Flannel Raq Quilt

Last year our church did a service project to make quilts for several different organizations...and so began my OBSESSION with sewing. {making these rag quilts was the first sewing I've ever done}.

Since that time I have made dozen's of these rag quilts. {all shapes and sizes}. These are the best instructions I have found online. You can find some measurement information here.

Here are just a few of the quilts I have made. I just finished this purple one.....



here are a few others.....



Thanks Amy for getting me into this OBSESSION!!!!! {I really do LOVE it!}

Flag Wall Hangings and Wreaths

In celebration of Memorial Day, Flag Day, 4th of July and SUMMER we have created our latest wall hangings.  Since we did exactly the same pattern we decided to join our pictures together and show you how excited we are that we have them done.  These wall hangings are ragged and we found the pattern in the Sew Easy Rag Quilting Book, the pattern is Allegiance.  It took us each a couple of hours to finish since there are not too many pieces.  We redesigned the pattern to drop off the extra edges and also to just use a regular star shape we took off the computer.  We also added Warm and Natural to give it a little more poofiness {is that a word?}  The effect is amazing.  Liberty's has dark blue, red and cream and Amy's has blue, red and white.

Of course when we were done we had leftover scraps that made a wonderful star door hanging.  It took some fiddling with the hanger or hangers (in Liberty's case) to get them to stay together.  We didn't tie it the same as our other two wreaths.  I (AMY) did the whole thing the last way and when I got done it looked just like my other two wreaths and not at all like the star I had formed.  After removing all of the pieces and starting over I figured out if you tied them by pulling the ends through the loop it made it so there was definition and you could see the star.  I'm not sure if that makes any sense but if you are interested please leave a comment and I can try and explain or do a demonstration.

Activity Bag

I made this for an older boy {mine is 11}...and finding fabric was a little tricky, they don't make much for older boys.

I used the idea from Moda Bake Shop and re-designed my bag for an older boy. I used the same basic idea as this tote bag tutorial {minus the ruffle} and added the marker/colored pencil slots on the outside of the bag. I made the pencil slots 3/4" on one side and 1" on the other side. I wanted colored pencils to fit nice and snug and not fall out. The sides are also pockets, so the pockets on the outside go all the way around. There is one small pocket on the inside, just a left over scrap piece.

I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Teacher gifts - pretty aprons

I have been busy the last couple of weeks with sewing projects.  Although I haven't been posting all of them because I haven't had time. We have also had a lot of rainstorms which make for pretty crappy pictures and so I wait for a sunny or not so cloudy or windy day to take pictures.

I made these last week for my daughter's preschool teachers.  I have really appreciated all the hard work they do for her and the other kids in her class.  So I decided to do something fun for them and maybe a bit different then most mom's might do.  I know I have this cute butterfly fabric that I have used for other projects and so I cut out some aprons using Liberty's instructions.  I made them with different fabrics so if they choose to wear them at school they won't be exactly the same color.  My daughter got to pick what fabrics went to which teacher.  Pink for Mrs. M.  and Purple for Mrs. W.  Hopefully they will enjoy them and know of our appreciation for all their work.

Capri Pajamas

Okay so here is an attempt at making something without a pattern.  The top I mean.  I have tons of patterns for Pajama bottoms.  I used one of my patterns for the capri pajamas.  I also used my serger to make the ruffly (is that a word?) edge on the bottom.  It is just using the rolled hem and since the fabric is stretchy I just pulled on it as I serged it and it made it ruffled. 

For the top I used a shirt that Kirsten had.  I only had a small amount of material and so the shirt was going to be really short.  I had a 2 inch section that could be used as a ruffle and so I added the ruffle.  I don't love the neck but I didn't really do much to it an the original shirt had an elastic in it and I didn't use it.  I tried to add a small gathering in the front but it is still a little large on her neck.  It is just for pajamas and so I won't be fixing it.  She likes it and that is all that is important.  Now we just need to work on the weather here in Chicago so that it warms up enough for us to wear capri's again.  It keeps teasing us with warm weather and then it goes down to way too cold.