Saturday, November 9, 2013

Block Talk

Block Talk


Post your block  over at Summercrafter.com    

Well,  technically, it is Saturday , but I got to sew some blocks. 

First block:  The  Friday Night Block Party, over at Elaine's Summercrafter.com blog.
I started sewing the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt blocks , along with Elaine and Amanda, The Patchsmith.  I enjoy making one block at a time, and seeing my pile of blocks grow.

Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt Block ~  #5  Bat Wing


#5  Bat Wing
I decided to paper piece my block, after Amanda told me that she had a special way to make her block. (Then I saw "flying geese", and I know that I have issues with the triangles being the same size in my flying geese!)


#5  Bat Wing

Completed Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt blocks    by Susie's Sunroom


Second block:   Modern Blocks  


November's  Modern Blocks Quilt A Long at www. AndSewWeCraft.com
November  block:  the Pogo Stick block   designed by Jessica Brown
   (page 142 in Modern Blocks book     compiled by Susanne Woods  )
Roslyn has a tutorial for the Pogo Stick block  over at Sew Delicious.com
Pogo Stick block     made by Susie's Sunroom
This turned out to be a fun block to make!  It has more pieces than I thought it would have , but comes together easily.  I chose to feature the brown fabric, and accent it with the turquoise blue.  I could have fun making a quilt with this block.


7 blocks made in the Modern Blocks Quilt A Long  by  Susie's Sunroom
I will be making some Patchique blocks next... I love working with those browns and blues ...  Amanda will be sharing the newest blocks on Sunday.

I'm off to my sewing room!




I'll be linking up at 
           Friday Night Block Party @ Summercrafter.com
and
            Modern Blocks Quilt A Long @ And Sew We Craft.com

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Poppies for Purse Palooza 2013

This weekend, I had the pleasure of sewing a tote bag for a friend .  She saw one of my tote bags when I visited her, and said, "That's the bag that I want you to make for me!"
"That bag" happened to be an Anita Vacation Tote bag, with a few extra "add-ons" that I made for myself. 
Let me tell you about it...

Pattern:  Anita Vacation Tote     PDF Pattern by eamylove  at Amy Made That!
This is a versatile tote pattern~  that can be made to look very sophisticated and used as a purse.. or used as  a carry-all on a vacation... or  a carry -on in a plane.


The Anita Vacation Tote    pdf pattern   available on Craftsy


an Anita Vacation Tote    made by  Susie last year 



Fabrics:  Poppy Love -   poppies,  black with dots, and zig zag  by Lisa Audit  for Wilmington Prints
              Quilters Linen -  rust   by Robert Kaufman
               Pellon Fusible Fleece  987FF

Dimensions:  final bag      13 inches wide   (10 inches at the bottom)
                                    13 inches high
                                     6 inches deep   
                                     Straps at 29 1/2 inches long

Original features :      magnetic snap closure
                               inner zippered pocket  8 1/2 inches wide
                               inner strip pocket (13 1/2 inches across)
                                long straps in 2 different fabrics

Extras for customizing:    made it with  2 magnetic snaps for closing
                                    added a second inner zippered pocket
                                    made 2 slip pockets on  inside  7 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches
                                    added outer pockets:  front 13 inches wide by 10 inches high and
                                                                  back  divided into 2 pockets    7  wide  by 10 inches high
                                    added "R"  monogram  2 inch high
                                        

The custom tote:


Anita Vacation Tote    customized


The back side    with 2 out pockets


The huge front pocket.... great for a magazine.  Monogram R




Inside view....   a zippered pocket and a slip pocket on each side



Inner pockets...  have more of the  poppy fabric to enjoy



These bags are really fun to make, and Amy has provided excellent  step by step directions in the pdf pattern.  {The pattern calls for one zippered pocket and one row of pockets on the opposite side.  So you don't have to be intimidated if this is your first zippered pocket bag that you make.} 
My friend will  be using her bag as purse, and I know she will love all of the pockets, and especially  the  inner zippered pockets for securing her wallet and phone.


Anita Vacation Tote 




I will be linking up this tote purse  in Purse Palooza 2013,  over at Sew Sweetness.  Sara organized purse pattern reviews through all of October.   The bags that are being shared at  Sew Sweetness  are really beautiful and amazing!


I'm off to my sewing room!

...and linking up at  Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts


Friday, November 1, 2013

November Across The Pond Sew Along Project



November's Across The Pond Sew Along Project



One Year  for   Across The Pond Sew Along!!


November... the perfect time to join in and make a project  with us
in this fun and idea-filled sew along!
I can't believe that it was one year ago that we began our Across The Pond Sew Along group!   Amanda,  The Patchsmith,  and Amy, Amy Made That!, and I wanted to make fun projects monthly , and to make new friends along the way.   ( I also wanted some "creativeness" to "rub off onto me" , from being around Amy and Amanda and their friends and followers.)

Your might remember our first project, back in November 2012.  Amy chose the Anita Vacation Tote Bag~
November 2012 ATPSA Project  Anita Vacation Tote
This is my own version of the Anita Vacation tote~
My Anita Vacation Tote Bag   Susie's Sunroom

 
Since then, our group has made a lot of projects!   And our Flickr Group has grown to 59 followers , with 231 pictures!  Pictures of projects have been submitted by 26 different quilters!  I just love seeing the projects that you have put into the group to share!  Thank you so much for sewing along us.  I am inspired by your work and creativity and talent!


Now it is time to see what Amy has selected for this month's theme:   Apples!!
The  Apple theme... can mean make any kind of apple  or use  any apple fabrics...  something to do with apples.
I loved this idea, and really loved it when I started looking through all of my stash for any red and green fabrics.  Because I found some apple fabric that I had used to make a purse.

Fabrics:   Apples  -Timeless Treasures
               Red plaid -  Timeless Treasures
              Green gingham-  Cotton Blossoms  Dill Dot Plaid    Moda
               Green -  Nature's Christmas  by  Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics
               Cream blender-     Molly B's Studio  by Marcus Fabrics

My fabrics  ... yummy!
My  Project :   Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher    by Julie C , The Crafty Quilter blog

Super cute pattern  for a Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher    by The Crafty Quilter
photo courtesy of The Crafty Quilter

Julie's  blog featured a pattern for a Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher table topper, in gorgeous Christmas fabrics, in mid-October. I could just see my  apples in the squares in this pattern.   Julie gives  us a tutorial showing exactly  how to make it !  This is awesome because I had no idea how to make it on my own!

I fussy cut my squares, to feature one apple in each square.   I used Fons & Porter Fussy Cutting Templates, that had the center marked on a clear square. It was so easy to see where to cut each 5 1/2 inch square.  (I have had these templates for 2 years and never really used them before.)                ** These are 50% off at Joann.com through Sat.**
Back side  of a square in a square    

 Julie also has an awesome tutorial for making a Perfect Square in Square.  I loved using this method, as it is like paper piecing the corners onto a square.
This method left room for seam allowances at the four corners
I used the 45 degree angle on my 3 x 18 inch Omnigrid Ruler, to trim my HST squares
Laying out the pieces for the topper
Yep.... love that red plaid in the corners!

One of the square in square blocks 
I was happy with my piecing together of the top.  I  see a few places that aren't meeting perfectly. But,  I hope to improve on them when I make my next crumb catcher. This is a fun pattern to make.

Julie 's tutorial also  shows  how to make the angled binding. (Thank you, Julie!)   I machine quilted it on... but to the BACK side first.  Why did I do that???  I don't know why.  ( I marked this on my notes!)
My next crumb catcher,  I will sew the binding on to the front first, and then  most likely hand sew the binding to the back.  

The back of the crumb catcher.  You can see where I stitched in the ditch to feature the pinwheel

The Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher 

I love the green inner pinwheel

For more creative and beautiful apple project ideas, hop on over to Amy's blog,  Amy Made That!,  and Amanda's blog, The Patchsmith .  We will be putting our project pictures in the Across The Pond Sew Along Flickr group.  We'd love for you to put your apple project in there,too!  (Or any Across The Pond project you have made.)




This was such a fun project to make.  I hope to put up some more "apple" ideas on my blog in November , too.   


I'm off to my sewing room!


Linking up at Can I Get a Whoop Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict    and
                      TGIFF @  Quilt Matters





PS
If you would like to see some more beautiful variations of The Crafty Quilter's  Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher pattern,  go on over to see Sheri's blog at Sunshine in the Attic.  She has several beautiful crumb catchers in seasonal fabrics.  
Sheri's crumb catchers:
photo by Sheri at  Sunshine in the Attic blog

photo by Sheri at Sunshine in the Attic blog