Talented at handwork

Last spring, my 7 year old grand daughter Kylie wanted me to help her learn a sewing skill.  I thought she was too young to use the sewing machine, so I taught her how to hand embroider.  I found some embroidery patterns and let her choose which one she wanted to stitch.  She chose this little cloud with rainbow colored raindrops.  She took forever to finish, but escalated her efforts as it got closer to Christmas.  When she showed me her finished embroidery, I was amazed at how fine her stitches were.  Even grown women have a difficult time keeping the stitches the same size.  

Kylie definately has talent with handwork!

Kylie was thinking of making her mom a pillow, but I suggested an apron.  I knew that the colors wouldn't fit her mom's decor and thought the apron would be more useful.

Isn't Kylie cute by my Singer Featherweight that I've named Elsie?

So, so cute!

Kylie's mom isn't too much bigger than she is, so the apron will fit her perfectly!  Kylie wrapped the gift herself and was so excited for her mom to open it.  Her mom loved it and couldn't believe that Kylie did "most" of the sewing!

Kylie also did a great job of keeping the seams l/4", she never let the seams run short of that.  I told her she was ready to make a quilt.  She hasn't reminded me about the quilt yet, but it's been pretty busy with all the Christmas celebrations.  

I wish I could teach all of my grandchildren who are interested, to quilt, but only three live by me.

Happy New Year!

Mod TV quilt

 I've been doing lots of secret sewing! I made this quilt for my husband for Christmas.  It's called Mod TV by Colourwerx.  The original pattern is 48" X 54", but I added an extra row on the side and on the bottom.  I had fun choosing the fabric from my stash, and was surprised that I could find so many fat quarters that matched, including solids which I only have scraps of.  Apparently my scraps were large enough for the TVs! It was a lot of fun choosing what photos to use in the TVs.

I used a few family photos.  I could have used more, but wanted it to be more of "my favorite shows" than a memory quilt.  I used photo transfer paper that I purchased at Joann's with a coupon.  My son let me use his inkjet printer, and I could get two images on each sheet.  I used two packets of transfer paper.  It was fun choosing my husband's  favorite TV shows from his growing up years.  He also loves old westerns.

I saw some John Wayne fabric online and fell in love with it!  It's made by Riley Blake and is very soft fabric.  I bought it on Etsy.  I have been trying my best to make sure all the quilts I make have a label.  I subscribed to Sweetwater's label club.  Every month I receive two labels in the mail, usually themed to the season.  This label was perfect, I just wrote the top line to personalize it even more.

I'm sure excited to see his reaction when he opens his gift Christmas morning.  To tell you the truth, he never has a huge reaction to things, so we shall see!!!

Merry Christmas!  I hope you are able to spend it with family this year.

A Very Vintage Christmas placemats

I made some more placemats.  I wasn't going to because I didn't think I would have enough time.  When I heard that my daughter and her husband and children were coming for a quick visit, I knew I had to make placemats for them this year instead of waiting until next year.  I can always squeeze in time for sewing. 

This is four year old Jacob, and he loved his stocking and candy! 

This is my daughter Rebecca, I made her the vintage ornament.

This is 10 year old Maisie, she loved her Christmas tree.

This is 8 year old Benjamin, he loved his snowman.

I also made them each a Christmas pillowcase to take home with them, and a rollie pollie little stuffed animal too.

I can never spoil the grandchildren enough!

I've made 28 very vintage placemats, and just have two more to make for my daughter and her husband, next year.

Coral Queen of rhe Sea

There's been a lot of Christmas sewing going on here!

I made my second "Coral Queen of the Sea". 

It's a Moda panel by Stacy Iest Hsu.  

Then I made a lined drawstring bag by Jeni Baker, 

her blog is In Color Order.

I've made over 200 of these bags, literally! I made them for the Young Women at our church, for their birthdays, two years in a row.

It's such a wonderful bag, I love it!  The pattern comes with many different sizes, one of them is a free tutorial.

I have a board on Pinterest devoted to the bags, 

you can check it out here.

 I'll share more Christmas sewing with you next week!