Bibs

Headbands for a good cause

I had today off work, so I worked on these headbands. I am donating them to a silent auction benefitting my friend's husband. He went from being this youthful 30ish man, who was quite fit and ran all the time to a man haunted with head pain, instability (uses a cane), and has recall problems. No one seems able to help him. He has been to many hospitsls. Now he has a trip lined up to Mayo. I hope they can help. I hope someone bids on these at the auction, too. Happy thanksgiving!

Embellishments

Just working on a present here for my mother in law. I embellished these towels to go along with a small table topper I started last night. I will post that when I get the binding done. Other than that, I have been working on my swap partner's mini quilt, but I want that to be a surprise. Sorry the blog has been so quiet but it is hush hush for now. What projects have you been working on?

Mixer Cover Remix 2

One of my dear friends just moved into a new house.  She also has a new mixer.  I thought that she would like a mixer cover, too.  This one doesn't have a pocket, but I really like the embellishments.

Fabric:  Make Life by Sweetwater of Moda

A New Mixer Cover

Mom wanted a new mixer cover.  She picked out this pretty Pam Kitty Morning fabric, don't you love it?  She wanted a pocket on it for her manual and spatulas.  I have a sick kid today....stomach flu.  So, I will keep this one short.

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. 

Boo! to you

Halloween has arrived.  This year is flying by faster than a witch on her broom.  Crazy!



I have finally used this Label Crew project from last year!  I love it.  Very quick, and very cute! 

At first, I thought that these were going to be a bit small for my purpose, but turns out they hold quite a bit of candy....just right for the kiddos I am sending them to.  You can see one of them has some Bath and Body travel size products stuck in there for a college care package, too.

Have a great Halloween!

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. 

Birthday Girl

I made a little birthday present for our sweet neighbor girl.  I used one of my Label Crew birthday labels on this cute popsicle pillowcase.  She really liked that touch.  And I also made a matching pouch.  I found these cute girly nailpolishes that looked like ice cream cones (sorry forgot to snap a photo of that).  She can store them in the pouch. 

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.

Mother's Day Project- Tulip Pillow

Last year, I made my mother-in-law a tulip quilt.  I made a matching pillow for this year's gift.  I found my inspiration at Twin Fibers and I thought...I can do that.  I think this is my first pillow ever.  Boy, there are so many cute ideas out there, aren't there???

 My husband isn't fond of the pillowcase style and the ribbons, but I love ribbon.  I think it is just the ticket.  Plus this matches perfect.  I almost didn't quilt the front, but I really wanted that quilted look.  I thought my quilting might be rusty, but actually I was quite pleased with this one...especially considering my husband called me on the telephone 5 times while I was free motion quilting.  Lucky I didn't run over a finger.  I liked how the 18 inch pillow filled it up a bit more, but it stuck a bit out of the end. 

  Is anyone else working on Mother's Day gifts?  I'd love to know what you are up to.

Strawberry Shortcake Pincushions pattern by Fig Tree Quilts

So, if you have been around here for a while you know I love Fig Tree Quilts.  Just love it.  Fabric.  Patterns.  That sweet designer herself, JoAnna.  Love it all.  I just had to buy this pattern when I found it.  I found it on Fig Tree Quilts website.  Here are my strawberries.  I did have problems trying to get the greens a bit more 3-d.  But the last one turned out the best, practice I guess makes perfect. 

I need more work on this kind of sewing project.  My hand stitches....ughgh.  That is all I will say about that. 

How are your pincushions coming?  Remember, you must ship by the 26th and that is less than 3 weeks away!

I have a sick little boy at my house.  I sure hope he feels better tomorrow.

For my pincushion swap partner

I have to tell you ladies, I am enjoying this swap!  I sent my partner, Sinta, the pink and green pincushion you see above.  I decided to make these Giant Pincushions.  You can find the link here to the tutorial by Julie of JayBird Quilts.  What a great pattern!  So easy to follow and I just love the size of these babies.  I also sent Sinta the bag in the picture below that coordinates with her pincushion.

And just for the fun of it, I sent our dear Kelly the yellow and blue pincushion and bag.  Kelly is such a dear friend to me, I thought she deserved a little surprise in the mail. 

The extra pincushion, I made for my mom.  Mom seems to be missing her pincushion.  So, this is going to be a little birthday present for her.

I really enjoyed making both of these projects and would recommend both to both expert quilters and beginning quilters alike. 

I have heard from 1 other participant that they shipped.  Don't forget to let me know!  The deadline to ship is March 26th.

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!

Cute Coupon Clutches

I had myself a little sewing party last night...just me and "New Moon".  These coupon clutches were a quick project.  You could easily finish one while watching your favorite flick.  I love Moda Bake Shop tutorials.

Cupcake Oven Mitts

I found this pattern when I was in Traverse City.  I finally bought some heat proof batting, so I gave it a go today.  These are for my mom for her birthday this weekend.  I think I will like them more, the more I do them.  They are a bit wonky in spots. 

Mama's been busy (CGQC finish)

Wa-laaaaa!

One finished apron for my nephew, Zack. Poor buddy has had a cold, but was a trooper modeling the apron despite his condition. Sorry for the poor "nightime" photo.

I have actually finished 7 towels, but here is a picture of 5.

I hope you had a productive weekend. Did you do anything exciting? We also decorated the tree and house! AND, I cut out all the pieces for my Secret Santa gift/project.

Practical Bag for practically anybody who loves bags!

I sewed this up in a snap! (Perhaps I should mention that I've had it cut out now for over a month, so you don't get the wrong impression.) This picture does not do this bag justice, so my apologies. It is really cute and I received all kids of compliments on it. Where did I receive the compliments? Hmm. Let's see. At the library when I was carrying in Buddy's 5 books and my 2 books, several people commented on it. When I carried a bunch of supplies into work the other day, several coworkers commented on the cute shape and they loved the handles. See....cute. You cannot deny it.

It is a great pattern (Practical Bag) by Tonya Whelan of Grand Revival Designs. I used my fabric I bought in Soho at The Purl Bee. This is a great pattern for all levels of sewing enthusiasts.

Sew on, ladies! Sew on!

Mother and Daughter Sewing Day

I helped mom make these bags with a Cotton Blossoms Jelly Roll over the weekend. The pattern is by Bunny Hill. They turned out cute! Does anyone have any advice on an easier way to sew on those buttons with the loop on the back? They're cute, but a real headache.

Yet Another Bag-- It must be BAG week here at DQ

Have you seen the new Quilts and More from Better Homes and Gardens? It is a publication that I always look forward to. This edition has 29 quick projects. And many of them are must do's in my book. Seriously cute, people. Seriously.

This bag is from the pattern Daisy Dazzler. I needed a cute bag to head back to work with in a few weeks. This will do it. I had some sale Amy Butler fabrics from her Daisy Chain line and I had some scraps from previous lines that I incorporated into the bag. I really do like how it turned out.

I find the pleated ends of the bag perfectly charming. Sorry that I didn't capture that better on film. I will warn you to read very carefully through all of the directions. I decided to connect the lining a way that I like to do it, just a personal choice. I made this bag in about 3 hours and that included cutting. This is a BIG bag. I think I could easily carry a pair of jeans, a shirt, and intimates for an overnight bag, if I wanted to. It would also work well for a beach towel, water, and sunscreen. It would make a great gift, as well.

I think it is a darling design. There are supposedly a couple of different variations that you are suppose to be able to access online, but the link is not working. I hope APQ fixes that, as I would be interested in the scrappier version to use up some of my scraps.

Check out the new Quilts and More. You won't be disappointed.