Girl's Dresses

In January, my church is having a sew-a-thon to make girl's dresses for missions. I will be gone the day of the sew-a-thon so am making some to turn in prior to the event. I finished these 2 today. 

This year we're making t-shirt dresses. Here are 2 links for patterns:

sewdelightful.blogspot.com/2012/12/t-shirt-dresses.html

dressagirlaroundtheworld-va.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-best-t-shirt-dress-tutorial.html

9 patch and tatting pincushion

This is the little pincushion I made for Jan. It's made from a 3 inch (finished) 9 patch. The pincusion is filled with sand and I used embroidery floss to attach the button. The floss was taken through a button hole, through the filled pincusion to the back and then brought back to the front of the pincushion, through the other button hole and tied. I then attached a tatted edging which I'd made to fit this project.

Sewing notions

I made an apron for a mug to be used to put sewing notions in, keeping everything handy and accessible. This one has pockets on the inside and the outside of the mug it covers. I put a couple gadgets in but it will hold lots more. Keeping with the sewing theme, I used a "button" novelty print. This was a gift for my friend, Jan. Now I need to make one for myself. I have a couple other projects to finish first.

Small pincushion

I very much enjoyed making the pincushion for the pincushion swap but I liked it so much, I was reluctant to give it away. Does that ever happen to you? So the solution was to make one for myself. I chose to use the same applique pattern and tatted edging (they went together so well). This time I chose to put a button on as the flower center. In my button collection, I was able to find one about the same shade as the flower fabric. This pincushion is a little smaller than the original one as I only had a strip of muslin that I was working with and I wanted to use it. The strip wasn't as wide as what I used first. Still, the muslin made a nice background for the applique and since I used a double thickness (on both pincushions), I think the muslin will nicely contain the fine sand that it is stuffed/filled with. So - here's MY little pincushion for you to see.

Pincushion with tatted edge

I'm in a pincushion swap with the Indiana quilters group. After looking at lots of pincushion instructions that are available with an internet search, I decided not to use any of them. Instead I chose to make an appliqued quilt block, stitch it to a backing making a little pillow and then filling it with fine sand. Having done that it seemed appropriate to add a bit of tatting so a found a little butterfly I had with my tatting threads and stitched it onto the pillow. Actually, I added the butterfly prior to making the pillow and adding the sand. Guess I'd better get this in the right order. I found some vintage thread (size 70 tatting cotton) which was a varigated cream, green and pink. This seemed the perfect color combination to frame my little pincushion so I tatted the narrow edging and stitched it to the pincushion. This stitching of the edging was done last, after everything else was completed. The pincushion is approx. 4.5" square and the sand fills it nicely when it's laying flat, particularly if one pushes a bit on the center to push the sand into the corners. Using a small funnel to put the sand in worked nicely. I was able to do it with little mess and no help. While I stitched closed the opening through which I poured the sand, I sat the pincushion in a bowl to keep it upright. I didn't want it falling over and spilling sand everywhere. The pattern for the applique can be found on the Sentimental Stitches website. It's one of the midget blocks - #87, tempting tulip. Here's the link for the pattern:

http://sentimentalstitches.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/midget-blocks-87.pdf

Now that I've completed this little pincushion, I want one for myself! Guess I'll be doing some more applique, something I'm learning to do. This little project was great practice.

For those interested, I don't know how many cups of sand I used as I didn't measure it but my husband and I weighed the finished pincushion and it was approximately 14 ounces. Most of the weight is sand so 1 pound of sand should be plenty. Wait until spring to get the sand and buy playsand. It's much cheaper than buying sand by the pound in a craft store. You'll have lots to share with a child if you buy a bag. A couple years ago, my husband and I were looking for sand to put in pincushions I was making and asked if we could have some from a broken bag that was spilling its contents. We got much more than I needed for little to no cost.

Christmas ornaments 2009

It's been tradition since my children were little to give Christmas ornaments to the kids. Sometimes these were purchased but most of the time it was something that I made. By the time my boys were grown, they were able to leave home with a boxful of ornaments which held special meaning and childhood memories. The tradition continues as I continue to give to my children, and now to the grandchildren, a new ornament annually. This year I made fabric stars. I stitched a Christmas button to the center of each one, front and back.

New bags made

Here are two bags that I made as Christmas gifts. They're made from 2 kitchen towels each. The outside has 2 large pockets front and back. The bag is very roomy but has no pockets inside so I made for each one, a purse organizer with a pocket size tissue holder and a fabric covered 3 x 5" notebook. There are 4 more pockets to hold additional items. I love having a purse organizer in my purse. Since I've been using one, I no longer have to dig to the bottom of my purse in search of something. I can find it in a pocket instead. This makes 3 of these bags that I've made but none for me so I think the next one may be for me.

Hand towel handbag

Hanging from the knobs on my cabinet doors is the little handbag that I made for my friend Jan's birthday. This is made from purchased purse handles and 2 kitchen towels. There are 4 large pockets on the outside (2 on the front and 2 on the back of the bag). The buttons are decorative only and help hold the little pleats at the top of each pocket. This is a very roomy handbag. It'll be great as a purse or as a bag to hold a craft project. It was quick and easy to do. A great little gift. I think I'll make a few more.

Fleece Bear

At my quilt guild this month, a teddy bear project was announced. We're going to give bears to the police and fire departments who use bears to give to children who are in crisis situations and need a bear to hold and hug. I bought a bear pattern several months ago thinking that I'd use it to make some bears from an old, faded, worn quilt I have but I hadn't yet used the pattern. After hearing of the bear project, I decided to make a bear from some fleece scraps I have left from using fleece to back baby quilts. This bear is about 12" tall, went together easily and looks not only cute but cuddly as well. It will go to quilt guild next month for donation to the bear project. I definitely will use the pattern again!

Lots of sewing

I've been very busy sewing and quilting, taking advantage of my time at home this summer. I've made lots of these sets of tissue holders and notebook covers. Also made are some two thirds bags, pattern by Tara Kos. I have lots of gifts done but not a lot of fabric stash used.

Mary's fat quarter frenzy

Mary sent me 4 fat quarters. It was my challenge to make something from them and then send the item(s) and the scraps back to her. It's amazing how far 4 fat quarters can go when being used for small projects. I ended up making 8 items: a reversible square tote bag (6"l x 6"w x8"h), tissue holder, key chain, 3 coasters, a yo-yo pincushion and a cube for photos and/or quilt notes. There are 2 photos of the items so that you can see reverse sides of the bag, pincushion and cube. This was a fun project. I hope that Mary enjoys using the items as much as I did making them.

Fat Quarter Frenzy

These are the 4 fabrics I've chosen for the Fat Quarter Frenzy. They will be mailed to another quilter and I will get back something made from these fabrics. I, in turn, will receive 4 fat quarters from my partner and will make something from those fabrics and then the objects back. I've never done anything like this so I'm looking forward to it.

I'll post the fabrics I receive and what I do with them. I'll also post what happens with my fabrics.