Mendocino Bricks Quilt

This is the first of three quilts I'm trying to get done for my kids before Christmas. 

This one is for my eight yr old daughter. 

It's made using Heather Ross' Mendocino line. 

I added a few other prints to the mix to give it more color and contrast.

 

I chose this beautiful Joel Dewberry print for the back.  I actually like it much better than the $40/yd print I was considering for half a second.  (Still not sure why --or who-- would actually spend that much on a yard of fabric no matter how beautiful it is!!) 

 The binding is a nice golden solid.  I love solid bindings for borderless quilts.

Even though my daughter is eight, she still has dolls/stuffed animals that she loves, so a mini was in order as well.  The mini measures 15" by 19".

I just did straight-line quilting shadowing the rows.

The finished quilt measures 52" by 74".

Last year when I gave my husband an unfinished quilt top for Christmas I vowed to start early on my kids' quilts.  With only one of three done, looks like I'm cutting it close again this year.

Purple & White T-shirt Dress {Butterick 5522}

Finally I have been able to make something for ME!!!

I have not been liking my options for Sunday church wear and have had fabric and patterns set aside for quite some time. After all my water mess and purging of the sewing room I have put sewing for myself back on the priority list. All other fires will have to wait to be put out at another time.

This dress (Butterick 5522) seems sort of retro to me. But hey, I was born in the 60's.....and I like it. Maybe that makes me retro too.

The only changes to this pattern that I made for me were that I had to add about 7" in order to get it to at least hit my knees. It also called for putting a 9" zipper in back. Why!? It is made out of t-shirt knit. I don't see why you need a zipper with t-shirt fabric. But just to double check I only sewed up to where the zipper would be, then basted the remainder to the neckline. I tried it on that way to make sure it would work before permanently sewing up the back seam.

I thought about making the neckband white, but decided against it. I wanted the focus to be on the sleeves, or whatever cool piece of jewelry I could find to go with it. I like my little improv chain.

I've had this dress completed for a bit, but hadn't yet worn it as the weather here was staying in the 70's and 80's. I needed it to be a little cooler before I debuted it. Finally this past weekend I wore it.

I only wish I still had my awesome pair of purple suede pumps. I had to give those away years ago after they no longer fit--post babies. I loved those shoes. I actually bought them before I had anything to wear with them. Then I found fabric and made an outfit for the shoes. In the "old days", i.e. pre-marriage, pre-babies, that is how I usually shopped. Bought shoes and accessories I liked first, and then made the outfits to go with.

Everything Tote Critique

Over the weekend I finished making up the Everything Tote. This bag comes from the book "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross.

I had checked it out at the library and then thumbed thru the items to see what interested me. I'm always game to try a new tote pattern, even though I have ZERO need for a new bag. So the bags, yes, BAGS, I made from this pattern (and the decorator fabric I needed to get rid of) will be donated to our Zihuatanejo bag project. For these bags I didn't line them as I was messing around and wanted to make sure I liked the pattern. However, with that being said, I will eventually make myself one, I just haven't decided exactly what fabric I want (I'm thinking about a red piece of pleather that I currently have in my stash) or how I want to do it. Until then here are some of my suggestions and troubleshooting for this pattern.

Notes:

• You definitely need MORE than a 1/2 yd. fabric per outside/lining piece. Try 1 yd.+ per bag.
• The binding pieces for the side gathers don't allow for hardly any gather--adjust accordingly. I think that I cut off about 2-3 inches off the binding pattern length in order to get a more obvious gather. That is all personal preference. You could also try a little pleat in the center.
• You don't necessarily have to cut handles on the bias. For this bag shown I did, but some of the others I didn't and it was all about the same difference. Based on what I did above my finished handles were 14" long.
• The strap directions absolutely stink--no offense--for such a cute and simple bag. Why would you make a tube (using both outside and lining fabric--and then not see the lining fabric! What is the point of that?!) and then use the tube like bias tape? That is like sewing thru 10 layers of fabric!!!! Yikes! Don't torture yourselves. If you are going to "line" the strap per the directions just attach it as follows--fold in half lengthwise only once and topstitch down with the bag sides sandwiched in between.
• OR just cut your handles out of the fabric you want and then apply that piece like bias tape--pressing in half lengthwise and then pressing into the fold again. You'll end up with about an inch wide strap.
• I also went ahead and sewed the 2 strap pieces into a continuous circle and then marked accordingly.

Flickr has a group where you can view all sorts of versions of this bag.

Note: It appears there are a number of errors or problems with the patterns in this book, based on what I've seen online, so be careful before starting any of these projects. If you are having issues, more than likely it is the pattern and instructions, and NOT you!

His + Hers {Part Two}

Finally, His + Hers are reunited! 

His is decidedly different than {Hers}

I started with the backing fabric (cotton yardage from his favorite NBA team) and went from there. 

For the front I decided to use solids in the team colors.

I came up with this simple Solid Squares design. 

It's not original, I'm sure you've seen many a quilt designed like it before in blogland. 

But I like it in solids nonetheless.

Simple and masculine.

For the quilting I did lots of straight lines. 

After taking a spin through the washer/dryer, it's ready to go to it's new home.
I just need to decide if I'm going to give it to him now or save it for Christmas...

Finished measurements:  45" by 60"
It didn't need to be huge. My FIL likes to watch the games in his recliner with a blanket on his legs.  This should be just right. 

Like {Hers} I made a label for the back and had all my kids sign it and write a note. 

Pattern details/instructions HERE.

Details:

*All solids came from JoAnn's.  They are Country Classics:  Navy, Cornflower, Charcoal Grey, White, Orange, and Purple. The sashing is Kona Ash.  It might be my new favorite neutral. 

*JoAnn.com has a good selection of NBA team cottons. This is a great way to get fabric if you live far away from your team. Use your 50% off coupon and you could get it for a bargain. (This is how I got mine!)

*Check out the NBA quilt made by Oh, Fransson! She used a vintage sheet for her backing. I LOVE this one!

Anyone else made an NBA themed quilt?  I'd love to see it!  Leave a link...

P.S.--This quilt, same design/different colors can be found here.

Bee Vintage Blocks for October {Shoo Fly}

Another month of Bee Vintage Blocks.

For Adrienne, using this tutorial.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Super Delicious recipe from allrecipes.com

My variations: I quadrupled the recipe so I could use the entire (Libby's large) can of pumpkin. I also used mini chocolate chips (highly recommend) so they don't all fall to the bottom of the batter when you bake them.

After having breakfast dinner on Friday night I still ended up putting 2 1/2 dozen in the freezer, which means I can enjoy them all month long! Yum!

Mendocino Scraps Winner is...

Jenny

from TheSouthern Institute.com

And a big thanks to all of you who signed up to help with our bag project!  We are firm believers that doing good for others makes you feel good. :)

Donation Baby Quilts

Over the course of the summer and the past several months I have been helping the young women at church with a sewing project. For many of them it was their very first sewing project. But I decided that they could handle straight line sewing and put together baby quilts. I assembled the quilt blocks into coordinated little packets and then let each girl pick their packet and then design their own top. Most packets had extras so that they could have some freedom in what they designed.



In the end we had 40 quilts to donate to a local hospital and their neo-natal ICU. Here is what they all looked like piled on my table. The girls helped package them all up nice with ribbon and a tag.


A big thanks to the moms, friends, and Young Women leaders who helped with this project. And another thanks to all those who donated their fabric scraps. We really appreciate it!



Now they're off to be delivered.


P.S. You have until tonight to enter our giveaway...

A Giveaway

Today we are doing a giveaway, with a small twist...

The winner will get these lovely scraps from the Mendocino line by Heather Ross.  I think there are about 35 rectangles (about 1/2 of which are HR and 1/2 the blender fabrics).  I am currently working on a quilt for my 8 yr old using these fabrics.  When I went to buy the backing I found the fabric listed on etsy for... get this...$40 a yard!!!!  What?!  Don't even get me started on how ridiculous I think this is!  I quickly decided on a beautiful non $40/yd print.  But I digress...

Here is the twist:  To enter you must commit to helping us with our Zihuatanejo Bag Project for Project Million Amigos.  We don't care if you can only do one bag or 50, we just want you to help.   If you still want to win the scraps tell us in the comments section how many bags you will make.  Make sure you leave your email or some way for us to contact you.  We will draw a winner on Friday.  And if there happens to be a large enough response I might be willing to give up my eight Heather Bailey Pop Garden fat quarters as well. 

Now we know that there is no way we can check to make sure everyone actually makes their bags, but we believe that you all will be honest enough to commit only if you are serious and not just to win. Good Luck!

(Here is the simple bag tutorial if you're unsure of the difficulty level involved.)

Tomatillo Green Salsa to Can

The forecast for our area is overnights in the low 30's by the end of the week. That means any garden stuff that is still growing will most likely be frostbitten later this weekend. I still have quite a few tomatoes, albeit mostly green ones, on my plants. Usually I cover my tomatoes once or twice in the Fall before I give up and let the frost take over. However, I am feeling a little lazy about that, even though it does make me crazy to think of them going to waste.

So here is a recipe for canning Tomatillo Green Salsa, which is a favorite with our cousin Tiffany and her family. This is a good year-end garden recipe as it says you can use green tomatoes instead of tomatillos. Perfect for my situation right now.


Note:
Tiffany doubles the recipe and uses green bell peppers instead of green chili peppers. And she then also uses serrano peppers instead of jalapeño--but DOES NOT double the amount of serranos in her recipe.

She also adds 1 bunch of cilantro--chopped up finely--to a double batch recipe. The original recipe doesn't call for that, but you could add it if you like that flavor. Or you could also add it fresh when you open a jar.

I did double the jalapeños when I doubled my batches because even when doubling the recipe it is only 1 cup of jalanpeños. That is nothing, in my opinion, for 10 pints of salsa.


The canning directions are for 15 minutes in a Hot water bath canner. I used my Pressure Canner instead, as I can double stack pints in mine and therefore do all 10 pints at once. I pressured it at 6# for 10 minutes.

Tiffany uses this salsa for the 2 recipes listed below. She says it is also good made fresh, she just uses lime juice instead of lemon juice if making a fresh batch. Note: You cannot use lime juice when canning. It isn't acidic enough.
__________________________
Mexican Pulled Pork
3-5 lbs. pork roast
1 pint Tomatillo Green Salsa
1 c. brown sugar

Combine all in crockpot and cook 6 hrs. on HIGH or 10 hrs. on LOW.
Pull pork apart.
Serve in tortillas for tacos.
__________________________
4 Bean Salsa Soup
1 pint each: (or a 15 oz. can) all UNDRAINED
White Beans
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Pinto Beans
Tomatillo Green Salsa
Stewed tomatoes

Dump all together in a saucepan.
Heat.
Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream.
_____________________________________
You can also try the recipe from Ball® Canning for their version of Tomatillo Salsa. This recipe can also be found in the Ball® Complete Book of Home Preserving on pg. 212. And there is a slightly different version for Roasted Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa on pg. 213.
Here's a couple other places to look for green tomato recipes.
Google "canning recipes green tomato" and you'll come up with all sorts of hits.
Tipnut--25 different green tomato recipes from pickles, relishes, chutneys, soups....

First Shipment of Bags

Yesterday I received the first package of bags for our Zihuatanejo Bag Project.

2 denim bags and a fun print that my daughters were eyeballing.

Thanks, Beth!

We appreciate the help.

Back when it was still new...

My mother in law sent me this picture recently.
It is of my brother-in-law the day they brought him home from the hospital in 1962.

Check out the quilt in the background. It's the one I rescued from her closet.
See how vibrant the colors were back then?

Purge Out

Sometimes there comes a time when you just have to "cut your losses" so to speak. I have reached that point where no token cleaning of my sewing room will work. And really, I'm o.k. with that. (For me it takes time to reach that point)

Spring cleaning doesn't have to happen in just the Spring. Fall works too. I don't know about you, but once I decide to get rid of something it usually leaves the premises rather quickly, never to enter my home again. No remorse, no guilt...even when the kiddos complain.

Round 1
Here are a few things that have left the building....

• New patterns bought in previous times when I thought I might actually make that item.
• Patterns that I have used to make something but now no longer fit my kids or me.
• Fabric--most to be donated to the thrift store.
• Half-finished projects that hold no motivation to be completed and/or if completed wouldn't fit who they were intended for anyway. (a few can be refashioned into something else useful--but not too many) I'm all for removing the guilt altogether.
• Fleece that I don't want to look at anymore and it takes up way too much space on my shelves. I did quickly make 1 tied fleece blanket while watching Letters to Juliet one afternoon that I will give away somehow--even though the kids thought we should keep it along with our I don't know how many other blankets. Uh,...no!
• Bags of knit collars given to me in years past. (I still have one 10 gal. bin completely full of ribbing for t-shirts)
• Costumes that are too small for my girls (why they were in my sewing room and not the costume bin I'm not sure.)
• 20+ baby quilts that have been accumulating during the summer that will be donated to a local hospital next week.
• 35+ knitted stocking caps that I will either try to sell at a craft show at the end of Oct. or donate them somewhere.
• Jean/denim scraps that I don't want to see anymore. Just kept the big stuff.

All's good when even my kids notice and tell me I've done a good job picking up my room. It feels so good to purge.
_____________________________
Then yesterday, right before this was ready to post, I went into Round 2 of the purge. I was sewing and realized my carpet was wet from some serious rain we've received this week. And so I ripped out the wet, already slightly moldy, piece of carpet. (We just had a piece that we were covering cement basement floor) And then we also had to remove a storage cabinet that was moldy inside and rotting out the bottom. Obviously not from just this week's rain. Lovely!

After moving ALL my stuff out of the room I got rid of even more stuff that I didn't want to put back in. And lucky for us, next weekend is the city's free drop-off at the recycling center. See ya stuff! Now it looks like I'll be searching for a throw rug to put in my room, or maybe I'll take this opportunity to lay down peel and stick flooring....hmmm....maybe this wasn't such a bad thing to have happen.

Scrappy Zig Zag Quilt

For a long time now I've been trying to use up scraps that I have while cleaning out my sewing room. I'm making some headway, I think....I hope....anyway....back to the subject. After making a number of baby quilts I wanted to try something different other than the basic 36 square kid quilt I've done most of the summer. (I'll be posting later about some donation quilts I've been working on with the young women from Church.) So I based this little baby quilt off of Leslie's Zig Zag Quilt and this tutorial.

This is what I started with, all 6" squares:
12 squares of Red Plaid
20 squares of Airplane print
14 squares of Tan Check
18 squares of Navy Polka Dot

I then had to cut them all down to 3" x 5 1/2" rectangles.

Then it was just a matter of laying it out and trying to see what I liked. You'll notice that I'm missing some Red Plaid sections at the bottom right.
I had extra Airplane print and Navy, but the other two fabrics I completely used and even had to piece slightly at the end after squaring off the points of 2 sides. This was a little more putzing around than I normally like; however, I do love how the quilt turned out.
I decided to go ahead and put a border around it to make it slightly bigger, and because I had plenty of brushed denim for the backing.

I don't know that I LOVE the color of the border (or maybe it is because it is too close to the color of my rug). It matches more closely with parts of the Airplane Print. However, since this is a scrap quilt I didn't want to go buy anything new--so I just used what I already had.
Navy binding and all complete. O.K. the border looks better out in the natural sunlight. That's good.

Last photo courtesy of Mr. 4 yr. old who wanted to help so badly. Taken while he was standing up on the swingset tower.

Pink and Orange Party

I recently finished some crib quilts for my two girls.

M's quilt (more orange)

I've been liking her version more for some reason

a little technical info

Each quilt is made from twelve 4" strips with 1" white in between.

Finished quilt measures 41 x 56.5 inches

L's Quilt (more pink)

I won't deny that I motivate L to attach herself to this. You know, because I made it. I say things like, "Don't you want your pink quilt?", "Let's go get your pink quilt" or "Here's your pink quilt". She has a favorite blankie (it made an appearance here and here), but I'm hoping over time mine will become the fave.

I pretty much love how the quilting looks on the back. So clean. And subtle.

Detail view of the binding and back fabric on both quilts.

More quilting details

By far the easiest quilts I've made. I love this layout.

I'll leave you with Miss cutie patootie.

Project Million Amigos Bag Tutorial

This is for anyone who needs specific instructions on how to make a bag for the bag project we are working on. 

Finished Dimensions:
14" W x 16" H (doesn't need to be exact)
Mitered corners at the bottom to square off (optional)
1 1/2" W x 26" long handle (approximate length--can go up to about 30")
Basic Zihuatanejo Bag Directions:
Materials:
Thread
2 pieces of fabric cut 15"x 18"
Handle piece cut 3-4" wide x 28-30" long

1. RST sew the 2 sides and bottom of the bag.
2. Finish seams (serge or zig-zag or pinked edges). Based on what was shown me in the past as an example, they were not even finishing the seams. This personally makes me a bit crazy as I know what I am capable of producing. Also, thinking to myself, just because we are sending it to a 3rd world country doesn't mean we have to send shoddy workmanship. Do what you are comfortable with. I promise I won't judge, because really, they can use whatever we send.
3. Miter bottom corners of the bag. I do this by matching the bottom and side seam and then measuring about 1 1/2" from the point and sewing across. I also clip off the excess and finish edge. This too could be optional. I just like the shape of the bag better if it is squared off a bit on the bottom.

4. Sew strap by folding in half lengthwise and sewing 1/4" seam.
5. Turn strap RS out and press and topstitch. I like it topstitched to keep the strap from "rolling".
6. Press down the top hem about 1 1/2".
7. Turn hem under one more time.

8. Position straps at the side seams sandwiched into the hem seam. Make sure the strap isn't twisted.
9. Sew top bag hem at about 5/8" to 1", making sure the straps are sewn in.
10. Flip straps up and topstitch down on outside of bag to secure.

In the past I've pieced fabric together to get the 15"x18" size. I've also added a pocket at times, or I've done a little ribbon trim or embroidery on the bag if I think it is too "boring".

Be creative!

Once again check HERE for more info and details on how to participate.

Don't be afraid to email us if you have any questions. emilylovesbaskets@msn.com