Sewing for Hospice House

I've mentioned that I am a volunteer for Hospice House and Support Care of Williamsburg. I started as the birdfeeder and birdbath caretaker and then oriented at the front desk (reception). Along the way, I learned they needed a few items sewn - simple tote bags for guest belongings, a pillow for each guest's bed as a decoration, and other small things. The pillow goes home with family.

The main person who sews pillows needed help, so I stepped in. She makes so many of them and delivered >50 recently. That's when she and I met. I was working at the front desk and she stopped by. We chatted and my assistant pillow maker gig began.

The pictured pillow was made completely from scraps today in a modified split-rail quilt block design. I was given small pieces of the fabric shown and the back of the pillow is from an old sheet that my sister gave me. The cost to me was time and the Poly-Fil, and the payback for me is a feeling of giving back and paying forward, a way to spend some of the new free time I've found since retirement, and my stash is getting smaller! That's just plain odd. 

Get out in your own community and see what kind of charity sewing you can do. Check with early intervention centers, nursing homes, hospices, any place that serves people in some way. You'll be glad you did. 

Loads of scrap stitching ideas

Are you hooked on Pinterest like I am? Even if you're not, take a look at this board:

Sewing Scrap Inspiration

Heather Valentine explains it as: "What to do with those pesky little bits of goodness."

Heather keeps a blog worth watching too:

The Sewing Loft Blog

I just had to share when I saw all of these great ideas. Anyone who loves to make do or sew with scraps will love some of her ideas. Enjoy!

Scrap Sewing Gift Card Holder

I happened upon this tutorial earlier today. How cute is this?

Photo from The Sewing Loft

I know I give gift cards a lot for Christmas and other occasions. Thank you to The Sewing Loft blog for doing this tute. A great way to use up scraps of trim and felt or other fabric.

Click here - The Sewing Loft

She has a great blog and free patterns. Check it out!

Quilt for Tracey, part 1

My beautiful niece, Tracey McDonald, visited recently and mentioned that she'd like a quilt. I recently received the gift of a box of fabrics and one of the pieces caught my eye, a dark green with butterflies. The butterflies are not prominent (they look like they are in the picture), so it's a nice subtle print. Of course, I always have denim. I recently purchased a Fat Cats rotary cutter ruler and thought that would make a great design for my animal-loving niece. Put that all together, and you have the trial block above. The plan is to create the rows, add 2" sashes across the bottom and top of each row, and then strip quilt the rows onto a piece of brown fleece that I have from an earlier project. Denim is fairly heavy, so having fleece as the batting and back combined eliminates a potentially very heavy quilt. I'm thinking it will be larger than lap sized, but not quite full bed sized. We'll wait and see on that.

Interestingly, I bought the ruler to create a larger Dresden Plate design with a scrappy look (using said box of fabric) and that's just going to have to wait. I'm inspired now!

Sewing again! Dish towel fun.

Two things:

First, it has been a while since I've been able to sew. I had a trigger finger and my carpal tunnel syndrome repaired. that meant that I had to hold off on doing any real sewing. I'm able to sew again and that makes me very happy.

Second, I need dish towels. Rather than run out and buy some, I decided to use an old bath towel that has seen better days. I cut out two pieces that were not damaged, serged the edges, and then tried to decide what to do. I had a smidgen of a cutter quilt left, so I cut out hearts and zig-zagged them onto the dish towel base. I try to make sure to sew over each old original seam; they're hand sewn and prone to come apart. Plus, these towels are going to be used and washed, so it's best to reinforce every seam I can.

I used a tight zig-zag stitch to applique the hearts in place and then applied Fray-Check for good measure.

I went through my leftover bias tape and found a length of red. I also zig-zagged that by machine and that was that.

Now I have a dish towel and one more blank ready to decorate. I have three more patchwork hearts, so I'll probably use those, but in a different arrangement somehow.

Lesson learned is that our bath towels are not dead when they're about ready to be retired. Take a look and see what you have. This was a quickie afternoon project, but you can make it as fancy or as simple as you like. The bottom line is that it's a true scrap project. I bought nothing. (I don't count the thread; I always have thread on hand and I wasn't as concerned about a 100% match for these.)

Now that I have a healed hand, I am finding I have a better than healed hand. I can hand sew again! In a very short while, I get to try embroidering again, and that makes me more than happy. I haven't embroidered for almost 30 years. And guess what? I have lots of old DMC floss, so I'll be scrap stitching then too!

Fun craft that can be adapted in many ways!

Over on Crafting A Green World, they have posted a really cool way to use old embroidery hoops to make Easter eggs. But guess what? You could do this with any hoop, any fabric, any embellishment, and have a really cool item to hang on your wall or give as a gift. I always see these hoops at yard sales and know I have a few of my own. I hooped embroidered pictures many years ago and had just about forgotten this method of crafting.

Image used by permission courtesy of  Crafting A Green World

Think of three round hoops with your favorite fabrics, quilt blocks (who says all blocks have to be made into pillows?), photo printed fabric, a button art piece, or just about anything, and hang them on the wall in a triangle or straight trio of art.

You may want to follow Crafting a Green World's blog. They have some amazing ideas that tickle the gray matter and make you think "I can do that!" Lots of their ideas have been jumping off points for me and get me thinking about a variety of ways to create. Have fun with it!

Scrap stitching - sort of - Handbag out of an old book!

I saw this link on Crafting for a Green World and thought some of you might enjoy giving it a try. You use fabric and an old book to make a purse. Fun idea, huh?

Hop over to Curbly and check out the tutorial.

Feel free to share your scrap stitching ideas for stuff!

Adam and Sandy's baby quilt almost done

So, I changed my mind and didn't do the Dresden Plate quilt I had originally planned. I started really working on it and decided to go with a primary color Log Cabin design that would work for a boy or a girl. Adam is a big Eagle's fan, so the background fabric is their logo and the back of the quilt is made from this as well.

I posted an "'almost done" item on Facebook and here's the result:


I tagged both Sandy and Adam on purpose. Lil stinker, ain't I?

I am working on a binding that includes a ruffle made of Eagles fabric. I had to add a ruffle after I found out the baby is a girl.

For their younger daughter, I'm making a Smurf's dress and rehabbing an 18" doll and dressing her in essentially the same dress. I have the daughter's dress cut out and ready to go, but it's not quite ready for prime time, and I have to figure out what to do with the doll's hair.

And to add even more interest to it all, another nephew is having a baby in July, a boy. What to do, what to make? Eeep!

This is indeed a scrap project, by the way. I had the primary colors. I keep a stash of Michael Miller's jewel fabrics for all sorts of sewing. I did buy the Eagles fabric, but you can't recycle all the time! Plus, this thing will be washed a lot. I make baby quilts to use and abuse.

Happy Thanksgiving Scrap Stitchers!

Scrap Stitching - Free patterns found on the net

I'm not at home, as you know, so don't have my whole sewing room with me, just a wee bit of it, and I'm feeling like sewing. I've been looking around at free patterns on the web and thought I would share a few with you that would go well with scrap sewing.

Here's a tote bag/CD case/glasses case from ClassicsCotton.com that looks pretty simple. What a better way to use up your scraps than to make a bag?

From the same web site, I found a nice pillowcase pattern. Simple and easy, and you can make these as gifts or for holidays at home, or whenever you want for a custom look on your bed.

Here's a nifty apron pattern that includes a pocket. They call it a Funky Kitchen apron. I call it a great way to do a patchwork piece or use up a colorful remnant you have hanging around. This one is from the folks at ClothWorksTextiles.com.

This apron is a bit different. It's got an assymetric halter feel to it. You could almost wear it with jeans for a hippie sewing look.

You can never have enough tote bags. This one looks like it could double as a grocery bag. Just be sure to reinforce those handles!

Here are some lovely pillows to make and some birds to go with them. I love the fabrics they used, but you could use any you like to make these elegant or funky.

Heffalumps and woozles. Okay, no woozles, but some cute elephant patterns for pillows.

Maybe you could use a woozle or two on this bib from UnitedNotions.com!

Classy up your sewing area with a Prairie Flower Pincushion. So cute! It uses paper piecing and hexagons, two of my favorite ways to sew.

Another pincushion to consider is this Eight-Pointed Civil War Buckshot one from Marcus Fabrics.

Michael Miller Fabrics offers this free Christmas tree skirt pattern. It's pretty enough to wear! Use your imagination, though; you're not limited to the fabrics shown.

I've brought you placemat patterns before, but this one looks like fun. It's a chicken pattern! First a picture of it and then the pattern.

Ever wonder how to make these cute little roses?   Wonder no more, for here's a pattern for ruched roses from PBTex.com.

For a long list and to do some exploring of your own, this was my starting point. It's amazing how many people are generous enough to share their ideas and work with us, isn't it? Of course, there's always Google and some tutorials here as well.

Happy hunting!

Oh the sewing we can sew

I've got a really fun stash of fabrics, from M&Ms to Peter Max to strawberries, Star Wars, Elvis, German Shepherd Dogs, the Smurfs, Harley Davidson, various NFL teams, and all sorts of designs in between. The last few days have seen the M&M fabric and the Peter Max fabric come out to play. First same these:

 

Everyone needs an M&M light switch cover, right? I made a few of each and put them up on Etsy. 

Then I made these two pot holders: 

 

The log cabin one is on Etsy too. 

 

I love them both, but am particularly fond of the Peter Max one, also available on Etsy. I made sure to capture a signature piece for the strip quilting:

I had some fun sewing these. I suggest if you have a spare couple of hours this holiday weekend, grab up some batting, Thinsulate and some of your fabric bits and make some pot holders. Keep or sell. It's up to you!

That's my fun for today. What's yours?