Slow Stitching - finished the little hearts

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!!!  

I am just getting back into the groove with my blogging after a busy holidays season.

I have been working on these little hearts for quite a while off and on and managed to get them all done since the beginning of the year.  

These are hand cut hearts about 1.5" or so cut from bright fabrics.  I stitched them down on the edges with embroidery floss and then added stab stitches on the inside in a variety of ways - all over, following the fabric patterns, a few stars, etc.  Just whatever seemed necessary at the time.  

These will be framed with bright fabrics (maybe quilt as you go) into squares that can be stiched into a small quilt for Linus Project.  

Therese

 

Gifts - two card holders make from cotton, batting and CDs with button accents

 I made these as Christmas gifts for a couple we know.  They play cards and I thought this little gift would be the perfect thing for them.  

Quick and easy - four 6.5"circles of fabric, four 5.5" circles of light weight batting and 4 used CDs.  I used heavyweight thread to make running stitches around each fabric circle, put in one circle of batting and then the CD.  Pulled that tight and tied it off.  Repeat 3 more times.  Place two of these CD sides touching and add buttons - one on each side - and sew them tight and secure the heavyweight thread with several knots.  The gathered fabric grips the cards and keeps them in place - works really well when you have more than handful of cards!!!  Therese

Sewing Gifts - unpaper towels can be used as everyday napkins, to wipe up small messes or as a small placemat

I sewed up three sets (8 - 12 per set) of these unpaper towels for Christmas gfits.  Before I started I found the little trays at the dollar store that would store them nicely.  It is easier to make the towels to fit the container rather than the other way around.  I made them up by upcycling flannel from my stash.  I cut them about  8.5" x 9" and used a decorative stitch on the raw edge which will be sturdy enough to keep them from raveling and leaves no thick edges.   

I used some of them to decorate the snack jars I made for the guys and tied them on with some cording.  No waste!!    

I made a bowl cozy in coordinating colours for my oldest grand daughter who is at university. Useful for so many tasks and easily washable.  I managed to find a clear glass bowl for the cozy at the thrift store.  Therese

 

Sewing - tea towels made from a cotton sheet and hemmed with a decorative stitch

I made these four tea towels from a cotton sheet I had on hand.  They are approximately 18" x  24"  - I maximized the fabric and was able to get these four from one end of the sheet.  I simply folded the edges over once and stitched them down using one of the stretch stitches on my Husqvarna.  It will be very durable and is also decorative.  They will be eminently washable.  She is quite creative and has been doing some hand stitching so I have collected a few supplies for her so she can customize them for herself with embroidery. I used a glasses case to hold a 5H pencil which she can use to transfer her personal designs to the towels before stitching them.  It gives a very light line and easily washes out later.  She requested a thimble while she was working on a different project so I gave her one I inherited from my Mom.  She had several so I still have a couple that she passed on to me.  A few needles as well which store very easily in the felted wool insert.  I did not find a pair of scissors but I expect she will find a pair in her thrift store travels.  I have a stash of embroidery thread as well so picked out a couple dozen skeins in all the colours of the rainbow.  I found a really great book on Embroidery stitches at a thrift store last week which gives instructions on 101 stitches with good visuals.  A bit of inspiration on the front and back and all the stitches in colour on the inside as well.  A very comprehensive book!!!  I have also included a hoop.  I am not sure if she uses a hoop or not but should she want to give it a try she will have one.  The little stitching book I printed off from a PDF provided by Stitched Stories.  It has very good basic information and is what I had prepared before I found the embroidery book at the thrift store.   A birthday gift!!   

 

Sewing - treasure hunting bag with mesh and long cord

Our youngest grand daughter loves collecting things especially from nature - leaves, stones, fungi, etc.  I made her a treasure bag in which she can place her treasures when she is collecting.  It has a mesh bottom which will allow soil to fall through as she is collecting and still keep her treasures safe.  I made the string handle long enough that it will grow with her.  A simple over hand knot makes it just the right length.  

It is based roughly on a tutorial I found on line.  The top is open for easily depositing treasures and it is carried close enough to the body to ensure that none are lost along the way.  I used cotton for the top edge and the two sides and nylon mesh for the body.  I cu the mesh to size added cotton on both ends and then cut the side pieces which are double folded to fit on the sides.  I stitched them with extra reinforcement on the top to keep the cording secure.  

Sewing for Christmas is fun I hope she will enjoy her little treasure bag!!

Therese
 

Sewing - a long strip of 3.25" scraps rolled up

 Another ongoing project I worked on over Christmas!! I had started at strip of 3.25" pieces a while back and had quite a few 3.25" scraps to add to it.  There is no rhyme or reason to this roll of scraps - I just kept adding scraps to the end.  Occasionally, I cut a few more to add variety to the mix from the scraps on the table which I was using for finishing the diagonal stripes squares.   These are also mostly poly cotton scraps and they have been collected from a variety of places including some from my Mom.  I did not measure it but there was a good pile on the floor next to the sewing machine.  I will be sewing these to substrate squares (11") in the same way I did the diagonal ones but sewing them top to bottom instead of diagonally.  It will make a very scrappy looking quilt.  Therese

Quilting - 12" squares using triangles and strips sewn to a substrate

 Our Christmas plans had to be changed up because of weather and so many having the flu so I decided to take the time to sew on a few projects I had on the go. 

I made up another 12 of these 12" squares.  I have already made a stack of twelve and needed 24 to make a quilt top.  The substrates are ones I got from my Mom.  I started with a tringle in one corner trimmed to the edge, covered the inside edge with a strip and stitched through all the layers.  Pressed the strip over and added another one.  I made strips up as I needed them by sewing pieces together.  These are mostly poly cottons with a few cottons strips added in where ever they worked best. I have the scraps mostly stored in ziploc bags by colour so I just make piles and start picking a colour, trim the pieces if necessary and stitch them into a strip long enough to cover the substrated.  Repeat as many times as necessary to cover the area to the next corner.  I rough cut a triangle and sew it on to finish the square.  I am looking forward to sewing these all together and making the quilt top!!  

Therese

Quilting - donation quilt using scrappy triangles and a fleece backing

This is the last of the triangles I have to make up into a quilt.  The top was finished a while back and I backed it with a fleece.  I just laid the quilt top on the fleece good side down and pinned it all the way around and cut off the extra fleece on two sides.  I stitched all the way around leaving a 8" gap and then turned it inside out.  Pressed it and then stitched all the way around at about 1/8" which closed up the opening.  I then stitched around the inside of several of the triangles to secure the two to each other.  Probably about 20 or so around all the quilt.  Should be enough to keep them together after laundering.  This one will be donated to Project Linus.  Therese
 

Sewing - another two bowl cozies with some fun fabrics

 One of the girls from Gramma Link Africa asked for a couple more bowl cozies.  They have been a hot item this fall at our events and they are sold out!!  I will be making a few more to add to the our inventory.   Therese

Sewing - the innards for several more hot pads in different sizes

I made up a few more inserts for hot pads which used up the last few pieces of the sweater I cut up earlier.  They are different sizes but that will be fine.  I will cover them with flannel and then make covers for them.  
 

Cardmaking - IWIN cards as part of our activity

I brought along some prepared card kits for IWIN to our Gramma Link Africa social meeting this week.  In part to educate and have everyone get a hands on experience of helping out a group which supports those rescued from human trafficking.  It was very well received and everyone finished a card!!  A few more in the box which will go into backpacks in the spring!!

Therese

 

Sewing - potholders for the Food Bank

 

As part of our social meeting at our Gramma Link Africa I asked everyone to bring along something for the food bank.  I had called the Food Bank ahead of time and asked if they would take potholders and dishcloths to give out with their hampers.  They said that would work as there was a tree on which others had placed knitted toques and mittens.  So I prepped this six sets of potholders to add to the four bags we filled with our donations.  I dropped them off yesterday and I am sure they will be much appreciated.  Everyone who donated can then check off that item on their RACK list.  Check it out here!!

Therese

Sewing - more gift card holders for GA activity

 I made up a variety of the gift card holders I prepped a few weeks ago.  You can see the prepped one here.   After getting them all ready I developed this RACK to put inside.  I found quite a few on line and just picked the ones that worked best for my activity.  I handed these out at our Gramma Link Africa social meeting as an activity that everyone could do on their way to Christmas.  I suggested that they had put the little RACK on their fridge as a reminder to make some random acts of kindness between now and Christmas.  The gift card holder can be reused for this season or any time over the year when they are giving out a gift card.  No waste!!!

Therese

November Card Club - Card #3 - starry night background paper with a silver embossed "peace on earth" focal element

Our last card was the fastest and it was good this time around because the stitching on the first card did take longer than usual.  I chose black cardstock for this set and added "starry night" background paper.  It is actually gift wrap that my sister bought years ago which is so sparkly and multicoloured - it does starry night really well.  The little "peace on earth" was stamped on coloured cardstock (2" x 3") and embossed with silver embossing powder.  A coordinating layer was cut to back this one to create our focal element.  I provided clear gel pens to colour the dove, earth and leaves.  I tried shimmery watercolours on the light pink one and that worked well too!!  Quick and easy!!! 

So we had a wonderful evening listening to Christmas carols and getting creative which always happens with this group!!!  We have very little snow and it has been relatively mild so it hardly feels like we are only three weeks from Christmas!!!  It was so nice to spend a creative evening with friends and get started on our Christmas!!!  Therese 
 

November Card Club - Card #2 - stamped background embellished with red dots and a multilayered pine cone with a bow

 For our second card I worked up this design for the cards.  I stamped several finely patterned green decorative paper with two leaf /branch stamps (Peaceful Wishes -SU) in several colours of green ink.  I cut them to 4" x 5.25" for the backgrounds and matched them up with coordinating cards.  I stamped the pinecone from this set with brown ink on off white cardstock  (1.25" x 2.25")  and clear embossed them.  I provided red cording for the bow which they could stitch on and tie OR tie and add with double sided tape.  Both worked well.  We layered these onto a gold layer and then to a red layer to create our focal elements.  We distressed our edges and added paper piercing as we wished.  Before adhering our background to our card front we established our layout (portrait or landscape) so we could detemine where to stamp our greetings.  The greetings were stamped with Veramark and embossed with gold embossing powder.  With all the pieces ready we added our backgrounds to our card fronts and then mounted our pinecones with 3D foam tape to finish off our cards.  Therese

November Card Club - Card #1 - hand stitched snowflake with embossing and vellum with a greeting

It was great to see my creative friends again for another session of cardmaking!!! We were making Christmas cards this month and with any hopes at all we will be able to send them and have them delivered before the season arrives!!  Fingers crossed!!     We started with hand stitching the snowflake using white perle cotton onto a square of cardstock.  You can see below the diagram I created for the holes I would need to stitch the snowflake which we used as a template for making the holes in the cardstock.  We used bull clips to hold the template to the square and then laid this onto a foam layer and used a push pin to make holes where we needed them to be.  By holding this sandwich to the light it was very easy to see any holes we had missed punching.  With all the holes we needed we removed the template, threaded our large needles with about 50" of thread and started stitching.  The diagram below gives step by step instructions for stitching one of the branches of the snow flake so we held our cardstock with one branch pointing directly up and started with coming up in hole #1 and continued until we had that one branch stitched.  Then we started on the leg that was to it's left and repeated the same procedure.  Now it was just a matter of doing it four more times and securing the two ends to the back with tape.  Everyone persevered and got their snowflake stitched with some undoing and getting back on track but they all looked great at the end.   

Next, we embossed our stitched square using a snowflake embossing folder where we could line up our snowflake with one of the snowflakes and have it perfectly embellish our hand stitched one with an embossed one.  Worked really well!!  I added lines of paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel to the four sides of mine.  For our next layer we tore the edges of a strip of vellum, layered it between the card and the snowflake and stamped our greeting with Versamark on the vellum and embossed it with white embossing powder.  We secured the vellum with double sided tape in the area that would be covered with the snowflake and then added the snowflake using 3D foam tape.  We also added a small piece behind the greeting which secured the bottom and was not visible through the vellum.  I did add some paper piercing to mine with my pattern tracing wheel. 

I did add some tiny snowflakes to mine as I had in my sample.  Completely missed that step while we were working on our cards so the other girls missed out on that with their cards.  

Therese

Sewing - card wallet with an elastic

I made this card wallet for one of my grandsons for this birthday.  I made one earlier this month for another grandson but forgot to take a photo.  I used the dimensions that my sister, Sylvia, used for the ones she made. I uses 2 pieces of 5" x 11" - one the outside, the other the lining.  One piece of 5" elastic placed at 3.25" from the bottom edge.  You simply sew all the way around leaving an opening and turn it inside out.  The you stitch all the way around at 1/8" which closes up the opening.  Fold both ends to the middle leaving a bit of a gap so you can see the cards and stitch the ends of each folded flap to create to pockets.  You have to keep the elastic out of the way when sewing that pocket.  I made these for them so that they can carry a card or two along with a bit of cash with them instead of their larger wallets.  I added a little loop so they can use a carabiner to attach them to their backpacks or a belt loop.  Therese

Sewing - gift card holders for a project

I have worked on getting a good collection of gift card holders ready for sewing for a project I am working on.

I have put partial pockets on each end and ribbons in the middle of each side so they can be tied to secure the gift card and will look like a gift.  They can be hung on a tree for presentation.  

I will be sewing those up when I have a few minutes and will share the results when they are finished. 

Therese

Sewing - two small hot pads

I had two small pieces of wool sweater left over so I created two small hot pads with them.  I added cotton batting and two layers of cotton.  With the flannel I used to cover them and their cotton covers I expect these will hold up very well to any hot pan as well.  I tested them and there was only a slightly warm feeling after a minute of the hot iron set at cotton.  These hot pads measure 12" x 10.5" and 11.75" x 10.75". 

I will be making removable, reversible and washable cover for them  Therese

 

Sewing - hotpads using knitted wool, cotton batting, metallic thermal batting and flannel

 This was the beginning of the creation of another set of hot pads.  A wonderfully lofty wool sweater was cut up to create the core of the hot pad.   I added cotton batting on one side and stitched several seams to keep everything in place.  I added a layer of metallic thermal batting on the other side.  I tested this combination using a piece of scrap cotton over my sandwich on my ironing board and left my iron set on cotton on it for one minute and there was no transfer of heat to the ironing board. With the flannel wrap and the final cotton cover I expect it will stand up to most any hot pan.  

 I created a cover with two layers of flannel.  I trimmed the corners, turned it inside out and inserted this sandwich into the opening I had left on the long side.  I folded the sandwich into thirds to get it through the opening and then spread it out inside getting the corners to align and everything to lay flat.  After a good press I stitched about 1/8" from the outside edge which closed the opening.  Next, I added another row of stitching about 2.75" or so from the outside edge to properly secure the batting sandwich to the cover.  This piece should not require laundering as I will be making a cover for it using four different fabrics to allow the top to show off any one of the fabrics.  You can check out the other ones I made here and here.  Therese

I made four of these with the pieces I cut from the sweater.  

16" x 11.5"

17" x 11"

12.5" x 10

13" x 9.5"