Someone told me you can re-purpose those plastic grocery bags – and not just by using them as liners for your smaller cans… If you are a knitter or crochet guru, you can actually make bags and more out of those pesky plastic grocery bags. I do neither but am thoroughly impressed just the same!
Check out this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRFxhIHd8Q&NR=1#watch-main-area
Come and check out the new addition to my workshops and gallery pages! I have uploaded better pictures of those tiny purses (renamed Pocket Purses). I blogged about in December and have since finished quite a few. They are just adorable as well as functional! I just love them! And happily, I will be teaching them at Bear’s Paw in Towson in March.
I hope every one is having a nice holiday season. It has been hectic around here with family coming and going – and they all come and go with extra dogs! It is a joy to have them all home just the same.
Amidst all the chaos, I have been working on this new FREE Block-of-the-Month quilt, Starry Night. Attached is a preview of the pattern for it. This is an EQ6 file and not the completed quilt. I am working on the last blocks now ( ran out of a blue and bought some more – now have to wash it – yes, I am a fabric washer!) and will have it all together just in time! In January, the fabric requirements for the whole quilt will be ready as well as the center applique block. Offering it with the first pieced block will allow you plenty of time to complete it as you piece the rest of the quilt. I’m thinking I like this border option but may change it when I actually get to working on it. The quilt measures 48″ x 60″. Its been a lot of fun to create it and I have included some easy piecing techniques that I think you will like.
I needed quick Christmas gifts and came up with this! I think they’ve turned out so well, I may have to keep making them after the holidays are over. The back of the bag and the front pocket are crazy-patch piecing. Then I used my machine embroidery stitches and a bit of hand-sewn beads and baubles to embellish. A cell phone and glasses will fit nicely in the front – perfect for festivals, quilt shows and shopping trips where you don’t want to haul around a shoulder-breaking handbag.
My braided hearts quilt is finally finished! Well, the hearts are not exactly braided but woven strips of fabric, like a basket. I embellished with bits of lace and beads to add some romance. Check out better pictures of it in my gallery. This technique will be offered as a class at Sew-n-Save in February too!
This second picture was a proto-type of the block – done with just two colors instead of the neutrals in the finished quilt. The white background is a little hard to photograph but I think you get the idea.
Saturday’s class was fun but rushed. Between the snow falling and not enough tables (we were trying a new venue), we persevered! Some of us even made it to the quilting processes before deciding it really was time to pack it up and slog home through the slush before it got too hard to slog through! Luckily, every one made it home safely and the snow never really did amount to much – just threatened too.
Ok – Who has gotten their holiday quilts out yet? Its about that time! I am slowly bringing them out – but I hesitate to decorate too much – mainly because I’ve got to pack it all away again later. Hence the first quilt out is always the most useful – the one I can snuggle under while watching TV. This quilt was made from several Flying Geese Quilt Guild Christmas block exchanges over the years.
The second quilt was also a block exchange from a mini-group. It is versatile enough to stay out til February or March. Love the embellishing on the snowmen!
The children are rolling out one by one – along with a few assorted dogs so after I clean and clean and clean, I plan to get back to this project. These are squares of woven fabric but the background is added on to create subtle curves that make a heart shape. Its a class sample for February’s Braided hearts. There are strips of vintage and not so vintage lace woven into the hearts as well as a large variety of white and beige fabric.
Spent the weekend with my mother and had the time to put in the last stitches on this quilt. It is a smaller version of my Diamond Star Pattern. I was inspired to do the blues and yellows by someone who took the class – I’d mention her name but forgot to ask her if I could – any way, she was using all her blue and yellow scraps – I saw her center completed just last week – beautiful! Check out a better picture of this quilt in my gallery.
Just uploaded a quilt I finished last month on a trip to NC, October Trees – the end result of a long block exchange project. There were so many trees exchanged that I couldn’t use them all in this quilt. I just loved making this quilt so much. It was the inspiration for my new Tessellating Trees Table Topper. Check out my gallery to see better pictures.
