Top 7 Articles of 2016

#7 – The Gift to Give

....Instead of asking her [my sister] last Christmas, I simply prepared and gave her “Blessing Bags” for her to pass along to those in need. I don’t think I’ve ever given her anything she liked and appreciated better – ever!

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#6 - Introducing the Wings Quilt Block!

...Have you ever created a quilt block and didn’t like the way it looked? Maybe the color scheme used or the size of individual pieces within the block just didn’t look like the way you envisioned?

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#5 – Just Shy of a full blown addiction

…finding free “Block of the Month” (or bi-weekly) (BOM) websites and the Facebook support groups that go along with them! I’m a happy camper that they are out there by the droves!

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#4 – Crumb Quilts

...Those itty bitty tiny scraps are not just for stuffing pillows or pet beds any longer!

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#3 – When Sisters Work Together

…a story I want to share…

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#2 – Whispers in the Wind

 …each time I feel the wind on my face, I will be absorbing the prayer from a Prayer Flag someone, somewhere in this world, has made. Because, now I know about the whispers in the wind!

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And, the Number One article for 2016:

#1 - Labor Day - Labor of Love

 …There are a multitude of those giving from the heart ~ a labor of love ~ their creativeness, expertise, and devotion through making quilts, dresses, shorts, pillowcases, bags, and on and on for whatever the need may be! 

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Which is your favorite?

Top 7 Articles of 2015

#7  Follow Your Heart

 …the words of Edward Everett Hale are a great mantra to keep playing in our minds:

I am only one, but I am one.

I cannot do everything,

but I can do something.

And I will not let what I cannot do

interfere with what I can do.

 Follow your heart and you’ll create with passion.

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#6 Chair Bound

Seldom do I follow pattern directions. Well, this [wheelchair quilt] is certainly a prime example! This is also a good example how you can make things your own as well!

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#5 Creating an Action Quilt - Part 9

....finishing up.I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! I encourage you to make your own Action Quilt [Fidget Quilt] to give a Loved One with Alzheimer's Disease or dementia!

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#4 Turning Scraps into Fabric

…try it!…adapting…

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#3 Creating an Action Quilt – Part 1

…The Action Quilts (aka Fidget Quilts) I create are not for commercial facilities such as Nursing Homes or Adult Day Care Centers serving those with Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia. My focus is for those living in a home environment with a 24/7 caregiver.

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#2 Action Quilt (aka Fidget Quilt)

…a friend called my attention to a newspaper article about a lady creating Fidget Quilts. La Mon knows me well…

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And the NUMBER 1 Article is...

#1 Life with a 16 year old

Various websites state a Doberman has a life expectancy of 10-12 years. Some mention up to 13 years. We have a miracle living with us!

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Crumb Quilts

Those itty bitty tiny scraps are not just for stuffing pillows or pet beds any longer! Thanks to Megan Null showing us how to get another quilt out of scraps, we don’t have to throw ANYTHING away! It’s also a clever/frugal use of those “leaders” and “enders” I’ve written about before, and you’re making another quilt at the same time! Win-Win!

This is photo of a lovely Crumb Quilt I found on Quilting Digest…

Megan Null’s video:

I love the name Ami Simms, Throughthe Eyes of a Quilter, calls her crumbs:

O.T.F. Patchwork (Off The Floor Patchwork)! Isn’t that clever!

For more inspiration take a look over on Pinterest for all the brilliant creations people have done with their crumb blocks!

Ludlow Quilt and Sew offers a step-by-step photo tutorial (and her own video) on how she puts the crumb quilt together. Between the crumb blocks, she created and inserted a 4 patch block! One of the instructions she gives us, and it is critical (emphasis mine):

…pressing after each addition and then trimming to make a straight edge.

This reminds me of what I’ve shared many times… never ever stitch over a seam that’s not been pressed! Adding a spritz of spray starch also makes the piece lay nice and flat.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve quilted someone else’s quilt and discover the seams were not pressed out nicely. What happens when quilting… the fabric is folded back and it looks HORRIBLE!

Pressing after EACH seam is sewn catches mistakes as well! It’s a good way/time to tell when the seam is not the 1/4” seam, but rather 1/8” (or less!). “Making it fit” when adding the adjoining block, by folding it to where it needs to be, doesn’t go through the longarm quilting process very nicely.

If you hate to get up and press each time, Patti, at Quilting is Still my Passion, shares a clever way to sew bunches of scraps together before needing to press!

I’m excited to try this technique! Will you try it as well?

Quilts for Furry Friends

It’s so hard for me to throw away any fabric scraps. It must be itty bitty before it finds its way into the trash can. Even then, I want to save, and use it to stuff something, or tie it onto a heart-shaped coat hanger! While watching television at night, I’m working on a wall hanging for my new sewing room!

Each project I do, I know I’ll have fabric left over. Trust Me: It’s much better than running out of fabric before the end of a project! Anyway ~

What to do with what’s leftover? It is usually not big enough to make much of anything else so it goes in the box of scraps. (I had to laugh after re-reading that last sentence… as if I only have one box of scraps!) I’m constantly looking for small, worthwhile, projects to do.

Then I saw this post yesterday in a (UK based) Facebook group that I’m part of, “Helping Hands –stitching and sewing for good causes”:

For any USA members, make kennel quilts for local shelter and get the chance to win this cute machine .. sad I can't enter
https://berninaquiltsforfurryfriends.com/

Yes! I went to the link (I hope you do as well!) and read everything about the project! I “liked” the Bernina Facebook page and read more…

BERNINA is helping by donating to the Petfinder Foundation and The Quilt Pattern Magazine's Kennel Quilt Team. Click here to learn more.

I “liked” the TQPM Small Kennel Quilts Facebook page. And, of course, the Petfinder Foundation page. The Quilt Pattern Magazine is another page I clicked to “like”!

You can find the official rules for entering the contest here.

You can find the kennel quilt guidelines here! Lots of patterns available!

It is not about a chance of wining a Bernina 350, although I’m sure I could find a wonderful use for it! It’s helping the animals awaiting their forever home!

I am the only entry – so far! Check it out! Then, vote daily beginning 03/01/2016 through 03/15/2016!!!

Don’t worry, I’ll remind everyone!

Be sure to let me/us know if you also create one and enter the contest!

Turning Scraps into Fabric

Last week I stumbled upon a great article, Use Every Wee Bit and decided to try it! Well, my first attempt worked out sorta okay, but I had issues since I don't have an extension table next to my sewing machine! Threads kept falling off before I could stitch around the perimeter!

It's not too bad...

While sorting my stash of fabrics, looking for colors to match here and there, I came across itty bitty scraps left over from a doll quilt I made a couple of years ago.

I couldn't trash them, but I sure wasn't going to use the tiny squares and strips! So.... I thought about adapting Judith's instructions to make it a little easier for me! There's just so many ways I can hold my mouth to keep things all in line!

Just in case I missed a spot, rather than using muslin, I used a scrap of leftover backing from a quilt.

I gathered some pinks...

And, some blues...

I used (OUTSIDE) a bit of basting spray to the right side of the fabric, then placed the fabric on a piece of cardboard, gluey side up!

WORKING QUICKLY - before the basting spray drys, I placed the fabric pieces here and there...

Totally covered ~ just about ...

Cover with water soluble stabilizer...

Carefully take the "sandwich" over to the machine with stabilizer on top. Stitch around the edges, then stitch and stitch, and stitch more! I used dark thread on the bobbin so you could see it better...

Take to the sink and rinse and rinse and rinse out the stabilizer! 

I think it turned out rather nicely! Now I have 2 pieces of newly created made fabric to use with the main focus piece in the next Action Quilt!

BTW: Once the stabilizer is washed off & you think you need to add more stitching, no problem! Put on another piece of the stabilizer and go for it!!!

Fresh Spinach

Storing the small stuff – I love fresh spinach. I also love repurposing the containers to store my scraps! As I cut yardage strips needed, when I get down to the last itty bitty bit, I trim the leftovers into the largest size width possible.

Even the 1” scraps go into the container. They create lovely braided stars I’m working on every now and then…

Of course, you can buy storage tubs...

But I love fresh spinach, I love repurposing the containers! I can take the money saved from buying "store bought" and buy more fabric to make a quilts!!!

Storing the big stuff – yards and yards of fabric!

Honestly, it makes me nervous seeing something like this… oh, it’s lovely in my dreams, but I don’t sew that fast!!!

Yes. The entire room and shelves and cutting & sewing stations and desk area are all very lovely and dreamy, but I know how natural light (and not even direct sunlight) coming into the room can fade out fabric before you realize it!

Trust me! Hide it all in a dark closet, or a darken room! The file cabinet idea is a good one…

If all else fails… sew sew sew!!!

She who dies with the most fabric, didn't sew fast enough! 

Scrappy Things – A Baker’s Dozen

Today’s mission is creating a game plan to make scrappy things, using up those small pieces of fabric too small for a major project! When I start sewing again, I want quick access to an array of items, and links to the instructions. The Pincushion Evolution article I previously wrote won’t take much fabric, so it’s in the category of scrappy things, but I need more. I have sooooo many scraps...

This is only a tiny bit of my scrappy stash!

1. Kathy, at Pink Chalk Studio, shared a great tutorial showing how to make her Water bottle carrier. I like that she pieced and quilted fabrics together to make the outside. 

2. Sew Me Something Good gave me the inspiration to create a scrappy bag. This is something I can do to also incorporate a zipper! Remember the scary zipper article I wrote? I can do this now! 
   

3. I love refrigerator magnets, especially cute ones! Heather, over at The Sewing Loft, provides the template and instructions to make these cuties!
   

4. Cluck Cluck Sew has a great idea to keep little hands busy, but I saw it and thought it’s a fun way to use up those scrappy scraps and write out “Lanetta’s Creations” for my own wall or on a banner! I have lots of buttons, too!
   

5. I finally know how to create a coin purse, thanks to Molly over at The Purl Bee! 
   

6. Not too long ago my mother asked if I had a scissor pouch. I think she saw me place my GOOD sewing scissors unprotected, along with a few other tools, in a plastic box. I hadn’t really thought of it, how this could damage my scissors, so I was very excited when I stumbled upon this scrappy thing! Thank you, Brenda, for your contribution on the Popular Patchwork website! This is perfect! 
   

7. I think I have every pair of denim jeans my husband and I have ever worn! Sitting in my “walk in closet” of a bedroom, you’ll find a HUGE tub filled with jeans with holes in the knees or they’ve shrunk (of course they shrink, it’s not like I’ve gain any weight over the years)! I had thought to make a rag quilt someday, but I also like the idea of making some into baskets like Threading My Way has shared! 
   

8. After creating these long-stemmed fabric flowers, I love what Snowy Bliss writes: “Now my sewing room wears a smile.” 
   

9. Fabric Handle Grips! Oh my! Thank you, Amy a la Mode! Having issues with my hands since Rheumatoid Arthritis hit, I’m always looking for ways to make handles bigger and more comfortable. Even if I use scrappy pieces, this would work beautifully!
   

10. LAMPSHADES! I cannot tell you how timely this is! I was about to toss out an ugly lampshade…not anymore after seeing what the Junk Garden Girl shared! (She has several clever ideas besides using scrappy scraps.) There isn’t a tutorial, but I bet we can figure it out! I FOUND THE TUTORIAL!!! It's over on The Pleated Poppy page! 
11. 

11. Shoelaces? Why not! Maureen shows us how at Maureen Cracknell Handmade! 
    

12. Fabric Pom-Pom’s? Who would have thought! I’m glad Maureen did! What a clever embellishment idea. Wish I had stumbled across this for the Make it Pop – Embellish article! But, better late than never!
    

13. And, last but not least, I found a lovely scrappy thing on WikiHow – a Clothesline Coil Basket (or mat)! This looks doable! 
    

I few other ideas caught my eye:

Fabriccovered thumb tacks

Coverwire coat hangers

Make oodles of Yo-yo’s

How do you use fabric scraps?