70's Placemats and Coasters

I think this fabric will last forever, I have so much of it.  Here are placemats and coasters I  made with the red, white, and blue 70's style fabric.  I serged the edge of the placemats instead of using binding.  I like the look of it and it coordinates with the coasters.  Will sell or donate these.

Kitchen Towel Bibs

These are my favorite bibs.   I discovered them 17 years ago.  My youngest child was planned, but we knew she'd be the last.  There are seven years between #3 and #4, so #4 was my yard sale baby.  I had no baby items at all.  I purchased a kitchen towel bib at a yard sale (along with many other baby items).  That bib quickly became my favorite.  It was large, easy to wash, and the fabric was so absorbent. 

Years later I found a bag of three large rolls of ribbing at a thrift store.  I think I bought it for $1 or $2.  The rolls were red, pink, and blue.  Perfect colors for kitchen towel bibs.  Not that I could sew much at that time.  Or had any young children around.  At that price, I couldn't resist the ribbing.  A little while later I bought a package of kitchen towels.  The towels and ribbing sat in my storage room for years.

A few weeks ago I remembered the ribbing and towels and hoped I had still had them.  I did, yay!  I looked up the directions to make the bibs online (the internet has pretty much everything nowadays).  They are so easy to make!  Better yet, I could serge the ribbing to the towel, completing these bibs in no time at all. 

Here's one of the bibs set out.  These are incredibly easy to make and really are the best bibs ever.  I can shorten the towel and use them for all ages of children.  Other bibs are cute with their designs, but these are functional!  So many times the design won't absorb the spilled food and the food ends up all over your child's clothes.  Not with these!  They absorb and are large, protecting baby's clothes.  Isn't that what a bib is for?!

Scrappy Quilt - Done!

I finished my scrappy quilt!  I hand-tied the quilt and machine sewed the binding.  I'm really happy with this quilt.  It's really large and I think just perfect for snuggling.

I made up the design myself, kind of on-the-fly (okay, not kind-of, but on-the-fly), so I had to do some "fitting in" to make the blocks work.

The back has blocks across the top and bottom and red and white stripes in the middle.  All fabric from my stash pile.  I ran out of red, so I had to make do.

Lots and lots of scraps in this one, sewn in no particular order.

The only thing I dislike is the black dots on the back from tying.  I didn't want to use red thread though, although it would have blended better on the front, now that I think of it.

Now that I'm a bit more experienced, I will probably make a similar design again but the front will be all scrap blocks and not one large center block.

I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this quilt or gift it.  I do really like it. 

One amusing thing about this quilt.  After a little bit of sewing I decided I wouldn't use any solid fabrics and just a handful were already in the scraps I'd sewn.  There was only one black scrap in what I'd sewn so far.  After putting the quilt together I noticed the black scrap is almost in the center of the quilt!  Scroll back up to the first photo to see it!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) 137

It's Wednesday again!  I am basting a quilt right now, determined not to have any puckers in this one.  I'm going to hand-tie it, so that shouldn't be a problem.  This is going to be a Christmas gift - yes, really!  I have lots of time before then so I'm going to make some matching pillows too.  When the project is finished I'll take some close-up shots.  Some of the print fabrics are pretty roses.

I'm actually quite pleased with myself, getting those squares lined up I can almost, almost call myself a quilter!  After I made my blocks I got a bit too cocky and sewed them together only to find they weren't as perfect as I thought.  I had pressed them, but not trimmed them.  Hence you can see how my green stripes are off a bit.  I really like this lap size, with the quilt being about 45" x 55".  I'm going to make many more this size for sure.  So much more manageable.


To learn more about what WOYWW is all about and visit some crafty workspaces, click here.

Beth's Quilt

I finished my first "large" quilt.  It's about twin size and is for my youngest daughter.  I'm not happy with it because of the puckering.  I carefully basted this quilt with pins and thought that would help with the puckering.   I felt this quilt was small enough for me to quilt on my sewing machine and my daughter really wanted it done.  I know that most people won't even notice the mistakes.  But they bother me.  I'm not a perfectionist by any means, but anyone with a little bit of experience will notice the bloopers in this quilt.

I haven't used my new camera a lot, but I do have to say that my experience with it so far has been pretty amazing.  It can capture the tiniest details.  I took this shot of a pucker when I was only about a foot away from the material.

This is one of, if not the worst, puckers in the quilt.  I had already sewn on both sides so there was no way to stretch and manipulate the fabric to flatten.  I've got to figure out what I'm doing wrong!

Here's an even better, clearer photo.   I'm such a loser for posting these online!  At least my daughter was happy with the quilt.  Someday I'll make her a nicer one!

Maybe I should make a gathered or pleated quilt.  If such a thing doesn't exist, I have invented it!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) 136

Now that I have a working (and new!) camera I can post for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again, hosted by Julia at the Stamping Ground.  I've missed posting each Wednesday, but I have spent some time visiting others work desks and checking out creative endeavors around the world.  I'm glad to be back.


On my work desk for today is my daughter's cow pillow pet.  Our dog likes to chew on them on occasion, which means I get to sew the holes.  My youngest really likes these pillow pets and has four or five of them.  She bought herself this one over Christmas.  The repairs are never pretty, but it does prevent the stuffing from coming out.

To learn more about what WOYWW is all about and visit some crafty workspaces, click here.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jewel Tones Quilt

I'm very attracted to jewel tones, especially maroon, dark blue, and dark green.  I remember them being my three favorite colors in a crayon box when I was younger.  When I was shopping at thrift stores I found myself continuously picking up fabrics in various rich colors.  I decided to make this scrap quilt using all the fabrics I've picked up.  I've also come across upholstery books and I used many of the scraps from them in this project.

Originally I pictured the borders to be maroon.  However, I had this off-white fabric already in stripes, which made them perfectly suited for this project.  I then decided to add a gold border around it.

I love the different textures in the fabrics.  Some are smooth, some are soft, some are silky.  There are many raised designs.  When this quilt is complete it will go at the bottom of my bed.  I'm not sure what the back is going to be, but I hope it'll be gold and maroon.  I also hope to do the binding in a gold and maroon fabric.  I'm trying to use up my stash for this project.  I'm also not sure how this will be finished.  I'd love to have it professionally done.  It's going to be a very heavy quilt when complete.

The pictures don't show all of the neat and different fabrics I used.  However, I do think my photos are better with the new camera and I hope you do too.