Unfinished projects - UFOs

It's been a sewing few days:

• I'm getting ready to travel, so I got a small Cathedral Window quilt cut out and all the machine work done. That's ready to go with me for hand sewing on the road.
• There was a set of prequilted placemats waiting to be bound in my placemats container. I got out the strawberry fabric today, made bias binding, bound the strawberry quilted placemats  by machine, and they now are on the table, adding some much needed color and love to the room.
• I have a stack of 4" square Halloween fabrics. I've wanted to make trick-or-treat bags, so I started stitching the squares together and cut some 2" strips to go with them, made handles, and made a prototype lined bag. I didn't like the size, so I redesigned and made another one - perfect! I now have a design for trick-or-treat bags that I can work with and made one more. Those will make a nice sale item. I have models in mind and will take some photos when I get back from AZ. 
• Though this is not sewing, per se; I've rounded up all the denim pieces and jeans I have around the house and have been dissecting them to beat the band. I've got a nice stack of 5" squares to work with when I return from vacation. I want to make another Smurf quilt. 

So there you have it - my sewing room has not been sitting quiet. I've been a busy beaver. I have a lot of projects left to finish and many more to begin, but it's all going to have to wait. I have another trick-or-treat bag to finish first!

Smurf quilt done and in its new home

The Smurf quilt is done. Not only is it done, I put it on Etsy and it was gone within days. It now lives with a young man in Virginia who loves Smurfs. I'm going to make a Smurf pillow for him as well. It will be a simple square pillow stuffed with Polyfil, but he should love it. It makes me smile to think of him with these items!

Updated an older post - Christmas Stockings (teachers and otherwise)

Hey - lookie here - I updated the Christmas Stocking post with teacher's stockings and a link to how to make strip quilted stockings. Never to early to start making this year's batch!

Getting Smurfier!

The Smurfs quilt is almost done. All the fabric's been cut and every day, I've done a little something.

Patchwork - done.

Backing - done.

Machine "quilting" - done.

Binding made - done.

Binding applied - working on it! I suck at quilt binding. I have to do it by hand because I can't get the hang of doing it by machine. 

I should have the binding done in another couple days. It will take a while.

Sewing may not be on the top of the priority list here soon. I'm going to be traveling in May, so I want to work really hard in April to get my knee up to snuff so I can walk as much as I want to. That's a lofty goal, but I can make it at least halfway to there, I'm sure! I definitely will continue to hand sew the hexagon quilt (it's going to take a year to finish) and will start a small project to take with me on the plane in May. It might be a small Cathedral Window again. I have one almost done using M&M fabric that is doll sized.

I also have two ideas for items to make and sell. More about them as the ideas develop. Wouldn't it be great to make my whole 'paycheck' with sewing and Amazon, Etsy, and eBay? Well yes, it would!

Smurf day!

Twas Smurf day in the sewing room. I know, it's supposed to be Friday and I should be planning the weekend. But I am not. I am relaxing after having cut and sewn and Smurf'd my way through the day.

I cut the remainder of the 5" squares for the Smurf quilt. That didn't take long, but I used an "I spy" technique so that I could utilize the fabric in the best way possible and get a good image on each square.

I also cut out a little girl's twirl dress using the Smurf fabric. I will be putting a white Peter Pan collar on it and using some white decorative ribbon to fem it up. I have to get that fabric and the zipper for the back, but other than that, it's cut and ready to sew.

With the remaining pieces on the floor, I cut bias strips and made the binding for the Smurf quilt.

Okay, so I did cut a few denim squares and it wasn't 100% Smurf fabric day, but it almost was! Happy Smurf Day!

Working on unfinished projects!

Recently, I spent some time cleaning my sewing area and during that time, I organized my unfinished projects in such a way that I'm able to get to them and work on them easily. I don't have oodles of things to complete, but I do want to get them done. As I was sewing today, I thought of several more projects to begin! It's never-ending, isn't it?

Today, I pulled out a lap quilt I started - Smurfs! I use junk jeans for a lot of things. One of the items in my box of fun things to finish is a Smurf lap quilt. I'm using 5" squares of Smurfs fabric (a vintage sheet I purchased on eBay) alternating with recycled denim. It's a nice look! I put together three rows today and attached them one to the other, for a total of four. The end result will be nine rows by eight squares, and the binding will be smurf fabric that I will piece together from bits of the sheet. I am backing this particular lap quilt with minkie that I have which was purchased for another project and not used. It will make for a wonderfully soft backing and warm too! I like to use fleece when I can with denim quilts because the denim is so heavy that it's often difficult to work with a traditional backing and batting.

It felt great getting this one to about the halfway stage. I'll be making at least one more row tomorrow and then it's time to cut more squares. Before I know it, my unfinished projects box will be empty!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And

a

Happy

St. 

Patrick's 

Day

to you and yours!