Tonight is Embroidery.

So I haven't felt like embroidering for a while, but I promised an embroidered coin purse for my niece. Tonight I embroidered the outside panel. My sister in law wants to learn how to make the zippered pouch, so all of the pieces are ready for her now.

The onscreen image:

Part way through the stitch out:

Done!

Because the embroidery is so heavy and the fabric was so thin, it puckered. :(

I also embroidered her name with glow in the dark thread. I've never used the glow thread. I was really impressed with how well it stitched out. :)

Now I'm working on an embroidery panel for a mug rug for my mom. 

The onscreen image:

I'm using purple where the green is. 

I love how the black is popping!

Not even half way through at this point.  This one is over 40000 stitches. :/

It took way too long to stitch out. :p

Here's the finished embroidery:

Tomorrow I'll piece it and make the rug. Can't wait to do that!! I might embroider another panel for my niece first (while I still have the embroidery arm on my machine) Too bad I don't have an extra work table and walking foot for my other machine. Then I could work on the rug and let the embroidery machine do its thing at the same time. 

My First...

Tumbling blocks!  The pink one is a little wonky, it was the first Y seam I tried, so I went onto YouTube and found a great tutorial! Very easy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08AlOM5COBU

I'll have to find that ruler, too. :)

Here's my concoction. I made it from some charm pack pieces I had laying around. 

I may just piece some plain fabric around it. Quite fun!

EDIT: I went to Joann's and picked up some fabric to frame it with. Next step will be quilting. 

The back will be the same cream as the background and I finally bought some bias tape so I can even bind it all up!  :)

Here is the 'batting' I've been using. It's fusible fleece and it's very thin, so I double it up, fusing a piece to both the top and the bottom. I need to do some research to figure out what I should use and not have to double. FYI - it's great for purse making. 

Here's the quilting front and back. I only did some simple lines. 

Front:

Back:

Now onto binding.  That's the part I dread. :/

Question: What's the fastest way for me to screw up a project?

Answer: By attempting to bind it. 

Second binding job. Second fail. I probably need binding clips. I only have pins. :/

It looks like crap. I definitely need to keep practicing my binding. Hopefully one day I'll figure it all out. 

For the next mini quilt / mug rug I make, I may just 'turn it' before quilting. (I'd sew the border front and back, right sides together, leaving a couple of inches unstitched so I could turn it right side out. Then stitch 1/8" from the edge all the way around.) Sad because I really do like the way binding looks when it goes on properly. 

Tonight's mug rug experiment.

So my experimentation continues. I think that I'm getting the hang of making these.  I'm trying to use up the scraps from my charm pack purse still. I've been wanting to do a 1600 quilt (a quilt made from a jelly roll), so tonight I tried making a miniature one with 4" strips instead of the 40" jelly roll strips.

Before quilting:

It was as easy as the Internet makes it sound. So then I had to quilt. This time I decided on trying a sort of diamond shape. 

And here's the back. I figured that I'd throw a pic in because I haven't yet. I went with a solid back for this one. Yesterday's had two panels. Maybe I'll throw up a pic of it when I bind it. 

Well. That's all for now. :) I really need to hit up Joann's this weekend so I can work on embroidering that coin purse for my niece. I also need to get some bias tape so that I can bind these rugs. 

Not much done last night

I finished the quilting on my latest mug rug last night and that's about it.  Husband thinks it's too busy (he prefers solids).  I love heavy quilting!

Now I just need to bind it.  :)

Here's what one of my pouches looks like.  I love this print from Joann's! I don't know who to give this one to.  I'm always giving them away because I enjoy making them, but I don't need any more.

 Finally, I bought some bunting fabric (before Halloween) from Spoonflower.  I've always wanted to try my hand at bunting.  It was really a lot of fun!  I'll have to make some more bunting again soon!  

The pieces cut out:

 And sewn together:

 That's only half of it.  I used extra wide double fold bias tape along the top.  Also, I had sewn two triangles together (right sides together), turned and pressed - so that they're double sided and the edges are finished.  

Bunting is a really easy project.  I think I'm going to make a template so that I can cut my own fabric and make some more that way.  I also had thoughts of creating something on Spoonflower - but I don't know what as of yet.  :)
 

Sewing!!

It's no secret that I love to sew.  So, instead of bombarding my friends with my projects, I figured I should start blogging about it.

My latest kick is mug rugs.  They're smaller than a placemat but larger than a coaster.  They're big enough for a mug and a snack.  I'm thinking of making them as gifts to hand out this year for the holidays with mugs and some coffee or tea.  I also have a bundle of ten tea towel calendars coming my way.  I'm going to bind those up and add them to the gift.  I'm going to hit up stores like HomeGoods to find the mugs.

What do I love about the mug rugs?  They're quick.  I get to quilt.  They're cute.  Yeah... I think that's it.

Everyone knows that my first love (when it comes to sewing) will always be zippered pouches.  Those, too are quick.  I also enjoy making bags and clutches.  :)

So, without further ado, here's some of my recent projects!

This "Police Box Zip Pouch" was made from a cut and sew fat quarter on Spoonflower.  I swear I can make one of these in ten minutes.  I should time myself.  I boxed the bottom so that it would stand up.  I kind of like the effect.  (See my instructions in my previous post on how to make zip pouches if you're curious.  They really are easy!)

This was my first mug rug.  I feel like there were a lot of errors I made with it, but I did learn quite a bit as I went along.  (For instance, I've never done binding before.  I think I'm going to try a different method next time - but all on the machine again)

This is the one that I'm currently working on.  The fabric that I used for the first one as well as this one was left over scraps from a charm pack purse I made.  I *need* to write up the 'how to' on the purse.  I just haven't had the time.  I also have several other projects that I'm working on, so it's not really a priority.  

Anyway - I'm liking this second mug rug better.  I'm a huge fan of quilting and I didn't do much on the first one.  This one, I ran out of bobbin thread before I finished the horizontal lines last night and since it was midnight, I used that as an excuse to go to bed and leave it for tonight.

And if you're curious, here's the charm pack purse:

It was seriously fun!  I made it in a class.