QUICK POST... Tiny Shirts & Little Bags

Our area is gearing up for a Quilt Run - sort of like a Shop-Hop. Many of us are helping ARETOY, our favorite local quilt shop, get ready. The Run opens June 20, but there is lots of prep work to do.

The Rotary Cutter in the pic shows how small the shirts are... cute!

This summer's theme is: Hawaii Five-O!  We are all making aprons for the staff to wear from Hawaiian fabrics. From the cut-a-ways and scraps, I have been making tiny Hawaiian shirts that will become holders for purse-size Kleenex packages. High on the cutesy meter!  Also, some of these shirts will be hung around the shop for decoration.

Close up of a shirt and a few bags

The other current project is making small bags to hold Crushed Walnut Shells that so many of us love using to stuff our pincushions with. My friend Joy [no blog] is creating gorgeous lined baskets to hold these little Chotskies [can't spell it; can barely say it! lol]... let's call them Doo-Dahs! I have about 50 bags completed so far and about a dozen shirts. I need to get a picture of the first basket Joy made... it's stunning!

My fave fabric is the one on the left... I'd love to have a dress from that!

Sew. . . I've been sewing like mad and that's why you haven't heard from me. Next time, I'll share another small project and then give an update on my Never Ending Granny crochet project which is coming along pretty well. Pat and LuAnn are also making a NEG.

Thank you for popping in to visit. I hope you'll come back again real soon.

Quilty Hugs,

KITCHEN APPLIQUE... Chick With Hattitude!

Last Thursday was spent with a lovely friend. We went to the Craft and Quilting Show in Del Mar, California. Lot's of vendors and fun things to see. There were several Make-It~Take-It opportunities. We decided on the T-Towels. Vendor had a bit of trouble with his irons, so we brought our pieces home and finished them.

While at the show we walked our socks off, but made up for it later by grabbing a Hot Dog for lunch at Costco where we did some more shopping!

Chick With Hattitude: fusible applique; machine stitched

This little kitchen towel is a very quick project. Decide on a design or drawing -- simple line drawings from kid's coloring books are good sources -- trace the shapes on to Fusible. Cut out shapes and fuse in place. I stitched my shapes on with a simple Blanket Stitch on my Janome6500 sewing machine [Mode 2, Stitch #34, stitch length 3.0, stitch width 1.5]. The little sparkle eyes are heat-set. I've never used them before so don't know how they hold up and wash... time will tell. The two towels I'm sharing with you today are mostly decorative, so I'm not too worried about the sparkle eyes.

Fusible Applique: by hand on Left; machine on right

That's all for tonight. I'm finishing up the purse project and taking several pictures to share with you soon. Hope you have loads of time to sew up something that makes your heart sing!

LINKING: Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click on over and see what others are doing. If you also have a blog, consider joining Connie's Linky Party, too; it's lot's of fun.

Quilty Hugs,

HOOKY BUSINESS: the Never Ending Granny Afghan

Like I need another project? Really! Can't help it... the yarn called to me; I grabbed a hook and off I went! I guess it's a disease... sort of like quilting. lol.

Skeins in a tote so I can be portable

 

The center: can just see the spiral beginning

My method for NO tangles!

To keep the yarn strands from tangling: First, I keep the skeins/balls corralled in a tote [a basket would be great, too!], then I crochet across each side with ALL 5 strands -- see pic above. Now turn corner and repeat working all 5 strands across the next side; turn corner, etc. The yarn strands never tangle this way, even as I am stuffing the project in and out of the tote as I carry it around and work on it. Try it; you might like doing it this way, too.

So far, at least two other blogging friends are making this afghan: Check out Pat and LuAnn to see their progress. We also put updates on FaceBook.  If you need particulars on how to get started, I recommend this great tute from Mikey of The Crochet Crowd. If you want to join us in our little CAL [Crochet A Long] that would be fantastic!! The more the merrier.

Thank you so much for popping in to visit. Hope you will come back again. If you are making this afghan too, please say so in the comment section with a URL to your blog - I'd love to visit and see your project! Until next time. . . this ol' lady is heading to the sheets. Tomorrow is another day.

Quilty Hugs,

BATIK WOVEN PURSE... getting started

As you can see in the first pic, I cut one of the strips too short! Grrr. Not sure how that happened as I began this project many months ago. It's easy to cut something shorter, but never longer once too short! lol. Sew... b/c I had to make another strip this morning, I thought it would be good to write a post about it. . .

This is a fun and different purse to make. There's a bit of set-up involved. First, sew some Batik jelly roll strips together with a 1/4 inch seam to make a tube. Turn right-side out. Press trying to get both seams along the edge... evenly.

 

Cut a 22 inch piece of stiff interfacing. I used Rigid Weave because it is already the correct width and all I had to do was cut to length.

 

Fold the interfacing in half and cover end with Blue Painter's Tape. This makes it easier to shove the interfacing inside the tube you just made.

 

Work the interfacing all the way to the other end of the tube.

 

Smooth out and try to get both seam allowances evenly on the outside edge. Press. I top-stitched all of mine 1/4 from the edge, but that is not totally necessary.

 

Now weave the stuffed-strips together. I used five 22 inch vertical strips and eleven 11 inch horizontal strips.  It is easier to keep things true and straight by working on a grid. I'm using a portable gridded pressing surface.  More in the next post on how to put this all together.

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit. Hope you will come again soon. Until next time. . . I am off to my Friendship Group meeting where we will be making some pincushions. . . what are YOU doing today?

 

LINKING to Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click on over and see what everyone else is up to.

 

Quilty Hugs,

T-SHIRT TOTE... A Mini-Tute

Today at our Tuesday Quilter's Friendship Group, Rosemary shared her version of a T-Shirt Tote Bag. Sew sew easy and quick to make.  Rosemary got her original inspiration from Totes Upcycled, a San Diego, California, company. Big thanks to both Rosemary and Totes Up-Cycled for a fabulous idea. Below are the super quick 'how 2's':

Thank you, Rosemary. You're a fun model!

HOW TO MAKE IT... EASY AS 1, 2, 3:
1) Choose old T-Shirt
2) Lay flat and cut off neck band and both sleeves [be generous with your cuts.]
3) Sew across bottom [or turn inside out and sew].

VOILA! Done.  Embellish or not, maker's choice.

T-Shirt Tote

Hope you are having a great day! Until next time... thank you for stopping by to visit. I have 3 more cuddle quilts waiting to be bound, so I best get to it.

LINKING: Connie at Freemotion by the River.  Drop over and see what others are up to this week... sew fun!

Quilty Hugs,

MAY DAY & HOOKY STUFF

MAY DAY, MAY DAY! It's hard to believe it is the 1st of May already! Sheesh, where does the time go?!

Sorry I have been MIA again. The Hooky Group I belong to has been in high gear to finish up several projects to send overseas to our Troops. Today's package will have tons of Scarfs, Hats, and Socks! All desperately needed by our Military serving overseas.  These items give comfort to our deployed Troops - I'm happy to contribute.

Crocheted Crib Afghan

Speaking of hooky business: I put the final edge on a crib-size Afghan. I like how it turned out. It's mostly white with some fun colors. The "puff" stitch was fun to do.  Takes a lot of yarn! Our group also makes baby items for Military families who are waiting at home for their loved ones to return.

The pattern comes from this book

To make it a good size, I made it a bit smaller by removing one of the horizontal 'repeats,' and reducing the number of white rows in the center. Easy to do.

There are several quilty projects that I am looking forward to sharing with you soon. . . Until then, I hope you have a lovely day. Thank you so much for dropping by to visit.

LINKING: to Connie at Freemotion by the River. Click over to visit and see what others are doing.

Quilty Hugs,