October 30, 2011

a finished quilt

After sharing so many quilt tops, I finally have a finished blanket to show off.
It's another disappearing nine patch (of course) made up of 45 6-inch squares. I made this little quilt completely from supplies I had on hand. I have a bad habit of purchasing little remnants of cute fabrics (like the multi-colored polka dot and the white fabrics), but I never end up using them. Turns out they're perfect for a D9P. Some of the other fabrics (blue and white check and blue and yellow plaid) are leftovers from some of the first blankets I made several years ago. The finished size of this blanket is about 32 inches x 40 inches. I backed it in a blue chambray-type fabric leftover from decorating my son's room, and I quilted it in random straight lines across the width and length of the blanket.
This little blanket is for nobody in particular--I just wanted to make something from my fabric stash. I'd like to make more and donate them to a worthwhile cause like Project Linus or an organization that assists expectant mothers.

October 19, 2011

painted Halloween treat bags

I am making my son a Yoda costume for Halloween, and I purchased way too much Osnaburg fabric to make Yoda's robe. Since I have so much fabric leftover, I decided to sew some little treat bags for my son and I to decorate. His adorable little treat bags:



For these bags I cut pieces of fabric 4 & 1/2 inches wide by 13 inches long. Osnaburg frays like crazy so I made a small hem at each 5 inch end. I folded the fabric in half lengthwise and made French seams on each side--way to much work for little Halloween treat bags! We used a clearance Making Memories foam Halloween stamp set I purchased at Michaels a few years back for $1. (I'm kicking myself now for not buying every set they had.) For the paint, I mixed acrylic Ceramcoat paint with textile medium. (Michaels just started selling Martha Stewart craft paint that is suitable for just about everything including glass and fabric. As I run out of Ceramcoat, I'm going to replace it with Martha Stewart.) We'll stuff these little bags with candy and tie the tops with ribbon to make little gifts for his neighborhood friends.

I also stamped some fabric to make larger treat/gift bags. For these, I cut pieces of fabric 6 inches wide by 20 inches long. I like to stamp the design before sewing the bag together in case I totally mess up the stamping. I think I'll stitch them together leaving raw edges exposed so they'll fray and look a little more rustic. I like the way these turned out so much I'll be making some Christmas gift bags soon.








October 16, 2011

Why bother. . .

. . .cleaning off the kitchen table when it just ends up looking like this again.

(Not pictured is the baby quilt I'm currently binding, a huge stack of mail, and a wooden Christmas sign I'm in the process of painting.) When we refinished the basement, my husband let me have the really big room for a craft room. But I still prefer to craft at the kitchen table--I'm sure much to his dismay. I know it's been a while since I've blogged about any projects, but hopefully this week I can share the cute little Halloween treat bags we're making today. Hope you had a good (and crafty) weekend!