Sewing Kit

Greetings! It's been a while since I've posted. Oops. Here's my latest project. I made it for my mother-in-law Renee for her birthday.

There's a zipper pocket, Velcro pocket, a square for pins, and a little pocket for notions or other miscellaneous items.



For the back I did "peek-a-boo" pleats. I got the idea from this tutorial.


And it ties up nicely so you can take it anywhere! I had fun with this mini project. Hopefully this summer I will have more to post!

Mario Quilt

I couldn't post this earlier because it was Brandon's Christmas present...but at last, here it is!



Some fun facts....

I used all thrift store materials (t-shirts, fleece blankets, and a bedsheet)


I designed this pattern on an excel spreadsheet. Each square is 1 inch x 1 inch. I cut a lot of squares.


Mario finished!

This coin was made from an ASU t-shirt...



For the back I did an old school Nintendo design out of fleece blankets. My friend Ashley gave me this idea!


It was fun watching Brandon open it Christmas morning. This was a fun project, but it required a lot of patience!

Say Trick or Treat with Paint Chips

Well, I'm finally jumping on the paint chip art bandwagon, thanks to Pinterest. I took a trip to Home Depot and collected lots of pretty colors. I love the shapes of the smaller ones.



Unfortunately we don't have any "trees" where I live, and I miss seeing the leaves change colors in the fall. So I made my own colorful leaves to look at! I don't own any die cuts, so I made leaf and pumpkin stencils out of paper.


I love the two-toned pumpkins!

I added the words "Trick or Treat" to give it a Halloweeny feel.


It's a nice edition to our otherwise empty wall space!


I'm already planning my next project! Wall art, perhaps?

Paper Piecing Pattern: Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

Last year I made this Christmas Tree Wall Hanging:


I said that I would post the pattern and I never did...and then I lost the pattern. HOWEVER, yesterday I was moving some shelves and I found my binder full of patterns! The tree is made by paper piecing. If you have never done it, here is a tutorial. It's like quilting by number.

Download the pattern for free here.

Happy Sewing...

Ruffled Lamp

I bought this lamp at the thrift store a while ago for $2. I am into ruffly things lately, so I covered it in ruffles!

I used fabric from my Bella White Solids jelly roll. I changed the tension on my machine to make the fabric ruffle (you can also use a ruffle foot, but I don't have one!). I used a glue gun to glue each layer on, starting at the top.


I love how it turned out. It's a nice edition to our tiny apartment!

Com-pleat Madness

I needed some new pillow shams to match my new bedspread. The other ones just weren't cutting it for me! So I made these over the weekend:




I still need to make some more pillows...my husband is just thrilled with all these pillows I keep making!*

Happy Sewing!





*haha, not.

So....

I've been wanting to make a new bedspread for a very long time. So when I saw this Anthropologie knock-off on SYTYC, I couldn't help myself.

I followed the tutorial, which was very helpful. It involved LOTS of cuttings and basting. I made the squares out of white jersey fabric I bought at Wal-Mart. You can also use cut-up t-shirts.


Soon I had a pile of knotted rosette squares.


Sewing the squares together was a challenge. It involved lots of pleating, and gathering, and maneuvering of fabric. AND TONS OF PINS!!!

Here is the finished project. Isn't it pretty? I absolutely love it. I bought a thin white comforter from Target for the backing. In the tutorial she sewed them together, but the quilt was so fat I couldn't even fit it under my machine needle! So I stayed simple and tied it with embroidery floss.


And now I get to use the pillow shams I made months ago!



It is not a *difficult* quilt to make, but it is time-consuming, so be warned. My favorite part? It was extremely forgiving. The jersey fabric stretches and the pleats allow for you to adjust to sewing imperfections. Such a fun project!


Yay! I am so proud of this project. One thing though...I'm really scared I missed some of the pins. Hopefully we don't get pricked during the night!