Monday, December 16, 2013

Final Sea Stars!


I recently finished up my final (I think) Sea Star / Lucky Star BOM.

Here they are all together!

I'm hoping that after the holiday season, I can sew them up into a quilt top!

I'm contemplating making another star to replace the hot pink one.  We'll see...

Friday, December 13, 2013

Winner!


It has truly been so much fun to read all of the comments this week for the wool pouch I'm giving away.  I wish I could give one to all of you!  I had 114 entries!!  I think that's got to be a record number of comments for my blog!  Thanks to all of you!

The winner, as selected by a number program, is Tasha.  Her comment really cracked me up:

"This is fabulous! I'd use it to store emergency please-stop-throwing-a-fit-in-public items. Okay, I mean candy."

Congrats!!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Sew Mama Sew Give Away Day: Wool Pouch, Made With Pendleton Wool


This week, Sew Mama Sew's blog is hosting their annual "Give Away Day"!  It's a chance to enter to win many supplies and hand made items, and to find new blogger friends!

I'm giving away one of my wool zipper pouches, made with Pendleton Wool, made right here in town!

The case is about 8 by 5 inches, and would be great for storing chargers, or cosmetics.

They are made by me, and are also currently on sale in my Etsy shop.

All you have to do is to leave a comment below telling me what you'd use one for!

You'll need to enter by Dec. 13th, by 5pm PST.  I'll draw a name that night, and get it in the mail by the following Monday.  Please have a way to get in touch with you, and good luck! I'll be accepting International entries as well.

Be sure to click over to Sew Mama Sew's blog to see all of the other goodies that people are giving away.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Cloth Napkin Tutorial


Over the week-end, I made up a batch of new cloth napkins for our family.  They were really quite easy to make, so I thought I'd write up a quick tutorial.

I personally like my napkins on the bigger side, so I started by cutting out the main fabric into 15 x 15 inch squares.

I had some shot cotton in my fabric stash that is a bit thinner than regular quilting cotton, and cut out 1 inch strips of this, joining them all together at the ends to make a continuous strip of the 1 inch wide fabric.I'm sure you could also use regular cotton for the edging, or even linen.

Once again,

15" x 15" main napkin fabric

continuous 1" narrow strips of "binding" or edge fabric.

On the back side of the main napkin fabric, I sewed the 1 inch strip all along the edge.

The corners, I treat as you would a quilt binding, stopping a quarter inch from the end, leaving the end of the needle in the fabric (or not), folding the corner up creating a 45 degree fold, then sewing down the other edge.

Then I flipped the napkin over, and folded the edge of the binding edge over to meet the edge of the seam, then the whole thing over to the front, or a double fold hem that encloses the raw edges.



Then it was just a matter of stitching a decorative stitch with a contrasting thread color onto the top!
Here's how I mitered the corners on the front:



And finally, here's what the back looks like.  It's actually more of a facing than a binding.  I think it's much easier.
Enjoy!







Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Stray into Crochet


I have always admired hand crochet and knit work, but my multiple attempts at knitting never got very far.  I recently started one of Craftsy's classes, the "Crochet Lab", and I think this is finally sticking!!

Best yet, crochet, unlike knitting, doesn't seem to aggravate my wrists and hands.  I plan to take it easy, but I'm thrilled to finally have found something to do with my hands while I watch TV, or wait for kids in school parking lots or dentist offices!

A knitter friend of mine recently told me about Portuguese Knitting, which is supposed to be gentler on your wrists and hands.  I may have to give that a try too.  Has anyone here ever tried it?

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, and are enjoying the season!