Pillow Shams

O.K.  It has been a long time since my last post.  We have been really busy with basketball, work, playing with children, and the list goes on.  Alright, enough of my excuses, on to the project.

I have a dresser filled with projects in all states.  My goal has been to gradually empty the dresser of it's contents.  Then I can refill it with new projects, how fun!  In the bottom drawer of this dresser several leftover blocks have lived for about 8 years now.  They were just waiting to become pillow shams to match the quilt on my bed.

To start on this project, I had to do lots of math!  I figured and figured and figured these shams.  It is a good thing that I like math. 

I calculated what size borders I would need to make the sham.  The flange that I wanted to have on the outside of the pillow shams didn't quite work out, since there wasn't quite enough fabric.  So, back to the figures.  Once I got the fronts, backs and fabric available to match, these came together nicely. 

They look fabulous on my bed, as you can see.

It really took me this long to blog about these because I had to make my bed, which only happens in the summer. 

More to come soon!

Heather



Gift For the Basketball Team

I have spent the last week putting together drawstring bags for my daughter's team gift. Crazy lady that I am, I volunteered for this project. This bag was made using a tutorial on The In Color Order blog. This was an easy project that I hope all the girls will love. There are 8 bags in all. It used 4 yards of fabric total!

The Bear Has Come Out of Hibernation

I have been trying to finish up projects in my project drawer. It is going really well. So far I have finished two. There has been a sleeping bear in the project drawer eons! I finally woke the sleeping bear and put him in the woods.

The wall hanging looks wonderful. I was lucky to find I had bought a bundle of coordinating fat quarters, which is where I found the cool stripe for the border.

This is a paper pieced project, so guess what I will be doing for the next several days? Paper picking...tweezers here I come.

Here is the baby pile of papers pulled to press seam allowances.

Off to conquer some of those unfinished projects!

Heather

The Beginning of a T-shirt Quilt

One of my daughters graduates this year.  Did you hear me sniffle?  During her years in high school, she has been active in MANY things.  This means that she has tons of t-shirts.  We have been talking about the quilt that I would make from all of these t's since I first learned to quilt, 11ish years ago. 

Now, facing the piles of shirts that need to be cut up, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

It may not look like it, but there are at least 50 shirts here.  This weekend I had her divide the piles into the ones that must be in the quilt down to the ones I would use as fillers.

Now I just have to get all of these shirts cut up and interfacing ironed on by next Thursday night.  Why Thursday, you ask?  Friday I go to a quilt retreat and was hoping to put the top of this puppy together then.  I have my work cut out for me with at least 3 basketball games between now and then!  Let's hope that they all look like this by then!



Six down, only a few dozen more to go.  Did I mention that I have to redesign the pattern because several of her shirts don't fit the 12" blocks that the pattern call for?  I guess if I don't get it all ready before the retreat, I could always do it there. 

So excited to get a weekend of sewing, where I don't have to cook for, clean up after, or bathe anyone but me!

Heather

American Girl Doll Tote Bag

My eight year old received an American Girl Doll, Kit to be specific, for Christmas from Santa.  Fortunately Santa lets me in on his secrets, so I had time to make a cool bag for her to carry her doll and all her stuff around in.

She liked the fabric I used for the Bitty Baby backpack, so I bought some that had the same colors, but a different pattern.  This bag was sewn from the McCall's pattern 5019.  The bag has two sleeves on the inside to put dolls inside of so they will stand up in the bag and help it stay upright.  She only has one doll, but there may be another make an appearance for another holiday.  The hearts on the front were pulled from my extensive collection of scrap fabrics.

Still no new sewing happening here.  I think I need a little more sleep first. 

Heather

Yo-yo Hair Clips and Dressy Flower Bobby Pins

My 3 year old niece has a full head of beautiful hair, which my sister-in-law puts up every day.  What better gift than some pretty hair bows.  These were created with the Clover Yo-Yo Maker.  I then attached them to a hair clip and added a button with hot glue, one of my new favorite things!  The clips were great because her hair is really slippery and they stayed in without an issue!

My 17 year old daughter LOVES bobby pins.  When first seeing the melted edged flowers, I thought they would be perfect for dressing up a bobby pin.  These flowers were super easy to make.  While searching for how to make the flowers I saw some bobby pins with tied ribbons to add a little color to a sloppy up do.  Perfect!  She really likes them and now wants an outfit to match the turquoise flower.  Go figure.

It has been fun to work with some different fabrics for some cute hair accessories.  Pretty sure there will be more in the near future.  You know Prom is coming up!

Maybe I will turn on my machine tonight.

Heather

Rag Bag

My second daughter, 16 years old, has admired one of the bags that I made and carry in the summer.  Every year I try to make something for each of my girls, even when we are super busy, like the year they each got a crocheted chapstick holder.  This year I stepped up my game and they each received 2 homemade gifts from me. 

I learned how to make this rag bag at a 4H workshop for leaders.  It uses 1" strips of fabric and the grid used for latch hooking.  The fabric strips are woven through the grid and it is assembled by tying knots with the hang off of the strips from the front and the sides. 

Her new color of choice is the lime green of the handles.  She loves the bag and I'm sure she will carry it for most of the summer. 

These bags are really fun to put together, since they require very little thought.  An easy project to work on at sporting events, in a doctor's office, or watching TV (do others really have time for this?).

Longing to Sew,

Heather