This was another almost finish that I finally did finish. I need these cell phone wallets to wear with dresses that have not pockets. This means that I had to finish a few of them before Grand Parlor. I knew I would be wearing the dresses and tunics, so I had to get sewing. You know I finished the Red Dot Cell Phone Wallet and the Habitat Cell Phone Wallet. Just before we left I finished the Emerald P. J. Cell Phone Wallet as well.
Emerald P.J. Cell Phone Wallet – closed
I find it hard to determine where the fabric will end up when I use the pattern. On this one, I really wanted to the flowers you see to end up on the outside, but they ended up on the inside.
The leaf that did end up on the outside is nice looking, but it isn’t the flower that I wanted.
The pattern calls for a snap on the flap (photo above right), but I haven’t put one on any of the pieces yet. I don’t feel like I need one.
Emerald P.J. Cell Phone Wallet – closed with phone
These bags are so helpful when I am at an event and don’t want or need a full purse. I keep my phone and hotel key in it. I can also put a few other small things in each one. I try not to stuff them too full so they stay flat-ish.
The last photo shows my phone in it. The design is such that I don’t have to open the flap to get my phone out.
You have seen pieces and parts of the newest Gift Grouping. This is Gift Grouping 2.0, not because it is better, but because I had to think harder of new things to put together. I still like my first group of gifts, which made me quite pleased with myself. I am also pretty happy with this newest group. I used the same basic fabric with both groups.
Gifts laid out
All of the above are in the Big Patchwork Tote from the Make It Take It book. This is the pattern I used for the Sunflower tote. It doesn’t feel like a lot, but as I write this, I am out of time and need to give the gifts to the recipient tomorrow.
Gifts laid out and labeled
You have seen reports of most of these gifts, but I have labelled them so you could relate them to a previous post.
I have finally made a mug rug. I always thought they were dumb, but now find them to be useful. I wasn’t sure what I wanted in terms of a pattern, but thought that a cup or mug would be a fun play on words/imagery.
The piecing on the front as well as the quilting took me a couple of hours. I could have finished the whole thing in, basically, one sitting except I had to hand stitch the binding and didn’t get to it for a few days.
I did a simple web search and eventually found the set of cup patterns on the Piece By Number site. I have about 5 or 6 more from the set I could use to make more blocks, if I wanted. I wasn’t particularly looking for paper piecing, but the blocks appealed to me, so I went for it (good reason to have skill versatility).
This goes with the latest gift grouping on which I am working.
I really like this pattern even though it gave me a few fits before I finished it.
I found this pattern somehow. It is free (for personal use only) from Zen of Making*. I wish I had thought of the name, because there is something zenlike about making and the name is cool.
Anyway.
The travel kit is part of a three part series, which includes a lesson on making the hexie flowers. The final piece is making a pincushion out of smaller hexies to use with the EPP Kit. I had plans to make that as well, but ran out of time.
EPP Travel Kit – open (front)
This travel kit is awesome and the problem I had really had nothing to do with the pattern, but with the supplies I had on hand. I hand on hand, and wanted to use, some sew-in invisible magnet closures. Sara of Sew Sweetness uses these in a lot of her patterns and I find I have better success with them than the models with the ‘legs’ used in this pattern.
The closure is pretty awesome. I love the way the hexie flowers stick together. Very clever.
Once I figured out how to get the sew-in magnetic closures oriented in the right direction, the assembly went pretty smoothly. There is a lot of handwork in this pattern, which I wasn’t expecting.
The open look (right, slightly above) is a little odd. I think it might be because of the scrappiness of the whole piece. I think I should have used a backing for the flap hexie flower that matched the hexie flower (the one with leaves and a turquoise center). I do kind of like the scrappy look. I think I will make one that looks like a Dia de los Muertos celebration for a different friend. I definitely want to try different colors.
EPP Travel Kit – inside view
Altoids tins fit nicely inside and Haley (blog owner/designer) calls for two of them for this project. I had to scrounge them up. I put a piece of felt in the bottom of each tin to make them less rattly and a little nicer.
I cut and added some 5″ squares, and an EPP book to make the kit look full and fun.
*It appears that the name of the blog has changed to Red Handled Scissors. Not sure why, but the pattern is still there.
I have decided that I like that Big Tote pattern from the Make It Take It book.
This will be the carrier for the other gifts, such as the cloth napkins I talked about earlier this week, DH will present to the NDGW Grand President. This is the first one I made with just two fabrics. No mosaic piecing. The bold print works very well, but I think smaller prints would look better using the mosaic piecing method I used for the second one I made.
There are some things I would like to try, e.g. pockets. In my mind pockets are essential. This isn’t a huge tote, so I envision it being used as a handy bag to put a few things in when you weren’t planning on buying anything.
Kaffe print inside
I couldn’t resist adding a little of my own personality to the inside.
You can see some of the other gifts inside the bag.
This is so small and I used a scrap that I didn’t even put the used fabric on my spreadsheet. I am sure I will get 10 inches by 2 inches at some point.
I never thought I would make a key chain. Buying the hardware is the stumbling block for me, but since I was at Fabric Depot and saw them I bought two sets of the hardware.
I was on a roll after yesterday’s finishing of the Red Dot Cell Phone Wallet. As a result, I decided to add to my fabric usage report by finishing the Habitat Cell Phone Wallet.
I forgot to mention that this goes with the other pattern by Valorie Wells called Little Wallet. I have made a few of these as they are really useful when giving gift cards and don’t take very along.
Habitat Cell Phone Wallet – open
This goes with the same dress pattern as the Red Dot version. No pockets in a dress or tunic is something I will avoid at all costs in the future.
This fabric is an older one by Jay Carroll and I had enough scraps from the dress to make this. You can see the details of this version much better because of the asymmetricality of the fabric motifs. The piece has four pockets (one of which is in the back and you can see in the last photo), all with graduated sizes.
I did not put a closure on the flap, though the pattern calls for one, because I wanted easy access and wasn’t expecting to keep anything of great value in it.
Habitat Cell Phone Wallet – back
I find that I do not need to interface all but the covers. The rounded corners are quite bulky and difficult to turn. I did not topstitch the bottom part of the piece. I stuck to the flaps as my needle would not go through those corners no matter what.
I have a black one I want to make and may try the fabric strap. I also have a green one in pieces. I need to find the pieces and sew that one together.
I decided to wear my red dot dress to Easter, despite the rain. That meant no pockets so I needed to finish the Red Dot Cell Phone Wallet. It had been languishing for months and only needed some topstitching. I sewed the topstitching and sank the threads really quick Easter morning before we left for the party.
My SIL noticed right away and I was pleased to have finished the bag. It was very useful for its intended purpose.
Red Dot Cell Phone Wallet – open
The pattern calls for a strap made from fabric, but SIL gave me the idea of an interchangeable strap. I bought those small rectangular ‘rings’ and a long chain, which I use for this one and two others I have. There are two things I don’t like about the chain. First, it stands out from the dress when I wear it. Second, it is of a sufficiently intricate nature as to get caught in my hair when I am not careful or needing a haircut. If I make more, I may make straps. We will see.
Red Dot Cell Phone Wallet – back
It is a pretty easy pattern and useful for the purpose of providing a pocket in a dress whose pattern does not lend itself to pockets. There are several pockets for cards, though I only use it for a hotel key and cell phone. I have put my keys in there, but my car keys are too bulky because of the clicker for DH’s car. I toss them in and they ruin the slim line of the bag.
After wearing the dress, I think I will bring it with me to Grand Parlor to wear at one of the less official events.
I finally made the pillow I intended to make from the panel Mrs. K sent me.
I feel like such a slacker. This panel has been hanging around since …. I don’t know…. months? I do keep sewing, so I can’t be that much of a slacker, right?
We do not have to raise money this year at Grand Parlor, so I made this pillow for one of our friends who does not get support from his Parlor to attend Grand Parlor. He is running for Grand 3rd VP and needs all the help he can get.
California Pillow back
Yes, I pulled out some Pointillist Palette fabric, after being inspired by my SIL. I can’t hoard it. I have to get the 4th Pointillist Palette quilt done and use this great fabric. Since I had it out to use for Kelly’s Color My Quilt piece, I decided this pillow would work as another effort at using it.
The back is pretty plain, but I do like that blue. I wish I had written down what it was (usually I write the brand and color on the selvedge) as I could look for more. I didn’t so, it will be a mystery.
I bought some flannel cupcake fabric to make a pillowcase.
Then I saw some great flannel cupcake fabric at another shop and bought it to make a pillowcase. It turns out the two pieces were the same. If someone had bought it for me, I would have said “great minds think alike.” Since I just bought both pieces, apparently forgetting I bought it the first time, I have to wonder. I guess I really liked that fabric.
Cupcake Pillowcases
I have been on a near-frenzy lately washing fabric. The pieces of flannel got caught in the madness. Since I am trying to stay in the black in terms of fabric usage, I decided to make some pillowcases. They are a quick and easy yard of usage.
I thought I would give these to a niece who has recently become engaged. I am not sure she would like the colors, though, so I may give them to someone else.
Can a person ever have too many pincushions? This is the thought running through my mind as I decided what else to make for my second group of gifts.
Mary’s Pincushion/Wonderclip caddy
You might remember the Pincushion / Wonderclip Holders I made for the guild officers. I really like this pattern and decided to make another one to go with my gift grouping.
It is a useful item and I have a lot of Beanie Baby pellets to work through. It is a quick project, which is an added incentive to include it in the gift grouping.
Mary’s Pincushion/Wonderclip caddy – back
I decided to continue with the selvedge back. It is interesting to look at and I have a surplus of selvedges.
The pattern can be found in Love Patchwork and Quilting, issue 39. It is available digitally in the Apple and Google Play stores.
I am still not done making gifts with the two stacks of fat quarters I received at the BAM retreat last Fall. As an aside, these small gifts are keeping me slightly ahead of the negative mark in my fabric purchases vs usage. No finished quilts this year yet, so I am still feeling behind. No huge buying binges, so at least I am not in the negative.
Anyway.
I am still making gifts. I took the opportunity to make the two bags I liked from the Make It, Take It book I received for Christmas. One was the The Big Patchwork Tote and one was the Little Patchwork Tote (pattern starts on page 32 for both).
Little Patchwork Tote -1
Little Patchwork Tote -2
I started with the Little Patchwork Tote. When I hear the word ‘tote’, I think of a bag in which you can carry a bunch of stuff. That is not the case with the Little Patchwork Tote. It is basically purse sized. I should have known, based on the sizes, but I couldn’t put it all together in my head. I wanted something I could put a number of gifts in. I can put a few in this tote, but decided I would make the Big Patchwork Tote as well.
Big Patchwork Tote – 1
Big Patchwork Tote – 2
Big Patchwork Tote – inside
The Big Patchwork Tote is the size a tote should be. Whatever that means. 😉 It is the size in which one can put a number of necessary items. Using the directions in the pattern makes it pretty stiff, which I like. I will probably make this tote again. It might make good officer gifts and is conducive to using large-ish scraps.
Gifts in Big Patchwork Tote -in process
The Little Patchwork Tote fits easily in the Big Patchwork Tote along with Tooly McToolston. I am working on a pincushion/Wonderclip holder and a couple of other items.
I have to admit to using Leuchtturm journals lately instead of my favorite Miquelrius journals. The Leuchtturm journals are slim and fit in my handbag with all my other stuff. They don’t need covers. I couldn’t figure out why I was leaning away from the Miquelrius journals.
Finally, I realized, on Sunday when I needed a new journal because I had finished the old one what the problem was. I didn’t have any Miquelrius journals with the journal covers already made. As you may have guessed, I like to put journal covers on the Miquelrius journals, because the corners of the covers tend to poke me. I looked back and found that the last journal cover I made was the Orange Soda Journal Cover back in November (November seemed to be a good month for me). That was at least two journals ago.
I actually had a journal cover partially made. I hadn’t really worked on it in a few weeks. It occurred to me that it be an entry in the BAMQG scrap challenge. The donation blocks were giving me a bit of trouble (decision making not sewing), so it was an easy choice to switch projects. I used the journal cover pieces and parts as leaders and enders while I worked out my donation block issues.
Journal covers are not difficult (tutorial is posted -sizes are for the Miquelrius journals). The time consuming part is the mosaic piecing. Of course you can make the cover out of one piece of fabric for an even quicker and easier version. I rarely, if ever, do that, however.
Dark Blue Journal Cover
Frequently, I start pulling out fabrics and stick to certain values in that one scrap drawer. I am not sure which fabric pieces I started with, but the first fabrics often set the tone for the entire piece. This one is a little darker than I usually like. I do like the monochromatic look, however, so I stuck with the darker blues.
Dark Blue Journal Cover – other side
I haven’t decided which side to use as the front. Since I don’t need it immediately, I don’t have to decide for at least three months.
I had some issues with the filling. I have been using flannel, but am just about out. I had some leftover bits of fusible fleece, so I stuck those to the back of the pieced front and filled the rest in with flannel scraps. Some parts are fluffier than I like, but it works and the project is done.
I started another journal cover with turquoise. Stay tuned.
As mentioned, this top was sort of unplanned. It did, however, come together very well and last week, I was able to finish the top, back and batting.
I am a little sad to give it away as I really like it. Of course, I like most of the quilts I make as donations, but this one is particularly pleasing to me for some reason.
Ends Quilt back – March 2017
The back is fairly plain. Several large half yards of fabric and I was done. I also put the batting together with Heat Press. There might be more Heat Press than batting and I hope that the quilt won’t be stiff as a result.
I gave a group of gifts, as described in a recent post, to my friend Mary who is making a dress for me.
This is the first time I have followed my advice and given a group of gifts. I have made all of the items before; just never given them away as a group. I wouldn’t have recommended it to you if I didn’t think it would be a good idea. However I had to test it and I am pleased with how it came out.
Wrapped Gift Group
The One Hour Basket, which is the carrier, though I did wrap the whole thing, contains a journal cover (with journal), a pencil roll, on the go tissue cover, needle safe, pincushion, lanyard and scissor sheath. I think the mix of items is good, though I could have put a little tissue paper underneath to fill up the One Hour Basket some more.
I wanted the whole set to match, so I used pieces from two FQ bundles I received at the BAM Retreat. I have much more to use, so I can make more items, if I can think of what to make.
Mary’s Journal Cover
As you know I normally make journal covers using mosaic piecing. Mosaic piecing is good for using up scraps and for leaders and enders. Since I was using a constrained color palette, I used two fabrics and didn’t piece the front or inside cover. In order to make it less boring, I did embellish the cover with some buttons.
I used buttons TFQ bought for me at Road to California in 2012 and some colored thread. The embellishing is simple and I don’t think I have ever embellished a journal cover before, but I think it worked really well on this piece. Mary said that she could use it for committee work since the Miquelrius journals have sections with different colored page edges. I am thrilled.
Mary’s Pencil Roll
As mentioned, I love the Pink Chalk pencil roll pattern. I am so sorry it is no longer available as I have made a number of them and it is a great gift. Try to find a used copy on Etsy or somewhere. It is well worth the hunt. Since I have the pattern I used it to make a 12 slot pencil roll for Mary. I always put a pen in so that people know its intended use. It is a good size for crochet hooks as well, though YMMV on those. I haven’t tried it.
Mary’s Pencil Roll back
This piece was GREAT for using up many of the different patterns in the fabric line (above photo). You can see all the different choices. I did use the turquoise more than once just to add some contrast. For the back I used a coordinating print from a different line. I wanted to mix the group up a bit so it didn’t get too monochromatic. There is a baby poop brown print in that line that I am sure would look fantastic, but I couldn’t bring myself to use it.
Mary’s Pencil Roll closed
Yet. I am thinking about what else I can make for Mary and it might come into play, but most likely not. I have plenty of other fabrics.
Mary’s Tissue Cover
The tissue cover seriously takes less than half an hour to make. I used the video mentioned in the Updated Gift Ideas post and it is so easy. I should have used a better contrasting fabric for the lining, but the fabric work well together. I don’t use one, personally, but I should. I am now out of travel packets of Kleenex which means I’ll have to get more. It is much nicer to put one in, as with the pens in the pencil roll, so people know what you have made. It prevents confusion.
Mary’s Needle Safe
I have a couple of needle safes that I use for various projects. This one has three parts: pincushion, needle holder and a section with a pocket where one can store a small needle threader, a pack of needles or one of those rubber circles used to pull the needle through thick fabric. The pattern for this project asks that the maker use fabric for the needle storage. I have always used felt. Wool felt is pretty good because the lanolin helps keep needles sharp. I don’t always have wool felt in the right colors, so I use what I have an cut it with a decorative blade.
Mary’s Pincushion
The pincushion is just fun to make, for me. I love this Fig Tree pattern, because it looks like my ideal of a pincushion. I need to make a few more of these so I can get the contrast right. The colors and motifs on the fabric I used blend quite a bit. It is a nice effect, but I want to experiment with more contrast. I often have a hard time finding the right buttons. Yes, of course, I could buy buttons, but I prefer to use some from my button box. I found the perfect buttons this time. I love the see-through aspect and the color.
I am pretty happy with the filling. I use a combination of Craft (Beanie Baby) pellets and wool roving. The pellets give the pincushion some weight and the wool roving feels nice.
Mary’s Lanyard & Scissor Sheath
I was pretty happy with the items above. I decided at the last minute to add a lanyard and a scissor sheath. Why not? I was shocked that I couldn’t understand my own lanyard tutorial. I am sure the instructions made sense to me at the time. I had to rewrite them, so I did that as I went along. My machine was unhappy going through all the layers of lanyard as I finished it, so I had to be careful. Both are done and I think they add something to the whole gift basket.
None of these projects take very much time. I did multiple items in one day. Over the course of approximately 3 days, I was able to make everything including the handwork. Try out a similar project. You have a friend that would adore it.
Update: Check out Tooly McToolston, another gift I made for Mary C.
