Some UFO Finds and Finishes. Fabric Box Tutorial

As I continue to look through all my sewing boxes I have discovered some projects from quite a while back.
I had some pot holders and a double glove and two single gloves made with puppy fabric and I used wool fabric as the heat resistant insides. When they got too grubby and were a few years old I picked them apart to get the wool fabric out and started making them over with owl fabric. I finished the pot holders and one glove and nearly finished the double glove. I found the double glove again with the long piece in owl fabric and the two single pieces still with puppy fabric. I decided that out of the box and into the kitchen again was better than thinking about changing out the puppy fabric. It was a done deal when I found a good length of bias strip all ready to go in my little box of binding left overs.

Then I found a cute little scissor holder that I made several years ago. You can get the free pattern from my blog post of Jan 2012.
I used sticky velcro dots to velcro it to my sewing machine. I had to sew the dot on the fabric. Now I can look at it all the time.

Next was two sets of 10" squares ready to make into little boxes. The original boxes turned out very little but I decided to make these two a bit bigger so they would be more useful. I now have a pretty thread catcher and a reel saver (I tend to knock them off or they roll off). I like to have my most used cottons just next to me.

Start with two 10" squares and put interfacing on the back of each.

With right sides together stitch all around except for a gap on one side for turning. Press the seam allowance down along the gap. Trim the corners.

Turn and press.

Fold up and pin the gap side and the other side.

Stitch close to the edge.

Bag the corners. Measure down the seam lines from the corners 2 1/2" and put in a pin. I then ruled a line in pencil.

Stitch straight across the corners level with the pin.

Stitch along the edges at each corner.

Stitch along the bottom edges and this holds the bagged corner pieces flat.

I am thinking a strip of rick rack braid sewn around the top edge will look nice as well as make the top edge a bit firmer. I will do that when I find my rick rack braid. I found the ribbons but now I can't remember where the rick rack is. I am starting up a big box for ribbons and braids and laces. Soon they will all be in one place. Yay!

When I was looking for the carrot scissor holder pattern I realised that I have quite a few free patterns from over the years. Have a look through. Here is the link to all my posts with the label 'free pattern'.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

mug mats and weeks 39 and 40

I soooo love doing my aerobic exercise. I run. I walk. I jump. I have managed to increase the time to about 50 mins of interval style where you do high intensity for 1 or 2 or 3 minutes then walk for 2 or 3 mins to get the heart rate back a bit then high intensity again. It is very doable.

I have been drawing up a storm using the pictures I have pinned or seen in magazines and I have decided to make a quilt from 12 inch blocks of random design both applique and pieced. I have finished block 1 this week. I copied this lovely design from mamacjt 's blog.

I wanted to get some new skinny folders to file my old drawings a bit more user friendly rather than in the big fat ring binders I have now. They are too hard to pick up and flick through. I also wanted a 12 inch album to store my new drawings. I ended up getting two snap load albums from Aldi for $5 each. They are normally $20 at Lincraft. I have been using my stash of 12 inch scrap booking papers that I have had for maybe 10 years to make the designs into 12 inch blocks. The papers are the ones you get 100 for $15 from Big W. Perfect for quilting designs.

I have been carrying my brekkie outside each morning with my tray. To stop things sliding around I need a tray mat. I have been folding in the edges of my fancy tea towels to use as mats. I don't use them as tea towels because they never get seen then. I had an urge to sew so I  took one of the tea towels and cut it into a mat. I even appliqued a tea pot on the back side and I have enough tea towel left to make a tea pot cover.

I couldn't help myself and just happened to start sewing selevedges together again. They make great kitchen counter mats because spills don't show up. An applique was needed of course so a mug with marsh mallows and a cup of coffee were applied and voila another nice mat to make my tea on. The owl is going on the cat quilt instead of the parrot DD2 didn't like.

I tidied up the sewing table a bit and put all the small UFO's into folders in a hanging file box. I then started putting steps required to finish them in my Errands app so I can do a little bit if I am looking for something to do and then tick it off so I know exactly what is required next time I am looking for something to do.

The folders were left over from my teacher days. This is my half finished tote bag.

Finally I redid my workout routine folder, putting it into a ring binder instead of a display folder. I have quite a few pages now and with the ring binder I can place the current routine in the front of the folder. The routines are made up of some printed out ones from Pinterest and various websites as well as photocopies of routines from my Oxygen or Shape magazines. Having the folder makes it much easier to actually do the exercise rather than looking for, then looking through the magazine or website.

Leslie Maxwell is my inspiration. She is 55 in the photo.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Christmas through the year and a couple of winter UFO's

I don't have any Christmas gifts finished this month because I felt that if I sewed I should be working on the Christmas quilt I want to give my mum on her birthday. Since I took this photo the other day I have quilted around the four appliques with gold thread and sewed in the ditch and sewed the four blocks together to make the first row. I have also glued on all but three of the 16 appliques and finished stitching 2 more. I am using cotton wadding and sewing the squares together wadding and top with a 1/4" seem that I pressed open. Once all the squares are sewn together there will be 1 1/2 inches of wadding protruding all around ready to sew on the first border.

I pulled out 2 UFO's that I started last winter. One is a fuzzy scarf that needs a fringe on the other end and one is a cable vest. I have only done the back. It is fairly tricky to get started but I need to be in the mood so the front gets finished without too many interruptions cause you have to get into the rhythm. Maybe when I finish the quilt.

Allie of Allie-oops hosts Christmas through the Year so head on over and join in.

Happy Quilting,
Val