When You Have Some Extra Time

This beautiful quilt is complete, and ready to be mailed. It's a Quilt of Valor, and the most time consuming quilt I've ever made (up to this point.) Each 6" block (center square and framing triangles - 29 to 32 pieces) took an hour to assemble (that's not cutting, fixing or building into a strip...) I made it as a quilt-as-you-go, and the instructions are on my How-To pages. There were days I was ready to toss my sewing machines, and by the end, I was really done with all of it. But now, I don't think of the frustrations, the imperfections, the mistake I made that effected several rows of the finished quilt. 

Now it's done, and I am thinking of the next thing I want to create.

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  I began with blocks (5" here)

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  Laid them out and added triangles

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  Until patterns emerged

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  Built out strips of blocks

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  Then began quilting a corner

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  And adding the next strip to be quilted

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  So that slowly but surely

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  A quilt was emerging

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  And finally, it was finished

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  And from a distance, it's beautiful

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  And ready to go to it's recipient

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  And the instructions are in my 'How-To'

I'm Doing It Again

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  Hours of cutting and sorting

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  Laying out for color arrangements

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  Each block takes an hour to assemble

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  Strips will be Quilt As You Go'd

I decided to do a 'How-I-Made-That' for this quilt, and in cutting out some pieces and doing the tutorial, I find that I am now making a second quilt of similar design. This one is a Quilt As You Go version, different in many ways.

Another Early Quilt Found

Went on a quick road trip, and while visiting, my sister pulled out a quilt I made for her about 25 years ago. Each block has a blocked image in the center.

The 2-year Quilt

So, I finally finished this one. I started it in 2017, from a photograph, and I thought, that's really great, I can do that, but I will add something to it, I will make it even better. It's always a mistake, I think, to create a pattern from a photo, and before even getting it right, making changes. But that's what I did.

I probably didn't think it through, just got going on it, and then had to stop, as there were some other things I needed to get done. By the time I got back to this, I had forgotten where I was going with it, and ended up having to completely deconstruct the second half and retro-fit it into the original direction. I tore it up several times, including during the quilting. It's not perfect, though if I make another one someday, it will be closer, because I've had time to think it through, ripping it all apart as many times as I did. It's a one-of-a-kind, that's for certain! Want to see more on how I made this quilt? 

Memory Pillows

It's great to have photos very handy, and photo's that commemorate the last year or so, all the fun and changes that took place in that period, to be able to remember just by pulling your pillow over and remembering, that's even better, I would think! This is the theme of my Birthday Gifts this year, and in time, I will know whether it was a good idea, or not...

Bowl Cozies

My latest undertaking, bowl cozies. Made like potholders to keep your fingers from getting too hot or too cold. Those pictured above are unfinished, but on their way to completion. I've read that this is a "30 minute" craft, but I find that's not true. Anything worth making is worth making well, goes the old axiom. Though, they probably take an hour and a half to complete, you could take longer on them, to make them perfect. I was having sewing machine troubles, and was ripping a lot. Getting the final top stitching straight lost me some time, and I add a 'do not microwave' message, for safety's sake. Click through to my tutorial in the 'How To' section, should you want to make them yourself.

Toys in the Attic - Update

Finally finished this set of bags. As with all the items I make, each is a one-of-a-kind bag, each special and unique, and most of all Fun! There's been lots going on. Some family time, fixing and fixing again a water problem in the fridge, dogs, yardwork, housework... It's an even dozen bags, with very little in scraps left. Lets hope that these grab folks by the imagination, and they need to include one or two in their own collections!

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  Bigger Doll and Cats Squared
  These two are bigger than the others, big enough to carry small electronics, as the image shows
  
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  For Comparison
  At set of Purses with an iPad Air
  

Toys in the Attic

My latest creation, this is heavy woven Teddy Bear fabric, and it makes a very cute bag. In the photo on the left it looks a bit smaller than the other bags I have made, because I brought the sides in a little, to be closer to the handles.  I bought this fabric about 15 years ago, with a couple of similar pieces. I haven't been able to find anything like it since then.

Important to note: It's lined, and will have a velcro 'snap' closure. I will make more of these, using all the fabric that I have available to me. I plan to make several different styles, in each of the three fabrics I have here, some a bit bigger, some with longer handles, some maybe a bit squarer. Lots more coming up, this is just the beginning! I'm calling it Toys In the Attic, because the other pieces are an antique doll print and a multiple cat print. Stay tuned to see where I go with this!

Busy with Something Different

It's been awhile since I made any clothing, but I am back at it this week. I needed some freshening up of the wardrobe, dug into my stash of fabrics and found lots of clothing fabric that I had purchased in the past, and never got around to. I'm loving the snowman fabric I bought to make a shirt for a Christmas party at work, that was cancelled - to never be revived again. It will make a beautiful holiday addition.

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  A Vest for casual times

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  Beautiful, Icy-colored Snowman Fabric

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  '40's style robe, and shirts

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  Another view of shirts.

Another Busy Week

Got lots done this week, found and tweaked a set of social sharing icons for my pages (Thanks to simplesharingbuttons.com) that work in mobile and desktop. Changed some of the items out that are no longer available, added new items, added anchor tags to my 'for sale' page, moved content around to make the pages easier to use.

Reversible bags, halloween, holidays and more.

PLUS, Made these six reversible bags, including buttons and a free floating lining, to keep the side that's inside the purse clean and ready to turn out when it's time to change. Added more data and distant cousins to my family tree, breakfasted and lunched with family, started planning my next quilt, discussed life goals with the dogs. Didn't do so well on the laundry, dishes, yard work... got to knuckle down on those things, and find time to do them.

Getting Things Done

Well, I finally finished with adding closures and doing other hand sewing on the all of the bags I posted about here, and got my PayPal account set up, and re-worked all the images of sale items so that they would fit nicely on my 'What's For Sale' page. I've also started on some new bags, and tried to keep up with all the other things in life, you know, laundry, dogs, yard work, social media, eating, sleeping, this blog... It's not easy doing it all.

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  Blue Sparkle Trees reversible bag

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  Rudolph reversible Halloween bag

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  Rudolph raw edge applique reversible bag

Bags and Bags

 This week is was no less busy than last! These are just some of the bags I have been working on. They all still need a bit of hand sewing to finish them off. I have a set of Alaskan prints, Halloween/Christmas reversible's in what I have put together.

Tomorrow, I will start the 'finishing' on all the bags I have made, get them all finished, and then, get my paypal account set up, and on this site. I have decided to move on from Etsy, it feels like the right decision, now I just have to make the time to do it!

I also have to send out a very big Thank You to Georgia Lou Studios and Pedro for putting together the code and tools to create gallery's in blogger! I still have to resize all my images, but I am much farther along thanks to them.

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  Just a selection of the six I worked on today

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  Reversible Halloween / Christmas