My Sewing Room

I was in Eastern Canada this past week, with my brothers and aunts and uncles.  While I was away, my husband was acting very mysterious!  When I returned home, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a sewing room makeover! 

He put 8 more shelves in my closet and moved my quilt tops on hangers to the guest bedroom.  

My sewing table used to be in front of the closet but was a little cramped getting in and out from my sewing machine.  He moved the sewing table in front of the window which has a view of the front.

Those two cabinets were where the design wall is, they fit perfectly on the side of the wall.  He bought that glam picture which I really love.

He purchased two dining tables and pushed them together to make an incredible cutting table, sewing table, design table, it's big enough!

The trunk below the table is new, along with the little aqua container which is very cute and matches the aqua container on the table and on my sewing table.  The baskets on the wall are new too.

The tables have some small shelves on the side for more storage.  The shelf by the woman with sunglasses holds a new iron that he bought.  It's a Chi iron and works really well.  

You can see the baskets on the wall, they're new also.  I'm pretty lucky to have such a talented husband who should have been an interior designer.

This cute picture of Audrey Hepburn is a photo he purchased on a different occasion when I was out of town.

This one as well.  All 3 of them are beautiful photos!

This chair is new too, it's really pretty, matching the other aqua items and the chair in the background is the one I used to use to sew on, now it's for family/friends who want to visit me in my sewing room :)

What do you think of my sewing room makeover?

Folk Blooms

 

Have you seen the Folk Blooms quilt pattern designed by Lindsey at 

Pen and Paper Patterns?

I was fortunate enough to make the Folk Blooms pattern out of a  fabric bundle that Lindsey curated from Robert Kaufman fabrics. It's difficult to tell from the photo, but the linen background is slightly textured with little colored threads.

The quilting job is spectacular. Go to Instagram and search #folkbloomsquilt and see some of the fabric possibilities!

I really want to make another quilt from this pattern ❤️

Pineberry quilt along, week two

Six little Pineberries all in a row...

I've been seeing so many cute Pineberry quilts on social media, I love all the different backgrounds people are choosing.  

This quilt is by Lindsey at Pen and Paper Patterns.  She has so many darling quilt patterns, I want to make them all! 

The Pineberry quilt along

 

I just love all of Lindsey's quilt patterns from Pen and Paper Patterns.

Her designs are modern and simplistic.

I'm joining the Pineberry quilt along.  I'm using the same background as is shown in the photo below.  I think it's called Kona Desert Sand.

I went shopping at a couple of local quilt shops to find these fat quarters.  I'm so excited to make this quilt, I just hope that I can keep up with the schedule.  That's part of the fun of a quilt along, is being at the same speed as everyone else.

All of the pieces are cut out and labeled. I use the alpha bitties (I have about 7 sets) from Fat Quarter Shop, and Clover clips.

I'm so excited and will show you my progress.  I have about 5 quilts going right now.  It's much more exciting than working on just one quilt at a time :)  

Have a great week!

The Holland Pouch

I made three more bags, the Holland Pouch by Center Street Quilts. 

I posted about the first two I made recently here. 

Such easy bags to make and I think they're so pretty.  Choosing the fabric satisfies my creative outlet :)

Lined Drawstring Bags

 Welcome to another week :) I've been really busy making some bags.  My favorite part is choosing the fabric.  I taught my daughter and her family (one by one) how to make this lined drawstring bag using the tutorial which you can find here.  We made a trip tot quilt shop where everyone chose 3 fat quarters for their bags, that was a lot of fun!

My son in law Jeremy told me a few weeks ago that he would love to make a whole bunch of bags because he finds them so useful!  I was wondering what I should get him for his birthday, when that conversation came back to mind. I made him a whole collection!😊

I began with the largest bag, the "laundry" bag.  I don't really know what Jeremy will use this bag for but I'm sure he'll find a use. I love the fabric, it's canvas so very practical for the large size.  Sweetwater fabrics had everyone send them their hometown which they printed on the fabric.  I can see so many cities I've visited or lived in.

Next is the "project" bag.  I've made this size once, for my grand daughter.  I included about four dolls and they fit perfectly in the bag!  I found some Def Leppard fabric and my son in law likes rock music so hopefully he'll get a kick out of it.

Next is the artist bag.  I've made this one a few times. It fits an 8"X11" book and a doll.  Who doesn't love John Wayne?  Especially the movie "The Man from Utah", which is where Jeremy is from and currently resides.

This photo shows you the scale of the three largest bags.

My favorite bag which has the free tutorial, the "everything" bag.  I made so many of them and each time is just as exciting as before.  I love seeing the different color combinations, that never gets old.  This one has Monopoly money, how fun!  Jeremy loves board games too, so I had to use this fabric.

BYU, Brigham Young University, Jeremy's alma mater. GO Cougars!

Baby Yoda, I know Jeremy likes Star Wars.

How to iron a button down collared shirt in 12 steps.  I love this fabric!  Years ago, when our youngest son was 13 and earning his Eagle Scout award, his grandfather was visiting for the occasion.  His grandfather was retired military and asked Sean if he knew how to press a shirt.  Sean said yes and his grandfather told him that there needed to be press lines on the sleeves. Sean came downstairs with a perfectly pressed shirt, with seams along the sleeves.  A few days later when I was putting the ironing board away, I saw an internet print out of instructions on how to iron a shirt.  Sean had gone to the internet to make sure he pressed his shirt correctly!  😂😂😂 So cute!!!

Next is the "snack" size.  I really like this one too.  It's just a little bit smaller than the "everything" bag.  

Here's the size comparison.

Lastly, is the "tiny" bag.  I strongly dislike making these bags! I've made almost 300 of them.  One year I made one for every young woman at church who was turning 12.  There were a few treats inside. It was a really cute gift but so meticulous to make!!!

Here's the size comparison between the largest bag and the smallest bag.

I highly recommend making some of the bags.  Take if from me, they're pretty addicting :)

Sewology

 I finished this quilt top over 3 years ago, and it's been hanging in my closet waiting to be quilted ever since!  I loved making this quilt....I had just joined the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild and this quilt was their block of the month.  I had to play catch up for a few months  but that wasn't difficult for me.  I had just moved to Arizona and didn't know anyone so I had lots of time to sew!  Lindsey Neill of Pen and Paper patterns designed this pattern and she was a member of our guild.

I loved choosing the fabric from my stash to make this quilt!  As I previously said, we had just moved to Arizona from the Sacramento area.  I was aghast at how many boxes it took to pack my fabric stash, so I decided to go on a fabric fast...for two years! I depleted a lot, but I've started buying again.  I usually don't have background fabric but can still pull a lot of the colors from my stash for the rest of my quilts. Besides, some fabric is just too cute not to buy ❤️❤️❤️

The slate background fabric was from my stash, bonus!

I love the photos I took this time, not like last week....blech!  I read about a beautiful sunflower field not too far from our house and my husband took me there for a quick photo shoot.  The temp was 106 🔥and the sun was blaring into my eyes.  It was still worth it :)

Here are some close ups of the quilt.  I made my rotary a plain yellow, even though I've got a pair of pink and a pair of aqua.  I thought there was enough color in the rest of the quilt and yellow seems to be the most common color of rotary cutters.  The yellows are like sunshine and they're very happy.

I want to show you a close up of the machine quilting.  Do you see the "needle pulling thread"?  Then the thread is in loops, that repeat all over the quilt.  I thought it was a perfect design for this quilt.

I wanted the pencil to be  the traditional color.  I think the pencil, rotary cutter and ruler in yellow, weight the quilt down with all the other bright colors that I used.

I especially love the floral seam ripper :)

My scissors aren't a plain metal color if you look closely.

I used traditional colors for my tomato pincushion too.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I certainly had fun creating it.  

Have a great week!