Another quilted bag

I hadn't quilted in such a long while that I joined the Spring Quilted Bag Swap through the Quilting Gallery. I had some reservations about the first bag I made (although it did receive positive feedback on flickr) so I decided to make a second one. The tutorial for the quilted bag is free from Geta's Quilting Studio (thanks Geta!).

This time I reinforced the handles with interfacing and instead of using cotton for hidden inner layer, I used canvas, which makes the bag stand up easily on its own. The print is one of my old favorites from Kaffe Fassett and I think it is reminiscent of spring, which is appropriate for a spring themed swap. I quilted it differently, loose circles in a kind of freestyle pattern that I think I like. I am looking forward to writing a letter to my swap partner, who is overseas, and sending this bag along with a handful of other sewing goodies.

Quilted spring bag

It's been too long since I've quilted and my fabric stash isn't getting any smaller, so I joined a quilt-a-long for a quilted bag exchange and promised myself I'd use only scraps.

Here is my first quilted bag made from this tutorial. I do like the bag but I'm thinking it looks more like a diaper bag with these whimsical colors and less "serious" and adult like so I'm not sure if my swap partner will like it or use it.

I'll be sending this bag to another country, so I want it to be special. I think I'll sit on it for a week and see if I want to send this one. The good news is that it sews up in no time at all so if I change my mind, I can prepare another one quickly.

I also decided to send my swap partner one of my big, fat potholder hearts. I still use mine all the time.

Sara's Workshop

I don't know how the elves at the North Pole are doing, but my workshop is in full swing! Thanks to Ana White from Knock-off Wood, I've created this for the special little girl in my life (who will be receiving a special doll this Christmas from her Nana).

Savannah's doll bed for her special Christmas gift, Julie (an American Girl doll).

I modified the plans a bit: I made the bed longer to accommodate an American Girl doll and instead of using 5 1x3s for the head and foot boards, I used 6 1x2s, so mine is more narrow like a regular full size bed, only doll sized. We worked on the quilt together and I sewed the pillow and pillowcase while my daughter's sweet little head was brimming with sugar plums. The quilt is her design and she approved the prototype. The fabric is leftover from a log cabin style quilt that I made for her. I couldn't resist sewing a mini European-style pillow sham for the bed.

The bed is a farmhouse style bed, the second one I've built. I painted it this afternoon in Divine White, a Sherwin-Williams Duration paint (ie, low-VOC). I wish I had a picture for you of her doll in the bed for size. For now, this is the best I can do. Since Julie has a rabbit in her stories, she will have a rabbit doll of her own to snuggle with in her new bed.

I can't wait to give this to my daughter on Christmas morning. She's going to be the happiest little girl in the house! Plus, I built the entire bed out of scrap lumber that I had lying around in my scrap bin in the garage, painted it with leftover paint, and used fabric scraps from my bin, so it cost me close to zero.

"Real" pillow and pillowcase. My daughter is in charge of all stuffing so she stuffed the pillow herself with her nimble little fingers.

What's going on in your workshop?

Red white and blue quilt

I finished my first Army Baby Quilt. I think it turned out well and I'm really looking forward to submitting it so it can find a good home.

The center blocks are a traditional log cabin style. I had cut the fabric strips last year to make these into a square log cabin table topper for my sister-in-law's 40th birthday, but my husband insisted she wouldn't like or use it. I was glad to finally get the blocks together and add borders and sashing until I met the 40" by 40" requested size for the Army Baby Quilts project.

I was undecided about the binding and after cutting a different binding on the bias and sewing the long strip together, I changed my mind and opted for the red and polka dots. Mmmm... I love polka dot bindings!

I wasn't sure how to sign it. That's one of the things I waiver on with charity quilts, but I still think signing my work is important. I want the baby to know it was made for them with love. Sometimes the kindness of a stranger can carry you a long way. At least, in my life I've found that to be true.

Of course, no quilt goes untested in this house! I put the finished work down so the kids could see it and William crawled right on and started touching the textured quilting and stars. Savannah joined with a love for her brother and the book she couldn't put down. Then again, who could put Charlotte's Web down?

Army Baby Quilts

Just in case you're looking for a quick quilting project and a way to give back to some of America's families who are most in need of support, Roberta Cerniglia from NY state is collecting quilts to distribute to moms who have babies while their husbands are deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Quilts should be about 40" by 40" and in red, white and blue colors. More information can be found at Army Baby Quilts. 

I'm looking forward to contributing to this project. I like that the quilts are small for the babies, hence easy to make, and I love the idea of showing support for moms of our troops who have to go through one of the most important moments of their lives without their partner. I think this project is a great way to use quilting talents to support families who are most affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you have the time this year, please join me.

First quilt

How old do you think you have to be to learn how to quilt? My five-year-old daughter recently took a two morning class offered by a local quilter and learned to make her first quilt from a drawing she brought to class. What do you imagine a sweet girl of five would want to quilt - a flower, a heart, a pony, something for her dolls perhaps? Not my daughter.

She only wanted to quilt the Jolly Roger, a pirate's pride and joy to hoist the colors right before attacking another ship ripe for plunder...argh! She cut out the fabric pieces herself and had some help sewing them in place although she was seated in front of the sewing machine for that part. She didn't handle the iron thank goodness but everything she did herself or had some help doing herself. I'm impressed! I'm not sure if my first quilt at 20 something came out that well.

At least for all her pirate plundering ambitions she can still say "Thank you" sweetly by helping me make the quilted card she designed. This card is to thank the patient lady who taught her how to make her first quilt.  There is always room for another quilter in the house.

A New Year For...

Quilting is such a wonderful hobby because there is no limit as to what you can do. Every year you could make new quilt patterns and never run out of new styles and patterns and color combinations. Even though I tend to wear preppy drab colors (my faves are navy anything, all shades of brown, black, ivory, etc and I usually buy three of everything I like, so not much diversity there) I have an inner color-loving child who is slowly emerging and painting the world brighter. Quilting gives me one outlet for color and creativity.

Here's a New Year's Resolution of sorts for my crafty to do list.

This year I want to make:

• a quilt with a house block in it
• a summer picnic quilt to bring to the park
  
• a Christmas quilt
• a quilt for the library to auction
  
• a charity quilt (most likely for Hospice)
  
• a boy quilt
  
• more skirts for my daughter with a few matching shirts with appliques
• a matching pair of pants and shirt for the baby
  
• a comforter cover for my son (he has his sister's crib-sized down comforter in petal pink)
• an art quilt to hang up
• a pair of pillows for my daughter's bed
• a scrappy quilt that uses up lots of little bits
• something that uses my dust-collecting serger
  

And I want to do all of this without purchasing new fabric (whites and muslin excepted) because I have enough in my stash to be able to make all of these and more. Waste not, want not, the wisdom goes.

I also want to teach my daughter how to make her own quilt, she's almost 6 and that's old enough, right???

Happy New Year! Let's look forward to a creative New Year together.

Texture blanket for William

William, like most babies, loves textures and tags. He likes to sit beneath my sewing table, we call it his fort, while I'm sewing and touch all the bits of thread and fabric that fall under the table. For Christmas this year one of his homemade gifts was a texture blanket with ribbons. It's a quilted nine patch with a log cabin style center patch. The front face of it has ribbons as well as the edges and the back is a soft fleece in navy.

When I finished quilting the top of it I dropped it beneath my sewing table where the little guy was sitting holding onto some bits of the fleece I had trimmed away. He was more than happy to give up the scraps for his new blankie.

I think he likes it.

Quilts of 2009

Quilts of 2009
Originally uploaded by alwayscreatingsomething

Here's a review of my quilts this year. Three quilt swaps, two charity quilts, four gift quilts and three keepers.

My favorites are the Afternoon on Oahu quilt, Baby Isla's quilt and the Aloha quilt. I think I only have two WIPs at the moment which is great for me and one is a finished quilt top.

Sew many fabric combinations, sew little time!

Fall Mini-Quilt Swap

I completed my Fall Inspired Mini-Quilt for my swap partner. I didn't get a good idea of the kinds of quilts she likes from her blog, so I had to wing it. I hope she likes it.

I selected fabrics for this quilt a long time ago but haven't had the chance to start work on it until a few days ago when I had an unexpected "opening." I'm so glad to have completed it while it's still Fall, although as I write this, snow is falling (and sticking!) outside my window. I used a simple natural muslin fabric and made a small strip of fall colors across the top (or side or bottom, depending how you look at it). Then appliqued a maple leaf in the corner. It's simple and I hope more classic than boring. I wanted to create something that could be used practically as a placemat or small table topper as well as hung, if desired. It measures approximately 15" by 18".

I quilted it in intersecting lines - something completely new for me but I used my walking foot and took my time with it. I like the clean, modern lines of it. If I quilt in straight lines again, I think I'll use my water soluble pen or chalk to mark the lines before sewing. 

The maple leaf I cut out by hand instead of following a template. I wish I could have used a real maple leaf as a template but I waited too long and now they're all brown and crispy or decomposing in my compost pile.

Here's the back before I added the hanging sleeve where I signed the quilt to my swap partner. I like the binding fabric but didn't measure it out correctly this time. I cut 3 1/2" strips for the binding but 3" would have been plenty. Usually I like thinner bindings than what I added to this quilt.

Aloha Quilt

I call this quilt the Aloha Quilt because of the wild floral patterns in the fabric and bright colors. The backing is a natural muslin fabric that is also the color of sand with little speckles in it.

It's a log cabin quilt with a four patch for the center of each block. I began by cutting a bunch of strips and squares, uncertain of how I might arrange them but I'm pleased with the final result. It's bright and cheery and had contrasting colors that a baby girl might enjoy. The fabrics are mainly from designers Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and Michael Miller. I used the remaining squares of fabric for the binding, sewing them into a long strip and then sewing the binding on. This is one thing I will never do again! Every two inches where I tried to shove the bulky fabric (quilt top, batting, backing, two layers of binding plus seams) under my sewing machine's foot I had a difficult time, but live and learn! It looks beautiful and used up my extra fabric scraps. There are two whites in the quilt , one in the border and a different one in the log cabin blocks, since my fabric diet is still in effect until I reduce my fabric stash to a more reasonable size. I turned the blocks a quarter turn each so they appear random, but in an orderly way. I free motion quilted it in a simple meandering pattern, the one I'm most comfortable with.

I made it for a little girl who hasn't yet been born, Joslin Rosalie will be her name. I hope she likes it and gets years of use out of it.

Baby texture block

Like most babies, William loves exploring new textures and sounds. After he became obsessed with the crinkly texture of a cellophane wrapper, I decided it was time to make him a safe crinkly toy. I used some of my Katie Jump Rope scraps to make a 5" square. I added different colored and textured ribbons to the corners. Some sides are quilted for additional texture and some are not. Two sides have layers of cellophane stitched in between the batting and fabric but not completely (ie, seam to seam) so that it can still be machine washed, but not dried. There's a bell in the middle - probably his favorite part, since he's often found shaking it by the ribbons to hear the bell ring.

We've been taking it along for car rides and giving it to him to play with on the floor at tummy time. So simple it was made in an afternoon with things on hand and he loves it!

Autumn Quilt Colorway

This maple is the inspiration for my upcoming mini-quilt for Fall.

Here's my fabric selection for my mini Fall Quilt. There are a few more days to join if you're interested in the Quilter's Fall Swap. I'm planning to make a mini-runner or place mat with the fabrics and to get it out as early as I can so it can be enjoyed while it's still autumn.

The colors remind me of Savannah's tree swing under the maple's autumn dress of red, gold, chestnut and green:

 
 The perfect place to read her Halloween books and eat apples from the local orchard.

Online Fall Quilt Festival

In the autumn, there's no need to look far for inspiration - the golden leaves, the pumpkins bursting off the garden vine, the orchard full of twisty trees bending to the ground under the weight of apples, the browns of the earth silhouetted against the bluest October skies. But just in case you've been too busy to notice, you can still find some inspiration here at the Online Fall Quilt Festival hosted by Park City Girl.

Visit the Flickr group if you can and enjoy!

Turquoise and fuschia

Here's a peak at the baby quilt I'm working on for a friend. The colors are her request and I have to say, they are really growing on me!

It's my modern twist on the four- patch and the log cabin. Lots of great fabrics in this - Amy Butler, Alexander Henry, Kaffe Fassett. Yes, it's really growing on me...

Organizing thread and fat quarters

When you have little ones at home, the best you can hope for is an hour here and there to accomplish big tasks. I'm slowly renovating my sewing room in that way. Here's one wall that I've added two thread organizers, a handmade bulletin board, and two fat quarter shelves to.


The fabric in the bulletin board and on the switchplate (tutorial here) match the drapes I'm making for the room. The green paint is a color taken from the fabric and I have some peg board painted a yellow from the fabric that I will also add to hold my tools.

I love a sense of order! It's so important to see what you have when inspiration strikes.

Swaps received

My Friendship Bag partner was all the way around the world in Australia! Thank you Vickie. Vickie lives in a town called Humpty Doo Australia - what a name!
It came filled with sewing goodies and fabric for me and stickers for my daughter - sparkly stickers! I received it a week ago and intended to take its photo right away but Savannah decided to use the bag to pack for one of her imaginary trips to Florida and I just found it today while cleaning her room...

Also, I received my swap for the Good 'Ol Summertime Mini Quilt Swap from Cynthia in Missouri. She's new to quilting but created all this. I say "all" this because her mini quilt was 36" by 36", so not so mini! Thank you Cynthia and welcome to quilting!

Clothespin bag

When I was little and first saw the Hindu goddesses with four and six arms, they looked deformed to me. Now, as I take a basket of wet laundry to hang on the line, with two arms around the basket, plus a baby strapped to me, needing one arm for balance, and a bunch of clothespins that need transporting and a door that needs opening, I think having more arms would probably make me feel like a goddess too.

Since I haven't had the good fortune of sprouting new limbs as I need them, I created a bag for my clothespins to make my life a wee bit easier. It holds 150 clothespins and has a thick wrist strap, leaving both of my hands free to do something else.

It's great to have this on my wrist as I'm pinning up and taking down clothes from the line. The clothespins are always where I need them to be! The strap doubles as a great way to hang the bag around a door knob or hook when not in use. The entire bag is quilted for strength and stands up on its own boxed bottom.

Made from Kaffe Fassett's fan flower fabric from my stash. I wanted something not too girly in case my husband ever has to bring laundry in from the clothesline. Some interesting notes about clothespins...

Grocery bag dispensers

It's nice when you can get organized and make your living space more beautiful and functional at the same time. This was a simple little project that's has helped to organize two small corners of my home - quilted grocery bag dispensers.

This is so much better than looking at a wad of plastic grocery bags.

I used some leftover ribbon for the loop at the top. This one hangs in the pantry near where I unload groceries. Stuff the bags in the top and pull from the bottom to dispense. I couldn't resist the Alexander Henry Apples & Pear fabric for the kitchen. Sometimes we use our fabric grocery bags and avoid the plastic altogether but sometimes we use the plastic bags,

This one was made with Heather Bailey's Pop Garden. I used leftover double-fold bias for the top loop. We use this one upstairs in the storage closet.

You can make your own by following the tutorial here.

Friendship Bag Swap

I finished my friendship bag for my Quilting Blogger partner. I made it from Kaffe Fassett scraps leftover from Nana's Memory Quilt. This is a great bag to make with small leftover scraps or strips. Purple is the color of friendship and sharing. I'm sending this one overseas. I hope she likes it.


The tutorial comes from Rachel at psIquilt but I did change the handle style. Instead of two small fabric handles, I made one basket-style handle that's an inch wide with batting in the middle so it feels good (solid and strong) in your hand. There are some excellent ones already made in our Flickr group with many other quilters taking poetic license too.


I made this pincushion to send along with it and use up some more scrap fabric. The inspiration comes from Heather Bailey but I didn't follow her excellent tutorial.

I might fill it with some extra fat quarters or squares too - anything to pass along the wealth and reduce my stash!