NCAA Zipper Pouches

Here is a recent group of Zipper Pouches.  I took a few days to get caught up on orders before Thanksgiving and this was what I was able to "produce".  Pouches include Baylor University, Florida State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas, University of Tennessee, Oklahoma State University, University of Kansas and Stephen F. Austin University.    All these pouches are available at my Etsy Store  www.etsy.com/shop/mcsqrd.  Thanks for stopping by!

Recent Zipper Pouches

Here are some of the recent zipper pouches I have made.  This picture includes: New York University, University of Mass @ Amherst, Stephen F Austin, University of North Texas, University of Texas @ Tyler, Saint Louis Cardinals, and last one for mushroom enthusiasts. All of these are available at my Etsy shop.  www.etsy.com/shop/MCSQRD

McKMQG Ornament Swap

Here is the ornament I made for the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild Annual Ornament Exchange.  It's three different six point stars, stuffed and stacked.  The pattern is by DerStickbaer.

 Here is the adorable ornament I received.  I had seen this on Instagram and I am so glad the stars aligned so I could "steal" it from another member in the swap.  Isn't it adorable?

The McKinney Modern Quilt Guild meets every first Tuesday of the month at Stitched with Love store at 6:30 pm.

Sassy Zipper Pouch Sset

Here's a recent zipper bag set I made for my Mom while she and my Dad were visiting for Thanksgiving.  The main fabric is from the Sassy collection by Sandy Gervais by Moda.   It was fun to have Mom organize my zipper while I sewed.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!  This is my favorite garden flag for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Hope you ave a great day!

Breast Cancer Awareness & Disney Tote

Here's a totebag I made for a dear friend who is fighting breast cancer, she happens to be a big disney fan so I embroidered Micky Mouse ears in the corner.  I am so pleased with the way this turned out.   Thanks for stopping by!

Texas Ranger Device Holder & Zipper Pouch

The Texas Rangers won American League title.  My side of the family has been bugging me to make some Texas Ranger items.  Here's an electronic device holder and a zipper pouch.

This device holder is weighted and can comfortably hold even an iPad tablet upright.  

The zipper pouch has an "I heart baseball" charm hanging from zipper pull.  Zipper pouch measures 4.5 x 7.  Both are available in my etsy store.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/MCSQRD  

Beach Bound Swap

Here is the Beach Bound Swap I created for my partner.  She just got it today so I can finally post complete pictures....

My partner is a teacher and had jellyfish, mermaids and narwhals on her inspiration board.    All of it kinda stumped me because I am not a fan of sea creatures-- When I think beach, I am more into flip flops, cute umbrellas and tropical decorations...

I realized my partner was really into rainbow and mustache and beard stuff after I really looked at more pictures on her IG feed.  In the end I came up with this Texan Rainbow Jellyfish on bubble fabric and I framed him inside a simple rainbow star block.

I made this Zipper Pouch to match the jellyfish mini.  This is the same rainbow fabrics and I added this fun chalkboard teacher fabric mustache applique to the front and a pocket to the back.   

My partner is in Oregon so I thought Texas lining would be fun.  

I included some beach and mustache extras in the package, this swap was alot of fun!

Home Sweet Home Swap received...

Check out all this fabulousness!  My house mini from @meaganroseglover in Arizona arrived!  I love the house mini, zipper bag pattern, fabric, house shaped post it notes, and sewing themed buttons!  Thank you so much!  #housepartymartha #homesweethomeminiswap

Text Me Mini Quilt Swap sent

Now that the #textmeteamdyac #textmeminiquiltswap has been received I can reveal the mini quilt I made for my partner.  My partner @suziesarmoire loves books so I found a quote I thought she would love and had it digitized for the center of a #simplestarblock.  I used 17 different text fabrics, this was fun to create and hard to part with this, my daughter wanted it for her room!  #rainbowcolors #textfabric #rainbowfabulous

Here is the matching mug and mug rug.

Matching pincushion

And the obligatory zipper pouch in high school colors.  I had to research the school district in her town and compare pictures in her IG feed to make sure I got the right school.

Bookmark Swap McKMQG

We had a book and bookmark swap at our September meeting, this is what I came up with.  I couldn't think of colors so I made the bookmark match the book.  The spool is an in the hoop pattern I modified by adding elastic.  I think it turned out pretty neat.  

Triangle Zipper Pouch

Here is a simple triangle zipper pouch from Oma's Place.  This is an in the hoop pattern.  I think it turned out kinda cute but next time I will place the zipper going the opposite direction.

Dog Mini Quilt Swap Received

Here is the fabulous Dog Mini Quilt I received from New Zealand.  I had my eye on this during the swap and I was hoping it was heading to Texas to live with me.

My partner Rebecca also sent some traditional candy and goodies from NZ.

Here's a picture of Oreo on my sewing counter.  I wanted to show the striking resemblance to the mini quilt on the wall.  Isn't it great?

Dog Mini Quilt Swap Sent

Here are the items I made for the Dog Mini Quilt Swap.  My partner was totally into PUG dogs.

Here is the mug rug I made with her dog names on it.  The dogs have people names.  I was lucky to find the mug at Michael's of all places.

Here is the obligatory zipper pouch made with pug fabric.

And here is the mini quilt.  The pug face was alot of work and I ended up doing it twice because the satin stich caused the applique to fray on the edges.

She received the swap and loved it, this is the picture she sent of her dogs with the mini quilt on the floor.  I think it's sew cute! 

McKinney Modern Quilt Guild Pillow Scrap Swap

At the McKMQG May meeting we exchanged bags of scraps.  The challenge was to make a 16x16 pillow.

These are the fabrics I received.  I was kind of at a loss on what to do so to start I pieced 2" strips together.

My partner is very earthy and has often made items with trees so I decided to make a tree be the center focal point.  I did raw edge applique because I thought it was more "earthy".

I added her last name to the bottom to make it more personal.  I also decided to frame the tree applique with two simple stitch lines and then with the pieced fabric strips.

  Here is the finished pillow.

For the back I used a solid.  I used buttons and hair elastics for a modern closure.

Heres a close up of the label on the back side.

This was a really fun swap.  I don't usually work with blues, yellows and oranges together so it was nice to step out of my box.   We exchanged the pillows last night and my partner loved it, now I think I need to make one for our house!   Thanks for stopping by!

Canadian Visitor in McKinney

Took the morning off last Friday to meet a new quilty Canadian friend from Instagram (social media).  Sheila is from Saskatchewan and in my #texasminiquiltswap, AND she just happened to be coming to McKinney for a wedding at Adriatica this weekend.  We hit two of our three local quilt stores, Stitched With Love & The Quilt Asylum!   So fun meeting online friends in person and I love it when out of towners spend $$$ in McKinney!  #shoplocal

Leadership McKinney Graduation

Leadership McKinney graduation was May21.  Special occasions call for sparkly shoes, I wore those all night.  Let me just say they look better than they feel after several hours!

Some of my friends wore sparkly shoes, we took this fun picture together.

Here's a picture of our whole class! 

Micaela's First Communion

Micaela's First Communion was over the weekend.  We had a small reception for her afterwards at our house.  It was nice to pull out the china, linens and silver.

The buffet was full of sentiments... Keepsakes from baptism, the Rose bouquet I used for wedding portraits, our wedding rosary, my parents wedding china and even the picture above the buffet is a tribute to the first catholic mission in my hometown.  

Ohio Buckeye Gift Set

Made this set for my neighbor's granddaughter that is headed to Ohio State this fall.

A key fob, electronic devise holder and matching zipper pouch!

All items available in my etsy store:  mcsqrd.blogspot.com 

Inspiration Boards for Text Me Mini Quilt Swap.

I've joined a lot of swaps on Instagram lately,  here is the inspiration mosaic I put together for the "Text Me" swap where the majority of the fabric in the projects have text fabric.

Please keep in mind this is not my work just simply projects I love!

Here is another.... 

And last one with my favorite word themes! 

Work Anniversary

Today I start my 8th year at the City of McKinney.  Some days I am the city water nazi, other days I am the recycling nerd or simply the green girl.  I believe the purpose of life is to be useful and to make a difference.  Hopefully most days -- I have made a difference! 

#savetheplanet

Earth Day Texas

The City of McKinney had a booth at this year's Earth Day Texas event at Fair Park on April 24th, 25th, and 26th.    We had several thousand people visit us.  Here I am with some of the volunteers on Saturday morning.  We had our spinner wheel game giving away a variety of eco-friendly products for saving water and energy.  

Earth Day Texas (formerly, Earth Day Dallas) is an annual, outdoor festival seeking to elevate environmental awareness and influence the way Texans think, live and work. The family-friendly and free-admission event allows leaders in the corporate, academic and non-profit worlds to unite and show Texans how green lifestyle choices can lower their cost of living, improve their health, and help save the environment.

Wall of Mini Quilts

Someone asked what I do with all of the mini quilts I get from swaps.  Well... I hang them on my wall in my sewing room like little works of art.  I treasure each one I receive and consider the maker a new friend!  Here's my current, growing collection-- makes me happy just looking at it!

Ampersand Wedding Pillows

It's the season for Ampersand Wedding Pillows... Here are two I have made this week.  These are available in my Etsy shop.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/MCSQRD

7th annual Texas Trash Off

My biggest event of the year was Saturday.  Look at all these fabulous volunteers.  It was a gorgeous day in McKinney.  

Glasses Zipper pouch

So my optometrist friend celebrated her one year anniversary.  I stopped by the party on my way home from work.  She sent home some cookies for our daughter.  Aren't these eye glasses cookies adorable!  The cookies match daughters glasses and the zipper pouch gift I gave her.  Total cuteness!!! 

I saw this fabric months back and immediately thought of her because she has a lot of "eyewear" art at her office.  I got lucky and found an "eye" charm for the zipper pull too!  The fabric is from Michael Millers Urbanista collection, called 20/20 Glasses.   

Pixel Fox Quilt

Hére Is the mini Quilt I made for @miaquilts in the Rainbow Mini Swap on Instagram.

This was several weeks in the making.  I converted a cross stitch pattern to get the design.  It's an 18x18 pattern, 324 two inch squares and finished off at approx 24x24.  There are many little surprised in it, including owls, cats and tributes to her MSU Spartans and of course Texas.   I am pleased with how it turned out and my partner Maria in Michigan really seemed to like it.