Little Houses, HSTs, and WIPs

If you have read any of my recent posts, you probably know that I am organizing a blog hop for new bloggers that begins next Tuesday, May 22nd!  All the information is here.  As part of the hop, I am going to be posting  the weekly calendar, updates, and highlights from the participating bloggers here in a Blog Hop post every Monday starting next week.  I am really looking forward to it and I hope you will join us either as a participant or a visitor!  

I just looked and even though I have been working on my blog everyday (updating the Blog Hop page, coordinating the calendar . . .), it has been almost a week since my last post so I actually have two finishes to share today.  Oh, and since one of the suggestions for the Hop participants is to create a collage/mosaic of their favorite projects, I decided to try making some for today's post.

Up first is a Little Houses Doll Quilt.  I'm linking this up with Amy's Creative Side One Thing, One Week Challenge as last week, I added my goal of piecing these little houses to her challenge.  I actually ended up finishing up the quilt last night.  The main fabric is Wildwood by Erin McMorris in fuschia and the binding is Dream Dot in Clementine from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection.  


I used my walking foot to do the wavy lines and stamps with a fabric marker for the writing.  

To illustrate how I put together the houses, I made up two collages using Picasa.

My other finish from the past week was this baby quilt.

And here is it in a collage I made using Big Huge Labs.

The quilt is a combination of HSTs and 5" squares.  I used Kona Charcoal for the binding and a bright pink Aurifil thread to machine stitch the binding with a zig zag.  I don't think I've ever used a solid color before for binding but I think I will again (especially if it combined with contrasting thread.)  The backing is Kumari Garden by Dena Designs.

Lastly, I used photoshop to create a collage using some great photo templates from Pugly Pixel.  She also has a tutorial on how to use the templates.  I'm new to photoshop (I downloaded a free trial) so I'm still working on this one but I wanted to mention it here.

As for my WIPs:

I've been cutting out 5" charms to make a patchwork quilt (with a bit of I-spy in it.)

A few months ago, I made a patchwork quilt using a charm pack from Aneela Hoey's A Walk in the Woods and used Swirlybuds in Deep Pink from Heather Bailey's Bijoux for the binding.  (I can't seem to get a good picture of the red inside or outside - any suggestions???)  This is one of the many quilts I use for my 7 month old when she is in the stroller and the one I get, by far, the most oohs and aahs which is probably why those charms are on my sewing table.   (If you need one, here is a great tutorial from Oh, Fransson on how to cut charm squares from yardage.)

While I've been cutting the charms, I've also been cutting strips from the same fabrics for another Log Cabin - I want to make one with sashing this time.

I think this post ended up a bit long!!!  So, I'll end with this question - how do you create your collages/mosaics?

And, please check back here next Monday and join some fantastic new bloggers for the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop - spread the word!  Or grab a button - from the post or my sidebar.

Please check out my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.

Front Zip Pouches with Shoulder Straps

So, I'm not sure where this week went.  If you read my last post, you know that I was iron-less - I had lots of plans for nap times BUT um, well, uh, yeah, my house is still not clean and organized, I have no new crochet or embroidery projects to share, I didn't organize or order any photos, I didn't try new recipes (though I did pin some new ones) - yep, so many big plans and nothing!

But the new iron arrived yesterday so I was back to it and made 5 bags!  What was that number again?  5!  And why did I cram 5 bags into 2 days of sewing?  Well, my kids have three birthday parties to go to this weekend and a few coming up so I got on a roll.  These are fairly quick to whip up - I think the most time is spent selecting and cutting the fabric. 

There are so many zip pouch tutorials out there so I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel but here are some pics/words/tips about my process.

Supplies:

Note 1.  For the front zip pouches, I actually start by measuring my zipper.  I find them easiest to make when I use a zipper that is longer than the width of the bag so that all metal parts fall outside the fabrics and can be chopped off.  

Note 2.  I use cotton flannel or batting as a middle layer.  I actually have never used interfacing in any project so I can't comment on how that would work for these.  

Note 3:  I used two different methods for finishing the bags.  I'll talk about both both.

My measurements for this bag were approximately the following.  Depending on how close I sew to the zipper and various shifting throughout the project, I usually end up having to trim at the end.

Front pieces:

1.  Outer Fabric 9x3 (this is the total measurement after patchwork, etc.)

2.  Flannel 9x3

3.  Lining 9x3

4.  Outer Fabric 9x9

5.  Flannel 9x9

6.  Lining 9x9

Back pieces

1.  Outer Fabric 9x12

2.  Flannel 9x12

3.  Lining 9x12

10 inch zipper

30 inches of cotton webbing 

1.  Start by making your Outer Front Bottom piece of fabric by sewing together scraps to make a finished size of 9x9.  You can foundation piece the scraps to your 9x9 piece of flannel if you wish.  Or you can make a few quilting lines to attach it to the flannel after piecing together the front.  Do the same for the Outer Front Top (9x3) and the Outer Back (9x12).  You don't have to attach the outer fabrics to the flannel but at least iron them together so they are somewhat attached.  From now on, when I refer to outer fabric, I'm referring to the outer fabric attached to the flannel.

2.  Lay your Outer Front Top on your table right side up.  Put your zipper on top of that right side down and make sure the fabric is centered so that the little metal parts on the zipper are on the outside of your fabric.  Place your Lining Top right side down on top of the zipper.  I like to have the zipper a bit below the top of the fabrics so that I can make sure I am getting through all the layers.  I use the zipper teeth to guide my stitching so I'll know that the zipper is being included even though I can't see it.  Use your zipper foot if you have one.

*Not all my photos are from the same bag.

3.  Pull back the fabrics so that wrong sides are facing.  Take your Outer Front Bottom and lay it down right side up.  Take your zipper (with tops attached) and lay it right side down.  Take your Bottom Lining and lay it right side down on top of the zipper.  Make sure all your sides are lined up and stitch to the zipper.

4.  Pull back the fabrics and top stitch on both sides of the zipper.

At this point, you can choose one of the following ways to finish the bag.

5.  Put together your back by placing your Outer Back and Lining together wrong sides facing.  If you haven't already, quilt a few lines to attach them together.

6.   With your zipper open, stitch a little bit over the end of the zipper to secure.

7.  Take your cotton webbing and attach it to the top of the Outer Front Top.

8.  Take your Outer Front (with attached lining) and your Outer Back (with attached lining) and put them right sides together.  Cut off excess fabric including both zipper ends (you should be able to cut off the metal parts from both ends and then you won't have to worry about sewing over metal.)  Sew around all four sides (your zipper should be open!)  You can reinforce your stitches over the zipper ends and handles if you like.  Clip your corners and finish off the raw edges since they'll be showing (zigzag, serger, binding - I've even tried french seams on all but the top where the handles are attached.)   Using the zipper opening, rearrange the bag so that the right sides are on the outside. 

That is one way to do it.  However, yesterday, I did a web search about finishing the raw edges and I found this tutorial on Projects by Jane.  It took me a few tries but it works great and the raw edges are all fully encased.  To do the bag with the straps like I have it, just go to her step 7 where she has you attach all the layers and sneak the straps in there (attached between the outer front and outer back when they are right sides facing.)  You'll then have to move the straps around while doing her other steps to make sure you don't sew over them.  Also, I find that if I cut my lining about one-half of an inch longer than the outer fabrics that it is easier for me to sew the gap at the end (which I prefer to do by machine) - not sure whether that really makes a difference but it worked for me.  

And since I love looking at pics of fabrics on all of your blogs, I thought I'd post one of my recent acquisitions.  I have specific plans for a couple of these and some I just ordered small cuts of to stockpile for an I Spy Quilt.

I was so happy to be able to sew again!  However, my machine was acting up again today so . . .


Please check out my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.