Christmas Gift Class

Last year for sewing class, we made tote bags, crayon roll-ups, criss-cross coasters and quilted notebook covers. This year we are have more projects but they require less sewing time. We will be working on 7 projects with a total of 15 items to make that day. The great thing about the projects chosen is that they can all be made with scraps or small amounts of fabric. These are a great way to go green and use up what you have. I don't claim to be the brainchild of these items, I'm just spend a lot of time scouring the internet for projects.

Our first project is a lingerie bag. You can use this either for traveling or for a laundry bag. The fabrics that I've chosen are a linen/cotton blend. I found these on clearance at Hancock Fabrics. We will be making a lavender sachet and lavender dryer bags out of the left over linen. The lavender is curing and smells wonderful.

We will be making a set of 4 quilted note cards. The fabric that I've chosen is charm squares by Moda. The line is Glace by 3 Sisters. We will also be using decorative threads and decorative stitches on the cards.

The potato bags really didn't meet my objectives on learning a new technique but they are so popular that we are going to make them. We will be using flannel and discussing the safety of materials for these bags. We'll make one with the potato fabric and flannel, and another bag out off two plain cottons.

The key fobs will probably be are quickest gift. These can be embellished with grosgrain ribbon or fabric. Satin ribbon is not recommended for this because satin will not withstand the amount of abuse that goes on in a woman's purse. Well at least in my purse! The key fobs should take about 10 minutes each. We are using 1.25" cotton webbing.

Our final project will be to chenille a hot pad. The chenille process works best with flannel but I have decided to use quilting cottons since this is a beginner project. The hot pads become very thick with so many layers of flannel and batting. In addition to the layer of batting, we will be working with Insul-Bright. This product is made from The Warm Company. This helps to deflect the heat back to it's energy source and away from the user. Yes, my know myhotpad looks a little wonky. I needed to square it up better. I also put the binding on differently. I won't be doing that again.

So we will be busy. There is still lots for me to do. I am working on lingerie sketches. I've got the teddy and underwear down. I still need to sketch out some pieces of Victorian lingerie. I've got to order our drawstring cord stops for the lingerie bags, cotton thread and shop for more drawstring. I took that last two rolls of it at Wal-Mart. I haven't tallied up the expenses recently. I'm hoping still to be around $20 for all supplies. I keep waiting for Hobby Lobby to put the note cards on sale. It's hard for this German to pay full price. Rest assured that I have made most of the mistakes that can happen. So I think I'm confident that I have most of the bugs worked out of these projects.

A Bag Lady Lives Here

I love tote bags. Bags of all sizes. Canvas, nylon, it doesn't matter. I would switch my bags up that I hauled stuff in depending on my mood and what I needed to haul. Free bags are especially special. Last year on one of my Yahoo groups, I kept seeing pictures of bags made out of pet mesh. I had already made a couple of zippered pouches out of the pet mesh so I wasn't too fearful of the tote bag. Did a little bit of investigating and found out the pattern was from Nancy Ota. She actually has several patterns for pet mesh. You can purchase the pet mesh in the window screen dept at Home Depot. That is the cool thing about sewing, you can find supplies and gadgets in places other than the fabric store. So with my charge card in hand, I plugged my information in and a few short days later I received my patterns. This bag is very roomy and extremely strong. One of the great things is that it only takes about 3 hours to stitch up.

A few months ago, I decided to make a bag for my friend. I was hoping to finish this around the time we went to Italy. Not for her to bring but just to have to remember our trip by. I wanted to use fabric that I thought represented Italy, the sunsets, the ceramics, the colors of the stucco. Well, this fabric was really the best I could find. I finished this bag last week. It wouldn't be an Ellen project unless it took months to finish! When I went shopping for the fabric, I decided that I also wanted a matching bag. Mine has yet to be made, maybe in another few months. I do have the pet mesh cut out though.

The key fobs were made this afternoon. I decided to stitch out the embroidery after the fabric was stitched down onto the cotton webbing. I thought it would be better. I don't think I'll do that again. The stitch out is a little wonky due to the webbing. The lettering would have been much smoother had I just embroidered on the fabric then stitched it onto the webbing. Live and learn I guess. BTW, I found a tutorial on a sewing blog for the key fob.

Kim has been patiently awaiting a copy of all my pictures from Italy. I was waiting until I finished her bag. Now with her key fob and bag finished, it can go off in the mail.

Move-In Day

This was the day that both Jeff and I had been dreading. The youngest birdie was ready to leave the nest. But Jeff and I weren't quite ready for it. Certainly it was a time that Jeff and I had talked about. Freedom for us both. No more soccer in 40 degree weather, no more quick runs to the grocery store for items needed for school the next day, no digging thru the laundry looking for a missing uniform, you get the picture. However it's bittersweet. Our freedom comes at the expense of being alone. Not having a child around or the friends filling the house. But this is a time to celebrate. We were able to keep all three girls on the straight and narrow. All three doing well with Lauren and Whitney gainfully employed with places of their own. The feelings of sorrow were deeper with Taylor. No, she's not the favorite. She is the last one. As the other two left the nest, I knew that we had another child at home that would keep us busy. As we said goodbye and walked away from her, I felt like I was delivering her to a prison. I had such sadness. But things are going well for Taylor. She is feeling more comfortable with Whitewater each day. Doesn't her room vaguely remind you of a prison cell?

A Pink Sparkly Fix

Sewing for little girls is so much fun. I had been wanting to make a little crayon tote for a while now. I made Kayla a little crayon roll up but how many crayon holders does one child need? So I decided to make a couple of little bag for a co-workers peanuts. The girls are ages 2 and 3. Cathy said that Sadie needed a little bag to carry around her Barney dvd's in. I originally drafted AND cut out all the pieces of a complicated dvd carrier. Finally sanity set in and decided not to invent this wheel. I had purchased a Lazy Girl purse pattern in Minnesota and decided it would be the right size for a 2 year old and should be able to hold her two inches of Barney dvd's. Cathy requested that it be safe for Sadie to sleep with so I changed up the purse strap and put two short handles on instead of one long strap. The font used for Sadie's name is called Walt. The tiny purse pattern was a pattern I got from my friend Pat. She has a Quilting Arts subscription and every now and then will show Ann and I fun little, quick projects. This was the perfect little accessory to use up some left over fabric. The purse is quilted with a flower pattern and her name is also quilted into the design. If you think my cursive handwriting is bad, you should see me quilt in cursive style. My "S" doesn't quite look like an "S".

Now for Emily, I made an ultra-deluxe crayon tote. Sometimes, improvements are such a great thing but on this project it was not. I wanted the tote to be durable enough for a 3 year old. I put iron-on interfacing on the crayon pockets. The end result was that it is hard to get the crayons in and out of. I also decided to put some iron on vinyl behind the crayon pockets so the crayons wouldn't get on the fabric. Then I had to put rick rack to hide the end of the vinyl. You can see where this is going, one thing leads to another and the project starts to snowball. I was proud of myself for sticking with the mission of having a fun, functional tote. Another mistake I made was to not really think about the measurements for the crayon pocket. In the design process, I guess I was only thinking about the measurements for a coloring book so that was the width measurement that I was thinking about. It should have been a little wider to give more ease for the crayons. The font used for Emily is called Fairytale which I thought appropriately went with the whole pink princess theme.

To finish the project, I took card stock and used some Wonder-under and ironed on leftover fabric to the card stock. The most time consuming part of the project was deciding what decorative stitches I wanted to use to embellish the card. Pretty easy. I can't wait to try some more cards. Oh, I forgot to tell you that all the fabric was sparkly. Perfect for a couple of little girls. So I was able to get my pink sparkly, girly fix for the last couple of weeks.

Music used for this project: U2 (well that's a given) and The Dresden Dolls. I had Coin-Operated Boy playing over and over. I needed a fun song while to listen to while sewing this fun project.

Finally, a finished quilt

I started this quilt last year. Actually, that's pretty good for me, 9 months from start to finish. Can't help it. I seem to get side-tracked with all the sewing projects waiting for me. This really could have been finished much sooner. I was just dragging my feet on sewing the binding down. That is usually one of my favorite parts. Anyway, it's done and ready for Whitney to use. The middle of the quilt was my trademark stippling but on the borders, I added flowers. Whoa, adventurous for me I know. The pattern is from a Atkinson Designs book called Minnesota Hot Dish. This was an easy quilt to make and was a great pattern for batik fabrics.

Are ya tired of vintage?

While on our trip in Minnesota, Jeff and I stopped at a couple of antique shops in Duluth. I found a booth that had some wonderful vintage patterns at a great price. There were a couple of ladies patterns from the 50's but reluctantly decided to pass on them. I did score this wonderful Cinderella apron pattern. That was a little pricey but it was 50% off. I paid $9 for it. But I think it was worth it. The little sailor dress in the picture isn't that old, maybe 1970 or later but I have this thing about sailor dresses. They just say "cute, cute, cute" to me. Sailor outfits make little children look like children. Look out girls, your sons will be getting a little sailor suit from their grandma! I think my favorite, besides the Cinderella pattern is the McCalls dress pattern. The pattern number is 1671 and it's a size 12, copyright 1951. It has a shear overlay on the dress. Very cool.

The Travelling Quilter

When I travel, I usually don't buy the typical souvenirs. No plastic palm trees, t-shirts or pine boxes with Wisconsin Dells stamped on it. I tend to buy small items for our Christmas tree or fabric. I have purchased lace from Germany, lace and trims in Paris and towel fabric (yes that's right) in Rome. When I'm down south, I tend to try to find Heirloom Sewing shops to add more heirloom laces to my stash. Otherwise, what I find are quilt shops. This year, I have been fortunate to find some great quilt stores while traveling. Our first trip in April was to Arizona. We stayed in Williams, Arizona, right on Route 66. The town had a wonderful feel to it. Part 1960's, part wild west. Jeff had noticed an ad for a quilt shop while reading the local tourism paper. I told him that we really did not have time and we needed to get on the road. But we drove by it and it was in a wonderful old building. You could envision horses tied up to the railing oh so long ago. Well, I had to stop. The quilt shop is called Quilter's Merchantile. This is one of the few times that I actually bought a t-shirt. My t-shirt has a drawing of the store on it. Talk about cowboy heaven, lot's of cowboy and western fabric here. Taylor and I had lot's of fun picking out new cowboy fabric. We met a lovely woman from France who worked in the shop. She had to move back to France and she was quite sad about it. She had been living in the states for several years. Her husband is American but he has health issues. So she is moving back home. She is able to pick up her teaching job that she previously had so her husband could have medical care.

A few days later on our Arizona trip, I found a quilt store in Sedonna. As luck would have it, it was about a half block from our hotel. I didn't get any pictures of this shop. The name is the Quilter's Store and Gallery. Talk about batiks. I've never seen so many batiks in one shop. Also lot's of southwest themed patterns and fabric. Taylor's limit is one fabric store per trip, so she decided to stay out in the truck with Jeff.

This past weekend, Jeff and I went to up to Beaver Bay, Minnesota. Population 175. I would have never imagined that many quilt shops in such a desolate area. Yes, it is a touristy area due to all the wonderful state parks, but still, there are a lot of shops. The first stop, was down a gravel road thru the woods. We saw a small sign on the main highway and Jeff turned around and drove to the quilt shop. The road lead to a handful of cabins on Lake Superior. The picture that I have of Lake Superior is the view that you see right outside the quilt shop. You can tell that the shop really is off the beaten path. The name of the shop is Quilters Cabin. It's on Castle Danger Road in Two Harbours. Here if I purchased my first kit ever. I never buy kits. Too hard to shell out the money all at once. I had found a pattern that I liked and was going to buy, then I saw the kit and decided to buy the kit.

The next shop we stopped at was outside of Silver Bay, MN. The shop is run by four sisters. Their mother is in her 80's and she makes sock monkeys and sells them at the shop. I hope that I am still stitchin' when I'm in my 80's. Here if found some more sock monkey fabric to add to my stash. I also bought a purse pattern. I usually don't like fabric purses but decided to buy this pattern to use for gifts. This shop has been open for a year and a half now. This shop is called Behind the Seams Quilt shop.

Usually Jeff will stay in the truck and listen to the Brewer game. At this last stop, there wasn't a game to listen to so he took the truck and decided to venture up the mountain. As we drove down the road to get to the shop, we saw a sign saying "Lots for Sale". While I was safely in the store buying fabric, he was getting himself in trouble on the mountain. He took the truck up too far and said he almost toppled the truck trying to get to the top lot to see the view. After he picked me up from the quilt shop, he then took me up the mountain. I didn't get a picture of the view. It would be an absolutely stunning view to have if you built up there. We grabbed a brochure. The lots are a little out of our price range. As we travel, we look for places that would fit our lifestyle for retirement. We loved the view and the outdoor activities that the area offered. Realistically, I don't think I want to be that far from the girls and I can't imagine the cost of drilling into rock for water. They still had the blasting wires on the mountain.

I think on our next trip, I will have to take Jeff into the fabric store. It would be safer and cheaper to keep him with me instead of having him roam around.