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!

Diaper Bag

A couple of months ago I made a pillow for a friend's daughter that was expecting a new baby girl back in July.  The Mom-to-be loved the pillow (featured back in June)  so much that she asked me to make a diaper bag in the same fabric.

Here it is....

The fabric is "Cute Patchwork" fabric by Michael Miller just like the pillow.  I did not use a pattern.  Katie, the Mom sent me a picture of what she had in mind and I duplicated.  I embroidered the name and appliqued initials on the front of the bag just like the pillow.

I made two big pockets on the back side.

On the backside, I added a magnetic snap closure and for the first time ever chrome rings to the 2.5 inch wide single crossover strap to kinda dress it up a bit. 

I am pleased with how this turned out.  I don't usually make bags for "sale", I hope she likes it!  Thanks again for stopping by!

Applique Getaway

Today I am attending the Applique Getaway in Frisco Texas.   I am so lucky this conference is only 10 miles or so from our house.  Usually all the fun sewing get togethers are in other states.

One of the cool thing the organizers did was create an applique logo for the event.  The digital file was available for all attendees and we were challenged to make a tote, water bottle, shirt or whatever with the applique.  Here is my tote. 

I literally just finished this at 2am!  Yes, I procrastinated but my excuse is that I just got back into town.  It will be cool to see everyone's bags tomorrow!  

This is the inside lining with pockets for cell phone, pen, etc. The lining fabric is SEW by Sweetwater, it's my first time to use a "low volume" print. The print is actually like a dictionary of sewing terms. Yes, I am a sewing nerd!

The floral fabric is Round the Garden by Mary Engelbreit by Andover Fabrics.  I am a HUGE fan of Mary Engelbreit (ME), I used to work in her store at the Dallas Galleria many years ago when I was first out of college.  This is the backside of the bag... Had to add a green M to make it a little more versatile and personalized.  It's 2am and I better head to bed, long day tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by!

Another Tote

I have been making lots of totes bags lately.  I guess I have alot of stuff to carry these days, LOL.  Here is a tote I made to take to Austin a few weeks ago.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but the bag is quite large.  I used Hometown fabric by Sweetwater from Moda.  I love this fabric!  The funny thing is, I actually bought this fabric months ago (Thanksgiving weekend) in a scrap bundle by accident when I meant to buy another collection by Sweetwater.

After I got home and unrolled the jelly roll, I realized I had the wrong collection.  Oh well, I wasn't even familiar with this collection but I loved it because of all the cities and family oriented words.  Nonetheless, I set it aside to work on something else and spent the next few weeks looking for yardage

When I started to make this bag, I started with a pattern but frankly in the end I drifted far away from the original look.  The original bag had charm squares at the bottom, a band across the center and solid at the top.  I obviously did solid at the bottom and vertical strip piecing at the top.  When you look at the verticle pieces, you'll notice the widths are random, that is because I used the strip as it came in the bundle. 

I only had one strip of the city print so I placed it front and center on the bag it was my favorite out of the bundle.

 

Finding fabric for the lining was difficult because I could not get the reds, greys or creams to match.  In the end, I found this newsprint looking print from Mama Said Sew (which was the original collection I was after) at my LQS.  The MSS print matched beauitifully.  I made a pocket for the inside of the bag using some strips and included the selvages.  I love how the pocket, which no one can see turned out. 

The tote measures 22 inches tall and 18 inches wide.  It's real sturdy because I used fusible fleece on both the lining and the body of the bag.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great week. 

Noteworthy Set

I love the Noteworthy line of fabric by Sweetwater for Moda. 

I fell in love with Noteworthy the minute I saw it and loved the Bucket List print more than any of the others.  I quickly purchased some in the vanilla colorway, I am not sure what I am going to make but I have a few yards in my stash waiting for the perfect project.

 

I read Sweetwater's blog and discovered the story about how the Noteworthy line came about.  Here's a link to the blog entry.

A few weeks ago I found out that one of my classmates from high school has breast cancer and is starting chemotherapy treatments immediately.   I talked to one of our mutual friends to get an idea of her favorite colors because I wanted to make something.  After two trips to The Quilt Asylum, one of my local quilt stores and many texted pictures of fabric to my friend, we settled on the Noteworthy Bucket List in the Blue Mist colorway and the Be Happy Multi Dot fabric for her projects.

 

This is the Noteworthy set I made, a tote bag, zipper case and bound a purchased plush throw.  I hope the items will come in handy as she goes to her chemotherapy treatments in the coming weeks.   

Here is a close up of the tote name embroidery and the button closure on the tote bag.  The flap has a magnet closure hidden under the button that allows for a quick snap. 

The blanket was a plush throw that I purchased.  I added binding with the same two fabrics pieced randomly along the edge. I had never done this before and it was more difficult than I anticipated.  The plush fabric stretches and twists so it was not exactly easy to top stitch and finish, nonetheless I finished it and I think it adds a nice touch.

The blanket fits nicely in the tote.

The last thing I made was a simple zipper pouch.  I used a silver ribbon charm with the word hope for the zipper pull.

I used the same two fabrics, the Bucket List fabric on the outside and the dot fabric for the seamless lining inside. 

I think the set turned out pretty cute.  I am hoping the bucket list fabric will be fun, uplifting  and inspiring for my friend and I hope the items will be useful.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!

QuiltCon Tote Bag

Good Morning,
It's Sunday and I am up early while everyone is asleep.  I can't believe QuiltCon was a week ago.  It has been a busy week and all week I meant to post about the matching tote bags I made for Ruthie and I last week. 

When I looked at the QuiltCon logo it reminded me of Patty Young's Rainbow Textured Basics that I had been admiring at my two LQS the "Quilt Asylum" and "Stitched with Love" for more than a month.

Literally in the afternoon before leaving for Austin last Friday (and 30 minutes before my neighborhood fabric store closed) I decided to make these tote bags.    I drove to the store got what I needed, went to dinner with family and then came home and went to work.  I should have been sleeping but who needs sleep the night before a marathon day of traveling across the state and walking my feet off at a convention center? 

Back to the totes:   I debated about which fabric to use as the main fabric and in the end decided on the "Natural Basic Texture" fabric in Patty Young's Textured Basics collection.  I used the "Multicolor Shoreline" stripe as an accent and the Multi Vintage Houndstooth" for the applique.   I wanted to do something a little different for the straps and added hardware for the first time ever. 

I've had this Texas map digital design from Big Dreams Embroidery for a long time and I have been dying to use it on something neat.  I found a embroidery font similar to the logo and went to work. 

The bags came together quickly since there was not a whole lot of piecing, really the most challending thing was the Texas applique which took a while to program and stich out.

I will probably carry this tote as my purse some during the spring, so I made a matching zipper pouch in the "Multi Diamonds" pattern of the same collection.  I've made about 40 of these zipper bags and this will be the first one I actually keep for myself. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are having a great Sunday. 

Tote for Ruthie

I made a tote for my friend Ruthie.  I am going to give it to her in Austin at Quiltcon in a few days but I already shared a picture so I can finally post here. 

This has been done for a few weeks and I have been looking forward to giving it to her since I finished.   Most of the fabrics I used have a sewing theme (Scissors, buttons, sewing machines) and then I sprinkled a chevron, some dots and hexies and lastly I added a Hello Kitty Print (she loves HK) and a weenie dog fabric (Micaela wanted to include the dog fabric so Ruthie would think of her and her dog Oreo).  I embroidered the R and top stitched a cross stitch stitch in the ditch to make it stand out a little.  I hope she likes it! 

Hope you are having a great week!

Gypsy Girl Tote

Good Afternoon and Happy Wednesday!

From the moment I saw the Gypsy Girl fabric collection by Lily Ashbury for Moda, I fell in love with it!

All I could think was:  I need a jelly roll, charm pack and yardage.  On Black Friday when one of my LQS, The Quilt Asylum was having a sale, I made my way to the store to buy a jelly roll with a discount.  Woo Hoo!

It took me a while to decide what to make.  I decided to make a tote with the jelly roll first.  I played with the strips of fabric a long time and finally decided on this combination.   I made this tote one day last week when it was cold, raining and really foggy outside.  I had to wait several days to photograph it because I could not get good enough lighting in the house. 

Tada, here it is!

I love these colors, they say spring and Easter to me.   I top stitched the seams with a cross stitch stitch on my machine.  Here is a close up. 

I lined the bag with the pink & white large gingham in the collection which I purchased online at the Fat Quarter Shop.  I added a pocket and magnetic snap to the inside. 

I really love this bag and I can't wait to make more projects with this fabric collection.  I plan on making some patchwork zipper pouches and a few accessories in the coming weeks.   Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!