Category: Sewing General

Thanks everyone for your kind words about the month I have been having. I am plugging along getting things done, preparing for the holiday (less than 2 weeks till Christmas!!), and trying to fit in some family time.

Today I have a blog post over at Stash Manicure. You may have noticed that occasionally here I like to share what I call ‘Quilty Inspiration’. These are quilt ideas that I have collected over the years from other great blogs. I collect all kinds of ideas, from all different genres, using a website called vi.sualize.us. This website allows you to collect pictures from all over the web and link to the site where the picture came from. I prefer this way of bookmarking, as I find so much more inspiration flicking through the pictures than I do from the bookmark list that is built into my browser. To get an idea of how this works, you can see my category for quilt tops here.

A few days ago, I was working on a scarf project (which I post about very soon), and it made me think of all the quick, non-quilt related project ideas I have stored. With the holiday season around us, these projects are wonderful for using up our stash and perhaps crossing a few names off our present list. I love to give my stash a quick manicure with smaller, one-day projects.

Here are a few great projects with links directly to the website/blog they originated from.

Bird Mobile from Spool Sewing
I have made these little birdies myself. They are quick and easy and look really cute around the house. I never actually put mine on a mobile. I just tucked a few in my collection of old cameras.

Burp Cloths from A New Chelsea Morning
I have not made these yet myself, but my sister is due to have a baby anytime, looks like I should get to sewing!

Singlet Style Shopping Bag from QueenofDIY, a member at Craftster.org
I made one of these and I love it. It has the same shape as a plastic grocery bag from the stores, which makes it easy to fold up and take with you.

Chalkboard Placemat from Little Birdie Secrets
This is another one I have not made yet, but I think it is such a fun idea! It would give my son something to do while waiting for dinner to make it to the table at least.

Rag Quilt Letters from Happy Together
These look like so much fun! I would have loved to have thought of making something like this when my son was young.

Buttercup Purse from Made by Rae
I have made two of these little purses. They were super quick to make, using just 2 fat quarters. I actually added a magnetic snap to mine. I keep one in my large purse and when I just need to run somewhere real quick, I grab it and just put my wallet in there.

These projects are just a few of the ones I have saved. If you have never seen vi.sualize.us before, be sure to check it out, it is a great way to keep track of all those projects you come across on the web.

Happy quilting!
Rachel

Leading up to Halloween a lot of the quilting blogs I follow had some really fun Halloweenish projects. One project that caught my eye was from Wendy at Why Knot?. She made a bunch of little totes to hold treats for her trick or treaters:

Though I really loved the idea, I knew I would never make that many in time, so I decided to just make a couple for two little girls that my son is close friends with.

The pattern comes from The Happy Zombie. She had it published at better Homes & Garden, so the pattern can now be found on their site:

It is a very easy pattern. You end up with 4 little bags out of just 2 fat quarters. I only wanted to make 2 bags, so I just adjusted my cutting accordingly, but I found it very quick to get these together. I used some of my leftover Sweet Divinty fabric that I had won a while back. The only thing I did different than the pattern, was I did a little topstitch at the top of the bag. It’s not really necessary, but I think it gives it a nice finished look. here are my two finished bags:

And to give you an idea of their size, here they are with a green apple:

I happened to have some pink ribbon around the house, but you could also make the handles from matching fabric. My husband filled the bags up with little treats for the girls, and when they came by the house to trick or treat they got this special little package. I tried to take pictures of them full, but only discovered after they were given away that my card wasn’t actually in the camera at the time!

I am totally keeping this pattern in my arsenal, I can think of so many great uses for it.

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

After the ladies in the Bee Creative swap helped me make my Halloween quilt, I had a lot of fabric leftover. There wasn’t really enough to make another whole quilt, but I wanted to find something fun to do with it. I have had a few napkin tutorials saved in my “someday” files for some time. I decided to finally give it a try with my Halloween fabric.

The tutorial I chose to use came from Film in the Fridge. She had a great tutorial for making a napkin with rick rack around the edge.

I chose not to do the rick rack, but the basic instructions for the napkin are the best I could find. I didn’t use her sizes, I basically cut a 1/4 yard piece of fabric in half to get my two pieces. I also pieced some extra strips I had to make them a bit more interesting. the basic name of the napkin making game was to use up scraps.

Here are a few individual shots of my napkins:

Happy Quilting!
Rachel