Stitching, Sewing, Creating!

Greeting friends - happy holiday weekend! The summer has flown by, as the last couple months have been a whirlwind. We are still on a "night schedule" in our household, which continues to make life interesting. I have had a very hard time adjusting, but there are far less interruptions when I am working from 7:00 PM - 5:00 AM. I have been catching up on needlework finishing and custom orders that are long overdue, getting quite a few special project bags sewn for my Etsy Shop, and working on lots of fun projects for Therm O Web and Poppie Cotton. I have a list of new patterns (quilting and cross stitch) that I will be working on in a couple weeks. I am making a trip to Illinois to visit my momma and second dad in a week and I have a very long list to complete beforehand...then some pattern writing upon my return...design work brings me the most joy and is my favorite part of my job, so I am looking forward to taking the time work on some original designs. Today's photos are a look at some of the needlework finishing I have been completing for customers (not my stitching, just my finishing), a custom retreat mat that I created for a client, and project bags I have been sewing for my Etsy Shop (all created from my coveted/vast collection of vintage Blackbird Designs sampler fabrics).

Stoneware Bunny - Priscilla’s Pocket - finished with my signature
pillow finish.

May Peace be your Gift - Needlework Press - finished with my
signature pillow finish

Bluebird Boarding House - Blue Ribbon Designs (that’s me!) - finished
 as a mini quilt to fit a small stand.

Patriot Shield - Notforgotten Farm - finished as a mini quilt to fit a
small stand.

Quirky Quaker Queen Bee - Darling & Whimsy - finished as a quilted
needlebook with pockets.

Autumn Rules - Primrose Cottage Stitches - finished as a quilted wall
hanging.

Bundled Up Birdie - Blue Ribbon Designs (that’s me!) - finished as
a flat-finished ornament with two-tone twisted cord.

Sunshine and Shadow - The Prairie Schooler (Book No. 11) - finished as
 a 16” pillow.

 “Season 2 - A Year of Celebration Continues” - Hands On Design -
finished as ornaments with hangers.

Quilted Retreat Mat

A note about the special sampler fabric project bags shown below:
These are VERY limited BBD sampler fabric project bags - they are made from vintage Blackbird Designs fabric…these extremely limited signature project bags are custom cut to showcase the samplers printed on the fabrics and are only listed in my Etsy Shop…see listings, when available for size and details. These sell very quickly, so if you are looking for one (or more!), keep an eye on my social media and Etsy Shop. I am working through stacks of yardage, one specific print at a time - when the particular bags in each photo are gone, they are gone - I have used every scrap I have before posting. While I adore these fabrics and have saved them for personal sewing, I have realized there is no way I will ever have enough time to sew for myself...so, I decided to share the wealth and create for my shop. I am working from my vast BBD vintage sampler fabric collection and will add special bags each week until it is gone. I do not take advance orders (creating/sewing these bags brings me joy, taking orders steals my joy and adds quite a bit of time/stress to the process).

Thanks for visiting today - I hope you are inspired to create something special. I am signing off to finish a few more tasks, run an errand with my husband...then we have a neighborhood gathering this evening. I will be working on my September projects for Poppie Cotton and Therm O Web this next week, before taking a week off to visit my family. So many projects, not enough time! I look forward to visiting with you again soon...

Love Notes Refrigerator Chalkboard

Greetings friends - happy Thursday! It is new project tutorial day - time to share my August post for the ThermOWeb Blog with you! As a Fabric Education Designer for ThermOWeb (they are the makers of all those wonderful HeatnBond and SpraynBond products), I create projects and tutorials for their very popular blog and give you my tips and tricks for using their products. For the month of August, the blog is focused on back to school and storage solutions. I created a brand new project that was posted yesterday - it is a complete project tutorial for my "Love Notes Refrigerator Chalkboard." This pretty and practical chalkboard tutorial contains a complete supply list, printable pattern with templates, a layout diagram, and step-by-step directions with color photos. The model uses specialty chalkboard fabric (found in most quilt shops and craft stores)... along with fabric from the Kaisley Rose and Country Confetti collections (both from Poppie Cotton), but I encourage you to use fabrics you have on hand, to make this refrigerator chalkboard your own. I hope you will stop by the ThermOWeb blog and check out my project and tutorial...

This is a happy sewing project that is perfect for fat quarters or fat eighths or scraps. For this post, I used  HeatnBond Lite EZ-Print Iron-On Adhesive Sheets, HeatnBond Fusible Fleece, HeatnBond Heavy Weight Non-Woven Fusible Interfacing, HeatnBond Fabric Fuse Liquid Adhesive, and HeatnBond Hem Regular Weight Iron-On Adhesive Tape, ⅜”...plus, I give you tips for using each item! Visit the tutorial post for a complete and detailed supply list.

Are you familiar with HeatnBond Lite EZ-Print Iron-On Adhesive Sheets? I use these for almost every project I create with appliqué. HeatnBond Lite EZ-Print Iron-On Adhesive Sheets are paper backed, iron-on, sewable, double-sided adhesive for bonding fabric without extra weight or stiffness - and the best part?? - they measure 8.5" x 11" to fit in a standard inkjet printer - NO TRACING INVOLVED! The templates I provide for each of my projects are printed on 8.5" x 11" paper, so you can print the templates directly on the HeatnBond Lite Adhesive sheets and skip the tracing step. I always have these stocked in my sewing studio!!

If you have questions on any ThermOWeb HeatnBond products or would like to see a specific type of product in one of my projects, drop me a comment or email.

You will have to visit the ThermOWeb blog for my complete tutorial and pattern, but I am posting a few photos here...

Here is a direct link to the project tutorial:

https://blog.thermoweb.com/love-notes-refrigerator-chalkboard-featuring-heatnbond/

I hope this project gets you excited to create something special and unique...

I am creating monthly projects for the ThermOWeb blog and will be sure to post here, when I do...my project for September is scheduled to be posted on September 19th...and, as always, I am working on a very fun, seasonal idea!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today - I always enjoy sharing with you. Enjoy the rest of your week and make time to work on something creative...

Prairie Sisters Homestead Fabric Tour

Greetings friends, happy Friday! I am thrilled to be today's stop on the Prairie Sisters Homestead Fabric Tour - thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. I had so much fun playing with this classic country collection and have a selection of projects to share...all created with the new Prairie Sisters Homestead Fabric Collection designed by Lori Woods for Poppie Cotton. I enjoyed being creative and playing with these cheerful farm-inspired prints. This brand new collection (shipping to shops this month) has succulent strawberries, fancy chickens, and fabulous florals, along with a selection of charming ginghams…all done in a HAPPY color palette. This Poppie Cotton collection brings me joy and I knew a brand new wall hanging for my studio was going to be in the works. This month, for my projects, I didn't use any patterns - in fact, I just started playing and these were the results. 

To start, I created a wall hanging with four focal quilt blocks. These special blocks were created by converting four of my cross stitch motifs from some of my classic gameboard designs. I have done this a few times over the last couple years and I am always thrilled with the results - if I had more hours in each day, I would be working on all sorts of quilt designs based on my cross stitch patterns! I am calling this quilted wall hanging "Farmstead Finds." It measures 42" x 42" and has hanging pockets on the back to make it easy to display. I used a fat quarter stack of Prairie Sisters Homestead, along with several Farmhouse Favorites (Country Confetti in Marshmallow White for the background and Country Confetti in Waffle Cone for sashing and binding...plus Gingham Picnic in Grass for the flower stems and strawberry hull). I quilted it myself on my domestic machine and it turned out even better than I envisioned. "Farmstead Finds" is currently hanging in my studio above my cutting table. Leave a comment or send me a message if you would like to see me release a pattern for it...

After finishing my wall hanging, I had quite a few pieces of fabric left from my fat quarter stack, so I decided to make a few patchwork project bags. The large patchwork project bag measures 15" W x 12" H and has tiny 1/4" buttons hand sewn at the block intersections. The small patchwork project bag measures 12" W x 9" H and has 3/4" rick rack embellishing the front. Finally, the oversized artist bag measures 5" x 11.5" - it uses one of the focal fabric prints in the collection.

Finally, instead of making one pincushion for this collection, I decided to make a bowl full of fabric strawberries. I used several of the fabrics in the collection for the berries - the hulls, blossoms and leaves were cut from wool felt (Benzie Design) - I also used red gingham ribbon and tiny applique pins. These turned out so sweet and were quite enjoyable to put together. Don't they look fun in my vintage bowl with a selection of fabric?!

I hope you have enjoyed this stop on the fabric tour and are feeling inspired - thank you for visiting with me today. For more creative projects using the Prairie Sisters Homestead fabric collection, visit the Poppie Cotton Blog. If you love this fabric collection, be sure to check out your favorite quilt shop - Prairie Sisters Homestead is shipping this month.

I am already working on my project ideas for the next Poppie Cotton Fabric Tour in September - it is using the fabric collection "Garden Party" (click on the link to see a preview!). Plus, I will have a new Therm O Web project tutorial posted on August 16th, as well…so, be sure to stop back soon...

Delightful Department Store Fabric Tour

Greetings friends, happy Monday! I am thrilled to be today's stop on the Delightful Department Store Fabric Tour - thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. I have some classic, vintage-looking projects to share...all created with the new Delightful Department Store Fabric Collection designed by Amy Jordan for Poppie Cotton. I enjoyed being creative and playing with these soft, detailed, 1950s-look prints. This brand new collection (shipping to shops this month) has illustrated ladies that adorned sewing patterns in the 50s and 60s, soft roses, along with charming ginghams, and a fun print with shopping/lunch receipts, postcards and tickets…all done in a lovely, cheerful color palette of yellows, pinks and teals. I find this Poppie Cotton collection quite nostalgic - it reminded me of pretty hat boxes...and I knew I was going to cover boxes with this fabric months ago. This month, for my projects, I didn't use any patterns - in fact, I just started playing and these were the results. 

To start, I covered a set of nesting paper mache boxes. These boxes measure approximately 5", 6", 7" and 8" in diameter. The largest box worked perfectly for showing off the retro-look women in their fancy attire! For the two larger boxes, I covered the entire lid with fabric...and for the two small boxes, I opted to cover only the top and used mini rick rack around the perimeter.

Next is where I really had some fun - I decided to create a mini dress form pincushion. I have seen these done before, but didn't have a pattern, so created my own....and I was so tickled with how it turned out! Once I had the torso stuffed, I decided it needed an apron to hold a small pair of scissors and a seam ripper. I did a few quick measurements and made a simple apron with a satin ribbon tie. Since my mini dress form was going to be for pins and sewing tools, I decided to use a pink Clover Water Soluble Pencil for my stand - I put the writing end with the cap side down in a vintage wooden spool of twine...and yes, the fabric pencil is still useable. I was so giddy when it all came together exactly as I imagined...and I feel like it really captures this fabric collection. I get asked a lot about how I can work without a pattern...but for me, that is truly when the magic happens!

I hope you have enjoyed this stop on the fabric tour and are feeling inspired - thank you for visiting with me today. For more creative projects using the Delightful Department Store fabric collection, visit the Poppie Cotton Blog. If you love this fabric collection, be sure to check out your favorite quilt shop - Delightful Department Store is shipping this month.

I am already working on my project ideas for the next Poppie Cotton Fabric Tour in August - it is using the fabric collection "Prairie Sisters Homestead" (click on the link to see a preview!). Plus, I will have a new Therm O Web project tutorial posted in August, as well…so, be sure to stop back soon...

Happy Bee Garden Flag

Greetings friends - happy Wednesday! It is new project tutorial day - time to share my July post for the ThermOWeb Blog with you! As a Fabric Education Designer for ThermOWeb (they are the makers of all those wonderful HeatnBond and SpraynBond products), I create projects and tutorials for their very popular blog and give you my tips and tricks for using their products. For the month of July, I created a brand new project that was posted yesterday - it is a complete project tutorial for my "Happy Bee Garden Flag." My cheerful garden flag tutorial contains a complete supply list, printable pattern with templates, a layout diagram, and step-by-step directions with color photos. The model uses fabric from the Waved collection by Erin Borja and Paintbrush Studio Solids (both from PBS Fabrics), but I encourage you to use fabrics you have on hand, to make this outdoor flag your own. I hope you will stop by the ThermOWeb blog and check out my project and tutorial...

This is a bright and happy sewing project that is perfect for fat quarters or fat eighths or scraps. For this post, I used HeatnBond Iron-On Vinyl (Matte) to make it water resistant, HeatnBond Lite EZ-Print Iron-On Adhesive Sheets and HeatnBond Fusible Fleece. We all know that I love to sew, so I used machine applique for my garden flag...but I give a tip in the post to make it without the applique for those who want a less labor-intensive project. Visit the tutorial post for a complete and detailed supply list.

Are you familiar with Heatnbond  Iron-On Vinyl? Heatnbond  Iron-On Vinyl is a flexible, water resistant coating that you iron onto the top of your fabrics to laminate them. It comes in a gloss or matte finish, is permanent, and is sewable with a regular or non-stick foot. It is a UV resistant, water repellent material that can be used with fabric or paper. Iron-on vinyl allows you to laminate your favorite fabrics - perfect for make-up bags, placemats, tote bags, chair seat covers, aprons, art smocks, etc...

If you have questions on any ThermOWeb HeatnBond products or would like to see a specific type of product in one of my projects, drop me a comment or email.

You will have to visit the ThermOWeb blog for my complete tutorial and pattern, but I am posting a few photos here...

Here is a direct link to the project tutorial:
https://blog.thermoweb.com/happy-bee-garden-flag-featuring-heatnbond/

I hope this project gets you excited to create something special and unique...

I am creating monthly projects for the ThermOWeb blog and will be sure to post here, when I do...my project for August is scheduled to be posted on August 16th...and I am working on a very fun idea!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today - I always enjoy sharing with you. Enjoy the rest of your week and make time to work on something creative...