Napkin's are needed

For oh so long I have dreaded my families use of paper towels. As a large family we go through a lot!!! And with every purchase I feel we are wasting money and resources.

So today, in an effort to reduce our use and dependency on a non-reusable item, I made the first four of many cloth napkins to come!!

I found a really simple tutorial for the under turned edge that I just love!
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/13024/how-to-make-cocktail-and-dinner-napkins/page/all
Here you will be guided on how to do a simple one inch mitered corner edging.

I have chosen to make them smaller than a traditional dinner (21 inch) napkin. My beginning square is 14 inches and after the one inch edging it ends up being 13. And for me this is perfect for every day use!!

I have a big pile of brown check square cotton fabric cut to size and ready to sew up soon.

Don't know what has taken me so long to get into cloth reusable napkins but I am so very happy that I now have :)

Happy sewing :)
Melodee

Quilt sleeve on!

Don't we all have those need to do's that are so easy to do we often wonder why- after we finally complete them- why oh why did it take us soooo long to do so???

Yeap this is one of those for me!

I made the quilt in its entirety. My hubbie made the really nifty quilt display rack and hung it on the wall. I then proceeded to drape my finished quilt over the rod and not sew on the hanging sleeve.

So today was the day! I decided last night that today no matter what!! I was going to make that sleeve! And look at this!!! It is done :)

I use a very simple sleeve pattern that I optioned from my local Modern Quilt Clubs web site.

Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild: http://a2mqg.blogspot.com/?m=1

I am hoping this cut and paste URL trick will work. If not I'll imbed it the not lazy way some time :) but here it is, the link (or perhaps address) of the tutorial I use to make my quilt sleeves.
http://www.quilts.com/sleeeves.pdf

I'm a very happy quilter today :)
Happy seeing!!
Melodee

Hexie block squared up

As promised here is pic of the hexie block I'm working on.

As you can see I took the 4/3/4/3 hexie mess and followed what I feel is a natural line and squared it up. Next I will add a 1.5 strip of white to each side. Then I will add four 2 inch strips of green.

Will post when I get that far :) work is waiting!

Hope this inspires some to try something other than the traditional flower with the hexagon pieces.

Happy sewing!
Melodee

Arff arff woof woof

A cute little puppy I worked on today.

I made this guy from a pair of pants my girls were given as a hand me down. The girl who shared the pants was quite heart broken to have the misfortune of out growing them.

I felt the only thing to do was make them into a little puppy dog she can hold onto and maybe never grow out of :)

The pattern I found while on a google inspiration images search. Fortunately I was able to find the image, unfortunately I was not able to find a link to the actual pattern.

As the determined gal I am I didn't stop there...I took that perfect idea and drew up a version of it for myself!

Improvements could be made I sapose but for now I'm happy to be able to share this little pooch with a very special young lady ;)

Will post pictures of my pattern soon...

Happy sewing :)
Melodee

Make it up as I go along

I am in the midst of scrap busting and thus have decided to do some free form sorta wonky at times modern log cabin block.

I am really having a fun time with this technique!!!

I also notice that my stash of fabrics to choose from is pretty nuts! I seem to have no central scheme other than maybe hodge podge lol!!! Nothing really seems to go with another.

I am thinking when i am all done this will be a crazy colored quilt. But, I am hoping it will fit in nicely in my family room for a second quilt to snuggle under.

One can always use more snuggle time right??!!

More to come on this one...
Happy sewing:)
Melodee

Mario Quilt Sew along

Here you have it! My...um what is this thing called any how? In my mind I'm saying pipe but is that really why it's called??

Any how...I was able to grid my interfacing, cut the necessary 1.5 inch squares, and puzzle out this block!

Tomorrow I will see it up and be oh so happy!!

Hope you like it too ;) if you do feel free to follow along! The technique is so crafty and easy I am sure will succeed!

Happy sewing!
Melodee

Scrap cleanup again

I thought i'd show what the hexies look like before they are squared up.

Again 3 inch hexies sewn into rows :)

Green block is just about done!

Happy sewing :)
Melodee

Scrap clean up

I have, like many quilters, an ever growing mass of leftover fabrics that keep piling up.

I do apply the rule to check the stash before I head to the store but still it grows.

I don't wish to just get rid of my fabrics but rather was looking for a constructive plan to use up some of them.

An Internet and pinterest search have landed me this grand idea.

I am still loving the English paper pieced hexies so when I saw a block like this one I totally went for it!

Each block is made of 14 three inch hexies. I see them into 4 rows.
3 hexies
4 hexies
3 hexies
4 hexies
After all hexies are on the paper and stitched into a solid mass I square up the block and sew on one and one quarter inch white strips.

Next picking strips of blue (or what ever Color scheme I'm working with) 2 inch strips.

A note on the strip lengths. I am not being careful with the lengths. I've decided to use a more free formed style. The width is certain but the length is what ever it needs to be to add the length on.

My plan is to make each square out of a different color group. First up is the blue group.

I am loving these blocks! Hope you like them too :)

Happy sewing :) more blocks on the way!!

Craftsy BOM Sept block #1

I have completed the first block from September's Craftsy BOM 2012. It is titled drunkards path.

I believe it is so named because of the rambling like way the blocks move across the full block. But I say it is because one needs a stiff drink after completing this block ;)

Amy Gibson's (our host for the BOM) directions were spot on and helpful but all those curves!!!!!

It was a challenging block and I'm glad it is now complete!! :)

If you want to get in on all this sewing fun head over to www.craftsy.com and check out the free 2012 block of the month with Amy Gibson. I'm hoping there will be one next year as well!!

Happy sewing :)
Melodee

Cleopatras puzzle block

My September Craftsy BOM block #2 is done!!!!

This is a very very difficult block! I almost did not have enough patience to do this...all those curves!!!

Yes I did do the second block before the first- lol.

The plan this morning was to check out what this months blocks looked like- I had no clue.

Well! After printing the directions I was a bit floored at this technique!

I watched the how to video and gained a bit more confidence.

I then decided my sewing plan was to only cut out (no sewing today) each of the pieces used to construct each square. I did that and curiosity got me.

I gave it a whirl with the ones on top of the cut pile- Cleopatras puzzle. After the first curve was sewn I just kept going getting more done but becoming more frustrated. I decided to just get it done! And went for it, and well, here we are...done!

Thank goodness there is only two blocks like this in this quilt and whew! one is done!

tomorrow I will try my hand at the other block :)

Happy sewing!!
Melodee

Wash cloths or dish rag

How ever you define it I made some of these wash cloths/dish rags today :)

I am a repurpose reuse kinda gal. And I just love that I have a really useful way to repurpose my old bath towels!

The idea, to give credit where credit is due, goes to my Aunt, who passed on this idea to me a Christmas or two ago.

I had 2 bath towels that had seen better days. The decorative edges were ripped or frayed and while the towels were still made of usable material their actual shrunken size made them annoying as a bath towel.

So, using my quilting ruler and cutter I chopped them down to 9 inch squares. One towel will become many many wash rag size towels!

I used my favorite quilt binding technique and sewn a binding to the edge. (tutorial to follow- some day)

So tonight 4 are complete with a big ol' stack ready to be sewn up tomorrow!

Hope this idea inspires you to complete some of your own!

Happy sewing :)
Melodee