Let's Book It: Lazy Girl's Runaround Bag Pattern

I was afraid to try this purse pattern. The last step kept confusing me. I would read the instructions and everything was fine until I read that last step of confusing instructions. That's when the pattern would go back in the plastic bag and back on the shelf. Fortunately I read a "tip" for this purse pattern. "Just follow the instructions in the last step just as they are written." I did and everything turned out perfectly. This is really a cool pattern and FUN to make. Before I knew it, I made seven of them. Below are the fronts and backs of four of them.

The back has a pocket, perfect for maps or sun glasses.

I added a piece of folded fabric in the "purse sandwich" so the inside would have two compartments. Because this purse is small and doesn't hold a lot, it's perfect for traveling or running errands. A purse strap made with a WOF strip makes it long enough to slip over the head making it a crossover purse. Tie a knot in the strap to make it shorter and kid friendly.
I'm linking this post to Sharon Vrooman's "Let's Book It" blog post entry.        

2014 RSC December Week 4

This is a 2014 RSC project that I will carry over to finish in 2015. I stopped making my 5.5" cocoa mug blocks because I ran out of the very bright Kona White fabric used piecing these blocks. I tried to buy more of this bright Kona white twice to finish this quilt. Both pieces were not as bright. A clerk at Jo Ann's suggested I bring a block to the store with me to see if I could match the white in my blocks. I want enough to make six more mug blocks and sash all of them before adding a border. I think it could be a pretty baby quilt. I had no idea matching white fabric would be difficult. Oh well.
To see how others are finishing up their Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, go here Saturday morning.

Since finishing my RSC sampler quilt, I've been sewing a lot of Teeny Tiny Zipper Pouches. Here are some of them. I can't guess how many I have made, but people love them. They have been nice little gifts this year.

Homemade Super Hero pillowcases are well received each year. I made the two in the picture above for my oldest son. Pillows are slipped inside a flap on these pillow cases. He loved the Super Woman fabric I used.

These slip on pillowcases were made with French seams. The Super Woman pillowcase went to my Nephew for his birthday. I stuffed a new pillow inside it before I gave it to him. He loved it! He remembers watching all the Linda Carter Super Women episodes aired years ago.
I found time to pull a purse pattern and actually make some purses. I've been hesitating to make a purse, because I though they would be difficult and take forever. NOT! I've made seven so far! I'll post pictures of some of them in a future post, maybe Sunday, for Sharon Vroomans' "Let's Book It 2014" challenge.
I hope everyone have a nice Christmas!

2014 RSC December Rainbow Sampler Quilt Finished

Here is my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler all finished and I love, love, LOVE it. What a FUN quilt. Thank you soooooo much Angela!

The backing is pieced fat quarters. I LOVE it, too! It's quilted with a loose free motion meander. After a go in the washer and dryer, it finished at 76" x 84". Took two people to hold it up for pictures. I love everything about this quilt.
December is a month of RSC quilt and project wrap ups and finishes. To see how others are finishing up this RSC year, go here.

Wishes Quilt Finished

This year the FatQuarter Shop hosted a BOM Quilt Along called Wishes. Each month Kimberly posted a free block pattern download as well as a video tutorial showing how to assemble the month's block. Instructions to finish the quilt front and backing were posted later in the year. The FatQuarter Shop requested donations be made to the Make A Wish Organization to use the downloads. Go here to read about the Wishes BOM Quilt Along.
Though I often make brightly colored scrap quilts, I though I would make this one with soft colors. Pictured is the front of my Wishes quilt.

This is a picture of the back. The instructions had a row of four patches running horizontally across the back. My backing was a directional fabric and would look best placed vertically. I sewed left over scraps and HSTs cuts from the BOM block units together to make a vertical row.

This is a close up of the backing. It's quilted with a VERY loose free motion meander and bound with a stripped green print. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished a soft, sweet 61" x 76.5".
Next year the FatQuarter Shop plans a BOM Quilt Along called "Snap Shots". They will request donations be made to St Judes for use of the downloads. You can read about the BOM Quilt Along here.

A Day With Bonnie Hunter

Last month, Bonnie Hunter taught us how to make Pineapple Blocks, a free pattern on her blog, during a Saturday workshop for the Wilkes County Quilters. It was awesome. We sewed, laughed and had a wonderful time. Here is a picture of me on the left, Bonnie in the center and my buddy Laura on the right.

You would think that I would have more blocks to show after a daylong workshop, but we were having too much fun talking, eating and working for consistent quarter inch seams. Bonnie posted pictures of us on her blog here and here.

Feels good to be back blogging. I have a new computer and I'm having problems learning Window 8.1. I want to thank everyone that has sent me notes to see if I was okay. I'm fine. Sewing, working through those UFOs and WIPs and making last minute Christmas items. Please know that I had not burned out. I'll post pictures of some of the things I've finished later this week.

2014 RSC November Week 2, RSC 6.5" Sampler Quilt Top

I though I had kept up with Angela's 6.5" sampler block post tutorials, but when I counted I had only 79 blocks.. I placed the blocks I had on the floor to see what colors I needed to finish my rainbow sampler. A nine by ten block grid looked good so I decided to go with 90 blocks for my quilt. I substituted a few of the more challenging sample blocks with easier block patterns. My bad.
In the finished quilt flimsy the blocks are sashed with 2" strips of Kona white. The 90 blocks are sashed with 2.5" Kona white strips. The inner dark turquoise border is 1.5" strips..The outer border sides are 2.5" strips of a lighter turquoise. The upper and lower outer border is 4" strips and give the quilt a longer, rectangle look. The flimsy finished at 76.5" x 85.5". It will finish a little smaller after quilting and a go in the washer and dryer. So far, I LOVE IT! Thank you Angela!
I have several large pieces of batting pieces and scraps that need to be used. I hope to piece them together this week for this quilt. I have several fat quarters and larger pieces of fabric in my stash that may work together for a pieced backing. My goal is to have this colorful, scrappy, stash and scrap busting sampler a finished quilt by next Saturday.
To see what others made with their scraps this week, go here Saturday morning.
Still looking for a new computer ...

2014 RSC November Light Blue Week 1 and a UFO D9P Finished

Continued MAJOR computer issues this week. My time on this sick computer is limited and will be until it's replaced. Until then I'm limping along with very limited blogging and internet surfing time.. That means more time to spend on UFOs!
November's RSC color is light blue. I'll add three 8.5" scrappy blocks to my collection. Because I have lots of crumb scraps, next year I'll concentrate on RSC crumb blocks. A couple knitted cotton dishcloths and a crocheted dish scrubbie made it into the picture. I've made several Teeny TIny Zipper Pouches for gifts this month. They all have new homes except the one in the picture. I want to accumulate some for Christmas presents. To see what others made with their scraps this week, go here Saturday morning.

In 2012, I bought a couple charm packs of Kate Spain's Terrain and some yardage to make a quilt. In January of 2013 I decided to use the collection to make a D9P quilt. Here's a link to that post. I was participating in a D9P QAL hosted by Impera Magna, Freda.  After sewing several squares into 9-Patch blocks, it became a UFO until this month. My goal this year is to work through my UFOs. Happily this UFO is all finished and I couldn't be more pleased..

To use up most of the yardage, I pieced a backing and made the binding. It's quilted with a soft, loose free motion meander. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished a colorful 55" x 67".

2014 RSC October, Black, Brown, Gray, Week 3-4 and a Charity Quilt Finish

Computer problems here. Twelve 8.5" blocks for my new collection and six 6.5" sampler blocks to add to my sampler collection : )

Our guild had a jelly roll race Saturday. I finished my quilt a few days ago. It will be donated for one of our charities.

And the pieced scrappy back. It was quilted with organic wavy lines using a walking foot. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished a soft 51" x 63".  Hope a little boy will like it : )

2014 RSC October, Black, Gray, Brown, Week 2, Puppy blocks, Rainbow Triangles Finished, and A WIN

I had fun making these puppy blocks with 2.5" squares. The blocks are 8 squares by 9 squares making large blocks. They look wonky because of the camera angle. They aren't  : )
To see what other made with their scraps, go here Saturday morning.

The scrappy rainbow triangles made during the last two RSC years, are now a finished baby quilt.

The backing is pieced with a purple dragonfly print. I didn't have quite enough so I added a row of orphan rainbow blocks. It's quilted with a free motion meander and bound with a black on white print. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished at 35" x 42.5". Feels good to have another finish.

I linked pictures of four children's quilts that I made and donated this year in the "100 Quilts For Kids" quilt challenge hosted by Heather at QuiltsInTheQueue. One of my linked quilts was drawn and I won a Homebody fabric bundle designed by Kim Kight and donated by Pam Matthews of DelRay Fabrics! Twelve fat quarters and a 2/3 yd piece of beautiful, soft fabrics. Thank you Heather and Pam Matthews for sponsoring this challenge. My quilt that was drawn was a mystery quilt challenge project my guild hosted earlier this year. The quilt went to one of our guild's quilt charities for children in need.

Here is my BH Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt hanging in the Wilkes County Public Library. Just bragging and showing off here :D

FYI! Scrap Quilt Challenge 4 hosted by Fabrics N Quilts is coming to a close. Link your scrap quilts by October 15th. There are several awesome prizes! Click Shannon's "Scrap Quilt Challenge 4" button on the side of my blog for rules and instructions. Link up before time runs out.

2014 RSC October, Black Gray Brown, a Quilt Top, a FINISH and Let's Book It

This month we play with black, gray and brown scraps. Since I used my all my scrappy rainbow 8.5" blocks to make make the quilt in the picture below, the three 16 patch blocks in the above picture will start a new stack of 8.5" RSC blocks.
Two cotton crochet spiral scrunchies made it into the picture. As did a baby quilt pin basted and ready to quilt next week. I sewed my scrappy rainbow triangles together and added a border. It's sandwiched with a pieced backing and some pieced White and Natural batting.

My 2014 RSC 8.5" block quilt is finished. It's quilted with a loose free motion meander and bound with some green stripped fabric.

The pieced backing is Monet inspired prints. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished at 70.5" x 88", a generous twin or cuddle quilt.

I looked through patterns I had bought and never used to find my "UR PRICELESS COIN PURSE" pattern by Madame Sam at Sew We Quilt. It took a little longer to make than I thought it would ... but it's cute as a button in Laurel Burch prints. I'm linking this finish to Sharon's Vroomans's  blog in her "Let's Book It" post.

2014 RSC September Orange Week 4 and Barn Quilt Picture

After playing with orange scraps this week I'll add five 5.5" Cocoa Mugs and four triangles to my collections. Three crochet spiral made it into the picture. They are fun, addictive.
To see what others made with their orange scraps this week go here.

I asked my brother and his GF to hold up my quilt of 12 Barn Quilts for a picture. It's 69" x 91", a generous twin size. The quilt barn blocks were made during Lori Holt's recent Barn Along. The tutorial for the barn is on her blog called BEE IN MY BONNET. The link to the barn tutorial post entry is here.
After I pieced the barn blocks, I sashed each barn with narrow strips of white fabric, then narrow strips of a black/white/gray fabric, then 2.5" strips of color. After sewing the blocks together, I added a bright yellow border. The quilt blocks in each barn are 6.5" square. One could use their favorite 6.5" quilt blocks in the individual barns. So many possibilities. The quilt pictured is made with twelve barns. Four barns could make a baby quilt. Six barns could make a lap quilt. The barn blocks can be sashed several ways. Borders on the quilt or not. Again, many possibilities.

100 Quilts For Kids 2014

100 Quilts for Kids is an annual charity quilt drive to encourage quilters to make a quilt and donate it to a child in need. Linked up quilts will be entered for fabulous prizes. Heather at "Quilts In The Queue" is hosting the Link Up Party that is open until September 30th. First you make a quilt and donate it for a child in need. Then you link up a picture of the finished quilt and tell here it was donated. Each quilt linked up will be one chance to win some fabulous prizes.

I delivered this 40" x 40" charity baby quilt to the Wilkes Quilters' March meeting to be given to a needy mother and her new baby at the local county hospital.

This 41.5" x 51.5" child quilt was donated to Quilts of Compassion during the 2014 Hands to Help Quilt Drive hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

I delivered this finished 48" x 57.5" child sized charity quilt to the Wilkes Quilters' May meeting to be given to a child at the Ebenezer's Children's Home in Wilkes County.

I delivered this finished 38.5" square baby quilt to the Wilkes Quilters' August meeting to be given to a needy mother and new baby at the local county hospital.

I am linking up these quilts on Heather's blog, Quilts in the Queue's, 100 Quilts For Kids 2014 post found here.

2014 RSC September Orange Week 3, Donation Baby Quilt, 8.5" Block Quilt Top

After week three of September's Orange RSC, I'll add a 6.5" sampler block to my collection. I love this block and can imagine a quilt of them. I made my orange kitten blocks earlier and pieced them into my kitten quilt that I finished earlier. Some crochet spiral scrubbies made it into the picture. They are fun to crochet. Addictive.
To see what others made with their orange scraps, go here Saturday morning.

My 8.5" RSC blocks, ten blocks from last year's challenge and thirty-eight blocks from this year's challenge, are sashed with white strips. I added an inner border of 2.5" squares and a 4" green outer border. The backing is pieced and ready to be sandwiched with batting and the quilt top to be pin basted and quilted. The top is 72.5" x 89.5". It will be interesting to see how much it shrinks during the quilting and a go in the washer and dryer. I'm very pleased with this RSC project. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

A dear friend sent me this sweet Twinkle Twinkle Little Star baby panel earlier this year. I forget how easily and quickly it is to turn a panel into a wonderful little baby quilt.

The bear in the panel is wearing a pink dress, my clue that this should be a baby girl quilt. I found a piece of novelty fabric in my scraps with little bears wearing pink dresses. A couple pieces of pink vine print on either side made a fun backing. It's sandwiched with some White and Natural cotton batting. After a loose free motion meander quilting, a light blue and white star print binding, and a go in the washer and dryer this sweet little donation quilt finished at 33.5" x 39.5". I'll take it to next weeks quilt guild meeting. They will love it.

2014 RSC September Orange Week 2, Barn Quilt Finished

After week 2 of September's RSC, I'll add a hot pad/pot holder made with the two 8.5" orange blocks I made last year and three cute 6.5" sampler blocks to my collections. Three crochet spiral scrubbies made it into the picture. They were made using a YouTube video. There are several video clips that show how to crochet them as well as other cool projects.
To see what others made with their orange scraps, go here.

After making my orange 8.5" blocks last week, I counted my completed 8.5" blocks. I needed 48 blocks for a a small quilt. Counting the ten RSC blocks left from last year and 35 RSC blocks I had made this year, I was close. Only needed three more blocks. So I made one block with brown scraps and two blocks with black/white scraps. After randomizing the 48 colorful blocks, I sashed them with 1.5" strips of Kona White fabric because I didn't want to deal with all those seams..I added a 2.5" inner border and started an outer border of 2.5" squares. Hopefully I'll have this top quilt finished and quilted in a few weeks.

My barn quilt is finished. It's quilted with a loose free motion meander. The binding is strips of red fabrics. After a go in the washer and dryer, it finished at 91"x 69". Too large for my mother to hold up for a picture. I was surprised how the yellow outer border and red binding set off this fun quilt.

Here are a couple close ups, one of the upper right corner and one of the upper left corners. The 12 barns have large quilt blocks on them and playful kittens and horses that live in them.
This was a recent Lori Holt online Quilt Along. You can find Lori Holt at her BEE IN MY BONNET blog.

2014 Wilkes Quilt Show, Won Three Ribbons!

It was a wonderful weekend for me at the Wilkes Quilters 2014 Annual Quilt Show. Two of my three entries won a total of three ribbons. My BEE HAPPY Quilt won "Best Machine Quilting" from the Quilt Judge. I used a loose free motion meander with some loop de loops here and there.
Happy dance here. BEE HAPPY is a pattern by Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet.

Those attending the quilt show were given a ballot to vote for their favorite quilt in each category. The BEE HAPPY quilt won a Third Place ribbon. More happy dancing.

My Bonnie Hunter 2013/2014 Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt won a Blue Ribbon! Wild happy dancing here.

Close up of Blue Ribbon. A lady from the Wilkes County Public Library took it with her to display in the Library for a month. I'm so honored.

A batik wall hanging, Full House made with a Schnibbles Pattern, was my third entry. It didn't win, but several people liked it and asked about the pattern.
It was a most excellent day for me. I was pleased with how well my bright, colorful entries did this year.