Cute, springy pillowcases for my mom!

Today I made some cute pillowcases for my mom. She is very tiny and frail and spends alot of time in her bed at home. She needed some tiny pillows to help prop her head up to watch her flat screen tv she has mounted on the wall in her bedroom. If you try to buy small pillows at any stores they are usually way to firm and plump for her to get comfortable. She just wanted me to make some pillowcases for the small pillows she has had for ages and are filled with chip foam and are quite lumpy and uncomfortable looking. So I decided to make some new pillows for her to use.

I found out about a neat trick to make the pillow more uniform and flat, not to puffy if you don't want to, on the internet.  The trick is to put a layer of batting on each side of  the inside of the pillow. I tried to cheat a bit and sew the pillow together with the batting, but my serge did not like that. So I ended up sewing the 3 sides of the pillow together leaving one of the short ends open. Then I sewed the batting together in the same way leaving one of the short sides open as well. You then tuck the batting pouch inside the pillow casing smoothing it as you go, then stuff the fiberfill into the batting pouch. This stops the fiberfill from bunching up and causing  it to form lumps.  I found that if you stuff a pillow without any batting the cotton fabric inside is slippery and makes the fiberfill want to bunch up. The batting helps hold the fiberfill where you want it. I slip stitched the batting pouch together to keep everything inside and then serged along the outside edge of the actual pillow.  That side will be inside the pretty pillowcase and won't be seen so I think it works well. I am very pleased with the results. Here are a few pictures

The white pillow is the pillow form I made. Not to puffy and nice and smooth. Looks great in the green pillowcase. But of course a purple one is so pretty too.

The next two pictures are of a small hand vacuum cleaner I got at the sewing festival in Toronto.  It is very small but works really great. Couple of AA batteries and you are good to go. It is really great to get my serger clean because every time you sew there is a lot of lint that gets into the machine and it can be hard to reach to get it out. If you ever see one I recommend you buy one. This one cost about $12.00 which is really reasonable. It works great on computer key boards as well.

Yikes! Where does the time go.

I have so many things to do and not enough time to do it, lol. Trying to get my daughter's room all set up for her. She lives in France and is coming home for a visit. I look forward to this so much because that is when I am the happiest! But cleaning is not my favorite thing to do. I often sneak down to my sewing room to work on some fun stuff and get so focused I forget how the time flies.

I was trying to finish off some stuff from last year before I start anything new (cough, cough), but fabricland keeps having these great sales and I have not been able to stay away. I'm fine if I don't see anything that strikes my fancy, but if I do I end up buying more fabric and doing other projects so my get to pile just seems to grow.

I like making quilts but find that is takes so much time to make them that I often just don't want to finish it. I love piecing the tops together because you can see how the colors come together and it looks so beautiful once its done. The basting part is the worse for me because I don't really have the space I need to do it the way I should. I often improvise and it does get the job done but I think it is harder than it should be. I also quilt it on my domestic sewing machine and being a novice at it, it to can become overwhelming fast. I do like the binding part. I love sewing the binding down by hand. It gives it such a clean, flat finish that makes the quilt look so much better.

I made a new handbag with some of my new fabric and it turned out beautiful.  I like projects that are fun and fast to make. I get a little adrenaline rush every time something comes out looking as good as I hoped it would. Here are a few pictures.

This bag is very simple which I like because it lets the fabric be the wow factor.  I forgot how relaxing it can be when you don't have a zipper to put in. It is 10 inches wide at the top, 12 inches wide at the bottom and it stands 11 inches tall, not including the handles. I am making a purple flowered one and decided to make a shoulder strap instead. The blue will fit on your shoulder but its a little tight. I will  put up pictures when I am done. I promised myself to finish the quilt I am working on before I do this so I will have incentive to get it done. So I will get back to that and be back soon.

Finally I'm Back

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile but we were having alot of trouble with our internet. Turns out we needed a new router and a new modem. I was actually making a tote bag from a pattern on-line and was worried I wouldn't be able to finish it. It was one of the two bags I wanted to get done for the fund raiser event I went to on the 23 of February. Normally I print out the pattern before hand to have it beside me when I am sewing but this time I was lazy and didn't bother. Thank god I have made a few tote bags over the last little while because I was able to figure out how to finish it on my own. I'll know better next time. Here is a couple of pictures of the 2 bags I was able to make.

The first bag is actually a lunch bag. The pattern called for laminated cotton or oil cloth which is a specially treated fabric that is water proof and can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. The area I live in does not have a shop that carries this type of fabric so I had to come up with something else. In my frequent searching on the internet I heard of a product that might do the trick. It is iron on vinyl. It's very easy to do and I had no problems. You just have to make sure Mr. Iron doesn't touch the vinyl. The vinyl comes with a protective paper that you use to cover the vinyl when ironing it. After I made the bag and was quite proud of myself, I read that the vinyl is not washer and dryer friendly. Thats okay if you never had to wash the fabric itself, but in the real world we know that is not true. The bag would really be cute for a childs lunch bag, but the whole bag would eventually have to be laundered. I plan on trying to make a removable vinyl liner for this reason. When I give it a go I will post on how it went.

The second tote bag is made from a tutorial I saw on the Missouri Star Quilt Co. for the charm pack tote bag. I added the pockets as the original pattern didn't have any. Of course the original pattern is just a basic pattern just waiting to be customized any way you want. I love the colors and the pockets I picked out. I wanted to keep it for myself as I only had enough fabric to make the one bag. But I know it is for a good cause and will find a loving home.  The fund raiser was a huge success and a lot of money was raised to help my friend be able to take a long recovery time off work without any financial worries.

I'm kind of on a bag and tote fix right now. I am currently making another tote bag and will blog about it and post pictures when I'm done. Sometimes I find when I'm lacking some inspiration for a quilt  to make , doing a smaller project and getting it done fast encourages me to keep on sewing. That is what I tell myself when I have a couple of quilts to finish but want to start a new project instead lol. I'm going to be good though and not start another quilt until the 2 I have on the go are finished. I better get at it.

A Snow Day

Friday February 1st was a snow day for everyone. My son was over joyed at not having to go to school. I was very happy I did not have to venture outside and drive. I did have to do a bit of shovelling for my puppies lol. With the constant snowfall we had drifts out our back door and down the few steps to the back yard. I wished I had my camera ready when we first let out our chihuahuas. By the time they got to the bottom of the stairs they were completely covered in snow. Chico lifted up his head and was completely covered in snow. Only his big beautiful brown eyes were visible. They very quickly ran back up the stairs and inside before doing their business. I had to go out and shovel a pathway for them to get to the grass just off our cement patio. They would not go out unless I bundled up to and went out with them. I was not so impressed as I am a warm weather gal.

The tan chihuahua is our male pup and Sophie is our very prissy female pup. I had to carry Sophie outside every time until the snow stopped and was packed down enough that her legs didn't get buried. They hate wearing their little coats, but don't like having the snow touch their bellies even more. Poor Sophie has no hair on her belly at all to protect her from the cold.

It was a good time for sewing though. We couldn't really go out anywhere. As usual our street is about the last one to get ploughed so didn't want to get our car stuck in the snow.

I received some sad news last week. One of my previous co-workers was diagnosed with leukaemia and is in a hospital in hamilton.  They are holding a fundraiser in a few weeks for her, and I was asked to go. Of course I am going and then thought of some other ways I could help. There are going to be door prizes and draws so I thought I could make a few tote bags to donate for some of the draws. The totebag in my first post is the one I will be making. I didn't have a pattern to follow so I'm thankful I still have it to compare to. I always promise myself to write everything I do down when I'm making it, but get so excited to see how it will turn out I never do it.  The bag though is coming out even better than the first one so I'm really happy with it. I will post pictures when I have it done. So I guess I better get back to it. I would like to get as many done as I can.

A Design Wall, It's a Good Thing

A lot of quilting sites always talk about a design wall. I never gave it much thought because I just don't have the room anywhere in my house. My sewing room is down in the basement because we have lots of animals, 5 cats, 2 dogs (itty bitty chihuahua's) so the basement is off limits to them so I will have a hairless room to sew in. I just couldn't see how the fabric could stay on the wall with just the flannel as a base, no pins, tape or anything else.

When I am arranging the quilt top on a table it's hard to get a good view of how it will look and then stretching to reach the middle of the quilt to make any changes. The ladies that have a design wall usually attach a length of flannel right on to a wall. I don't have that option so I was trying to think of another solution. Then I thought what if I made a temporary wall made from some cardboard. This worked okay for just a few small blocks but once the rows were sewn together the cardboard was to flimsy to stay upright. Then I had a great idea. What about foam board. It is light weight but still very sturdy and comes in all different sizes at our local staples stores. So I tried it and voila, a very good solution. Here are a few pictures of what I came up with. Pictures are above lol, don't know how they got there but at least I was able to get them up. I'm still getting used to using my camera and using all the blogging tools.

Another good incentive for the board is, if you leave it up when you are still working on it, it will be a reminder that you really should finish it before starting a new project. If you put it into a not finished pile, it might not come out for a very long time. If it's staring you in the face its hard to ignore lol.

I really love my make do design wall. Its light weight so easy to handle and when I don't need it I can move it anywhere with ease. If you don't have one of your own, you should really try it. Looking at the block arrangement  over a few days can help you decide what is the best arrangement of the blocks.

A Year for Firsts

     I have wanted to start a blog for a very long time but was always afraid to put myself out there. I also have a lot of trouble with electronics, namely my camera; how to take the right picture, get it from the camera to the computer and finally how to find it on said computer and get it onto a blog. Also I want to have a diary or journal to keep track of all the lovely things I make this year. Usually I have more than one project on the go and my sewing room is in chaos most of the time and I loose track of what I am doing.

This is where I found the title for my first blog entry. Its a year of firsts. First blog of the new year, first post, first project etc. No more being afraid to start something new.

I have been knitting for over thirty years which includes mostly baby sweaters and blankets. Its strange that every time I make something it is usually for someone else. I very rarely make something for myself. I love making baby clothes because the amount of yarn you need is small so not so expensive and its a great way to learn a new stitch or pattern without worrying about how much you spent  on the yarn and therefore if said project takes a wrong turn and ends up in the I'll get to it later pile, it's not such a big deal.

I have done a bit of clothes sewing over the years but don't find that to be as interesting or fun as making a new tote bag, coin purse, wristlet, placemats, pillowcases, etc., I think you get the picture lol. I have overcome my fear of zippers, magnetic snaps and other purse hardware and now enjoy the challenge of trying something new. It has just been the last few years that I have got in to making quilts. I really, really, really, like everything about quilting. There are so many beautiful quilting fabrics out there that a person can have a hard time trying to buy just what you need and not what you would love to bring home.

I spend a lot of time searching out tutorials and quilt patterns on-line. I come across a lot of helpful tips on just about everything and would like to share with everyone who might not have the time to do as much searching as I do. If you are looking for something specific please let me know in a comment or you can e-mail any question you might have. I find a lot of projects, patterns, tips and tutorials on pinterest which is becoming my new addiction. You can find almost anything on there, especially free patterns, tutorials and ideas. When you are thinking about a specific kind of quilt pattern you can search and see what others have done with colour, placement, and block patterns. I still get amazed at how a quilt can look totally different with just a colour change. There is lots of inspiration out there.

My first finished project of the new year is a beautiful pink tote bag that I think I will keep for myself. It was made with 12 charm squares and some pink toned batik for the bottom. I quilted the outer focus fabric with some batting and then made a lining that is not quilted inside. I have pockets 5 pockets inside that are all a nice size. The bottom has boxed corners so it sits up nicely by itself. I found the instructions on how to make this in a video tutorial by the Missouri Quilt Co. They have a lot of easy fun tutorials using pre-cut fabric which are fast and easy to work with. Its worth you while to go have a look.

I can't believe I actually was able to get pictures posted on my first try. I am just learning how to make posts and use blogger so please forgive any mistakes I might make. This will be a work in progress as I get used to how to do things. Thanks so much for visiting!