DEAR JANE: making G-7 + A Mini Review of Fusible Product

First off... thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who commented and made suggestions about my crumbie blocks in yesterday's post. I appreciate ALL your thoughts and ideas. Lot's to think about; terrific ideas!  I may have panicked too soon! lol. More on these blocks later...
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It's fun to try out new products. Wash-Away Applique Sheets are offered by C&T Publishing and were inspired by Beth Ferrier's innovative book, "More! Hand Applique by Machine". Today I am using a few bits of it to make part of the Dear Jane G-7 block.

So far: it prints readily in my inkjet printer; cuts easily with both scissors and rotary cutter; fuses quickly to the fabric with no mess or leaks onto my iron!  I'll let you know how the sewing part goes... I plan to sew up this block for tomorrow's DJRetreat Yahoo Group BOW. Fingers crossed. I haven't sewn really tiny stuff in quite awhile...

Meanwhile... thank you for popping in to visit! I hope you are having a stellar weekend with plenty of time to stitch something that makes you or someone you love happy!

Quilty Hugs,

MODIFYING A SEWING MACHINE CABINET for more room to support larger project... sew easy!

Discovering something is sew fun!!! Recently while binding a large-ish lap quilt, I hit upon the idea of using the insert from my sewing machine cabinet and laying it on the open thread drawer! Voila! Instant extra supportive space.  I've had this cabinet for years and this is the first time I've ever thought to try it. Funny, eh?



Open Thread Drawer. . .

Thread drawer open and s.m. insert in place... instant space!

When I purchased the s.m. cabinet some years ago, I also ordered the *extra shelf piece* that is made to fit over the thread drawer when open, but it's so heavy I very seldom use it. Then yesterday in a flash-bulb moment I tried the insert piece which is adequately thick but oh so much lighter to lift! Yippee Skippee... it fits perfectly! Color me Happy!

Pressing surface: quick, handy, easy

As an extra bonus, the two-sided pressing/cutting board that I take to retreats fits right on top so I have a nice sized pressing surface at my disposal also. Love it!! I just love happy accidents like this, don't you? Do you have any you'd like to share in the comment section? Would love to read your light-bulb moments!

Welcome and thank you to the several new Followers who have joined recently. It's great to have you! This week I will be visiting all who have a blog. It's sew fun to connect!

Until next time. . . I have some recently planted geraniums calling my name: apparently some weeds are encroaching! Eeeegads, I'd better get busy! What are YOU up to??

Linking to Connie's Tuesday LinkyParty.

Quilty Hugs,

SUPER QUICK PILLOWs. . . In about 15 Min! ;-)

Need some pillows super-fast? No problem. If you can be happy with 'covers' and not anything fancy-smancy, then this method will work for you. My DD has a beach/ocean theme in her new apartment, so this pretty shell fabric will look nice on her new white couch.

Process:
I am making 4 pillows. Two 16 inch, & two 18 inch square [pillow forms from JoAnn's].

CUT fabric: two strips WOF x 16" and two strips WOF x 18 inches [or whatever size your pillows are].
Fold fabric exactly in half [long-wise, two short ends meet] and press. Fold over double a nice hem on each short end. Stitch. I stitched both the edge and the fold for extra durability and it looks nice that way. Press.

Line ruler up on FOLD side at one-half the size of pillow [remember, it's folded in half]. Here it is at 8 inches.

Flip the hemmed edge over the ruler [this marks the size of pillow]. Pull ruler away from the fold you just made and press this new fold in place. Stay with me; you'll see how this little trick works so fast to 'mark' the edges and size of your pillow.

Open up and re-fold using the pressed-fold line you just made... where my scrubby finger is pointing.

Now a couple of pins to hold edges in place; stitch the two short sides; press seams; turn, and voila! Stuff your pillow form inside and TaDah, you're done!

No kidding. . . each pillow will take less than 15 minutes to make.

That's all for today. Thank you so much for dropping by to visit. I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something for yourself or someone you love.

Hugs,

NO-Binding Pot Lifter

Well, wadda ya know... the epiphany I had earlier this morning actually worked! Here's a pic of the finished Pot Holder:

Not great, but for a proto-type it is ok. It will look better [i hope] after it takes a trip through the laundry and softens up a bit.

Here's what I did:

Cut: 6 squares ea 9.5" [because that's the ruler on the mat at the time...lol... slightly smaller would be fine, too.]. A 9.5" sq will equal finished size of about 8.5". AND, a square of batting, Insul-Bright, or what ever wadding you like to use. [This is also a good place to recycle old torn washcloths, cut up flannel shirts, etc.... waste not, want not.].

Press: Four of the fabric squares on the diagonal. Save for next step.

Layer: Sandwich a piece of batting in between TWO of the fabric squares; Right Sides OUT. Carefully layer the pressed triangle/squares corner to corner [see pictures]. DO NOT WEAVE as you did for the MugRugs... first lay two on oposing corners and then the other two.

Sew: Around outside edge. I used a 3/8" s.a. and trimmed to 1/4", but you do what is comfy for you. Next time I will use a WALKING FOOT... the Insul-Bright was very poofy and things didn't line up as well as I hoped they would.

Trim: Outside edges & zigzag all the way around. Here's a good place to try out your top-stitch thread color, which is what I did.

Turn, Smooth, Press, & Top Stitch: Fold diagonal edges back Cathedrawl Window style and TOP STITCH in place. Voila! DONE! Enjoy your binding-less potholder. The whole thing took about 45 minutes and that's 'cause I had trouble re-threading the s.m. needle! lol.

Here are my step-by-step pics:

Have a nice day,

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

Pot Holders & Siggie Lines. . .

Good Morning... at least it is morning here and now at my end of the keyboard.  Just a tad before 6:00am., actually. Sure am an early riser today. lol.

Today, while finishing up a little potholder, I decided to try some different corners and binding techniques. And, what better project to 'donate' to a learning and practice curve than a poor little potholder?!  If it turns out badly I don't have anything to lose, and I still have a little functional something to lift hot pans with. Win - win! lol.

As you can see the corners don't match... I was trying out various corner ideas in preparation for making a stack of potholders for Christmas. While trying out some different options, I had an epiphany of sorts: sense I don't relish the idea of sewing bindings on about 25 potholders, why not make them a'la Mug Rugs? Why not indeed! I think it will work and NO bindings to sew on.

Ok I'm off to my sewing corner to give this new idea a try... I'll post some pics later and share how it turns out.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.  Oh, almost forgot... if you don't see a post from me for maybe as long as two weeks from this coming Tuesday, it's because I'm having surgery. As soon as the wind gets back into my sails, I'll be back on line.  Wish me well... ta ta for now,
Hugs,

PS: see my new sig' line? Ain't it purrrrty? Thank you, Brigitte, for tutoring me on how to do this!

BookMark is Fini! . . . & Shirt Sleeve Squares

Oh, I am so happy! Thanks to the wonderful and friendly advice from Jane in the UK and Susan in Texas, my bookmark is finished and all the ends are tidied up! Thank you, thank you, ladies!

I put a little pink ribbon through the middle, but now that I am looking at it -- the ribbon might actually be detracting from the tatting. Shoot! I'm not sure... what do you think?

Today was a massive sewing and laundry day.

The set up: while straightening a bit in DD's room [read: looking for some of MY stuff, as this room used to be my sewing room! lol] I "found" four shoeboxes full of strips, bits, and Shirt Sleeve Squares... sort of a bazillion of these squares. This could be a no-brain and no-cutting sewing day, so I sewed and sewed and sewed until I had a stack of "two-sies".

I thought about it some more while folding a laundry load and decided if I put them into "foursies" [4-patch] I could either use them that way, or sub cut into "wonky" pieces and mix with other bits to make wonky-blocks.  "Wonky" really appeals to me today. LOL.  I now have a fairly large stack of 4-patches and I will decide their "fate" tomorrow! lol.

Now all of these 'squares' are "sort of the same size" but not exactly the same size. What to do? Sew into 4-patches matching the center seams -- both ends -- as much as possible knowing that later they can be trimmed up. That last was my "process thinking".  I'll make them CaveMan style, as Ricky would say. . . but actually I am just being a bit lazy and only want to trim up these blocks ONCE! lol.  I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Oh, I am sure the Eagle Eyes among you have spotted the larger-than-normal seam allowance. As this Shirt Sleeve material has a looser weave than the cotton we all know and love, I thought a fat 3/8" [almost a 1/2"] seam allowance would be a good idea. It does like to fray a bit. And. . . if anyone's interested in how I came to be the caretaker of 100's of Shirt Sleeves, I can tell the tale in another post. ; -)

I hope all of you had a wonderful day and were able to spend some of it on the crafts we all love.

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

Frosty Flakes 1 & 2. . .

I am participating in the FF BOM -- see button on sidebar -- and so far am working on blocks 1 and 2. I am using the Inklingo 1/2" Hex Collection from here to print the little hexies and make my blocks.

This first pic shows the hexies sewn together, appliqued to their b/g square, and the first part of the embroidery completed:

How I decided to make my blocks:

I printed 1/2" hexies on the wrong side of fabric using Inklingo and then sewed seven of them together into a hexie 'flower.'

Next I printed off the top part of page 305 in the Inklingo Collection that has an outline of 7-connected-hexies to be used as a quilting pattern and printed it onto FP; ironed this design to another small piece of FP [to make it double strength]; then cut on the outside lines... voila! A perfect template of a completed hexie in the size I wanted! See it inside the red hexie above?  It was then easy to press up the six outside s.a. against the firm FP template. I removed template and folded the rest of the edges over on their respective drawn seam lines. Ready to applique to b/g block. Although this step wasn't absolutely necessary, I liked having the applique pieces all ready to sew down as I usually carry little projects like this in a small kit in my purse for wait times such as the doctor's office, etc.. If the pieces are fully prepared, there are no surprises. LOL

The pic at right, shows a screen snap shot of the page I was describing above.

Below is the design ready to press to second FP piece and cut out:

The pic below shows the block right before appliqueing.

This process worked well for me. Perhaps it would for you as well.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the store and pickup some white embroidery floss. . . with the tons of floss that I have on hand, I was surprised to find NO white! Oh well, more shopping -- lol -- Michael's is having a sale anyway. *g*

Thanks for stopping by. . . hope everyone has days filled with beautiful stitching. . .

Hugs,

Cyn; -)