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!