More Misc

More odds and ends today.  I have several projects that are ready for quilting and binding and will get those posted one of these days.... you know how that goes.

 

This is a little zipper bag that I made for a birthday gift last month.  My friend likes anything pink.

 

 

  Inside....blurry shot.....

 

 

This is a little fabric basket that I made this afternoon.  It's a free Craftsy pattern called 1 Hour Basket Tutorial.  I'm thinking it took me an hour and a half...but then I'm pretty slow.  It was quite easy and once you've made one, the next ones probably would be easily completed in one hour.  This is a great size to hold a bunch of FQ's.

 

 

 

 Inside.....

A little stash acquisition.  These yummy fabrics came from Missouri Quilt Company.  If you haven't already signed up.... they have a daily deal that is pretty inexpensive.  I don't remember now, but this charm pack was probably $1 or $2.  The catch is... and this isn't much of a catch.... they have a flat rate shipping cost of $5.  This still brings it in much less than the normal price of a charm pack, plus you can add other fabrics and goodies to this same shipping price.  They have fabulous service.

More stash acquisition.... This time from Shabby Fabrics, another one of my favorite shops.  They had a wonderful sale of Tim Holtz fabrics for $5 a yard.  I just love his style and picked up several fabrics.  This is another shop with fabulous service and products! 

And lastly..... and the best....  I picked up this little lady on Ebay.  As always, I was looking for a bargain and I found one.  Not sure why I was the only bidder but I was thrilled to win this sweet children's machine.  It came with the original instructions as well as the table clamp.  And this may make you wince.... it came with the original box too.... but I tossed it.  I know.. you always keep the original box but this one was in horrible shape.  One side was almost completely chewed off by some sort of rodent and the other sides weren't much better.  It had to go!

 
So there's a little update to let you all know that I'm still out here.  I'm not sewing as much as I would like, but I am nipping away at one thing or another.  Stay tuned.......

Mug Rug Angel

Here's an update on the mug rug swap that I posted about recently.  My swap partner was unable to  fulfill her swap assignment so I did not receive a mug rug.  Lindsey, our swap hostess, got to work and lined up a Mug Rug Angel to step in and complete the swap.

 

My mug rug arrived yesterday and I was surely happy to find this in my mailbox.  I don't know who my Mug Rug Angel is.... this is all I had to go by... no name and address.  Because of this, I'm unable to send her a thank you note so I'm hoping that she may come across this post and see that the mug rug was received and is appreciated.

 

 

This is the little note that she included, along with a couple of tasty tea bags.  I may not know who she is, but she has great calligraphy skills!

 

OK... here's the mug rug!  It's made of up a ton of little fabric strips...  I love the colors and I love the text prints.  Cute as a button!

The backside is a nice bright print and the only quilting lines are around the focal flower.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but it's pretty cute.  You can also see the quilting lines in the picture above.

 

So, Mug Rug Angel..... whoever you are..... I thank you very much for being kind enough to send me a mug rug, even though I was not your swap partner.  I wish I could thank you directly, but this will have to do..... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  Blessings to you!

Tree Bird Hop

 Apologies...this was scheduled to post and didn't....anyone having troubles with Blogger?

 

Just in time for spring comes this great blog hop..... Tree Bird Hop!  I can tell you that the birds are actually returning to Indiana in full swing with temps in the 40's and 50's.  The snow is melting and will be soon be gone ... my shovel will be retired to the garage and the mower will come out to take its place.

This is another hop from dear Madame Samm.  She continues to keep us "hoppin!"  And I also have Lana to thank for being our hostess.  There are lots of participants in this hop and it has to take a lot of checking and rechecking to keep us all under control.  A HUGE thanks to Madame Samm and Lana!!

This hop was all about the birds.  We were asked to make something bird related.  It was suggested.. only suggested.... that we might want to use some fabric from Elizabeth's Studio called Beautiful Birds.  It was designed by Tracy Lizotte.  Well, I loved the fabric so much that I really wanted to use it in my wall hanging.  I started with this panel of several birds nested in their colorful houses. If you are interested in this fabric line, there are many different bird fabrics, all colorful and delightful. 

 

And then, Pat, my sweet blogging friend, sent me this panel.... an empty tree, just waiting for some colorful birds.  Thank you so much Pat for sending this to me and making the vision that I had in my mind come true.

And lastly, a picture of Oliver that was printed on fabric.  I had intended to thread paint this, but it just didn't work out.  I'll have to give it a try on a future project.

 

Here's the finished hanging.  Although Oliver is no longer with me, I have tons of memories of him sitting by the window and "chatting/cackling" at the birds in the backyard.  I took a few of the birds from the bird panel and combined them with some "blank" tree sections from the tree panel.  I had intended the tree to kind of extend as one into the window sections.  Somehow, when I added the borders and the seam allowances, they were far from lining up.  Oh well... the eye really doesn't pay much attention to the fact that the tree doesn't exactly flow from pane to pane.

A closer look at Oliver.  I added a layer of fusible fleece under him to make him look like he was in the room and give him a bit of a 3D dimension.

These shots are trying to show that I actually did quilt this wall hanging.  Even in person, the quilting lines kind of disappear.  I didn't do heavy quilting, but quilted all of the trees and the window sections.  I think it would have turned out better if I had used a thicker batting.

 

This is a little template that I made to do the window sections.  It was the first time that I had done a version of Attic Windows and was concerned about messing up the Y seams.  With this little template, I just marked the intersections and stopped sewing at the marks.  I machine stitched the whole thing and they went together perfectly, without a glitch.  I was a happy camper!

 

Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my Tree Bird project.  There are other talented bloggers joining me today and here are the links to visit their blogs.  Please fly over to each one and let them know how much you enjoyed your visit!

Tuesday, March 17

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

Childlike Facination

Pig Tales and Quilts

Quiltsmiles

Ella and Nesta's Little Room

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Gracie Oliver Arts-You are here!

 

 

 

 

Mug Rug Swap

Fort Worth Fabric Studio announced a spring mug rug swap a few months ago.  I thought it would be a fun swap to participate in... a quick project and something I'd have time to make without putting myself in a bind so I signed up.  We were to make one mug rug and were assigned a partner to make and send a mug rug to.

I decided to make two mug rugs, as it seems like the times that I'm using a mug rug, I'm usually sharing a cup of coffee with a friend and it's nice to have a spare mug rug to share.

So here they are.  I didn't know anything about my swap partner, so I just focused on happy, spring fabrics.  I paper pieced the baskets on both mats.  I forgot to measure these before I mailed them, but I'm guessing they were about 6" x 12"...or something like that.

 

These could be reversed... pretty simple and clean on the backside.  To quilt these, I used a standard serpentine stitch on my machine and just made it as wide as the stitch adjustment would allow.

                   

 

 

 

 

I enclosed a pack of lady bug buttons and some spring-ish note cards.  There was also an initial button but I forgot to include it in the photo. 

Now, here's the not-so-great part.  I haven't heard anything from my swap partner.  Not even a quick email acknowledging that she received these mug rugs.  It makes me think that she didn't like them at all.  :(  I also have not received a mug rug from whom ever was assigned my name....this would not be the same person that I sent my mug rugs to.  You always take a risk when you join a swap.  I will say that this was an international swap and it is possible that my mug rug will yet arrive and is swimming around in the postal system somewhere.  I'll post an update if this happens.  I've been terribly disappointed with some swaps before and I have also been extremely thrilled..... you just never know!