Making Dresses

This week, I have been doing something

I haven't done in years.

When my daughters were little,

I made almost all of their clothes.

The only things I didn't make were undergarments, jeans

and other pants with zippers.

I would go into quilt shops to buy the fabric

for their dresses and other outfits,

because they had the best selection of cotton fabrics.

Then came the day that they didn't want to wear what mom made anymore.

So, all of the patterns and piping and buttons and trims

were packed up and have been in boxes for years.

Until the other day!

My sister has a granddaughter who is almost a year old

and I was getting the itch to make something other than a quilt for her.

I looked through my stash and found some fun fabrics to use.

Dress #1

This pattern was a good one to begin with

and try and knock the rust off of my garment sewing.

Dress #2

Same pattern, but I added some piping to the bottom of this one.

Next, I found several unfinished things that I smocked years ago.

(I did a LOT of smocking back then!)

The patterns weren't with the fabric pieces anymore,

but I thought I could figure out how to finish them.

Dress #3

I can't tell you how many times I used this pattern

when my girls were little.

It came back quickly as to how to sew it together

with the lining.

I had to be reintroduced to my buttonhole maker for these dresses!

It took a bit of practice and the buttonholes were made.

This dress might be too small.

There wasn't a pattern with this one, either,

but I just had to finish it.

Hopefully it will fit the little one.

While I wasn't doing any quilting this week,

I was playing with fabric.

Making these little dresses doesn't make me want to give up

quilting for garment sewing, but it was fun to work on these

for a few days.

I'm linking to Whoop Whoop (sidebar)
and TGIFF today.

Happy Creating!

Mystery and Pillow Cases

Libby, at Life on the Hill,

is hosting a mystery quilt a long.

This is my kind of mystery!

Quick, easy blocks that are fun to make.

The  last clue was released on Friday

and the reveal will be today.

Here is my last clue sewn together.

She gave us a cutting scheme for cutting fat quarters in the fastest and

most efficient way and then has had us sew the various pieces together

into blocks.

On Friday, Libby asked us to play around with our blocks to see if

we could guess what the final reveal will look like.

Here is what I came up with:

It's like putting a puzzle together

only faster!

 

I'm not good with the names of various blocks,

but I know the outer part of the blocks below are

Churn Dash blocks.

 

It will be fun to see what Libby has designed today.

 

On a mindless sewing note,

I've made a stack of pillow cases for some of my

grand nieces and nephews.

My brother and sister-in-law have a new grandson

and the first Old McDonald's Farm quilt is going to him.

I decided to make all of their grands pillow cases

and raided my stash to find fabrics.

I had all of these fabrics in my stash and had so

much fun pulling and pairing the fabrics.

 

These all went together lickity-split!

There will be more pillow cases in my future!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Have a great week and

Happy Quilting!

Old McDonald's Farm Part 2

When I made the first

Old McDonald Farm quilt,

I almost had enough leftover triangles

to make a second quilt.

I pulled some solid fabrics,

cut more triangles

and pieced another baby quilt.

There is something about these triangle quilts

that just makes me smile.

For this one, I backed it in a lime green chevron minky.

Oh, it's so soft!!

The minky is so wonderful on the back,

but makes it more difficult to quilt.

 It's worth the effort, though.

I already know where this one is headed.

It will be delivered tomorrow!

There will be more triangle quilts in my future!

On another note,

I found this fabric for $5.50/yd for the backing of my

Bible Book blocks quilt.

Won't this be perfect??

It may be used for the binding, too.

Happy Quilting!

On a Roll....

On Monday and Tuesday I found myself with a few free hours in the

afternoons.

Appointments were canceled,

so what is a girl to do?

SEW!!!

In those few hours I was able to get the borders on my

Bible blocks quilt.

Woohoo!!

The blocks had been sewn together over the weekend

and I was toying with border ideas.

At first I thought I would use the four extra 

Bible blocks in the corners of the outer border

as corner stones.

 Putting those blocks in the corners was too much of a contrast.

My eye went right to those corners.

I am really pleased with the solid black borders instead.

The extra blocks may be pieced into the backing.

(I had to stand on a stool to take this photo....

hence, the crooked look.)

 

 

I cut and sewed strips of various reds

and used those for the narrow red border.

I'm debating on whether or not to quilt this one myself.

It's much larger than I thought it would be when making the blocks

and I've never quilted anything this large.

 

An over-all quilting design isn't what this quilt needs, though.

I'll see if I can get my courage up to do this!

Happy Quilting!

Socks and Such

It's the beginning of another week

and it's been another few days of working on various projects.

First,

the next clue of Libby's mystery quilt was released last Friday,

and, again, it took my iron longer to heat up than it did 

for me to sew the blocks together.

I really enjoy making Half Square Triangles.

I'm getting really curious about how all of these parts will go together!

Second,

I finished another pair of socks for a child.

These are a size 2-3 and went together so quickly!

It's so nice to be using some of the left over sock yarn from other projects

and making something useful.

Third,

I finally pulled out my stack of Bible book blocks

and found some fabric to use for the alternate blocks.

I went back and forth about what to use and finally decided on black.

The black really allows all of the reds to shine.

The photos make the reds look pinkier then they actually are.

I'm going to add several borders to this quilt...

a narrow black, then a narrow red, followed by a wide black

with four Bible book blocks in the corners.

I hope it looks as nice as it does in my head!

Hopefully this week I'll have a finish or two to share.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.
Please visit to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Pods and Pillows

This week has been a bit disjointed for me,

but I did manage to find some time to spend in my Hidey Hole.

 In this disjointed time, I was able to get a couple of smaller things finished.

Yesterday a friend and I went to another friends house and 

she taught us how to make the "Sweetpea Pods".

These little pouches are so cute

and go together so quickly!

Two 10" squares make two of these little pouches

and go together in no time....

once you get the zipper pull back onto the zipper, that is!

 

Mary, my friend who gave us the tutorial,

gave me one for Christmas and it's perfect for

keeping my binding clips stored.

I should have taken a photo of her bowl of pods!

They looked so pretty and festive on her counter.

Last night, while watching March Madness, 

(for which my bracket is already not looking too good!)

I finished the two pillows for my daughter and son-in-law.

They need the forms, but the covers are finished!

The colors in the photos for this pillow are not right.

The background fabric has more green than is showing here.

None the less, I am really happy with this combo of fabrics.

 

These pillows are BIG!

I said in the previous post that they are 24" square,

but they are actually 26" square.

 

The pattern I used was found in a magazine years ago

and I don't have the name or edition number of the magazine.

Prairie points surround the outer borders.

 

I will get the pillow forms and send these to her...

or may hand deliver them myself!

Have a great weekend, everyone

and

Happy Quilting!

Something New

A few years ago I made my daughter some pillows for her new apartment.

They are Big pillows... 24" square.
I remember when I made them that I wanted to keep them for myself,

but, being the nice person that I am,

I gave them to her.

She has loved those pillows and has asked for new ones, 

using the same pattern.

This is the daughter who has banned me from making any more quilts,

so you know I jumped at the chance to make her pillows!

I have the top of the first one pieced.

This pattern was for a wall hanging and was published in a magazine

years ago.

(It's called "Coastal Mountains" by Penelope Taylor. I don't have the

name or date of the magazine.)

 

My daughter's decor is in aquas, teals and blues.

 

The top will be quilted to give it a little more body. 

I just love the richness of the batiks and the deep colors of these fabrics.

 

The second pillow is being made with lighter colors

and will, hopefully, be done soon.

Again, I may want to keep these for myself!

(Maybe I should just make some for myself!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm a little late in posting Clue 3 of Libby's Mystery QAL.

I was out of town over the weekend and just made the squares for Clue 3.

 

It's not too late to join in on the fun!

And the clues are super easy to make.

I'm also linking to Design Wall Monday.

Take a peak at what others are creating this week.

Happy Quilting!

Finished Socks

I haven't been sharing my knitting much these days.

There hasn't been as much to share,

but I do have a few finishes.

This top sock may have been shown before,

but the pair is finished now and ready to gift.

I liked making the cable so much,

I made the pair below the same way.

 

These were gifted to my sister-in-law.

These socks below are for a child.

Using DK yarn and making smalls socks sure speeds up 

the finishes!

These were all made in the last week.

I've been in awe of those who can knit an adult sock in a day.

I can almost knit a child size sock in a day! 

:D

 

I've decided to make a bunch of children's socks and

donate them in the fall.

These are almost instant gratification!

Happy Day!

Old McDonald is a Finish

It's funny how sometimes I look at fabrics I've purchased and think

What Was I Thinking??

This is how I felt with this fat quarter bundle of fabrics

I've had in my cabinet for quite some time.

Why did I buy this and what am I going to do with it?

On my list for 2018 was to get this stack of fat quarters sewn into something.

Let me just say....

I love this quilt!

The large triangles allow for the cute fabrics to shine

and the colors to pop.

I quilted it with a swirl design,

which took no time at all.

I had this striped fabric in my stash

and had to add a strip of left over triangles to the width of the fabric

to make it wide enough for the backing.

The stripe worked well for the binding, too.

This fun quilt will be for my niece

who is due any day now.

I've had a quilt made for her for a while,

but that one will stay in my pile

for another little one.

The good news is I had enough left over triangles to make

another slightly smaller quilt!

Hopefully the smaller version will be finished soon.

Old McDonald had a cute farm!

Linking to Design Wall Monday today.
Enjoy!

Happy Quilting!

Libby's Mystery Quilt

Libby at Life on the Hill

is hosting a Mystery Quilt a long!

She has given the cutting instructions

and the first clue,

so it's not too late to join in on the fun!

We need a dark and a light fabric for the blocks

she will be having us make.

I purchased these fabrics a while ago

to make something else,

but that didn't work out.

Even though they aren't light and dark,

I hope there is enough contrast

to use them here.

Libby released the first sewing clue yesterday.

I think it took longer for my iron to heat up than it did

for me to sew these blocks together!

Thanks, Libby, for helping to feed my addiction!

Happy Quilting!