Sewing and sick

We had a really nice Thanksgiving yesterday. It was just us, so pretty mellow and quiet, other than my son being really sick with a cold or something. I have a yummy recipe to share, but I am saving that for Tasty Tuesday. And I also have a great new blog to share, but unless you are super smart and figure out that I posted the link somewhere on the sidebar, you will have to wait for Tuesday for that too.

For now, here is more sewing from earlier this week.

I made the 3 kids with an iPod shuffle a little tiny drawstring bag to keep them in using the pattern from In Color Order - the full pattern, not the free tutorial. It is well worth the money I paid to get all the sizes. Thanks to Susan for sending me the link to it.

This one was my test to see if it would be the right size. It was perfect. I just used leftover fabric from the ruffle quilt block I made with fabrics from Jo-Ann's. My daughter liked it fine so she took that one.


 The 2 on the left were made with fabrics chosen by the boys.

I made my older son a wallet too (matching his pouch). He requested one after seeing my younger son's version. I made this one with 6 inch wide fabric rather than 5 1/4 and the zipper pocket is much easier to use. I am not loving the raw edges of the zipper sticking out, but I have not figured out a way to change that yet.



I tried to sew today during the Black Friday Sew In with a bunch of podcasters and other quilters, but I felt sick all day. And I don't have a Twitter account which takes some of the fun out of it, since I can't chat or follow along.  But, I got some scarves cut, just no actual sewing.

And having sick family has been a total bummer because one of my dearest friends, who I have not seen for 8 years, is in town visiting her parents and we were supposed to get our families together for lunch today. But my son has been sick and then I got sick as did my husband so we had to put it off until Tuesday. I just pray that we are all well then so I can see her. I haven't ever met any of her children and she has met only 2 out of 4 of mine.

This is a hat my daughter made as a gift for one of her cousins. Knitting and crocheting are still beyond me. :) She, on the other hand, has managed to excel at every craft she tries. She is into beading and yarn projects these days, which is good because we just have one sewing machine (which technically belongs to her). I'll have to post photos of the earrings she made for her cousins too.




Well, that is all for tonight. I am going to make some hot chocolate and curl up in bed with a book or maybe some Sudoku and a podcast or 2. :)
Have a great weekend!

Pay It Forward Handmade finishes.

Over the last few months I have been working on my Pay It Forward Handmade gifts. I have talked about all of them here on the blog as I completed them, but never said what they were for really.
I sent 2 Stay Put  Kitchen Towels, 1 Strippy Charm Pouch, 1 stationary holder, with 4 cards and envelopes, and 2 Kara Chocolates Mint Truffles (I did not make these) :).

There is a  Flickr group for Pay It Forward Handmade where you can see other items that have been sent out if you are interested. It was fun making these for the ladies who signed up with me and I hope they enjoy them!

WIP Wednesday: February/March

Not a lot happening with the UFO pile, and I keep adding projects. :)
Such as...

 
I have plans to start a new quilt with the above fabric that I may or may not be taking the class for in May, so I am not officially adding that one to the list yet.

 
My Dad's birthday gift is probably not going to make it for his birthday at the end of March but I am going to try. He is getting a Rocky and Bullwinkle quilt. We used to watch this with him when we were kids and when I saw this fabric I knew I had to make something for him. Yardage was scarce (not that I looked very hard) but the Fat Quarter Shop had a fat quarter bundle and half a yard of the white. I tried to think of something to make with this fabric that he would actually use and came up with an apron (he is the cook in the family), but making one with fat quarters did not appeal to me, so he is getting a lap quilt. And I am probably going to strip quilt it for time saving. I am not going to use the daisy fabrics, and I supplemented with some other fat quarters, in yellow, and white with black. I have a sort of plan sketched out and hopefully I can make it work. I am not so great at math.  :)

I recently started using my earbuds with my iPhone, even though they really hurt my ears. I have been listening to the History Quilter podcasts (http://www.historyquilter.com/) and I can't hear well enough without them when I am sewing. I also put one in one ear to listen while I drive. (A bit naughty, probably, but I can't hear them otherwise.) So I want a pouch to keep them in so they don't get lost in the abyss of my purse. I plan on using the tutorial here.

I have really enjoyed Susan's podcasts. She talks about a wide variety of quilting topics historically speaking and also shares about food and her life in general. I like how real she seems. I have no other experience with podcasts and as soon as I am caught up on hers I will be branching out.

And now, back to topic...

This has been my most recent Work in Progress

. 

I finished up one of 2 zipper pouches and was really pleased with how it turned out. (I posted about them here.) I am hoping the second one goes well too. I plan on finishing the second one this week. I just have assembly left.

I finished hand quilting the In-Spur-Ation quilt, acquired fabric for binding, and there it sits.
 Note to self (and you all): Remove painters tape used to hold down quilt for basting immediately after it is basted. Yes, I left the tape on the whole 18 months I worked on it. NOT a good idea. And actually I probably won't use tape again. I don't think it helped a whole lot.
 
I did get a back made for the table topper, but I have since put that aside, because the table was dismantled and the TV moved to an end table. I still plan on practicing my free motion quilting on it. It just became less of a priority.


I also bought some yarn because my daughter is sure she can teach me to crochet. Never mind that 2 other people have tried. I can't crochet. Did I mention that I hate touching yarn?  Stay tuned. :)

Here is a little summary of some of my projects and the state they are in.

WIP Summary


Completed tops hangin’ out:
Sliced Coins (I have fabric for a back, or it may actually be a back. I can't remember.)
Neutral Mediterranean (no back, I think)
Table topper to put under my TV (back is present and accounted for)

In Progress:
Zipper pouch
1 special doll quilt
4 vintage sheet doll quilts
Binding the In-Spur-Ation quilt (have fabric, need to make the binding)
Rocky and Bullwinkle Quilt

No progress in 30+ days (UFOs):
Advent Calendar
Tree Skirt
Cherry Sweet Road to Ireland – quilted & needs to be bound
Sherbet – quilted & needs to be bound
Bliss – Needs borders
Block of the Month - sashing et al.
Hot Wheels - finish the plan find the black fabric
Skill Builder QA - Put on long term hold. I just don't have time for it right now. I think I will catch up my WIPS before I start again.
MOTP QA - sashing
SuperNova - make more than 1 block!
Very Hungry Caterpillar
+ a few more...

Need to start:
T-shirt quilt
earbud pouch
2 Sliced coins
Dishmat


This month's stats:
Completed projects -
a bunch of dish towels
1 place mat
3 travel sized pillowcases
1 pin cushion
1 Zipper pouch
2 stationary sets (papercrafting, not sewing)

New Projects:
3



I'm linking up at Lee's Freshly Pieced blog. Go check it out!

A little bag

I have had on my to-do list, some little zippy bags for gifts. I finally got around to doing a couple.
Yesterday I remembered I had 2 little rolls of 1 1/2 inch Aviary  by 3 Sisters for Moda. I got a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop, The Strippy Charm Pouch by Kim Sherrod (link is no lager valid) that I have been wanting to try for a while.
The pattern calls for cutting charm squares into 5"x 1 3/4" strips, so I just used 10 strips instead of 7 and trimmed it down to the right size. It worked fine. I had some large scraps left over from a quilt my daughter made that I used for the lining, bottom and handles.

I finished this one at about 11:45 last night. I have one more ready to assemble today and then I can get them in the mail.

I had a little bit of trouble with the interfacing. I don't know what the problem is exactly, except with my old iron, I never had any trouble getting it to fuse, but with my new iron I can not get it to fuse everywhere. I need to find the ironing mat I have to see if it will help.

Have a great day!

This is such a cute heart pouch you will DIE!

Erin at Schlosser Designs has done it again!! Cute Wonky heart pouches!!
LOOK HOW CUTE!!!

http://www.schlosserdesigns.com/2012/01/tutorial-tuesday-cupids-arrow-heart-pouch/

AND FREE!!

New vinyl zipper pouch tutorial!

Erin Schlosser at Schlosser Designs has just posted her tutorial for today and it is a great one!
She uses fabric and clear vinyl to make a cute zipper pouch.

Vinyl Covered Zipper Pouch from Schlosser Designs! (link no longer valid)

You can see the tutorial HERE.