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Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Pillowcases for Sammy

Happy New Year and Valentine's Day


     Tomorrow our youngest grandson turns one.  As I have done in the past, I made him a year's worth of pillowcases.

Mardi Gras, St Patrick's Day, Easter

     They include Happy New Year, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, St Patrick's Day, Easter, Summer, Baseball, Fourth of July, Back to School, Football, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Happy Birthday.

Summer, Baseball, Fourth of July


     As soon as we found out it was going to be a boy, I started shopping my stash and then a couple of quilt stores on my way to retreat, Patched Works in Elm Grove and Mill House Quilts in Waunakee.

Back to School, Football, Halloween


    I got everything cut and then waited for him to be born.  After we got his name, I got on the computer and did up his name.  Then I stitched out all the pillowcases and assembled them using the 'hotdog' method.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Happy Birthday


     Can't wait to give them to him on Saturday at his birthday party.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Groovy Backpack Plus Camp 2019

Groovy Backpack Plus Camp Projects


     Just finished a fun week of teaching three girls to make a backpack from pre-quilted fabric and a couple of zippered pouches.  They finished so quickly that we had time to make a small cross body purse.


Annie and her backpack


     The backpack pattern was from an old Fons and Porter quilting magazine and I found the half square zippered pouch pattern free on Craftsy/Bluprint.  The cross body bag is one I got when I took my educator training many years ago.









Annie and her projects


     Annie chose a pretty peachy pink floral quilted fabric that had a paisley design on the other side.  She used the paisley print for her pocket.  She then used one of her blue floral fat quarters for the trim fabric.  I let her choose a fat quarter from my stash for the other half of her zippered pouch.













Libby and her backpack

Libby and her projects


     Libby chose a cheery daisy print fabric with a gingham back side.  She opted to do the pocket and straps from the gingham side.  She had three coordinating purple print fat quarters for her zippered pouches.  She used the other half of Reese's purple zipper with  a white zipper pull for one of her pouches since only half of each zipper was needed for each pouch.








Reese and her backpack

Reese and her projects


     Reese's quilted fabric was more subdue, black with white quilting lines and a red and black buffalo check on the other side.  Since she chose a pretty pastel blue for her trim fabric she opted not to use the reverse side at all, instead we turned her pocket piece sideways do the diamond quilting was side to side instead of up and down like on the rest of the backpack.  Because her backpack was more plain, she did a decorative stitch on the trim piece with a variegated thread.  She chose two shades of blue and a light purple batik like print for her fat quarters.  She had a light blue zipper and a light purple one.


     The girls decided to make pull tabs from a strip of fabric to add to their zippers after seeing it on a sample purse I had made.  Like I said earlier, they worked so quickly that I had to come up with another project.  We decided on the 2 hour purse that I have taught many times.  They had enough fabric left from their other projects as well as enough fusible fleece.  I didn't want to have to send the moms out shopping at the last minute so I decided they would just choose a zipper from my stash.  I didn't think I would have cord for them but when we were looking through my stuff we found a piece of pretty pink rattail cord for Reese and a spool of flat cord trim that Annie and Libby used.

     They had fun swapping fabric scraps to make their purses.  Annie used the bright batik I had given her for the outside and turquoise from Reese for the inside.  Libby chose the peachy pink floral from Annie for the outside and used her yellow flower print for the inside.  Reese used the light blue from her backpack for the outside and a purple and white print from Libby for the inside.

     Whew, lots of sewing and tons of smiles.  Annie, Libby and Reese you did a great job.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

After School Sewing 2018-2019

Kelsey and her banner

     After School Sewing for 2018-2019 has finished.  I had three classes plus some private lesson students.  I had returning students and new students and some that dropped after a bit, overall a typical year.

Annie and her back tab skirt

Taelyn and her skirt

Katie and her sewing bag

Adalyn and her skirt


     On Mondays I had Annie, Katie, Taelyn and Adalyn.  They were all new to sewing but learned the basics quickly.  Annie started coming twice a week and quickly finished book 1.

Grace and her blouse

Aviva and her sports bra

Morgan's backpack

     On Tuesdays I had my private lesson girls.  Kelsey, Aviva and Grace came together and then Morgan would come in the evening.  It was fun helping them with different projects including remaking a swimsuit to match one from a James Bond movie.

Rae and her pants

Isy and her tank top

Loren and her jacket

Veronica and her sundress

     Wednesdays was Rae, Isy, Loren and Veronica.  Rae was a beginning student while the others have been with me for a while.  It's fun to see their progress.

Libby and her pants

Michelle and a blouse for her aunt

Aly and her pants


     Thursdays was Annie, Libby, Michelle and Aly.  Michelle has been with me for quite a few years while the others are newer.

     Several of the girls will be taking some camps with me this summer and hopefully they will all be back in the fall.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Giraffes for Sammy Quilt

Finished quilt

     A couple of summers ago, the whole family went on a vacation.  To make it a little more special, I made each of the then three grandkids a larger sized quilt.  Now that Sammy is almost a year old, I decided he needed one also.

Fabrics detail
 
     I had bought this flannel quilt kit at a quilt show  back in 2016.  I really liked the fabrics and it also had the Yellow Brick Road quilt pattern included.  It is a pattern I have been wanting to do for some time.

Border detail

     I cut everything at home and at retreat in March of 2018 I sewed it together.  Unfortunately I messed it up and had to improvise to get it together.  Then I didn't read the directions for putting on the directional border.  The kit had long enough pieces cut but I didn't do it right and had to improvise there again.

Backing and quilting detail

    I found the perfect flannel at Patched Works in October of 2018 for the binding (the backing was included in the kit).  Sally of Windy City Quilting did a cute Bubbles Everywhere pattern to quilt it all together.

Label 1
     I used a cute design from Designs by JuJu to use for the one label and then just used the font in my software for the other label.

Label 2

     I still haven't made a Yellow Brick Road quilt yet, but I will one of these days.  I think his quilt turned out really cute anyways.