Last week was my niece’s birthday. She is now 2. It was fun to sew her some gifts. It changed from doing quilts which is what I sew the most lately. It was also fun to use some of the fabrics I got from Karen at My Fabric Spot, a Canadian-based online shop . She had sent a fat quarter bundle when she opened her shop back in October. I received a FQ of the different prints in the Sunset colorway from The Birds & the Bees collection by Tula Pink (see post).

For my niece’s gifts, I used the red, aqua and brown prints. I’ll keep the yellow, orange and pink prints for a quilt I have in mind. I made 3 gifts. I used some linen to go with the prints and also a home decor weight fabric. It is the Pine print in Stone from Joel Dewberry’s Ginseng collection.

The first project I did was an art smock. My niece is at an age where she can start making more crafts. So, I thought it was a good idea. I used a pattern from the book Bend the Rules by Amy Karol. I fussy cut one of the prints to make a double pocket on the front.

Then, I made an open-wide pouch which I filled with Crayola washable markers. I followed the great tutorial by Anna at NoodleHead. Here is pictures of both sides and opened.

I wanted to embroidery her name on it. I didn’t have time to do it by hand so I decided  to use the letters on my sewing machine. However, as I was doing it I didn’t think of how much of the sides would end-up being at the bottom of the bag after clipping the corners to make the box shape. So, the name end-up being really close to the bottom.

The last project I did is also based on a tutorial by Anna at NoodleHead. I did her child messenger bag. But instead of doing pintucks on the flap, I used prints from The Birds and the Bees again. I also used one for the lining. I think this is the gift my niece was the most happy about.

The tutorials by Anna at Noodlehead are very clear. It’s been a while I’ve been wanting to try one of them. Next, I’ll try one of her bag patterns, either the Sidekick Tote Pattern or the 241 Tote Pattern. As I was looking for some patterns/tutorials for an art smock, I saw a few made using the pattern from Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson from Oliver + S. It is nice because it has some sleeves. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the book. But, I ordered it as I thought it had a great variety of projects to sew for kids. I just got it at the end of last week. I can’t wait to try one of them. Both my sons already requested a few, one of which is the bear carrier. Cool!

This idea of an eye mask was a project suggested by my sister. When I saw that Stitch was looking for projects for a Spa Treatment theme, I thought this was a great occasion to do it. Don’t you love going at the spa? I love it, particularly at this time of the year when your outside in a hot tub and everything is covered with snow. Either at night or when it is sunny, then the lights make the snow sparkle. We went a couple of weeks ago, and I would love to go back before the end of the winter. Don’t you think an eye mask would help to get away when it’s time to relax? This would make a great gift for someone who likes going to spas, or doing afternoon naps.

When I designed the mask, I wanted something simple. Yet I wanted to incorporate a little bit of patchwork to add personality!

The colors were inspired by the print fabric which is from the Flora collection by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda. Thanks to Jennifer who helped me identify the print I got from a scrap bag from the shop she was working at. I just love this color combination. It is colorful, but still very soft. Isn’t that relaxing…

If you didn’t see this issue yet, it is filled with fun projects. What I enjoyed the most was reading the article by Susan Beal on Japanese fabrics.

I was able to complete my quilt for the Madrona Road Challenge today. I can say it was a great satisfaction to see it done. I did a lot of sketching to end up with this design.  As I said in my previous post, I had the idea of a windmill. At first I started sketching half-square triangles, but it didn’t look the way I wanted. Then I saw the cover of this book by Barbara Cline, and I thought: “This is it, I got to piece triangles”. And from there I rapidly settled on a design. The final touch were the chevrons like in the Broken Herringbone print of the Madrona Road collection. I’m so glad I was able to bring my design to life.

The final touch was the quilting. I decided to go with wavy lines, like wind blowing in the windmill. I first delimited my sections using painters tape and started quilting those first lines using my walking foot. But as I started quilting the adjacent lines, I saw my fabric beginning to shift. So I decided to follow Amanda Jean’s suggestion and trade my walking foot for a darning foot. It seems I’m more comfortable free motion quilting. Still, I was a bit disappointed by the first few lines. Probably because I had my nose right into it and could see all my little mistakes. But as I progressed, I liked it more and more. And overall I can say I’m quite happy with the quilting. Even though it is not perfect, it really gives the effect I was looking for.

Here you can see the back. The blue fabric is the Sprout print from the Madrona Road collection. I’ve also used this print for the binding. This type of print is perfect for it!

The deadline for being considered by Michael Miller to be in their booth at QuiltCon is on January 31st. Violet Craft, the designer of this collection, will also be giving a prize to her favorite project. The deadline was really short for this challenge. Still  there is a lot of nice projects that have been added to the two Flickr pools (progress and finished). It seems I’m not the only one who likes to work under pressure. Take a look!

Have you eared about the Madrona Road Challenge organized by the Modern Quilt Guild? Each participants received 7 Fat Eight from the Madrona Road collection by Violet Craft and I had to make a project with it, ideally a quilted one. The fabric was donated by Michael Miller, manufacturer of the collection. The only rules was to take only prints from this collection and add solid-color fabrics if we wanted.

Here is my quilt top finished. It is 60″ x 60″. For it, I’ve only used the fat eights provided and some Kona in Medium Gray for the negative space.

I’ve been planning my quilt for a month or two now, sketching things on paper and then in Illustrator. The main design was inspired by the windmill in the Robin’s-Egg Farmstead print from the collection.

I also wanted to add some chevrons like in the Broken Herringbone print. I’ve started from there for the windmill’s blade. And I also decided to add some chevrons at each corner of the quilt to add movement.

I actually started working on my quilt two weeks ago at our guild Sew-In (Montreal MQG). We had a full day of sewing and it was quite fun chatting with everyone and seeing what the others were making either for the challenge or other personal projects.

I finished my quilt top last night  I tried to take some picture outside this morning. Unfortunately with all the wind today it wasn’t a success. So, I ended up taking some pictures inside. Luckily there was some great light coming through the windows in the living room.

Here is the back. Made from leftovers from the front, the Sprout print from the Madrona Road collection and Kona in Lemon which is really close to the Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Straw.

Just love this last picture taken from the back with the sunlight coming through. It gives you a better idea of how the quilt top was pieced.

Now, I just need to baste, quilt and bind this windmill! I was thinking of wavy lines to look like wind making the windmill turn. Lets see what I can achieve!

Did you have a chance to see what others are making for the challenge? You’ll see some great projects here.

 

It makes me so happy when to give out quilts to people who appreciate this craft and who will use them and cherish them. It’s like a reward for all the efforts put into it. I think it was the case for this quilt. I hope it will bring all the comfort it was meant for. This family went through a lot in the past year and they deserve it.

I just had got my new sewing table at that time and I think it helped a lot in quilting this larger quilt. Here is the back. I’m so glad I was able to align the quilting with the piecing on the back as well.

Happy New Year! Hope you had some nice Holidays. I’m just so happy we had a white Christmas this year in Montreal. It’s just so nice with all that snow outside. It had been a few years we didn’t have that much snow in the winter. I was missing it. It is perfect for playing outside with the kids.

Did you have time to do a bit of sewing lately? I didn’t make much sewing gifts this year, compared to last year. But, I did manage to finish up the HST Pillows for my stepparents.

I was really happy to give them on Christmas day even thought they had seen part of it in progress. I decided to do swirl quilting on both sides and put some red piping using fabrics by French General like in the HST. And I went for an envelope closure as suggested by some of you. Again I put to practice some free motion quilting that I learned from Angela Walters in her Craftsy class and her book. I used grey thread. It matched perfectly the back. For the front, I was hesitating between a grey or cream thread. I went with the grey one as I didn’t want the thread to contrast with the prints in the HST. But, I’m still unsure whether this was the right choice. My quilting is far from being perfect and it really shows off. But, I really like the textures that it adds to the pillow.

Here they are in my stepparents newly renovated living room. The colors are perfect. I really like the small touch of red on the piping and in one of the triangles.

I also made a few cup cozzies for gifts. I used the template by Jeni Baker from In Color Order. However instead of doing it using a patchwork, I used some quilted felted wool leftover from last year’s Christmas Stockings and some Christmas prints for the lining.

I didn’t sew much in the Holidays either, but I did work on a new baby quilt. Both the top and back panel are done. I photographed it two days ago in the snow just behind our house.

It’s a design of my own and I’m really satisfied with how it came out. I had some Kona in Pond and Sage left from my Wonky Kites Quilt and I thought these colors would be perfect for a little one. For the back, I had a print that coordinated well with both.

 

It’s Tidbits by Kari Ramsay of Fresh Cut Quilts for Henry Glass & Co. I originally had planned to make the patchwork where the two sage strips cross using prints. But, then I liked how solid colors added to the simplicity of the quilt. So, I use some Kona in White, Peridot and Green Tea in combination with the Pond and Sage. My original idea was to dispose them in a way to mimic a plaid pattern. But then I started playing around with the squares and  I came up with this pattern which I really like.

I’m thinking of calling it Crossing Roads. Would you be interested in making one? I could write up a little tutorial with all the material needed and the sizes of the pieces to cut. The quilt is 36″ by 48″.

And what about you, did you do some sewing for gifts or in the Holidays?

Do you remember this eyeglass case I made earlier this year?

I made a second one this fall. This time, I decided to use a hidden magnet snap for the closure as I realized it wasn’t such a good idea to press on a snap while eyeglasses are in the case.

As I was doing it, I took some pictures of the different steps in order to write a little tutorial. Well, that day has come. I thought it was good idea to prepare this for you before the Holidays as these can make some nice gifts. Also, I can’t hide you that there was a little motivation to make it now: the Handmade with Love event hosted by Pink Chalk fabrics:

Fabric

• 9″ x 9″ piece of cotton for the exterior.
• 9″ x 9″ piece of flannel or another soft fabric for the interior.

• 9″ x 9″ piece of firm interfacing, like Timtex or Peltex. 

Note: Ideally, one would need to have a stabilizer that is fusible on one side for this project. I had one that was fusible on both sides on hand when I did the project. And for my first version, the stabilizer I had wasn’t fusible. So, I quilted the exterior fabric to the interfacing instead of fusing it. If you go with this option, just be careful not to quilt over the magnet.

• Hidden magnetic snap. I used the ones enclosed in a vinyl casing.
• Coordinating sewing thread.

	1. Trace and cut the template on the firm interfacing.
	2. Position the magnets. To help you out with this, pin the two side tabs that will be sewn later on. This will give you an idea of how the case will close. You’ll have one magnet inside, the one on the case’s closing flap, and the other outside. Just make sure that the magnet attracts when closing the case. Pin them in place
	3. Sew the vinyl casing of both magnets to the interfacing.
	4. Position the interfacing on the wrong side of the exterior fabric with the closing flap magnet facing up. Fuse in place following the manufacturer’s recommendations (here I had a 2-sided fusible stabilizer, so I protected my ironing board using some parchment paper).
	5. Place the case on the interior fabric, with the right side of the interior and exterior fabrics facing each other. Pin together.
	6. Sew the interior and exterior fabrics together with your needle just next to the interfacing. Go all the way around leaving about a 3 1/2″  opening at the top (where you have the outside magnet). Take care to backstitch when starting and ending.
	7. Cut the interior and exterior fabrics all the way around leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Clip in the seam allowance where there is some curves.
	8. Turn right side out. Press taking care to position the seam allowance where there is an opening.
	9. Handsew the opening using either a slip stitch or a whip stitch.
	10. Position the tabs on each side of the case and pin in place.
	11. Baste each side and remove the pins.
	12. Sew each tabs then remove the basting stitches.

And here you have it, a nice case to protect your eyeglasses or to offer to someone as a gift.

Today is Giveaway Day over at Sew Mama Sew! In fact, it is an all week event.

For those who don’t know me, I love creating things with fabric, either projects I design on my own or following patterns/tutorial by others. And most of all I like sharing my projects and inspiration with you.

I’ve always wanted to make a sewing case for projects on the go. Currently when I have a quilt to bind, I bring my needle, thread and other notions in a Ziploc. When I saw these two tutorials lately (here and here), it inspired me a zippered case. Installing zippers is not my favorite part, but I do like things zipped up. I’m always afraid I could loose something. A big thanks to Krista at Spotted Stones for her clear photos on how she installed her zipper and to the designer, Masko Jefferson, of the Zip Organizer from Rashida Coleman-Hale’s book, Zakka Style.

Here is a few more pictures of the case I made:

If you would like to win it, just leave a comment on my post telling me what kind of projects you like to bring with you. The giveaway is open until December 7 at 5 p.m. PST. It is open internationally  I’ll announce a winner by Sunday and I’ll ship the case by Dec. 14. Good luck to you and have nice week browsing new blogs! Now, I just need to go and make one case for me!

Update : And the winner is comment 55.

Congratulation Dina! the case is for you. I’ll contact you by email for your address. Thanks to everyone who came to visit my blog. I had a great time this week reading your comments and visiting some new blogs.

Have you seen the latest issue of Stitch Gifts (2012, Interweave)?

The pattern for my Lily Pillow Covers is in it.

This is the first pattern I’ve ever published. It was initially in Stitch Winter 2011 and available for download. Interweave has decided to republish it in this year’s Stitch Gift. The magazine is filled with great project ideas for the starting Holiday season. Take a look at the Table of Contents. If you look on the second page, you’ll see a section named From Our Favorites. Interweave decided to republish 12 projects from Stitch past issues that were loved by their readers. I was really happy to learn that my project was appreciated. I would love to see other variations of those pillows (here is a link to my Flickr pool).

If you love them but don’t have time to make some, I have a pair of covers for each color that are available in my Etsy shop. They would make a lovely gift for Christmas! I also have a few other items listed in the shop. Take a look!

This week, I’ve completed the Bursting Star quilt I have been working on (see previous posts here and here). As planned, I added a second flange. This time in green. I used a Kona cotton in Lime actually. And for the binding, I used Kona in Coal just like the borders. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

After quilting, I was afraid that the quilt would be a bit too stiff for a baby. Particularly in the star portion, where the quilting is denser. But after washing, it came out all crinkled and so soft.

I usually use the Warm and Natural cotton batting for my quilts. But, this time is used a 50/50 bamboo and cotton blend from Winline that I bought at Effiloché in Montreal. I really like the drape that it gave to this quilt. Here is a little close-up at the flanges and quilting after washing.