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.

Snowstorm hat for Savannah

William got his snowstorm hat during a chilly visit to Maine, now it's Savannah's turn. I used leftover yarn from another project. It's two-tone because I ran out of the taupe but had more of the sky blue in the same Wool Ease Thick & Quick. This knit up quickly in one evening. I added the pompom and braids the next day. The pattern, which I roughly followed, can be found on Lion Brand's free pattern site (they are now all free but you will have to sign up for it) under snowstorm hat.


My little snow bunny. She can't wait to be out in the snow sucking on icicles and building friends for Frosty.

Here's the side view with the ear flaps. Cute and warm!

All tied on and ready for the cold, which will be here soon enough. Really, anything looks good on her...

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!

Baby hat with ear flaps

Poor baby William was so cold over the weekend I used the extra yarn I had from Savannah's cabled throw to knit him a quick hat. Initially I had made just the ribbed hat with the chunky yarn but it didn't stay on when he turned his head back and forth so I picked up some stitches on the sides to make ear flaps and added braids to them. William likes to pull and suck on the braids so they were worth adding for that alone.


If I had to make it over again I would make one ear flap then measure for the other one. I put the ear flaps exactly halfway around the head but I should have put one about a half inch or two stitches back.


I think he likes it!

Ivory cabled throw for Savannah

It's been a while since I've picked up my knitting needles but I had the chance to "unplug" over the weekend (ie no Internet or electronics). I made this Ivory cabled throw for Savannah's special chair in the living room. Before the woodstove is really going she needs a warm blanket and sometimes she just likes to snuggle in something cozy.


The pattern is my own. Four rows of seed stitch on the ends and seven cables across. I love the classic feel and texture of cables...

I made it with Wool Ease's Thick & Quick yarn in Fisherman. I love this super bulky weight yarn!

Scrappy Nine Patch Quilt

I finished the second charity quilt for Hospice, finally. This quilt top was part of crazy mom quilts nine patch quilt-a-long. This is my favorite part of the quilt, the binding in Mille Fiore by Kaffe Fassett.


One corner of the quilt.


A close up of a nine patch with Martha Negley fabric and Kaffe Fassett fabric. Quilted in my usual meandering pattern.


The quilt in its entirety - not my usual color patterns but I did make it all from scraps and used up quite a bit of them at that. I'm still on my self imposed fabric diet through December at least. I'm only allowed to purchase muslin for backings.


The pair of charity quilts ready to be dropped off to Hospice.

Ladybug picnic quilt

This is my first of two charity quilts for Hospice. I've named the quilt "Ladybug Picnic". My hope is that the child who receives it will feel some warmth and happiness from the cheery quilt, even through the tough times of dealing with the loss of a loved one. The center of the quilt is a disappearing nine patch and other than the red polka dot fabric for the backing, I used all scraps to make it.


I started this quilt top in March and modified it to fit Hospice's size requirements of 42" by 66" (an awkward size) for Camp Erin. I'm not crazy about the light yellow fabric border I had to use to meet the size requirements, but overall, I think it turned out well. I thought of my grandmother as I bound it. Hospice helped me care for her in her last days when she was no longer well enough to stay in her own home.


I wasn't sure if I sould sign this quilt or not, as I'm giving it to a charity, but I thought perhaps the note of love from a stranger would be appreciated. Sometimes, compassion from a stranger can be profoundly more touching than kindness from a friend.

Aprons strings and chef hats

When you give a new baby a gift, you also have to give something to the older siblings. Baby Isla also has a big brother, Ian, and big sister, Sophia, so after finishing her quilt, I went to work making a little something for them as well.


Miss Sophia will receive this play apron, which works equally well when used for real in the kitchen. I tried to find a pattern I might like from my favorite apron book, A is for Apron, but ended up just winging it. The pink on pink is "Pink Damask" by Michael Miller.


Savannah loves to model for me!


I also made her a matching potholder, which turned out well overall but don't look too closely at my stitching! It was a bit too thick with two layers of batting between two layers of fabric and then a double-folded binding to stitch up neatly.


Mister Ian will receive a chef's hat so when he's working in the kitchen with big sister, they can really cook up something delicious for their mama.


Ian will also get a matching oven mitt in Alexander Henry's "Juicy" lemons. I'm glad to say that I spent more time thinking this one out before stitching it up so I think it turned out much better. I'll be making one for Miss Savannah next.


And when you make fun things for other people's children, you have to make something for your own! Savannah has plenty of aprons already so instead of making her another, I made her a chef hat as well. She loves it! The chef's hat tutorial comes from Joanna at Stardust Shoes. Thank you Joanna!

Baby Isla's Quilt

With the exception of the batting, I made this quilt from scraps in my stash. The log cabin squares are made with Kaffe Fassett and Alexander Henry fabrics and the back is a natural muslin. I wanted the squares to be big to use up as much of my fabric as possible and to be easier to put together. The large white squares in the center of the log cabin blocks give it a fresh modern twist. I had the perfect name for this quilt and then forgot it! So as of now, I am calling it "Cotton Candy Squares".


I quilted it in a large meandering pattern and bound it with my leftover blue dot fabric. This quilt measures about 42" x 42" square.


My machine seemed a little off when I was stippling - I had a harder than usual time making equal stitch lengths when using the free motion but overall it turned out very well without any unexpected puckering in the back or unusual stitches.


This quilt is going to be sent to England for baby Isla (pronounced "eye-lah") to enjoy as soon as I wash it. Isla was born this week! I hope she likes it.


I'm also sending her a set of four double-sided flannel bibs since they've been indispensable for William.