It's a wrap!

 For the last couple weeks my studio has been the gift wrapping station.  With all the presents wrapped and most of them gifted, visions of sewing projects dance through my head.

I have one last project to share before I wrap up the year.  I made a new Christmas tree skirt to replace the skirt I made in 1981.  Although every year I unpacked that skirt it brought back fond memories, it has shown its wear and tear.  Here is my new Christmas tree skirt.

My new skirt is made up of fabrics from my stash (hooray, no new fabric had to be purchased).  The pattern is made from random stringed strips.  The fabric was sewn together on a piece of batting to make the strings, then wedge pieces were cut out and placed in a circular pattern to get the zig zag look.  

Assembling the wedged pieces together brought back memories of the first quilt I made in 1970 when I was in high school.  It was a quilt as you go technique.  I came up with this technique so I could sew it on a standard sewing machine.  This was way before I ever heard of quilt as you go.  Who knows, maybe I could have been rich if I thought to publish this idea back then.

My assembling technique went like this:  After cutting the string fabric in wedges, I also cut the backing in the same size wedges. 

For the first wedge sandwich one string pieced fabric wedge and one backing wrong sides together and press.  *Next layer one string wedge on top of the previous string wedge with right sides together.  Do the same for the backing.  You now have a sandwich with two string wedges right sides together and two backing wedges right sides together.   Sew down one long side through all thicknesses.  Press so the top and the bottom wedges lay flat.  Continue going around in this circular fashion with all 18 wedges to form your circle (follow the * for each wedge section).  Note there is an option to do quilting on each wedge before, during or after joining.  I choose to do no quilting.  The seams hold the skirt together and allowed a little puffiness.

After all wedges are joined in a circle, bind the two sides (the beginning and the end wedge pieces).  Next bind the top and the bottom of the skirt.  You will need to cut the binding on bias since you are binding in a circle.

This might sounds complicated, but it is extremely easy.

I have cleared the decks for the new year.  For me 2024 is officially wrapped up.

I have no New Year's resolution this year.   I've already started my UFO challenge with my quilt guild in October, so I've gotten a jump start on my projects.  However,  I will pick a single word for 2025, "FOCUS".  With that in mind I'm excited for this new year

Welcome 2025

Merriest of Christmases

 As we're coming to the end of the year Christmas is always great send off.  

Hooray.  I'm looking forward to a productive New Year!!!

Jean Jeanie

I'm still repurposing!  I have a pile of used, beat-up blue jeans given to me from my wonderful family and friends.  I've made several blue jean quilts over the years, most I've given away.  They have been a favorite because of the way they drape and hug you with warmth.  I still have a couple on hand so I'm looking for alternative projects for these jeans.

I thought it would be fun to see how much I could use from a single pair of jeans.  I know it really depends on the size as to how much fabric there is to work with.  I have a couple pair that are 38 waist and 32 length. that should give me a good amount of fabric.

First I made two pair of extra long oven mitts.  It was fun to use the waistbands as the top binding.  I did have to cut into a second pair of jeans waistband for one of the mitt's binding.  Including the from pocket, some belt loops and the front button and buttonhole made some fun embellishments.  They are lined with batting, Insul-Bright thermal batting and cotton fabric.  Don't you love the worn denim look?

My next project is a I-pod bag. I needed an I-pod bag, so what better fabric then denim?  I measured my I-pod and added an 1 1/2 to the length and width.  To add some flare I cut the front using one of the outside seams of the leg.  The bag is lined and has batting.  The closure is a piece of leather cording that loops over a button. Unfortunately I was unable to use the jean button because it was grommeted onto the jean, so a large blue button was used.   I did use that grommeted button from the waistband on the top binding.  I was given some leather upholstery samples that I cut one into a flower shape to sew behind the button.  I added a loop handle cut from the side seam.  The handle started to ravel so I used some anti-fray glue on the cut sides.  This is a perfect little bag to protect my I-pad and carry it around.

There still are some scraps of fabric left that I've cut out pieces to make a denim bowl that I'll work on in a few days.  Also, I have a zipper and two back pockets left, but not committed to what I want to do with them yet.  Christmas is a few days away and I'm not sure how much time I'll have to sew.  It's time to focus on the holidays.  

Alpaca soft

A lady I know offered me a handwoven wallhanging and sweater from her visit to Peru made with alpaca wool. She decided she didn't want them, but didn't want to throw them away.  Of course, she offered it to me saying that she knows I would find something great to do with them, but if I wasn't interested I could dispose of them.  Dispose of them?  That's not an easy thing for me.  Would I try to make mittens, a bag or purse?  I hated to cut them up.  

Folding the wallhanging in half it looked pretty awesome as a bag.  So bag it is.

Sewing up the sides and lining was a snap.  Next came the handles. Webbing was to industrial looking.  I tried fabric handles, which was okay - maybe it was the color or lack of color.  Then I had this brainstorm.  Previously, I purchased a rope dog chew toy.  The multi-colored threads and the tassels on the ends added that homemade look and the multi-colors are like the pattern in the bag.  What the heck.  If I didn't like it I could easily replace it.   I hope the weaver of this piece would be pleased with my repurposing.  They might have had a more unique handle, but this is working for me.  If the lady that gave me this wallhanging really loves it as a bag, I might give it to her. And then again, I might not.  I'm loving it too much right now!

Next came the sweater.  The off-white alpaca wool is very soft and fuzzy.  It's winter, the season for wool - I will be carrying this bag around everywhere, so mittens are a perfect companion. In fact, I easily was able to make two pair.  The sweater had knitted covered buttons that I embellished the mittens with.  Maybe the extra mittens will be easier to give away.  These mittens are so warm - let the cold wind blow!

Sexy Hexi

I've been stuck on Log Cabin blocks lately.  When I came across a Log Cabin Hexi Potholder pattern I was all in.  I've also wanted to make a hexagon block quilt sometime in the future.  Although this potholder certainly isn't a hexagon quilt block it still was a fun challenge, and I love new challenges.  I'm inspired to start that hexagon quilt soon.  I'll add it to my list.

After constructing the first potholder I came up with a few pointers to add to the directions.  As part of the education committee, of the AuSable Quilt Guild, I will offer this hexi potholder pattern to the members.  I'll do a quick demo and show them some of my pointers to help them make the perfect hexi.

Once I got the hang of this hexi, I whipped up a few potholders.  They will make great stocking stuffers this Christmas.

The potholders in orange, yellow and green matches the jar opener I posted previously - Repurpose with a purpose.  Although It wasn't my plan, both the potholders and the matching jar opener will be given as a set.

Hopefully the ladies from the quilt guild will be inspired to give this sexy hexi a try.

Run, run, run as fast as you can

Tis the season for sharing your favorite cookies with family and friends.  This year, instead of a plate of cookies I've made fabric cookie buckets.  I came across the cookie bucket idea online a few years ago, but when I saw gingerbread man fabric in the guild "Trash or Treasure" tote, I knew this would be this years project.  The Trash to Treasure tote is where fabric that a guild member didn't want or was left over from one of their projects is donated.  Instead of trashing it in the garbage it is placed in this tote for another member to make a treasure.

The fabric I found has the verse of the Gingerbread Man - "run, run, run as fast as you can".  The buckets have fabric handles that are attached with buttons.  I couldn't believe that I came across Gingerbread Man buttons.  The binding looks like the stripes on candy canes.  What a great touch.

Normally, I run out of time to add projects to make during the Christmas season.  This year I am ahead of the game, I made them this week leaving plenty of time to bake goodies to fill them.   Here are my 8 cookie buckets waiting to be filled.

The gingerbread man buttons are adorable.  I certainly will have to make gingerbread man cookies to include with our family favorites - peanut butter goof balls and sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. My daughter calls my sugar cookies "crack cookies".  She claims you can't eat just one, they are addictive.  My husband makes venison sausage - maybe he'll make enough to add to these buckets.  I'm adding my homemade sour cherry jam and grandma's recipe for fudge too.  Boy, at this rate I hope the buckets are big enough.   Fa la la la la.

Something wicked

Still repurposing, I used part of green panty hose from my Halloween costume to make a soft-sculpture witch head wallhanging.  I made a similar witch head with regular skin colored panty hose back in the 90s.  But, over time it looked pretty beat up.  It was time for a new witch. 

I stuffed a piece of the green panty hose and sewed a few details to sculpt the face.  I painted the eyes and mouth, used grey yarn for the hair and made a hat sewn from felt. Her head is about 20 inches long.   Mounted on a short broom, she came together perfectly.  I have young grandchildren, so she's not too scary, but sort of a whimsical and fun.  I think they'll enjoy her every Halloween.

The movie Wicked just came out.  Although I wasn't inspired to make a green witch by this movie, it just happened to come out about the same time.  I did read the book series and today went to the show to see it.  I'm not much on musicals, but I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the next chapter.

Repurposing with a purpose

I have a wonderful family and friends, that are so supportive.  They know that I'm always repurposing, recycling or repairing things. So donations are always offered to me.  Very seldom do I decline these donations.  It gives me great satisfaction to avoid being so disposal and find new uses for them.  Over the last few years I've accumulated odds and ends that would have ended up in the landfill.

At the AuSable Quilt Guild we started an Idea Challenge Jar.  Members of the guild were asked to write an idea on a piece of paper to put into our jar.  The idea could be a color, an object, a technique, a quilt block, but not limited to these few suggestions.  How the idea is interpreted is up to each member - there is no wrong or right way to execute this idea.  During our September meeting we deposited our ideas in this jar.  October we picked our first challenge - "repurpose".  I have to say this was not my idea, but it certainly excited me to hunt through my donation stash and see what I could do.  I found blue jeans, sweaters, and many other miscellaneous items.  This is great incentive to clear out some of my donation stash.

First, I have a couple sweater jackets from my daughter.  They have several different prints and it will be fun to mix and match pieces from these sweaters to make mittens.

I have a few more pieces left, but not enough for a full pair of mittens.  I'll have to search for one more sweater to finish piecing a pair of mittens.  I wonder if she'll recognize her sweater when she sees these mittens.

Next, I had some leftover rubber shelf liner.  With that I repurposed it into jar lid openers.  It is a quick and easy project and I tested one,  they really work!  I will be making more as Christmas stocking stuffers.

I feed birds all year long.  I have quite a variety that visit my feeders.  There are so many birds that I fill my feeders up daily.  The bags of black sunflower seeds have great pictures of birds and flowers on them.  Recently, my husband has been purchasing sunflower seed bags that have large yellow sunflowers with bees on them.  We gone through a few bags and each time we throw them out I' was tempted to keep it to repurpose.  Well, with this repurposing challenge I decided I needed to make a tote from one of these bags.  It's sturdy and will be great hauling my groceries.

I've cleaned through some of my stash, but have a few more projects I'll tackle.

A log cabin basket

Several years ago I came across a picture of a wallhanging basket.  The basket was constructed with the log cabin block.  Being a basket weaver I knew immediately I wanted to make a similar basket wallhanging, so I stashed a copy of that picture with my want-to-do list.

With the recent quilt guild challenge of making a scrappy log cabin quilt, I was inspired to tackle this wallhanging and check it off my UFO list.  This was the first time I made a log cabin block that has an arch to it.  I figured out the assembly of the basket rather quickly.  Next, I had to decide what I wanted in that basket.  The inspirational picture had twigs with small red berries.  I pondered what I would prefer.  It came down to pussy willow branches, violets or lavender.  After a few weeks lavender won.  I grow lavender and love the smell, it is so relaxing.

I drew up an idea of how I wanted the lavender to look and got busy hand embroidering.  I must admit what I embroidered looks bushier than what I grow, so maybe this will inspire me for my future garden.

I'm on a mission and seem to have a few small projects to work on.  My goal is to get them completed before the new year.  I'll be back soon!  

Rainbows and Unicorns

Another young family just had a baby girl.  The father is a great friend to my eldest son and our family.  In fact, he was born in the same hospital just a couple days before my son was born.  The boys spent time in the hospital nursery together.  So I was very excited to gift a quilt to this new family.

With the left-over fabrics I made a cloth toy tote carrier, a couple burp cloths and added some other goodies.

The newborn, named Evergreen Marie, is just a little one weighing six pounds.  It will take her a bit to grow into this quilt I made her measuring 43" by 52".  With winter on the horizon I'm sending warmth and hugs.  I'm so happy for their new beginnings.

Sending hugs and warmth

Back in January the education committee from the AuSable Quilt Guild challenged its members to a jellyroll race quilt (note we weren't actually racing to make it,  just using the construction design).  Since most of the members are well-seasoned quilters, if they've already made this style quilt or have no desire to make one, they were offered the opportunity to make one as a charity quilt for the local Foster Kids Program.    These quilts would be handed out to children as they were removed from their homes and placed in a new environment.  The education committee even offered a twist on the race with the spinner design.  

I tackled this project head on.  I made my own jellyroll strips from my stash fabric and purchased new fabric to fill in.  It was fun to see the fabrics randomly move around as they were sewn together.  A jellyroll race quilt finishes approximately 50" by 64".  

So I made my first quilt and it went together in a snap.  Knowing it was going to a great cause and more fabric on hand I made a second quilt.  A great friend came to visit and I quilted her newly made quilt and she loved the idea of donating to the Foster Kids Program so she handed me cash to buy more fabric.  Well, that became quilt number three and four.  But wait,  I now have more leftover fabric so I went and bought more fabric to use it up, hence quilt number five and six.  A few months later my friend came to visit again and again left cash to make more quilts.  With our combined contributions came quilt seven and eight.  If my friend didn't live so far away I'm sure we would have sewn more quilts together, but eight is a number we both are proud of.

Here is the group of all eight quilts.

The above quilts were made in the traditional jellyroll race style using straight edge joining and mitered edge joining.

These three quilts were made with a twist called the spinner.  It uses the same concept as the jellyroll race, but a group of random strips are cut at an angle and resewn together for the center spin.

Last but not least, this quilt was made from flannel.  I had leftover precut squares that were 7" so I incorporated them randomly into this quilt.

Thanks to the partnership of a great friend, we both send love, hugs and warmth to these kids and hope for a good future.  A message to these kids - know that there are many people who care about you.

 

From the hearth of the home

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.  We've had a wonderful fall, but winters on its way.  That's part of a song that comes into my head as I finished my scrappy log cabin quilt.  (I took the liberty to change a couple words :)

The first scrappy quilt I made was this same scrappy log cabin.  I posted about that quilt in March 2019.  Of all the quilts I've made everyone always picked that quilt as their favorite. In fact, my friend who made the same scrappy quilt said that she was told the same.

 As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm the Education Director for the AuSable Quilt Guild.  The guild has been donating their scraps throughout the year to our Trash to Treasures tote.  The tote actually got pretty full.  In August the education committee announced that the totes fabrics would be cut into 1 1/2" strips for our last challenge of their calendar year.  Each guild participant had to contribute one yard each of dark and light colored cotton fabrics to be mixed with the tote fabrics.  The fabric would be redistributed to participants to make a lap size scrappy log cabin.  We had 20 participants.  They had two months to work on their creation (or longer if they needed it).  The fun part comes when you decide to lay the blocks out, there are so many different layouts.  As of this posting there have been quite a few quilts that have been finished and shared during our Show and Tell.  All of them were laid out different and were absolutely awesome.  It's a little addictive that I want to make another so I can try a different layout.

My original scrappy log cabin was gifted to Charlie who admired my piles of quilts and picked it as his favorite.  So I made another scrappy log cabin with the diamond layout.  Instead of a lap quilt I did make it large enough for a queen bed, but to accommodate the. design my finished size is 80" by 100".

Being on the education committee I've made the effort to learn some history on the blocks/quilts I've made and share with my fellow quilters.  The history I find always surprises me.  Here is some history on the log cabin quilt block that I found online (What di we do before computers):  

This style of quilt is called “Log Cabin” because of the pattern. It is made with a central shape, such as a square or a diamond, in the middle. This represents the hearth or fireplace, which is a place of warmth and activity in a log cabin. The early pioneer settler home, the log cabin, became an iconic symbol of the taming of the wild frontier and for achieving the American Dream. The log cabin symbol was so popular, a quilt style was named after it.  Quilt historians found that the Log Cabin design became popular in 1863, when the Union Army was raising money for the Civil War by raffling quilts. President Abraham Lincoln grew up in a log cabin so the pattern may have been a symbol of loyalty to him as head of the Union. 

A red center square was thought to symbolize the hearth of the home, a yellow center was believed to represent a welcoming light shining through the window.  During the Civil War a log cabin block with a black center hanging on a clothesline was meant to sign a stop for the Underground Railroad. 

In the latter part of the 19th century the block became very popular as our nation was nearing the centennial in 1876.  Many Log Cabin quilts were made using fabric scraps that were popular during that time including silk, velvet, wool, and satin.

Earlier sources for the log cabin inspiration goes as far back as Egyptian mummy wrappings with the well known design of rectangular “logs” laid in a square pattern.

My first scrappy log cabin had no rhyme or reason for the center blocks.  The instructor for that class  I took did not offer any information about the center.  I just picked what I thought looked good.  This recent Log cabin does have a red center to represent the hearth of the home.

This was a fun quilt and a great way to use up miscellaneous fabrics from my stash and scraps.  I have another smaller log cabin project I'm almost finished with.  I'll be posting about it soon. So now that the skies are gray I'm heading back to my sewing studio.

Carrying supplies to sewing gatherings

Fall is in full swing. The last couple weeks the tree colors have been beautiful and with temps in the high 60s and 70s I couldn't ask for better fall weather.  But alas, all good things come to an end.  The days are getting shorter and the temps are dropping.  Here comes the rains and the wind and most of the leaves have fallen to the ground.  Mother Nature sure put on a great show.  Back to my sewing.

January 2023 I constructed the "Tidy Tote," which has been awesome for carrying my sewing supplies to different gatherings. ( I posted about this tote February 6, 2023 titles "Quickies"). As greats as this tote is I don't always need to carry a lot of supplies.  Sometimes I just need thread, scissors, pins and a couple odds and ends with my sewing machine.  So I found a pattern for a tote from byannie.com called Open Bag 2.0.  With leftover fabric from my Tidy Tote I constructed a small matching bag.

 

The large opened tote in the back is my Tidy Tote, the smaller tote on the bottom right is my new smaller coordinated tote.  It has a zipper closure,  a side handle on the left and inside mesh fabric pockets on both the front and the back.  I put a peace sign zipper closure on the zipper pull.  How fun! This will work perfect.  Even better, I had all the fabric and supplies in my stash except the zipper and pattern.

Matchy, matchy - this project reminds me of the 60s and early 70s when I would have a matching purse for each pair of shoes I owned :).  Now days people don't even wear matching socks.  To be so care-free.  Well, back to the present.  Cleaning up some quick projects and finishing my new UFO list.  I only need six UFOs to complete one every other month.  This should be a breeze, but I didn't finish last year's list.  Maybe I can squeeze last year's list in and have both list done by the deadline - November 2025.  But as you know, there is always other projects that manage to find their way in the mix.  I guess that's why there are these UFOs.

Tackling the little things

I've been busy preparing my new UFO list for the 2024-25 guild year (which starts in November) and came across some little projects I decided to tackle instead of adding them to my list.  

First I came across left over string quilt strips from my Friendship Rings quilt I posted in May 2021.  Yes, I still hung on to those strips.  I'm currently using that quilt on my spare bedroom bed.  I must have known that I would have a use for those strips - I made coordinating  pillow shams.  

The strips are finally used up and you'd never know that I made the shams three years later.    I love using up my stash fabrics and will continue to lessen the load.

Happy Fall Y'all

 Summer has slipped away, but our weather has continued to shine on with fantastic temps.  But with fall comes cooler mornings and shorter days.  That "S" word is now in play - Sewing Time!  Hooray!

I have multiple sewing projects in the making.  Living in Northern Michigan makes getting supplies challenging.  So when I hit a bump I move on to the next project until I can get the supplies I need.

I finished this scrappy "Scrabble Jack" wallhanging a few days ago in plenty of time for the upcoming holiday.

While participating in the Michigan Shop Hop I found this pumpkin wallhanging displayed on a quilt shop wall.  I asked if I could buy the pattern and was told unfortunately the company has gone out of business a few years ago and it is no longer available.  I was puzzled that this was even on display if there is no pattern.   Further questioning I got no further trying to make it.  Eventually I asked if I could take a picture,  I was sure I could figure this out.  The clerk let me take a picture and told me they still had a few accessory packs for sale which included: the buttons for the eyes, the raffia for the bow and the scrabble-like tiles for the message.  I asked if the pack was on sale since there was no pattern for the pumpkin and was told no.  I was ready to walk out and the clerk said I could have 25% off.  So being polite I bought the accessory pack.  I think I could've accumulated those accessories cheaper, but again living in Northern Michigan has its challenges.

So here is my "Scrabble Jack".  I used two inch squares from my stash of fabric making a 26" by 26" wallhanging.  It's hanging in my entryway to welcome my grandkids and when trick or treaters come  they will be greeted by Scrabble Jack.

I've played Scrabble since I was a young kid and have always loved it.  When I sent a picture of Scrabble Jack to my daughter she said - it is so you .  Using scrabble tiles to add a message on projects is a great idea.  If I run into a cheap, used scrabble game I will purchase it for further use.

Well, I've gotten a few more supplies this past week so I'm ready to complete another project.

As Scrabble Jack says "Happy Fall Y'all"

Movement of Ocean Waves

Ocean Waves has become one of my favorite quilts that I've made.   It's crazy considering that my quilt is constructed with almost 1,500 half-square triangle blocks.  I've become an half-square triangle pro.  Certainly it took lots of focus to stay on task.  And with all the different fabrics there were times I even doubted that they all would come together.  

The Ocean Waves quilt pattern is an early American block inspired during colonial times.  It is believed to have come from a seaboard town in Maine and symbolic of the blue sea and the movement of the waves. Pioneers took this quilt westward where it eventually reached the Pacific Coast and copied by many quilters from sea to shining sea.

But, alas I think it's a treasure.   Well worth all those half-square triangles with a finished size of 94" by 94".

But wait I decided I needed matching pillow shams.  Oh my!

Another project checked off my list.  Back to my studio,  I'm on roll.

Crafting with bread

 Since the beginning of this year I've been caught up in baking sourdough bread with great success.  My starter began in January and it keeps getting better and better.  I've even shared my starter discard with friends and family. Here's my latest bake.

During the summer I visited my daughter in California.  On one of our adventures we were in a town outside West Hollywood called Larchmont.  What a great quaint area with unique stores and restaurants.  As we cruised the street we decided to stop at an outside cafe and have a glass of wine which also lead into some freshly baked bread with olive oil.  Fantastic.  But what was better yet is the great presentation.  The bread was served in a paper/fabric basket.  

This was inspiring to me.  Back a few years ago I purchased a roll of Kraft-tex kraft paper fabric in natural.  I think I had an idea for it when I bought it, but it was put aside and that thought vanished.  When we were served the above bread in this paper like basket I recalled buying that roll of paper fabric and decided I needed to sew my own.  I took a few pictures and here is my version.

A very simple design.  I was able to whip up a few baskets within less than an hour.  I kept two and sent one off to my daughter in California.  The photo above also displays my freshly baked sourdough bread.  So good.  These baskets will get lots of use.  I think I'll make a few more and give them as gifts with some bake goods or even a jar of sourdough starter and some of my homemade jams.

The weather has been chilly and the "S" word is on the horizon, "SEW".  I now have time to be inside and put my petal to the floor.  Lots of projects have piled up over the summer so it's time to check them off of my UFO list.

Seven pots from seven sisters

This summer Michigan quilt shops held their first statewide shop hop during the months of June and July.  I believe 80 some shops participated.  I have to admit I certainly didn't need any more projects, so my intensions in shopping was just for the fun of shopping with friends and seeing new ideas.  Although I only visited six shops I ended up with six new projects.  Yikes.  None of these projects are full-size quilts, but I still have other projects I'm working on too.  Not to mention it's still summer and sewing is not on the top of my to-do-list.

I'm determined that these six projects are not going to be stashed away for sometime in the future.  I'm excited to say that I finished one of these projects today - a wallhanging called "Ladies of Spring" from Seven Sisters Quilt Shop.  This pattern is part of the Row by Row adventure that is held nation-wide.  Seven Sisters gave shoppers the pattern for free when visiting their store.  Of course I purchased the kit with the fabrics to help support this store.  

What sold me on doing this project was the 3-D texture on the triangles in the center of each flower.  As I was assembling the flower pots I realized there are seven flower pots.  I wonder if this represents the Seven Sisters Quilt Shop owners. Next time I visit them I certainly will ask.  The pattern is fairly easy just had to deal with some small pieces.

This flower pot banner measures 36 1/2 wide by 11 1/2" and looks cute at my front porch entry.  To hang this wallhanging I sewed a triangle piece of fabric on the back upper corners with the binding and inserted a wooden dowel from corner to corner.  If this wallhanging was heavier I would probably need a heavier dowel and a center piece for support.  I got this idea from a couple of ladies in our quilting guild.  It is a quick and easy way to hang a wallhanging. 

 With summer winding down it will only be displayed a few weeks before it will be time for fall decorations. 

One project down, five to go.  I'll be back soon.

Japanese Rice Bag

 I've been working on my orphan blocks that are left over from quilts I've made in the past.  Evidently, they were special, because I certainly didn't throw them out.  I repeatedly end up making extra blocks when piecing my quilts, since I'm always recreating a pattern - ususally making the quilt larger.  My motto:  Go big or stay home!  Ask my fellow quilters.  Ha ha.

I keep coming across pictures of Japanese rice bags on Pinterest.  I love the look of the patches and the hand stitching on these bags.  So the idea of using my orphan scrappy log cabin blocks to construct a rice bag became a great project to hand stitch while sitting outside enjoying the summer weather.

My log cabin blocks are 10 1/2"  square, so I made a larger rice bag finished at ten inches square.  Besides this size will be more useful for me to carry my treasures.  I came up with my own pattern by looking at Pinterest pictures.  A very easy bag to construct.  The most time I spent was hand stitching on the blocks before sewing the bag together.

So here it is - my version of a Japanese Rice Bag using my orphan quilt blocks.

I used macrame cording for the drawstrings and the beads were a garage sale find for a buck.

I have a pile of projects in the making.  The weather is just too beautiful to me inside sewing, but I'm picking away at them and will share as they hit the finish line.

Big sister

I can't forget Gia's big sister,  I made her a gift too - a baby sock monkey.  For Christmas I made her a regular sized sock monkey so I purchased the smallest red heeled socks available and improvised a baby monkey.  It came out adorable.  He it is next to the regular sized monkey.  They are sock monkey pals.

Of course I took it a few steps further.  I have a Cabbage Patch Kids pattern from the 80s for a doll carrier.  I made the carrier for the new big sister to tend to her babies. It includes a pillow, quilt and a flannel receiving blanket.   Also, I fabricated some diapers that would fit on this baby sock monkey.

She plays with her babies a lot and the carrier is big enough for her other babies too.  She will be a busy big sister.

Summer is here and sewing time gets limited, but I have a few projects in the making.  Hope to finish more of them soon and check them off my list so they don't become another UFO.

Baby Gia

This past month I've become a new Grandma.   Baby Gia has joined our family.  I've made a quilt and a cloth tote for our new little one.

The tote is all packed with goodies for Gia.  I'll get to meet her in a couple days.  Welcome to our family.

Continuing to make a difference

As previously posted, one of our guild members, Norma, contributed boxes and boxes of upholstery fabrics that a furniture store was discarding for us to repurpose into totes and journal covers (or whatever we decided to do).  Here was her finished  samples that she made to inspire us to dive in.

My daughter loved my bee journal cover so with her birthday coming up I made one for her.  After making my first journal all these new ideas popped into my head.   It was fun to add more embellishing. I was able to find some fun charms to string onto the bookmark cording.  I even used a fabric transfer to add a bee to the inside cover, which was a first for me.  I certainly have more ideas spinning in my head with that technique.

And it didn't stop there.  My daughter came home for Easter.  I had a couple fabric samples from Norma to play around with before our guild meeting.  My daughter loved this one animal print and some leather samples.  She asked me to make her a clutch.  So this is what I came up with.

There was a hole in the top of these leather samples, so I embellished over the holes.  The first photo has a fun banana pin attached that can be changed.  The other side has a green button sewn on.  I boxed the bottom because the leather was too thick to sew both sides together at the bottom.  This will be a fun birthday gift.

I crocheted her a couple of wash cloths and added a few little trinkets. Her birthday is this coming week and I'm flying out to LA to visit and will deliver her presents in person. She's my birthday girl.

But wait,  the gifting doesn't stop here.  Check out my next blog to see what I've been up to.

Mini Paws

For many years I've admired mini quilts that I saw hanging in quilt shops, but I've never decided to tackle one.  Back several years ago I finally bought a pattern for a mini quilt.  It is a paper foundation pattern called Cabin Paws.  Now I've always wanted to make a Bear Paw quilt, but this is a whole different adventure.

This pattern has satin my studio for over ten years.  Every time came cross it I'd loved looking at a it, but would set it aside of another time.  Finally I committed this pattern as a UFO as part of my quilt guild challenge.  Well its UFO number was picked in January.  I took a deep breath, opened the pattern, gathered my fabrics and started tackling this little gem.

Working with such tiny pieces I think could only be constructed using paper foundation.  Although the final mini quilt is not perfect I did learn a lot of technique and if I decide to tackle another I certainly will have a better griffon what works for me.

So here I introduce to you my mini Cabin Paws quilt measuring 17 1/2" by 17 1/2".

I love all the tiny blocks.  Not only does it include the Bear Paw, but it also is a log cabin.  I love both blocks.  Now I have to figure out where to hang it. By the way, I still have a full-size Bear Paw quilt I want to tackle some day.

I've been behind on my challenges, another UFO that was picked in March to work on.  This UFO has been set aside for at least ten years.  Time to wrap my head around it and get it done.  That's the whole reason why our guild runs a yearly UFO challenge.  Get it done!

Making a difference

Tomorrow is Earth Day.  I remember the first Earth Day in 1972 and since that day I make myself aware of my impact on my surroundings.  I want to live in a clean environment and eat healthy foods so I constantly think about recycling, reusing and repurposing.  Saying that, I feel plastic is public enemy #1.  You can hardly buy anything that doesn't include some sort of plastic.    I was glad to see on the Earth Day website that this year they are focusing on reducing plastics.

As I've posted on previous posts, I am pretty adamant not to use plastic shopping bags.  I have made several of my own totes for shopping and use them.  If for some reason I do not have a tote I leave the store with no bag at all carrying my purchase in my arms.  Traveling around our country and other countries they do not offer plastic shopping bags - they are banned.  I hope in the near future that my state of Michigan and other states follow suit and ban plastic bags.

With Earth Day in mind and being committed to help reduce our impact on Earth I've challenged our quilting guild to make a difference by making totes and reduce their use of plastic.  One of the quilters was given boxes of fabric samples from a furniture store that was going to the trash.  She came up with patterns for making totes and journal covers.  We will use these samples to make fashionable totes at our May meeting.   Also, we will be able to make journal covers with the lighter weight fabric samples.

Getting ready for the May meeting I made a tote and journal cover as samples for the ladies.  

The tote measures 16 1/2" across and 15" deep.  I did box the bottom 12" by 5".  Adding a button and a hair tie as the closure adds a little style.  I came up with the idea to use plastic from store display signs for the bottom.  My daughter-in-law works for a beverage company.  They constantly use corrugated plastic for signage.  When the promotion is done they throw the signs away.  She said that she would instead give the signs to me to cut for the bottom of totes.  I will be sharing these discards with all my quilting friends.  Here is the plastic bottom insert for this tote.   It cuts with scissors, although I did us a box knife with a ruler and rounded the corners with scissors.  The rounded corners will help keep the plastic insert from wearing through the tote.

My journal cover fits a 9 3/4" by 7 1/2" composition tablet purchased from any store with a school supply section.  At dollar stores you can even find them for $1.  These tablets slide in and out of the cover very easily.  I added a stringed page-marker with a little bee charm on the end and the button on the front works with a leather string as a closure.  

I love this bee journal cover.   I even found a way to fuse images printed from my copier to fabric.  Look at this adorable bee inside the cover.

I adore little bees and am concerned with their plight.  I use no chemicals in my gardens and plant many pollinating plants for my little busy bee friends. I even have a worm farm that I compost all the fruit and vegetables for my garden.   Here is a photo I took of a bee covered in pollen from my zucchini blossom.

The quilting ladies were encouraged to make their tote and journal their own.  Use embellishments or layouts their way.  I can't wait to see what these talented ladies come up with.

I feel good about this positive impact.  I'm repurposing upholstery fabric and plastic corrugated signs, keeping both from the landfills.  I've made more shopping totes to avoid plastic bags. Making my journal with the bee theme will keep these little guys plight in mind.   I even have encouraged my quilting friends to follow suit.  Not only making an impact, but doing it with style.