Check out the Give-a-ways!!

Heather Mulder Peterson, designer of Anka's Treasures is giving away this beautiful quilt, and her second prize is a smaller quilt and third prize is a stack of charm squares and a few patterns to go with them. So stop by and enter for a chance to win these wonderful prizes.

Elaine from Faithful Quilter here is giving away Civil War Fabric. Hurry and sign up for her give-a-way, the winner will be announced August 28th.

Bonnie from Calamity Janes Cottage here is giving away a quilt kit to make a quilt along with some Texture Magic. So Hurry on over, the winner will be selected Sept 3rd.

Terri from Sew Fantastic here is giving about a book by Heather Ross along with some of her fabulous fabric. Go check out Terri's blog, the winner will be chosen Sept 1st.

Whew!!! So many give-a-ways and if I don't win, I'll still be thrilled if you do.

Have a creative day!!

LOOK ** Free Bag Patterns **

Click on Label

This site has been on several blogs I visit, but just in case you haven't been there I thought I would share it with you. Go check out all the free bag patterns and wonderful blogs. You'll find lots of inspiration and who doesn't like a free bag pattern or tutorial.


This is a cute poem about friends.. Thanks to my friends who read my blog.

A Friend is like a Good Bra..
Supportive
Comfortable
Always lifts you up
Never lets you down
or leaves you hanging,
Makes you look better and
It's always close to your heart.

Don't you love that??

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

Free Motion Practice

A little free motion practice before I quilted my doll quilt, I like to doodle and try different motifs. I usually warm up to make sure my stitches play nice and the tension is adjusted properly.



Another view of my practice pieces, no this doesn't mean perfect and don't look too closely.





I use the Famous Award Winner ~ Master Quilter Sharon Schambers "Quilt Halo" (that's the red circle). The Halo is weighted, has a rubbery feel and you place it on top of the quilt and it grabs your quilt and allows you to move the quilt around smoothly. No gloves or rubber finger tips needed, my favorite part.
The white piece on the bottom is the Supreme Slider by Pat LaPierre. It allows your quilt to slide around freely while your quilting. These two products are so functional and they've really helped my free motion quilting. My stitches are more uniform and life is good.





And that's not all, there's the "Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers". Drop one in the bobbin case and it eliminates backlash and Birdsnests on the underside of free motion quilting when changing directions at high speed. Do I sound like Billy Mayes with that sales pitch??





And here is a sneak peek at my doll quilt label and the quilting. My embroidery machine has the little doll face built into the machine. Now to sew the binding on my doll quilt and I'm finished. Another week or so before the reveal.

Have a creative day!

Hawaiian Quilt Blocks & Sneak Peek at Doll Quilt Block

These are my Hawaiian postcard blocks I cut to mail off for a swap. I joined a Hawaiian Postcard block swap to make a Hawaiian quilt similar to this one. Click Link here.. ( Lisa Boyer has a lovely blog ) I'm sending off 64 blocks, so I'm anxious to see what beauties I get back from this swap in a few weeks. I'll keep you posted and of course post photo's. I'm thinking it would look nice with a sandy beach background or blue water, rather than the white. Although the white background sure makes those Hawaiian prints jump out at you.




Do you like pink and florals?? I hope my swap recipient does. I also joined a Doll Quilt Swap and here is a sneak peek at one of my mini 4" blocks. I can't reveal the quilt just yet, although I don't think the recipient will see it here on my blog. You never know.



Looking out my kitchen window I see these gorgeous bougainvilleas.

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!!

Wouldn't this make a lovely header for my blog?

It caught my eye when I was browsing through this blog and found this design by the designer, Niamh Smith. It looks like stitchery, but she says it's designed on a computer and digitally printed on Epson Archival Matte Heavyweight paper.
See this and more on etsy here.

Remember to have a creative day!!

Look what the mailman delivered yesterday...

This wonderful "Sweet Sugar Swirls" pattern, a jelly roll and some buttercream background fabric. It was my Birthday last week and my oh so generous dear hubby said buy it if you want it. Don't you love it when they tell you that?? He is a gadget guy and always buys the best gifts.

I sewed with a group of my friends at a local quilt shop a couple of weeks ago and they had this lovely quilt hanging behind the register. I'm crazy about star blocks and fell for these gorgeous fabrics. I love the color way and with names like angel food, butterscotch, buttercream, fangelico and pear tart how could I resist. Makes me want dessert right now. Aren't they dreamy?? The stars are made by strip piecing so it shouldn't take long at all. Now that I've acquired this collection of fabrics I can't wait to make this lovely quilt. But first I need to finish a few other projects.






Have a creative day!!! Thanks for all of your encouraging feedback.

Kim

Fabric Grocery Bag Tutorial

Viola!!! Fabric Grocery Bag Tutorial as promised..
I'm a bit intimidated about writing a tutorial, so please help me out and let me know if there's
anything you would add or change.  Thanks..

You will need 1 yard of fabric total, 1/2 yard for the focus fabric and 1/2 yard for the lining fabric. Fat quarters work perfectly with this pattern. I made my bag 17.5" wide by 21.5" in height. Don't panic if your fat quarter is a little shorter or longer in either direction.



First select a shopping bag like the one above for your pattern. You can choose any size bag you would like.






Then we have to do some slicing and dicing to get the pattern in shape. Cut the fused bottom and top handles off.



I also cut off those funky pieces in the center to have a nice even pattern top. Then cut down the sides and take the back off.






Now lay out your piece of fabric and place the shopping bag pattern on top. A fat quarter works perfectly.



Now fold the fabric in half and also place your pattern on the fold and pin it down and cut out your pattern. Remember to cut 2 for the focus fabric and 2 from the lining fabric. (The middle of the bag should be against the fold side. My photo looks backwards here, oops) You get the general idea right??

I used a full 1/2 yard for my lining fabric and left it intact so the lining wouldn't have a bottom seam. I left one side open about 6" at the bottom so I could turn it right side out later.






Next you need to place the fabrics right sides together ( focus fabric and lining fabric) and sew around the middle "U" Shape curve. Then sew the outer half curved seams starting approx. 2" below the top of the handles.
(This photo was taken after it was sewn and turned. )
Cut out some V's around the corners so they lay out flat when turned. Turn right side out and press the corners. DO NOT top stitch at this point. Now your bag should look like mine above.



Next we are going to sew the handles together. Pull the lining fabric back and pin the focus fabric together.


Starting with the focus fabric sew the tops together, continuing on until the lining is sewn.





Now that the handles are sewn together, you will want to reinforce the edge with a overcasting or zig zag stitch.



Now turn the fabric right side out and the handles will have an opening at the top.



Photo of focus fabric handles before pressed. Now press again.



This photo shows the bag before our next step. Now you can topstitch the center to give the bag a finished look. We will topstitch or hand sew the openings on the sides of the handles a little later.



Now turn the two focus fabrics together and the lining pieces together. With right sides together sew the side seams. (Mine looks a little funky here since I added the blue fabric to the sides for the gusset.) Ignore the blue fabric for now.



Now turn the bag right side out with the lining inside.





Next step is to make the gusset. Fold the handles in half and the sides in about 1.5" and pin the bottom. Sew along the bottom about 1/4" catching the gusset on each end. We are going to sew a french seam so don't worry about the seam width. You can sew another reinforcement overcasting or zip zag stitch along the bottom for reinforcement. You will want this bag to hold up when carrying canned goods and heavy items.





Remember that opening in the handles? This is where you can hand sew it together if you prefer, or machine sew it now to hold the folded handles together.




Now we are going to turn it inside out again to sew the bottom. Sew along the bottom about 3/8" over the 1/4" seam you sewed on the right side. Next turn your right sides out.


This is where you would sew the lining bottom if you used fat qtrs, or the side seam on the lining if you used a half yard.




We have a finished bag.. Yeah!!! Press out your seams.

Please let me know if you see any errors in the directions or think of anything I left out. If I can add something to help, I'll be happy to. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask away. I would love to see photo's of your bags, there are so many beautiful and fun fabric options. Please email me photo's.

Have a Creative Day!!!

Kim