Ruched Happy Bag

My brother in law is getting married the beginning of October.  I've decided to wear a green one shoulder dress with brown accents.  I have earrings and a bracelet and shoes and have ordered a wrap from ebay.  The only thing missing was a purse, and that's when I remembered that I won a Ruched Happy Bag pattern from Amy at During Quiet Time.   I was a little nervous to take this on because I had never done a zipper before, but I think it turned out quite well!  A little crooked here and there, but since I'm still a fairly new sewer I'll let it slide...

I wanted to make the lining fabric fun and slightly more upbeat than the outside.  It's all the same colors as the main outside fabric, just in a bolder pattern.

I showed it to Mr. Mouse and he was confused and didn't know quite what to do with it...

Maybe I'll have to make him one of his own?

Mini Me

I'm in a quilting book club on flickr.  This month we discussed where we sat in the whole Traditional vs. Modern scheme of things.  The challenge at the end was to complete a project that could be as small as a mug rug and as large as a full sized quilt that represented us.  I decided I wanted to make a doll quilt that I could hang on my wall.  

It was actually quite challenging.  How could I sum up the whole of my personality in just one quilt?  I started by pulling 2 of my favorite colors... green and aqua.

The more I thought about it the more confused I got.  I decided to simplify things and take out the aqua and just go with the green.

I decided to go with the City Bank quilt from the book City Quilts by Cherri House.  I shrunk it down a bit and cut 1.5" x 7.5" strips of my 4 greens and white, intending on making 4 blocks.

I then felt sad for taking out the aqua so I decided to put two more back in and make 2 green blocks and 2 aqua blocks.

But then once I had created all 4 blocks I felt the quilt was a bit small, so I added back in all the other greens and aquas I took out initially and made 9 blocks.

For the back I used fabric that was my Oma's years and years ago.  It was a little to short, so I added a strip of green and aqua fabrics.  But then that strip was to short, so I added in a bit of white to make it the right length.

I then quilted it with diagonal lines and bound it in another green fabric.

I think it's pretty much "me"!

Giveaway Winner!

Remember long ago when I asked for your opinion on the wedding placemats I was working on?  Well, I promised I'd randomly choose from those who commented and sent emails and send them a little gift.  I FINALLY got around to making a little mug rug and picking a winner!

Congrats, Barb!!

Barb said...

I like them! Homemade gifts always make the best wedding presents.

Check your inbox for an email from me!

Rainbow Pinwheels

I have become addicted to swaps on flickr.  Are you in any fun swaps?  I like the fabric postcard and doll quilt swaps.  Those are projects that can be completed in an evening and you can still be creative with them.  I recently completed this Rainbow Pinwheels doll quilt for a swap.  My only disappointment is the purple.  It was the only one I had on hand, and I was determined to not purchase any fabric for this project.  It's a little fainter than I would have liked.

Can you tell I'm into pinwheels these days?

Wonky Kaleidoscope Complete!

Hooray!  Another finished quilt!

I'm sure you recall what a beast this one was.  Not that it was that challenging to do, it just seemed that nothing went right.  Once I decided to embrace all the imperfections, I ended up really liking it.  But, I can't keep everything I make!  This one was a belated wedding gift for my good friends Brent and Rowena.  I dropped it off last weekend, and they both seemed to genuinely appreciate it and Rowena especially loved the color!

I backed it in the same white with red ivy material that I put on the top and bottom of the kaleidoscope section to make it rectangular.  It was a duvet cover I bought from Value Village.  Yay for thrifted material!

I quilted it with wavy horizontal lines.  I figured the rest of the quilt wasn't straight, so why should the quilting be?  :)  The binding was a black and white floral print from the quilt that was hand sewn.

As annoying as this quilt was, I'm happy with how it turned out and even more pleased with how much the new owners love and appreciate it.  It makes all the time and frustrations worth while!

FTW!

I had a happy start to my day when I received an email from Amy saying I had won her Basic Grey Sampler giveaway!  I enjoyed seeing what she did with hers, and now have a chance to create my own masterpiece!

If you'd like to get your own Sampler, check out the website here.

Sew Bee Joyful - September Block

For the September block Linda asked us to do a wonky log cabin.  This was another fun one because I got to improvise and do it however I wanted!  She sent the fabric and asked us to put a piece of our own fabric in the middle.  I also added my own fabric in a few other places.

I got a little carried away with my wonk on the second block.  

The centre square isn't even anywhere near the centre!  

Linda said we could keep the extra fabric.  I love being able to keep the scraps to add some diversity to my scrap bin!  Although instead of keeping them all, I made her a little mug rug out of the larger bits.  I backed it in denim.  I like the 2 birds kissing along the bottom!