A New Wreath and Pattern Testing

I am slowly but surely decorating for my girl's preteen Valentine's Day party. So far I've made pennants and table runners (see earlier posts) and now I've made a new wreath for the front door. I found a cheap straw wreath at a thrift store, for a grand total of $1.29 and I had scrap fabric that I used to cover it. I decided to tear the fabric strips instead of cutting because I like the look. I simply used straight pins in the back of the wreath to hold the strips in place. I finished if off by making 3 yo yo's and pinning them on. A very, cheap, fast and fun project.

After

Before

I tested a cosmetic bag pattern designed by blogger "A Heart of Mary". She will be selling these patterns in her etsy store. You can find more information HERE.

Gotta get back to my crazy life. Have a great day.
Happy Sewing!!
Susan

Happy Friday and My Sewing Plans

Happy Friday, everyone. I don't have any big plans for the weekend but I do love Fridays. I think I just love that my normal Monday through Friday schedule gets interupted.

I had a new sewing student start taking classes from me this week. She is a young lady and is very interested in sewing. My youngest daughter took the class with her and I over heard my student tell my daughter, "I would love to live here!" My daughter asked her "Why?" and the she replied "Because you get to sew whenever you want!". It was really cute.

I am testing a pattern for a fellow blogger/designer. I'm a little behind but I hope to have it finished and posted before the weekend is over. I'm excited about it. Her directions are really clear and well written and she has lots of great photos which is always good. Check back soon, for all the details and pic of my finished project.

After I finish that project it's back to Valentine sewing for my Jr. High Girls Valentine party we are hosting. We have picked at date and made plans and I am going to keep things simple and inexpensive, as always. I do love decorating for Valentine's Day becasue I love the pretty pinks, reds and whites.

I'd better get back to work. I still have homeschool lessons to finish and chores to do, after it's not Saturday yet. I hope you can do something you love this weekend.

Happy Sewing!!
Susan

Friday Night Sew In

Last night was so nice. My younger girls and my hubby all had to be out so it was nice and quiet. It's almost never quiet at my house. I started sewing in the afternoon because I had a Lady's Night Out planned with some ladies in my church. My oldest daughter and I went out to eat with the girls. Then some of the ladies came to my house for coffee. After they left, I decided to make more pennants because I didn't want to leave that job unfinished before I moved on to another project. I had an embroidery project planned but I didn't have time to get to it before I was too tired to stay awake. I love the way the pennants came out. I will probably make a few more sets but I need to get more double fold bias tape first. My daughter didn't sew with me because she was getting a cold and she is very busy with her classes right now. We can't afford for her to be sick, so I sent her to bed which made her happy. I'm going to continue FNSI today since the house is still quiet. I'm going to embroider my pink dish towels but I'm debating as to whether I am going to keep them dish towels or make them into child size aprons. I hope you stop by later to see what I decided.

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful Saturday. Do something fun today.

Happy Sewing!!
Susan

There's a Lot Going On In My Studio

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

Yesterday I got to do some machine embroidery. Some good friends of ours became grandparents last week. The baby was a month early but all is well with mommy and baby. I embroidered some bibs. Parents and Grandparents love to see their new baby's name in print...or thread. You can never go wrong with personalized baby gifts.

Friday night, my oldest daughter and I are participating in Friday Night Sew In (see sidebar for link). It is my first time and I'm very excited. It really works out great for us because my hubby and younger girls all have somewhere else to be on Friday night. My daughter is wanting to make some sleep shorts. I am not positive what I am going to be working on but I think it will have to do with these...

Check back on Saturday and see what I did with these pink towels. I'm excited!

Now, for some eye candy.

Can you say, YUMMY? Fat Quarter Shop had a 1/2 price sale on this fat quarter bundle last week and I just couldn't resist. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it, in fact, I'm not sure when I will be able to bring myself to unwrapping it.
It's just SEW pretty all bundled up. Ok...yes, I have issues. :)

I hope you all have a great week and if you are available on Friday night, consider joining the Friday Night Sew In. Please let me know if you are sewing this week and what you are making. I love to hear from my readers. Oh, that reminds me, I have a give away coming up for my followers. It is gonna be a good one, so become a follower so you don't miss out.

Take care and Happy Sewing!
Susan

Valentine Scrap Quilt

This is my finished quilt. I've used up almost all of my Valentine fabric scraps. I used a soft pink flannel for the backing, also from my existing stash. I washed and dried to give it that qreat 'krinkly' look. I think it turned out great. The blocks inside the quilt were cut to 5" square. I added the border and strips just to mix it up a little. This was the first time I used a single layer binding and that was because I only had a small ammount of that fabric and the store was sold out too. I actually liked the single layer binding. It was cut on the straight of grain and was 1.5" wide. It went on really easily. I'm sorry for the quality of the photo. I hope to get a better one soon, but I was in a hurry to share. I hope you are all working on using your scraps, too.

Last year, I made some cute table runners from my Valentine scraps. Here is the link:
http://sewmanythingstosay.blogspot.com/2010/02/quilted-valentine-table-runner.html

Happy Sewing~
Susan

Scraps to Quilt

In my last post I mentioned that one of my sewing goals for 2012 was to use a lot of my stash and that I've joined Pleasant Home's Sew Scraps Along. Well, I'm being true to my word. I had a bunch of Valentine's Day fabric scraps and I've been busy making a small quilt to lay on the back of our sofa. I would like to have a different quilt for every holiday or atleast every season. I'm sure my family will be glad to see the Christmas quilt go away for a while. I've been making my own pattern for this quilt and I'm loving it so far. I am thinking of adding prairie points. I've always wanted to add prairie points to a quilt and I've never done it. I will post pics of my progress.

Being a large family, we do not have Birthday parties for each child because, well, it's just a lot of work. We have small family parties for most birthdays. Two years ago I decided to have a Valentine's Day Party and let each child invite a few friends. It worked really well, because most people don't do much to celebrate Valentine's Day and most are available. It was so much fun that I've decided to do it again this year. So, of course, I have the party in mind when I'm making this quilt. I've also been making Valentine Pennants. I love pennants. I've made Birthday pennants, so we can re-use our party decorations and I made them for Thanksgiving as well. I just love these pretty pink fabrics. They just make me so happy.

I've got to get back to playing taxi driver for my daugthers and hopefully I can work on my quilt a little today, too. I hope you have a wonderful day and can do something for yourself today.

Happy Sewing!
Susan

Two Sewing Goals for 2012!

Hey there. As I mentioned in my last post, I am SEW excited about the new year. There is something so neat about new beginnings. And, as always happens, as soon as Christmas is over, I want to organize everything.That brings me to my first sewing goal.

1. Organize all of my fabric and sewing supplies.

Even though I just set up my studio a year ago, when we moved into this house, sadly there are still boxes that are not unpacked. Also, everytime I do a project my studio gets more and more dishoveled.

To show you how this un-organization takes it's toll, I'm going to share a true blonde moment with you. Feel free to laugh, it's pretty funny.

I was looking for my 1930's reproduction fabrics last night. I looked everywhere and I just couldn't find them. I have a ton of them, cause I've been collecting them for years. Well, I had given up and went to bed feeling defeated. I was lying there a while when all of the sudden I thought of a place to look. I got up and looked in my rolling sewing machine case that was under one of my cutting tables. There was definatley something in there.....but it wasnt fabric. No, it was wrapped Christmas presents for my kids. But...they were not from last month, Christmas 2011. NO! They were from Christmas 2010! I knew I was missing two gifts from that year but there was a whole case full. Wow! I'm a good hider, for sure.

Hidden Gifts from 2010

Now to my second sewing goal.

2. To use my stash of fabric.

Yes this has been a goal in the past but I am hopeful that I can do a lot better this year. I have found two ways to help me in this. The first is that I signed up to do a block of the month club at Craftsy. This looks really fun. For beginners it is great because each block is made with a video instructor. She makes the entire block with you. For those of us who are a litte more advanced, you can also get printed instructions. I hope you'll check it out. I plan on using my 1930's fabrics....um...that is if I ever find them. Anyway, this would be a good way to use up your stash.



A second way to use my stash is to use my scraps. I love, love, love the look of scrappy quilts. I can't throw those pretty little scraps away, just like our ancestors couldn't and they used every little piece. I was very exciting when I found Pleasant Home's Sew Scraps Along. They have some beautiful ideas and tutorials of how to use your scraps. I love a challenge and the thought of sewing scraps with others. I plan on participating and I hope you do too.



So, these are my first two sewing goals for 2012.

1. Organize my fabric and sewing supplies.
2. To use my fabric stash.

Participating in the Block of the Month and the Sew Scraps Along will surely help my with goal #2.

A personal goal I have is to lose 20 to 30 more pounds. I've lost almost 40 since August. I plan to be at my college weight by my Birthday in the spring. I hope and pray that you can meet your personal goals and that you make time for your self by sewing or crafting or whatever brings you joy. God bless you in 2012.

Happy Sewing!!
Susan

Happy New Year and What I've Been Up To

Hello my Blogging Friends. I have certainly missed you all. I'm so excited to see 2012. Last year was full of stress and sadness and I so thankful for new beginnings and a new year. I am sure most of you, you are happy to be done with the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

I was actually very productive during the month of December. Along with the Christmas preparations I finished two projects. The first project was to finish a quilt for a 91 year old woman. Her daughter commissioned me to finish a quilt that her mother began years ago. She gave me a box with a handful drawings of she planned the quilt and some finished sqauares. The lady put so much time in this quilt. The log cabin blocks and strips were hand cut(no rotary cutters) and she even drew each 1/4 seam allowance. All together I had in over 30 hours in this but the lady must have had hundreds of hours in it. I really felt privileged to complete this for her and her family. The quilt creator is now in a nursing home and the quilt graces her bed. At some point her daughter is going to take it home and put it on her guest room bed.

The family seemed very happy with the finished project and I felt like a surrogate mother who had given birth to this quilt. It was a very special experience.

The other project was to get my girls some warm clothes. I took them on a little winter adventure and I knew we would all need hats and scarves. I found some fleece for $2.78 a yard. I used only 2/3's of a yard to make each girl and myself and hat and scarf. They were super easy and very economical. We got good use of them too as our adventure turned out to pretty cold.

I'll be back tomorrow to share some of my sewing goals for 2012. I hope you stop by and shares some of yours, as well.

Happy Sewing!!
Susan