Gathered Clutch

So I made both my partners a gathered clutch.  I found my inspiration here at Clover and Violet.  They found the original directions here at Noodlehead.  I had actually made Noodlehead's original gathered clutch a while ago and loved it. 

I also used some scrap to make some more these fun fabric portfolios for my partners.  I found the original directions for the portfolios here at The Cottage Home.  Great fast and easy project!  Great directions. 

 This is a picture of the back.  I love these little labels from Sweetwater.  You can find them here.

I also made couple of mug mats.  I wish they were a bit more fun though. 

Stay tuned...I'll show you what my fabulous partner LeAnn sent me in my package!  It is BLISSFULLY sweet.  We have had 17 packages sent out as of to date. 

Headbands

Over break, I made a couple of head bands for some little girls birthdays that are coming up.  I admit, I was a little nervous that they would be too big, so I asked Buddy to try them on.  He was not a sport.  So, I paid him.  That's right, I had to pay him.....and swear to never speak of it again.  But they turned out cute and I am sure they will be even cuter on the girls.  I used scraps and followed this tutorial.  I found the flower tutorial here.  They were very easy to make and a good scrapbuster.

Sweet Repeat and a Winner

I hope you had yourself a wonderful Christmas.  We sure did.  Buddy was a lot of fun this year.  We are both enjoying our time at home a lot, and of course, break is just flying by.  Before Christmas actually happened, I managed to sew two more mug rugs, and I just love them in this Kate Spain fabric. 

Too cute, right?

As for last week's giveaway, I wish I actually had 19 to giveaway, but I don't.  So I asked Buddy to pick a number and he did.  The winner is Mary of "I Piece 2".  Congratulations, Mary.  Send me your address and I will get that mug rug out to you. 

Tomorrow, I post a finished picture of the vintage hankie quilt, which I did finish and gift in time.  It is now hanging in my ma's kitchen. 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Well, are your presents wrapped?  Is the house decorated?  Are you ready because Christmas is here.  I don't know about you, but it has been a bit hectic here finishing up the last few presents.  On Monday night, after my son's holiday walk at school, I decided to finally get on the stick and make a few of these cute mug rugs from a Label Crew project.  What a fun, easy project!  I started them on Monday, but had to leave them "almost" finished so I didn't miss The Closer.  LOL.  Yes, pretty dedicated fan I am.  I mean, I knew I only had about 20 minutes of sewing left, just top stitching and buttons. 

Didn't they turn out cute?  Buddy gave them to the latch key supervisors, and I gave them to a couple of coworkers.

I had the Mary Engelbreit scraps from another project....I thought they worked perfectly.

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season, and I'd like to apologize for being so out of touch.  A week ago Sunday, I was sewing a baby quilt when the phone rang.  One of my coworkers of 12 years had died.  He was a very kind man, who in 12 years of teaching with him...I never once heard him complain or say a mean word.  The news just kind of sucked the fa lalala right out of me.  So, I want you to know, sincerely, I appreciated your comments on my last post, as I appreciate your friendship always.  And, I am doing much better tonight.  Today was our last day of school, and I think the break will be good for everyone's spirits.  I am gifted with working with WONDERFUL people, who I think of as family.  While it was a difficult week and half, it was easier because you knew you weren't alone in your feelings. 

With that being said, my friend loved Christmas.  And, I think he would think it oh-too-fun to have a Christmas giveaway.  If you would like to win one of these mug rugs, just leave a comment.  I will try to close comments on Monday...as long as the holiday madness doesn't swallow me up.

In a last note about my friend, this is a story I think quilters could appreciate.  Last year, he wandered down my hallway with his favorite, worn, loved, cherished baseball hat in hand.  He said, "Kris, do you own a glue gun, because you seem like the type of person who would."  And I replied, "Yes, I do.  Why?"  He held out his other hand which had a Detroit Tigers patch in it.  He asked, "Would you glue this patch on my Tiger's hat?"  To which I said with a laugh, "John, I am not going to glue that on your hat, but I would be more than happy to sew it on for you."  And so I did.  Later in the day, to my surprise, I had countless staff members coming up to me sharing how impressed John was with my stitching and how you "couldn't even see the stitching at all"...I guess he carried that hat all over the building, he was so tickled with it.  I think so often our projects, no matter how small, mean so much to the people we care about and sometimes we have no idea how much people are touched, and I am glad to have this small memory for keeps.

Housewarming

Tomorrow we are going to a BBQ at my cousin's new house.  It is so nice to have family living closer now.  First my mom and dad, and now my cousin.  This cousin is pretty special to me, as I have lots of fond memories of her growing up.  My grandma use to have these huge oak trees in her front yard.  We use to play house on the base of them...it was so much fun.

Anyway, I bought her a new pitcher for her house.  It had a bit of green in it and I thought it would go nicely with these towels, which I embelished with a bit of scraps I had.  I thought the scraps were the perfect match, don't you??

Speaking of perfect, this cute boy just turned 7.  It was a fun day. 

I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, and he replied, "Your chocolate cake cuz my mama makes the best chocolate cake."  Melt my heart. 

Here Comes Goodbye

One of my very dear friends from work is leaving us for a new and exciting opportunity.  While I am of course very excited for her, I will miss her very much.  I stumbled upon this fabric tutorial from The Cottage Home.  Great directions.  Easy project to make.  I added a little extra stabelizer and found it more difficult to get share corners, so next time I won't and I think it will be quite sturdy anyway.  This is my first time working with canvas.  What a great use for some scraps.

Totally Fun To Make

Finally I decided that I should make a bunting.  Actually, I made two.  And, I used my Go Cutter.  Whoowee...what a snap and so cute.  One day I was touring around blogland seeing the sights when I stumbled upon this easy tutorial over at Diary of a Quilter.  I thought to myself, "Self, hold onto your britches, I think you have that Go Die."  I ran lickity splittity right into the sewing room, and sure enough I did. 

What a great use of scraps, which is what I made my bunting for the sewing room from. 

Of course, for my friend's bridal brunch....I used the cherry material up.  So cute.  Cannot wait to hang it up. 

Here is the finished version of the table runner after I washed it up.

Make Life Fun...Play with your scraps

Welcome to Dandelion Quilts' Scrappy Edition.  So I had some fun Make Life scraps and these coordinating cute buttons.  What is a girl to do, right?  These bags are from the pattern Little Glam Bags by Pink Sand Beach Designs.  I struggled with the zippers, I will be honest. 

 Just for kicks, another shot of Buddy.  This is his newest, most favorite shirt.  LOL.  It is getting a lot of wear.  Look at those long legs!  How am I going to keep him in pants???

Halloween Treat Bags- Finished!

So, my cold subsided a bit last night, and I actually set foot into my sewing room.  I made this treat bags a bit fallish since I am a bit late in getting them out.  I think they are adorable...and better yet, they are all from scraps!  Scrap fabric and scrap batting.  :)

Maybe you can decide...

I am making a table topper for a round kitchen table.  This project right now is measuring about 19 inches square.  Should I add and additional scrappy border of 2.5 inch squares? 

 Or not? Remember, it already 19 inches square and it is for a 36 inch round table.  What do you think?

And just for kicks...a picture of buddy when I wasn't at home.  How do I know I wasn't at home?  Well, because Jake the Wonderdog is not allowed on our furniture, so obviously the husband took this shot.  Hmmm...it seems the boys must play when mama is away.

For all of you who fear zippers....

We at Dandelion Quilts use to fear zippers.  Yes, it is true.  Until this post, changed it all for us.  That's right.  I had a fear of zippers passed down to me from my mother, who feared sewing zippers.  Raise your hand if you fear zippers.  Go ahead, you can do it.  I know you're out there.  No one is looking, raise your hand.  The first step at overcoming a fear is acceptance.  You can do it. 

I know you've been watching the blogs and you see all of these cute pouches out there with zippers and you really want to try one.  REALLY you do.  I know it.  Well, remember last time I said that I wasn't much of a zipper person and even I liked that project?  This project.  This project that I am working on right now, is truly a piece of cake.  You can do it, you really can.

This is a design by Lazy Girl Designs called Perfect Pouches.  I found it today at Joanns.  The entire project cut to finish takes under a half an hour.  LOVE IT! It has great directions, with easy to read diagrams.  It is the easiest zipper project that i have ever tried.

This is the smallest of the pouches (there are 3 sizes).  I think it measures about 5.5 X 7.  I stuck a small pair of scissors in there and a pin book so that you can see it really is quite big.  Now the one on the bottom I made for the college girl that I am also sending the coffee sleeves that I made last week too.  I thought it would be perfect to put a Starbucks gift card in.  I thought she might want to use it for lots of things, so if you look closely, you'll see I added a key fob on the end with a swivel hook.  I thought she could clip it to her backpack even, if she wanted that way.  That was my own touch, but if you need to know how to do it, shoot me an email.  I will be glad to help.  You could also put a small handle on the end, and it would make  a great wristlet.

Anyway, I loved the pouches so much that I couldn't stop.  I made 2 more.  I am digging using up scrap material, I tell you.  This set, I actually had a colored zipper in my stash.  Love that.  I will have to get more.  The second set, I corrected my only oops on the first.  I had the zipper zipping the wrong direction, oops.  Oh well. 

I am anxious to try the other 2 sizes of the pouches.  This is a great purse size.  The others, I think, might be great for school supplies or cosmetics, etc.  This size, for those of you that still deal with this, is perfect for those female products we have to conceal.  Actually, those of you with teenage daughters, these are perfect for that at school.  Just the right size.

Happy sewing!