They Are In The Mail…..

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Quiltmouse

The Pillowcases I made for the Arrow Cabinet Charity Challenge are in the Mail! 

In honor of National Sewing Month, Arrow Cabinets issued a Challenge in support of ConKerrCancer(dot)Org.  It was requested that Cheerful Pillowcases be made and mailed in to them by Friday, March 9th.  Then Arrow Cabinets would combine all the Pillowcases we made with the ones they were making and donate them to be given to children fighting cancer & other serious illnesses.

My last post showed you the fabric I bought at Joann’s last Friday.  Here are the completed Pillowcases:

They were washed & ironed, packed in baggies and mailed off today.

Tomorrow – Sewing some Quilts for Quilting for Good!

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March is National Sewing Month

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Quiltmouse

March is National Sewing Month (also, National Crafting Month).  Can you sew a straight line?  Sure you can!

Here’s a way to celebrate and bring some smiles to the faces of children/teens battling cancer and other serious illnesses.

Make a Pillowcase. Or two or three.

It doesn’t take much time and only two fabrics (three if you want to add a small trim).  I picked up some fabric at Joann Fabrics – some of it on sale and I had coupons.  One will be Soccer fabric w/Red trim ($6.07 including taxes).  Another will be Hearts on Purple with Purple trim ($7.07 including taxes).  The Third will be Purple with Pastel Butterflies with Purple trim ($6.07 including taxes).  That’s less than $20 for three Pillowcases – Smiles on a sick child’s face – PRICELESS!

Donate your completed pillowcases to ConKerrCancer(dot)Org.  Check their site for a Regional Coordinator who will pass them on to a local hospital.

Sew, guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow?  Will post pictures when they are done.

 

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Kid Quilts

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Quiltmouse

Mostly I make baby/toddler quilts – they are smaller, quicker to make and easier to handle when machine quilting on my Bernina home sewing machine.

[For a number of reasons, cost and space are the two primary ones, I will only be quilting with my domestic sewing machine and not on a short-arm or long-arm quilting system.  With that decision made, I may be limited to doing only quilts smaller than a full or twin size – it is a wrestling match to shift & twist all that fabric/batting to quilt a large quilt with a home sewing machine.]

OK, back to Kid(-size) quilts.  I recently made a quilt for the grandson of a friend of our daughter.  His father is in the military and they have recently moved to Maryland.

I made this a panel quilt and pillow-cased it, so there wasn’t any piecing or binding to do.  I frequently use straight in-the-ditch stitching, or semi-straight stitching using a decorative stitch/making “X’s” from corner to corner through blocks. This quilt did not have blocks, so I couldn’t use my ‘normal’ quilting methods.

I’m beginning to be more creative with my quilting. This time I used my walking foot and did a bit of ‘free-hand’ quilting, just making a maze.  I did not mark the pattern. I did use the extension which helps indicate the width between the stitching line.

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Christmas Show n Tell

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Quiltmouse

During December I was busy finishing up a number of items for Christmas Presents and couldn’t display them.

Now that the recipients have received their gifts, I can have a Show n Tell!

Donna’s Quilt:

Name: Bejeweled – Size: 65” x 75”

Scott’s Quilt:

Name: Contemporary Cool – Size: 65: x 75”

Aiden Lee’s Quilt:

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Name: Kite n Kaboodle

Mini Table Runners:

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Visions of Sugar Plums –Christmas Pillowcase:

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Advent Calendar:

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Coffee-Themed Placemats:

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In addition to Christmas Presents, I pieced 3 quilt tops for an online store.

 

So, as you can see, I’ve been very busy!  Hope all enjoyed their Christmas – Blessings to all!

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Busy, Busy, Busy

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Quiltmouse

 Doing a lot of sewing, but a number of projects cannot be shown before Christmas! Winking smile

But I have also been sewing some Quilt Tops for someone else.  I’m just making the Tops – She will have them quilted by a Long-arm quilter. These are quilts I can share with you.

First one is called “Topsy Turvy” and is made with 3 – 1-yard cuts.  The finished size is about 46” x 53”.  I started it on 12/11 and finished the last couple of borders on 12/13.  I was working on other projects, too.  It was a nice pattern to follow and stitched up fairly quickly.  If you wanted it to be a bigger quilt, you could buy 2 yards of each of the three fabrics.

The Second Quilt Top is called “Fat Quarter 4-Patch” and is made with a total of 3 yards of fabric using 12 Fat Quarters (a Fat Quarter is 1/4 of a yard of fabric, but is cut 18” x 22” instead of 9.5” x 44”). I actually made this one first and it took a few more days to make.  It could be made larger by adding borders to it. It is approximately 42” x 58”

In addition to these two tops I have completed 6 “blank,” and 2 “bleep,” and 1 “Sh!!!”  I have also been working on quilting 1 “not-telling,” and a pillow-cased child’s quilt for the son of one of Kim’s friend.  Pictures at a later date! Don't tell anyone smile

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