Posted by: Patty | April 3, 2013

Big zip pouch

A big zip pouch has been created.  I’ve done many embroidered dish towels and this bag has been created specifically for that purpose.  It’s about 16″ across the top and with the boxed bottom stands about 10″ high.  It’s about 5″ across on the sides and will be perfect for holding embroidery floss, dish towels and assorted tools to create the embroidery.  These tools of course include a needle book, a pair of scissors, an embroidery hoop, a tape measure and the embroidery floss.  I do have some ribbons attached to the inside of the pouch and will attach the needle book and scissors but today isn’t the day.  I’m planning on taking this big zip pouch with me tomorrow when I leave for Portland and I just don’t have time to find the extra tools and attach them. That will be a later project. For now, I have these items in another smaller pouch that I have in a separate bag but I’m looking forward to having these items in one place so I can just pick it up and go.

zippered pouch

2 Comments

Posted in handmade, Organizing, Quilting, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | February 28, 2013

Dish towels for Larry

Dish towels for Larry.  That’s really all he wanted for his 60th birthday was some hand embroidered dish towels.  Well I can certainly pull that one off!  So for a month every night well most nights when I watched TV I worked on dish towels.  Larry had watched me work on dish towels before Christmas when I was making them for friends and that’s when he decided they were really cool and he wanted some of his own.  I did some different patterns on his than I did on the Christmas ones.  He really loved the coffee pot and coffee cup one that I had done for a friend so I did that one and the rest were different.  I used a hot iron transfer like this one Stitcher’s Revolution and ironed them onto Aunt Martha’s Vintage Dish Towels.   Hurray, the dish towels for Larry were done in time for his birthday. They were fun to do and Larry was pleased!

Dishtowels for Larry

 

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Gifts, handmade | Tags: ,

Posted by: Patty | February 15, 2013

Three Blind Mice!

Three blind mice! In this case I have four blind mice but the result was the same.  I had this pattern from Fig Tree & Co.  The Three blind mice pattern. Oh, they were fun to make. Fast and easy.  They are filled with some batting and craft pellets.  These particular mice were thanks yous for some special ladies who cooked and planned meals for an adult Girl Scout volunteer event.  We all go out to one of the camps owned by our council and have a wonderful time visiting, crafting, singing and what ever else we want to do.  The three ladies who help organize menus and meals are all sewing, hand craft types of ladies and they all use pin cushions.  Mice are always a part of any camping experience and a perfect match was made.  The fourth mouse was a thank you to a woman who helps us with craft ideas and wasn’t able to make it this time due to illness.  I also have another mouse cut out and half sewn for myself.

Three Blind Mice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Blind Mice

2 Comments

Posted in Gifts, Girl Scouts, handmade, Sewing | Tags: , ,

Posted by: Patty | January 21, 2013

Figure 8 Scarves

Figure 8 scarves have been all over print and media blogs and advertising for the past year.  They can be expensive to buy but inexpensive to make.  Before Christmas I was in the fabric store fondling browsing the fabric remnants and found some fabric that I knew would make lovely scarves.  This type of fabric can be fussy to work with. It stretches, frays and distorts easily but it will also produce a satisfying project. Figure 8 scarves are just that.  A long strip of fabric with a twist in the middle so it forms a continuous loop.  Kind of like a Möbius strip. I found several coordinating remnants and also a couple of wider one color pieces and made scarves.  It was fun and I do think the girls were pleased. These scarves are stylish and add some warmth to these cool winter days.

Figure 8 scarves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 8 scaves

Comments Off

Posted in Family, Gifts, handmade, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | January 8, 2013

A Christmas Stocking for Raegan

A Christmas stocking for Raegan was a necessary addition for holiday sewing.  This sweet little girl ventured into the world on December 5th.  The grandparents and Mom and Dad were excited.  Of course all the family and friends were pleased to have such a sweet addition to this family.  I didn’t want Santa to overlook this new babe however so a stocking was created. I used a combination of a McCall’s  stocking pattern and some AccuQuilt dies.  The name was cut with a Slice Fabrique die.  If I do this again I will make a few changes but overall, it was a successful completion. Merry Christmas Raegan.

Raegan stocking2

 

Comments Off

Posted in AccuQuilt Go, Baby, Family, Gifts, handmade, Quilting, Seasonal, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | January 6, 2013

Apron and Shoe Bags

Apron and shoe bags were on the christmas list this year.  I decided my husband needed an apron and then maybe I wouldn’t need so much stain stick.  That pesky silverware seems to develop holes at meal time and it’s hard to keep the food on the utensils!  It so often ends up on the front of the shirt.  I have started to wear an apron every night when I eat.  It’s in the drawer next to the table and it’s gotten to be a habit to reach into the drawer, pull out the apron and save the clothes.  Now hubby can do the same.  The apron has sat by his plate for several days now and hasn’t been tested but soon I know that will happen.

Jim apron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other project that happened for Christmas was shoe bags.  I have made them for middle daughter but never had made them for the other two kids.  Oldest daughter and son both have plans to travel in January and February and they both commented that shoe bags would be something they might use.  I know that I hate to put my dirty shoes in the suitcase with the clean clothes.  Sometimes I’ve also used these bags for dirty laundry when I’m traveling.  It’s a bit more private than a plastic bag and it’s nice to have those dirty clothes contained.  I made the bags about 19″ tall and 26″-30″  wide.  That way they will work for either athletic type shoes or sandals.  The animal print that I used for my son was a little short so I added a casing to the top of the bag.  It works just fine and added a nice designer touch to a simple bag.  More  successes and Mom is happy!.

shoe bags Amy shoe bags Aaron

 

Comments Off

Posted in Family, Gifts, handmade, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | December 29, 2012

Embroidered Dish Towels and Pot Holders

Embroidered dish towels and pot holders were on my list this year.  That is my list of gifts to create.  I have a dear group of lady friends that I play bridge with a couple of  times a month.  We’ve played together for 27 or 28 years.  We play bridge only with one another and although playing bridge is the reason we tell others we are getting together there are really several goals in mind.  One of these is to catch up on news,  share our concerns and happy tales and the other is the table snacks and desert!  Good reasons for good friends to get together.  After we had played together for a few years we started to exchange Christmas gifts.  Some years I have a good idea that I will work on for months ahead of time and other years I don’t have a good idea until shortly before Christmas bridge.  This fall has been challenging as far as time goes so I didn’t really have any good ideas until after Thanksgiving when my brother invited me to go on a road trip with him to Palm Springs.  I knew there would be time in the evenings for handwork and decided that I wanted to embroider some dish towels.  In the week that I was gone I managed to finish three towels and when I got home I added some hot pads and the gifts were good to go.  The embroidered dish towels and pot holders were fun to make.

Pot holders are another project that I always love.  They can be fast or take some time. I have simple ones and more complicated ones that I use in my own kitchen.  Along with the dish towels I added a mitt type pot holder and a simple square pot holder.  I have both kinds in my kitchen and use them all.  I found this great fabric with grapes and apples that was a darker fabric I knew would be perfect for simple pot holders.  They were multicolored with no white.  Pot holders get dirty so quickly I like ones that don’t show the food stains so quickly. Merry Christmas dear friends.

 

dishtowels and potholders

 

2 Comments

Posted in Friends, Gifts, handmade

Posted by: Patty | December 28, 2012

I Won!

I won some new patterns and I’m so excited.  Although I read many blogs I don’t often leave comments or enter giveaways.  There are many reasons.. sometimes I don’t have anything to say or there are so many people commenting that one more just doesn’t seem to add anything.  Some days I just don’t feel like it.  At the beginning of the month however I did make a comment on the  Ever Kelly blog and I won a set of her patterns.  They are so cute!  There is a playmat, a fabric house, some play figures and a quilt.  Her Storybook Lane fabric line is so cute!  I’m hoping that someday I will have a granddaughter to make these for but until that time, I may have to make them for my new niece.  So thanks Kelly I know I’m going to have fun with these and it was so much fun to have them arrive in my mailbox!

Ever Kelly patterns

2 Comments

Posted in Family, Friends, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | December 11, 2012

Another finish!

Another finish! There have been several more but it’s getting closer to Christmas and the time is slipping away. This finish is a baby quilt for my daughters friend. The new mom isn’t really a pink person so I found some other fabrics that I thought would suit a little girl so it was girly but not pink. These colors I am fond of myself. I cut 5″ squares and followed the pattern on the Accuquilt guide. I guess I didn’t take a picture of the back but it was just a tiny pink and lime green polka dot fabric. I love the way this one turned out and think the new mom was surprised and pleased.

 

Comments Off

Posted in AccuQuilt Go, Baby, Friends, Quilting, Sewing

Posted by: Patty | November 24, 2012

Another zip finish!

Another zip finish.  I’ve made so many of these this year the process has certainly gotten faster.  It’s a project that I still enjoy however.  My dear friend Gretchen has recently had another birthday.  Yes, for all of us they keep coming around.  I don’t always give gifts but this time I wanted to bring something to let her know I was thinking of her.  This little zip pouch fit the bill.  It’s made from linen and cotton.  I don’t sew often with linen but I do like the way it looks.  It is a bit fussier to sew with however as the fabric stretches and frays easily.

zip pouch

2 Comments

Posted in Friends, Gifts, Sewing

Older Posts »

Categories