Celebrating the 4th

I just could not resist doing these shirts for my youngest granddaughters.

I learn something with everything I make.

The girls liked the shirts when I delivered them this morning

and put them right on to wear.

The 4 year old proudly showed me the sign she and her sisters had made,

and wished me a happy 4th of July.

I hope everyone enjoys a safe holiday

and may we always remember how precious our freedom is

and how high the cost.

An early 4th

One of my dear granddaughter's turned 4 this past weekend.

For her party she chose a lady bug theme.

So I decided to have fun with my sewing/embroidery machine

and decorated a shirt for her to wear for the party.

She loves to play in her little kitchen so I also decorated 

an apron for her to wear in there.

To finish it off she got a little table and chairs

to go in that kitchen 

so I decided a tablecloth was also needed.

My hamper was about the right size to try it out.

I had fun learning how to rearrange the little leaf with ladybug

that was built into the machine

to spice things up a bit.

I am not sure if I had more fun making these 

than she will have wearing and using them

but maybe it will make good memories for both of us.

Finishing the Pot Holders

I got sidetracked with other projects to sew,

and to embroider as I learn 

this new machine.

However, I finally got a break and went back to finish

what I began ending up with 8 potholders.

As I made each pair of pot holders

I learned something else.

Sometimes about the machine and 

sometimes about the pattern.

It feels good to make progress

 and to be able to see

the results too.

And even better to end up with something practical

that can make nice little gift additions

to a kitchen basket.

Birthday Embroidery

My little granddaughter has a birthday coming up this month

and chose Lady Bugs for her party theme.

This sparked my imagination 

and I decided to decorate a little apron

since she loves to play in her little kitchen.

I had fun playing around with the little lady bug on a leaf pattern

that was in my machine.

So many possibilities!

So I added them to a tea towel

to be used as a table cloth

on the little table and chair set she is getting.

It will be about the size of this hamper so I tried it out

and I think she will like this.

Maybe even as much as I have enjoyed making it!

The Magic

Continued from Sore Brain Cells

To prepare for the magic,

I lifted one corner of a top triangle and folded it back.

Then I lifted the corner of the triangle underneath it.

I laid the first triangle corner back down,

 followed by the second triangle corner.

This is the beginning of a pinwheel effect.

 Now pull an opposite triangle corner up,

and once again fold back the triangle corner underneath.

 Again, lay the first triangle corner down,

followed by the second triangle corner.

Magically you have revealed this pinwheel

which is double sided.

At this point I had to cut a rectangle of fabric 1 1/4" by 4" and pressed it lengthwise in half

and then pressed each edge into the center fold

 and again folding and pressing that original center fold,

I stitched it down forming the fabric to be used as a loop for hanging.

This I folded in half to make a loop

and inserted it at one corner between the triangles and the front

and pinned and stitched around the outer edge of the hot pad.

DO NOT leave an opening to turn.

Clip the corners.

 Now you can magically turn it right side out

by pulling it through the opening in the center back where all the triangles come together.

Front.

Back.

I know the corners don't meet.

It will probably bug me every time I see it.

But I will also remind myself that this is how we learn.

Focus on learning the new machine and new pattern

and the technique will improve on it's own.

I already feel a little more confident with my machine.

It is the first step.

Sore Brain Cells aka learning new things

For Christmas Santa brought me a new sewing machine.

The old one though top of the line with Singer

when I purchased it in the early 70's,

just wasn't keeping up any longer.

I spent the next three months taking classes,

because quite frankly I was intimidated by all these buttons

not to mention an instruction guide an inch thick!

But oh so excited.

And nervous.

And eager to begin.

April brought multiple birthdays 

and house repairs

and a surgery,

but today I finally felt better and into the sewing room I went.

I had watched a segment on Fons and Porter where they made cute coasters.

I thought this would be a great project to learn my machine

 and try out some of the MANY decorative stitches

while using up stash materials.

However, since I had some thermal batting I opted to make them a bit larger.

I was right.  This was a good project to learn on.

And I will be making a few more as I learn to use the laser guide

and pivot feature as well as changing feet to stitch other designs.

I am sure my finished products will improve too.

Right now I am focusing on learning and getting comfortable with the machine,

and am not concerned about corners that did not meet or fabric tucks,

(the moving foot practice will come another day).

But enough on this side of the pot holder.

The key to their project was the folded back...

After doing the decorative stitches on the front and batting,

The back consisted of four squares folded and pressed in half to form triangles.

With the front of the pot holder face up,

I laid the first triangle down on any corner.

The second triangle on an opposite corner.

The third triangle lays across the first two pieces.

The last triangle lays opposite number three.

The magic happens next.

(I broke this down into two segments due to the large number of photos, so please go on to the next post to see the magic.  Also I apologize for the changes in camera angle that make these steps a bit confusing but my dog kept moving and I had to work around him.)

Last one for the season

I ran across this velvet before Christmas in my stash

and decided to make a scarf.

So I found some fringe and beaded edging

but then got busy with the holidays.

I finally had some time to play and embossed the velvet.

That was the easy part.

I have made scarves and pin cushions before with velvet I emboss.

It is challenging sewing but this just would not cooperate.

I finally ended up having to sew it by hand.

The colors in this velvet are different and the camera just wasn't picking them all up.

I selected it because it was brown with pumpkin undertones.

But the embossing brought out a pale blue!

Under certain angles or lighting,

 which I could not capture with the camera,

it looks blue on blue!

In these photos the fringe braid stands out lighter but in fact it matches very well.

Well on to the next project.  

Birthday!

I am blessed to own a few old sewing machines.

So my family always keeps an eye out for 'notions'.

And for my birthday this year my son surprised me with this lovely tool kit.

Absolutely complete,

and such detailed craftsmanship.

What a marvelous find.

Including the book!!!

What a wonderful gift.

And then they took me out to dinner.

I am truly blessed!

Blankets for our Babies

Another Christmas gift finished.

This is two blankets.  One for my 2 year old granddaughter.

The other, smaller one, is for her baby doll.

She just brought a cradle over to keep at my house for her dolly

so I decided we needed some blankets.

Think I will get that sweater knitted in time?

Starting Early

Well kind of.

I bought this fleece last year but never had time to do anything with it in time for Christmas.

So I set it back in the closet.

I ran across it a couple of weeks ago along with directions

for an easy way to edge it.

So the first gift for Christmas 2013 is complete.

And counting...

Cause for Paws

This past Friday I stopped by my local quilt shop

to help support a fundraiser for

a no kill animal shelter.

Last year they raised more than $20,000.00

from selling donated fabric postcards

sent from people all around the world.

The shop provided the machines and all materials.

All I brought was a little of my time.

Literally!

Because I had never made these before.

I had never sewn on any of these new machines.

So this was a win win win for everyone.

Wish I would have had more time.

Maybe next year...

Then again maybe I will make up a few during the year

to bring with me next time.

Now that I know how.

But here is what mine looked like.

Not terrific photos but hey, aren't cell phones wonderful little gadgets?

Fidget Quilt

Recently I learned about Fidget Quilts.

Simple lap quilts with do dads added,

which are appealing to the fingers of dementia patients 

as well as victims of stroke and head injuries.

I was so excited I got out my stash and whipped up this top:

Then I added some texture with beads and fringe and crochet.

A little ribbon and bias tape.

And of course tied it using buttons.

I am going to give it to my mother. 

I hope it will occupy her fingers.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to forget how to crochet.

It isn't the best work I have ever done and I like to hand quilt but I had a deadline

and imagine she won't mind.

New blue tropical blouse

Finished this blouse yesterday.

I try really hard to keep saturdays mostly for me.

Sometimes I just nap and read.

Sometimes I sew.

I try to sew as normally I enjoy it and find it relaxing,

plus I often end up with something to wear.

I love this fabric.

Most tropical prints are green based and green is not often a good color for me.

So this fabric was a treat to find but took me a year to make the time to sew it.

Now more than ever I am dreaming/wishing for a new sewing machine.

I need one that makes good button holes!

I want one that does some embroidery!

Mine is over 40 years old and while it has the cams for the decorative stitches,

it is so out of whack that I cannot use them.

Yes, taking it in for adjustments might fix that.

But it has never made good buttonholes.

I decided after this project that a new machine has gone from the realm of want

to the realm of need.

Does anyone have a machine that they love or hate?

Any suggestions?

National Quilting Day

I celebrated National Quilting Day not by quilting

but at least I was sewing, or more accurately,

serging.

I have had the pansy fabric waiting to be made into cloth napkins for several months.

The gingerbread was leftover from an apron. 

I like to make my napkins double thickness so I lined two of them with red,

and the other two with blue.

The gold ones are for my daughter and are a single layer.

This is a quick project and a great way to use up scraps

 but more importantly so much fun to use!

I have several quilts I want to work on

and hope to finish up a number of these other projects

so that I can get started on some of those.