WIP Wednesday 11/30/2011

I've had a very productive week. I have been trying to get a few finishes. I made this bag:

It's kind of a strange size, rather tall and skinny. I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, but it came together quite easily. I used this tutorial for the instructions, but obviously not the size! I think I'm going to made some more, but follow this tutorial for the size too! The bag was really easy to make. It would be great for almost anything.

The other side of the bag. Again I used the Connecting Threads Christmas Cheer Charms. They are 5 inches square, so that give you an idea of how tall the bag is!

I think this is going to be the second baby quilt. I'm not sure how many string blocks I have enough fabric for, but it's a start. They are so fun to make.

This pile of little half square triangles is going to be a stocking when it grows up!

I also got my gift for the week finished, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see what it is!
Jump over to Freshly Pieced for some more project inspiration!

Handmade Holiday Challenge Week 3

Can you believe that Christmas in only a month way?!?  I can't.  Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I'm starting to get in the Christmas spirit.  Once we get the Christmas tree up this weekend, I can't wait to see some wrapped gifts under it!  Starting with this baby quilt:

I love it!  It's about 48X60, which I think is a good baby size.  I like bigger blankets, especially for wiggly little boys like the one this quilt is for!

The back.  The green with the little animals all over is my favorite!  I wasn't sure how I was going to quilt it when I made the back or I would have lined it up better, but oh well.

I pebble quilted every other orange border.  I just straight lined around all of the blocks.  I really like the quilting.  I think pebbling more would have been too much (not to mention it would have taken 100 spools of thread!). 

So there it is, gift #3.  I'm entering it over at Celebrate Color too.  What did you make this week?  Remember, it's 5 handmade gifts to enter to win $25 from Connecting Threads!

WIP WEdnesday 11/23/2011

I had a very busy weekend, and I still managed to get lots done! When I took my pictures last night, I was feeling quite proud of myself!


I got this baby quilt quilted. Who knew that pebble quilting took sooooo much thread? It took two extra trips to the store to have enough to finish. I love the way it turned out, though. A new technique to add to my list! After I took the pictures, I was determined to finish this quilt, so I sat down and got the binding on. Come back on Friday for the full finish!

I also finished another rice bag. My father-in-law is a big Alabama fan, so the houndstooth was the perfect fit. My daughter has requested something made out of it as well. I think she like Alabama because it burns her daddy up!


I used the envelope closure on this one too. I think I like it better and it's just as easy as the velcro, maybe easier. I still need to do the rice part, but that's quick and easy.
I've linked up, as always, over at Freshly Pieced. Be sure to check out some of the links!

Handmade Holiday Challenge -Week 2

I know I'm a day late with this, but does it make it better to know that I mailed about 450 Thanksgiving cards yesterday? They had to be metered and stuff with calendars yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to blog!
For my handmade gift this week, I made rice bags. I really like them. So does my husband. In fact, he claimed the top one as soon as I showed him.


For my first bags, I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew! It gives great instructions and I like how it comes together. I only have rice in the top bag, though, because I don't like the smell that I picked out. I think it's grapefruit and it makes me sick to my stomach after smelling it for too long! I think I'm going to get some peppermint and some lavendar. I may have also used a little bit too much.

This is a close up of the hexis on the second one. I just appliqued them on top.

My kids have this little gel thing that we use on "boo-boos." It almost always stops my daughter's tears, unless it's a real hurt. I thought that a small bag would be a nice replacement for it. This one is about 4.5 in square. My son thinks it's amazing when it's cold. He can't figure it out!

I used an envelope closure for the back. I think I like it better than the velcro for the small bags. I think these would be cute stocking stuffers.

My husband randomly picked a number for me and the winner of the Christmas Cheer Charms is #3, Jamie Lee. Jamie, I'll be sending you an email!

Did you get something made this week? I'd love to hear about it!

WIP Wednesday Already

Where do the days go between Wednesdays?!?  I don't feel like it's been a week already.  I don't have a lot of progress to show this week.  I did make the gift bag/tote that I posted before:

 I pieced the back for the baby quilt and started quilting it.  This weekend was Second Saturday Sewing, so my kitchen table is all cleared off and my sewing stuff is spread out all over the kitchen.  I had planned on quilting both my Embroidery 101 quilt and the forest animal baby quilt while I was all setup in the kitchen.  Once the kids were settled in bed, I went to the kitchen to finish quilting the baby quilt.  I flipped on the light and it burned out!  Who doesn't have more light bulbs?  Me, of course. Who also forgot to get lightbulbs at the store last night?  Me, again.  Once I can manage to get some light again, I'm going to finish up this darn baby quilt!

On Friday I'll have my next finished Handmade Christmas gift, which I made at Second Saturday Sewing.  I'll also announce a winner of the Christmas Cheer Charms.  What have you made this week?  Be sure to check out my giveaway and then click over to Freshly Pieced for some inspiration!

Handmade Holiday Challenge!

I mentioned last week that I wanted to have a giveaway for those of us who make handmade Christmas gifts.  My goal is 5.  I want to have 2 quilts (maybe 3!), some rice heat therapy bags, and a purse for a teacher gift.  I am also planning on making some gift bags.  I know this is more than 5, but I also want to enjoy my family during the holidays.  If I find time to make more than 5...bonus!

I know that not everyone appreciates handmade gifts, but there is always handmade gift wrapping.  Instead of paper gift bags, how about making some fabric ones?  They can be used over and over again, maybe even being one of those things that everyone fondly remembers about Christmas.  Doing gift cards?  How about some cute little zipper pouches to put then in?  They could be holiday, but you could also make them a little more special and use something the person likes or their favorite color.

My first handmade holiday item is this bag.  I used  Christmas Cheer Charms from Connecting Threads.  I made a disappearing nine patch and added a 2 inch red border for the front.  The back and the lining are the same red.  I didn't have any interfacing that was heavy enough, so I used heavy canvas to line it.  It will pretty much stand up on its own! 

 It's about 16 x 14x 2 1/2 , making it large enough for lots of gifts! 

I really like this bag and I think it would even be cute to carry around during the holidays.  It would be great for holiday market shopping...any place where you were going to be picking up lots of little things. 

Now for the giveaway!  To be a winner, you must:

1.  Be a follower of Taken Patiently.

2.  Make 5 Handmade Christmas gifts.

3.  Post pictures of your gifts somewhere...your blog, Flickr, Facebook.

4.  Leave a comment on the blog I will post on December 23.  That's 6 Fridays from today.  That's less than 1 gift a week.  Easily doable!

My goal is to make one gift a week. Week one-DONE! In order to keep everyone on track, I'll post my gift on each Friday. Please feel free to comment with a link to what you made. Maybe I'll post some of them next week, along with my next gift.

I would love to see pictures of what you are making.  I understand that you may not want to post pictures until after you give the gifts, so the giveaway will be open until December 31st.  I will announce a winner on or around January 3rd.

What are you winning?  How about a $25 gift certificate to Connecting Threads*?  I love their fabric and thread.  They have some very cute new collections and great basics.  They also have a good selection of pre-cuts, which I really like because I hate cutting fabric. 

If you aren't familiar with Connecting Threads, maybe you would like some charms? 

I'm giving away 2 charm packs of the Christmas Cheer Charms (48 charms total) to help spread the word about this Handmade Holiday challenge.  Be a follower and leave me a comment for a chance to win. You could tell me what you are planning to make or maybe share the best handmade gift you ever gave or received?    For an extra chance, blog, tweet, or FB about it and leave me a comment telling me you did.  I'll announce a winner next Friday.

*Connecting Threads didn't pay me for this endorsement, nor are they giving me the gift card.  I would be open to both of those things, though!  I just really like their products and thought I'd spread the holiday cheer!

100th WIP Wednesday

Today is the 100th WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  I think I started following Lee right after she started her link up for Wednesday.  It has been great for me to think about what I've worked on all week.  It's helped keep me motivated to get projects finished and also provided a ton of inspiration.  More than half of the blogs I follow, I found because they linked up on WIP Wednesday.  So thanks, Lee, for starting this and keeping it up! 

This week has been tough with the time change on Sunday.  I can't seem to get my internal clock straightened out and neither can my kids!  I also overexerted myself playing field hockey on Saturday, and I'm not sure my body will ever recover from that!  There has been lots of lying on the couch this week, so I've made quite a few more hexagons.  They look exactly the same as the other hexis so I didn't take a picture!

I did finish the quilt top for on of my baby quilts.  I think I'm going to bind with the orange, but I'm not sure about the backing.  I used to just pick a fabric and buy enough to do the whole back with one thing, but now I feel like the back needs to be a cute as the front!  I'm still thinking about it. 

I'm trying to make a few surprise gifts, so I practiced a little free motion quilting on one piece of this project.  I think I want to stipple the Embroidery 101 quilt so I need the practice! 

I also made 2 more of the braided scarfs, but I didn't take pictures.  Why, I don't know, because my daughter looked too cute in her hot pink and blue scarf... with her black dress with neon colored hearts and splatters on it... with blue tights.  I wish I was as cool as she is! 

I hope make a Christmas gift/bag tonight to share on Friday.  I think I've decided on a giveaway for handmade Christmas gifts.  Check back on Friday for more details! 

What's Old is New Again

Our neighbors had a yard sale this past weekend.  The nice old woman, Miss Pearl, who had lived there passed away in July and her family has been cleaning out her house.  We decided to stroll across the street to see if there was anything we needed.  I was quite excited to find this:

There is a little more than a yard of this Waverly fabric.  It's called "Country Kitchen."  Miss Pearl's daughter thought she had received for her wedding in 1965.  I think it is interesting that everyone thinks that aqua and orange is such a modern combination! 

This is my favorie little scene.  I like the spice cabinet and the rum bottle.  What else do you need? 

  The scale is rather large.  The first picture is almost the whole piece of fabric. I think I may fussy cut it to make shopping bags.Any other suggestions?



Handmade Holiday Goal

Remember these? Last year I wanted to make lots of handmade gifts and I kinda fizzled out at the end. I ended up making a quilt for my MIL, a purse for my sister (not pictured), and the hooded towels for my kids. This year I want to again make something for my kids. I have 2 baby quilts I'd like to finish. I would also like to make some tote bags to use as an alternative to wrapping paper. Those are my minimum goals. I'm working on a top secret project, but I'm not sure if it will be done. I would also like to make one more quilt, but I don't want to put to much pressure on myself. I want to be able to enjoy the holidays with my family!
Between now and Christmas Eve there are 7 Saturdays. If I can make 1 gift a week, that's almost double what I did last year. Even if I miss a week, I can still meet all of my goals. I'm thinking of going a giveaway and a link-up of Handmade gifts. Do you think 5 handmade gifts is a good goal? Would you participate? What if you could win a prize? Leave me a comment.

WIP Wednesday 11/02/2011

I felt like I didn't get anything done this week until I started taking pictures for this!
Yesterday started Handmade Holidays over at Sew Mama Sew! I love this series. It's full of great ideas. There is a braided scarf that I really like, so I decided to try it.

I think this will look really cute with a black shirt. I'll post a picture when I'm not in my pjs at 11 p.m. taking them! I would make another one. While they are both knit fabric (Hobby Lobby), the pink stretched a lot more than the black and white. I think the very stretch would "braid" better. Maybe a game day scarf is in order...

The biggest thing I worked on was the back for my Clover and Violet quilt. I've done a simple pieced back before, but this one had to be a bit more complicated so I didn't have to buy more fabric. I really like how it turned out, and I'm excited about quilting this. I'm going to try to stipple it, I think. I haven't had much luck with my machine, but I've read a few things that I think will help.

I worked on a few of the block for this baby quilt. I can see it starting to come together in my head.

I've also done a ton of hexis. I forget how satisfying these are. I've made 3 more of the large flowers and a couple of the green fillers. This is such a good project for when I'm just sitting around watching tv. I think after all of the hand sewing to make the top, I might try hand quilting this. I'm not even close to having a top that big yet, but maybe this time next year!

I guess I found my sewing mojo again. I hope you had a productive week too. Be sure to check out some of the links at Freshly Pieced!

Ruby Bag Stitch and Quilt Along

Claire and Jennie over at Clover and Violet are hosting another Stitch and Quilt Along.  This one is for a Ruby Bag.  I was a big fan of the last Stitch and Quilt Along they did.  In fact, I just basted my quilt last night so it's all ready to be finished up. The timeline is pretty realistic.  I really like the design from the quilt and I'm excited to see how the bag turns out.  I'm not going to use the Ruby fabric (it is great, though).  I'm going to use some out of my stash.  If you are looking for a new project, I would suggest this one. If you've been wanting to try embroidery, they have a great list of stitch tutorials to get you started. Go on over and check it out.  I've added the new button to the sidebar too!

WIP Wednedsay

I seem to have lost my sewing mojo. I don't know what has happened. I decided I was going to sew last night. I didn't have anything planned when I got home, and I was going to feed the kids dinner and put the little one to bed and then sew away. My husband had dinner going and I was cleaning out the 3 folders of school stuff that come home EVERY day. The power flickered. A minute later it flickered again. Then it was out. Thankfully dinner was just about finished. We tried to go have a picnic dinner, but the mosquitos tried to carry off the baby. Who can blame them...he has the juiciest legs! We ended up eating in the semi-dark kitchen.

While we were eating, we decided that we would go to CVS. I had to get a couple of things and who wants to chase kids in the dark? We went to CVS and got what we needed (and maybe some candy), and drove back to our neighborhood to see if the lights were on. Nope. The whole neighborhood was dark. We took that as a sign that we should go get some ice cream! Dairy Queen here we come. My daughter didn't know where we were going and kept asking what we were doing. After a family treat of lemonade, an Oreo blizzard, and a strawberry sundae, we decided that the little one needed to go to bed.

After we put the baby to bed, my daughter and I got the candles all lit, and I talked her into reading a few chapters of the Little House on the Prairie book we've been reading. I made it seem really great that we didn't have power, just like Laura didn't. Genius mother, I am. Just as we were finishing up, the power came back on. Hurray! Determined to keep my goal of sewing something, I decided to make some of the Skill Builder Sampler blocks I'm behind on.



I've done string blocks before and I love them. I am thinking of adding a whole quilt of them to my to do list...

My house improv block. Kinda blah.

I also tried the paper piecing block and messed it all up. FAIL! I'll try again. I have plans for sewing again tonight. I think if the power is off for 3 hours again, I may just give up!

Click over to Freshly Pieced and see what's linked up!

Finished Quilt Top

I have a finished top for the Clover and Violet Stitch and Quilt Along.


I added a small white border just like the block have and then a 3 inch border. It's another It's a Hoot fabric. The only think I don't like is that now I have no idea what to bind it with.

I'd like to not buy anything else. I have lots of this blue and this green left. I also have a lot of the yellow circles. I also think I have enough scraps to make a scrappy binding, but I'm afraid that would be too much. What are your suggestions?

I didn't ever post a picture of the last block, but here it is. You can't see the work really well, but I love the way the flowers look up close.

100 Quilts for Kids

Remember this quilt:

I decided to donate it to Project Linus.  You should check out the FB page.  The stories of kids who receive their blankets are awesome. 

If you have any handmade blankets waiting for a home, I would encourage you to donate them TODAY.  100 quilts for kids is sweetening the deal with some great prizes!  It's a win-win situation.

Getting close!

The top is together. I'm probably going to add a thin white border like the blocks have and another border before I call it finished. I went to my local quilt shop today and picked up another It's a Hoot fabric that I think will be a great border. I know I want to use the scraps for the back; I'm just not sure how. This is my weekend project!

WIP Wednesday 10/12/2011

I spent the weekend had sewing more hexagons. I had made a whole almost 3 layered flower when I noticed that I used the wrong fabric for the VERY CENTER! FAIL! I was so mad! I did keep working while watching The Walking Dead on Netflix. I told my husband I wasn't going to watch it with him, but now we've finished the whole first season. It's good. I recommend it! I managed to finish a whole 3 layer flower and enough hexis to make another one. I forgot how much I enjoy making them. Maybe in about 2 years, I'll have enough for the whole top I started!

I finished this block for the Skill Builder Sampler. I've mostly lost interest in the quilt, but I'm going to keep at it. I have one pretty bad point in this block, but it's ok. I really don't like all the thick seams. I still have to do the house block and the string block. I love string blocks and have in my head the idea of a rainbow string quilt.

I got a little work done on the baby quilts last night. I have an idea so I was motivated!

This past weekend was another Second Saturday Sewing day. I worked on this purse until I ran out of thread! UGH! Don't you hate when that happens. This is the Blossom Bag. It's a pretty intense pattern, but I'm getting it!

Be sure to check out the great projects other people are working on at Freshly Pieced!

Weekend work

Only one more block left for the Clover and Violet Stitch and Quilt Along! I'm excited to see this project finish up. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with the finished quilt, but someone will love it if I don't!

I don't love the roof color, but I didn't want it to be all brown and that's the only realistic color I had in the colors I've used.

I LOVE the vines (or ivy ;-))

I also like this yellow flower. You can't see the colors well because I haven't rinsed off the marker lines yet.

Don't worry; I'll get them off. I will also get the little boy fingerprints off the lens of my camera before I try to take more pictures!!