Fabric Stenciling

     This is what I have been up to lately. This is an experiment with canvas fabric and regular acrylic paint. I cut freezer paper with my silohuette machine and ironed it to the canvas then used a sponge and pounced the painted on to the fabric. I purposely have the post mark partly off of the fabric. I had problems cutting fonts that were very curvy. I wanted to do more of a script font but it ripped the paper too much. I love how the post mark turned out. I will need to get a textile medium to add to my paint for the pillows. I will probably use this scrap piece to cover a junk journal.

Stacks of Tote Bags

I finally finished these 6 tote bags. I had the worst time with skipped stitches with these. It was because of the uneven bulk at the seams and around the handle holes. I had to use my hump jumper to get around the problem. I used thicker than ususal fabric this time. Linking up to

Finish it up Friday... http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Some of the ladies at work want one of these bags.

I told them I would bring them several to choose from.

Summer Flag Pillow

I literally just threw this together in 2 hours for Finish it up Friday. I had this idea in my head since I bought this fabric last month. I even told the fabric cutter that this is what I was going to make out of this fabric. The stars are little star fish.

This is the back of the pillow. I googled Beach Huts. Then I went on pinterest yesterday and pinned a slew of them. So I raw edge appliqued this to the back and the flag is two sided and flaps. I want to make another pillow with 3 beach huts in a row. That might be my next project. Linking to http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

 

Teacher Thank you card and envelope

I still make the occasional card. Tomorrow is my son's last day of school. I whipped this up for one of his teachers. My husband bought him a gift card since he was his mentor for the last 2 years. He is leaving that position and going to another school.  We are going to miss him.

ADDRESS PILLOW finish it up friday

This is the back of the pillow. I used upolstery fabric that I got for $2.99 a yard. Love that price.

 

This is the finished pillow! Do you know how much it costs to buy a pillow form?? It is just ridiculous even with a sale or coupon. So guess what I used?

 

 

Yes, I did! I used a bed pillow from Kmart. It was on sale for--wait for it-$2.77,yep,that's right. I stuffed it right in there. Then I was going to sew it shut. It was too hard to keep the stuffing pushed back away from the presser foot.

 

 

Such a bargain. I bought 3 of these for future use.

 

So, I had to add a zipper in the end.  I just opened this bottom seam a little wider and put that zipper right in there. Piece of cake!

Summer quilt work in progress FMQ

I am still working on the FMQ of this quilt. This is the border. Click to enlarge if you'd like. I really need a better system so the quilt isn't dragging and getting caught on the edges of my sewing table. I am looking into making a larger surface area to keep the drag from happening. I saw something online where the lady stacked large styrofoam sheets the the correct height and cut out an area for the sewing machine bed. It looked fabulous and cheap to do. I need to find it again. I should have bookmarked it. Live and Learn.

BEAN BAGS

I threw these bean bags together real quick.(pun intended) I saw my great niece playing hopscotch on Facebook and I asked her mother if I should make some bean bags for her. She said, Yes, please, at least it's a toy that she is supposed to throw. She is 4 and her brother is 2. I made 2 for each of them out of scraps.

NUMBERS PILLOW

This canvas fabric I got from my best friend Pat. She got it at an estate sale for next to nothing. The navy dot is a canvas leftover that I already had. I got this idea in my head from browsing the web.

 I have a silhouette CAMEO cutter. I bought it just so I could cut out fabric for iron on applique. I used it to cut out these numbers with the adhesive already ironed on. I just use heat and bond. I don't use the silhouette brand. It works just fine.

 So here is the pillow top only. My sister has a house at the Jersey shore. This is the house address number. I was going to put the name of the street also, but I like it just like this. I was trying to make it look nautical. I will reveal the finish for Finish it up Friday tomorrow.

More tote bag fabric

I'm on another tote bag kick. I went to the cheap fabric store and got this flowered upolstery fabric for $2.99 a yard and it is 54 inch. The green was a little more I think $5.99 a yard. The green one is like a heavy brushed denim. I cut out enough for 8 bags. Just have to get sewing.

TOTE BAG MAGIC

Another project in the making. I will magically turn this canvas-like fabric into a large tote bag for carrying stuff. I use this for mainly carrying groceries to and from. I have made many a tote bag. Too many to count. I have about 10 of them I take with me to the store at any one time. I store them in my van or my husband's car that way I never have to look for them. They are reversible, versatile, submersible, well you get the idea. 

 Finished and stuffed with a pillow so it will stand up. It is awesome for heavy items like canned goods.

Folds flat for storage. I stuff about 9 of these babies into the other one and I have a hook that I put around the handle to attach it to the cart. The checkers always want to know if I made them and do I sell them. Yes, I made them and no, I don't sell them because I would have to charge at least 25 dollars a bag. It takes me about 3 hours to make one.

DORM ROOM GRADUATION GIFT

I was invited to my friend's daughter's graduation party. They are not lacking for money so I tried to come up with something unique.  So I perused the internet dorm rooms that are posted out there. What a mess!! lol  So I came up with a clothes pin bag and decorative clothes pins. I want to put magnets on the back of these painted ones. I cut scrapbook paper then modpodged it on. I painted the edges with a coordinating color then when it dried I modpodged the entire thing.

    This is the begining of the clothes pin bag. A baby hanger. I have a ton. My boys are 21 and 17. I give them away when I can. Cleaned the hangers with dish soap and water and dried them.

Here is the finished bag. I got the tutorial from,  http://blog.christyscreations.com/clothespin-bag-tutorial/ . The few things I changed were, 1. I lined the inside back of the bag with contrasting fabric that matched my binding. 2. I rounded my bottom corners. 3. I made a slight gap between the binding edges when I sewed it together. She had them butted right up against each other and now that I made mine, her method was probably better as it sags open a little.

 

The second hanger is wrapped with oxygen tubing. I know what you're thinking. What?? Well it is actually extension tubing that is about 15 feet long. I asked if I could have it after my husband had knee surgery and they gave it to me.  I didn't know what I was going to use it for at the time. But it would make a great clothes line in a dorm room I think. Or a room divider. How about when you come in from the rain and need somewhere to hang your wet clothes. Hang paper, pictures etc. I am going to include some command hooks so they can be removed. This stuff can also be cut to size with a regular pair of scissors and tied in knots on the ends. What can you think of to use it for?? Let me know in the comments.

Quilting and Practicing Free Motion

Finish it up Friday Linking to http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/  This is the only finish this week. I used up the last of the jelly roll from the previous quilt for the back of this one. I also used some of the border for this. It came in handy because I need to make this yardage wider. Insert some scraps and there ya go.

I am quilting it with straight lines in the center and I am still deciding on the borders. I want to free motion it.

Which brings me to this photo. I made a sandwich out of fabric I didn't have a use for. So it came in useful for Free Motion practice. I like the dragonfly and the wavy grid. I drew the dragonfly with a white pencil then free motioned it. I love how it turned out. Then I used a tear drop echo to fill some of it. I got this idea from Green Fairy quilts. She has a long arm business. She sells patterns etc. I will be checking yours out this week like I do every week. I try to leave you all comments but they don't always post because of blogger. Don't know why.

A UFO FINISH yeah!!

Quilt back

This is the back of the quilt I love how it looks. Straight stitched on either side of the seams and free motioned the triangles in the border. Fabric is by Deb Strain 2 or 3 years ago. Linking up with http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Another Finish it up Friday. I already have my next project lined up it is a companion to this quilt. I have to engineer a back for it. I'll try to have it finished for next Friday. Have a good one all. I can't wait to see what you are doing.

Binding and free motion
 

This is the binding. I machined it and used a stitch that I have on my machine it takes a stitch to the right and a stitch to the left of the middle. I guess it's like a modified blanket stitch.

Whippin in the wind
 

 Yes, it is hanging on the gate to the pool. It is supposed to be in the high 80's today. No snow here in Southern Nevada, just endless sunshine. I could not imagine having as much snow a Wisconson. 

Quilted and ready for binding.

 Isn't this fabric yummy? I put this quilt top together 2 yrs ago. Finally quilted it this week. I just hate the whole basting process. I have used iron on batting on the last 2 quilts and I've been so happy with it.

Stormy Crossing

FINISH IT UP FRIDAY with CRAZY MOM QUILTS.I started with a layer cake from Connecting Threads. It was only 17 pieces. I used 16 in the blocks and the 17th was the navy rain in the sashing squares. I saw this pattern somewhere on the web and decided it would be fast and it was. Just insert a strip diagonally and sew it back together cut it in the opposite diagonal and insert your other sashing strip and sew it back together. I made the strips longer than the diagonal length then trimmed them all down at the end to get a pointed square.

 So today I finished the FMQ with the clouds and some echoing.

Binding sewn on with blanket stitch from the front using Pat Sloan's method. It's the first time I tried this and it was fast going. It's not perfect but good enough.

 The blocks laid out before sewin the rows. My design wall is an old flannel sheet. Next time I throw it in the washer I will turn it over so the snowflakes are face down.

 Here it is quilted and auditioning binding. I did a single fold binding as I didn't have enough fabric for doubling.

Zebra Birthday gifts

My son's girlfriend has been feeling very neglected for the past 4 months as my son has been building a jetski from scratch from the hull to the engine.  He spends every waking moment on it when he's not at work.  So she just turned 21 on April first and I saw these fabrics that I knew she would love. I literally made all of these items in 4 days.

 First item is a large tote bag for the lake and beach.

Second item is a large cosmetic bag that has vinyl ironed to inside lining.The band at the top is rows of shoes which she loved. The inside is the same shoe fabric.

Number 3 is a small pouch made out of an all over purse fabric.I told her it was for tampons, haha

Number 4 is this little card holder. I even put a few bucks in it.

Here are some other card holders I made at the same time. They take about 20 minutes to make. So I made these for my girlfriends that I hike with. I have been very busy this week. I've been busy over the past month as well. Linking to Finish it Up Friday./http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Hexagon Flowers Doll Quilt

This is a work in progress on a flower doll quilt. I have nine flowers together and now need to applique them to a background. I haven't decided what to use as the background yet, originally I was going to use black, but I might use green or gray instead.

Here it is finished. I might do a little more hand quilting yet when I get the time.

 

Ugly fabric challenge mini

This is a mini quilt that I made using as many ugly fabrics as I could find in my stash. Once they are cut small enough they aren't so bad. I didn't take a picture of the back because it is so ugly you would gag. haha

Finish Retreat Quilt top

Here is my retreat 2013 quilt top with pieced borders all sewn together.

 Here is another HST scrap mini using the pieces leftover from the retreat quilt. This is mini #2. I am going to make at least one more with the scraps. I think it will be a scrappy chevron.

Retreat Quilt 2013

This is a quilt that I started at my local Quilt Shop Retreat in March.  The pattern is from the book "Scrap-Basket Sensations." The fabric line is Boutique by Chez Moi for Moda. The fabric is just gorgeous. I bought 2 Jelly Rolls a couple of years ago and was saving it for something special. Looks like I found a great pattern for it. I have tons of HSTs leftover.

 

These a just a few of the HSTs that I threw together and put a quick border on at the retreat. It is since finished and gifted to a quilter friend.  I didn't get a picture of the finished quilt. I will next time I see it.

This is a paper-pieced wreath that I did last month. I love the border fabric in this. The flowers were an ombre red to pink. This reminds me of a Christmas Cactus. I drew the quilting design on tissue paper and pinned it on. Quilted it then tore it away.