Christmas Sewing Challenge

Christmas Sewing Challenge: For my sewing friends. Our church is adopting two homeless families in our community. There are two little boys in this group and I wanted to do something but my funds are very limited this year due to illness and my husband's recent unemployment. HOWEVER, I have fabric and a little time. I am making both boys their own personalized quilts. I encourage all of my sewing friends to use a little stash and a litte time and sew atleast one item for someone that you don't know. Do it in the name of Jesus! Simple and quick are fine. I know we are all busy. I need to make things for my own girls but I am going to commit to sewing for these sweet little boys too. Who's joining me?? Please comment if you decide to join me.

If you don't know who to donate to in your area, they are still needing quilts in New York and New Jersey.

Happy Sewing!!
Susan

Carsten's Pinwheel Quilt

I just finished a labor of love. I made a pinwheel quilt for my friend's sixth baby. I have six children as well, and she holds a special place in my heart. I actually got to be part of the birth process and was with her as she delivered her beautiful 10 pound baby boy. His name is Carsten and this quilt is named Carsten's Quilt.

One of the blue fabrics has tiny anchors and sailors on it, in honor of Carsten's father who is a Navy Chief. I designed the quilt myself but I used a pinwheel technique that I learned from a youtube video featuring Jenny from the Missouri Quilt Company. I love her technique. It's quick, easy and is very conducive to accuracy when matching points. You can find the video here.

 

 

I especially love the back. I pieced left over blocks and remnants from fabric used in the front of the quilt. I embroidered him a label. I think it is so important to label your quilts.

I'm entering Carsten's Quilt in the Quilting Blogger's contest for this week. This week's them is Quilts for Little Ones. If you get a chance, I'd love if you stop by and vote for me. You can access the link to vote here.

I have a lot more posts waiting for you so please check back soon.

Happy Sewing!
Sewing Momma

Sewing Machine Day and a Unit Study

June 13th is Sewing Machine Day. Yay! Another excuse to fondle fabric. I can think of all kinds of ways to celebrate. Hmmmm...what project should I work on?

For my homeschooling friends, here is a link to a Sewing Machine Unit Study. Here's a way to turn your celebration into a learning experience. My girls and I are going to do this study. I can't wait.

http://heartofthematteronline.com/unit-study-the-sewing-machine/

Happy Sewing!
Sewing Momma

Embroidered Wedding Gift

It's that time again. Wedding season is here. When I give gifts, I really like them to be practical, yet personal. A couple in our church recently got married but they had already established homes, so they weren't like a young couple that didn't have anything. I looked at their registry online to see their color choices and to see if that had a theme for their kitchen or bathrooms. I saw that she had chosen this shade of green as her color but had no real theme. I found some nice dish towels that I thought would  hold up pretty well. Then, I went to my stash and found this polka dot fabric but I only had a little bit. I looked at every quilt shop in my area for more but had no luck, so I found this green and black stripe that I thought coordinated pretty well. I took a premade white apron and added fabric trim, ruffles and a yo yo flower to jazz it up and make it match the dish towels. The apron was unisex size and I thought it was a little too long to be cute for a woman, so I shorted it by about 4' and added a trim to the bottom. Then I embroidered the bride's new last name. I know when I first got married, I loved seeing my new name in print, or in this case thread. I added a couple of oven mitts. I was going to add a trim to them, but because of the strange curve on them and the lack of polka dot fabric, I just left him plain. I purchase a metal basket that I thought would prove useful and placed the items in it before I wrapped it.

I think it came out pretty cute.

Happy Sewing!

Sewing Momma

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Free Sewing Machine Class

Craftsy is offering a free Sewing Machine 101 class. I have signed up but have not had a chance to watch it yet. I did watch the video advertisement and it looks great. Once you sign up for the class you can keep it as long as you want and watch over and over. It teaches how to trouble shoot and make minor repairs to your machine to keep it running great. They teach about vintage machines and modern computerized machines. It's certainly worth checking out.

Happy Sewing!
Sewing Momma

Organizing My Studio

These are my embroidery threads that live inside my large fabric cabinet. I organized them by brand, not color.

My Thread Stand with my sewing thread

These are my less frequently used threads that have to live in the Matchbox car case. This side is for the sewing thread.

This is the embroidery thread side.

Well, it's that time again. That's right, time to reorganized my studio. After completing several projects my studio was looking pretty messy. All of my threads were getting tangled up and I had thread tales reaching for my legs everytime I walked through the room. I had help from one of my trusty daughters. The entire room is looking great but I will just post photos of my pretty thread, all lined up in a sweet little row. Yes, it doesn't take much to make this girl happy. Ha ha.

I moved my cutting tables around to make room for a school area for my youngest daughter. She is nine and she still needs help and supervision with her school work, so I thought it would be good to have her school area in my studio. Then we can both be productive at the same time. All of my girls sew and she can easily put her sewing machine on her desk when she is finished with school. I'll be posting photos of her school area soon.

On today's agenda is working on my patriotic quilt. I am really being successful with using my stash and it's so exciting. I've been looking at my red, white and blue fabrics for years and I'm finally turning it into something. Yay!

I hope you have a wonderful and productive day.

Blessings,
Sewing Momma

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Baby Quilt and Another Finish

Wow! I've finished two quilts in two weeks. My goal  this year is to finish as many projects as I can and to use up a lot of  my stash. I found  a bag with some of these finished quilt blocks and matching fabric. I started this quilt several years ago for one of my children, I don't even remember which child. I love the fabrics, they are so bright and happy. I was able to whip up this baby quilt in a weekend. It feels so good to have another finish.

This afternoon I am going to begin a quilt for the 4th of July and YES, I am using fabric that I already have in my stash.

Have a great weekend and Happy Sewing,
Sewing Momma

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My Strings Quilt! A Finish!

One of my sewing goals for this year is to finish as many projects as possible and to use the fabric that I already have in my stash. I am very happy to say that I finished a scrap project that I started about 2 years ago. I made a Strings Quilt using scraps from dresses and projects that I have made for girls. I was also able to use scraps of batting that I have been accumulating. This project was so fun. I know there will be more of these in my future.

This quilt will definately stay in our family. My girls love picking out the the fabrics that are from their dresses, camera bags, tote bags, etc

Happy Sewing,
Sewing Momma

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Friday Night Sew In Results

I had a very productive Friday night. I cleaned my studio before I could get in there and sew. It's so much nicer to work in a tidy area and things can get out of control quickly when I'm sewing.

After I cleaned, I made a little zippered wallet from scraps of the purse I made last week. It is really cute and I love having a little wallet to match my purse.
Then I started making my daughter a Twirly Skirt. I got it all cut out and made the ties. I'm not quite finished but more than half way there.

                    
                                                                                         My zippered wallet

                                                                         
                                                                                      Twirly Skirt in the works

I hope your Friday night was a as good as mine.
Take care,
Sewing Momma

Oh Yeah....It's Friday!

It's Friday and time for Friday Night Sew In. I'm heading to the sewing room right now to find out what I'm gonna be working on. I hope you can join in on the fun. I'll be posting what I accomplished tomorrow.

Have Fun!
Sewing Momma

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Made Me a New Purse

I have been needing a new purse for a while and woke up in the mood to do something about it today. I found this Ralph Loren Home fabric in the remnant bin at Joann's about a week ago. They were having a great sale and all remnants were 75% off which made this fabric $2.81. I really like it and when I saw it I thought it would make a great spring purse. I almost never make anything for myself so this was a real treat. I found the pattern at Artsy Craftsy Babe's blog. It's called the Phoebe bag and it was super easy. She has lots of patterns on her site. This one was free for personal use and she has others for sale. I highly recommend you check it out. Here is the pattern.

I have more of this fabric left so I am going to make a make up bag and probably a change purse as well.

I hope you are having a good day and getting to do something that you love.

Sewing Momma

A Wonderful Get Well Gift

I have been sick with a really bad cold or the flu, I'm not really sure which. Regardless of what you call it, I have been one sick girl. I've been stuck in bed which drives me crazy. I've spent a lot of time looking at sewing blogs which is nice but I really wanted to "do" something. You know I'm sick when I'm too sick to be at my sewing machine.

Well today, I received a wonderful gift from an old friend. I received an email with gift cerfticate from Embroidery Library. I have ordered from them for years and I spoke of them often on my other blog. I just finished shopping and I got 23 designs for $25! Two of them were there free designs that they have every month and because I got more than 12 individual designs, I got a 33% discount on the entire order. I just love what I picked out. I got some things to make for my kids for Valentine's Day and I got two to decorate my studio. I got two lady bugs to use in a quilt for a special little girl in my life and I got some quilt designs that I plan to use for quilting. This gift beats flowers anytime. I am SEW happy.

I gotta get back to resting. 

Have a great day!
Sewing Momma

Some Valentine Sewing

I love sewing for Valentine's Day. I'm not really sure why except I think it must be the colors. The reds, bright pinks mixed with white just make me sew happy. I have been sewing up a storm. I haven't used any patterns, just my own designs.

Enjoy your day,
Sewing Momma

New Blog For Me

I  have had another blog for over five years. I love my other blog but unfortunately the technology of blogging and social media, as great as it is for making new friends and sharing information with a lot of other people, also has it's faults. I have been the victim of stalking by someone that I don't want to share any information with. I shared a lot about my family on my other blog and this person was using that blog as a way to spy on us. So, it may take me a while to wean myself off of my other blog and fill this blog with my creative pursuits but this is the start. I love sharing about sewing, crafting, thrifting and a little about homeschooling and family fun.  I hope if you have stumbled upon this blog that you will check back and see what it blossoms into.

Blessings,
Sew Mommy