Category Archives: Pattern

Quicky Vacation Tote: A New Pattern

August 9th 2016

Introducing the Quicky Vacation Tote bag! I’ve turned my “go-to” scrappy project into a pattern for you to enjoy.

Quicky Vacation Tote 3

It’s the perfect project for those left over squares and strips, easy to make, adapt or re-size and always looks so pretty! This one below was made for a trip a couple of years ago, you may remember the post here.

quicky vacation tote

Quicky Vacation Tote

If you’ve never made a quilted tote, this would be a great starter pattern for you; plus, the Quicky Vacation Tote pattern has some great features that are really easier than one might think.

Quicky vacation tote inside

For starters, it has French seams, and a magnetic snap, and a boxed bottom (not shown) and you can even add a label if you want.

quicky vacation tote jane 2

Jane’s tote highlights the Daysail line on the outside and Vintage Picnic on the inside (both lines by Bonnie and Camille). I love that she tried so many techniques that were new to her, she did a great job. She opted not to box the bottom and that’s okay!! There is plenty of wiggle room in this pattern.

quicky vacation tote Jane

Marisa’s bag sports the fabric Boathouse by Sweetwater for MODA.

quicky vacation tote marisa 1

I love those stripes don’t you?

quicky vacation tote Kristen1

Kristen’s bag is Sodalicious by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller . How fun are those bottle caps and text print? She used Soft and Stable by Annie’s as the stabilizer to make her bag sturdy.

quicky vacation tote kristen2

And last, but not least, is this scrappy tote with a mix of lines that go perfectly together.

quicky vacation tote Denny

This one screams summer! For stabilizer Denny used headliner, a special material used for car interiors. Super sturdy stuff available at Joann’s.

quicky vacation tote denny2

I am so excited to be able to share these finished Quicky Vacation Totes with you. These ladies did an awesome job testing out this pattern for me (Thank you!) and had fun doing it!

quicky vacation tote denny3

The pattern is available here and it’s on sale (PDF version) for only $5.00 through the end of August. I hope you have been inspired to make your own to celebrate these last days of Summer!

Pop-ups: The Blog Hop

February 9th 2016

Have you made a Pop-up yet? They are so fun! During this blog hop you’ll get to visit various blogs to see all the neat ways you can adapt a Pop-up and get a chance to win some by just leaving a comment.

webbadge

First off, let me say how totally practical these things are. They come in three sizes and are great to use in the car for trash, to hold hair clips, craft items, keys, snacks, baby items, the uses are endless. But the best part is that you can make them as pretty as you want. Jo did an introduction of this blog hop yesterday on her blog, check it out here.

jo's pop ups

Today I am featuring my Duck Duck Goose pattern,

Duck, Duck, Goose!

and how nicely this large matching Pop-up (using XL spring) goes with it.

Ducky Pop Up

This makes a great Baby Shower gift, you can put the quilt and other baby goodies right in the Pop-up. It can be re-used as a waste basket in a bathroom or a baby’s room or fill it with toys, blankets or toiletries for baby. This Ducky Pop-up features two ducks and the pattern was easy to adapt. The Duck Duck Goose (PDF or paper) pattern is included in one of the giveaways. You can even customize the colors if you want. And who doesn’t love a rubber ducky, right?

For instruction sheet on how to adapt the pattern go here or click below.

Below is the Just Keep On Swimming quilt (available in (PDF or paper), it has a great “boy” or “summer” look to it that would complement any boy’s room and any age can be accommodated since this pattern comes with 3 size options. It’s perfect for a nautical or fishing theme.

Just Keep on Swimming, fish quilt

This Large sized Pop-up features 3 fish easily adapted from the pattern (PDF or paper) and it was a cinch! This design is great for mixing and matching favorite fabrics. For the inside, I used a fabric covered in little fishes, great for I Spy games too. This would be so cute for a beach home decor for a boy’s room.

Fishy 1

For instruction sheet to adapt the pattern go here. This Pop-up goes with a large sized spring not featured in today’s giveaway but available here.

To make this Extra large Pop-up, I adapted my Peppermints pattern and I love how it looks. It’s a great holiday gift idea, you can fill it with a Pop-corn tin and other festive snacks and just hand it over to your party host or family.

peppermint 1

Of course you can also put a Christmas quilt in it too if you want to, for that special family member or friend.

peppermints on the beach

For pattern adaptation sheet, go here or click below.

Other featured Pop-up Partners are:

February 8th: The Patchwork Pearl

February 9th: Me, Summercrafter YOU ARE HERE!

February 10th: Triangle Frenzy

February 11th: Seams like a Dream

February 12th:Custom Quilt Kits

February 13th: Cabin in the Woods

February 14, 15th: Surprise!!

February 16th: On Point Quilter

February 17th: Happy Memories Quilts

February 18th: Poorhouse Quilt Design

February 19th: Swirly Girl Design

For Blog Hop Headquarters head on over to the Fat Quarter Gypsy’s blog

There you’ll see who is next on the hop and have a chance at the Grand Prize. All grand Prize entry emails will be shared with 11 designers in the blog hop.

I will be having two giveaways, items shown above, as a bonus I have included my Watercolor Sea Horse pattern (which is NOT Pop-up friendly). All you have to do it leave a comment telling me how you would made and use your Pop-up!

Thanks you all for visiting and commenting and for the drawing….

popup winners Collage

Sew Together Bag

August 10th 2015

One of the best parts of making any project is the fabric selecting.This project was no exception, with all its pocket options, it was days before I had made up my mind and coordinated the zippers.

Did I mention this bag has 4 zippers? Well, needless to say, I needed a good assortment to choose from. Picked these out from Zipit on Etsy.com, she even has a “Sew Together Bag” option so you can get the zippers you need for this bag, cool huh?

I decided to go with one of my favorite Bonnie and Camille ~~hoards~~ fabric treasures, Marmalade, and some other assorted B&C scraps.

I had an extra zipper floating around right up until sewing time. (Can you tell which one got cut?)

For the outside of the bag, I used some aqua Vintage Modern and Scrumptious strips which were the perfect complement to the red Bliss I used for the binding.

The pattern includes instructions for needle landing and pin cushion for your bag but they can be easily omitted if you want to use the bag for make-up or another non-sewing purpose.

I know it may look intimidating. Some of you may be zippophobes: have fear of zippers, as I used to be. With a little persistence, it really does turn out just fine. And when you are done, looking at it alone is satisfying enough, it’s so pretty. I am not sure I want to cover up the fabric putting things in it!

And look how much prettier it gets when you open up the zippers!

The vertical scrappy stripes for the exterior were perfect because when I trimmed, nothing looked skewed or uneven and it was way bigger than I had anticipated.

This Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented is such a fun bag to make. (Don’t be fooled by impostors.) Once I saw them all over Instagram, I had to give it a try. You can buy the pattern here, and please do. 🙂 For more Sew Together Fun, Occasional Piece Quilt, has conjured up a way to make a mini version (but you need the original pattern to do it.) Come on give it a try, it’s not as hard as it looks!

I am already planning my next one!

Vacation 2015 Part 1

July 2nd 2015

I look forward to this vacation every year

and it seems that just like that it was over. Sigh….

But it was a productive trip, that’s for sure! Once I arrived, the first thing I did was to set up my sewing corner.

This year I decided to start the Swoon quilt (for me) in three colors (Swoon Sixteen) with my Scrumptious fabric by Bonnie and Camille. It took me the first two days just to select and cut the fabric. I love this part!

I got a new hat, I love the beach but the sun is potent, so hats, umbrellas and sunscreen are a must! Not my best picture but you can see how I feel in my HAPPY place!

Although I did do a little jig whenever I finished one of these, I didn’t just go to sew.

I also read and enjoyed the sound of the waves. (Instagram has it’s advantages)

Of course one of my favorite parts is just walking along the beach

and see the sun set.

I was glad that my printed patterns arrived just before we left for this trip.

I made sure to bring some along to visit some local quilt shops.

Rainbow’s End Quilt Shoppe in Dunedin Florida was a new stop for me. It’s the biggest quilt shop in Florida I hear. It had three cutting tables and a back room filled with Christmas fabric. Go ahead gasp!!! I grabbed some, of course, as extras for my Instagram Christmas Swaps. They had full lines, lines you can’t find online and tons of Riley Blake and the floor sorted by color. I’ll definitely be back.

I also visited my usual stop at Country Quilts and Bears which is always buzzing with classes and I came home with a stack of FQs. I also stopped by Happy Apple Quilts and Crafty Threads where I picked up a little something for my #BeachBound Swap.

Visiting those shops provided a great opportunity to get some on my designs and it was very encouraging.

On the next post: Quilt National, souvenirs and two more Swoons.

Belated Birthday Bag

June 14th 2015

I said I would make her a bag for her birthday. And I did. Almost a year later but in time for vacation! That has to count for something, right?

I remember that summer afternoon last year, I was obsessing over this gold and gray fabric variety Julie from Stitchin’ Stash had in her shop. She was so gracious and patient with me (helping me match combinations) as I selected the ones I wanted to purchase. The flower fabric is from my first visit to Hobby Lobby!

I knew the general exterior design would be similar to my vacation tote from last year.

For the patchwork, I used the technique from the Scrappy Trip Along. You sew strips together, cut them horizontally so you have squares. Sew end to end (like a tube) and unpick the seam where you want the color pattern to continue. You can select random or patterned. I did patterned this time but I REALLY prefer random.

I was trying to imitate the style from a bag I already have from Marshall’s. I won’t tell you how much it cost and how that compared to the cost of time and fabric for this one, but way more enjoyable and prettier for sure! Once the outside was done, the lining was easy to choose.

I decided early on that I would add inner pockets and a zipper (like the bag I had) first I thought about three pockets, but later decided two would be better. I’ll have to ask the owner how that worked out!

The construction was tricky. I had to quilt the pocket units first then sew them into the lining pieces. Then I quilted the outside of the bag flipping the pockets one way, then flipping them the other way to quilt the bottom and other half of the bag.

Once it was all quilted I sewed the sides together. It was too thick to do a French Seam (pictured below) as I had wanted so

I sewed a 1/2 inch seam to make sure and catch the multiple layers. I also serged (zig-zag stitched) them to make them as secure and tidy as possible. I didn’t even notice the pockets were uneven until…. It must have been around 2 am at this point. 🙂

I did a boxed bottom and I am happy to say that came out perfect!

It also had a zippered top and handles inserted between the patchwork and top panel with extra stitching so it would hold when the bag was full.

Of course I added a little label.

Overall, I think it got two thumbs up, but I still need to practice zippers in all it’s forms.

You can tell it’s a pretty big bag, 18″ by 16″ by 6″ (estimate) I love the happy yellows.