Dreaded Applique is done!

After much delay I have finished the appliqué for the yellow and blue quilt. I still have to trim the thread tails and cut the squares into triangles. I am considering drawing faces on the children with permanent marker. I know there will not be embroidered faces.  

I decided to just straight stitch around the fabric. I had to pick out the zigzag stitches from one of the boys because it looked terrible. I just don't have the patience to zigzag around this many curves.

The original design was flowers, leaves, berries, and vines. There was no way I was going to do that much appliqué. I thought the children were a better fit for me since I have spent so much time with children. Tomorrow I hope to get the borders and all the sections sewn together and maybe get it basted and ready to quilt on my sewing machine. This one is going on my bed when it is finished. The last of my unfinished quilts.

2014 in Review

In random order, here are some sewing projects and travel photos from 2014.

Memory squares made at MRA Leadership in July were made into this quilt I call "Woven Words".

This cutie turned 2 in May. He loves the movie Cars and had a visit from neighborhood firemen and the fire truck at his birthday party.

 

I started the year with some quilt finishes. The giant log cabin was for a nephew.

My first Saturday sampler was finished after about 10 years. 

This is half of it. The other half was donated to a raffle at school.

I took a class in July on accidental landscapes. 

Most of the family came together for Thanksgiving at mom's house. At 89 mom was happy to have all of us bring the food while she enjoyed visiting with grandkids. Kim surprised us with her announcement that she has been accepted to Ole Miss. A sad day for all of us Mississippi State grads. ;-)

In June we toured Rome and Florence. This was one of our favorite places outside of Rome.

I bought fabric in Rome and have made 2 scarves from some of the fabric.

TESOL was in Portland, Oregon in March. We took a memorable food tour in the pouring rain.

We rode the bus to a neat fabric shop where I bought several bits and pieces that have made their way into small projects like zipper bags and cozies.

Zipper bags appeared several times this year. A fun, quick sewing project.

This year I made 3 qwillows, 3 pillowcases, lots of coffee cozies, and cell phone covers.

Most fun was making a Mrs. Claus outfit and reading Christmas stories to kids at church and school. 

I am waiting for a quilt to be returned from the long arm quilter and I hope to finish one WIP over the break.  2014-a great year!

Mrs. Claus visits my school with small gifts

Mrs. Claus met these Christmas trees in the hall as she went around reading stories to the good (and bad) little boys and girls. The kids wore their pajamas for a fun half day of school before Christmas break. They loved my costume. Some of my students didn't recognize me. So funny!

I made these cell phone covers in about 2 hours yesterday. I got the idea to leave out one side seam and that made them lots quicker to cut out and sew. After school today I bought more bargain buttons and elastic hair bands. All ready to make more coffee cozies and phone covers.

Still avoiding applique!

Linking up with Crazymomquilts.

Small Finishes

Not much sewing time lately. Last weekend was busy with choir programs and outings with children from church. 

About a week ago I saw the cutest phone cover online and managed to find time to cut out and stitch up some. Especially useful since I finally bought a new phone.

The coffee cozy is made from one slice from a batik layer cake. 

The pieced phone covers make use of very small bits of fabric-one and a half inch pieces.

The fronts of the phone covers with button closing above.

The backs are below.

The batik phone cover uses two slices of layer cake fabric. It is very quick to make even adding free motion quilting.

The best find of the week? The buttons. I went to the big fabric store looking for buttons. Found some Art Deco style that I really liked marked down to $2 for two. Had to have them even at a dollar per button. Surprise! They were only 40 cents for two. What a great deal. I had to go back and get more at that price. Look for more coffee cozies and phone covers so I can use my bargain buttons.

Same but Different Small Bag

I made this small zipper bag from a pattern suggestion at Stitch Mischief. There is no seam on the bottom and the boxing seams are made inside and covered with bias tape. I didn't have bias tape so I cut a strip of the lining fabric and covered the seam like I was binding a quilt.

The fabric on the top part was bought in Australia.

The fabric on the bottom was bought in Portland, Oregon.

The lining is some of the Art Gallery fabric I won last year. It has a Chrysanthemum pattern and feels sort of Japanese. Notice the mum centered in the bottom. Happened totally by accident.

I think this will be my go-to pattern for small bags now.

I have enjoyed the week off. We are going to a movie this afternoon. Hope you have had a great week!

Avoiding Applique

So I finished ten small wide open zipper bags today. I am pleased with how they turned out.

Cotton Blossom had a special on Kona solids and I bought some with no idea or plan for what to do with them. Then I thought of the teens in a group home we are adopting for Christmas at church. What girl doesn't need a small bag for cosmetics and other girly stuff? 

Looked in my stash for fat quarters to pair with the solids. Then matched up some zippers I got this summer.

All of this sewing was really my way of avoiding the appliqué on the WIP I need to finish.

Two different looks with light teal.

Two bright reds.

A couple of grays.

The darker teal.

I think these are my favorite and I usually don't like orange.

I made the first two from start to finish. Then I decided that assembly line would be faster. It was. I got more accurate with the bottom boxing seam. All in all very happy with them. Hope the girls like them.

Now I have to get on that appliqué. ;-)

Quick Gifts

Okay, I'm a copy cat. I saw these coffee cup cozies and had to make some. Bought refillable coffee cups for $2 each. Used scraps leftover from different quilts. Found some buttons and elastic hair bands that were not being used.

These were so quick to make. I made three last night and two after school Thursday-before returning to school for PTA. The plan is to gift them to the office staff and some coffee lovers I know.

Also, I had to do something quick and quilty. My appliqué is not going well on the finish I am hoping to have complete by Thanksgiving. I remember why I don't do appliqué. I have a hard time seeing the light colored fabrics. More on that in another post. 

Happy Thanksgiving!