Zakka Fabric Bucket

Having surrounded  myself with pillows, making this fabric bucket was a welcome change. I'd happened upon one I'd pinned on Pinterest that was made by Amber/One Shabby Chick during a blog-hop for Zakka Handmades by Amy Morinaka of chick chick sewing [chickchicksewing]. Lucky me, I had a copy on my bookshelf and got to work. The pattern calls for pre-quilted fabric, but I didn't have that, and instead made my outside panel doing qayg on cotton batting. I also added fusible SF101 Shape-Flex to the lining fabric, and even though the finished bucket isn't stiff by any means, it stands up just fine, and I'd do the same again.

It might have helped that for the bottom, I did some dense grid quilting to add to the sturdiness.

This bucket's the medium option, 9 1/2" diameter x 11 1/4" high, and it's really roomy. I'm kind of thinking I need to make myself one too. Where I made this one with a very controlled scrappiness, using a handful of coordinating Cotton+Steel fat-quarters, I think it would be great fun totally scrappy, don't you?

Some of That Secret Sewing

Why in the world I had a yard of aqua Essex linen in my stash, I have no idea. But last night, it was the most perfect discovery. I'd decided nearly last minute that some holiday napkins would be a perfect gift, and Katarina Roccella's Fairisle Hearts (which remind me of snowflakes) the perfect fabric. And since I had no white linen on hand, what could be better but the aqua. Isn't it great when that happens?

I saw Diane/Random Thoughts...do or "di" [ylmommyx4] show off some beautiful linen dinner napkins she had just made, and they reminded me that daughter dear [snippetsofsweetness] had made me some with that very pattern, Linen [Thanksgiving] Napkins by Purl Soho. I followed Rachel's lead, and made mine cocktail size (10" linen squares + 12" cotton squares). They went together perfectly, and I was able to make a set of six in just under an hour. Dare I say, I kinda love them?

Another little gift I made and gifted recently was a That Red Cup mug rug, a clever little pattern by Tessa/Half Square Quilts [tessaraewilliams]. It measured 6x9" when done, and hopefully gives my Starbucks-loving friend a smile.

So that's all I can show till Christmas is over. And I'm officially calling the frantic Christmas sewing DONE. Now to just enjoy, and take it all in.

Zakka 2.0 :: Patchwork, Please! + A Giveaway

There's been some activity behind the scenes and it's a bit of a relief to finally announce Zakka 2.0 :: Patchwork, Please!

You may remember how much I enjoyed the Zakka Style Sew Along last year {enough to make every project!} so when I heard about the new book by Ayumi Takahashi of Pink Penguin fame, I was pretty excited. And then when Lindsey of LRstitched invited me to cohost a sew along through Patchwork, Please!, I hopped at the chance. My copy of  the book just arrived, and honestly now I'm even more excited to get stitching! Here's a glimpse between the covers!

This new Zakka sew along is set to begin June 3, when we'll sew a new project each week with a delightful line up of contributors:

Leila Beasley, Where the Orchids Grow

Amber Carillo, One Shabby Chick

Maureen Cracknell, Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Krista Fleckenstein, Spotted Stone Studio

Amy Friend, During Quiet Time

Anna Graham, Noodlehead

•••

Kerry Green, Very Kerry Berry + Sew Ichigo

Lynn Goldsworthy, Lily’s Quilts

Krista Hennebury, Poppyprint

Lori Holt, Bee in my Bonnet

Debbie Jeske, A Quilter’s Table

Penny Laymen, Sew Take a Hike

Jennifer Mathis, Ellison Lane Quilts

•••

Amy Newbold, Sukie, Don’t Ya Know

Tamiko Percell, Patchwork Notes

Angela Pingel, Cut to Pieces

Lindsey Rhodes, LRstitched

Monica Solorio, Happy Zombie

Svetlana Sotak, Sotak Handmade

Each Monday one of them will be posting about their project, and we'll all have a week to sew and link up our projects by the next Sunday. Then a prize winner will be announced the following Monday along with the new weeks project. Check out Lindsey's link, here, for some more specifics and a list of our awesome sponsors so far.

Be sure and join the flickr group if you haven't already! You can also keep tabs on Zakka 2.0 via facebook, Threadbias, Pinterest, and on Instagram, using the hashtag #patchworkplease. 

*** This giveaway is now closed. Thank you! ***

And about that giveaway! I have a copy of Patchwork, Please! to give away! The book will ship directly from Interweave and is only open to US readers.  (So sorry International readers!) Just leave a comment below and I’ll choose a random winner on Tuesday, April 9. Meanwhile, stay tuned and before you know it we'll be stitching up a storm in Zakka fashion!

Christmas Finish Postscript

There's no W.i.P. Wednesday this week, so I thought I'd tally up the Christmas finishes I haven't shared yet.

Ruby Star Wrapping Pillowcase Pouches - This pattern saved the day for me. Though I had planned on making oodles of fabric gift bags this year, I missed my goal by a long shot. But on Christmas Eve, when I finally got around to wrapping my gifts for my family, I realized that not only did I not have as many fabric bags as I had planned, but I also ran out of paper ones. Thank goodness pillowcase pouches are pretty quick! I think I even was working so quickly that I forgot to take pics of a couple.

Drawstring Bags - I could not not make one for daughter dear, the queen of fabric gift bags! It was The Artist Bag (16" tall x 14.5"), in blue and gray snowflake dots.

Infinity Scarf - I mentioned last week that this item wasn't very photo friendly, and truly, I was afraid the project was a fail. Even though the fabric was a lovely voile, I wasn't sure it draped well enough. But once my daughter-in-law-to-be slipped it on, I knew it was fine. It looked just darling on her.

(fabric was cut 11"x42"; shown here looped once)

Zakka Frame Purses - I made three for gifts, two with the pleats, and one without, just to try it. Unfortunately, I only managed to take a finished picture of one of them.

Frame Purse - For this little one, I actually drafted a pattern to fit my frame, and I love its unique shape.

And lastly, in addition to running out of gift bags, I also ran out of tags! On Christmas Eve! So I cut into a quilted scrap from the stocking I made recently, and quickly stitched up some tags.

I'll definitely be making some of these again!

For next W.i.P. Wednesday, I hope to also report on the couple of projects I did not get done!

Linking up with finish it up Friday.

W.i.P. Wednesday

Whew! I've been going non-stop. Work is b.u.s.y. this time of year so the days are long and the deadline looming. Same can be said of the sewing room. Mass gifts and wraps  - some already gifted, some soon, some in progress. I know it's W.i.P. Wednesday, but I can't show you all the wips, if you get my drift and I'm sure you do. So please forgive if there's more finished projects to show this week. I promise you, all in due time . . .

Completed Projects
Ruby Star Wrapping Snack Sack minis - I tweaked the pattern to make the little sacks just right for a gift card. Talk about quick and easy!

 

Falling Flakes stocking - Love this pattern by imagine gnats, who offers a free tutorial on her blog. It was super fun to put this together. I trimmed about 1" off the top to make its size more comparable to our other stockings, plus made my own fabric hanger, rather than use a ribbon.

 

Drawstring bags - Used Jeni's pattern of course. I'd really planned to make oodles of these, but so far have only managed to make the two that have already been gifted. oh well. The dotty one is The Project Bag (13"  tall x 8") and the bird one is The Snack Bag (8" tall x 4.5").

 

Zakka potholders - Used some DS prints and plaid along with some white Essex.

Zakka frame purse - just for fun. I adore this pattern.

Infinity scarf - Not very photo friendly, but fun to make. I referred to a tutorial by Nancy Zieman, plus got some help from Heather. I'll keep trying to get a decent photo - love the voile I used - first real item I've sewed using voile.

Frame purse - I confess I love how this one turned out with fussy cut Field Study poppies. 

 

Lining is Nordic Diamond by heaven & helsinki. Sorry I only managed to get the thread in focus, but my tiredness precluded me from popping the camera card back in and trying again. At least you get a peek at the contrasting interior. It makes it, imho.

Ongoing projects

Modern Crosses quilt - No progress but top priority once Christmas is done! Serious.

Zakka frame purse without the pleat - I set it aside for a bit, so still working at stitching that frame on.

A stocking for hubby - Not sure why I decided he needed a new stocking this year, but I'll be using Camille Roskelley's Merry pattern (the zig-zag one), so am working on piecing some hst's. Shouldn't take long once those are done.

Plus other Christmas surprises are in the works!

Upcoming projects
* more Christmas!
* more frame purses
* Ruby Star Wrapping - pillowcase pouches + ??
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee
* scrappy Metrolink - January?
* Polaroid block projects - January?
* placemats

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

W.i.P. Wednesday

Two weeks from this W.i.P. Wednesday, Christmas will be over! SO much still to do!

Completed Projects
Ruby Star Wrapping - The Simple Drawstring Bag had a slow start but ended up being just delightful and I hope to make a few more.

December do.Good Stitches blocks - Shown in last week's Random post, they were mailed off today!

More Brrr! Potholders - Love this simple design, and I love making them in pairs!

A Maisy Quilt - This was my proudest finish of the week! Not only is it on my fourth quarter Finish-A-Long list (two done!), but it coordinates with the tree skirt I made last year. In the reveal post where there's plenty of pics, I failed to mention that the initial fabrics came from Nancy Halvorsen's Jingle All the Way, so there are really "Christmas" fabrics in there, though several stash favorites were also included. Unconventional as it is, I'm super pleased with it and love it in our living room.

Ongoing projects
Modern Crosses quilt - It may not look like much, but I have all the remaining blocks started - over 10 yards of continuous piecing! Now time to cut apart and press.{oh joy}

Snack Sack minis - Haven't touched these yet. In addition, I have several other littles in a variety of stages . . .

Falling Flakes stocking - I loved this pattern by imagine gnats, and have the front and back of this one quilted.

A Zakka frame purse without the pleat.

And some Zakka potholders.

Plus other Christmas surprises are in the works!

Upcoming projects
* Christmas!
* more frame purses
* Ruby Star Wrapping
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee
* scrappy Metrolink - January?
* Polaroid block projects - January?
* placemats

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

Zakka Along Week 24 :: Nesting Boxes

It wasn't really easy facing this final project in the Zakka Style Sew Along, as I really didn't want it to be over.  But it needed to be done, so I got down to it. The project, by Patchwork Pottery, was highlighted by Kati of from the blue chair, who made her darling boxes of Christmas fabric. Nice idea, but I brought back some linen prints I'd used in a previous Zakka project, and once again used osnaburg as the 'main' fabric.

As usual, there was alot of chatter on flickr and other blogs about the construction method outlined in the book, but I just didn't have time to rethink that, so forged ahead as written. The only thing that truly confused me was the excess fabric used for the lining pieces. But I just trimmed after sewing each side section and continued on.

I did choose to use fusible interfacing, since that's my choice when it works, and it did fine for me here. I see why some folks chose a heavier interfacing to make the sides sturdier, but mine are totally functional, so I'm fine with them.

Really wanting to quilt through all layers was another reason I stuck with the book's method, doing a basic daisy chain on all the printed linen squares. I was a little wobbly at times, but I just kept going. And it's done.

I added an orange line of machine stitching wherever the book suggest hand-stitching, which honestly, was a lovely idea, but just wasn't going to happen for me this week.

The one part where I totally did not even look at the book was for the binding. Someone had suggested doing double-fold, which is my standard anyway, so I cut 2 1/4" strips and proceeded in normal binding fashion except, not my norm, I folded in, pressed, and stitched down by machine. It just seemed logical for this project.

The finishing construction of the boxes was tedious but it did work. Again, I understand why others opted for other methods, but in reality, this one was a viable option. And again, they're done. Sad but true.

Stay tuned for a Zakka wrap-up post, but meanwhile, linking up with LRstitched, little quilt monday, and {sew} Modern Monday.

W.i.P. Wednesday

I don't have any completed projects this week, but do have alot in progress! So welcome W.i.P. Wednesday!

Ongoing projects
Zakka Style Sew-Along project #15 - I'm doing my own thing this week, but I have my bookmark ready to sew up.

4x5 Quilt - Boy, this modern sampler really needs a name before all is said and done. Meanwhile, I got that pieced back done - nothing too exciting, except the main fabric, of course - one of my current favs, Dear Stella's Gridlock.

Source: hawthornethreads.com via Debbie on Pinterest

The blocks' framing is all quilted up quite simply, and now I'm slow but sure, quilting the blocks - some straight-line, some free-motion, something a little different in each block. I've gotten 5 of 20 blocks done so far. It'll be a while.

Storytime Squares baby quilt - The top is done. I didn't find a good backing in my stash, so am waiting for one to arrive - a Vintage Modern floral.

*Picture-Perfect* Polaroid Block Swap NEW - Not sure what I was thinking when I impulsively started a swap last weekend!

the blocks that started it all - 1 untrimmed & 1 trimmed

But things are hopping, and I've got lots of 2 1/2" squares cut out to make my own polaroid blocks to swap and keep.

Upcoming projects
* more Zakka
* QWERTY variation
* a quilt to coordinate with my Christmas tree skirt - Christmas in July??
* scrappy Metrolink
* Plus quilt for my sister-in-law
* Always Bee Learning July block
* EZ Dresden Challenge project - maybe??
* FAITH Circle July blocks
* 100 Quilts quilt to donate

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday where Kati from the blue chair is hosting today.

W.i.P. Wednesday

It's been a good sewing week, with several small projects to show for W.i.P. Wednesday.

Completed projects
Zakka Style Sew-Along project #2: The House Pouch - This little pouch was really alot of fun. You can read more about it here. In making it, I also completed another 'to do' on my upcoming projects list - a zip pouch without zipper tabs, so that was cool.

Zakka Style Sew-Along project #3: Zakka Pincushion - This quick little project is done and I'll post about it later this week.

Spiraled - This is my entry for the festival of half square triangles, and boy was it a fun one. A complete post on this quilt is here.

do.Good Stitches - For April, the FAITH Circle is making two zigzag quilts. I enjoyed putting together my contribution - one gray zigzag strip, using 4" hst. Thanks to the nice gray stack in my stash, I was able to use 14 different grays - some of my favs.

Ongoing projects

Hopscotch - The blocks are all pieced and I really need to get back to this!

Hollywood Boulevard table runner - Fabric is all cut, so I'll be working on this soon.

Upcoming projects
* Tutorial for pieced binding
* FAITH Circle Pouch Swap
* more Zakka
* DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap project - fabric arrived!! And I think I have a plan.
* quilt using my 4x5 blocks from rounds 1, 2, & 3 NEW
* Solstice Stars quilt NEW
* a quilt to coordinate with my Christmas tree skirt - On a Whim ??
* scrappy Metrolink

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday . . .

Zakka Along Week 2 :: The House Pouch

I honestly had no plans last night of finishing project #2 of the Zakka Style Sew Along - The House Pouch. But it had crossed my mind to change things up a bit and make a patchwork roof for the little house, so I started on that, and before I knew, it was past my bedtime and the pouch was done.

So with some Kaufman's Quilter's Linen in Stone, and bits of Ruby and Vintage Modern, the little pouch became. Veering off on my own path, I made square windows with vintage frames, placed a little "Made with Love" charm as a door knob (which of you sent me those? perfect!), and finally added a shoulder strap sized just right for a little girl.

And unknowingly until I was right in the midst of it, I did something that has been on my W.i.P. Wednesday list for weeks - a zipper without end tabs. Yay. I was thinking I might not make this little project, but now I'm certainly glad that I did.

Linking up with TNT Thursday and Finish It Up Friday; and I'll also be linking up Sunday with Zakka Along Week 2 at LRstitched.