A bit of service

There is a local quilt shop that collects and donates quilts and blankets to the area hospitals and shelters so anyone who needs one can have one. The majority of the quilts are given to children.

I was cleaning up my sewing studio and found these finished and waiting for me to drop them off. So today I took them over to the quilt shop.

The red and blue one is about 32x32in. The top was made by my friends mother and then it found its way to me. I just added the batting, backing, quilting and binding.
These two green ones are premie sized 16x20in or so. I know the fabric is not very baby-ish but some dad out there is going to like them because they remind me of hunting and the outdoors.
This last one I made from scraps I had of another baby quilt I made and sold a few years ago. Its a premie sized one too.
It's a win win situation, the kids get a new comfort blanket and I get more storage space in my studio and the great feeling you get when you serve others in need!

Pillow cases with french seams!

I whipped these up from cutting them out to finished in about 2 hours flat! They are so easy; I'm wondering why I haven't made more before this?

I was at Walmart the other day and my son spotted this fun turtle fabric, he asked me right away if I could make him a blanket out of it. I said how about a pillow case instead, he said "Yeah, mom that's what I want, its really cool fabric."
I made 2 so that both my boys could have one, no fighting over it that way. I also made them with french seams. An extra step yes, but I didn't have to retread my serger that way. I think retreading the serger would have taken me longer, plus I wanted to try it with the french seams and I have to say I will be using them the next time I make a pillow case.

Updates from the last month

Wow, it seems like forever since I've had a moment to post on here, so I'm going to try to catch you all up on everything that has kept me away.

First I got a sewing job using this wonderful home decor fabric to make 2 sets of curtain panels and 2 cornices for the sweetest lady I think I have ever met.

Here is the drawing of what she wanted them to look like when they were done. I'm still waiting on actual pictures of the finished product but they are coming.
Then I went to a sewing get together and we all made or worked on making pillow covers to go over forms. This is the back of mine, and it is so soft I love it.
Here is the front. This pillow will be making its home in my sewing room, but I did make sure and put a zipper in it so if the kids get it dirty I can still wash it.
This next little creation was one that came to me in the middle of the night about a week ago. I had an idea and then I got heartburn (due to being in my 9th month of pregnancy) and couldn't sleep so I just got up and started working on it.

It's an I-Spy game for kids. I was just testing out my idea/pattern so I used scraps from my scrap drawer and left over bias tape.
I made two of them so each of my boys could have there own after they both wanted to play with the first one. These were pretty easy to put together and they didn't take long so I will be making more to sell soon (no time table on that). If you would like to order one just leave me a comment with your email or email me and I'll get back to you with the details.
This is the final project that I have been working on. It is a dress for a client that needed something for her up coming high school reunion. Here is a close up of the front detail,
and here is a full view. It looked great on her, but I don't think she thought it did. I felt a little bad, but it was her choice of the pattern and fabric. I really did do a great job of fitting it to her.

I guess you just can't please everyone all the time even if you do your best work on something.
So, now on to other things. I'll be making some fun pillow cases for my boys this week and I want to start on a Mei Tai carrier for when the baby gets here.

What creative things have you been up to lately?

The Hungry Catepillar

I have been working on this quilt for the last little while, that is when I get a chance. We've been busy here rearranging furniture in bedrooms to make room for the new little one that will be here in about 6 weeks, but that's another post so on to this one.

This is for my friend's little girl. She just became a big sister to a little brother and she really loves the quilt I gave him. So for her birthday (she just turned 2) I found this panel of the Hungry Caterpillar and added the squares on the edge because that was her favorite part of her brothers blanket.

The top went together really fast, the part that took longer then I thought it would was the quilting. I did circles instead of the stipling that I usually do.
Here it is before I put on the binding (above). Below is after the binding was done.
I love how the circles give it a pebble like look, I may use this pattern again on another quilt.
You can see the pebble look a little better here. This little girl is going to love this quilt, one of her favorite books is "The Hungry Caterpillar," her mom tells me she reads it to her almost everyday. Happy Birthday little one!

For a trip

As I mentioned in the last post my sister got married recently. We had to travel to Utah for her wedding (a 24 hour drive for us here in Texas). I thought it would be a good idea to make up a few smaller things to bring with us.

This is a coloring station for my 5 yr old. He really like the crayola color wonder sets, but the markers seem to get all over the house so I made this to hold everything together.

This is the front, I used about 2 1/2 fat quarters to make the whole thing and some scraps of thick sturdy interfacing. I love the yellow button on the front.
Here is the inside. The markers are in the pocket on the left and then the coloring book on the right. I thought about putting something above the marker pocket but opted not too.
Here you can see the orange buttons that hold the flap down so the markers don't fall out as it is being carried around.
The pocket that holds the coloring book in place.
And a view of the markers in there place.

My sister asked me to make four bow ties for her wedding. They are for the four little nephews that would be there. This is one of them in progress, I didn't actually finish them until I was in Utah.
The last time we went to visit family we had to put every ones clothes in suitcases. Which would be fine if we didn't have to bring one for each person, and try and fit it all in the car. This time I made the kids small/medium sized duffel bags with a drawstring top. They fit better in the car, because they can be put in any space.
The first one is my 2 yr old's bag. I let each of my kids pick out the fabric they wanted for there bag. He is in to fish lately so this is the fabric he picked. My 5 yr old picked the Thomas the train fabric below. The bottoms of the bags are a jean circle so there is a more weighty fabric to lend more support.
These were easy and fun to make and I'm sure they will be used on many trips to come.

The wait is over!

Oh, I am so glad that I can finally post about this! I found out that my sister was getting married on March 21st and then and there decided to make her a quilt for her wedding. I asked her favorite colors (which are corral and light blue) and then got to work to find fabric. I already had plenty of blues but hardly any corrals. So I sent an email over to Jona at Fabritopia asking her advice on what fabrics to get that were mainly corrals. She was so quick to get back to me, and she is great to work with. I ordered fabric the next day and it was here within 2 days. I will be getting more from her in the future.

Finished top view-in the wind

I decided to make a coin stack quilt top because I had a limited amount of time. My sister was getting married June 6th; that's 12 weeks folks! I knew I needed all of them. I cut out the rectangles for the front and then used the scraps for a pieced stripe across the back. I used almost everything I ordered. By the way the majority of the corral fabrics are from Jennifer Paganelli's fabrics, she is so nice and has a great blog too.

Here is the finished pieced corral stripe for the back.

This is the top all sewn together and the corral strip for the back next to it.

Here is the quilt all quilted. It took me about 3 weeks doing about an hour to an hour and a half of quilting on it each day. I had to take it easy because I injured my right wrist painting my sons room just before this. It all got done on time though so its all good!

Waiting for the binding.

Here is the top finished and spread out better so you can see the whole thing. The blues are from my stash and some of them even came from my grandma, so that's a fun bit of history to add to this quilt.

It was so windy that day I took the pictures. My two brothers and my hubby are holding up the quilt and my sister is holding on to the bottom of it.

(in case you're wondering my sweety is on the right)

Here is the back. I love, love, love it. I think in total there is about 7 yards of fabric just for the back. I love how it turned out.

I was a little scared to quilt this baby on my machine but it when great. There were only a few puckers on the back but they are small and you can't even see them unless you are really looking for them. Now I don't think I will be so afraid to make a big one for my bed.

Busy

I've been busy. Sewing my heart out but I don't have pictures of anything done. I've been working on a surprise for someone and it is killing me that I can't post pictures or talk about it, but the person this is meant for reads my blog sometimes. So I will tell you about a few other things I've been doing.

I have been making little bow ties for my sister's wedding. There are 4 little boys (mine among them) that will be wearing them. They are coming along nicely.

I took the time the other day to recover this pillow. I got it from Target, then there was an accident which involved it needing to be washed and the fabric unraveled it self in the washer on the gentle cycle (cheap pillow). So I encased it in some cotton muslin and then made the cover with an invisible zipper so I could easily wash it when needed.

I think that's about it for now, oh I also hemmed a prom dress this weekend, so that will add to my savings for a super cool machine that I want but can't afford yet. Aahhh, some day....

What projects have you all been working on lately?