Quilt Finish

Although I did not link up this month to any of my usual parties there were still a few goals on my list.

My Eyes Crossed Spied quilt for little Axton Rane (my nephews little boy) was one of those goals.  Today,after the weekend chores and planting some flowers in the garden,I worked on finishing this quilt.

Around 5:30 this evening it was a wrap!  So Mr P and I ran over to one of my favorite photo spots to snap off a few shots before it started raining again.

For the backside,I decided to make a few more blocks.  The yellow print is a bandana print from my stash.  Even though the block centers for this quilt have the Bots and Bolts line,I think that the bandana print just says boy more than anything else in my stash.

The wonderful Mr. P he is always willing to be my quilt holder :)

Pool side tote & Origami Bento bag

First up...

The Origami Bento bag.  I found the tutorial for this sweet bag here it did give me some hassles but,as you can see I figured them out.  The only thing I do not like about this is that it is not lined,the next one I make will be though.  This would make a great project bag!

This is the fabric I chose to use for my Pool Side Tote! Doesn't is just shout Summer?!  This is the slip pocket for the outside of the tote.  I decided to give it a little pop by adding a strip of yellow polka dot fabric across the top.  This is the Bag of The Month Club bag for May.  (button  on my side bar to the right here)

And here she is!  First let me say I Love the finished tote!  From the fabric to the size,all around this is a winner.  I did change a thing or two,and will be changing a couple more the next time around...

One of the things I did was to add an inside pocket,because a girl can never have too many pockets!  Either I mis-read the directions or,something?  The green facing you see here I was totally expecting to be on the outside of the tote (I planned for it,that is why I chose to use this print).  Next time the facing will be on the outside of the tote.  I did follow the directions...

The only other thing I was disappointed with is that my yellow Paisley that I specially fussy cut(see the pocket photo above) for the front slip pocket is wrapped around to the bottom of the tote :(  When looking at the directions I thought that it looked like it would end up with part of the pocket on the bottom of the tote...should have listened to myself and made the pocket height shorter.  Next time I will do that for sure.

Linking up with:

Lorna over at:  Sew Fresh Quilts: Let's Bee Social #21

Hold the phone pouches & tea wallets

This week I sewed up a couple more pouches from the summer Quilts & More issue pattern.

The one on the right I made a little longer and added a bit of velcro for a closure,of the top and moved the elastic for the button down.  This pattern is very easy and adaptable so I have been playing around with it some.  I did not like the placement of the ribbon wristlet placement,so I moved it into the side seam,and like it much better there.

A while back I cut out some fabric for a few tea wallets.  Last night I sewed up two of them.

There are 6 pockets on the inside to hold your tea bags.  Great for tossing in your purse,so you always have a nice selection while on the go.  Both the tea wallets and the phone pouches are great little scrap busters!

I also found time to make and sew the binding on my Trail of Diamonds table runner this week.  I found some 2 1/2" strips of Kona Charcoal and Ice Frappe in one of my scrap bins,I think they compliment the batik fabric nicely!

We are supposed to hit 70 degrees this weekend,and I am pretty excited about that!  Have a super weekend :)

Trail of Diamonds table runner

Well,I must have been living under a rock lately!  I had not a clue that today was the start of Giveaway Day Week!  Hopefully I can put something together before the end of the week...

This morning before heading out to work I snapped off a couple shots of my latest project!  Why yes that is snow on my deck,on the 12th of May...  The only good thing about spring snow is that it melts off fast :)

As you can see it still needs to be bound,but the quilting is all done!  Hoping to finish it this week.  Any thoughts on the binding?  Should I use solids and make it scrappy,or maybe more batik fabric?

I spent part of my mothers day sewing up this little pouch.  The pattern can be found in the summer issue of  Quilts & More.

I made mine scrappy :)  This is a great little pouch for when you only want to pack the essentials.  Everything in the photo fits in the pouch,and you could fit a couple more little items in it too.

Hope you have a great week :)!

little bits

Not much sewing going on around here this past week or so...but the garden is almost all planted!

I did sew up a collar and leash for Jolene's dog...

as well as this,a drawstring bag for doggie treats while on the go.

The backside,at the top center is a tab for clipping to a belt loop/bag for on the go.

Figured out the kinks with my bowl covers!  Now they have a nice finished edge.  This is my tester set.

Lastly,a new project I started on last night.  I decided that this month would be mostly a no goal month,just a whatever I feel like sewing month.  My only actual goal is to finish my Eye's Crossed Spied quilt.

Happy Mothers Day Weekend!  (if that applies to you)

Eyes Crossed Spied quilt pattern tested...

When Melissa posted about her Eyes Crossed quilt I commented that sometime this year I needed to make a quilt for my nephew's little guy,and this looked like a winner.

My fabrics all cut and ready,the larger squares are from the Bots & Bolts fabric line.  I won a 6 piece fat eight bundle  during the For the Boys hop.  The smaller squares and rectangles were pulled from my stash.

This is Melissa's quilt top,posted here where you can also read about and see all the other testers versions.

After reading through the pattern for the first time,my thought was,oh man,what did I get myself into!  Don't get me wrong,this is a great pattern,and as you can see it turned out just fine.  What I had a hard time with was the layout.  This is where all of Melissa's pattern pages really came in handy for me.

Included in the pattern is a page with a close-up of the original layout,so you can see the fabrics and placement of them very well.  Of course there is also a page with all of the required supplies,which also includes a few abbreviations & notes.  The page with the cutting instructions has a picture "swatch" of each of the original fabrics used and  the corresponding fabric letter.

As always the directions are clear and concise with pictures of each step to make your block.  The one thing that I would suggest if you feel a little overwhelmed with trying to decide on the layout would be to make yourself a key.  At the bottom of the coloring page I made a key to help me.  Using a colored pencil I drew a rectangle and colored it in,then wrote the fabric that color represented inside the rectangle with a regular pencil.

The pattern makes a 60 x 60 quilt but,Melissa was gracious enough to let me change the size down a bit.  So my quilt top measures 48 x 48.  Let me tell you that the name of this pattern is perfect,because your eye just does not know where to land.  At least that is my feeling.

Once the layout decision was made and the fabrics cut this top went together rather quickly.  You can purchase the pattern from Melissa's Craftsy shop for only $7.50

Thank you S0 much for letting me test for you once again Melissa,after I got over my layout issues it was a cakewalk!

Birdie quilt Finish!

Now this is the way to start off a month right!

When I last posted about this quilt it looked like this,the binding still needed to be attached and there was some hand stitching to do around the birds.

A few nights ago the hand stitching was finished.

This evening Mr. P went to Denver with some friends to see a Rockies game.  So,that left me the entire evening to play in the sewing room!  I started off by making the binding.

Binding in progress...Before starting to sew on the binding I decided to try something that Amandajean over at crazy mom quilts talked about in her Machine Quilting 101 post yesterday.  She said to sew a basting stitch all the way around your quilt before attaching the binding.

This was the first time I had ever heard of doing that,and I wanted to see what,if any difference it would make.  Let me just say that I am sold!  It really made a big difference,it was so much easier to attach the binding.  I will be doing this from now on,and am looking forward to what tips and tricks she has to share  in the coming posts.

All bound and ready for the washer!  Where it is as I type up this post.  You can't really see the binding very well,but since it is way past dark...

Although there is still a Lot of room for improvement when it comes to bindings on my quilts,they have come a long way recently too.  Practice and some wonderful tips/tutorials have helped me tremendously,so Thank You to everyone who takes the time to share your knowledge!  Because I for one would still be ripping out stitches if not for your wonderful tips and tutorials.

Tomorrow will be the Big Reveal of my Secret project from last month!  So stop by tomorrow evening to see what it is.