Sew Much Fun blog hop - Back to School

The Stripwork Skirt- A great back to school project

Do you sew for your kids or grandkids? I do. Mostly for my grandkids, but there are times I sew for my big kids. Why do I do this? There are a few reasons. 1 is that I can get a better fit. My granddaughters are tall and skinny. To get the right length on a dress, they seem to fall of the shoulders. They also love the things that grandma makes.

Today I want to share a fun and easy to make skirt with you.  A few years ago, I was doing a shop hop with my daughters and granddaughters.  We found this really cute pattern at one of the stores.  Well, grandma decided she needed to make it. The pattern is by Pink Fig Designs and is called The Stripwork Skirt.

  The first one  I didn't make with as many strips as you are supposed to do. It is still cute, but not as full.  You can tell it has been  worn a lot.

The first of these skirts I made. This one I used only half the panels. 

 Well the granddaughter I made it for outgrew it and reluctantly passed it on to her little sister. It is getting too small for little sister, but she puts leggings under it. Now, the best thing about this pattern, is it is cut in rectangles.  So it is easy to lengthen.  You have probably noticed that your kids grow straight up faster than growing wide. This skirt is easy to lengthen, you just cut the strips in the body of the skirt a bit longer, you can cut the hemband a bit longer as well as the waistband. 

I like having more panels in the s

I don't have lace. Darn. I guess I need to go visit a daughter, because there is a shop I like that sells lace for a really good price, and the shop is close to both daughters and a son and daughter in law.  Or I just have them buy me the lace. I think adding lace to the bottom would look so cute.  

I have  been looking for this pattern, to be able to tell you where you might be able to buy it, and it sounds like it is out of print. I found a website with a pdf download, but I haven'the gotten a response that they are still in business. However  for this pattern, they have the chart that shows you how big to cut everything, so I will give you the link www.whimsicaldesignsclothing.com  go to pdf patterns and then click on Pink Fig Design, and just scroll down till you find it.  You can find the size chart on any of the patterns.  This next site has a really good tutorial  http://www.mothergingermama.com/p/stripwork-skirt-tutorial.html

I tried the skirt on both granddaughters and it looked cute. For the older one, I will not fold up the hem band, but I will do a small narrow hem and will add some lace. I hope by the end of the week, I will have a few outfits done, and I will share here  Facebook, and Instagram, so please stay tuned. 

I will also be making a cute t-shirt that she can wear with this. Maybe I will also make a cute button down shirt. Yes, I could just buy some clothes for them, but I enjoy sewing. I can use fabrics they like and fabrics I like. 

Is it less expensive to sew? I don't know. I don't buy a lot of clothes for my grandkids. What I do to make it less expensive is watch for sales. I buy patterns on sale and I buy fabric on sale. But, I dare say the quality is much better in handmade. I grew up with handmade clothes.  My mom sewed a bit for us, but I have an aunt that is amazing. I loved getting my cousins hand me downs. 

I have quite a few things I want to make. Do you remember the Daisy Kingdom patterns from the 80's?  I loved those patterns. I made some of those dresses for my girls.   I found some of those patterns at a thrift store. They are in my filing cabinet waiting for me to stitch them up.

I love your comments, so please feel free to share. What are you sewing right now?

Piece and quilt with precuts blog hop

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I am so excited to share about Christa's new book "Piece and Quilt with Precuts". When Christa mentioned she needed people for a blog hop, I jumped at the chance.  So, when I got a copy of the ebook, I went through it and let me tell you, the decision was very difficult.  I finally chose the squiggles pattern.

I just love this quilt.


 Christa told us we could focus on a block and do the quilting, or create the whole quilt. My plan was to do a whole quilt, and it is coming, but between knee surgery and overtime at work, well, I decided a quilted pillow cover and a quilted pillow sham would work. I was able to get the fabric from Island Batik. I appreciate them supplying me with the fabric. The fabric I chose is Drizzle and I got it in a layer cake. The white is called sprinkles and comes from the neutrals collection. Now on to Christa's book. This is Christa's 3rd book. I love her books. This one gives you great directions for piecing the quilts and then great ideas for quilting. She has a section for walking foot quilting and then a section for free motion quilting. The first project I did is this fun quilted pillow sham.

 You can never have too many pillows, right? It was very easy to do. I used polyester batting, because I wanted the puff, and that is what I had handy. This took me 30 minutes to quilt. I used glide thread, in warm gray, as I like the sheen, and the design is quilted it with is cursive L's, which is explained in the book. I quilted this on my Husqvarna Viking Lily 550.


These 2 pictures show some of the quilting.

This picture shows the finished quilted pillow sham.

I really like the way this turned out.  I want to thank Island Batik for sponsoring me in this blog hop. The print fabrics is called Drizzle. I love it and I love working with batiks and being an Ambassador for them. The white is from the neutrals collection and is called Sprinkles.

This is a throw pillow cover that I made from this pattern, and used the trimmings from the blocks for the small half square Triangles as the border. This will be quilted soon, and will be used in a throw pillow tutorial on Tuesday, August 22nd.

Now for some more fun stuff. How would you like to win this book?  I promise you, you will love it.   Just leave a comment below. I love reading the comments, and I try very hard to get back to you, right away. 1 reader from my blog will win a copy of the e-book.

If you want a signed copy of the book, you can order from Christa at shop.christaquilts.com

I would like to invite you to visit the other bloggers today as well.  So you can click each of their links
Christa christaquilts.com
Sharon www.yellowcatquiltdesigns.com
Kate @seamslikeadream.com


As I mentioned earlier, the fabric for my project was from Island Batik. I would love to give a lucky reader a chance to try this fabric. I have what is called a stash builder roll. It has 4 5" strips of 45" wide fabric. So just by commenting you will be entered into both drawings. The fabric giveaway is only good for the U.S. right now. Doesn't that just sound wonderful?

I would love it if you would follow me. I have a fun back to school hop on Monday, August 21. I will be sharing a couple of things that I have made for my granddaughters for school.  On Tuesday, August 22, I will have a tutorial for how to make a throw pillow with an envelope back, which is the style of my pillow sham. I have had lots of requests for this.   Then on August 29th I will be sharing another project from Christa's  book Piece and Quilt with precuts. Then I have a few things lined up for Septemberand October.  Yes, I like to stay busy.

TGIFF AUGUST 4TH

It is my turn for hosting TGIFF or Thank Goodness It is Finished Friday.  Today I am sharing a quilt I made for one of my sons.  This quilt is also on my finish along list, which you can find at https://kathyskwiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2017/07/2017-quarter-3-finishalong.html?m=1.

This quilt was started forever ago. I would work on it as often as I could. My son chose the fabric for it.

I quilted it on my husqvarna viking lily 550. Very small throat space. It was my first time doing feathers. I traced them from a template, but couldn't follow the lines very well.

This is one of those quilts that you are not sure you want to finish, because it has too many mistakes,  and you know you can't just throw it away, especially when your son asks about it.

Well I decided it needed finished. All it needed was binding. Do you ever have quilts stacking up that just need binding or just a small area quilted, that for some reason we put off finishing? Please don'the do that. My son was very excited to receive this quilt. It was supposed to be a twin size, but it turned out to be smaller, probably because of my math skills. It will work great for a lap quilt, or a picnic quilt.

Please link up your Friday Finish. I would love to see what you are working on.

JUST A NOTE:  I am writing this on Thursday morning August 3rd. I go for knee surgery today, so please be patient if I am slow in responding.  I don'the know what kind of pain medication I will be on.


Linking up with TGIFF.

12 days of Christmas in July

Welcome back. Today I want to introduce to my sweet little granddaughter.  Her name is Sarah and she is 7. She loves to sew.  I think it started when she was just little, and her family stayed at our house one Christmas eve. Of course grandma had to get up early Christmas morning to finish a few things. Sarah had woken up early,  so I took her to my sewing room with me.  She sat on the floor and played with fabric. She would sit at my machine and pretend to sew. She has gone to quilt shows with me and loves to play with the longarms, and join me on shop hops. At about 4 or 5 years old, she got her own sewing machine.  It was bought at a thrift store and is an old JC Penny model. She loves it.

If you remember, on Saturday, I posted a tutorial for a pillow cover. This is one she made. She used the rotary cutter, and did have a small mishap. She is fine.

Today, she is going to share how to make a dolly pillow. She loves to get grandma's scraps. For these little pillows, you can use even charm squares and they work for Barbie dolls as well.

We usually use just whatever grandma has.

You need:
2 pieces of fabric
Stuffing
Thread
Scissors
Machine

Take your 2 pieces of fabric,  put right sides together and sew along 3 sides with a 1/4" seam.

Turn right sides out and stuff.  I teach her to stuff as tight as possible.

Sew the opening closed with just like a top stitch.

Your little girl has a gift to give to a friend for their dolls.

We would love to see your projects.  Feel free to share your photos with us.

Please join our friends for more fun ideas
christinashandicrafts.blogspot.com
abyquilts.wordpress.com
www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

Remember, we love to hear your comments. I am responding as fast as I can it was a crazy weekend, and then the 24th of July was a very, crazy long day at work. As in 13 hours long.

Christmas in July blog hop

Well, today is my turn on the 12 days of Christmas in July blog hop.  We have sure had lots of fun ideas for gifts. I want to thank my friend Sarah over at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com for  putting this together and for her willingness to let me join.

My post is a very easy one. Between now and Chrustmas, you can make lots of pillow covers for throw pillows.

Last year, I made throw pillows for my grandkids. With the intention of making pillow covers throughout the year. The best thing, is how fast and easy they are.  You can make them in various sizes and many different fabrics.


Materials needed:

1 12x12 fabric square
1 rectangle 16x12
Thread
Rotary cutter
Cutting mat
12" pillow form

The instuctions:

Cut your rectangle so it is 8 x12. Hem one of the 12 inch edges on each piece. Just a narrow hem. This is your backing for the pillow.

Now put these 2 pieces right sides together with the 12 inch square. You will have your back pieces overlapping by 4 inches in the center.

Pin and stitch, using a 1/4" seam allowance all the way around.

Turn the pillow right side out.

Stuff the pillow form inside. You will have a tight fit, but that is okay.

My grandkids had a blast sitting there, removing the pillow covers and putting different ones on.


I love these pillows. You only need to buy 1 pillow form for each gift, then make as many pillow covers as you want.  It is so much easier to store the covers than to store several pillows. 

Want a fancier pillow?  Use a pattern for a 12" quilt block and use that for the front. You can also put batting on the back and a backing on the square and quilt it, then finish the pillow.

These are pictures of the pillows I made for the grandkids.

Please join my friends today and see what they are sharing.

www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com
devotedquilter.blogspot.ca
jeanmckinstry.blogspot.co.nz

I love to see your comments. Please leave a comment and I will reply. Also, remember to leave a comment to be entered in the drawings.

Christmas in July blog hop

Christmas is coming. And it is coming fast. In fact, right now, through July 25th you can visit different blogs for Christmas in July. There is even a fun quilt a long going on. So, pull the Christmas fabrics from your stash, and join us.  I love to make gifts for Christmas. In fact, it is a tradition. I have done it for years.

This blog hop id put together by my friend Sarah over  at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com.  She posts directions for the quilt along each day. And the best thing is there are giveaways going on.

There are 2 - 3  bloggers posting each day. Visit them and get started now on Christmas gifts. Visit my blog on Saturday, July 22nd , for a fun gift to make for Christmas. Then, come back again on July 25th as my 7 year old granddaughter is going to share a fun gift.

Hop on over to Sarah's blog www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com  for a list of bloggers each day. For some reason, I can't seem to make a copy and paste of the list work.

finish along 2017 q3 list part 2

So, I am trying to organize my sewing room. In doing so, I find half finished projects. So I am adding a few more to my previous list.

1.  The hummingbird quilt. This was going to be for my mother in law, but she passed before I got it done. I have someone else that I will give it to. I know the someone it is for will really love it.

2.  The boot scootin boogie quilt. One of my favorite songs. In fact, I know I need to make a couple of these quilts, because I have at least 1 daughter who would like this. This packet is only part of the pieces.

3.  The train quilt.  I have 2 of these.  I trimmed in red and 1 blue. I think they will both be for the same grandson. They are ready for quilting.

4.  My granddaughter picked out this pattern when one of our quilt shops was closing. This will be for her for Christmas.

5.  Ballerina wallhanging.  I keep misplacing the panel, but this will be for my granddaughter.

6.  The red briar farm quilt.  I have the pattern, I have pieces cut and applique started. But they keep getting up and walking away. I need to make 2 of these. 2 little grandsons love farms.

7.  The tractor quilt by www.countedquilts.com
This is another of those quilts that I need to make 2 of.  They are fun to do. I have all the pieces cut, but they just keep walking away.

8.  Tropical punch. This is a pattern I am retesting for a designer. So, it might as well go on my list.

9.  This is one that caught my eye from a magazine. I am making it a bit larger. Not sure who will get it.

10.  I have been eyeing this one for a while. I have all the fabrics. This one will be for me.

One day, all my projects will be completed. Then I won't know what to do. Some of these have deadlines, and some don't.  Maybe someday I will learn to not start so many projects.   Please leave a comment and tell me you don't do the same thing. I don't know why I do that.