New Alphabet Quilt

Last year I finished this adorable Alphabet Quilt from fabrics my Mom had in her stash. I was playing with trapunto at the time and the alphabet quilts really work well. After I finished the quilt, I was searching thru my Mom's stash for fabric for a different project and came across more of the alphabet fabric. I was so excited!

I found the actual panel at the local Quilt Show last January and added the red sashing. My Mom's fabric completed the borders and backing.

I used the same quilting, a small meander, but I decided not to do a full trapunto this time. I am both happy and sad about that. The quilt is very soft without of the extra puff, but the texture of the extra puff is fun.

I also added one of my new labels that includes the year made. Love these little tags. Such a fun, quick, and easy way to label your quilt for prosperity.  I used more of the red for the binding and decided to hand-bind it. Creates a real smooth, even finish on the edge.

I love the colors in this one. The red is so bold and the blues and greens are so cheerful. I could stare at it all day, but I really need to get more done before it's time to round the kids up from school.

I'm linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for TNT, Crazy Mom Quilts for FF, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict for TGIFF. Time to party!

Scrappy Donations

A friend was helping someone clean out her mothers house and they came across a bunch of fabric, including a big box labeled, 'quilting pieces'. She immediately thought of me.

Look at all these fun pieces to play with. I love the vintage sack fabric squares and all of the pieces that will work great for my crazy quilt.

There also were some unfinished bib projects with vintage style. I debated making bibs out of them, or using them for something else like taggy blankets, burp clothes, or even a more modern bib with the pattern on the front. We'll see.

Finally, there were these pieces of santa fe fabric. Not something I usually go for, but I really like the colors on the red piece and the flowers blooming on the cactus. I thought maybe it's time I make something santa fe-ish. I am already brainstorming some sashing and border fun to help bring this fabric out of the panel.

I'm curious to get to work on these. Can't wait to see what they all end up looking like. We'll see.

August BOM, Done

So proud of myself. With the kids off to school, I was able to crank out the August Block of the Month along with a quilt finish (FINALLY!) that I'm going to share later this week.

The colors in this block are just mouth-watering. They remind me of sour apple jolly ranchers, one of my favorite childhood candies. As with my other blocks in this BOM, I am making the centers the lightest and grow darker from there.

This one almost looks like a flower blooming because of the way the triangles build outward. I used very little black, and just about all of the fabric provided by the quilt shop. The tricky part of a BOM is trying to make sure there's cohesiveness among your blocks even though they're made at different times. Hopefully it will all work out in the end and all blend together.

Now I'm 2 weeks ahead of schedule, which is a good thing because I have a lot to catch up on. Let's see what else I can get off my sewing table.

Her Little Dance Bag

My daughter started a ballet/tap combo class this summer and needed to get all the gear. It means tights and leotards and dresses and skirts. She loves it all! It also means two different pairs of shoes that are only to be worn on the dance floor, so she needed a bag to carry everything to the studio.

After cruising pinterest for a bit, I found a pleated bag that seemed like it would work well. The pleats allow it to "sack out" at the bottom, holding the gear well so if she sets the bag down it won't spill out.

The glittery dragonfly fabric is actually leftover from a baby quilt I made my niece several years ago and blogged about here. It has just been waiting for the right project. I had the purple in my stash and it matched perfectly (and happens to be my daughters favorite color, score!).

Once I completed the exterior panel with the pleat, I made the interior one in the same manor. This makes the bag reversible, although I don't know why we'd hide the pretty glittery fabric.

The final step was completing the top and straps. I put stabilizer in both to help create a more sturdy top; the better to hold the gear in. Worked great!

This bag went together so quickly and easily, I'm thinking I might try to put together a tutorial on this. When I was searching I couldn't find any tutorials for this simplistic approach. Now that kids are in school, I might actually have a little time to do that.

I'm going to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Friday Finish parties. Come by and see what everyone's been working on. I'm just thrilled I finally was able to finish something.