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!

Fabric Bin

This is the fabric bin/basket I received from Julie 'Hopkins' Laidlaw in the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild Swap last month.    You might recall the swap I made BettyPat with her fabric in late June.  I was in Hawaii the day of the swap but Julie and I finally connected a couple of weeks ago and I was in awe of the gorgeous bin she made for me. 

 

This bin, basket or swimming pool (as Julie affectionately refers to it) is gorgeous, GIANT (more than 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide) and I love it!  

 

Thank you Julie! 

 

The cool thing about this swap is that the recipient supplied the fabric. I supplied a variety of the fabrics that I have used to decorate and make things for my sewing room. You can see all of the pillows on my daybed in the background.  I actually tidied up a bit to take the picture.  I'll share new updated pictures of my sewing area in the next few weeks.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Sewing Away from Home

It's been a busy couple of weeks since the end of May.  I am traveling for work and at the last minute I packed my sewing machine to bring with me to the hotel.  The family spent the weekend with me but headed home on Sunday evening.  Here is my little sewing area set up on the desk in my hotel room.  I tend to be a night owl so this will be a nice diversion from just watching tv. 

I don't expect to have a lot of time to sew but I figure any sewing is better than no sewing.  I have several things to work on, my patriotic stuff for the sewing swap I am hosting, a fabric bin for the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild and some gifts to start.

Thanks for stopping by!

Other Pom Pom Projects

Pom Pom fringe is kind of a staple in my sewing room decor also.  I just realized that all three of my Janome machines have covers with Pom Pom fringe on the bottom edge.  That wasn't planned at all, I honestly just realized it.  I made these covers as I got the machines so probably 6 to 8 months apart over the last few years.  Here is a close up of each one. 

The Janome 300e

The Janome 200e

 My Janome DC5100

 

One of the pillows on the day bed in my sewing room has Pom Pom fringe too, notice the small pillow on the left behind the main 'sewing machine' pillow.

 

 

Well, that's it for my Pom Pom projects, thanks for stopping by.  Make sure and visit the other blogs on the hop today.  Have a great day!

 

 

Pig Tales and Quilts

in stitches and seams

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Blooming Where I am Planted  -- me

Needled Mom

Sew Many Yarns

Moosestash Quilting

Nutz4Redwork

Zipper Organization

If you have been reading my blog lately, I am sure you have noticed my new love for zippered bags and pouches.  This love has resulted in a new obsession with zippers.  Nothing is more frustrating to me than wanting to start a sewing project and not have everything I need.  You all know I have plenty of fabric and thread but I really did not have a stock pile of zippers.  A few weeks ago I hurried to Wal-Mart at 10pm, crossing my fingers for a zipper.  Crazy I know!

So, no more running to the store at 10pm for plain white zipper for me.  I have decided to stock up on zippers in a rainbow of colors.  Luckily, I found a vendor that was going out of business so I bought a nice supply for a song. 

The zippers arrived while my parents were visiting last week and Mom & Micaela helped me organize them.

I decided to group them by color and keep them together by pinning them with a safety pin.  Then we played with a place to put them... First we tried a wire basket, not enough space, then the fabric racks where I have my small pieces of fabric...nope did not look good... then we experimented with wire and how to hang it on the wall...  THEN my brilliant 7 year old daughter suggested nailing buttons to the wall and stringing wire between them!!!  OMG, not even me and my mother thought of that!!! 

Here is how we did it... Nailed Button to wall and then strung the wire between the nails under the buttons. 

Here is the rainbow of zippers...  I should not be running to the store anytime soon.  I love the way it looks.  What could be more perfect than nailing buttons to the wall.  Have I mentioned I think my daughter is BRILLIANT!!!

Here is the whole wall, rainbow of buttons on a wreath, rainbow of fabric on my racks and now a rainbow of zippers..... I love it!    Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

More Sewing Room Artwork

Here is my second artwork addition.

Hard to tell in the picture, but it is 20 inches wide and 12 inches tall.  I have had this idea in my head for several months and finally got around to making it. 

Here is a brief tutorial on how I did it:

• I used a 12 x 20 oval embroidery hoop that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I spray painted the oval black. Before I spray painted it, I removed the screw so that it would be silver.
• I cut the sewing machine out using my Cricut Expression 12x24" mat and the Heritage cartridge. I tried several sizes before I settled on this size.  I backed the black fabric with Thermo-web and cut it out using the flip feature.
• When I placed the black sewing machine on the red dot fabric it needed a little something so I decided to mat the sewing machine cut out using white fabric. The single layered fabric turned out to be too transparent so then I backed it with heavy interfacing. I had to cut that out manually because it was too thick to run through the Cricut.
• I did not intend to stitch the project at all, but the fabric didn't seem to stick on the edges.  I did a straight stitch on the white layer and then zig zagged on the black layer. 

• After all of the stitching and adding the heart button, I hooped the fabric, trimmed and glued the fabric to the inside rim of the hoop and held it in place with clothespins to dry.   

Here is how the completed hoop looks on my wall. Thanks for stopping by.

New Sewing Room Artwork

Allow me to share what Micaela drew for me the other day. 

In case you can't tell, it's a sewing machine.  The heart item in the lower right corner is scissors-- I am told.  Isn't this adorable!  I had to frame it and hang it in a prominent place in my sewing room.  Love that girl!  Here it is on my wall above my shelf with my shrimp glasses full of buttons. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great week!

Sunday Sewing

We've been so busy on weekends lately.  Yesterday we had the afternoon free and guess what Micaela wanted to do?  Sew!  I liked to sew when I was young but, I don't remember bugging my Mom to do it quite as much as Micaela bugs me.  LOL.  I might need to put a padlock on my fabric stash cause she's bound to get into it sometime.

Micaela wanted to sew yet another pin cushion, aka little square pillow to fill with walnut litter.  She has like 6, one for every season and some of her favorite themes. 

She begged to use my Janome machine instead of hers, claiming better lighting in front of the window.  Maybe we'll move on to pillow cases this week.  Hope your weekend was great.  Tonight I hope to post pictures of my Needlecase Swap at the Quilt Asylum.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Cup Cozy

I am not a fan of coffee but I do like hot chocolate/cider in the winter.  When I saw this coffee cozy on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun and easy to make some for friends and family.

Source: kimberlykesti.typepad.com via Martha on Pinterest

I followed the tutorial by Kim Kresti on her blog and decided to use some strips of fabric I had left over from the pleated pillow a few weeks ago.  Here is the completed cozy flat.

And here it is on a cup (please pardon the dust on my shelf).  I think it turned out pretty cute.  I look forward to making more of these.  These will definitely be teacher gifts next school year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to sewing

This week we've had a lot of rain and since I couldn't spend time outdoors, I decided to catch up on some of my sewing projects.   I've been wanting to make a sewing caddy for a while and finally got around to making one.  I used some of the same fabrics I have used throughout my sewing room on other projects, mainly the Sew Now, Sew Wow fabric from Alexander Henry I used on the sewing sewing stool, lamp, cornice and embroidery machine cover. 

The picture is not great, it was raining outside and had very little natural light.  I sorta followed a  tutorial for an ironing board caddy by Sew4Home featuring one of the other fabrics I am using in my room Half Moon Modern by Moda.  I am happy with the way it turned out, now Micaela wants one for her machine.  Thanks for stopping by.

Faux Pleated or Strippy Pillow

Yesterday while hubby and Micaela went to the donut shop and out to run some errands, I browsed my sewing pins on Pinterest to find a quick to make while they were gone. (it's nice to start and finish a project without interruptions).

I came across this strippy pillow by Jera at Quilting in the Rain then, I remembered I had watched a video tutorial at the Missouri Quilt Company  featuring V & Company's faux pleated pillow.  I decided to make one.

Source: modabakeshop.com via Martha on Pinterest

I don't need another pillow for the bed in my sewing/guest room (already have ten and I have gotten alot of grief about that from some friends) but I could use a pillow or two for a chair I just painted and reuphostered for the corner of the room.

I pulled together all fabrics I have been using to decorate in my sewing area and started cutting strips 2.5 inches wide.  In no time, I had enough to make the pillow-- just 11 strips.  After cutting, I pressed each one in half and tinkered with the order of the fabrics.  Probably the most time consuming part of this project, was deciding the order of the fabrics.  After I figured it out, I used blue painters tape to keep the strips in order. 

I decided to use one of the gingham dishtowels (used on some the bed pillows pictured here) as the foundation fabric for the pillow and then quickly figured out it was the perfect choice because instead of drawing lines every 3/4  inches to guide placing the strips of fabric (like Jera's tutorial)... I could use the rows in the fabric to guide me...  that was a big time saver!

After sewing all the strips down, I used the remaining part of the dishtowel and half of another to create an envelope back... easy peasy (the edges were already finished -- another bonus).

This really came together quickly, I honestly finished before my hubby and daughter made it back home. 

Here's the finished pillow, now the chair doesn't look so loney.... maybe I will make another little pillow so the pillow has a friend...because pillows look better in pairs or is it threes, fours or fives...lol.

Here's a view of the entire corner, you can see the button wreath, and my part of my fabric racks featured last week.

Thanks for stopping by., I hope you have a great week.

Fabric Organization Wall

I've struggled with a good way to organize my fabric (mainly fat quarters and less than a yard cuts) for a long time.  So far this system is working.  This wall is opposite the wall where my embroidery machines are located. These are CD racks and the fabrics are organized by color and theme.

I am on the verge of ourgrowing this but for now this holds all my "small" pieces of fabric, you can see some cubies have more room than others.   The rest of my fabric (mainly large pieces) are in the cubeical bins below the CD racks and are also organized by theme or type as well

If you follow my blog, you might remember a picture of my sewing area last year where I had the racks on the ground  in the corner by the window.   When I started to run out of space, I had the idea to turn the cubeical bin (that was on the wall where the bed is now) on it's side and put the racks on top.  (Don't know why it took me so long to think of that!).  The CD racks are extremely sturdy and quite heavy so they can hold the weight of the fabric well.  I had a difficult time getting all three, it took me about 6-8 months to "find" them because I refused to pay regular price $40.    I actually found two at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore here in McKinney (9 months apart)  and the last one at a neighbor's yard sale last fall.

Here is a picture of the entire wall .  You can see how all of the posts I've done for the last month or so fit together.  The fabric letter banner, button wreath, lamp shade, covered cans, pillows on the bed, etc.  My space is still a work in progress but I think it's coming together nicely.  I got all my ideas from looking at craft rooms on Pinterest, I hope this inspires someone else. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a nice day!

Another Throw Pillow

Made another throw pillow for the guestroom/sewing room bed.  After this I think I am kinda done...lol.   I've had this in my head for a while and finally had some time to make it. 

This is made from a block in the quilt panel of the Brittish SEW fabric by the Henley Studio and Makower.  I got it at the Quilt Asylum back in the fall last year.  It coordinates with the fabric I used for Micaela's sewing machine cover.  I wish I could find more of this fabric and store it forever because I think it's so cute. 

The red polka dot fabric on the pillow is the same one I used on my sewing machine cover.  I used the same format as the M pillow next to it (I now realize I should not have them next to each other).  You can see the tape measure pillow on the left is made with some of the same fabric from the sewing machine cover too.  The black & white ginham pillows are actually made from dish towels I found in the dollar bin ($2.50 set) at JoAnn, I just sewed two towels together and I was done.  I've got to run, hope you have a great Thursday.

Button Wreath

Good Morning! 
I kept admiring all the cool button wreaths on Pinterest and decided I needed to make one. 

I started with a straw wreath that I had covered in black satin ribbon for Halloween and just started adding buttons and pins.  Let's just say I highly recommend a thimble.  When I started the project, I thought I would be done pretty quickly.  After a couple of days, I made a special trip to the store for a thimble because I could not find one at home.  This took me a while.  It's hard to tell in this picture but this wreath is 18 inches in diameter and is covered with buttons on the back too.  I literally put this together while watching the last season of the Bachelor.  (I try to do something productive while watching mindless tv shows). 

I used more than 1800 pins and almost 900 buttons.  My index finger hurt from pushing all the buttons into the straw but I love how it turned out.  I had a bunch of buttons already then had my Mom send me some of hers.  When I got her package, Mom sent some from my great aunt and one of her friends, so there is a nice mix of old and new including some orphan buttons from my own childhood outfits that my Mom made me (I guess those could be considered kinda semi vintage).

This wreath proudly hangs in my sewing area.  Slowly but surely my room is coming together. 
Hope you are having a great weekend thanks for stopping by!

Lamp in Sewing Room

The room where I sew is technically our 4th bedroom which is supposed to be a guest room.  Since most of our out of town family has moved here, it is rare for us to have guests.  I've sorta taken over the room with my sewing stuff but I am still keeping a bed and normal guest room things in the room.

In keeping with the red and black color scheme of the sewing stuff, I decided the lampshade on the bedside table needed to be redone to coordinate with the rest of the room.  This was an easy peasy project that I probably should have done a long time ago.  I took a shortcut and purchased one of the self adhesive shades, added the Sew Now Sew Wow- Alexander Henry fabric and a pom pom trim to the bottom and I was done.  I have used the Sew Now fabric all over the room, can you tell I love it?  

The fabric hooped on the wall is more of the 'sewing machine' black & white fabric from the spray cans I covered last month.  I am doing a whole group of fabric hoops on the wall but I am not quite done. 

The little table the lamp sits on belonged to my grandmother so it has probably been in the family for about 100 years (my Dad is 82).  Growing up, it was orange peach color, then I brought it with me to college when I got my first appartment; with me it's been several different colors.... now black.  The yellow crocheted doily on the table was made by my maternal grandmother, it's one of the only things I have that belonged to her.  Everytime I look at the table and doily, I am reminded of my hometown and family.  Hope you are having a great day.  Thanks for stopping by!

  

Fabric Banner

I made these  "Sew Much Fabric" ~fabric banner letters while I was off for a few days last week.  I made them to place above the racks where I store all of my fabric. They are an In the Hoop design from Pickle Pie Designs. The design calls for stringing the letters together with ribbon but instead I ommitted the ribbon and just hid a flat tac in the back layer of the letter to hang them on the wall.  These are super quick and easy to make.  I think it takes longer to hoop the fabric and cut around the letters than it does to sew them.   I'll show the 'fabric racks' where I store all my small cuts of in the next few days. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Micaela's Sewing Space

This is Micaela's little corner of 'our' sewing room.  We got her the mini cube shelf (Mini Cubeicals by Closetmaid from Target) for her birthday because she wanted a shelf like mine for her stuff.  She even helped assemble it yesterday. We had the little table but now her space is more like mine.  She loves it!  Notice the fabric in the top left cubby is her assortment of weenie dog fabric, we'll be making a cover for her sewing machine and some cute stuff for her room with them very soon. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Covers for cans

I use spray adhesive and starch pretty regularly in my sewing room and my cans are always out. The other day I had a crazy idea to cover them. At first I was going to modpodge them but then realized I would have to do that every time I got a new can. So instead I decided to make covers that I could remove easily.

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This is what I came up with.

These are quilted and fasten with velcro in the back. I really like the tiny pompom fringe on the edge. The black & white sewing machine fabric is Brittish from Makower UK - The Henley Studio . The frame with text is appliqued on. Now they have little outfits and match my room perfectly-- crazy I know! Thanks for stopping by!

Cover for Janome 300e!

I finally made a cover for my second embroidery machine, the Janome 300e and I love how it turned out.

Red scissor fabric is from Moda's Half Moon Modern collection, got it at HIQ. The Ruler fabric is from My Mind's Eye, got it at HIQ. The Black & White button fabric used on the M is Brittish from Makower UK, the Henley Studio--got it online. And the black & white striped fabric is from Butterfly Swirl by Jackie Shapiro for Windham Fabrics, got it at QA. I love my two local quilt stores Happiness is Quilting & Quilt Asylum.

I actually had another idea in mind for the M monogram but in the end ended up doing applique using my Cricut Expression and the Designer's Calendar cartridge to cut out the M out of fabric with Therm O Web. My original idea was to make the M with buttons but after sewing on about 30 buttons to the cover I did not like how the buttons weighed down the cover so I ripped-- I mean gently removed them and started over with an appliqued M which I then satin stitched with my DC5100.

And so the learning curve begins....

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. Two years ago I got the Janome Memory Craft 200e and after a few months was itching to upgrade to the next model so I could have a bigger hoop. Well, this is the next step up... the Janome Memory Craft 300e! I am so excited. I made myself pay for it with money I made from selling embroidered projects. It took me quite a few months to save for this. I haven't had much time to play with it but I will as soon as I can get back to regular sewing!

Originally I had planned on trading in my 200e but I decided to keep it for now. I guess this makes FOUR Janome Machines in the house! Now I need to save for a serger!