Travel Sewing Kit

Yesterday was the monthly get-together of our girls' sewing group. The company and food are the highlights, but we also usually try to engage in a bit of hand sewing. Two hours before it was time to leave, I decided to make a sewing kit to carry my supplies in. My overachieving self though for sure I could finish in time. That didn't happen, and my sewing traveled in a handy but not-cute zip lock bag. But today I put the finishing touches on a Travel Sewing Kit.

I wanted a vintage look, so I used a piece of Vintage Modern for the outside.

The inside is made of some of my favorite "sewing" fabrics ~ Sew Stitchy and Half Moon Modern.

The kit is really cool. The left side has a pocket, a strap for holding thread and a felt needle-book.

There's also a pocket for your scissors and 2 pockets on the right.

So, I've started a little EPP project.

More on that to come!  . . . Cindy

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I really love my stash...

I've had some visitors in my sewing room recently and there are always comments about my stash. So many sewers feel very guilty about having a big fabric stash. I always think of it as a palette, just as a painter would have a palette of colors to work with. When you're working on a project, don't you feel you need just the right fabric immediately? And as long as your family has food on the table ~ it's okay to buy some fabric to stash.

I recently cleaned up, organized, and weeded out some fabrics. Many charitable organizations love donations - I've got a box for our local Quilts of Valor group.

Thought you might like a little tour of the stash ~ while it's in some order. My solids are folded in skinny rectangles and piled by color.

I have several designers' fabrics that I keep together because I'll probably use them together. Bonnie and Camille...

Including lots of these scalloped stripes. Love them for bindings. You can see I may have bought the gray twice - whoops!

Amy Butler...

Anna Maria Horner...

The rest of my fabrics are sorted by color and folded using Jeni's method from In Color Order. Here's one bin of multi-colored prints.

My daughter was looking for some yellows for a project and we found them quickly because they're all folded neatly in one bin.

My goal is to keep the amount limited to the bin space. I'm having a problem with gray lately ~ doesn't seem to fit!

I seldom buy whole collections. New additions are usually favorite prints in my favorite colors. Then it's a game of mixing and matching trying to find the perfect combination!

Yes, I do love my stash  . . . Cindy

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Sweet Sewfull Event

Sew Sweet Quilt Shop in Brunswick, Missouri is sponsoring a wonderful weekend next month filled with classes, lectures and shopping! I'll be teaching 2 classes and doing a lecture on Saturday night. Check out all the details here! 

The first class is the modern Dresden block. The class will include the pattern for the setting from my quilt!

I'm also teaching my Sunburst quilt.

This is such a versatile pattern! I did a little practice class last month and my friend Bonnie made this gorgeous version in one of Kate Spain's lines.

Really, you can't go wrong with this quilt. It looks good in so many ways! I'm working on a larger one in Verona.

And here's the navy and green version from last Spring.

Hope to see some of you there! . . . Cindy

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Pyramid - the final show

My Pyramid quilt is all quilted and bound!

I just love the scrappiness and how the solids frame all the different prints.

The back turned out beautiful. I struggled a bit to pick out a binding. I tried yellow and gray, but ended up with this Kei dot in blue. It matches perfectly.

It's quilted with straight lines about 1/2" from each seam. The quilting went surprisingly quick.

Saturday I picked up this basket at the Container Store. It's beautiful and quite heavy - great for housing some quilts!

In other sewing this week - I made up a couple of Jeni's Drawstring bags for the girls who are on their way as I type!

. . . Cindy

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A little help from my friends...

"I get by with a little help from my friends" ~ one of my favorite Beatles songs and so true! Yesterday four friends came by to help with a big project I'm working on. As a Thank-You, I made them each a palette pincushion.

They didn't expect anything and were pleasantly surprised! (Don't I have cute friends?)

And here's the result of a day of sewing, cutting and pressing.

Thank you girls! You're the best!!  . . . Cindy

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Building Pyramids

My Pyramid top is complete. Lately, I've been enjoying these type of quilts that use lots of different fabrics from many different lines. It also used up some scraps!

I thought you might like a few tips in case you're thinking about making a Pyramid quilt too!

Mine was cut from 3 1/2" strips using a 60 degree ruler. My ruler has a squared off tip and I like that I can easily tell where the straight grain is on the triangle when they end up pin a big messy pile.

My rows have 31 triangles and I was able to cut 16 triangles from a strip. This was nice because one strip of solid made one row. (16 solid and 15 print or vice versa). No, I didn't plan it that way, it was a happy accident!

The trickiest part is matching all those points. I do it by peeling back the top layer and lining up the points.

Then I put a pin just past each point. That way I've sewn the point before I have to remove the pin.

With all the seams pressed open, I can see exactly where the point is as I'm sewing. And most of them came out pretty close!

I'm happy with the effect of going dark to light! And a little design tip - If you use a print triangle that closely matches the solid that surrounds it, you get what looks like a big triangle. Notice the yellow one?

And I think I found the perfect backing fabric in my stash. Love when that happens!

Now on to quilting! . . . Cindy

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Neighborhood

from Modern Patchwork

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Pyramid Quilt

On to a new project! I've been smitten by this Pyramid Quilt from Anthropologie (though, it looks like it's no longer available if you're wanting to spend some big bucks).

And when I saw Mary's rendition, I knew I had to try one!

I decided to create a bit of an ombre effect by positioning my solid triangles from light to dark down the quilt. I cut out lots of pyramids, sewed them together in pairs and put them on the design wall. Agh! I wasn't liking the look and had spent a whole day cutting and sewing.

I've been known to scrap a project at this point, but I was determined to push on. I went to EQ and drew out my idea. I kind of liked it on paper!

So yesterday, I sewed together what I had so far and voila! Love it! I'm learning - sometimes you have to push ahead, look at the big picture and do some more sewing before a design comes together. It certainly is the sum of it's parts.

 

And now I'm thinking of adding a "touch" of red.

The challenges of a quilter! It is what makes this fun! . . . Cindy

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