to orient the fabric the way that was shown on the pattern illustration.

Here is the back of the flimsy.

A quick sew.

In other news, my brother and his wife came to visit on their way to a dance convention.

We took a little tour around downtown Memphis.

Beale Street, the Orpheum, FedEX Forum and the Bass Pro Pyramid.

My arms are not long enough for good selfies. ;-)

Happy Sewing!

 

Presidents' blocks and August Piano Runner

At Uncommon Threads' Board retreat we discovered that Wendy J. had never chosen a block when she was president a few years ago. So... she asked if members would make 4 little house blocks.

Below are the ones I made from the Frank Lloyd Wright quilt kit I was prepping.

Then, as in-coming president I asked Sharon T. what block she would like for her president's block.

She chose a sawtooth block using scrappy fabric with a white or cream background.

Below is the one I made from some favorite scraps.

Since July is going to be very busy with our 50th anniversary trip to Vermont,

I started working on my July challenge piano runner.

I made 3 blocks from the Farm Girl Vintage pattern book.

Mixing bowls and a spoon, pears, and canning jars.

When I think of August (this will be the August piano runner) I think about all the fruits and vegetables

that are picked and processed in August that we enjoy eating in the winter.

The pears remind me of the 'pear honey' preserves mom would make from our rock hard pears.

It was yummy on hot biscuits.

I chose a small leaf print for the backing. 

The only batting I had was queen size and I didn't want to cut into it for a 15" X 40" runner.

Crib size batting will make 4 runners, so that's what I bought.

I used facings instead of binding. 

I like the unframed look of facings and it is very easy to finish.

The mini clips hold the binding in place while I hand sew it down.

The diagonal quilting was done with a variegated green thread.

I marked the quilting lines with a Hera marker and an extra long ruler.

The only thing left to do is document the finish on the yellow corner.

These lovelies are blooming in the front beds.

Ornamental Onion above

Stokes' Aster below

Obedient Plant below.

I love these lavender pretties.

Sword Lily - Montbretia below

An eye catching spray of blooms

Garden Dahlia below

Mr. Martin's hard work is paying off.

We love our mix of flowers. 

Happy Sewing!

 

 

Red, White, & Blue Piano Runner

The July guild challenge blocks are due at the meeting on the 4th Tuesday in June.

I finished my blocks over the weekend.

I made two pinwheel 9 patch blocks and an Old Glory block.

I found a piece of Kaffe fabric that looks like fireworks for the backing and a micro check for binding.

The batting was made from leftover strips, sewn together.

Everything came from my stash.

Below is the back.

Documented with a triangle in one corner.

Below are the piano runners/challenges for January - June, 

plus two on the left that I made before the challenge started.

This week I'm leading the preschool music at Vacation Bible School.

No sewing but lots of fun with the little singers.

Happy Sewing!