Go Wild Garden Quilt - WIP Wednesday

It feels good to get back to this quilt. I love all the projects in this book.
I prepared my applique sheets for easy tracing. I explain it in more detail in my quilt diary

Then made up one block ready for sewing. When I get my machine back from servicing I will be doing machine buttonhole stitch in purple embroidery thread. I am making 16 blocks instead of 12.

I have been very remiss with working on my quilts lately. I like order so I am getting back into a routine of working on a different quilt each week and posting twice a week. I feel like my quilt block pendants for GlassApplique are all under control now. Interestingly it is the photo taking that is the hardest and most time consuming part of setting up shop.

Once again all my fabric photos were a bit blurry so I took my laptop upstairs and checked each one as I took it. I don't think I took them any differently but all the new ones were fine!
Also there must be something up with my Flickr permissions because my Flickr photos don't show up as thumbnails for my blog. When I use a photo from my computer it shows up as a thumbnail in summaries. Things move so fast. As far as I know I set my Flickr photos so they could be pinned but I suppose I will have to check that too. I really want to put a 'pin it' button on my photos in my blog but I am always a bit nervous about changing the code in the template.

I did find out how to add meta tag keywords and meta tag author and a meta tag description to my blog. How to make some simple meta tag changes is here. You don't have to know much about computers to do it and it means people can find your blog more easily.

If you like reading my blog you should register to receive my posts in your email. I post twice a week and I am always sewing something new.

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday this week over at Freshly Pieced

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

A Coin Purse Tutorial PDF and Pattern

I have only made about dozen coin purses but I have learnt a little bit each time.

Things like using a shorter fatter needle like a quilting needle that is the same width all the way along to make the thread easier to pull through.
Also, now I only sew the top seam at the very sides so I don't have a folded over seam thickness where I sew the frame on.
I am also very careful about centring the fabric in the frame and adjusting as I sew.
I have discovered that squeezing the frame with pliers to tighten it around the fabric makes it all sit better.

I have a spotty glass charm to put on this one but it hasn't gone in the kiln yet.

I have put the Tutorial PDF in Google Docs and realised that the preview shows fuzzy photos but when you download it it comes out fine. I have to say that the photos are just a fraction blurry. It is driving me nuts. I will have to connect up to the laptop and check each photo as I take it in future. The paper pattern is in a separate file. It is a standard pattern I got from here and sized for my frame.

Coin Purse Tutorial PDF download
Coin Purse Pattern PDF download

I am linking up with Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts

I had a great time at the craft show and said hello to some of my blogging buddies. I bought a couple of essentials. A new cutting board! Yay! The A4 one was getting tedious.

Some new fabrics to use in my Who Knows owl BOM and a few plains.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Tickling a Tote Bag Design

The Two Button Two Tone Tote

This small tote has a handy outside pocket to stuff in that tissue you just used or pop your sunnies in while you have coffee. It also has a zippered phone pocket and two other inside pockets. Once you have done one inserted zipper pocket you will never look back.

My feature buttons are a work in progress but the handy badge pin backs mean I can work on making an even better set of buttons and swap them in a flash. I have made lots of patchwork and quilted totes and purses but they have all featured the fabric. It is like learning a new skill to make the buttons the feature while still using pretty fabrics. This is my first go. I can feel an obsession coming on :)

I have made a hugely detailed picture tutorial. I have been very impressed with the Sew4Home tutorials so I have followed their format. The only difference is that I have numbered from one to the end rather than in sections so it is easy to refer to a particular instruction if there is a question or problem. I have still put headings for each section like the Sew4Home tutorials.

I wasn't able to upload the tutorial as a PDF so I made a new page for my blog. The tab is at the top but you can see it here.

Linking up with Chris W Designs

Happy Quilting and Crafting,

Val

Opening Glass Applique

For the past 3 months I have been having a lot of fun making little fused glass beauties. When My husband said he wanted to buy a kiln my first thought was "Yay! I can make my own buttons... or glass quilt blocks....or zipper pulls! What fun!"
I have done a lot of surfing the web and visiting craft shows but I have not seen quilt themed fused glass items. After playing around for a while I realised why. It is very fiddly but it is also satisfying. Since my first thought is to make something to go with my sewing I don't mind fiddly. I like to try to copy the different quilt block designs or just try to make something cute and pretty.

This one is flying birds.

My husband was keen to try his skills at making detailed animal pendants. He has the skills with the tools but just needed the right outlet to use them. His interest was in the sparkly dichroic glass to highlight the silhouettes. Of course I saw pretty sparkly buttons.

I made this shirt from my Short and Stout range.

Just with fabrics I never seem to have enough glass colours and a big trick with the glass is that what you see is not what you get when you fire it. Also if I don't like something I have to make a new one and glue bits one day, then fire it the next day, then look at it the next day. It takes three days to try something. It is like crafting in slow motion.

Since I liked many of the pieces I made and I hadn't seen much like them around I thought maybe others would be interested, so I have joined my husband in the shop. I make quilt block pendants, buttons, zipper pulls and brooches all with a bit of a patchwork and applique theme.

I bought some very pretty fabrics to make some small projects from Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

I thought it would be easy to make some things to showcase my buttons and zipper pulls.

Not so! I can make a great pouch. This one is from Sew4Home with a few changes. The fabric is the feature not my zipper pull. It seems I need a whole new way of thinking to use the pieces I make.

I then made a little frame purse. The first one I made had little owls on the outside. Once again I had made the fabric the feature. Back to the sewing table. I tried the brown and orange piece with the new arrangement. You would think it would look OK but it still got lost in the fabric. I then tried the little cream letter and I think it looks great.

I didn't fully close the jump ring because I am putting this one in the shop.

Finally I am asking that you go and have a look at all the things we have made over at Glass Applique and maybe pin a picture or two from here or from the shop.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val