A Quilt for Nana Joan

While I was on the phone to my Nana Joan a few months back, she mentioned that she had a Sunbonnet Sue template from a magazine that she had been holding onto for ages, but would likely never do anything with...... enter crafty scheming granddaughter and mother combo, who conspired to retrieve said pattern in order for me to make it. 

Well on its arrival here in Texas, I can only say I was a little disappointed with the quality of the pattern; it was less shabby-chic and more just plain shabby. Dont get me wrong, the picture of the finished quilt was cute, but I though we need something much more special for my Nana Joan..... 

So I sat down and started to sketch my own little Sue's. And I sketched and sketched, and then converted them to digital images and made outlines for all the little pieces, and over the course of the past couple of weeks, the quilt has come to life!

May I proudly present Nana Joan's Sunbonnet Sue quilt! 

 

Oh gosh this one was fun to make, and it's going to be tough to let go! I hope she loves it!

Here's all the little Sue's;

 Cupcake Sue

Basket Sue

Apple-Pickin' Sue

 

Rainy Day Sue

 

Flag Waving Sue

 

Dog Walking Sue

Gardening Sue

 

Flower Pickin' Sue

 

and Singing Sue!

And a few close-ups of all the stitchy goodness...

You gotta have rain on a quilt bound for England!

 

 Loopy quilting by a loopy quilter! Coincidence?

Cupcake anyone?

Whilst the quilt itself is off to reside in the UK, I loved making this so much that I decided to turn it into a pattern. You can find it here in my Etsy shop!

A Gourd Day!

Last spring Poor Suffering Husband bought me a packet of birdhouse gourd seeds. I was about a month late planting them and as there were only 12 seeds, I didn't really expect a whole lot to happen. So I put them in the ground along the front fence and waited.

I didn't have to wait long, maybe a week, before the first little leaves appeared...

And then they grew...

 

And got baby gourds...

And the baby gourds got bigger...

And the leaves got bigger...

And the BUGS got bigger...

Now I have a couple of hundred gourds waiting to be turned into this:

 

Oh that pun never gets old!

For anyone else thinking of growing gourds, here is a quick start-up guide:

A New Direction

Happy new Year! A little belated I know... sorry about that, but you know how it is after Christmas...... when you can finally just slump into a heap and be thankful you got through another holiday season. Just me?

So I haven't actually been slumped into a heap (not ALL the time, anyway!) no, I've taken up a new hobby! Surprise, surprise! Oh my poor suffering husband has to feign enthusiasm every time I come up with something new to try..... while secretly thinking How much will it cost me? Dont feel too sorry for him, I did good this time.....

So what am I doing? .....................Wood burning!!! And what did it cost to get started? A grand total of $10!!! What do you mean you've never woke up thinking Today I'd like to try wood burning? Poor suffering husband cannot be considered a guiltless party in all this as he bought me a lovely beginners wood burning book for Christmas, and several friends and neighbors had my creations thrust upon them as gifts. But truth be told, it all started when I saw a wood plaque in Walmart in the shape of an arrow which set off my crafters spidey-senses.I knew it was destined to point out my sewing room..... 

 .....you know, in case I forget where it is. Or get lost. In my own yard..... shut up.

What can I say? Now I'm addicted! Yup, I fall fast and hard! So here's a peek at a few more tests...

In fact I had so much fun making these, I have decided to stock my Etsy shop! So go check out a whole bunch of different wood burned signs!

And if you haven't guessed from my sign, I'm also making gourd birdhouses! But that's for another day....

Happy Holidays!

A little christmas cheer for the sewing shed....

In my alternate universe, I sit around in my best frock with my hair done beautifully, making stuff like this all the time..... and everyone gets beautiful hand-made gifts, home-baked cookies and perfectly lettered cards.....

Then I open my eyes and realize that the decorations are still in their box, the cards aren't finished and I still have two hundred cookies to make. Crap.

Merry Christmas to all!

Sunday Scribbles

Happy Sunday!

Bowled Over

A little while back I happened across a picture of a bowl made from cotton piping wrapped in fabric and thought it was just the neatest thing! I definately wanted a go.... So off to the lovely Walmart I went, and purchased all they had of medium piping. I raided my tub of fabric strips and got to it! This is what I ended up with...

I made two bowls, each using 6 yards of cording...

One is more of a flat, plate-like shape. The other is more bowl shaped.

They both look just lovely in my sewing room!

Happy Halloween!

Sewing vacation

For the past couple of weeks we have been on a much needed staycation whilst my mom and dad have been here, on vacation from chilly England. And dont let the title fool you; there was no vacation from sewing as mother got off the plane with a LIST of things to be made.....

And to be honest, I'm sure glad she did! It meant we got to spend a couple of days pootling about in my shed together, doing girly sewing things, and hopefully she ended up with some useful items to boot! And she only nodded off once..... Although she says as there was no drool this definitely does NOT count as sleep. Something to do with jet-lag.....

Project #1 was a peacock cushion for her to give as a Christmas gift. This is what we came up with:

For the feathers we fussy-cut pieces from a large scale paisley print.

The pictures dont really do them justice as the camera couldn't seem to capture the colors very well.

Mom chose the fabrics, and I think she did an excellent job. He's one posh peacock!

Want to make your own? You can download a PDF template here. It includes the peacock and feather outline and a couple of layout suggestions, so have at it!

Project #2 was a tote bag.

It was a make-it-up-as-you-sew kind of affair, and it turned out pretty good. I want one now...

Mom chose some lovely home dec weight fabric for the outside and some cream quilting for the interior. We did a couple of things to make this bag a little bit fancy, the first of which was to add fusible stiffener to all the exterior pieces to give it the right 'feel' and make it look 'like a real one'. Secondly, we added a fancy interior pocket...

It was my first time doing this kind of pocket and I'm sure glad it all worked out. The other side just has some regular divider pockets and there is a small pocket on the front of the bag.

Projects #3 and #4 are without pictures and were a cushion for a childs rocking chair and a case for moms circular knitting needles, the latter of which you may see make an appearance on moms blog if you ask nicely.

All in all, a good sewing vacation!

Autumn Days

The weather here in south-east Texas has turned distinctly fall-like in the past few weeks, bringing some much needed relief from the blistering summer heat. With little humidity, the mornings are positively chilly, and its finally nice enough to spend some real time in my sewing shed. I have been wanting to do a nice little fall-inspired project to ease me back into some sewing, and figured one can never have too many cushion covers......

So to shake things up a little, I wanted to do some raw-edge applique and some embroidery, and after perusing the beautiful fall projects on Pinterest, sat down with my sketch-book and came up with this little gem...

I love the idea of incorporating movement into my cushion and what says Autumn better than a crisp breeze blowing the leaves off the trees?!

If you want to make your own 'Fall Breeze' cushion or wall quilt, you can find the template in PDF format here.

It is sized for an 18" square pillow and you will need to print it in a tiled fashion across 6 sheets and stick them together (For instructions on how to do this on Adobe Reader click here). You can also get the regular letter paper size here, for embroideries or other stitchy goodness!

The best way to make the leaves is to cut a little template out of cardboard to draw around, and if you squish them close together you can get them all on one 5" x 5" charm square! Make sure to choose fabric with a small print that has a variety of colors so your leaves all look different.

Happy Fall, y'all!

Sunday Scribbles

Edward John Phelps

Have a happy Sunday!

Creature Feature- Monkey

Its a hard life...

A Thrifty Makeover

Last week I discovered contact paper. It's now my favorite thing in the WHOLE world! I managed to salvage a couple of nearly-whole rolls that were going to be thrown in the trash and used them to cover the wooden benches in my sewing shed. Previously they were covered with fabric, not the most practical or cleanable finish... especially when the cats just LOVE to keep me company, leaving their pesky hair on everything!

Much better!

I am a firm believer in messy=creative

I also re-finished my sewing chair, and was about half way through it when I thought I should have taken a 'before' picture. Trust me though when I say it was UGLY!

Not anymore though....

For just the cost of a can of spray paint I have a brand new chair!The seat cover is made from fabric off my old sofa cushions and is an easily cleanable microfiber. Not too shabby, eh?

A pretty good weekend makeover!

Sunday Scribbles

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic, with not much time for anything other than work. Sitting in the evening with my sketchbook on my lap is about all I've managed. Still, I guess every little bit of lettering practice helps!

When I'm not lettering, I find myself jotting down cute phrases and interesting quotes, so I have stuff to write. After all, there's only so many times you can write your own name before it starts to look like a made-up word..... Don't you hate it when that happens! The other day it was 'took'. Took. Took. Took...... damn, there I go again!

This one is courtesy of a bumper sticker they were handing out at tractor supply a few months back.

Fanciful Flossery

A nice little project took up my spare time this week, and thankfully I got it finished in time for it's recipients baby shower earlier this afternoon. Now this was not your run-of-the-mill baby shower gift as the baby made an unexpected appearance two months early! Fortunately, the little dot is doing ok and her thankful parents are looking forward to taking her home sometime in the next month.

We never seem to have appropriate wrapping paper for birthday's and such, so we have now started to keep a roll of brown paper handy. Suitable for all occasions and decorated any way you like with stamps, paints, pens, ribbon etc. This is my new favorite thrifty wrapping!

So go ahead, open it up.......

A quick and easy pre-printed panel that makes up into a nice little wall plaque for the nursery! This one is wrapped around a piece of plywood, which makes for a nice sturdy base, but could as easily go in a regular picture frame.

This little project sure saved my hide this week!