Cute little Needlebooks

I've made a few of these needle books, I really love them!

You can see them here, here, here, here, here and here.

This is the coolest one I've ever made!

Sometimes when I design a project, I try to force myself to think outside the box.

This is one of those times....the "afro girl" is Cotton and Steel fabric.

The little cherry in the bottom left corner is so adorable :)

You can find the tutorial for this needlebook from Amy Sinibaldi, on my Pinterest board here.

The back has 12 little 1" finished squares.

I tried to "peek a boo" interesting little prints.

I think the yellow hand stitching really compliments the little prints.

I used an unusual pointed antique button for the closure.

I used wool felt for the inside and embellished it with buttons, pins, ribbon, lace and linen.

Here's the second needlebook I made last week.

I use this little Japanese print a lot, I think it's so cute!

I added a sparkly Riley Blake button.

The inside has pale yellow wool felt and I added lot of colorful ribbon and buttons.

These little books aren't difficult to make, but there's a lot of little things to sew on them, so they're a little time consuming.

I think they make a great gift for someone you really, really like :)

I definitely need to make one for myself one of these days!

Little Red

Have you heard of the fabric line "Little Red" by Moda?

I have a "thing" for Little Red Riding Hood, so I think it's fabulous!

The fabric line comes with a panel, and you can find it at one of my favorite etsy shops, stitchesngiggles4u.

I just cut along the dotted lines and made this adorable little doll, her skirt and cape.  

The little quilt is two sided, and so is the pillow.

Isn't the big bad wolf a scream?

I made this little set for my darling little grand daughter who is turning 3 years old.

I also made Lucy Jane this cute little quilt as you go tote bag.

I used all sorts of cute little pieces of fabric from my scrappy stash.

 I bought the pattern from my favorite quilt shop, Pine Needles.

Sandra Workman, the designer, is the owner of Pine Needles, and 

she designs a lot of cute patterns and fabric :)

Lucy Jane really liked her doll and bag, she's a pretty fancy little girl!

We were on our way to get her ears pierced for her birthday, so she was a little too preoccupied to smile....ha ha!!!

Super Hero Cape and Mask Tutorials

It's my grandson's 4th birthday, and I thought he would love a super cape.

Here is the tutorial on my Pinterest board, "Stuff to make the grandkids".

These are not 2 capes.

I'm going to sew them together and the cape will be reversible.

The tutorial has a template for the Superman logo, and it's so easy!

"B" is for Benjamin.

I traced the yellow circle with a plate, and drew the "B" to go inside the circle.

Here's the Superman side of the cape.

Here's the Super Ben side of the cape.

I made a mask to match the cape, so easy again!

One side of the mask is red and the other is yellow.

Here is the tutorial for the mask, and it also includes the template.

As easy as pie, and really fast to make.

Let me know if you make some :)

Cozy Season Mini Quilt

This is such a fun little mini quilt to make!

Here is the tutorial, on Lori Holt's blog.

Even though Lori has a tutorial on her blog, you still need the calendar for the cozy cottage dimensions.

I had so much fun choosing cute little squares of fabric that look like fall, and look at the tree trunk!

The flying geese over the house, they just had to be aqua!

I really enjoy machine quilting long, uneven lines on mini quilts with my walking foot.

It still takes time, but you don't have to measure and the look is organic.

I thought that this fabric from one of Lori's earlier fabric lines was perfect!  

The stripes mirrored the quilting lines.

Lulu quilt

I enter contests sometimes on Instagram, and this time I won!

I won bigtime!!!

I won this pattern by Gigi's Thimble which is made with a jelly roll.

As a bonus, Stephanie @stuphfromsteph gave the generous offer of machine quilting the quilt top :)

Steph even said that she would pay for the return shipping.

I had a jelly roll I was saving for a special project.

Sew Cherry, Lori Holt's first fabric line!

It's my favorite ever!!!

I got busy cut the jelly roll up and went crazy chain piecing.

I had to take a photo of the process, the fabric is so beautiful and so colorful.

I finished sewing all my blocks, 16 of them in all.

To make sure the low volumes and bright colors were evenly placed, I took a tonal photograph.

It looks good to me :)

Here are all the blocks laid out, with the borders, before I sewed them together.
I had to add a few extra pieces, but made sure that they were all designed by Lori Holt.
I don't know if you can spot them...

Yay, I finished my quilt top, I love the explosion of color.

I can hardly wait to get my quilt in the mail.

I'll show it to you when it's quilted and bound :)

A View of my Sewing Room and more Quilty Fun Gifts

Hi everyone!

I hope you're having a great summer :)

The time has been flying by for me, I've been so busy...

Here is a sneak peak into my sewing room.

Cathy, one of my IG besties, came to visit me in Northern California.

We started a sewing project together.

These are the charms I chose for my mini quilt.

 Cathy (this is her...pretty, eh?) fell in love with my Kaleidoscope mini quilt on the wall behind her.

You can find the tutorial here on my "random tutorial" board on Pinterest.

It's always fun when Cathy's around!

She flew all the way from her little Tasmanian island off the mainland of Australia, for our IG Farm Girl Vintage quilt retreat.

She was the "star" of the group :)

She then flew to Sundance, Wyoming to visit Vanessa, Bartlesville, Oklahoma to visit Joanna, then to my place and I drove her to San Francisco where we met up with Lynette from Idaho Falls.

Here is my main wall of half yards and one yards of fabric.

I have them folded over comic book cardboards, it takes up less space than folding the fabric.

The shelf with the vintage woman head planter is most of my Lori Holt fabric, and underneath to the left is my Sarah Jane fabric.

Next to Sarah Jane is my Tasha Noel collection.

I have other collections too, but they are on the opposite wall.

This is the other side of my sewing room.

My husband surprised me 2 l/2 years ago with a room remodel.

He bought me all the furniture, he has very good taste!

My sewing table is made of recycled telephone poles, and there are some holes in it that I string my sewing machine and light cords through.

These are Cathy's kaleidoscope squares before she sewed them together.

She chose an older charm pack I had, from Chez Moi, by Moda.

I made a sever cutting mistake on mine, so they are now pinwheel blocks and have been thrown in my "orphan" box.

I trimmed my blocks to 4" before I trimmed them with the kaleidoscope ruler, and it just won't work.

More quilty fun gifts!

Vanessa made me and all of her friends this adorable bag.

It's a free tutorial at the Jolly Jabber blog.

It's the Kimberly Sac pattern by Fig Tree quilts.

This is the front when the flap is lifted up.

This is the back of the bag, the fabrics are adorable!!!

Vanessa added pockets on the inside, a zipper one on one side, and two pockets on the opposite side, a very convenient feature.

Vanessa gave all of us her very special bags at retreat, each one reflects the fabric and colors that we love!

Joanna made this beautiful pincushion for me, I think it's so beautiful!

Look at all the fine, tiny handwork!

This is the back of the pincushion, darling!

This is who's visiting me this week!

Two of my darling and adorable grand daughters, Reagan and Paisley.

Reagan is 5 and will start Kindergarten in a week, and Paisley is 2 years old.

This is our son Jordan and his wife Kim and their 3 cute girls.

Taylor is 5 l/2 months and is always smiling!

I'll see you next week :)