Sewing

Cupcakes For My Niece

| terriaw

One of my nieces is having her birthday tomorrow. I never know what to buy my nieces for gifts, so I thought it would be fun to make something for this 8-year-old. She loves sweets (who doesn’t), but she can’t have much chocolate these days due to chronic headaches. So I found just the right fabric in my stash to make something for her – a cupcake zipper pouch.

What young girl doesn’t like polka dots? Perfect print for the lining.

I made a small pink notebook to sneak in the inside pocket, and I found the coolest pens to go with this cupcake pouch – scented with cupcakes and strawberries.

Hope she likes her birthday treats and enjoys a fabulous birthday!

Stats: I used a 9-inch brown zipper so this pouch measures 9 inches wide by 6 inches tall, and has a little pocket inside measuring about 4 inches wide by about 3 inches tall.

Mojo Returns With Small Pieces

| terriaw

I received a few pieces of the most adorable scraps of fabric from my good sewing friend Cindy when we were lucky enough to meet in person at our retreat last summer.

I didn’t have much in each print so I didn’t really want to cut them up into smaller pieces only to figure out how to piece them back together into another combination.

Hence, these adorable zipper pouches, which are perfect for a small moleskin and drawing tools, or other goodies I like to hide in my zipper pouches (headphones, power cord for my phone in case the battery gets low while I’m away from home, external hard drive with my homework projects on it).

For the grey pouch with the bicycle print, I used a 9-inch zipper, so that one measures about 9 inches wide by 6 inches tall. For the minty green pouch with the mushroom print, I used a 7-inch zipper, so that one measures about 7 inches wide by 5.5 inches tall.

I ended up using different prints for the backs, and now I’m in love with that look.

Since I’m a little short on sewing time these days, these zipper pouches were just the ticket to bring back my creative mojo. Now I’ve got all sorts of new ideas swirling around on things I want to make. I love it when that happens.

Decorating for Guests

| terriaw

We have been working on adding some decorating to our guest room lately.

We hung a few pictures of various urban scenes, from Paris to Vegas to Madison to Hong Kong.

I made a few mini quilts for the nightstands, beginning with this fabric of vintage New York City postcards.

I used this fabric of vintage NYC street scenes for the backing because it was so adorable, I didn’t want to cut it up into smaller pieces.

These mini quilts were especially easy projects because I used one fabric for the top and one for the backing, so there wasn’t much cutting, no piecing and easy quilting.

I bought these city collection fabrics on our last trip to New York City that I want to staple to art canvases for another large blank wall in that room.

It’s been fun to liven up our guest room, which always seems to be a work in progress.

Vintage Pillowcases

| terriaw

I was recently commissioned to make a set of pillowcases using vintage fabrics.

There were not to be just any ordinary pillowcases.

Pillowcases with a gusset and piping on the top and bottom.

Pillowcases with a patchwork top and bottom.

Pillowcases with zippers on one end.

It was a good thing I had helpers.

These pillowcases were a lot of work, measuring, cutting around the stains to have enough pieces to fit back together, sewing together different blends of fabrics, and assembling to satisfy the customer’s request.

 I have been doing a lot of pretty easy sewing these days, so I loved the challenge of figuring out how to make these based on the specifications, and learning to work with vintage fabrics for the first time.

Giveaway Day – December 2011 – Closed

| terriaw

It seems like ages since I’ve offered a giveaway, so I’m excited to be participating in Sew,Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day again!

I am offering the book Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts which was the inspiration for the mini quilt I also made for the lucky winner (see below). This book is full of 24 projects for making mini quilts in a great variety of sizes and themes.

Along with this book you will receive this mini quilt I made based on the cover project, a Christmas star measuring 19.5 inches all the way around. Perfect for a table topper or centerpiece.

I used that green fabric for the binding and that red fabric for the backing.

I will also include the scraps in case you want to make something else to match your new mini quilt, like a mug rug, potholder or smaller mini quilt.

Leave a comment by 7 pm CST on Friday, December 16 to be entered. International entries are welcome. Good luck, friends!

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED NOW.

Procrastination Sewing – Orange

| terriaw

I have a couple commissioned projects I’m supposed to be working on. So how did I spend my time? Making these two mini quilts instead!

The star was inspired by this mini quilt. I used this tutorial. Love love love how this turned out! Definitely need to make more of these.

The half square triangle mini was totally inspired by this mini quilt. Love love love this one too!

They are both on their way to being delivered as gifts. Now, where was I?

A Garden Party

| terriaw

I squeezed in some time this week to sew together the remaining blocks I was missing for my Garden Party quilt project.

I’m so excited to have it all sewn together! I love how bright, bold and colorful this turned out.

I was able to scrounge enough of the red fabric from my dwindling garden party stash to add a border. I think it looks so much better with the border.

It turned out to measure about 43 inches wide by 56 inches tall, which will be a great size for a lap quilt.

I have the backing and binding all ready to go; just need to pick up some batting to quilt it.

It would be so awesome to finish this by the end of the year. In the meantime, I’m so happy I got this far with it.

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Fall 2011

| terriaw

It’s time for the Bloggers Quilt Festival: Fall 2011 – an online festival where quilters from all over the world share a picture of one of their recent favorite quilts. It takes place over the same time period as the International Quilt Market, a wholesale trade show where fabric manufacturers and fabric designers get together to share their treasures with fabric shops.

Amy'sCreativeSide

I am happy to share my favorite quilt again with you today.

I used Randi’s pattern and my favorite fabric collection, Chocolate Lollipop. I did free motion stippling all over, which was quite fun to do once you get into a zone.

I think the print for the backing and binding is so charming.

I have big plans to make a quilt from each of Anna Maria’s fabric collections. In addition to this one, I have a zig-zag quilt made from the Good Folks collection, and a quilt-in-progress from the Garden Party fabric collection. I’m hoping to make a quilt with the Innocent Crush fabric collection using a 25-patch pattern, and the Loulouthi collection using a star pattern. I also have a stack of Loulouthi flannels cut up to make into a warm, cozy quilt to curl up in winter. And I’m hoping to make a string quilt with my stash of the Little Folks voile collection. I know, it’s quite ambitious to think I can make that many quilts, but it’s still fun to dream about it.

Thanks for stopping by!