Go Green with a Fabric Grocery Bag

It's my 50th post. More sewing last evening and viola! grocery bag goodness.

It's my cousins birthday this month and I wanted to make her a fabric grocery bag. Oh, a grocery bag isn't that nice you say. Alright, I have some other little gifts to tuck in the package. She likes cats so I thought the bright sophisticated cats on the black background fabric would work perfectly. I was a little short on fabric so I added the teal borders on the bottom and sides. Doesn't it look planned? I think it gives the bag a nice finished look. You don't even notice the teal fabric on the sides from the front view. I zipped through this bag in no time at all. I plan to make more once I decide on the right fabrics.

If you're interested in a tutorial I took lots of photo's, so stay tuned and I'll post it in the next few days.



Side view of grocery bag.




My sweet boys..

Landscape Row Robin Done

I put the finishing touches on Ami's row robin block and mailed it off monday to Suze. I added the shrubs and used hand dyed silk ribbon for the leaves in this photo. (Thanks to Suze for the lovely dyed ribbon) It feels so good to finish it. This is my first crazy quilt so I procrastinated because I wanted to do my best work. Isn't that always the case when you're working on someone else's project??

Ami's an award winner, she took third place with one of her group quilts at Houston last year. It's quite an accomplishment just to have your quilt accepted into Houston, let alone win. Woo Hoo... My work won't take any awards, but I'm happy with it for my first crazy quilt project. I hope she likes it.



Remember those trees I made awhile back?? I added the shadows around the bottom of the trees and the grass along the edge of the road with some hand stitching.



This is Ami's inspiration photo.

Happy 4th of July

Since I don't have a patriotic quilt I'll share some of the blocks I have finished. My New York Beauty blocks on the left, to the right a paper pieced star and two small flags.
I love the "God Bless America" fabric, you gotta love those cute angels. Too bad I didn't buy 2-3 more yards so I could use it for a border fabric.


Below are things I've been working on lately. The star block is a comfort block made for a fellow forum member's son who was burned in a fire. I was amazed there were 26 people who volunteered to make a block for this quilt. Quilter's are always such generous and kind people.



This is my first attempt at a fabric postcard. It was a fun process and I enjoyed adding the embellishments. Remember the fabric I won at the beginning of June?? I sent this Thank you card off to Terri who hosted the giveaway.

Back of postcard.


If you are interested in making postcard quilts, drop me a note. I know a website where you can print out the postcard backs. Of course I can't remember what it is right now or I would post it.

Floral Blocks for Block Lotto

These are two blocks I made for my guild lotto last month. No I didn't win, but it's okay because my friend Linda P. won. Yeah Linda!!!

Thought I would share some Quilting Rules

Quilting Rules:

1. Pretty fabric is not acceptable. Go right back to the quilt shop and exchange it for something you feel sorry for.

2. Realize that patterns and templates are only someone’s opinion and should be loosely translated. Personally, I’ve never thought much of a person who could only make a triangle with three sides.

3. When choosing a color plan for your quilt, keep in mind that the colors will fade after a hundred years or so. This being the case, you will need to start with really bright colors.

4. You should plan on cutting off about half your triangle or star points. Any more than that is showing off.

5. If you are doing applique, remember that bigger is dorkier. Flowers should be huge. Animals should possess really big eyes.

6. Throw away your seam ripper and repeat after me: "Oops. Oh, no one will notice."

7. Plan on running out of border fabric when you are three-quarters of the way finished. Complete the remaining border with something else you have a lot of, preferably in an unrelated color family.

8. You should be able to quilt equally well in all directions. I had to really work on this one. It was difficult to make my forward stitching look as bad as my backward stitching, but closing my eyes helped.

9. When you have put your last stitch in the binding, you are still only half finished. Your quilt must now undergo a thorough conditioning. Give it to someone you love dearly—to drag around the house, wrap up in, spill something on, and wash and dry until it is properly lumpy.

These were sent to me by my friend and I want to give credit to the writer. Lisa Boyer's book "That dorky handmake Look"
here

Comfort Quilt from friends

I am so blessed because I received this beautiful comfort quilt made by my dear Arizona quilting friends. It was a total and complete surprise to be on the receiving end. My dear mother passed away a year ago this month and this quilt has touched my heart and I feel the love and healing hands that stitched every seam. A House decorated for every season.

The label reads, "When a loved one becomes a memory - The memory becomes a treasure. Celebrating your MOM"

Such a wonderful tribute, a special quilt and I will cherish it always and thank my wonderful friends. It's such a pleasure sharing the love of quilting with you.

More Moose Blocks

I'm so pleased I accomplished a lot the last few nights, the tree blocks with all those tiny pieces and that's not all there were cabins to applique and more moose. One last moose block to go and it's the one in the photo below. Yeah... Some people only post the finished quilt, but I like to see the blocks in progress. It makes you appreciate the process from start to finish.
Click here to see previous moose blocks..