Friday Flaunt - Stockings (again!) & Snowflake Medallion

It's the weekly Friday Flaunt! Check Cinzia's blog for a complete list of "Frenzied Flaunters." Don't miss the great stuff everyone is doing. I can honestly say that participation keeps this quilter motivated!

The August "Season of Grace" BOM stockings designed by Pat Sloan are made. Mary and I are each making two identical stockings, then swapping one. These are three-dimensional so when the quilt is hanging, treats and treasures can be put inside the 25 stockings.

I'm as tickled as can be to share my progress on this "Snowflake Medallion" quilt designed by Emma at Ballarat Patchwork. My SnoMed is 50" X 50" now. I love the colors! All the fabrics came from quilt shops here in West Des Moines and Clive.

There are 28 teal colored Sawtooth Star blocks.

Then, there are not one, but two rounds of striped borders.

I'm glad I spent the time needed to figure out and sew the mitered corners.

But I confess: there was more than one border unsewn and resewn!

The next medallion rounds are green Flying Geese and applique blocks. Time to applique again.

Feeling Nostalgic

Today is the first day of the new school year for most of the kids in the Des Moines area. I knew this immediately when I drove Hogan (the dog) to a park for our morning walk.

Buses were rolling everywhere. Kids congregated on corners, waiting for them. I also saw the neighbor photographing her ready-for-school, backpack clad daughter. It made me fondly remember all the years I took first-day photos of our two children who are now 33 and 29 years old.

I've been looking through piles of loose photos - oh what a trip down memory lane! And it's long past time to get the pictures organized. Yikes. I couldn't find our son's first-day-of-school picture, though I searched in several likely places.

Here's what I did find: our daughter's first day of kindergarten in 1981. I always loved her French-braided hair.

And here she is a few years later, in 1987, with her little brother. She's ready for sixth grade; he's ready for second grade. He never liked wearing blue jeans, insisting sweatpants were more comfortable. I made them in a variety of colors, for much less money than the price of jeans.

Now back to the photos strewn all over the bedroom. I wish I'd done a better job taking care of them... twin prints, negatives, and professional photos. Many of them have turned orange. I really appreciate that our digital age makes photo-taking and storage more efficient.

Satchel It

This is the third time, I've made this "Satchel It" purse pattern by Nancy Ota. I always get compliments on mine when I carry it, so I thought it would be a nice gift for someone special.

The only thing missing yet is a pull for the zipper tab. That will be a colorful piece of ultrasuede.

I like to make the purse with old jeans. When you use the jean pockets on the exterior, you get two extra pockets for a total of eight pockets! And jean pockets are the perfect size for a cell phone.

I like that the pattern has lots of inside pockets too - you can create as many as six of them. It's great to make them with clear vinyl, so you can see what's inside.

Here I'm sewing pre-made double wide binding to the edges of the vinyl.

With a little home-made cording (I use Susan Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding tool), you can really spiff-up the look of the purse. This binding is a bias cut rainbow stripe.

The Satchel It pattern calls for petscreen. I most often use black petscreen purchased from the local Lowes home improvement store.

Take a look inside the purse. See all the pockets? There's also a nice firm bottom (don't we wish we all had one?) made from a piece of foam core covered with fabric.
Five hours of sewing time, but I'm really not counting. The recipient is worth every second.

A Saturday of Sewing (but not a quilt retreat)

As of today, a "honey-do" is off my list. I spent nearly the whole day making a floor cover for the back of our new Nissan Rogue (see "Clunker Kaput" blog post). I quickly realized it was easier to work on the floor cover while the Rogue was sitting in the garage. It was my template!

Since hubby wanted a floor cover in the colors of his college alma mater - the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) - I raided my stash for purple and gold fabrics. I was also able to use some UNI fabric he purchased at the University Bookstore.

Here I've strip-pieced several fabrics. The Rogue floor mat is my pattern.

Then, using fusible fleece as a batting, and another print for the back, I placed the top and backing right sides together, and aligned and sewed the edges. I turned the whole thing right-side out and then quilted with invisible thread along the seams to hold the layers together.

It was a "tah-dah" moment to try it on in the Rogue.

That's the UNI Panther print in the foreground,nearest the hatch opening.

The Panther print is actually a separate piece that's velcroed to the floor mat. I planned it with doggie, Hogan, in mind. The piece flips down over the Rogue bumper as protection from scratches made by Hogan's nails. The velcro makes it easily removable for washing.

Our first UNI football game tailgate is September 12 and hubby's already looking forward to traveling in our UNI-mobile. Personally, since finishing this, I am reminded how much more fun it is to make quilts.

Friday Flaunt - Stockings & Bub's Quilt Top

These Christmas stockings with yo-yos are the July BOM in the "Season of Grace" project being co-coordinated by author Emilie Richards and quilter Pat Sloan. One of my stockings is to swap with my BOM buddy, Mary.

Pat didn't post the August BOM until yesterday, so I guess that means she's just as busy a quilter as the rest of us!And, I'm working on another baby quilt. I've never needed to make baby quilts for anyone in the family and now we have a family that's blossoming!

This baby quilt is for our grandson - our first birth grandchild. Bub is due in October, to mum and dad who live in New South Wales, Australia. This American Nana is has been suffering from missing out on pregnancy. Thank goodness for Skype and webcams, and digital photos.

I'll meet Bub (his real name is a secret until he's born) for the first time when he's three weeks old.

Mum (our DD) and dad have been particular about colors not to include in Bub's quilt. So, feeling color-constrained, I opted for blues and browns. The fun came when choosing Aussie animals to machine-applique to make this 45" X 50" top.

Naturally, no Aussie animal quilt is complete without koalas.

The critter designs came from several sources: the Internet, an issue of Australia Patchwork and Quilting, and Down Under Di who drew this cutie herself and emailed it to me.

Thank you, Di!

I'll be sandwiching soon, using my favorite Cream Rose batting, by Mountain Mist. Then, some quilting that may include eucalyptus leaves, and Aussie animals' silhouettes.

Visit Cinzia's blog for a complete list of bloggers participating in "Friday Flaunt."

Bottle Cap Pin Cushion Ring Tutorial

This is a great pin cushion to own and use! It’s little, making it perfectly portable for hand projects. And because it has a firm base, when wearing it, you can’t accidently poke a pin through to your skin.

A tutorial follows below, or click here to go to another website where you can print the five-page PDF.

Hands and pin cushion rings shown below belong to my best quilting buds, the Batting Buds.

These ring pin cushions are made with 2 liter, plastic pop bottle caps. The caps are available in an array of colors. Besides the ones shown, I’ve seen black and green.

Supplies: bottle cap, 1 fabric print, polyester fiberfill, hand-sewing thread/needle, ¼” wide elastic, and ribbon, rick-rack, or lace for trim

Tools: drill or other punch tool, scissors, hot glue gun or bottle glue

Make the Ring

Begin by drilling or punching two holes in a bottle cap. I used a 5/32nd size drill bit to make holes large enough for ¼”-wide elastic.

If you’re going to the effort to get out a drill, you might as well drill a bunch of them at once!

Thread ¼”-wide elastic through a hole, from the outside to the inside of the cap.

Tie, then tie again to make a firm knot. Trim to remove any tail.

Insert the opposite end of the elastic from the outside to the inside of the cap.

Try on the ring to size it. Don’t pull the elastic too tight. Aim for the elastic to simply lay around your finger. You want to be able to easily put it on and take it off.

Make a small mark to indicate where to tie the second knot.

Tie the second knot. Trim to remove any tail.

Make the Cushion

Draw a 3” circle onto the right side of a piece of fabric. Cut it out on the drawn line.

Thread a needle and knot the ends together. Take running stitches around the perimeter of the circle, approximately 3/16” to ¼” from the edge.

Draw up the circle, inserting polyester fiberfill as you do.

You will need more fiberfill than you might guess. Fill it to resemble a stuffed mushroom cap.

Pull the the circle closed as tightly as possible. Take a few more stitches and knot securely.

Add more fiberfill if needed, using the point of a chopstick to push and guide the fiberfill.

Check to see that the cushion fits the ring base.

Now is the time to decide whether you want to enlarge or reduce the size of the cushion.

Gather any trims you might use to embellish your ring.

Plug in your hot glue gun.

Join the Ring and the Cushion

Secure the elastic knots in the ring base by touching them with hot glue.

Cover the cushion base with hot glue, and insert into the ring base.

Add any embellishment you desire.

This is when you can cover up any printed numbers or words stamped on the side of the bottle cap.

Wear whenever you’re stitching.

Expect people to notice your pretty ring!

Someone in an airport noticed mine, smiling and gesturing about it across the waiting area!

Be sure to send me pictures of your pin cushion rings. I can't wait to see what you create.