Random Saturday sewing

Sailboat Excursion - I'm not sure I see where this block name originated.  But I like the simplicity of the design. These are latest Saturday Sampler blocks.  The layout is pretty simple, with a reversal of the light and dark fabrics in the second block. Each unit of these blocks was just a simple half square triangle.



And I finished the presentation pillowcase from my stash of patriotic fabrics.  This can be used with one of our guild Quilts of Valor.  I finally feel like I've made a little progress in using up some of the big stash of fabric I've collected over the years.  It's not a huge dent, but it is progress.

Books and pillowcases go together

Something to play with, something to wear, and something to read . . . that has become my motto for buying Christmas gifts for the 5 grandchildren.  This year I decided they each needed a pillowcase with the same theme as the book the receive.  A Friday afternoon off, and those pillowcases are ready to go.

 

 

For 2 year old Jack, I found a book about a train, and it has a little toy train that he can run through the grooves on every page.  His pillowcase has train cars floating all over.

 

Jonah is 4 and he is getting Jan Brett's book The Hat.  And while searching online for other things I came across this fabric with woodland creatures - wearing knit hats just like in the book.  What a lucky find!

 

Mason's tastes are running toward a fascination with dragons now that he is 6.  The book has all kinds of dragon stories, maps, and secret flaps hiding more information. I've hunted high and low for dragon fabric, and finally found some online.  I love that the red dragon is almost a perfect match to the color of the book cover.

 

And both girls - 5 year old Sophia and 4 year old Olivia - are getting Bambi.  The Bambi fabric was a find at Missouri Star Quilt Company this summer.  And the books have beautiful illustrations, similar to my vintage childhood Bambi book. 

Check out what other quilters are working on: Design Wall Monday at http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2017/11/design-wall-monday-november-20-2017.html

3 down and 14 to go

 

I bought a nice grey stripe yesterday for the cuff of the Winnie The Pooh pillowcase, to make a total of 17 kitted up.  After work yesterday afternoon I dug into the pile and started sewing. So Including the Pooh pillowcase, I've gotten 3 made. And I've pinned 2 more that are ready to sew.  These are always good for some random sewing when I just need to sew SOMETHING, but don't have time to focus on anything big.

 

I'm in love with that Pooh fabric - so cute! 

Prepping pillowcases

 

I spent a couple of hours in my sewing room this morning - not sewing, but prepping a lot of pillowcase kits.  Sixteen of them in fact.  These make good quick projects for those times when I just want to spend a little time sewing.

 

The 4 kits in the back actually include 2 of each set folded together, ready to sew.  That is 8.  The top 2 sets are completely from stash and the bottom 2 are from new fabric I bought on the bus trip just for pillowcases.

 

The 4 on the right side are kits I bought at crazy days and I just still need to check measurements and trim pieces if needed. 

 

The 4 kits in the middle are singles and ready to go.  The top one is from stash and the other 3 are new purchases from the bus trip or crazy days.  And the one in the front - Winnie the Pooh - needs a grey cuff and I just couldn't find anything in the stash that worked. It was also purchased on the bus trip.

 

My plan this year is to make each grandkid a pillowcase that I'll pair up with a book.  There are Bambi pillowcases in that back stack and you know what book will go with those, probably for the girls.  And the rest of the pillowcases will go into my donation/gift stack. 

More pillowcases started

Six more pillowcases have been started. Last night I got the top cuff sewn onto all 6 of these. Hope to finish at least some of these after work tonight. I used the same rust colored fabric for the cuff of 4 of these and had enough left for the narrow strip on #5.  

I use the "sausage roll" method and French seams. The French seams keep the seams from splitting from use or fraying in the wash. There are absolutely NO exposed raw seams.  This is such an easy process and there are lots of tutorials online. Just google "roll up" or "tube" or "sausage roll" and pillowcases.  

More pillowcases

3 more pillowcases finished and 3 more yards of stash used. Well actually 2 yards of stash and 1 pillowcase kit.  Yay!

More pillowcases

I can take 3 yards off my stash total this week because 3 more pillowcases were added to my donation stack.  I bought the farm fabric a couple of weeks ago on my way home from a school visit for work. Just couldn't resist - plus it was the end of a bolt.

The cityscape pillowcase was a kit I bought on impulse last month.  But when I opened it all up I realized that the strip cut for the top was a border print section and if I had folded it in half like usual it would have hidden half of the cute print. So I added a piece of plain white inside of that top section. Then I cut some off the bottom because it was going to be way too long.  Anyway it's done.

The other kit I bought is a Frozen print and that one was way too small. It's obviously a panel section and meant to be used on a square pillow. Someone didn't pay attention to the fact it wouldn't work for a standard pillowcase.  I'll just make it and one of the granddaughters can put it on a small square pillow instead.

Sunday sewing

I spent a couple of hours sewing on Sunday and a bit more time doing a little organizing.  This pillowcase is done and it was made from some of the fabric I got from my friend on Saturday.  The only thing pulled from my stash was the yellow accent strip. 

I also made a couple of bindings for quilts that are ready to bind, and I got the green binding attached to it's quilt. So that will give me some hand work this week.

Shrinking the stash

Over Labor Day weekend I pulled together and cut the pieces for more donation pillowcases.  One evening this week I pinned together the "tube" so they were ready to sew together using the tube method.  So now I have 7 pillowcases ready to sew the French seams on the bottoms and sides to finish them up as I find a little time to sew.  

The peach and navy ones were from fabric I bought locally last spring with pillowcases in mind.  The John Deere fabric was in my stash and had also been purchased within the year to make pillowcases. But the star fabric, the red and green cuff fabrics and those yellow and aqua piping fabrics were all from the "found" stash.  And it makes me feel so good to know that the abandoned unused stash fabric is shrinking a little every month.  

That means that I'll have room for more NEW fabric, right?

Pillowcases are piling up

Last week I posted about the fabric I found in my storage area, and I'm happy to say that I've been busy making pillowcases out of some of that yardage. Most of these will be donated to one of our local organizations.

2 music themed

2 "how to stop his snoring" novelty print

2 butterfly print

2 Laurel Burch cat print - I'm keeping these!

. . . and one with a flame and race car theme from new fabric that was left over from another recent project.

Usually I cut my pillowcase body 28" long and the cuff is cut at 10" (folded to 5"), which makes a nice long pillowcase even with French seams.  But the "snoring" fabric wasn't quite long enough so I cut wider cuffs to add to the 24" body.  I did the same thing with the racing themed one.  

I'm a huge fan of Laurel Burch prints and so I just have to keep the cat pillowcases to use myself.  I love her colors and the whimsical designs.  And I still have about 12" X WOF to use some other way.

Bugs, bugs, bugs

Summer pillowcases for the 2 oldest grandkids - with tons of bugs.  All 4 huggable kiddos will be here on July 3 to spend a few days while we all attend a family reunion on my husband's side of the family. Can't wait for everyone to get here.

Jonah's pillowcase

I managed to spend a little time this morning in my sewing room and I got Jonah's pillowcase made for his birthday.  Olivia's is pink and girly - Jonah's has cars and stripes.  I do love using this "tube" method for pillowcases because it's really fast, there are no exposed seams or handwork.

Finally - some sewing!

I ventured back into my messy - and neglected - sewing room this afternoon for a little fun.  A quick project was a pillowcase for granddaughter Olivia.  I had instructions to make it pink and girly. I think this one fits that description.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get brother Jonah's pillowcase made too.

Different Bugs & Butterflies

A whole different perspective on "bugs" and butterflies . . . there are 2 of these pillowcases.  Aren't those Flower Power cars just a kick?

Bugs & Butterflies

I had 3 pillowcases all cut out and pinned together over the weekend. Last night I finished one and got another partially sewn.  All 3 have a theme of bugs and butterflies.  And all 3 of them are on my UFO list for guild and my PHD (projects half done) list for The Pin Cushion. 

I use a "tube" process and French seams so there are no raw edges and no hand stitching. Just Google "pillowcase tube method" and you'll find all kinds of videos and patterns.  

Trains, trains, trains

I forgot to post a photo of the railroad themed pillowcase I made last week.  This was my final "finish" of 2013, made on New Year's Eve.  I'm going to try to do some stash busting this year by making more pillowcases. They make great gifts and great donations as well.

Digging into my new purchases

I made good use of my afternoon off yesterday to get a couple of things made using my new purchases from the quilt shop hop.  First thing I made was the pillowcase for my grandson using the Dinosaur Train fabric I found in Old Alley Quilt Shop in Sherburn MN.  He loves Dinosaur Train so this was a perfect purchase.

My second project was making two 60 degree table runners from this gorgeous poppy fabric. This was a purchase in New London MN at The Flying Goose.  Both of these are sandwiched with back and batting - ready to quilt.  I bought 3 different border prints to use for 60 degree runners at 3 different shops.  I'm a little obsessed with these.

Owls appearing everywhere

These are the companion pieces to the baby quilt that I made a couple of weeks ago.  The pillowcase on the right side will be for the baby when he gets big enough to have a pillow.

The 2 burp cloths will come in handy right away.  These are backed with organic cotton fleece and are very absorbent. I have to pre-shrink this fleece before using it because it shrinks about 25%.  But I love it for this purpose.

When the owl quilt comes back from the quilter I have lots of the green fabric for binding, but also have enough of the stripe. So I will need to decide which looks best but I'm leaning toward that lovely stripe I used on the burp cloths.

Pillowcases for a cause

Yesterday I mailed these 3 pillowcases to Connecticut for a project that is collecting 600 pillowcases to give to the children of Newtown, CT.

I initially read about this project on Canton Village Quilt Works blog and knew that I could contribute something. I had these pillowcases already made so they went right into the mail.  It is such a small thing, but I hope that the bright colors bring a smile to some faces following such a horrific event in their community.

If you want to send pillowcases too, follow my link for the mailing address.  The goal is December 27th, so time is short with the holiday in there. 

Monkey pillowcases

A quick project - in 30 minutes I made 2 pillowcases using the leftovers of my granddaughter's baby quilt.  Her mom picked out the cute monkey fabric, along with some coordinating prints.

The quilt didn't use up the fabric, so I made these to match. She is still too little for pillows, but she will have them when whe does get big enough to put a pillow on her bed.

And that is another 2 yards out of my stash.  Yay!