Sunday Stashing

Good Morning,

This weekend is the 200th post for Sunday Stashing @ Molli Sparkles. (sorry, running a little late) A few weeks ago I got a lovely $25 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop. Well, you know how hard it is to stop at one fabric, so I ended up with several beautiful yards.

I adore the metallic fabrics and these are all metallic (except for the small pouch on the right). The uppermost print is Suffolk Metallic Black Floral, the middle fabric is Holiday Flourish Holiday Holly & Ribbon, with the bottom print being Holiday Flourish Frost Branches in Ivory. 

Now the reason that the Suffolk yardage looks so thick, is because I grabbed 3 yards to make a skirt. The other 2 are about a yard each. There is actually a 4th piece that I do not have a proper pic of, because it is a panel, so I grabbed this pic from the FQS. 

The 2 Holiday Flourish prints are for borders and binding, so this becomes a Christmas lap quilt. (trying for 44" square)

Along with my order, the Fat Quarter Shop nicely included a Block Nine kit from the 2015 Designer Mystery Block of the month. A very delightful surprise!

Linking up with Molli Sparkles to celebrate his 200th Sunday Stash!

Garage Sales and Things

I like to go to yard sales & garage sales. There is always something interesting to look at and you never know what you will find. I have been wanting more bobbins for my featherwieght, but haven't gotten to buying them. Last week there was a sale at an apartment complex nearby and they had this little chocolate box.

Inside were a bunch of bobbins.

Only 3 for the featherweight.

But for $1, who can say no? 3 original featherweight bobbins are definitely worth $1 to me. Now I would have no idea what the others go to, but these 2 are still in their packaging.

In case the picture is a bit small, it reads: for 290, 1411, 1425, 600 & 700 class Athena Touch-Tronic 1060 sewing machines by Singer. There is about 14 of them, altogether. So, I am giving them away to whoever wants them. You can even have the little pink buttons, if you like.

I will leave the giveaway open until Sunday, October 9th. Just leave a comment on this post. (please note: candy box not included)

My New Purse

My latest finish. I finally found a pattern with the design similar to what I wanted. The design is great, with 4 inner pockets. 3 slotted and a zippered pocket. Very light and holds everything I need, although I would have liked it a tad larger. I chose several batik fabrics, the lining is a white floral batik. The zipper pull is from Zappy Dots. They are quilt buttons that are attached to a strong magnet. I have several sets, so I can pick a new one every day, if I want. They are really pretty and they add new designers fairly often.

This is the pattern I used and I will say that I had a few issues with it. Wide and Long are often interchangeable, so when you use Wide instead of High, things get very confusing. (also, in 3 dimensions we have wide, high, and long, so no, no, and no) Some of the cutting directions are not very good if you are using directional fabric and they did not point out that you will need to cut the pieces out differently. (They have quick cut instructions that result with pieces being cut on their side) Towards the end, when attaching the strap, the instructions direct you to attach the one strap end to the right side of the back and the other end to the opposite side on the front. The issue there is that if you do not look at the picture and instead follow the instructions literally, you will end up with both ends of the strap on the same end of the purse when finished. As I am rather new to purses, I found the instructions confusing and frustrating. I did read the instructions through before beginning, but did not see the issues until I started trying to follow them. Would not recommend.

Blue Pouch

I am still making pouches.  I post occasionally over on instagram(@minse25) and this was posted over there also. For reference, the tutorial is available at Three Bears.

I wanted a sturdy pouch that would hold a decent sized project and also other items that are often heavy. I often carry bottled water, a gameboy and a few games or other things I need. These are much heavier than a project and the last pouch would not have held the weight. This one is lined with decor bond and than a layer of fusible fleece, so I could get an idea of how they work with each other. 

I am working on a new purse and wanted an idea of how to handle them, without burning anything. All went well, so I am about to start sewing the new purse. The handles are also fusible fleece and decor bond, which makes everything plushy and stiff at the same time. A very nice touch for handles, which I just discovered.

Summer

Well, summer is hot here. Haven't made much progress on the large Sweet Pea inspired quilt as it sits on my lap and it has been too hot. Work is busy and stressful, so I should sew, but get home tired..so I don't sew. What I have been working on is this:

A lovely Geisha girl. I had a set of kits at one time. The other is finished (many years ago) and elsewhere, as it was a gift to my Gpa-in-law. I know you can't see too much of her, right now. The pink is her Obi and the blue is her kimono. There are flowers on her kimono, which is why there are gaps in the stitching on the left. (I have misplaced the cover picture)

I am working on a boxy pouch project bag that is larger than the last one. It just needs a little more work. The lining and the corners and it is finished.

Craft Pouch

Last month we went to the Monster Truck show at the BJC. P really enjoyed it. I brought along a craft project to help fill time, since we had about 45 mins to kill with needing to arrive in advance for parking. We had planned to go into the pit area, but that proved unrealistic, as there was an hour line to get in. We ended up passing on that. We would never have made it into the pit area before it closed for the show.

I made a little pouch to hold my project.

I make Christmas ornaments each year and will post those later. I am big on working on them during the summer and then having them done. What I make depends on what craft mood I am in that year. I have made felt bears, crocheted stars, and mini felt mittens and stockings. I try to make something different each year. This year I am trying beaded snowflakes. So, this pouch was the perfect size for all my beads and tools. (it is roughly 5"h x 4"d x 6"l)

I was working with 5" charm squares and the poor little birdy lost his head in the seam. I really couldn't leave it like that, so i embroidered an outline if his body and added his head back on. It gave a nice textured effect. I also added some small blue beads to the feathers in the front for a little bling.

If you want to make one, I followed the tutorial at Three Bears. I just sewed together a few charm squares and a jelly roll strip before cutting out the required dimensions for the sides. Super easy to make. Really easy to pull together from your stash. All I bought was the zipper. I just started working with them and haven't added them to my 'keep in stock' list.

Sunday Stash 4-10-2016

On April Fools Day, The Intrepid Thread ran a nice weekend sale, with many fabrics $4-8 a yard. So, I picked up a few things.

I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived all wrapped up like a present, even with a little bow.

I tend to grab 1/2 yards when the prices are good. 1/4ths are not really sufficient and a yard can strain the budget. In order from left to right: 1/2yd Making Waves in blue, Atrium: Grace and Deco Bloom on fushia, Solstice Embellishment Laurel, Christmas Lovebirds in snow and Bluebird Fox Tracks.
These are not all 1/2yds, however, as I have plans for some. The Solstice is a yard as it will make a great border, but only if placed vertical and I got 3 yards of the Bludbird Tracks. For the Making Waves, I have been working on an idea for another dolphin walhanging and the Bluebird Tracks are going to become a new skirt.
As for the purse I was working on last week, that is now finished.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stashing.

Sunday Stash 4-3-16

My latest fabric addition is actually the lining and side/bottom fabric to the purse WIP in the last post. (I purchase for specific projects or if a shop has an insanely good sale)

I created the pattern for the purse myself, which created unknowns in buying fabric. Would I need to start over, if i make a serious error? If the purse is too small, would I need to make another? So, i got 2 yards of the black and 1.25 yards of the grey swirls at my LQS Stitch Your Art Out. I love my LQS, the people who work there are always happy to help (and they stock the YKK zippers!). 

Buying extra of the black worked out far better than I had anticipated, as straps are better made of one piece of fabric. This would not have been possible with a smaller cut, since a shoulder strap runs 55ish inches long(before attaching).

I have made some progress this weekend on the purse WIP, but the lining is proving troublesome (I had to put in a center divider) and I expect at least 3 more hours before it is finished. Which was more time than I had left in this weekend's free time. 

I am linking up with the Sunday Stash @ Raspberry Spool & Blossom Heart Quilts. I would provide more details, but I don't have a manufacturer listed on the selvage of the swirls. I believe the black is Kona. 

Holidays and WIPS

Am I the only one tired of the ridiculous increase of random holidays? Everyone has a holiday now. Even Baby Lock has created their own holiday.

Can I create my own, too?


On my current WIP list is this lovely.

I picked up a 1/2 yard awhile back of the blue and decided it would make a lovely outside for my new purse. It is one of those prints I hate to use for anything small, as it really detracts from the beauty of the print. I picked up a yard-ish of the grey swirls to use as lining at my LQS. Very fortunate to have one a few miles away.

Sunday Stash

Usually I do not have anything to show, but every one in a while there is a sale that I can not resist. Canton Village Quilt Works is relocating to Arizona and has been running an awesome sale, where the discount grows each week. She wants to sell out of all the quilting fabric before the move.
So, after sitting on my hands for a few weeks and letting the discount grow, I picked up these. (gotta hit the sweet spot where awesome discount and inventory meet. Wait too long and you have nothing to choose from.)

In no particular order:

3/4 yard Soliel Sky

1/2 yard Los Cabos Water

1 yard Artisan Batiks Elementals Leaflets Meadow

1/2 yard Emma in Aqua

I already have a few projects I am waiting to start, so these are going on the shelf while I get caught up. I am currently working on the parts of a purse pattern (since I can't quite find one that has everything I want) and am still hand quilting the Sweet Pea inspired quilt. 

Linking up with Ms. Midge, the hostess with the Mostess, our Suday Stash hostess for this week.

Zoo Quilt

A few months ago, while I was working on other projects (including an online embroidery class), my MIL requested a baby quilt for a friend of hers. Since the baby was due in January, I had some time to prepare. She only specified that the baby was a girl and left the rest of the details up to what I had on hand and what I could get to flesh out the pattern I used. Emphasis on inexpensive. (yes. yes. I know, don't do the math. I know what time and effort are worth, when doing calculations for what a quilt should cost.)

I had some cute zoo fabric and some glittery dragonflies. Since the zoo fabric was a fat quarter, it didn't quite make a square. I used some Moda Marbles to make it fit. 

I did have to pick up some owls to create contrast, the lovely purple for binding and some Aurifil thread to match.

My GMIL lent me her Singer Featherwieght. (excuse my work area, the dining room table is my workspace right now) I love using this little cutie. It was made for quilting and made life so much easier. I even did the machine quilting on it. 

This lovely fabric looks like princessy pearls strung between mirrors. What a perfect backing. Along with more Moda Marbles to create tiles and square out the quilt. (40" square finished)

I did a simple diamond shaped motif, that created an even quilted textures, while leaving the quilt fluffy and soft. It is hard to see from the pictures, but for each zoo scene I stitched long with certain scene lines(like the signs), so the scene transfers to the back with the quilting. I used a light green thread for this, for contrast. I love how pretty this is and it creates a nice puffy center to each square.

The meaning of words

Hoarding. This word has gotten a lot of use lately, as many crafters have stated that their New Years resolution is to clean up their craft supplies. Cleaning up your stash and using it to make awesome quilts and projects is great. However, one should never feel guilty for collecting. I have had one collection or another since I was little. You never know when you will need something. I started with stamps (and still have them), my mothers pen pals would send me stamps. I have some from Australia, Canada and the UK. I also embroider, cross stitch, quilt and have gotten back into coloring books. I have a decent collection for each. Many overlap and I keep my collections organized.

Lately it seems that many feel that having a large collection is equivalent to being a hoarder. While the definition for hoarding is to collect much, being a hoarder has turned into collecting trash to the point where one cannot move. I say that there is no reason to feel guilty about collecting things you need, for a craft you love, as long as you are not collecting for the sake of collecting. If your craft area is organized with totes and boxes and the craft stays in the craft area for the most part, you collect. If your craft area is spilling into other parts of the house and your house is starting to look like this


should you consider using the word hoarder. (pic borrowed from the Houston Press)