Just a little sewing

I've been doing a bit of sewing here and there and finally finishing a few things. I changed my mind about the baby quilt noted below, but you'll have to wait to see what I ended up putting together. I used the fabrics (other than the backing) that I said I would, but well, it's not done yet. 

Today, I started working on some mug mats. All I have left to do on those is the binding. I'll post the pictures in a sort of tutorial after I get the photos ready to go.

The one thing I did finish was a tiny little drawstring bag. My husband had asked me to make a velvet drawstring bag for a firearm part he wanted protected. I don't have any velvet, but I do have fleece! this was a quickie project, but it'll work fine for storing the cylinder he needed to have it for. I thought it was cute enough to photograph, so there you have it.

I'm about to be semi-retired (after May 31), so I'm looking toward my stash and dreaming of sewing projects that I've been putting off. Oh yeah! Etsy, watch out. I'm getting ready to get my sewing act together again. 

How's your scrap stitching going?

Want to make some placemats?

Over on the right side of the page is a link to projects I've created over the years. Today, I posted a project for placemats. I worked for Sewing.com for a while and part of what I did was make "stuff" and photograph the steps along the way. I have made placemats like these a bazillion times and decided it was a perfect fit for an online tutorial.

So, while I continue to be on vacation, I'm still playing with some of the sewing projects I've done online. Feel free to make the idea your own!

Hexagon quilt - part 2

I work on my hexagon charm quilt every day and today, I made a decision.

We have so many blankets and sheets and bed coverings that we don't use or that don't match anything at all, many of which we don't remember acquiring!, and have been collecting these things for 20 or 30 years. Today, we made a pile and went through it. One item in the pile was an old store bought quilt. The pieced side has been falling apart and we stopped using it some time ago, but it's been living in my daughter's room just collecting dust. The batting is in good shape. The backing is in good shape. I did this once in the past, so decided to do this again - I'm going to use this old quilt as the batting and backing for the hexagon quilt. It's a ready-made completion piece, it guides me to the finished size of the top that I'm making, and it's essentially free. Why throw it away? Re-purpose it. Upcycle it. Reuse it. Recycle it.

I feel good about the decision and now look forward to continuing to sew and sew and sew until the hexagon top is done.

Gotta start somewhere! Intro!

Originally posted in 2006. - Let us begin with an introduction. I'm Donna. I'm the content manager of Sewing.com. Doug and Lisa own the site. I started sewing as a young child and re-discovered it when my children were born. I've never stopped. I like making something out of nothing, recycling old fabrics and jeans, and making things from new fabrics as well. I make clothes, quilts, doll clothes, pillows, whatever strikes my fancy. I even made a bandana baby recently just to try it. This is not just a place for my thoughts; it's also a place for yours. Bring your sewing thoughts and ideas and join me. Reminisce. Plan. "Talk" out loud. It's a sewing kind of blog.
05/31/10 - Time to update this introduction. I'm still Donna. I haven't been the content manager for Sewing.com for some time now. I've been through several iterations of sewing sites and have settled on none. I keep the ZenSewing blog to show projects, talk about sewing, show off what I'm doing, and kind of to keep myself "out there" in the sewosphere. I still sew almost every day and just today posted pictures of some recycled denim pillows I've made. Some of the posts need to be updated and photos added as when they were imported from various places, the content didn't make it in full, but it'll get done. Comment anytime you like. It's my sewing world and  you're invited to join it.
01/16/11 - And another update.  The site has evolved once more. I am transitioning site information to the blog (now the ScrapStitching and ScrapSewing blog) and keeping projects and tutorials and organized photos on ScrapStitching.com itself. The goals are simple - pass along sewing knowledge, continue to show and encourage people to "sew green" (funny, I've been "green" for a lot longer than I even knew the term!), and providing free projects and information to anyone who wants it. I still maintain TheSewingDictionary.com and it's one of the only comprehensive sewing glossaries on the web. And with that, know that I'll get photos up on the old blog entries that need them re-added, and that you'll always find something minutely interesting out here in ScrapStitching land!