The other night, I cut out a new quilt. WOO HOO! My cousin Lynette's second daughter, Violet, hasn't yet gotten her Grandma Paper Doll Quilt yet and she's got to be nearing a year old, or maybe a little older. Here's a photo of the pieces; I'll post updates of its progress, highlighting some of the fun tools and techniques I'll be using as I go.

I fussy-cut the border-strip fabric to use in the centers of the blocks so there were two of the dolls in each block and I have two of each doll pair. The sketches at the top are only the rough drafts--I changed the colors right before I started cutting, which is funny because I was shopping for a blue and yellow print at the Quilt Festival for the blocks and ended up swapping the greenish daisy print for the blue. So here are the fabrics cut for the quilt. I'm really excited to get working on it, but I think I'm going to cut the Storm at Sea quilt pieces first. I've found that if I have pieces cut, I'm more likely to work on a project but somehow making the decisions and getting them cut is the part that's been holding me up. So I thought I'd cut a few quilts out (the Storm at Sea and my sister's Stack n Whack) and then, over the summer, I'd sew and sew and get them all done. Then I can start working on the quilting part.

Here's the third purse for the Camp Shaw fundraiser. As it turns out, this one was the greatest challenge, but challenging yourself is good for the mind and the creative spirit. As with the pink purse, this shirt was the perfect fit for this pattern--also from McCalls 5011. However, it's been a while since I sewed and I made a decision error with one of the materials on the list. It called for fusible interfacing (hair canvas). In my mind, hair canvas was a material I had used before for other purses--almost like a fine needlepoint canvas. However, when I was at the cutting counter, they didn't have that, so I bought a fusible interfacing that was fairly thick, about the thickness of felt but much stiffer. I should have realized it would be difficult to stitch through and that I should have trimmed it inside the seam allowances rather than having to trim it afterward just beyond the seamline. So this purse turned out fairly stiff--it can definitely stand on its own. I had the same challenge with this purse that I had with the back of the pink purse--the placement of the screen print meant some creative piecing, so this time I covered the seams with wide black rickrack.

But the greatest challenge was at the end. The way this purse goes together, the seam that remains unsewn for turning right-side out is the handle opening on both sides--that rounded triangular area. But then you have to hand-stitch along that opening, sewing the outer part (the t-shirt in this case) to the lining. That's really when I realized that the felt-like fusible stuff was a bad idea! I don't know how many times I stuck myself with pins and needles making those two pieces line up correctly. And stitching through that dense fabric was tough! But I persevered and finished the purses just in time to get ready for the fundraiser (and not a moment sooner!). They did turn out pretty cute, if I can say that about something I made without tooting my own horn.

Thanks, Deb, for the inspiration and the push I needed to get back to sewing and making things. It felt great!

So here's project two for the Camp Shaw fundraiser. When my sister gave me the smaller shirts, I didn't want to turn them into a second reversible tote--WAY too predictable! So I pulled out a few of my purse patterns and books and found a discontinued McCalls sewing pattern 5011. This pattern included instructions and patterns for three different-shaped purses and when I opened up the tissue pattern sheets and started looking at them, I noticed that one of them fit the screened area of this t-shirt perfectly! What are the odds? So it had to be turned into this handbag. I found the perfect ribbon to attach the bag to the handles and the perfect handles.

But then, when it came to the back of the purse, I realized there might be an challenge. The camp web address was positioned high on the back, which meant that I had to do something to position it properly on the purse. I set the screened portion low, since it was the only place it could fit, and I sewed another piece above it. I backed the pink ribbon with black ribbon and sewed it over the seam. I lined the purse with a mottled pink cotton that was almost a perfect match.

One tip: I did back all of the t-shirts with fusible interfacing. The cotton lining fabric will help to keep it from losing its shape.

First, no worries, I'm still alive. I realize it's been almost three weeks since I blogged. I really don't know where the time went, but it's been a very busy time in my life. Nothing specific, just much going on---mind, body, and spirit. Meanwhile, I made some projects last week and I have to tell you, it was pure bliss (with a bit of occasional cursing). I'll share them in the coming days, starting with this post.

I used to work on a magazine called Make It Mine, and a wonderful and creative woman, Andrea Loss from Milwaukee, shared this project in the first issue. Andrea did a lot of work with her local high school, helping them with plays, which meant she ended up with lots of theater t-shirts. And she found a way to turn two t-shirts into a very cute tote. For the step-by-step shots for the magazine, we used t-shirts from one of my favorite places--Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see. It was a 4-H camp when I was a kid; it's a non-profit camp now.


The last few years have been tough for fundraising for a camp (and for similar non-profits), given the economic conditions of the country. So the board at Camp Shaw decided that a more personal fundraiser was in order. The First Ever Have a Heart, Send a Kid to Camp! Camp Shaw fundraiser was held Feb. 13 in Kankakee, Illinois. I was delighted and honored when my sister Deb (Board Treasurer) asked me if I would donate some handmade items to the silent auction. We started talking, and we decided that a tote bag made out of Camp Shaw t-shirts would be perfect. She had secured two large adult t-shirts (white and orange) and two medium child-size tee's in pink and aqua. So I followed our directions and turned the orange and white shirts into a tote (shown here--click on the photo to see it larger).

Tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the pink shirt. And Friday, the aqua shirt.

And yes, for the record, all three of them did get bids, so I feel good about that! And I got a few things at the silent auction as well and got to catch up with some old friends, so it was a great event!

A long while ago, I blogged about one of my favorite patterns--the Rucksack from Bethany Reynolds. Bethany is also the originator of Stack-n-Whack quilts. I've made one of the Stack-n-Whack quilts from her first book (it's pieced but not yet quilted) and have the main fabric for one for my sister, because she covets mine but it is in a totally different color palette than her home. I'm hoping to dive into her quilt this week while I'm playing nursemaid to my mom. I'm also hoping to share both quilts in a future blog post, since I can't seem to find a previous blog post where I've talked about this project. (Fellow bloggers--don't you hate it when you can't find the post that mentions something you're sure you blogged about once before!?)

But back to the Rucksack. I love this pattern! It's great if you're a quilter or a lover of fabric, as it's easy to combine several fabrics in this project, and many of them are smaller cuts like fat quarters. Plus, the width of the front three pockets is adjustable, so I was able to make one of the pockets the perfect width to hold my sunglasses case.

As for the fabric choices. On a challenging day a while back, I ran over to a quilt shop that's very close to my office on my lunch hour and I found the fabric I used for my rucksack (mine's the bottom one in the photo). When my sister saw it, she insisted that she needed one too. Since I'm such a people-pleaser, I asked her to give me some color guidance. Then I went through my fabric stash and let her pick pieces that I thought would suit what she wanted. She was thrilled with the final result--beachy, tropical, and ready for summer.

You may wonder why I'm blogging about this now. I had stopped carrying my backpack for a while, and the other day I laundered it and was reminded just how much I love it. It's a great size, the colors and prints express my personality, and, as I said in my original post, I made a third version of this, the smaller version, for my nephew when he was very young. I'm sure I have a photo of that somewhere--if I run across it, I'll share it here.

How about you. Do you have a favorite project, one that has triggered the "Oh, can you make me one?" reaction from friends and family? Tell me about it, link to it if you've got an image posted, or find some other way to share it with me.

Facebook is a marvelous thing. I've been able to catch up with old friends--friends from grade school and college, 4-H camp, and from all five of the states I've lived in since college. Lately, two different friends asked me if I knew anything about making t-shirt quilts. Honestly, I've never made one myself, but when I managed the quilt shop in Florida (which I ought to blog about sometime--it was a GREAT job), I picked up a lot of knowledge about it. Sunnie Malesky taught the class for us and I was always able to pick up tips to pass along to customers when they needed advice between classes. But as for those friends that asked, since they can't head to Florida for one of Sunnie's classes, I've passed along those tips to them.

This week, Cathie Filian blogged about making a t-shirt quilt. As I was trying to get rid of extra stuff in my house, I ran across sorority letter shirts and tee's and sweatshirts from date parties and such. I can't donate them; I thought about making tote bags out of them a while back but didn't know if the young women at my college sorority house would use them. But now it seems like the concept of a t-shirt quilt is coming at me from all angles. Though I have to go through the drawers to see how many I have and what parts of them are salvageable, I might have a good start. Now I'll just have to use Facebook to round up more from those years from Gamma Phi Beta sisters who are savers like me. Oh yeah, and then actually put it together. But no deadline, so I've got time.

A while back, I blogged about revamping baby bedding for my friend Tammy's little one. I've had that bedding stuffed in a Bead&Button Show bag and it's covered a lot of miles. It's a great project to bring along (large and unwieldy, yes, but also soft and squishable). And it would be the perfect project to work on if I'm just sitting around watching TV or whatever. But as it turns out, I haven't unsewn a single seam since I posted about it in late July, despite the fact that it's been on my list of things to do since last year.

But, as it turns out, it's possible that my procrastination may have actually worked in my favor. Now, the Momma's thinking about changing the furniture for that room, which might mean a change in bedding size. Wouldn't I have been brokenhearted if I'd have dived right in and had this project complete, only to find out I had to redo it?!

My Mom and her friend Martha make craft and sewing projects and sell them at the campground craft show in the winter. I secretly think that they do so more to have the fun of making things together than the actual making of the money, because they don't charge much! But they have a ball making the projects and they have an absolute BLAST the day of the show. (I've been there for one of the shows and take it from me, it's nutty fun!) Martha makes a lot of totes, beach bags, purses, eyeglass cases, and that kind of thing, so when I saw these two pieces of fabric on a SUPER sale at Bits N Pieces, I bought her a couple yards of each. She's the first to send along "a little something" for my sisters and I, so I'll just pop this in the mail for her as a surprise. Though I suppose if she reads this blog, it won't be much of a surprise....

So I noticed the other day that Hobby Lobby was having a sale on frames--a really good sale. Of course, we don't have one in Milwaukee ("Why not?," I wonder on a regular basis), so while I was in Illinois this weekend, I stopped by Hobby Lobby to check them out. I've been looking for a large shadowbox frame to house my fabric scraps from the outfits I sewed as a kid in 4-H. And they had them. So I bought a 24" x 36" jersey-framing box and I'll figure out how to make it work. After all, I figured out how to fit it in the back of the Jeep, and that was a feat in itself! I think it will be big enough to house everything I want it to put in it, but if not, I'll buy a second or even a third to make it work. I'll just have to wait for another sale...

Mom notice that I haven't been blogging much lately. My creative time has been taken up with work and life, but I'm hoping to have some time to work on a project soon--maybe even tonight. I have some bedding to disassemble for Mini Murk's bedroom. Almost a year ago, her Momma asked me to help her convert the crib bedding set to a big-girl bedding set, so I'm going to start the disassembly process tonight. Every journey starts with a first step, right?

When I was on the Sharon Sews site the other day, her "Flashback Fridays" (Sharon's sewn clothes through the decades) postings got me thinking about a project I've had on hold for a while now.

As previously mentioned in my Gifts of Time and Talents blog and my Beaded Utensils blog, I had decided that a little girl I knew needed some doll clothes for her new 18" friend. So Saturday, I took some time to whip up some new creations.