More Fun than Curtains!

There's still time to check out the Giveaways listed at Sew, Mama, Sew. Click on the button above to go and see.


MY GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR VISITING. THANKS SEW,MAMA,SEW. WINNER WILL BE EMAILED SHORTLY, THEN ANNOUNCED ON MY GIVEAWAY POST.

Click on the coasters picture above to GO TO MY GIVEAWAY POST.

Soooo many comments from my giveaway have listed curtains as something they have made for their home. I don't even consider making curtains sewing! Well, not fun sewing anyway.

Here are a few other things mentioned so far.

Sewing machine cover.

I made mine to match in the living room/sewing space where I have a Klimt print on the wall.

I used the pdf tutorial over at Spool to make this one and another smaller version for one of my nieces.

Potholders.

I know there are potholder swaps going on in blogland. A fun way to play with a little bit of fabric and a design. This one is an example I made when I helped my husband's grade 5 class make potholders and mitten ornaments for a fundraiser at Christmas. All of our fabric was donated by the Local Quilt Shop - thanks Cindy Bee!

Friendship bag.

I love to make these. Sweet and simple. Great birthday gifts for little girls and older ones too! There is a tutorial by Rachel of p.s. i quilt. I have more cut out to make too.

Tote bags.

I really enjoy making bags. And modifying them. This is from the Spring 2009 issue of Quilts and More. I added a zipper to make it more useful. It was a present for my mom's birthday.

Denim purse.

Made for my daughter from a pair of her jeans. Great pockets! Fun project.

Green Bag Lady bags.

Can't have too many! A great way to use up fabric you can't/won't use anywhere else! The thin fabric ones fold up great into a purse so you always have a bag with you.

Okay.
So there are definitely more fun things to sew than curtains!

Make sure to visit the Quilt Festival that takes place across Blogland starting Friday. You can click on the button above to go to the details about how to participate. I still haven't decided what quilt I will show. It'll be a surprise!


With Joy,
Sarah Vee

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Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to my blog!
EDIT: I am now finished this quilt! Thanks to the Festival and all the positive responses, I have worked over the last week to finish this quilt. It was hand delivered Oct. 12, Canadian Thanksgiving. I have changed photos to show the completed front and back. Enjoy!

This is a first birthday present for my fourth niece. She has 2 older sisters so I thought a BIG quilt they could all play on was in order. It measures 58 inches by 58 1/2 inches.

This green children's print was my starting inspiration. All the fabrics used were from my stash. I loved making all the colours come out and play together!


This quilt is my original design. Each section of the quilt is made up of blocks or techniques from quilters I visit in blogland. The centre is from Yolanda at Urban Amish. This is a block design from Urban Amish lesson 2. The red with white polka dots fabric became a focus fabric joining all the different blocks together. (The polka dot fabric was from my husband's grandmother's stash that I inherited when she died. I love using her fabric in family quilts.)



I also got to finally make some cottages using Nanette's (from Freda's Hive) tutorial! I see more fun cottage blocks in quilts to come. Like a Halloween one! Here they are on my design wall beside the courtyard steps I made to go in the quilt.

I won a copy of Kay MacKenzie's new applique book and tried out a few of her fun flower blocks. Look, more red and white polka dot fabric! The background fabric in these blocks is from my mother's stash when she used to make us doll clothes.

I used the Quilter's Cache to find the perfect 10 inch block to put in each corner. Using THE fabric, of course:) Then I added the lime green sashing to make the border of blocks fit. Finally, one more round of polka dots. I measured this fabric out at the beginning when I had a rough idea of how big the quilt would be. I was so glad that I had enough!

Some may argue that this isn't a REAL quilt because there is no batting. I used the envelope method to sew the two layers together and thus - there's no binding either! But I think it's a real quilt. The love, joy and motivation were all there. The best wishes and intentions are still stitched into this lightweight, summer coverlet or picnic blanket, like many quilts made in times past.

It's real enough for me:)

I used some "cheater cloth" that I'd been given as the backing.

I was originally going to tie the quilt, but I ended up using my domestic machine to quilt it.

Happy 1st Birthday, Arabella
Made with love by Aunt Sarah
2009

Thanks for stopping by to see my special quilt.
Thanks to Amy for hosting this amazing festival once again.

ENJOY the show,
Sarah Vee

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What's up Monday

My design wall this morning features a few more blocks for the Picnic Quilt I'm working on. I finished 4 house blocks and 4 courthouse blocks. I have them 'partnered' here waiting for the applique flower blocks.
The house blocks are from the cottage block tutorial at Freda's Hive. Fun, fun, fun! Check her site you'll see she's been playing with them too.
The flower appliques are from Kay MacKenzie's newest book - Easy Applique Blocks:50 Designs in 5 Sizes.
I also have up my second set of stockings for Pat Sloan's and Emilie Richard's Season of Grace Block of the Month. I really like these colours. I'm now planning to buy some Dutch fabric similar to this blue for the back of the Lady of the Lake quilt.

If you want to see some other busy quilters, go and check out Judy's blog post today.

Sew some Joy into your day,
Sarah Vee

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Whirlwind Weekend Projects

Happy Memorial Day to the Americans! I have some wonderful new chairs to enjoy my next holiday weekend. In the meantime I keep them company with a hot coffee or cold drink, depending on the time of day:)

I finished my yellow ribbon wallhanging and it fits nicely above the chairs. I plan to make a few more of these - maybe one with a red background as well. I'm pretty happy with it. I plan to keep working on the bottom part of the ribbons to make them 'flow' a little nicer.
I made this sketchbook cover for one of my daughter's friends. It was her birthday party on the weekend and my daughter said she likes to doodle flowers for the girls at school. So we decided this would be a nice personal gift.
I made this cool little bag to put it in. I used the instructions from Oh Franson's bag to construct the drawstring top as I find this a great feature in a bag. You can find the tutorial on my sidebar under the *new* category "Tutorials I've enJOYed". The sketchbook is from the Bloom journal cover tutorial. Of course I changed the size and had to make friends with my seam ripper, but I'm happy with how they both turned out.
So was the birthday girl:) We added some pencils and a neat eraser to the duo. I used stash fabric for everything and it took very little time. I designed the bag, chose fabric, cut fabric, made the bag, and modified the drawstring portion of the tutorial in a few hours. In between afterschool play, dinner and bedtime routines. Pretty happy with the output this weekend:)

I'll be back soon enough with my Lady of the Lake blocks for this week and progress on a little quilt that I hope to finish this week! Sew some JOY this week! Sarah Vee

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