Organizing My Fabric Scraps

This weekend I worked on organizing my fabric scraps. I hadn't bothered before because I didn't have that many. I used to put them in a large glass canister. But lately the canister was overflowing, so I decided to start dividing them by color. Last week I brought home from work a few empty large coffee cans and covered them with fabric. On the middle of the panel I used fabric scraps to represent the color fabrics I'm going to store inside and used the Quilt As You Go technique to attach the fabric pieces. 

You can find my tutorial here for the basic instructions on covering cans with fabric, if you would like to make some. I really love the way they turned out and my fabric scraps are neatly organized. I still want to make a few more for other colors... I just need the people in my office to drink coffee faster :)

Have a wonderful week!

Martha

Saturday At Home

Today I spend a lovely day at home. It had been raining here in California for the past three days; we even got thunderstorms and hail two days ago, which is a bit unusual for this area. So it was such a nice surprise to see the sun shine again today. Beautiful light was coming through my window, I  couldn't resist taking a picture to share with you. Also, I went to the market and picked up some guavas. I don't even know it if  it is guava season right now, but they smelled so good I just had to take some home.

Then, I worked on organizing my new embroidery floss that I bought the other day. The colors are so pretty, don't you think? And I started a new quilt, but I will tell you more about later...

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

Martha.

Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop

 

Hello fellow Blog Hoppers and welcome to my Weekend Doings. I have been looking forward to this day for a few months and it is finally here! My name is Martha.  I live in California with my husband and our two beloved dogs. I am an accountant and  currently work full time as a business administrator for a construction company On my free time (on the weekends) I enjoy cooking, baking, gardening, taking photos, and my new found love: quilting. I'm so glad you are here, please look around and I hope you visit again.

Thank you so much to Beth from Plum and June for organizing the Blog Hop it is such fun event. And for giving us these questions to make it easier for us to get acquainted: 

How long you have been quilting?

Not long. My husband bought me my first sewing machine on January of this year. I was looking for a new hobby to keep my mind occupied to help me overcome the loss of my mother (she passed away last year just two months after been diagnosed with breast cancer). So I decided to venture into sewing which then led to quilting. I learned to embroider and hand stitch from my mom. She was a very talented tailor. Growing up I spent many afternoons sitting by her side looking at her do wonders with fabric, playing with the scraps and rearranging the pins on her pincushion. But I never asked her to teach me how to sew; I guess I figured I had time, and I now regret it... I think it would had been wonderful if we had discovered quilting together.

Favorite quilting tips?

I still have a lot of things to learn, but in my short experience sewing I have learned that is important not to stress out if a project doesn't turn out "perfect" the fact that it is handmade is what makes it perfect and more precious.

Favorite blogging tips?

Be yourself and enjoy the process. 

Favorite fabric?

Oh there are so many... Linen is a must have and right now on my wish list are Aneela Hoey's So Stitchy, Denyse Schmidt and Liberty of London Fabrics. 

Favorite craft book?

I love collecting books and it is hard to pick a favorite, but right now I have been using a lot Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts

Favorite quilting tool?

My rotary cutter. It just makes cutting fabric so easy!

Favorite music while quilting?

I like to listen to a mix of country music, soft rock and  love songs

Favorite TV show while hand stitching?

Re-runs of Gilmore Girls and Friends. The Big Bang Theory and the Mentalist.

Binding - by hand or by machine?

Both, I first attach the binding to the front of the quilt by machine and finish it off by hand.

If I'd had known -  what you wish you knew before you started your blog?

If I had known how embracing the blogging community would be I would had started my blog a lot sooner. I'm amazed everyday at how friendly and talented everyone is.

I prepared a tutorial to make this fabric covered tin can. You can find it here

Thank you so much for stopping by and please visit these blogs that are participating with me this week:

October 2: Melissa from Sew Bitter Sweet Designs 

October 4: Catherine from My Life in Binding and Patricia from Quilting Lines

Martha

Tutorial: Fabric Covered Tin Can

I have been obsessed about covering tin cans lately. It all started about a month ago when I was looking for affordable yet beautiful containers to organize my sewing room. When I blogged about my fabric covered tin cans I got such very lovely comments that I decided to write a tutorial on how to make them.

This is what you need:

• 1 tin can rinsed and all labels removed. Make sure it has no sharp edges on the rim
• A piece of linen fabric at least 10X6 inches
• Fabric scraps
• Batting
• Embroidery floss

Measure the circumference and height of you can. The can I used is a 16 oz can and it measures 9 1/4 inches around and 3 5/8 inches high so all the measurements will be based on that.

Cutting fabric:

Background: Cut 1 piece 10X3.5 inches of the linen.

Closing End: Cut 1 piece 4.5X2 inches of the linen

Binding: Cut 2 pieces 10X1.5 inches of a contrasting fabric

Hexies; Fussy cut 4 pieces from your fabric scraps and make 4 2 inches hexies

Batting: Cut 1 piece 10X3 inches 

Trace the bottom of your can on the felt to cut a circle

Assembling the pieces together:

• Lay your batting on our table, then place the background fabric on top, then place a piece of of your binding fabric right side facing down and align  to the edge. Sew all pieces together using a 1/2 inch seam. Repeat on the other side. Fold the binding fabric outwards and iron the seams. You are going to have bout 1/2 inch of fabric overhang: fold over the back of the panel and iron. Now your binding is complete.

• Now we are going to attach the closing end. Fold your fabric that you cut for the closing end in half and iron. Attach to one end of the panel using a 1/4 inch seam, fold over the seam and iron. Then fold the overhangs from each side underneath the panel, iron and hand stitch to the back to secure.

• Arrange your hexies the way you would like them on your panel. Hand-applique them to the background fabric. Optional; using embroidery floss quilt around the hexies using a running stitch.

• Almost done... Warp your finished panel around the tin can making sure the the side where you sewed the closing end sits on top of the unfinished side. Using a blind stitch, sew the edge of the closing end to the panel. Then place the felt circle that you cut earlier in the bottom of the can.

And there you have it a beautiful container to keep things organized.

Martha

Dresden Mini Quilt

I finished my Dresden Mini Quilt today. It is a tiny one... it only measures 10X10 inches. But I have never done a Dresden before, so I wanted to start small. The Dresden is hand applique to the background fabric and I used Perle cotton thread for the hand quilting. I really like the way it turned out. It makes me think of a sunny summer day every time I look at it. I am going to hang it in my sewing room to add some cheer to my wall. 

I hope you are having a great week!

Martha 

Work in Progress

Some of the things I started to work on this weekend: a dresden mini-quilt and a scarf. I had not done any knitting for a while and last Friday I visited my local Jo-Ann store and I couldn't resit this yarn. It feels so soft and cozy I immediately thought it will make a great scarf to keep me warm this winter. I just hope I can finish it in time!

Martha

August in the Sewing Room... A Recap

August sewing was great. Though, I didn't accomplished a massive amount of projects (as I had wished for) I'm very happy. I managed to finish the Alphabet Quilt for my goddaughter just in time for her birthday. Then, after much planning I finally moved my sewing room to a sunnier location in the house, covered some tin cans with fabric to use as storage and tried English paper piecing for the first time. 

I hosted my first giveaway and started a new quilt, which I hope to finish very soon. 

I'm looking forward to September and hope to get a lot of sewing done.

I'm linking to Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts and Slow Bloggers @ Knotted Cotton

Martha.

Giveaway!

I'm very excited to be hosting my first giveaway! The giveaway is this little pin cushion I made  specially for this occasion. The word "Pins" is hand embroider (by me). 

If you would like to participate:

1. Please leave a comment on this post.
2. If you are a follower of my blog (existing or new) you have a second change to enter, just leave a comment that says "following"

The giveaway will be open through Thursday August 30, 2012 until 9:00 pm PST. Then a winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday August 31. Please make sure you leave an e-mail address where I can reach you. I will be happy to ship internationally, so anyone can participate.

Good Luck!

Martha

In the Sewing Room

I decided to move my sewing room to a more sunny location in the house. So this weekend was all about moving furniture from one room to the other, re-organizing and getting settled. It was a lot of hard work switching rooms, thankfully my husband helped me a lot. He did most of the heavy lifting. Even though we were exhausted it was all worth it. I love my new room; I get a lot more natural light and the new layout makes it feel more spacious.  

As part of my reorganization I needed some containers to hold small tools and scissors so I covered a couple of tin cans with fabric. And on the small one I practiced English paper piecing. It was my first time using this technique and I love it. I can't wait to do some more.

My small fabric stash is now neatly organized on my new shelves. I still have to do some organizing, but it is all coming together nicely. Now it is time to get sewing.

I hope you had a great weekend!

Martha.

Alphabet Baby Quilt

I finally finished the baby quilt! I feel like I have been working on this project for a very long time. I'm glad is finished and ready to be delivered to my goddaughter. I think she will be very happy with it. She can use it to stay warm, use it as a play mat or to learn her ABC's.

All the letters on the quilt were hand drawn to give it a more playful look. I also mixed capital and lower cases  I think it gives it more character. I got the inspiration for this quilt from this book. Such a pretty book filled with great projects.

The back of the quilt. I just love this fabric. I think the ice cream cones and pops are so cute.

Well, now that I'm done with the Alphabet quilt, I'm thinking what would be my next project. I have some ideas...

Stay tuned!

Martha

Small Sewing Projects

Over the weekend I finished some small sewing projects. I love pincushions! And I don't think one can ever have too many of them.  So, I added a few to my collection. I really like this flower pincushion, it reminds me of a sunny day.

This little pear pincushion has been in my mind for quite some time. I wanted to make it ever since I saw a picture at Mollie Makes a while back.  I didn't have a template so it was a bit of a trial and error. It is not as perfect as the one shown in the magazine, but I think it is charming.

And this little one reminds me of a girl's dress. I made it a bit over-sized compared to standard pin cushions. I just wanted to see how practical a larger pincushion would be.

Finally, I finished these two zipper pouches using a template I drew myself...

I hope you are all having a great week. Come and see what the very talented ladies participating in the Blog Hop (by Plum and June) have prepared this week plus some great advice from Sara from Sew Sweetness.

This week's Blog Hop Calendar:

Tuesday:     Di from Willowbeck and Jennifer from Knotted-Thread

Thursday:  Sara from Sara-Lou and Catherine from Knotted Cotton

Martha

Weekend Sewing

Today I had a very productive day in the sewing room. I finished a tote bag with the quilt block I made yesterday.

The block size is 12X12 inches, so the finished bag ended up being roomy enough to carry groceries, books or a quilting project. And I made the straps a bit longer to carry it as a shoulder bag.

I also finished a small travel sewing kit, so I have needles and thread on hand when I'm away from home or carry embroidery floss to do a little stitching on the go.

As you can see from my fabric choices, I love polka dots. I find them so cheerful. I hope you had a nice weekend as well!

Martha

A New Quilt Block

I just got an amazing book about modern quilt blocks and I simply couldn't wait to try to make some of the blocks; without a project in mind, just for fun. Today I finished this one. It is called Megan's Star and I love the way it turned out. I think I am going to use this block as the focal point on a tote bag. I will share the results of the finished project with you.

Martha

Quilted Pot Holder

Saturday morning I got up with a terrible cold. I was feeling miserable. I hate being sick! After resting for a while and taking some cold medicine by the afternoon I was feeling much better. So I decided to do a little sewing. I've been crazy about these dollhouse pot holders ever since Aneela Hoey talked about them on her blog and I just couldn't wait anymore to try to make one. The tutorial is from Freda's Hive and you can find it here.

It was so much fun picking out the fabrics for each piece of the block.

Here is a pic of the finished block.  The tutorial mentions using Insul-Fleece, but I didn't have any so I used two layers of cotton batting instead. I think this is going to be first of many pot holders I make. They are just too cute!

Martha.