Accessories – Page 4 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Scissor Cozies

Mom's Scissor Keeper — Mom’s Scissor Keeper

I have been thinking about the Scissor Cozies I made recently.

I went on a mini-rampage flinging things out of my fabric closet and filing other things away. At the end of it, I had found an already quilted piece of fabric/ Soft & Stable left over from the Cargo Duffle.

In general, it has been a week of tidying and tossing things into the donation pile. One thing I found that I put into my new Sewing Machine Suitcase was a pair of Fiskars scissors I used to keep in my office (I would sew there on my lunch hour). I have several pair and didn’t need another in my sewing room, so I thought the suitcase would be a good home.

This led me to think about making a Scissor Cozy for them, especially after I saw another IG post about the free tutorial from sotakhandmade.

I might need to make the template larger as those Fiskars are on the large side. I can cut it out from that extra piece of fabric, though the piece is large enough to use in a Running with Scissors tote, so I might want to rethink. Regardless, I’d like to use that piece for something and get it out of my fabric closet. It is one of those things that floats around without a real home.

Gift Post #9: Iron Caddy

I have had this pattern in my pattern box for a long time. This is one of the things I gave Julie for Christmas last week. Since I gave her a small iron last year, I decided that this travel iron caddy was the perfect accessory.

I used some of the aluminized, quilted fabric I bought at Britex instead of using the aluminized, non-quilted fabric that came with the pattern. I have enough of the quilted version and it saved me from having to quilt anything.

The directions are confusing, because the project is complicated. Once I got the hang of it I sort of blew through the project. I am pleased with the way this project came out. However, I don’t know that I will make one of these again. I suppose making it a second time would be easier.

Iron Caddy - half open — Iron Caddy – half open

Iron Caddy - open, inside — Iron Caddy – open, inside

Iron Caddy - open, outside — Iron Caddy – open, outside

Iron Caddy - button closure & elastic — Iron Caddy – button closure & elastic

Gift Post #6 2019: Mom’s Scissor Cozy

I finished Mom’s Scissor Cozy on November 17, but couldn’t post about it until today. I had trouble on both of the cozies with the tips.

I am not sure how to remedy that except to eliminate the batting near the edges. i don’t know if that would work, but I’ll try it if I make this pattern again. It’s a cool shape.

The pattern is free from sotakhandmade.

Raffle Mega Pinnie

I made another Mega Pinnie and decided to use it as a raffle prize sometime down the road.

I started it as a gift for a friend, but it didn’t turn out to be suitable. I think someone who attends a guild meeting will like it. I still might use the mini Pinnie for my friend and make a new one for this one.

For the raffle, I can also put the tools into the pockets.

Trolling around the web, I saw a post by the designer who showed a number of different versions of the Mega Pinnie. She taught a class and the examples were from those students. Take a look. The post has a lot of fun photos showing different ways to use the Mega Pinnie.

Casserole Carrier Returns

I received a casserole carrier from Sue at the 2017 BAM Winter Extravaganza. I haven’t had much of an opportunity to use it, but I did at Sew Day with Gerre.

Nobody in my house is particularly fond of cornbread. I enjoy it. Sometime ago I found out that Gerre loves cornbread. Now when we get together, I make cornbread.

At our last Sew Day, I was in a rush, because my previous tasks had taken longer than expected, so the cornbread came out of the oven right before I planned to leave. I didn’t want to wait for it to cool. I wanted to GO. Then I remembered the casserole carrier! I hadn’t used the pan that came with it, but I tried it anyway. The pan I used was a little small, but the velcro on the carrier was adjustable, so it worked great.

I was thrilled. Gerre was impressed and I was very thankful to Sue!

This came up because AllPeopleQuilt have a casserole carrier pattern available in this month’s newsletter. I am sure you can find others, too, if you don’t like the one they provide. I think you will use it, if you make one.

I saw some very nice, but inexpensive casserole pans/dishes at Tuesday Morning a few days ago, if you need one.

Maureen’s Pincushion

In order to add a gift to Maureen’s bag, I made her a pincushion. Unlike the bag, the pincushion went together very smoothly. I had some of the pieces and parts from my last round of pincushion making on the cutting table. They weren’t crappy, just unused.

I picked out some other scraps from the unsorted pile on my cutting table and came up with a great selection. I am pleased with how it looks and don’t think it looks thrown together or disjointed at all.

Maureen's pincushion-with clips — Maureen’s pincushion-with clips

I saved time by not using selvages for the back. I just used a piece of the batik. As usual, I filled it with a combination of wool roving and Beanie Baby pellets.

I hope she likes it.

Gift Post #2: Sewing Machine Mat

You might remember this mat from back in May?

I gave it to Gerre for Christmas so she can use it for retreats. I sent it to her the week before I went to Portland. I made her wait until Christmas to open it, though I really had no control. She told me she really likes it and that makes me happy.

Sadly, the photo (above) is the best photo I have of the mat. I’ll try and take a better one when I see it at Sew Day.

Undercover Maker Mat Finished

Hooray! The Undercover Maker Mat is complete!

My plan is to use this mat at Retreats and Sew Days. I tend to put the tools I am using on the right side of the machine so they are easily at hand and don’t interfere with the fabric ‘products’ on the left. This works relatively well, but at Retreats, things can get knocked off the table or I don’t really have space to put tools in their usual location. It won’t really work at home because I have a cabinet even though I could use it since I don’t have a lot of space on the right side of my cabinet.

Undercover Maker Mat with portable table finished

I didn’t adjust the size at all, though I thought about it. The size of the mat, as you can see, fits my machine pretty exactly. I decided that my portable table didn’t need a mat underneath it. I also didn’t want a giant thing. It is usually better for me to make adjustments after I have made the project according to the pattern at least once.

I think that this item will be a good gift as well.

Undercover Maker Mat Continues

I spent some time away sewing this past week with Friend Julie. I didn’t get to sew as much as I thought I would because I had some social and professional obligations to conduct as well. Still, I made progress and that is a good thing.

As mentioned the other day, I started the Undercover Maker Mat along with the sew-a-long going on @Lillyellasworld. Julie worked on it, too, and spurred me along. I always feel discombobulated when I sew somewhere else, but I got myself together and started working on the pockets.

I had dome some work on them, but hadn’t finished the big pocket piece. I threw in a bunch of fabrics, so I would have some options if what I thought would work didn’t end up working. That was a good idea as I had to play around with fabrics until I got a combination I liked. My first group of fabrics is shown above. Somehow I found it to be too light or too much of the Michael Miller London Portfolio fabric. I also wasn’t sure about the turquoise binding.

Test group of fabric for Undercover Maker Mat

I decided on the above combination. It has a good amount of London Portfolio, but some dots and Martha Negley as well. I did not make the foundation pieced center. I forgot to make it at home and don’t really like foundation piecing anyway, so it was easy to decide to fussy cut instead.

Kathleen's Undercover Maker Mat — Kathleen’s Undercover Maker Mat

I was surprised that Kathleen knew the pattern, but she had made one and was using it for her longarm head. I shouldn’t be surprised She knows and makes all of the most popular modern patterns. She used some really nice fabrics.

Undercover Maker Mat Begins

As mentioned the other day, Nicole over at Lillyella’s World is leading a Sew-a-long making the Undercover Maker Mat. I’ll be heading out for a few days of sewing next week, so I wanted to get a few of the fiddly bits done and lessen the amount of stuff I needed to bring.

I started making the selvedege pockets. I am not sure I wanted to use selvedges, but the pockets on the sample look really cute. I thought I would try it out. I can always cut some fabric and use that if I decide I don’t like it.

I am still on the fence about selvedges. They can be pretty and fun, but I don’t see myself making a selvedge quilt or using them in a large way. Small touches, yes.

For the small pocket, I tried to pick selvedges that I really liked or meant something to me. I also wanted a little bit of color. I don’t know what I will get when I sew the pocket into the whole piece.

For the large pocket, I followed the directions and put the selvedges on the diagonal.

Now both pockets are on the design wall and I am looking at them. I want to make sure I like them both.

The other thing is the size. I think I need to make mine a little bigger, because my machine is 19 inches wide. I think it would better just slightly bigger. I am thinking about how to do that.

Finished: Thanksgiving Tablemat

Last week was a week of finishes and I am just getting around to reporting on them. I am finally finished with the Thanksgiving tablemat. I bought the fabric in August of 2015 as I came back from dropping the YM off for his freshman year at college. I started working on it sometime around the end of 2016, worked on it at the retreat in 2017 and finally finished it a few days ago. It is 23 x 24 inches and fits perfectly (whew!) on my coffee table.

This is the final piece in Thanksgiving decorations. I may make more, but for now I am finished and I am glad to cross this project off my To Do list.

Thanksgiving Tablemap Progress

Sheesh, October already!

The last time I wrote about this project was after last year’s Retreat. I can’t believe I have done nothing on this project since then. Well, I really can believe it, because I don’t like to quilt. The Retreat is the only time I seem to be able to tolerate it.

I has some problems as mentioned yesterday, but got the binding most of the way on, so the end is in sight.

I don’t have my binding tool, but there are YouTube videos and other tutorials on joining the binding, so I had some hope I would be able to accomplish that at the Retreat, too.

I have high hopes that this will be on the coffee table for Thanksgiving, if not before.

Finished: Sewing Machine Mat

I finished my sewing machine mat Friday evening after work. I got off a little early for the holiday weekend, which was nice and had some time to sew before the DH got home from Grand Parlor**

I had very little left to do, but it just seemed like something was always grabbing my attention away from sewing. There is a lot of house stuff going on and it just has to be dealt with step by step.

There were a couple of things I did differently. Vanessa of Crafty Gemini called for the threadcatcher to be held on to the mat by a loop (see an image on her site). I thought that design looked weird-I didn’t want stuff hanging off of the mat I was making, so I used sew-in magnets. I used two on the threadcatcher. It will not hold up to heavy garbage, but the threadcatcher is named “threadcatcher” and not garbage can for a reason. Since I had my giant stack (ooops purchase!) of sew-in magnets out, I used a set for the pincushion as well. The pattern calls for a snap.

The snap and the loop work fine! I just wanted a little different look.

I also made mine a little wider to accommodate a machine with a larger throat. The pattern was really good about mentioning this type of adjustment.

Sewing Machine Mat - threadcatcher detail — Sewing Machine Mat – threadcatcher detail

I think the project came out very well, but I am not a huge fan of this particular pattern. I think the threadcatcher is too big and somewhat unnecessary. Most of us have a garbage can by our sewing machine. I also think the pink cushion is extraneous. How many pincushions do you have?

However!

This is a great piece to have on a retreat where you may not have all of your pincushions or a garbage can nearby.

I found a pattern in Issue 35 of Love of Patchwork & Quilting magazine. I am going to make one of those as well – sometime – just to compare.

**I had to leave early to go back to work.

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