A Large Composition Cover

My newest Juju Design is the Large Composition Cover.  It is for the composition book that is 9 3/4" x 7 1/2". It is made in three hoopings and has excellent instructions. The front is a hooping, the back is a hooping, and then the spine connects them in the third hooping. The fabric is Artisan Spirit by Northcott.  It really is a beautiful fabric! The design includes a piece of flat elastic that holds the book closed.  I found that at my local sewing machine dealer and it is a fun addition. Dec. 26: The cover was a Christmas present for my Greatgrandson. Landon loved his gift!

Merry Christmas Garden Flag

This is one of the Christmas gifts I am giving to friends and family.  I found the flag blank and the Merry Christmas embroidery design at Oh My Crafty Supplies. They have a new delivery system and it does not take very long to get the order. I had a second order in time to give them on Christmas Day. The bottom design is Split Flourish Monogram by Designs by Juju and it comes in many sizes. Merry Christmas to all my sewing and embroidery friends!

A Glorious Reading Pillow

This pillow makes me smile.  It is a Designs by Juju design and is titled Be a Unicorn 2. I did have to combine two designs and then add the name.  I found the fabric through an online search for unicorns and rainbows. It will be a Christmas gift for a friend's granddaughter.  I think she will love it.

Tiny Notebooks

I found these tiny notebooks yesterday on Designs by Juju. I thought they would be a nice gift for kids as well as adults. The green one now belongs to my hairdresser. They are made in-the-hoop with one hooping.  One of the notebooks is cotton and the other is a hologram foil spandex knit that I found at Joanne's.  I have since found additional colors at fabric.com which has many luscious colors. The notebooks are 4.5" x 3.25" composition books that can be found at Dollar stores, Amazon, and other office supply stores. There are six different designs and I was fortunate to find them at half price ($4) for two designs.  Now I am headed to my embroidery machine to make more tiny notebooks.

Quilted Bag 2 & 3

These are two more bags made with the shiny lame-like fabric.  The fabric has pinks and purples and the bags are made from the same colorway but I used mostly pink fabric in one and purple in the other as the fabric has different shades in it.  I also used pink poly thread in the pink one and a deep purple poly in the purple one.  These have become so addictive that I have three more in the works.  I am using the turquoise colored fabric that I put in the previous post.  But I have gotten a different look by using green thread in one and a purple thread in another.  I love this fabric and the reflections of different colors.

Quilted Zipper Bag

This is a quilted bag pattern that I found on Stitch Delight. She has some delightfully complicated-looking easy patterns.  The fabric I used is from JoAnns and is the type of stretchy knit fabric used in swimsuits and dance costumes.  In some light it is green, teal, purple, or even blue. I found another colorway that is pinks and purples with a pastel look.  The bag has a layer of polymesh, a layer of thin batting, and the fabric.  The thread is a Yenmet medium blue metallic.  I am also trying a purple Superior Rainbow polyester which works just fine.  I have found that the thread works better if it is on the dark side as the shine continues to come from the fabric.  More bags like this are in my future.

Memory Pillows

My brother recently passed away.  I volunteered to make memory shirts for his twin sons.  These shirts had been gifts from his sons.  Both shirts were his favorites as you can see, but the tan one was worn so much with his overalls that there are strap lines from his overalls on the shirt.  I thought this was a very unique characteristic!  I also downsized his bib overalls to fit atop the shirts.  I hope they love them as much as I loved making them.

Patchwork Purse

My brother passed away unexpectedly and I thought his wife would like something made from his overalls. I had been wanting to stitch the Patchwork Purse from Sweet Pea Designs. So this is her purse made from the denim of his overalls. I used different shades of denim for each section of the bag, the overall straps are the purse handles, and the back pockets are stitched on the red bandana lining for inside pockets. I think she will like it.

Tic Tac Toe Game

This game from Embroidery Playground jumped out at me this morning as I was looking a Facebook. Of course I had to see how it was made and if I needed to make it.  I made the first one from vinyl but it does not lay very flat.  So now I am going to make one from some heavy cotton and I'll see how that works.  I do like the X's and O's made from vinyl.  They are very easy to handle and use. 

Vinyl Bookmarks

On Sunday I was hunting for a strawberry key fob and found the cutest bookmarks in Buggalena Designs.  Surprisingly the designs were 75% off so they were only $1.00 each.  Into my basket went an elephant, an owl, and a pony.  They are simple to make with vinyl or felt and I think will be enjoyed by their new owners.  Happy Reading.

A Dyeing Day

 Wednesday was dyeing day for the monthly sewing group.  Diane has a nifty shed that is a good place to do messy work.  The big shirt I soaked in a soda ash solution, wrapped diagonally around a 4" plastic pipe, attached with rubber bands, scrunched together, and added dye in wide lines.  The small shirt I had completed before and thought it was colorless, so I redyed it after soaking it and tieing it up with rubber bands.

These two photos are from the same dyeing process.  We used gallon ice cream buckets, scrunched shirts into a layer, added soda ash solution to wet everything, and then poured on dye.  The top photo is the bottom layer.  The other t-shirts were other layers to fill the bucket.  Let the dye work into the fibers for 24-48 hours or more.  Then you are ready to see the results. It was a fantastic fun day!

Addition:  After rinsing two buckets of shirts and several single shirts that were each in a plastic bag, I have noticed that the bucket shirts absorb almost all of the dye.  There is very little color when I rinse those shirts.  The shirts we soaked quickly in soda ash solution and then gathered with rubber bands before adding the dye needed much rinsing because there was a lot of dye not absorbed. I find that interesting.

In the Beginning

I know I should have waited until I have the blocks stitched together, but I couldn't wait to show them to you. I first saw this pattern on Facebook and hunted it down through Pinterest.  The pattern is called Radiant Suns  from Cara Gulati for Doodle Press. I purchased the pattern and the acrylic templates.  The blocks            (approximately 10 inches) have five pieces and are easy to stitch without tucks.

I love the blocks and I know the quilt will be smashing!  The blocks have color and movement and life.  I can hardly wait to finish! 

Just a Corner

This is just a small corner of the Wonder Quilt that will be unveiled later this year at a meeting of the Wednesday Embroidery Group.  The challenge this year was to make an embroidery quilt and Sweet Pea has the design that I chose to make. The quilt is mostly applique and I used batiks from my stash for the applique.  The background is grunge grey.  I worked hard to get it finished because my challenge quilt last year was unquilted and not finished.  

A Mug Rug Day

There are times when I need a little gift for a friend, so Tuesday I put my machine to work on mug rugs.  They are easy and quick to make.  I used Insul Bright for the batting to make them heat-proof. It was a change of pace from the machine embroidery applique quilt I am working on. 

It's a Jelly Roll Rug!

The monthly First Wednesday Sewing Group had a lesson about making a jelly roll rug given by Terri Lassen.  Of course I waited until the last minute to get my supplies but Overbrook Quilt Connection had everything I needed.  My jelly roll is a batik with creams, brown, and blacks.  I used black thread throughout and it is hard to see that in the photo. All of the strips were stitched together before the class. After what seemed like never-ending hours of folding and sewing the jelly roll and batting, I was ready to make the rug itself.  I loved sewing the rug shape.  It came out very flat with no touching of the iron.  I am very pleased with it.  If I could just start with the third step, I would make a couple more rugs!

Starting aWonder Quilt

This is the newest quilt that I have started.  I am making the blocks with the black background but made a white background to see if I would like it.  It is washed-out in the photo but it is a pretty block.
The designs are from Sweet Pea Designs which has many colorful machine applique embroidery designs.  They have sizes for most hoops and all formats except ART.  The background is basicgrey grunge and the applique fabrics are all batiks.  One tip I would suggest is after deciding on the thread color, to put that color number on a piece of painter's tape and stick to the batik.  It will save time.  I lay my fabric on the placement stitch and then stitch down.  Sometimes the fabric does not lay as flat as I want and I give it a quick burst of steam to shrink it a bit.  Good luck with your embroidery applique.

An Old Skill

I know some of you won't believe this but I taught myself to crochet many years ago. (I did take knitting lessons in the middle 60's.) I have not tried it in a long time but I saw this pattern on an Operation Christmas Child post and decided I could do that. Google helps me me make sure I am doing the stitches correctly. I must say I am very slow but the cold this winter has given me time to get a few done.  The little bags will be for holding marbles and other treasures.

Baby Sleeping Bag

One of my lastest projects is leading my friends and church in filling Christmas boxes for children through Smaritan's Purse.  I was able to purchase 18 baby dolls at Dollar General last week.  I saw a sleeping bag made of fleece but it was tied on the sides and ends.  I made one and decided that it would take far too much time to tie them.  So this is my baby sleeping bag made from fleece and my serger.  Just a tiny bit of stuffing at the head.  I can make one of these in about 10 minutes.  The baby will go in boxes for girls between two and four to love. 

Mini Diva Wallet

This is a mini diva wallet from Sew Many Creations. The wallet is made from cork and I added the name with machine embroidery.  Cork is one of the newer types of materials in use.  It is easy to stitch on and is soft and pliable.  It does not crack when stitched into a seam.  The cork comes in many colors and is now starting to have printed designs that are very pretty. Give this pattern a try, it is quick and easy.

Christmas Gift

This is one of the pillows that I made for a friend's granddaughter.  I did purchase the cowgirl from Jazzy Zebra.  She has some great designs that I have used before.  The words I developed to go with the theme.  I hope it will be given lots of love.