What I've been up to lately.

The last few days I've done more sewing than blogging. I think that's a good thing. This past weekend one of my friends came down from Northern Wisconsin and brought some fabric to make cloth napkins! I think they turned out really well! And I pulled some red out of my stash and we used it for the backing of one set. Those are my favorite! We used the "French Seam" method. You first put wrong sides together, yes, wrong sides together, sew around the outer edge with your 1/4" seam, leaving about a 4-5" section un-sewn so that you can turn it right sides out. Then turn, poke your corners, and iron. Iron the edge with the hole so that the raw edges are folded inward and match the rest of the napkin. Then adjust your machine to a 1/8" seam and sew around the entire napkin. Voila!



I've also put some of my finished photos on facebook, and my sister commented on the purse I made....so I had to make her one too! Even the purses look like sisters! :) The bottom one is the original, and the one on the top is her "copy"! I just inverted the colors. She's a purple fiend!


The other day I thought about summer up North and laying on the lawn after swimming in our lake....and how good it would feel to lay on a quilt! Since I'm making (well...it's on stand-by at the moment) the Single Girl quilt with the solid gray, I realized that I like gray! And I thought a darker color would soak up the sun so the quilt would be nice and warm by the time I laid on it. I found the fat quarter bundle on the Fabric Quarter website and I had to buy them! The only thing is, I got a half yard bundle of 7 different prints, and when I measured them out they were 18" exactly at the fold, and about 17 3/4" at the selvage edges. So if you were planning on cutting two 9" squares out of the width, that wouldn't work. The solids I pulled from my stash.



The pattern I'm going to use for the gray quilt is from Oh, Fransson! You can find the tutorial and pattern here if you'd like to try it! I'm also going to try her mosaic floor pillow one of these days also! I'm just waiting to get the right amount of scraps....

Head on over to this Oh, Frannson! webpage for more great free downloadable quilt patterns! Enjoy!

A small clutch and more wall deco

I've been busy today. Milwaukee is in a blizzard warning and today I was able to stay home today (and still be paid! Bonus!) So right away after breakfast I finished quilting my wall hanging that I bought fabric for yesterday. I worked as a park ranger from 2007 to 2008 while I was in college, and it was one of the best jobs a person could ask for! Especially in college! I talked to people all day! It was excellent!!! This is my way of reminding myself of that time!

Last night (before the worst of the blizzard hit and our internet went out) I purchased a purse pattern from Pink Chalk fabrics! I love purchasing patterns from them. A, they have a TON of them! B, they offer free shipping 365 days a year on patterns to anywhere in the U.S.! What could be better? And some of their patterns are even PDF downloads that are sent to you within seconds of your purchase!

This is the Keyka Lou Zip Clutch pattern that I used, and then I adjusted it slightly and added a "D" ring on the side and created a clip on handle. There are three sizes that you can make, this is the largest of the three. This will hold my camera, my small wallett and my car keys perfectly!


I can also take the handle off and just use it as a clutch! I love this little thing!


I love the batiks I found for this little guy! The lining is the same purple that I used to make the sash on the outside. And the outside fabric is a bit more golden-orange than the photos show.

Fruits of my boredom

When I'm bored I tend to rifle through my patterns, pet my fabric and tinker with my notions. Usually I take everything out, look at it, think "wow this stuff is neat! I can't wait to use it!" And then I put it all away. Well, every once in a while I end up making something completely random. Like a purse or a belt! :)

I used Moda Blush for the purse.....

And I added another small pocket (on left) for my cell phone. I hate it when my cell phone rolls around unsupervised in my purse. And then I'm going to put a button hole on the top side of the big pocket to clip my badge for work or my keys on. That way they're not rolling around either!

I had to have some of this fabric! It's from the Windham Shelburne Circus line. I thought it'd be cool to have a ton of people around my waist! And I've been meaning to make a belt forever....so this was a good 10 minute project that I embarked on last night just before I went to sleep!

I also bought some kiwi fabric to make a belt out of. It's really neat! Great to wear with a pair of jeans! A nice pop of color!

So tell me, what do you want around your waist???




Not bad for the fruits of my boredom eh? :)